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Ruth King

Good Morning from New Iran! We are far-removed from the constitutional republic we were promised. By Peter D’Abrosca

https://amgreatness.com/2021/01/12/good-morning-from-new-iran/

So, President Trump was banned from Twitter. He was also significantly censored by Facebook, Google, and Apple, and likely will remain muzzled by Big Tech through the end of his presidency, if not longer.

We knew this was coming, though perhaps we thought the social media giants would wait at least until he left office. We know it’s going to get worse after January 20, when Joe Biden assumes the Oval Office. The un-personing of Donald Trump is going to be one for the history books, until the history books, too, are inevitably jettisoned.

Still, our prominent conservative “thought leaders” are unprepared for this reality.

“But the president of Iran gets to keep his Twitter account, and that’s not fair,” seems to be their thematic response.

Yes. That’s exactly right. Donald Trump does not get to have a Twitter account, but the president of Iran, and any other authoritarian hellhole dictator you can list, does. But it is time to stop scribing about the hypocrisy of the technocrats and the media and the radical Left, yelling, “See, look how hypocritical they are!” They are perfectly comfortable with their own hypocrisy. They only care about power.

It is also time to face a harsh reality: today’s American regime has far more in common with the Iranian regime than we’d like to think, and Americans are more like subjects of totalitarian tyrants than citizens who have consented to being governed.

Beware of Democrats Bearing Law-and-Order Platitudes The party of lawlessness and political hypocrisy. Don Feder

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/01/beware-democrats-bearing-law-and-order-platitudes-don-feder/

The Party of Lawlessness has become the Party of Law and Order. The Party of Burn-Baby-Burn now sounds very much like Richard Nixon, circa 1969.

In the annals of political hypocrisy, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. deserves his own chapter.

Following the so-called rioting at the Capitol on Wednesday, Biden stuck out his hollow chest, struck a heroic pose and thundered: “What we witnessed was not dissent; it was disorder. It was not a protest [unlike all of the ‘peaceful protests’ Democrats abetted since the death of George Floyd]. It was chaos. They weren’t protestors, don’t dare to call them protestors. They were a riotous mob, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists. It’s that basic. It’s that simple.”

We pause for applause.

Like the rest of his party, Biden hopes that we were all born yesterday.

It took the President-elect three months — from May 25 to August 30 — to weakly condemn the violence, arson, assaults and murders that were rocking the nation. Of course, in ritualistic fashion, he also condemned “police violence” and mythical right-wing militias. Antifa is “just an idea” he assured us. Far from calling the Black Lives Matter thugs a riotous mob, insurrectionists or domestic terrorists, he’s yet to criticize them in any way.

But when President Trump castigated the lawlessness and called for a return to democracy, he was “throwing gasoline on the fire,” said Sheriff Joe.      

The Dons Behind Biden Why Biden thinks the Chinese Communists are “not bad folks” and “not competition for us.” Lloyd Billingsley

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/01/dons-behind-biden-lloyd-billingsley/

“Biden Gets China,” headlined the January 2, 2012 report in The Atlantic. As author Steve Clemons explained, “Vice President Joe Biden will take the lead on the administrations next phase China policy.”  This marked a shift to a “strategy of engagement with Biden at the top,” that allows the US to deal with China’s likely next president from a Vice President to a Vice President/Next President status — and to continue both the Departments of State’s and Treasury’s ongoing engagement with other designated key Chinese leaders.”

As Clemons explained, the move to put Biden at the top was “orchestrated” by Thomas Donilon, once described by James Mann in Foreign Policy as “Obama’s Gray Man” and seldom mentioned in the press. So Americans have cause to wonder what, exactly, Thomas Donilon is about.

According to AllGov.com, Donilon worked in the Carter White House and four years later served as campaign coordinator for Walter Mondale. In 1985, the University of Virginia law grad served with the Democratic National Committee and the next year joined the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee but “he remained interested in helping get Democrats elected to the White House.”

In 1988, “Donilon first advised Sen. Joseph Biden” then went on to serve as senior counsel on President Bill Clinton’s 1992 transition team, and chief of staff for secretary of state Warren Christopher. Donilon became assistant secretary of state for public affairs and participated in the expansion of NATO and the relationship between the U.S. and China. His background showed no scholarly work on that country or any other.

From 1995 to 2005, Thomas Donilon was chief lobbyist of the Federal National Mortgage Association, better known as Fannie Mae. As CNN reported, Donilon left the company before it imploded and “was forced to pay $400 million to the federal government for misstated earnings during his time there.” Donilon also attempted to interfere with an audit by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight and tried to launch a separate investigation into the OFHEO itself.

Pakistani Muslim Cleric: Israel Belongs to the Jews “Not for the Palestinians.” Hugh Fitzgerald

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/01/pakistani-muslim-cleric-israel-belongs-jews-hugh-fitzgerald/

If you thought there was no way to top the news about the normalization of ties between Israel and four Arab states – the U.A.E., Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco – well, this just in from Pakistan may do it: a leading political and religious figure in the country has just announced that Israel belongs solely to the Jews. It was never meant for the “Palestinians.” The amazing report is here: “Pakistani cleric: We should recognize Israel,” by Dean Shmuel Elmas, Israel Hayom, December 20, 2020:

Pakistani political and religious leader Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani announced Saturday, Dec. 20, at a conference, that he supports the normalization of his country with Israel, according to a report by British-Pakistani writer Noor Dahri.

“This is an international issue, I support recognition of Israel,” Sherani said. “Educated Muslims need to understand that the Quran and history prove to us that the Land of Israel belongs only to the Jews. King David built the house of God in Jerusalem for the Israelis and not for the Palestinians.”

The honorific “Maulana” means that Sherani is a learned Muslim cleric. He is also a formidable figure in Pakistani politics, having served in Pakistan’s National Assembly from 1988 to 2018, save from 1999-2002, and from 2007 to 2013. In other words, he’s served at the national level for more than 20 years. But he’s never made such a remarkable statement, recognizing that “the Land of Israel belongs to the Jews”: It is “not for the Palestinians.”

One cannot help but wonder if this declaration was sua sponte, an expression of Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani’s deeply held beliefs, uttered without consulting anyone else, and expressing his desire to push forward the case for Pakistan to normalize ties with the Jewish state. Of course, other Muslim states have normalized relations with Israel, but all of them took care to formulaicly express their hope for the establishment of a Palestinian state. This Pakistani cleric has in breathtaking fashion stated uncompromisingly the case for the Jewish claim to the Land of Israel that the ghost of Zev Jabotinsky could not have bettered.

Russo-Turkish Relations Trade, proxy wars, and antipathy toward the West. Joseph Puder

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/01/russo-turkish-relations-joseph-puder/

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, relations between Turkey and Russia have improved, largely on account of trade. The two nations consider each other as a major trading partner. Russia is Turkey’s largest provider of energy, while Turkish companies operate in Russia. Significantly, Turkey’s dictator, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has defied the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in which Turkey has been an important member. It announced in September, 2017 its plan to purchase from Russia’s strongman, Vladimir Putin, the S-400 surface-to-air missile system, despite strong objections from the U.S. and all other members of NATO. 

During the Cold-War, Muslim but secular Turkey was the southern anchor of the West, and of the U.S. in particular, against the Soviet Union. U.S. President John F. Kennedy had nuclear missiles placed in Turkey aimed at Moscow. When, however, the Cuban missile crisis occurred in 1962, as a price for the Soviets removing their nuclear missiles from Cuba, which intended to threaten the U.S., the U.S. was secretly compelled to remove its missiles from Turkey as part of the deal. Turkey was allied with the West, and had sent troops to fight alongside the U.S. during the Korean War.

The story of Russo-Turkish relations is one of imperial wars between the Russian Romanov Tsars and the Ottoman Turkish Sultans, both with imperial ambitions to expand their respective territories. Hostilities between these two empires began in the last quarter of the seventeenth century. The first clashes occurred in the Ukraine, where the Turks held large portions of the land, and enslaved Slavic boys and girls, as well as women to serve as concubines in harems of the Ottoman Sultan/Caliphs. The Crimea was another stage in the 1687-1689 war between the two empires.

The Cold Civil War: Social Media Bans Threaten Free Speech For All

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/01/13/cold-civil-war-heats-up-social-media-bans-threaten-free-speech/

After last week’s Washington, D.C., protests, it didn’t take long for the Big Tech billionaires who own, control and run much of the internet and social media to reveal what they truly are: willing tools, a Fifth Column even, of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and enemies of free speech. A reckoning is due.

In a scene reminiscent of “The Godfather,” the Big Tech companies moved aggressively last weekend to “settle all family business” by deplatforming President Donald Trump, his supporters, a swath of the conservative movement, and anyone else who dares to voice an “unWoke” opinion.

Triggered and emboldened by a direct request from former First Lady Michelle Obama, Twitter did as told, leading to a bizarre cascade of “me-too” social media activity. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat all blacklisted Trump and, in some cases, his followers.

“After close review of recent tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them – specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter – we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said, via a statement.

HALL OF SHAME

Third-ranking GOP Rep. Liz Cheney said she will vote to impeach President Donald Trump for his role in a mob attack on the Capitol last week.
She joins Republican Rep. John Katko, who was the first Republican to say he would back impeachment, along with GOP Reps. Adam Kinzinger, Fred Upton and Jaime Herrera Beutler.
The New York Times separately reported that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell believes Trump committed impeachable offenses.
NATIONAL REVIEW HEADLINES:
Impeach, Convict, RemoveBy Kevin D. Williamson

And if there isn’t time for removal, he should still be impeached and convicted, anyway.
The End of the GOP

By Kevin D. Williamson

A dog in this condition would be put to sleep. It would be a piece of mercy.
House GOP Leaders Won’t Lobby Caucus to Oppose Impeachment

By Zachary Evans 
The decision comes after Trump incited a mob of his supporters to demonstrate outside the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
Twitter Deranged Our Politics

By Rich Lowry 
Trump was the foremost offender, but Twitter hasn’t done us any favors in this period of our national life.

The Lincoln Blacklist A political group wants to make it easier to cancel Trump alumni.

….”Stuart Stevens, a senior advisor to the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, tweeted Saturday that “we are constructing a database of Trump officials & staff that will detail their roles in the Trump administration & track where they are now.” He added: “No personal info, only professional. But they will be held accountable & not allowed to pretend they were not involved.”

The Lincoln Project is a well-funded political action group, run mostly by former GOP consultants, that made ads for Democrats in the 2020 election cycle. We often disagreed, especially with the group’s effort to unseat principled GOP Senators, but never begrudged donors exercising their First Amendment right to influence the political process.

It’s something else to turn fire on former public servants in private life. Mr. Stevens tells us in an email that he’s doing nothing more than Wikipedia does with its pages listing past Administration alumni. But then why broadcast his stigmatizing intentions?

The only reason for an anti-Trump group to publicize the employment information of former officials is to deter employers from hiring them. If they are hired, progressive employees could scour the list and create petitions for them to be fired or doxed. This will deepen America’s civic strife.

Here’s How We Flatten the Democratic Party During the Next Four Years By David P. Goldman

https://pjmedia.com/spengler/2021/01/11/heres-how-we-flatten-the-democratic-part

Trump made a colossal tactical blunder by telling his supporters to fight vote fraud in the streets. That led to last week’s excesses, and the biggest crackdown on conservatives in American history. David Horowitz likes to say, inside every progressive is a totalitarian screaming to get out. Is he ever right!

The suspension of President Trump’s Twitter account (denounced by Germany’s Angela Merkel and top French officials as a violation of basic rights) is an affront to democracy: Whatever Trump did or didn’t do, he is the elected president of the United States, convicted in no court of law, and the people have the right to hear from him. The suspension of the free-speech social media platform Parler is another totalitarian outrage by what France’s Finance Minister calls “the digital oligarchy.” And now CNN demands that cable companies drop Fox News and Newsmax.

The Trump campaign’s vote fraud lawsuits crashed and burned because the standard of proof required by a court to overturn an election is extremely high. Proof of some fraud, or a statistical proof that the outcome was highly improbable, do not meet that standard. It must be proven that sufficient votes were stolen or invented to change the outcome. No one can collect that kind of information in a few weeks. But it can be collected in months or years, and that’s what it will take.

Either we are in this for the duration, or we’ve lost. But we have not lost yet. There was massive fraud. Whether there was sufficient fraud to determine the outcome is beside the point. Large parts of the Democratic Party are criminal organizations and have to be held accountable. Take a cold shower and a deep breath, and prepare for a long war. Ask yourself if you want to win, or just let off steam.

‘Let’s All Remain Peaceful,’ Says Trump In Clear Incitement To Violence

https://babylonbee.com/news/lets-all-remain-peaceful-says-trump-in-clear-incitement-to-violence

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A review of Trump’s statements last week made it clear that he was inciting violence, as he very clearly told people to “remain peaceful” and not carry out any violence.

The dangerous cult leader encouraged his followers to protest at the Capitol, but to remain peaceful, which is an obvious instance of inciting violence, according to leading language experts and journalists.

“Let’s all remain peaceful,” he said, which clearly meant, “Go burn down the Capitol Building.”

“No violence!” added the deranged lunatic, which, according to the New York Times, was a dog whistle for “Minions, attack!”

“Go home,” he added, which meant, “Keep pressing the attack! We will not be defeated! Blow stuff up!”

At publishing time, Trump had said, “I’ve always encouraged peaceful protesting,” which meant he wanted his followers to go ransack an Arby’s.