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Ruth King

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Biden Job Approval Underwater in Most Swing States Amid Afghanistan Fallout By Caroline Downey

By on September 1st, 2021

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/biden-job-approval-underwater-in-most-swing-states-amid-afghanistan-fiasco/

According to a new national poll conducted by Civiqs, President Joe Biden’s job approval rating is underwater in most swing states. The military withdrawal and chaotic civilian evacuation from Afghanistan overseen by Biden left the country in Taliban control and led to the deaths of 13 American soldiers and countless Afghans.

In six hotly contested battlegrounds during the 2020 election — namely Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas — Biden’s approval rating is underwater by ten or more percentage points.

In Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Virginia and Wisconsin too, more Americans disappointed in, rather than satisfied with, Biden’s job performance, but by a single digit margin. Biden beat Trump in each of these states in 2020.

Biden’s net approval rating has dropped from a positive five percent when he assumed office in January to negative eight percent in August, Civiqs calculated.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

Some American Students Can Only Spell F-a-i-l-u-r-e By Adam Andrzejewski

By on September 1st, 2021

https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2021/08/31/some_american_students_can_only_spell_f-a-i-l-u-r-e_791974.html

The U.S. Department of State is giving $275,000 in grants to organizations in Bolivia and Guatemala to teach people English.

The United States has a vested interest in having more people around the world speak English and the $100,000 for Bolivia and $175,000 for Guatemala isn’t exorbitant. However, many students in America can’t pass remedial reading tests.

The national average for fourth graders in public schools in 2019 is having 65% of students reading at or above basic levels and 34% at or above proficient.

Not exactly a high bar, students in 28 states test above the national average.

That includes in New York, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island, where 66% of students read at or above basic levels and in Kentucky, Maine, North Carolina and Indiana, where 67% of students read at or above basic levels.

The lowest levels of basic reading skills are seen in Alaska and New Mexico (53%), Louisiana (55%), Washington D.C. (57%), Alabama (58%), West Virginia (60%), and Texas, South Carolina, and Arizona (61%).

No state tops 45% of fourth graders reading at or above proficient.

Alaska, New Mexico, Louisiana and Alabama all have below 30% of their fourth graders reading at proficient levels.

Eighth graders fared better, with the national average being 72% of eight-grade students reading at or above basic levels. The national average for proficient dropped to 32%.

While 32 states have eight-grade students reading above the national “basic” average, only one state, Massachusetts, enters the 80 range (81%). Again, no states exceed 45% of students reading at proficient levels.

It should be an embarrassment that American children are struggling in reading.

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MEDIA Comments turned off

NPR Trashes Free Speech. A Brief Response In an irony only public radio could miss, “On the Media” hosts an hour on the perils of “free speech absolutism” without interviewing a defender of free speech. Matt Taibbi

By on September 1st, 2021

https://taibbi.substack.com/p/npr-trashes-free-speech-a-brief-response

The guests for NPR’s just-released On The Media episode about the dangers of free speech included Andrew Marantz, author of an article called, “Free Speech is Killing Us”; P.E. Moskowitz, author of “The Case Against Free Speech”; Susan Benesch, director of the “Dangerous Speech Project”; and Berkeley professor John Powell, whose contribution was to rip John Stuart Mill’s defense of free speech in On Liberty as “wrong.”

That’s about right for NPR, which for years now has regularly congratulated itself for being a beacon of diversity while expunging every conceivable alternative point of view.

I always liked Brooke Gladstone, but this episode of On The Media was shockingly dishonest. The show was a compendium of every neo-authoritarian argument for speech control one finds on Twitter, beginning with the blanket labeling of censorship critics as “speech absolutists” (most are not) and continuing with shameless revisions of the history of episodes like the ACLU’s mid-seventies defense of Nazi marchers at Skokie, Illinois.

The essence of arguments made by all of NPR’s guests is that the modern conception of speech rights is based upon John Stuart Mill’s outdated conception of harm, which they summarized as saying, “My freedom to swing my fist ends at the tip of your nose.”

Because, they say, we now know that people can be harmed by something other than physical violence, Mill (whose thoughts NPR overlaid with harpsichord music, so we could be reminded how antiquated they are) was wrong, and we have to recalibrate our understanding of speech rights accordingly.

This was already an absurd and bizarre take, but what came next was worse. I was stunned by Marantz and Powell’s take on Brandenburg v. Ohio, our current legal standard for speech, which prevents the government from intervening except in cases of incitement to “imminent lawless action”:

MARANTZ: Neo-Nazi rhetoric about gassing Jews, that might inflict psychological harm on a Holocaust survivor, but as long as there’s no immediate incitement to physical violence, the government considers that protected… The village of Skokie tried to stop the Nazis from marching, but the ACLU took the case to the Supreme Court, and the court upheld the Nazis’ right to march.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Dr. Scott Atlas: Science Killed Itself Over COVID-19 ‘Science is not supposed to be about intimidating, or abusing, or censoring data … There is never supposed to be ‘an accepted view’ of science.’By Helen Raleigh

By on September 1st, 2021

https://thefederalist.com/2021/09/01/dr-scott-atlas-science-killed-itself-over-covid-19/

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the American people have been told to “follow the science.” Yet for a year and a half, they’ve heard contradicting messages from self-appointed prophets of “the science” like Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

We learned that politicians who claimed their decisions were science-driven often ignored scientific findings that didn’t fit certain political narratives. We discovered that scientists are fallible human beings, and some would let personal interests and political views cloud their judgment.

Is science itself one of the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic? I asked Dr. Scott Atlas at the 13th annual Freedom Conference hosted by the Steamboat Institute, a Colorado-based nonprofit organization. Formerly a professor and chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center, Atlas is now a senior fellow in health policy at the Hoover Institution.

Atlas has been under constant attacks by the left and the corporate media since he served as a special adviser to former President Trump and a member of the White House coronavirus task force from August to November 2020. The New York Times and the Washington Post ran hit pieces on Atlas, questioning his qualifications despite his distinguished career and scholarship.

Google-owned YouTube also removed a 50-minute video of Atlas’s interview with the Hoover Institute. Twitter took down his tweet that questioned the effectiveness of masks.

‘Science’ Destroyed Its Own Credibility

Atlas has refused to be silenced. He has a lot to say about how the scientific field and Americans’ trust in it have been tremendously harmed during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Science has been not just a victim,” he told me, “but actively participated in the self-destruction of its credibility.”

To prove his point, Atlas referred to the now infamous letter published in Lancet, which denounced the lab-leak theory as a “conspiracy” that created “fear, rumors, and prejudice.” Facebook “fact-checkers” used the letter to censor discussion of the lab-leak theory for more than a year.

It then surfaced in The Daily Mail that Peter Daszak, president of Eco Health Alliance, orchestrated a group of scientists to write the letter without disclosing the EHA’s close financial ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). Now many scientists accept that the WIV lab-leak theory is just as probable as the natural origin theory.

Atlas also faulted leading scientific publications such as Nature and Lancet for playing “important roles in enabling, encouraging, and enforcing the false narrative.” In June, journalist Ian Birrell cited one source who estimated the publisher of Nature had sponsorship agreements worth millions of dollars from Chinese institutions.

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

More On European Climate Change Litigation: These People Are Crazy-Francis Menton

By on September 1st, 2021

https://us7.campaign-archive.com/?e=a9fdc67db9&u=9d011a88d8fe324cae8c084c5&id=a7306c1128

It’s easy to look at “climate change” litigation in the U.S. and conclude that a good percentage of our environmental bureaucrats and judges who get involved in these things are crazy. Thus many courts around the country (mostly state courts) have allowed lawsuits seeking damages against oil companies over greenhouse gas emissions from their products to proceed at least beyond the preliminary stages. And the EPA, early in the Obama administration (2009) issued what is called the “Endangerment Finding,” declaring CO2 and other GHGs to be a “danger to public health and welfare” — a ridiculous determination that the Trump administration nevertheless did not attempt to undo, and which substantially ties the government’s hands in contesting wacky climate-related cases. Not that the Biden Administration can be counted on to contest these cases at all, no matter how preposterous.

But we do have in the U.S. this thing called the doctrine of “non-justiciability.” That is the doctrine under which our courts steer clear of cases that ask courts to rule broadly on matters of public policy that are more legitimately the province of the legislatures. At the federal level, the non-justiciability doctrine arises out of the separation of powers embodied in the Constitution’s structure, as well as by the language of Article 3 Section 2, which describes the jurisdiction of the federal courts only in terms of “Cases” and “Controversies.” The doctrine has been around for a long time, and is well-established in many precedents. As discussed in my most recent post, it was the non-justiciability doctrine that sank the Juliana case, which sought to get a court to order the end of the use of fossil fuels in the U.S. on the basis of the Due Process clause of the Fifth Amendment and the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Even two of three Obama-appointed judges on the Ninth Circuit panel agreed with that rationale. Had the case reached the Supreme Court, the 6-3 “conservative” majority, in my judgment, would be highly likely to apply the “non-justiciable” rationale to privately-brought litigation that seeks a fundamental restructuring of the economy through court order. (A different issue is whether the Supreme Court, in the presence of the Endangerment Finding, would try to overrule a restructuring of the economy via EPA or other bureaucratic regulation that claimed some statutory basis, however flimsy.)

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Biden Administration Erased Afghan Weapons Reports From Federal Websites Adam Andrzejewski

By on September 1st, 2021

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2021/08/31/biden-administration-erased-afghan-weapons-reports-from-federal-websites/?sh=3cd7779f16ba

The War in Afghanistan has always been a black box, but the Biden administration just made matters worse.

According to an admission obtained from the State Department, Biden officials recently directed federal agencies to scrub their websites of official reports detailing the $82.9 billion in military equipment and training provided to the Afghan security forces since 2001.

The scrubbed audits and reports included detailed accounting of what the U.S. had provided to Afghan forces, down to the number of night vision devices, hand grenades, Black Hawk helicopters, and armored vehicles.

Reports further quantified 208 aircraft and helicopters; 75,000 war vehicles – including 22 Humvees, 50,000 tactical vehicles and nearly 1,000 mine resistant vehicles; and 600,000 weapons – including 350,000 M4 and M16 rifles, 60,000 machine guns, and 25,000 grenade launchers.

The State Department admitted to removing the reports but justified the move as a way to protect Afghan allies. According to a spokesperson:

“The safety of our Afghan contacts is of utmost importance to us. The State Department advised other federal agencies of to [sic] review their web properties for content that highlights cooperation/participation between an Afghan citizen and the USG or a USG partner and remove from public view if it poses a security risk.”

It’s worth noting that the Biden administration already put these partners at risk when officials provided lists of Afghan nationals to the Taliban in a misguided attempt to clear them for evacuation. The Taliban, a known terrorist organization with a history of murdering Afghan citizens working alongside U.S. forces, should never have been trusted with those names.

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MEDIA Comments turned off

MSM Re-Writing of Biden’s Afghanistan Tragedy Already In High Gear By Stephen Kruiser

By on September 1st, 2021

https://pjmedia.com/columns/stephen-kruiser/2021/09/01/msm-re-writing-of-bidens-afghanistan-tragedy-already-in-high-gear-n1474445

We have been watching the hacks in the American mainstream media prop up Joe Biden for a very, very long time now. Throughout his unremarkable decades in the United States Senate, Biden got the standard amount of biased favor from the MSM. When he was one heartbeat away from The Lightbringer’s job, the MSM really stepped up and spent a lot of time pretending that Biden was more than just a goofy spaz.

Ever since he cemented the Democratic nomination for president last year, the MSM has been working 24/7 to create a fictional Joe Biden that is competent, thoughtful, and deserving of being the most powerful man in the world.

As Biden’s stunning incompetence was laid bare for all the world to see by the nightmare in Afghanistan, even his most loyal media lapdogs were finding it difficult to keep up the charade, which I covered in my Morning Briefing a full week before the horrific ISIS-K attack at the Kabul airport. Here is an excerpt from that:

We will no doubt soon be back to a place where all of the usual horrible suspects in the media are fawning over Biden’s every lazy drool, but he and his pals are definitely taking a bit of a break this week.

Well, less than a week after the tragedy at the airport, the break is over.

The professional propagandists in the MSM are now circling wagons I didn’t even know they had in an effort to revise the immediate history of our ignominious withdrawal from Afghanistan.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Taliban Execute Folk Singer After Announcing Public Music Ban in Afghanistan By Katabella Roberts

By on September 1st, 2021

https://www.theepochtimes.com/taliban-shoot-dead-folk-singer-after-announcing-public-music-ban-in-afghanistan_3975467.html

The Taliban has executed a well-known folk singer in a village in Afghanistan after officials announced a ban on playing music in public, according to local reports.

Fawad Andarabi, a well-known folk singer, was killed in the Afghanistan village of Andarab, north of Kabul, a region where parts of the population are rejecting Taliban rule, The Associated Press reported.

Andarabi played the ghichak, a bowed lute, and sang traditional songs about his birthplace, his people, and the country. He was said to have been dragged from his village home before being shot dead by the group.

His son, Jawad, told AP that the singer was “shot in the head for no reason” at the family’s farm, just days after the Taliban had searched his home and drank tea with him.

“He was innocent, a singer who only was entertaining people,” Jawad, said. “They shot him in the head on the farm.”

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said his group would investigate the shooting but did not provide any further information.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Australia Passes Sweeping Online Surveillance Bill Amid Privacy Concerns By Isabel van Brugen

By on September 1st, 2021

https://www.theepochtimes.com/australia-passes-sweeping-online-surveillance-bill-amid-privacy-concerns_3975554.html

The Australian federal government last week passed a sweeping surveillance bill that would grant top law enforcement agencies the authority to take over social media accounts and hack the devices of individuals suspected of participating in serious online crime.

The Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identity and Disrupt) Bill 2020 passed both houses of federal parliament on Aug. 25, and introduces three new powers which Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews argues will assist law enforcement in keeping up with evolving technologies to protect Australians.

Specifically, the legislation grants the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) the power to modify or delete the data of suspected offenders, collect intelligence on criminal networks, and take control of a suspected offenders’ online account.

Those who refuse to comply can face up to 10 years in prison.

In defending the legislation, Andrews cited an operation earlier this year that resulted in 290 arrests, saying that this “confirmed the persistent and ever evolving threat of transnational, serious and organised crime—and the reliance of these networks on the dark web and anonymising technology to conceal their offending.”

“In Operation Ironside, ingenuity and world-class capability gave our law enforcement an edge. This Bill is just one more step the government is taking to ensure our agencies maintain that edge,” the minister said in a statement.

“Under our changes the AFP will have more tools to pursue organised crime gangs to keep drugs off our street and out of our community, and those who commit the most heinous crimes against children,” she added.

Passage of the bill however has been met with scrutiny, with some human rights activists saying it’s a “draconian” and “extreme” infringement on an individual’s right to privacy.

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ELECTIONS Comments turned off

California’s Recall Election Has Already Been Stolen The California politicians have already placed their bet.  By Dan Gelernter

By on September 1st, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/08/31/californias-recall-election-has-already-been-stolen/

California’s gubernatorial recall election is officially September 14, but “Election Day” has ceased to have any meaning, Mail-in ballots were automatically sent to every registered voter on August 16. Return postage is “free,” pre-paid by California taxpayers. The registration deadline was August 30, but you can still register to vote “conditionally” and cast your vote immediately, right up to and including on the 14th. 

Mail ballots do not have to be received by “Election Day.” Ballots received up through September 21, a week after the election, will still count. Which gives the people in power plenty of time to correct any “mistakes” revealed by the initial vote tallying on September 14. 

You will recall that a drug-addled miscreant was recently apprehended in his car with 300 stolen mail-in ballots. The police found these ballots not due to brilliant detective work but because someone reported a man passed out in his vehicle. “Police are working with officials to ensure that all voters affected by the thefts get new ballots,” reported the Los Angeles Times. 

The Times concludes its story with the line: “The incident isn’t tied to additional ballot thefts, police said.” 

That’s right! No chance any other ballots have been tampered with. They’ve nabbed the ballot-stealing mastermind who passed out in his car. He must be the mastermind because the police tell us this incident isn’t tied to additional ballot thefts. How lucky we are that they have now found all the ballots that were stolen, and without even investigating. You can be confident the police will just as tirelessly not investigate further vote fraud issues.

I was going to suggest that this recall election was a test not of Governor Gavin Newsom’s popularity but of democracy in America—that is, a test of whether the will of the voters can still have any effect on government. But who are we kidding? You need only look at the rules for this election—the month-long voting window, the automatic mail-in ballots, the legality of ballots received a week after election day, plus that little incident of 300 stolen ballots being discovered entirely at random—to know that this election has already been rigged. Democracy has already been tested in California and has already failed—we need only wait until September 21 for official confirmation.

The real purpose of this recall election has nothing whatever to do with democracy or even with Newsom. The election is intended simply to keep the people of California quiet. It will enable the state’s leaders to say, “You’ve had your chance at voting, and look, we won! So calm down and continue to follow our orders.” 

Ultimately, this election will test whether Americans will accept a dictatorship. 

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