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Ruth King

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Texas reports zero COVID deaths 2 months after Biden slammed ‘Neanderthal thinking’ It marked the first time the Lone Star State reported no coronavirus deaths in about 14 months By Megan Henney

By on May 17th, 2021

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/texas-covid-deaths-biden-mask-mandate

Texas reported zero deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday, just two months after Gov. Greg Abbott drew heat from the White House for rolling back business restrictions and lifting the state’s mask mandate. 

It marked the first time the Lone Star State reported no coronavirus deaths in about 14 months, according to state health data. Abbott said the case numbers reported on Sunday – 388 – were the lowest in more than 13 months, while the number of hospitalizations was the lowest in 11 months. 

Greg Abbott
@GregAbbott_TX
Today Texas reported: * 0 Covid related deaths–the only time that’s happened since data was tracked in March, 2020. * the fewest Covid cases in over 13 months * the lowest 7-day Covid positivity rate ever * the lowest Covid hospitalizations in 11 months. Thanks, Texans!

President Biden skewered Texas, as well as Mississippi, at the beginning of March for relaxing lockdown measures, accusing state officials of “Neanderthal thinking.” At the time, Abbott had announced that businesses would be allowed to operate at full capacity – even though some health experts cautioned at the time that dropping preventative measures could lead to a spike in cases.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Convicted Former Congressman Still Draws Estimated $1 Million Federal Lifetime Pension By Adam Andrzejewski

By on May 17th, 2021

https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2021/05/17/convicted_congressman_chaka_fattah_

After being sentenced to 10 years in prison for a 23-count conviction for racketeering, fraud and other corruption charges, disgraced former Congressman Chaka Fattah was released from prison last July after about one year.

But the icing on this crooked cake is that Fattah is collecting a taxpayer-funded pension. The estimated pension is at least $55,000 per year. Fattah is only 64 years old, so his estimated lifetime pension is $1 million.

The reason we must take an educated guess? Congressional pensions are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Fattah, a Democrat formerly representing Pennsylvania’s second congressional district, was found guilty in June 2016.

But a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in McDonnell v. United States a few days later changed the legal definition of bribery to exclude “pay for access” and Fattah appealed his conviction, placing his sentencing on hold.

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ISRAEL, MEDIA Comments turned off

What Really Is Behind the Latest Burst of Hamas Terror in Israel Like all wars, the real causes are many and lie below the surface. Dov Fischer

By on May 17th, 2021

https://spectator.org/hamas-terror-israel/

The media of our day always coalesce around a narrative that fits their preconceived worldview. When viewed in a light that “Palestinians” all are “Victims of Color” and that all Israelis are White Supremacists or their next of kin, it is easy to misjudge the Mideast reality underlying present conflict coming from Gaza. That narrative thus preaches that Jews with legally valid property rights in the eastern portion of United Jerusalem are not entitled to advance their legal claims to oust trespassers, Arab or otherwise, from their homes. That same line of reasoning proposes that supposed Israeli belligerence lies beneath the barrage of some 2,000 rockets launched from Gaza and aimed by Hamas at Israel’s civilian population from Ashdod and Ashkelon to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

The truth is that a property dispute in the Shimon HaTzaddik/Sheikh Jarrah community of eastern Jerusalem is not the cause of the present war. Jews there owned property since 1875. Their homes and land were stolen from them and their parents and grandparents in 1948, when Jordan’s armies, bent on “ethnic cleansing,” invaded and illegally drove them out. Local Arab squatters moved in, but Jordan refused to recognize the illegal squatters as the land’s new owners. After 1967, when Israel liberated east Jerusalem and reunited the city, the ousted Jewish owners went to court with their documentation to reclaim their seized property. Israel’s courts, which not only are fair but even lean over backwards to favor Arabs in such disputes, repeatedly have held that the Jewish claims are documented and legally valid. As the Jewish landowners were recognized legally, they did not try ousting anyone. Rather, the courts held they could charge rent to the squatters living in their homes, so they did.

Relatively recently, Arab squatters stopped paying rent, so the landlords went to court finally to evict. This happens everywhere in the world when tenants stop paying rent and make clear they will not resume. The verdict on the matter, which has been argued and decided on by Israel’s highest court, was set for announcement on May 10th. That is the whole dispute. This property dispute over Arab Muslims not paying their rent has nothing to do with Hamas launching their current war of more than 2,000 murderous Iranian-supplied rockets aimed indiscriminately at Jewish population centers. The notion that the long-overdue evictions for non-payment of rent caused a war is as absurd as expecting Bulgarian immigrants in California to launch 2,000 rockets aimed at destroying the entire American country in response to local court rulings in Old Town Sacramento backing landlords trying to evict 20 families who won’t pay their rent in a Bulgarian ethnic enclave.

Against that backdrop, Israel is posed with the conundrum of defending itself in a manner that accords with woke expectations of elegance. If rockets are launched against Jewish civilians and other noncombatants from residential apartment buildings, elementary schools, ambulances, and hospitals that Hamas terrorists now control in Gaza, how does one stop the launches — elegantly? Israel cannot just dispatch an Uber or Lyft to the terror launch sites and unplug some wires from wall sockets. They have to extirpate the launchers, the rockets, and the terrorists determined to inflict unspeakable civilian tragedy against millions of Jewish civilians if unstopped.

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CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Big Lie? What proof does Liz Cheney have that ‘there was no fraud’ in the 2020 elections?By: Judd Garrett

By on May 17th, 2021

Liz Cheney was removed from her leadership position by the Republican Party on Wednesday mainly because she has spent too much time attacking former President Trump for questioning the results of the 2020 election, and not enough time trying to stop Joe Biden’s agenda. She has said, “there is clearly an attempt to unravel the democracy,…by focusing on challenging the legitimacy of the election.” And that we have “particular obligation to make sure people know the election wasn’t stolen, that we shouldn’t perpetuate ‘the big lie,’.”

Donald Trump is not lying when he questions the results of the election. He is making an unsubstantiated claim. And that is an important distinction. Most proven claims of wrongdoing start out as an unsubstantiated claim that with a thorough investigation, and fact finding, is then proven either true or false. Liz Cheney does not know the election was honest with any more certainty than Trump knows it was stolen. Her claims of election integrity are as evidence-free as Trump’s claims of election fraud. And therein lies the problem. Neither side knows the truth.

26 million more votes were cast in 2020 than in any previous Presidential election, so it’s fair to ask whether all 26 million of those new votes were cast legally and legitimately. Election integrity is paramount to a functioning country, and simply stating the election was fair, like Liz Cheney, does not make it fair. That is something dictators do; they make blanket claims of integrity without any evidence to back them up. So, questions about the integrity of an election should not be ignored, or shot down as threats to democracy, they should be fully investigated. Yet we have never had a complete forensic investigation or audit of the 2020 election. So, Liz Cheney’s claim that the election was fair is as unproven as Trump’s claim that it was stolen. 

Not only were 26 million more votes cast, but we also had unprecedented, unconstitutional, and rushed-thru changes to our election laws in many states, primarily the battleground states, so it only makes sense to conduct a thorough investigation of our elections to determine if these changes hold up to the highest standards of integrity.

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CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

NY TIMES: SLOW JOE GETTING SLOWER : STEVEN HAYWARD

By on May 17th, 2021

www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/05/ny-times-slow-joe-getting-slower.php?

The New York Times has a remarkable story out this weekend that offers its typical “behind the scenes” construction of how the White House operates—in this case, under President Biden. While the story tries to soften the blows with lots of fluff and filler, it paints a devastating picture of Biden for the careful reader. It explains he has a quick temper, takes a long time to make decisions, and needs to be heavily propped up by staff to function. It reminds us that Biden is indeed a creature of the Senate, where he mostly attended hearings, made speeches, fiddled with legislation, and seldom made any decisions that suggested executive skill (Quick—can anyone name a major piece of Biden legislation? The crime bill of 1994? Likely written mostly by the Clinton Justice Department. The bankruptcy reform bill of 2007? Likely written largely by Delaware-based banks. You get the picture.)

Here’s one early paragraph:

On policy issues, Mr. Biden, 78, takes days or weeks to make up his mind as he examines and second-guesses himself and others. It is a method of governing that can feel at odds with the urgency of a country still reeling from a pandemic and an economy struggling to recover.

One passage details weeks and weeks of meetings, briefings, and deliberations about how to confront Putin, culminating with this astonishing paragraph:

In the end, Mr. Biden called Mr. Putin directly and then delivered a public statement on Russia sanctions that lasted only five minutes and 49 seconds. For as much as Mr. Biden projects an aura of ease — with his frequent backslapping, references to Irish poetry and liberal use of the phrase “c’mon, man” — his aides say it takes a lot of behind-the-scenes work to prepare him to project an assured demeanor.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Responsibility for the Latest Upsurge in Arab-Israeli Violence Goes to US President Joe Biden by Con Coughlin

By on May 17th, 2021

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17370/biden-arab-israel-violence

Even Mr Trump’s harshest critics had to concede that, when it came to the Middle East, the Trump era had been a success.

Prior to the latest eruption of hostilities between Israel and Palestinian militants, Mr Biden’s only notable intervention in the Israeli-Palestinian issue had been to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in American aid to the Palestinians, thereby reversing the Trump administration’s decision to cut aid to the Palestinian Authority over its refusal to maintain a dialogue with Washington.

Now, with Palestinian militants once more targeting Israeli civilian areas with rockets and missiles, the folly of Mr Biden’s ill-advised approach to the Middle East has been exposed…. Indeed, the extent of Iran’s military support for Palestinian militants was revealed by an official with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation who boasted last week: “The rockets we use to pound Tel Aviv, our weapons, and our food are provided by Iran.”

Mr Biden’s comment, made following a telephone discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, that he expected the violence to end “sooner rather than later” certainly seemed to be more an expression of wishful thinking than a realistic assessment of events unfolding on the ground in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Full responsibility for the latest upsurge in Arab-Israeli violence goes to US President Joe Biden as a result of the policies of appeasement and capitulation he has pursued in the Middle East.

When Mr Biden took office in January, the Middle East was enjoying one of its rare moments of optimism, mainly due to the successful approach adopted by his predecessor, President Donald J. Trump.

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BOOKS Comments turned off

Space Force Commander’s Book About Marxist Takeover of Military Shoots Up to Number 1 After He’s Fired For Talking About It By Debra Heine

By on May 17th, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/05/17/space-force-commanders-book-about-marxist-takeover-of-military-shoots-up-to-number-1-after-hes-fired-for-talking-about-it/

A new book about the Marxist takeover of the military shot to number one on Amazon’s best seller list after the author, a former commander of a U.S. Space Force unit, was fired for promoting it.

Lt Col. Matthew Lohmeier, commander of 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, was relieved from his post after he appeared on a podcast to promote his book: “Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military.”

“Irresistible Revolution is a timely and bold contribution from an active-duty Space Force lieutenant colonel who sees the impact of a neo-Marxist agenda at the ground level within our armed forces,” a description of the book reads.

Lohmeier, a former instructor and fighter pilot, was tasked with detecting ballistic missile launches.

He was fired on Friday for comments he made on national security expert L. Todd Wood’s podcast “Information Operation” last week, according to Military.com.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Video Shows U.S. Capitol Police Gave Protesters OK to Enter By Julie Kelly

By on May 17th, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/05/16/video-shows-u-s-capitol-police-gave-protesters-ok-to-enter/

A newly-obtained video shows United States Capitol Police officers speaking with several January 6 protestors—including Jacob Chansley, the so-called “Q shaman”—inside the Capitol that afternoon.

One officer, identified in the video and confirmed by charging documents as Officer Keith Robishaw, appears to tell Chansely’s group they won’t stop them from entering the building. “We’re not against . . . you need to show us . . . no attacking, no assault, remain calm,” Robishaw warns. Chansley and another protestor instruct the crowd to act peacefully. “This has to be peaceful,” Chansley yelled. “We have the right to peacefully assemble.”

The video directly contradicts what government prosecutors allege in a complaint filed January 8 against Chansley: “Robishaw and other officers calmed the protestors somewhat and directed them to leave the area from the same way they had entered. Chansley approached Officer Robishaw and screamed, among other things, that this was their house, and that they were there to take the Capitol, and to get Congressional leaders.”

Chansley later is seen entering the Senate chambers with a police officer behind him; he led several protesters in prayer and sat in Vice President Mike Pence’s chair. (The man in the yellow sweatshirt is William Watson, a drug dealer out on bond. He was arrested in January.)

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

How to Ensure a Middle East War in Five Easy Steps The new American Middle East policy is an extension of the new American domestic policy. Victor Davis Hanson

By on May 17th, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/05/16/how-to-ensure-a-middle-east-war-in-five-easy-steps/

More than 2,500 rockets have landed in Israel over the past week. Some Arab Israeli citizens are terrorizing Jewish Israelis. Apparently, as the rockets fall, these citizens are to be Arab Islamic nationalists first, and Israelis last—even if they wisely prefer to live on the Israeli rather than the Palestinian side of Israel’s hated wall.

The usual Hamas sympathizers are promising death to the Jews on social media (so much for the idea that Twitter and Facebook are “shocked, shocked” by impolite expressions of the Trumpian sort). 

Iran is always Iran—hubristic and chest-thumping that an obsequious United States will ease sanctions, allowing billions of dollars into the country, and thus empowering Iran to revive former levels of funding to Hezbollah and Hamas, to restructure the terrorist weaponry pipeline to Yemen, and to sanctify the Iran-deal trajectory to an Iranian bomb. Tehran just issued a third-rate video of the Republican Guard destroying the U.S. Capitol, apparently to show the world how it plans to humiliate an appeasing Biden State Department.

But why all this violence now? Of course, experts say the pretexts are cancellations of elections in the West Bank. And there is the need for the corrupt Palestinian Authority to find an enemy to scapegoat other than corrupt rival Hamas. Of course, they say, the Jews are—for the 1,000th time—“desecrating” the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and that the Israeli government is in a mess of disunity, without a unified majority voice. Of course, they say, there is the pretext of a court case over former pre-1947 property in Jerusalem—a bitter, but nevertheless still mostly private matter handled by the courts for years without an intifada.  

Yet between 2017 and 2021 there was relatively little violence in Israel and on the West Bank. Whatever our ideologies and politics, we all know the one reason why there is chaos now and not then. And that constant in itself is a primer on the Middle East. 

Trump Provoked Peace 

The Trump Administration assumed that whenever there is perceived distance between the United States and democratic Israel, then unsavory players exploit the void and try things they otherwise would not. Israel’s enemies and even neutrals in the area see such a reset as encouragement to move in, on the assumption (correctly held) that American tensions with Israel always reflect weakness and hesitancy to be exploited.  

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Where Have All the Whistleblowers Gone? Is it now too dangerous to call out the federal government for anything? Lloyd Billingsley

By on May 17th, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/05/where-have-all-whistleblowers-gone-lloyd-billingsley/

“I am reporting an ‘urgent concern’ in accordance with the procedures outlined in 50 U.S.C. §3033(k)(5)(A). This letter is UNCLASSIFIED when separated from the attachment.

In the course of my official duties, I have received information from multiple U.S. Government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election. This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President’s main domestic political rivals. The President’s personal lawyer, Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, is a central figure in this effort. Attorney General Barr appears to be involved as well.”

So reads the first paragraph of an August 12, 2019 letter to Richard Burr and Adam Schiff, of the Senate and House intelligence committees. The unnamed author was proclaimed “the whistleblower,” and the centerpiece of the 2879-word opus was President Trump’s July 25, 2019 telephone call to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The letter mentioned ambassadors Kurt Volker and Gordon Sondland, who would subsequently testify in public hearings along with former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. The witnesses provided ample evidence of their own incompetence but were unable to cite any crime President Trump might have committed.

As with the Russia hoax, a belch from Hillary Clinton, the impeachment attempt failed. The identity of the whistleblower, supposedly a CIA agent, was protected start to finish. As this confirmed, a government insider can advance a bogus narrative aimed at taking down the president of the United States and emerge completely unscathed. That offered hope to legitimate whistleblowers exposing actual violations and crimes in the vast reaches of the federal government.

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