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Ruth King

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The genocide lie Accusing Israel of carrying out a new Holocaust is factually wrong and morally repulsive. Brendan O’Neill

By on December 6th, 2024

https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/12/05/the-genocide-lie/

It’s official: loathing Israel has become the ultimate luxury belief. You can’t swing a Daunt Books tote bag in polite society without hitting an Israel hater. This week we’ve seen artist Jasleen Kaur use her Turner Prize victory speech to damn Israel’s ‘genocide of the Palestinian people’ as the assembled dignitaries in the hallowed halls of the Tate rattled their jewellery in agreement. We watched as Juliet Stevenson, the luvvie’s luvvie, titillated a gathering of affluent socialists with her mellifluous censure of Israel for its ‘massacre of the Palestinian people’. She was wearing a keffiyeh. Of course she was. The radical middle class rarely leaves the house without first pulling on that sartorial signifier of virtue.

And now, to top it off, the cunning stunts of Led By Donkeys have got hearts racing in posh coffee houses everywhere by accusing Israel of genocide. Yesterday, the beardy bros of this most grating of campaign groups took a break from berating the oiks for voting Brexit to berate Israel for fighting back against the army of anti-Semites that attacked it on 7 October. They rolled out a giant banner in Parliament Square saying: ‘YES IT’S A GENOCIDE.’ If I had their time, money and insatiable urge to make a media spectacle of my moral rectitude, I’d roll out a banner saying: ‘No it isn’t, you twats.’

Nothing better confirms that Israel-bashing has become a status-conferring belief among the upper middle classes than its showy embrace by Led By Donkeys. For this outfit, founded by four craft-beer tossers in Stoke Newington, is the very physical embodiment of the depressive doctrines of the metropolitan elite. They’ve spent years bewailing Brexit and slamming the Tories and deriding the idiot ‘gammon’ who vote for such things. They call themselves a ‘guerilla operation’ but really they’re the activist wing of a bewildered establishment that can’t believe the great unwashed keep defying its moral instructions. And now they’ve added Israelophobia to their charter of correct-think.

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Niall Ferguson: The Rot In Britain—and the Remedy Lately it seems that mine is a country with a death wish. Can we avoid national suicide? By Niall Ferguson

By on December 6th, 2024

https://www.thefp.com/p/niall-ferguson-the-rot-in-britain?utm_campaign=email-post&r=8t06w&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Something is rotten in the state of Britain. It was epitomized by a recent event at the Oxford Union, the 201-year-old debating society that is such a distinctive and admirable part of Oxford life. It was at the Union that, 40 years ago, I spoke as freely (and indeed as irresponsibly) as I ever have, discovering in the process that I was not cut out for politics. It was there that I saw great debaters of the past, present, and future.

But I never saw anything like the events of November 28.

The motion for debate was in itself a provocation: “This House Believes Israel Is an Apartheid State Responsible for Genocide.” But what was truly shocking was the conduct of the president of the Union, an Egyptian student named Ebrahim Osman-Mowafy, who appears to have abused his position by openly siding with those proposing the motion and treating the opposing speakers with contempt.

According to the broadcaster, Jonathan Sacerdoti, who was arguing for Israel’s side, Osman-Mowafy canceled the traditional pre-debate group photographs, but posed alone for private photos with the anti-Israel team. During the debate, the pro-Israel speakers were repeatedly heckled by the crowd. At one point, a young woman stood up and screamed at Sacerdoti: “Liar! Fuck you, the genocidal motherfucker!”

Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a senior Hamas leader who defected to Israel, who was arguing alongside Sacerdoti, was met with jeering derision and cries of “traitor” and “prostitute” (in Arabic). Yousef asked the audience to indicate by a show of hands how many of them would have reported prior knowledge of the October 7, 2023, atrocities to Israel. Not even a quarter of the crowd raised their hands.

For the other side, Miko Peled, an Israeli general’s son turned radical anti-Zionist, described the murders, rapes, and kidnappings of October 7 as “acts of heroism.” The Palestinian poet Mohammed El-Kurd, who has equated Zionism with genocide, began his speech by announcing that there was “no room for debate” and ended it by walking out of the chamber. The motion passed by 278 in favor to 59 against.

Reading reports of this shameful fiasco at my alma mater, I found myself wondering: Where are the Thought Police when you really need them? After all, the Oxford Union’s latest debate sounded a lot like one of those “noncrime hate incidents” that currently consume so much of the British police’s time.

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Can Elon and Vivek Lead Us to a More Efficient Government? Not with Congress unwilling to give up money and power. By Richard Truesdell and Keith Lehmann

By on December 6th, 2024

https://amgreatness.com/2024/12/06/can-elon-and-vivek-lead-us-to-a-more-efficient-government/

Once Donald Trump is inaugurated as our 47th U.S. president, Tesla, SpaceX, and X/Twitter CEO Elon Musk will likely head a Department of Government Efficiency commission (DOGE). Teaming up with tech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, this dynamic duo will focus on “drastic reforms” targeting “the entire federal government.”

Already there is talk that Musk and Ramaswamy have identified work-at-home policies for federal workers in an effort to trim $2 billion of bloat from the budget. One area they are targeting is waste at the Veterans Administration.

You might not support the movement to “transition” our country to electric vehicles. But you must be impressed with the sheer determination and sense of urgency Elon Musk applied to his vision of building EVs to scale as he did with Tesla. Similarly, Musk brought the U.S. space program back into existence with similar single-mindedness, having achieved 100 successful year-to-date space missions in 2024 with more to come.

A core aspect of his approach to development and production was found in his recent biography, a five-step process that he refers to as “the algorithm.”

Question every requirement. Never accept a requirement that came from a department or committee.

Delete any process you can. You may have to add them back later. In fact, if you do not end up adding back 10 percent of them, you didn’t delete enough.

Simplify and optimize. This should come right after Step 2. Do not simplify and optimize a process that should not exist.

Accelerate cycle time. Every procedure can be sped up.

Automate. This comes last. Do not automate until all requirements have been questioned, processes have been deleted, everything has been simplified, and procedures have been sped up.

Imagine if these five steps were applied to reforming the U.S. government. It would probably look a lot like what Musk achieved with X/Twitter. Less than two years after Musk acquired the company, it operates today with 80 percent fewer employees and is much more productive, accurate, timely, and ideologically balanced.

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Gunman Shot Kindergarteners in California for ‘Palestine’ A “response to America’s involvement with genocide and oppression of Palestinians” by Daniel Greenfield

By on December 6th, 2024

https://www.frontpagemag.com/gunman-shot-kindergarteners-in-california-for-palestine/

Two kindergarteners were critically wounded when Glenn Litton, a monster with a long criminal record and apparent delusions, tricked his way into the school and then opened fire in a small California town.

Glenn Litton lied to gain access to the Feather River Seventh-Day Adventists school by claiming to be the grandfather of a prospective student before opening fire on the children.

The gunman wrote in a note that the shootings of children were “carried out countermeasure in necessitated response to America’s involvement with genocide and oppression of Palestinians along with attacks towards Yemen.”

The media emphasizes that Litton was mentally ill and I’m sure his sense of reality was probably none too grounded, but the note also makes it clear that he had been feeding off pro-terrorist propaganda on social media probably supplemented by media coverage.

Even apart from his recent support for Islamic terrorism, Litton was a poster boy for California’s revolving door criminal justice system.

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A Real Pain Jesse Eisenberg explores American Jewish identity eighty years after the Holocaust. by Danusha V. Goska

By on December 6th, 2024

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm-plus/a-real-pain/

A Real Pain is a comedy-drama Holocaust-themed film. A Real Pain was written, directed, and co-produced by Jesse Eisenberg. The film depicts the journey of two cousins, David and Benji Kaplan, who travel with a tour group to Poland. The cousins’ late grandmother, Dory, was a survivor. The cousins’ journey is an effort to honor her and better understand their heritage.

Eisenberg, 41, plays David; Kieran Culkin, 42, plays Benji. A Real Pain also features Will Sharpe as James, the tour guide, and other tour members Jennifer Grey as Marcia; Kurt Egyiawan as Eloge; and Liza Sadovy and Daniel Oreskes as Diane and Mark.

David is a happily married husband and father. He lives in an attractive brownstone and makes a good living selling ads. He suffers from anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, as does Eisenberg himself. David takes prescription medication to suppress his symptoms.

Benji is a “real pain” – as in, “a pain in the ass.” He is disruptive and socially inappropriate. Benji lives in his mother’s house and smokes a lot of marijuana. He has no committed relationships or steady work. He uses the F-word in every sentence.

David’s pain and Benji’s pain are set against the overwhelming pain of the Holocaust. The tour group members are flummoxed in their attempts to assimilate historical reality. They juxtapose their comfortable American lives with what Holocaust victims endured. They cannot craft a coherent narrative about the world or their own lives that encompasses that dichotomy.

RottenTomatoes awards A Real Pain a hefty 96% positive score. Prognosticators predict Academy Award nominations for Eisenberg, Culkin, and the film itself. Moira MacDonald, writing in the Seattle Times, speaks for many. The film “examines Jewish identity, generational trauma, sibling-like rivalry and the strangeness of being in a country you don’t recognize, but that’s nonetheless partly your own.” Other critics use superlatives like “perfect,” “radiant.” “vivid,” “moving,” “funny,” “devastating,” “masterful,” “superb,” “rueful,” “heart-swelling,” and “poignant.” Peter Travers of ABC news promises, “You’ll laugh till it hurts.”

David Fear in Rolling Stone writes, “Culkin” produces “the single greatest, funniest, most cringe-comic and heartbreaking performance.” Richard Roper, in the Chicago Sun Times, says that Culkin takes “a character who could have been a one-dimensional, shtick-reliant jerk and infuses him with vulnerability and empathy.”

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Amnesty International and Balaam’s Talking Ass by Seth Mandel

By on December 6th, 2024

https://www.commentary.org/seth-mandel/amnesty-international-and-balaams-talking-ass/?vgo_ee=3xxTz8o1O%2F7d9HuBtB3FmsUQj67wDM1s4yaaaNXdMJo9QsM%3D%3AZGXaMR29aKIE%2FybP91c7nT%2BH2%2BYeFvok

It’s hard not to take some enjoyment in the absolute disaster of Amnesty International’s new report on Israel, in which the infamous NGO blew the biggest moment of its nefarious existence. Surely one can appreciate a modern reenactment of the biblical tale of Balaam’s Talking Ass.

In that story, the Moabite king hires the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites. Along the way, God sends an angel to stand in his way, but only Balaam’s she-donkey can see the angel. The donkey swerves and Balaam beats the animal. On the third attempt, the angel successfully blocks them and the donkey lays down in surrender. Balaam beats the donkey again, but this time she speaks: “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?”

They argue, and God’s angel reveals itself to Balaam, who is embarrassed by the whole ordeal. When Balaam ultimately tries to curse the Israelites, he finds that God has put only words of praise in his mouth.

Balaam, then, is unable to execute the sole purpose of his mission. To add insult to injury, his own donkey observed God’s messenger before he did.

Amnesty International’s leaders came to curse the Jews, failed, and were revealed to be sub-donkey intellects in the process.

Here’s what happened. Amnesty has produced a report accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. It was intended to be the capstone of the organization’s work. But a funny thing happened on the way to the forum.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

Wai Wah Chin A Conspiracy Against Specialized High Schools? Opponents angle to defund the entrance exam.

By on December 6th, 2024

https://www.city-journal.org/article/a-conspiracy-against-specialized-high-schools

New York City’s racial polarizers are back, targeting academic excellence in public schools. This time, they’re mobilizing to oppose the standardized test that the city’s specialized high schools use to achieve race-blind, meritocratic admissions.

To understand the polarizers’ scheme, take a step back. The Specialized High Schools Admission Test (SHSAT), which determines admissions to eight of the city’s nine specialized high schools, had been provided by Pearson Assessments to the New York City Department of Education under a multiyear contract. That contract expired on October 31, and the decision to renew the deal falls to the city’s Panel for Education Policy (PEP).
 
PEP itself has a history of racial politicking. The panel infamously helped kill the department’s gifted and talented program in 2021, with members claiming that the G&T admissions test was racist. They declined to approve the vendor contract for G&T testing—with Pearson. “A yes vote on this contract would be a continuation of white supremacy,” said one PEP member. Other members suddenly discovered frugality and objected to the test’s cost.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, in his final year in office and no friend of G&T, used the panel’s denial of the Pearson contract to terminate the program entirely. Mayor Eric Adams restored it, but without the admissions testing that PEP had rejected, rendering the program far less effective in delivering rigorous K-8 education that, among other things, prepares top students for the SHSAT.

This time, the racial polarizers’ pretext for objecting to the proposed Pearson contract renewal is the proposal to replace paper-and-pencil testing with computerized (“digitized”) testing, which, they claim, “could worsen inequities.” The notion that, in our digital age, the city’s sharpest eighth-graders would be intimidated by computers is ridiculous. Indeed, the SAT, Advanced Placement tests, and New York State’s proficiency tests—the last administered even to grade schoolers—have all been successfully computerized without fuss. The GRE and MCAT have been computerized for decades.

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New Poll Shows How Americans Feel About Trump’s Nominees Guy Benson

By on December 6th, 2024

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2024/12/05/new-poll-all-of-trumps-nominees-are-viewed-more-favorably-than-unfavorably-n2648647

With Washington, DC consumed with controversy of a handful of Trump nominees, the American public is looking…pretty comfortable with what they’re seeing from the presidential transition.  We noted strong polling on this front before Thanksgiving, and the trend appears to be continuing.  Donald Trump’s overall favorability has pulled even at 48-48, whereas both his defeated rival and the current incumbent underwater by double digits.  You’ll see that recent Gallup data in the graphic embedded below.  As for the transition, a sizable majority (52/38) approves, with literally every single Trump nominee polling with more support than opposition — both according to Morning Consult:

One of Trump’s most embattled picks, Defense Secretary-designate Pete Hegseth, is above water by single digits, with the public splitting almost into thirds on his nomination: Support, oppose, and don’t know.  Hegseth is facing a series of allegations against him and responded in a Wall Street Journal op/ed yesterday.  An excerpt:

I’ve been through a lot: combat tours, job changes, divorces and family challenges. (Yes, I love my mom very much, and she loves me.) I have always led with honesty, integrity and passion. Tragically, many veterans never find the purpose for their next chapter and succumb to the bottle, depression or, worst of all, suicide. I understand what they are facing—because I’ve lived it. But by the grace of God, I took another path. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has renewed and restored my life. I am saved by his grace. The press is peddling anonymous story after anonymous story, all meant to smear me and tear me down. It’s a textbook manufactured media takedown.

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We Were 100% Right In 2020 — ‘Elect Joe Biden: He’ll Be The Worst President In U.S. History’

By on December 6th, 2024

https://issuesinsights.com/2024/12/06/we-were-100-right-elect-joe-biden-hell-be-the-worst-president-in-u-s-history/

Editor’s note: Now that Joe Biden’s disastrous term as president is coming to an inglorious end, we thought it worth reminding readers that we predicted his failed presidency more than four years ago. Even we are surprised by how prescient we were. Every single item on our list came true.  The only thing we missed is that he would end his presidency by betraying his own party and all his sycophants in the media with a get-out-of-jail-free card for his miscreant son. Unfortunately, all the elites and pundits who gaslit the country about Biden will continue to be feted and fattened, while we do the hard and unglamorous work of telling the unvarnished truth. Below is our Oct. 20, 2020, editorial.

Elect Joe Biden: He’ll Be The Worst President In U.S. History

October 20, 2020

Ranking modern presidents, from first to worst, is an entirely subjective matter. That said, we’re quite sure Joe Biden will be, if elected, the most destructive president of our lifetimes if not of all time.

At I&I we tend to look at Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama as being the worst presidents from our lifetimes. Carter saw himself as the caretaker of the country’s inevitable decline rather than someone who would lift it from its malaise. Obama managed the worst economic recovery in our post-war history, allowed ISIS to grow into a terrorist power, and rolled over for Iran’s mullahs. His was the most divisive presidency of modern times. If this nation is on the brink of another civil war, as some suggest we are, it’s because he set the tone for the bitter separation we see today among Americans.

At least Carter led the deregulation of the airline, trucking, and rail industries, and in his 1978 State of the Union address acknowledged “we really need to realize that there is a limit to the role and the function of government.”

Biden would neither do nor say any such thing.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

Will Racial Quotas Survive SCOTUS? By Garrett Snedeker

By on December 5th, 2024

https://tomklingenstein.com/will-racial-quotas-survive-scotus/

Now that the first slate of undergraduate admissions statistics following the Supreme Court’s decision outlawing race-based affirmative action in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and its companion case has been released, it is clear that elite colleges are following one of two paths. 

The first path is largely one of prudential compliance with the Court’s ruling. Elite colleges following the first path feature incoming classes of first-year students with higher proportions of Asian and white students than in previous classes while maintaining stellar secondary school class rank and standardized test scores. Call this the path of least resistance, demonstrating prima facie that these colleges’ admissions practices hew toward the race-neutrality the SFFA decision requires. 

The second path is one of greater resistance toward the Court’s ruling. With the composition of incoming classes of first-year students unchanged from previous admissions cycles or even in some cases featuring increased numbers of black and Hispanic students, elite colleges following the second path are taking increased risks of future litigation. Such litigation, even if unwelcome, would demonstrate fidelity to a regime that preserves race-based affirmative action and quotas, in spirit if not in name.     

Affirmative action in college admissions has redounded toward greater percentages of black and Hispanic students, to the detriment of Asian-American and white applicants. The problem at root though is that race-conscious admissions, a group quota regime which Tom Klingenstein has rightly decried on this website and in his public remarks, runs contrary to the first principles of moral and legal judgment. As philosopher Hadley Arkes has observed, “It is the fallacy of assuming that we can draw moral inferences about persons, their goodness or badness, their moral deserts, as though race determined or controlled their conduct and character.” Setting aside the fundamental injustice of using race as a proxy for an individual’s moral standing, racial categories in modern America are imprecise groupings of individuals motivated to further political goals, as the scholar David E. Bernstein demonstrated at length in his 2022 book Classified, on which I worked as a research assistant. Elite colleges signal fidelity to these political goals by reporting racial quotas as a sign of commitment to group diversity rather than individual merit. 

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