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Ruth King

Bashing Israel Only Way To Be Accepted In Some Social Justice Movements, Raheel Raza Warns

https://thej.ca/2020/07/15/bashing-israel-only-way-to-be-accepted-in-some-social-justice-movements-raheel-raza-warns/

Antisemitism is a Virus Too! program highlights the pandemic of antisemitic hate

The Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation has been hosting a series of Web Talks since early April under the overarching theme, Antisemitism is a Virus Too! The programs have highlighted the pandemic of antisemitic hate being spread across communities and continents, with experts addressing the rise of antisemitism in Iran, Turkey, India, England; its incipient spread through Black Lives Matter and other social justice movements; and the history of antisemitism and the three-headed monsters— leftism, Islamism and alt-right. It is not enough to track the spread of this virus, CAEF is encouraging action to thwart it. 

Over the millennia, antisemitism has been sometimes dormant, but it always rises during tumultuous times and it conveniently morphs to suit the culture and conditions in which it is ever-present. Today’s antisemitism is stridently anti-Zionist and is built on hideous lies, media distortions, fakery, hoaxes, and myths.

At the July 10th Web Talk, noted journalist, public speaker, human rights advocate, Raheel Raza spoke about Antisemitism, Racism and Social Justice Movements, and pointed out that Islamists have hijacked many just causes by attaching their anti-Zionist messages to the cause of others. So, for example, after the death in the US city of Ferguson in 2014 of a young Black boy, antisemites began chanting “From Ferguson to Palestine”.  The 2016 platform of Black Lives Matter carried disturbingly antisemitic clauses calling to end military support and funding for the IDF, and for altering the strategic alliance between the US and its ally Israel.

Why A Two-State Solution Is Doomed To Fail-We all know that land for peace never works By Lauren Isaacs

https://thej.ca/2020/07/12/why-a-two-state-solution-is-doomed-to-fail/

Herut Canada asserts that a two-state solution will not, and cannot, work. It is illogical, unrealistic, and immoral. Here’s why:

The first reason is track records. Let’s look at the track record of the modern-day Palestinians and surrounding Arab countries. When the Arab countries have had possession of the land in and around Israel – historically, what have they done? The first thing they have done was to prevent the Jews from visiting biblical Jewish holy sites. Jews were prevented from going to The Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron (where our ancestors are buried) when it was under Arab control. To think that it would be different this time, if we created this magical utopia of a two-state solution that they wouldn’t prevent us from visiting our biblical heartland, then we aren’t being intellectually honest with ourselves.

The reality is that it has happened in the past and it will happen again. How would you feel if you knew that you will be prevented from going to visit Rachel’s Tomb or if the Cave of the Patriarchs was once again closed off to you just because you are a Jew? Perhaps consider how we feel every time we are prevented from praying on the Temple Mount. I am not happy about that, and I hope you aren’t either.

Another thing we have to consider is the fact that Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority for the last 15 years, has stated very clearly that not a single Israeli – civilian or soldier – will set foot in future Palestinian lands. This means that the future Palestinian state, this potential utopia that we are going to create for the Palestinians is going to be completely Jew-free. This is not a future plan that “may or may not” come to fruition – Mahmoud Abbas is in fact stating from the outset that he will ethnically cleanse his land of Jews. From the get-go, there are going to be no Jews in this Palestinian land. This should horrify you! Again, if we are being intellectually honest with ourselves … these are ancient biblical lands of Israel that have legally belonged to the Jewish people for over 3000 years.

The Dangerous Passivity of the Intellectual Right ; And why they need to start fighting the war of ideas again. Richard Schinder

https://spectator.org/dangerous-passivity-intellectual-right-culture-war/

It is sufficiently obvious as to not require detailed explanation that in the modern era, movements for change require intellectuals, activists, and foot soldiers at scale in order to gain traction in the public square, much less achieve some measure of the outcomes sought. 

So why is it that in a so-called “50/50” nation, the activist Left in its various forms and combinations — the Women’s March, the Resistance, Black Lives Matter, et. al. — can rally tens of thousands to the streets at the drop of a hat, while similar movements of the Right — with the notable sectarian exceptions of the March for Life and the odd gun rights rally here and there — command no such passion and obeisance? How is it that those promoting leftist causes better sustain organizational vigor despite frequently advocating for execrable objectives (such as defunding the police) utterly bereft of intellectual rigor, evidentiary support, or logical consistency, while their counterparts on the right do little more than to speak hopefully of “silent majorities” who are only ever heard from in voting booths, if at all?

Put differently, why do the winning ideals of the classically liberal right — and by winning, I mean those values that contributed to creating the wealthiest, most just society the world has ever known, and which faced down the twin collectivist evils of fascism and communism in a single 50-year period — not inspire the masses to the same degree of those failed, faded pennants carried aloft by the Left?

Classical liberalism — which for these purposes is a term that can be used interchangeably with “conservatism” or “the Right” — prevailed in history through the force of its ideas and the material, cultural and civilizational wealth made possible by their application. In its ascendancy, it had to overcome functional theocracy, the divine right of kings, manorialism, and mercantilism, and it did so through a heady combination of life-affirming foundational principles, notably that of elevating the primacy of the individual, liberty, private property, and the rule of law above competing objectives. The self-actualization and material comfort realized through the practice of these universalist principles drew wide public support, in contrast with narrower ideologies designed largely to entrench incumbent interests.

COVID-19 Testing Data in Florida Inaccurate, Hospitals Say

https://www.theepochtimes.com/florida-labs-covid-19-positivity-rates-listed-by-state-are-wrong_3424223.html

Sky-high positivity rates listed by the Florida Department of Health in its daily CCP virus report are wrong, hospitals told The Epoch Times.

“It looks like there is an error in the data report. Lee Health has not experienced 100% positivity in our lab testing,” Pat Dolce, a spokeswoman for Lee Health, said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

“We are reaching out to the Department of Health to resolve the discrepancy.”

The report (pdf) showed that Orlando Health had a 98 percent positivity rate.

That number “is incorrect,” an Orlando Health spokeswoman told The Epoch Times in an email. The hospital system’s positivity rate is 9.4 percent as of July 12, she said.

A nurse takes a patient to their car from Memorial West Hospital where COVID-19 patients are treated, in Pembroke Pines, Fla., on July 13, 2020. (Maria Alejandra Cardona/Reuters)

The Orlando Veteran’s Medical Center was listed as having 76 percent positivity rate.

The FBI’s Dossier Deceit New evidence that the bureau knew the Russia info was phony in 2017.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fbis-dossier-deceit-11595027626?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

The Justice Department’s release of documents from the Obama Administration’s 2016-17 Trump-Russia investigation is beginning to paint a picture, and the more we learn the worse the FBI looks.

The latest evidence comes from Friday’s declassification via the Senate Judiciary Committee of the FBI’s interviews, over three days in January 2017, with the primary source for the infamous Steele dossier. The bureau used the dossier’s accusations as the basis for four warrants to surveil Trump aide Carter Page during the 2016 campaign and early months of the Trump Presidency. The 57 pages of notes from the source interviews make clear that the FBI knew the dossier was junk as early as January 2017.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz disclosed some of this in his December report on the FBI’s surveillance warrants, but the interview transcript adds more color—as in red for embarrassment.

Former British spy Christopher Steele, whose dirt-digging was financed by the Hillary Clinton campaign, based nearly all of his dossier allegations on information from one unidentified “primary subsource.” The FBI didn’t corroborate the Steele dossier’s claims prior to its first application to surveil Mr. Page in October 2016, and it didn’t get around to interviewing the source until nearly four months later.

The Left Uses Junk Studies to Show Racism by Adam Mill

https://amgreatness.com/2020/07/16/the-left-uses-junk-studies-to-show-racism/

“If unconscious bias could be demonstrated through properly designed and validated studies, it wouldn’t be necessary to rely on junk studies. Without the meddling of biased researchers and social justice advocates, our country would be much further along in the principled goal of true legal and social equality regardless of race.”

On March 23, 1989, a room full of reporters and scientists was buzzing in anticipation of an announcement of a breakthrough that, if it panned out, would propel humanity into a new era of unlimited pollution-free energy. The University of Utah’s vice president for research introduced two scientists, Dr. Stan Pons, and Dr. Martin Fleishman. The scientists then announced that a simple device using palladium and heavy water could generate energy from a type of cold fusion resulting from chemical reactions.

We still don’t know whether this “discovery” was an intentional hoax or merely wishful thinking. 

At the time, real scientists—including my father who is a professor of mechanical engineering—immediately knew to roll their eyes with skepticism. They demanded the details of the experiment so they could attempt to replicate its results. Nobody could reproduce the results these Utah professors claimed to discover and the episode remains a cautionary tale to all of science. 

Scientific studies “confirming” America to be a racist country have become the modern equivalent of the cold fusion experiment. 

A research psychologist can attain fame and lavish funding if she can publish a study demonstrating an urgent need for government intervention to correct the epidemic of systematic racism. Most calls for drastic social change rely on platitudes and, “we know”-type statements. Asking for evidence or support for charges like these can be risky and might invite retaliatory criticism. But if one is patient and drills through the links, one can uncover the allegedly scientific studies said to support these assumptions about a racist America. 

Advocates commonly cite the Bertrand and Mullainathan study from 2004 to demonstrate that racial bias has infected all hiring decisions in America. This study submitted fictitious job applicants with names associated with African Americans to real employers. The study appeared to conclude that African Americans are far less likely to receive job interviews than applicants with traditional European or American names. 

In 2016, however, scientists could not replicate the conclusions of the Bertrand study. In the scientific community, that would mean one could not use the earlier study to make any further generalizations. But this fact doesn’t stop the New York Times from continuing to cite the study to advance its social justice agenda.

US, UK, Canada accuse Russia of actively hacking COVID-19 research Ed Morrissey

https://hotair.com/archives/ed-morrissey/2020/07/16/breaking-us-uk-canada-accuse-russia-actively-hacking-covid-19-research/

Bad news — Cozy Bear is back, but this time the Russian intel hacking group hasn’t targeted the US election. The governments of the US, United Kingdom, and Canada issued a joint statement accusing Moscow of targeting COVID-19 research, apparently attempting to steal the formula for any new vaccine under development. Advisories have been issued to strengthen security around those efforts, and the message to Vladimir Putin seems clear — back off:

Russian cyber actors are targeting organizations involved in coronavirus vaccine development, according to a new warning by US, UK and Canadian security officials on Thursday that details activity by a Russian hacking group called APT29, which also goes by the name “the Dukes” or “Cozy Bear.” …

The US, UK and Canadian authorities have issued several warnings about state-backed cyberattacks in recent month.

In May, the three countries issued an advisory warning of ongoing cyberattacks against organizations involved in the coronavirus response, including health care bodies, pharmaceutical companies, academics, medical research organizations and local government.

Hospitals, research laboratories, health care providers and pharmaceutical companies have all been hit, officials say, and the US Department of Health and Human Services — which oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — has been struck by a surge of daily strikes, an official with direct knowledge of the attacks previously told CNN.

The NCSC, which is the UK’s lead technical authority on cyber security and part of the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), assessed that APT29 “almost certainly operate as part of Russian Intelligence Services”.

The Science Is Very Clear: Schools Should Reopen This Fall

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/07/17/the-science-is-very-clear-schools-should-reopen-in-fall/

Progressives like to brag that they prize science over politics. Indeed, it’s a major talking point in their effort to “transform” America from the greatest nation on Earth to, well, something else. But one look at the debate over reopening schools this fall shows just how absurd that assertion really is.

Los Angeles, home to the nation’s second-largest school district, is a case in point. The city has long been governed by far-left Democrats, to its detriment. But the local teachers’ union really takes the cake when it comes to extremist positions on COVID-19 and school closures.

The 35,000-strong union put out a staff “research paper” — it was in fact merely regurgitated leftist talking points and propaganda — telling local politicians they would refuse opening unless, among other things, there was a “moratorium” on charter schools and the police were defunded.

Among the “other things” in the union demands were a national Medicare-for-All program, new taxes on the wealthy, and, of course, a federally funded infusion of cash for the near-bankrupt Los Angeles school district.

The proposal would place so many restrictions on students and their interaction with teachers that it would make the educational experience nearly meaningless. But the document went way beyond just talking about education. Here’s a taste:

The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States underscores the deep equity and justice challenges arising from our profoundly racist, intensely unequal society. Unlike other countries that recognize protecting lives is the key to protecting livelihoods, the United States has chosen to prioritize profits over people. The Trump administration’s attempt to force people to return to work on a large scale depends on restarting physical schools so parents have child care.

Sheer Lunacy Rules the Day By Eileen F. Toplansky *****

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/07/sheer_lunacy_rules_the_day.html

In a world that appears to be tottering off its axis with sheer lunacy ruling the day, here is a small sampling of the dangerous ideas gaining traction and the cowardice displayed by so many.

In Great Britain, where grooming gang crimes exist, “British women who drew attention to ‘Asian’ [Pakistani and South Asian] sex grooming gangs, are also being attacked by the ‘woke’ establishment” because “if the victim is white and the rapist is not, she is no victim at all; worse, she is a ‘racist’ and ‘hater’ who, if anything, apparently deserves what she got and more.”  In fact, far-left extremists and radical feminist academics “don’t care about anti-white racism, because they appear to believe that is doesn’t exist.”  Thus, the idea that “Western women are to blame for being raped by Muslim men” gets a free pass for fear of Islamophobia.  The “Left validates Islam’s sexual fantasies and victimization of Western women.”
Critical discussion of Islam is now deemed hate speech, so when Ortega Smith of Spain expressed concern in 2019 about the “Islamist invasion” and the application of sharia law, prosecutors worked to determine whether he was guilty of a hate crime. 
The City of Seattle’s Office of Civil Rights sent an email inviting “White City employees” to attend a training program to help white workers examine “their complicity in the system of white supremacy” and “interrupt racism in ways that are accountable to Black, Indigenous and People of Color.”  
Administrators at Princeton banned such words as “fireman,” “chairman,” and “mankind” because they omit the 32+ genders the left now asserts exist.
College students support socialism even though they can’t explain what it is. 
An adult coloring book titled “I Am So Sick of White Guys” is “a full-throated attack on white privilege and power.”

Learning About Racism From the Smithsonian The museum deep-sixes a poster that went viral – but keeps up a website that teaches noxious “lessons” on race. Bruce Bawer

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/07/learning-about-racism-smithsonian-bruce-bawer/

“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”

That’s George Orwell in 1984, of course. But the picture those words conjure up seems unpleasantly familiar in 2020.

In 2020, everything’s upside-down. The inmates are running the asylum. The animals are running the zoo. The children are giving orders to the adults.

A group called Antifa (“Anti-Fascist”) is fascist. A group called “Black Lives Matter” is utterly indifferent to all but a minuscule percentage of black lives.

In 1976, Time Magazine reported on a comment made by Secretary of Education Earl Butz on a plane trip in reply to a question by Republican singer Pat Boone. Boone asked Butz why the party of Lincoln couldn’t attract more black voters. Butz said something that I will he have to redact heavily: “I’ll tell you what the [black people] want. It’s three things: first, a tight [female body part]; second, loose shoes; and third, a warm place to [defecate].”

Butz lost his job. And with good reason. His remark to Boone was a perfect example of what used to be called racism.

In 2020, however, racism is different. Today we’re told that all non-blacks, or at least all whites, are racists. Some of us, indeed, are racist without even knowing it. If you claim to be colorblind, you’re definitely racist. Ditto if you claim to care about the content of someone’s character rather than the color of his skin. Even if you’ve got a black spouse or a black child, you almost certainly harbor unexamined assumptions and exhibit behaviors that peg you as a racist.