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Ruth King

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Christiane Amanpour Gives The Game Away On Media Blackout Of Biden Scandal

By on October 26th, 2020

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/10/26/christiane-amanpour-gives-the-game-away-on-media-blackout-of-biden-scandal/

Anyone who is still clinging to the notion that the mainstream press isn’t a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party needs to watch the exchange between premier journalist Christiane Amanpour and Republican National Committee spokeswoman Liz Harrington.

As the troubling Hunter Biden story has developed, the press’ reasons for not covering it shifted. At first, the media said they wouldn’t cover it because the veracity of the laptop and the smoking gun emails hadn’t been “verified” and speculated that it was all part of another Russian effort to get Trump elected.

After the authenticity of the laptop and at least some of the most damaging emails and texts were shown to be legitimate, and after the attempt to portray it as a Russian hoax was demolished, the press decided that it wasn’t a big enough scandal to warrant coverage, that it was just “a distraction.”

Asked about NPR’s lack of coverage of the scandal, for example, NPR Managing Editor for News Terence Samuel, said that “We don’t want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don’t want to waste the listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions. And quite frankly, that’s where we ended up, this was … a politically driven event and we decided to treat it that way.”

(Websters should add this definition to “distraction” – n: in media parlance, a scandal that involves a Democratic politician.)

National Review had it almost right when it said in an editorial that “Too many journalists seem to live in terror of being blamed for reporting stories that might influence voters to reelect Donald Trump.”

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Trumpism: Then, Now—and in the Future? Victor Davis Hanson

By on October 26th, 2020

https://amgreatness.com/2020/10/25/trumpism-then-now-and-in-the-future/

Like it or not, Trump hit on a great truth that no country can write off its vast industrial interior, destroy its borders, or prefer managed decline over renewal, and meanwhile call itself moral.

hat was, is, and will be the Trump agenda? 

Against all odds, what elected Trump in 2016 was a recalibration of American foreign and domestic policy—and the art of politicking itself.

Doctrine and Policy

In foreign affairs, the United States would no longer adhere to every aspect of the 75-year-old postwar order it created—given the world now bore little resemblance to the world of 1945. 

Prior bipartisan foreign policy had often ossified to the point of enhancing the power of our enemies, weakening our complacent friends, and terribly damaging our own power. When Trump entered office, ISIS was proving that it was hardly a “JV” organization. North Korea was recklessly testing missiles and bragging of its nuclear-tipped rockets pointed at our West Coast. 

Israel and the moderate Arab regimes were ostracized as part of the insane Obama empowerment of theocratic Iran and its quest for a radical crescent encompassing Syria, Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Hamas.

Russian reset was an utter failure. Unhinged, we were hectoring Vladimir Putin on human rights while agreeing to dismantle missile defense in Europe, if he would just please behave for a bit, and give Obama space during his 2012 reelection bid. The Asian pivot was laughable. Our friendly and hostile trading partners praised the Obama Administration in direct proportion to their manipulation of it.

In the 1950s, it was understandable that the United States would spend blood and treasure abroad to resurrect the destroyed economies after World War II and contain Soviet Communism. Its policy of allowing recovering allies to run up huge trade deficits to reenter the world community was seen both as desirable and affordable, as was putting down Communist insurrections the world over to contain the Soviet Union. 

Western Europe, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea became powerhouses, often with wide open, one-sided access to U.S. markets. China would never have achieved its 40-year stunning ascendence had America applied to Chinese trade the same mercantilism that China applied to the United States. 

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HOMELAND SECURITY, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Iran’s Mullah, the Master of Terror Cells in the World by Majid Rafizadeh

By on October 26th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16675/iran-terror-cells

Iranian terrorist “sleeper cells” are reportedly continuing to operate in the US, according to intelligence officials and security experts. The Iranian regime is also continuing to target Latin American countries, where it dispatches its agents (specifically from Hezbollah), creates terror cells, and trains militias.

By turning a blind eye to the Iranian regime’s terror activities in foreign countries and by refusing to open investigations or even condemn the mullahs, the United Nations is complicit in Iran’s malign behavior across the globe. Perhaps it is time for the US to “pay for what it wants” from the UN, rather than automatically handing it billions, more than a fifth if its budget, every year — and to make sure America gets what it pays for?

Some of the main objectives of the Iranian regime’s terror cells and proxies are to create fear in other nations through terrorism, subvert foreign governments and ultimately impose on the world an Islamist and Sharia system that mirrors that of Tehran. As Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah previously acknowledged:

“Our goal, which we have no choice but to adopt due to our ideological beliefs, is the project of the Islamic State of Lebanon… Not as a separate Islamic Republic but as a part of a ‘Great Islamic Republic,’ ruled by (former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah) Khomeini.”

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Disgusting Professorial Teachings Welcome to the world of gross academic deceptions. Walter Williams

By on October 26th, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/10/disgusting-professorial-teachings-walter-williams/

The ugliness that we have recently witnessed including rioting, billions of dollars of property destruction, assaults, murders and grossly stupid claims about our nation has its origins on college campuses. Two websites, College Reform and College Fix, report on the despicable teachings on college campuses across the nation. Let us look at some of it.

In response to Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson’s tweeting that he supports “citizen soldiers” in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Tressie McMillan Cottom, a black professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science declared that “they have deputized all white people to murder us.”

Jesse A. Goldberg, professor in the English department at Auburn University who teaches classes in African American literature, American literature and composition wrote a now-deleted post on Twitter, “f—- every cop. Every single one.” Goldberg added, “The only ethical choice for any cop to make at this point is to refuse to do their job and quit.”

Eddie Glaude Jr., a Princeton University professor and chairman of the Department of African American Studies said that when it comes to policing in America “Black people still live under the slave codes.” Glaude’s tweet came in response to news that Jacob Blake was handcuffed to his hospital bed after being shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Glaude added:

“Placing shackles around the feet of Jacob Blake amounted to a physical reminder that he was still, no matter the protests, a n——r in the eyes of these policemen.”

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America’s Choice: The 2020 Election A close look at exactly where the candidates stand on every major issue. John Perazzo

By on October 26th, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/10/americas-choice-2020-election-john-perazzo/

The purpose of this resource is to provide our readers with vital information about where President Trump, Joe Biden, and their respective parties stand on a host of vital issues. There are also entries on additional matters of great importance to American voters. Simply click on whichever links interest you. And share this resource with every voter you know.

Positions & Actions on Major Issues:

Abortion

Criminal Justice

Democrat Support for CAIR

Democrat Support for Slavery Reparations

Democrats’ Close Ties to Al Sharpton

Democrat Party & Black Lives Matter 
Economy

Education

Electoral College

Environment & Energy

Health Care

Guns & the Second Amendment

Immigration, Asylum, & Refugee Policy

Israel

Iran Nuclear Deal

National Defense

“Packing the Senate” by Creating Additional States

Radical Democratic Plan to Eliminate the Suburbs

Supreme Court

Terrorism / Defeating ISIS

Trump’s Historic Peace Agreements

Trump’s Magnificent Leadership Through the Coronavirus Crisis

Trump & China

Trump & Russia

Veterans’ Affairs

Voting Rights

Additional Matters of Importance

The Myth of the Democratic Party As Champion of “The Little Guy”

Corruption by Joe Biden & His Son

Tara Reade’s Sex Assault Allegations Against Joe Biden

“Russia Collusion”: The Most Evil Political Hoax in American History

Donald Trump: A President Who Loves America

Biden & the Democrats: Viewing America As a Racist Country That Must Be Transformed

Examining Charlottesville: Is Trump a Racist?

“Animals” at the Border: Is Trump Anti-Hispanic?

“Criminals” & “Rapists”: Does Trump Hate Mexican Immigrants?

The “Muslim Ban”: Is Trump an “Islamophobe”?

Ignoring Trump’s Effusive Praise for Nonwhites

The Fraudulent Impeachment of President Trump

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ELECTIONS, MEDIA Comments turned off

Linking Farrakhan to – Trump? ‘Tablet’ magazine tries to pin left-wing anti-Semitism on the president. Bruce Bawer

By on October 26th, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/10/linking-farrakhan-trump-bruce-bawer/

EXCERPTS

In a recent editorial, Tablet, the 11-year-old online magazine that calls itself “a new read on Jewish life,” warned that Louis Farrakhan, the poisonously anti-Semitic head of the Nation of Islam, was being normalized by “irresponsible actors across the political spectrum,” including Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and the editors of the New York Times. Tablet‘s evidence for Trump’s participation in this nefarious activity was that he is “now partnering with rapper and Farrakhan fan Ice Cube.”

Yes, Trump has accepted the support of Ice Cube. Overwhelmingly, the mainstream media have responded to this fact not by criticizing Trump for associating with an anti-Semite and Farrakhan fan but by criticizing Ice Cube for associating with Trump. In any event, Ice Cube’s support for Trump aside, Trump’s record on Jews, unlike those of Obama and the Times, is nothing less than stellar. Long before he became president, he broke the ban on Jewish membership in Palm Beach clubs. As president, he’s been, to quote Netanyahu, “the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House.” His daughter is a Jewish convert and her children are Jewish. For Tablet to suggest that Trump’s extremely tenuous connection to Farrakhan is comparable to Obama’s long-term association with him – and with other prominent anti-Semites – is ridiculous. It’s especially ridiculous considering that Farrakhan himself has made no secret of his hostility to Trump. “If America elects Donald Trump,” Farrakhan said before the 2016 election, “it will head into the abyss of hell.” In a speech given last February, Farrakhan called Trump a “thug,” a “beast,” and a “terrorist.”  

But then, this is Tablet. To be sure, as Jewish periodicals go, it’s not as consistently and outrageously leftist as, say, the Forward. But it does have a record of defending Obama and bashing Trump – even though the former has been the most anti-Jewish American president in history, and the latter the most philosemitic. Recall that Obama repeatedly presented Israel and the Palestinian Authority as morally equivalent; signed the Iran deal; sought “to thwart an Israeli operation to liquidate Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani”; and abstained on a December 2016 UN resolution against Israel. It was Obama whose first Secretary of State, John  Kerry, thundered that Israel’s “pernicious” settlement policy made Mideast peace impossible.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

What Latin America’s Communist Travails Say about the USA’s Future By Eileen F. Toplansky

By on October 26th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/10/what_latin_americas_communist_travails_say_about_americas_future.html

During his 1961 inaugural address, President John F. Kennedy made it abundantly clear that he was concerned that the countries to the south of the United States not fall prey to communism.  He wrote:

To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge — to convert our good words into good deeds — in a new alliance for progress — to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty.  But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers [emphasis mine].  Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas.  And let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.

Yet not only have communist inroads been made south of the border, but jihadist attacks have increased.  Thus, “[d]uring the 2000s and early 2010s, Iran made notable inroads throughout Latin America.  Tehran capitalized on shifting power dynamics in an increasingly multipolar world and a tide of anti-US sentiments in Latin America in order to assert Iranian influence, most notably in countries where Left-leaning governments were in power.  Iran’s then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials deepened Tehran’s relations with governments in Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.”  In fact, South America has served as a “base for Hezbollah operatives who represent an extension of Iranian influence” into our southern neighbors’ countries.

In 2018, apologists for socialism cited Bolivia as a “seemingly successful” socialist regime.  They claimed that Bolivia had experienced a “3.8 percent growth rate” and that this was proof that socialism could work.  They contrasted Bolivia’s success with Venezuela’s total destruction under socialism and claimed that the latter was an “outlier” instead of a prime example of what occurs under socialist regimes.

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Islamism Converges With Cancel Culture Samuel Paty’s jihadist murderer targeted the victim based on social media outrage and lies. By Laurent Dubreuil

By on October 26th, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/islamism-converges-with-cancel-culture-11603659312?mod=opinion_lead_pos7

Samuel Paty wanted to teach his students a lesson about free speech. He ended up paying with his life. Paty, 47, a middle-school teacher in a Paris suburb, announced to his civics class in early October that he would show some of the caricatures of the prophet Muhammad that the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published in 2015 and that students were free to opt out of viewing the images.

The teacher was immediately denounced on social media. In a viral video, the Muslim father of one of Paty’s students related a series of fabrications. He falsely claimed that his daughter attended the class on free speech, that the teacher banned all Muslim students from the room and later showed the class a “photograph of a naked man” as if it were a portrait of “the Prophet of Islam,” and that his daughter had been excluded from the school in retaliation for her objections. 

On social media the father posted Paty’s name and the school’s address and encouraged all Muslims who shared his concerns to assist him in having the “rogue” instructor fired. The father and his entourage repeatedly described the affair as an act of racism and Islamophobia. 

An 18-year old Chechen refugee, Abdoullakh Anzorov, learned of the uproar from social media. He came to the middle school and bribed students to find out which teacher was Samuel Paty. Anzorov followed Paty as he left the school, then beat and stabbed him to death, decapitated him, and posted an image of the teacher’s severed head on Twitter. Later that day Anzorov was confronted by police; he attacked them with a knife and was shot and killed. 

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ELECTIONS Comments turned off

The Trump Boom Is Real The post-2009 recovery may look continuous, but Trump beat expectations while Obama fell short.By Lawrence B. Lindsey

By on October 26th, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-trump-boom-is-real-11603659361?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

There’s often more to the macroeconomy than what meets the eye. My friend Alan Blinder published an op-ed recently declaring that the employment surge during Donald Trump’s presidency is a “convenient myth.” He noted that unemployment had declined steadily since 2010 and that there was no acceleration in job growth after the 2017 tax reform. But there’s little reason to think the expansion held for a record-long 10 years merely on its own steam; Mr. Trump’s policies gave it new life.

After any recession, employment grows quickly because there is a surplus of job seekers. Late in a recovery, when the unemployment rate has already fallen sharply, growth becomes much harder to come by. Common sense suggests that further progress is more difficult at a 4% unemployment rate than at 8%

It’s easy to look at steadily declining unemployment and conclude that no later variables had much effect. But a better question is how much unemployment declined relative to what experts predicted. Take the Federal Reserve, the body on which Mr. Blinder and I served together.

In December 2016, the Fed predicted that 2017 would close at a 4.5% unemployment rate. In fact, it ended at 4.1%. The Fed in 2016 also projected that 2018 would end with 4.5% unemployment, believing further improvement was virtually impossible. But unemployment reached 3.9% in 2018. Ditto for 2019: The Fed predicted 4.5%, but unemployment fell to 3.5% that year, a multidecade low. Under Mr. Trump, the unemployment rate fell to a level the Fed hadn’t even considered. The Fed’s 2016 predictions for GDP were 0.7 percentage points too low for 2017, 0.5 points too low for 2018 and 0.4 points too low for 2019.

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Keep an Eye on the Michigan Senate Race Republican John James is the best Republican hope for a surprise pickup on Election Night.

By on October 26th, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/keep-an-eye-on-the-michigan-senate-race-11603659430?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

Michigan hasn’t elected a Republican U.S. senator since 1994, and Republicans this year are working to save more than half a dozen seats in the upper chamber. But the Senate race in Michigan presents an unexpected pickup opportunity. Recent polls show Republican John James, a 39-year-old African-American Iraq war veteran, within striking distance of first-term Sen. Gary Peters and outperforming President Trump, who narrowly carried the state in 2016. The Real Clear Politics average has Mr. Peters leading 48.6% to 43.4%.

Mr. Peters, 61, was the only nonincumbent Democrat elected to the Senate in 2014. But his GOP opponent answered questions clumsily and repeatedly stumbled on the trail. Mr. James looks more formidable.

A Detroit native, he served eight years in the military before joining his family’s company, James Group International. He is now CEO of Renaissance Global Logistics, a subsidiary. Although he lost a 2018 challenge to Sen. Debbie Stabenow by 6.5 points, he was fighting a strong undertow: Democrats swept Michigan’s statewide offices, flipped two congressional seats and picked up five seats each in the state House and Senate.

Running on the same ticket as Mr. Trump may be both a blessing and curse. While the president may motivate Republican-leaning voters who didn’t turn out in 2018, he may do the same for Democrats. To flip the Senate seat, Mr. James will need to persuade moderates who dislike Mr. Trump but are leery of progressive policies.

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