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Ruth King

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Rice CYA Memo, Unredacted By Andrew C. McCarthy

By on May 20th, 2020

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-rice-cya-memo-unredacted/

How amusing to find President Obama’s national-security advisor, Susan Rice, suddenly calling for public release of the Flynn–Kislyak conversation intercepted by the Obama administration in late December 2016. I called for its release nearly three-and-a-half years ago. Dr. Rice, in a familiar pattern for her, has spent the ensuing years saying things that were obviously untrue only to reverse herself once the paper trail starts to dribble out.

Try not to get dizzy. Rice has gone from claiming to have had no knowledge of Obama administration monitoring of Flynn and other Trump associates, to claiming no knowledge of any unmaskings of Trump associates, to admitting she was complicit in the unmaskings, to — now — a call for the recorded conversation between retired general Michael Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak to be released because it would purportedly show that the Obama administration had good reason to be concerned about Flynn (y’know, the guy she said she had no idea they were investigating).

Naturally, we have now learned that Rice was deeply involved in the Obama administration’s Trump–Russia investigation, including its sub-investigation of Flynn, a top Trump campaign surrogate who was slated to replace Rice as national-security advisor when President Trump took office. Last night, I did a column for Fox News, analyzing the newly unredacted paragraph from Rice’s previously reported email memorializing a White House meeting on these subjects.

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

ESG for Thee, but Not for Me By Rupert Darwall

By on May 20th, 2020

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/05/activist-investors-pressuring-asset-managers-to-vote-green/

Activist investors are pressuring asset managers to vote green, even if it harms the poor.

 B lackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is holding its annual general meeting this week. To help give itself a smooth ride, BlackRock’s leadership has struck a Faustian bargain with the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activists on its share register. But a smoother ride for BlackRock may mean a rougher ride for many of the companies in which it invests. In coronavirus-speak, in order to acquire immunity for itself, BlackRock opted to become an ESG super-spreader.

At the end of February, a pair of activist investors, Boston Trust Walden and Mercy Investment Services, announced that their “dialogue” with BlackRock had led to agreement, with BlackRock confirming that it would vote against boards with “unacceptable” positions on climate change. As a result, the two activist investors declared that they had withdrawn their shareholder resolution directed at BlackRock on climate change for this year.

Subsequently BlackRock appeared to have recognized the growing gravity of the current economic catastrophe and had second thoughts, at least for now. According to Reuters, last month BlackRock said it would ease up and allow companies to give a lower priority to environmental-sustainability reporting. “We recognize that in the near-term companies may need to reallocate resources to address immediate priorities in these uncertain times,” BlackRock said in a new stewardship document.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

It’s time to take a stand against Chinese bullying China has gotten away with a lot because the world wanted to avert its eyes Douglas Murray

By on May 20th, 2020

https://spectator.us/take-stand-against-chinese-bullying-hong-kong/

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned how the Chinese Communist party has been trying to bully our allies and friends in Australia. The government of that country had the audacity to demand an independent and international inquiry into the origins of the Wuhan virus. Since then, the CCP has been upping its game, and not just with words, but by imposing huge tariffs on Australian products. Which I suppose means that the rest of us are going to have to make up for over a billion Chinese consumers and guzzle as much Australian shiraz as we can in the coming months. Can we do it? Possibly.

In the meantime, over in Hong Kong, a rather more brazen attack on democracy and the rule of law occurred yesterday when pro-democracy lawmakers were carried out of the chamber during a debate on a bill that would criminalize anyone who ‘disrespected’ the Chinese Communist party’s anthem. You can see the resulting footage on the excellent ‘Things China Doesn’t Want You To Know’ Twitter feed, which I much recommend.

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POLITICS Comments turned off

The Stacey Abrams presidency In her latest fiction, ‘Selena Montgomery’ is a viable VP pick Kate Hyde

By on May 20th, 2020

https://spectator.us/stacey-abrams-presidency/

‘You don’t run for second place.’ 

That’s how Stacey Abrams responded when asked if she would consider being presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s running mate during a March 2019 interview on ABC’s The View. Annoyed at the posed hypothetical, the 2018 Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate’s answer lacked a basic understanding of her place in the Democratic party. But now, a short year later, Abrams is making it abundantly clear to anyone who is willing to listen: she is absolutely, passionately and gracelessly running for second place, so help her God.

Abrams, a lawyer whose career includes a 10-year stint in Georgia’s House of Representatives, amassed national attention and a sudden rise in popularity after the 2018 governor’s race. While she had the coveted endorsements of culture icons such as Oprah and former president Barack Obama, her newfound recognition was not due to any phenomenal campaigning, extensive political résumé, or even a win. How has Stacey Abrams flirted with becoming a household name? By handling her ego-crushing loss with a stunning lack of grace.

To this day, Abrams refuses to officially concede the election despite losing to now-Gov. Brian Kemp by roughly 55,000 votes. She argues that her demise was caused by a ‘rigged’ election resulting from systematic voter suppression. Nothing more. Yet her bombastic unwillingness to accept defeat has been enough to keep her relevant in the hearts and minds of Democrats moving towards 2020. Now she’s on an aggressive campaign to frame herself as the most worthy number two.

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MEDIA, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

How are the public meant to trust the rule of law? A ‘single and proper standard of justice’ has not been scrupulously, or even half-heartedly, applied to the Trump-Russia story Roger Kimball

By on May 20th, 2020

https://spectator.us/bill-barr-single-standard-justice/

You have to hand it to the New York Times. They certainly know how to spin a story. Yesterday, Attorney General William Barr answered some questions about the ongoing criminal investigation into the so-called ‘Russian collusion’ inquiry conducted by Robert Mueller and other people in the FBI and the Obama administration. He did not expect, he said, ‘based on the information I have today,’ that either President Obama or Vice President Biden would be the subject of a criminal investigation. ‘Our concern over potential criminality,’ he continued, ‘is focused on others.’

Perhaps that acknowledgment would be grounds for sighs of relief from Martha’s Vineyard and wherever Joe Biden’s basement is. But what do you think of this headline from the Times: ‘Barr Dismisses Trump’s Claim That Russia Inquiry Was an Obama Plot.’ Is that what Barr’s statement meant?

Not exactly. Here is part of what he said:

‘What happened to the president in the 2016 election and throughout the first two years of his administration was abhorrent. It was a grave injustice and it was unprecedented in American history. The law enforcement and intelligence apparatus of this country were involved in advancing a false and utterly baseless Russian collusion narrative against the president.’ (My emphasis.)

Run that through your cerebral cortex. Does it mean ‘Barr dismisses Trump’s claim that Russia inquiry was an Obama plot’?

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MEDIA Comments turned off

The American Media Has Betrayed America For America’s establishment elites, the Chinese coronavirus pandemic is a golden opportunity. By Edward Ring

By on May 20th, 2020

https://amgreatness.com/2020/05/19/the-american-media-has-betrayed-america/

There aren’t enough disparaging epithets in the English language to adequately describe “journalists” such as ABC Nightly News anchorman David Muir, the dashing 40-something actor who pretends to share important national news with America. Five days a week, Muir recites agenda-driven propaganda as if it were truth, while his allies who run the social media monopolies throttle down, demonetize, shadowban, or flat out censor reports that conflict with his narrative.

One of Muir’s biggest crimes is his façade of objectivity. Unlike the hosts of the cable news networks, such as CNN’s rabid Don Lemon, or MSNBC’s smirking Rachel Maddow, Muir isn’t obvious. He spreads his phony lies and distortions with a straight face, never breaking character. If you aren’t exposed to the other side of his stories, it works.

It isn’t just Muir, of course. Other pretenders include CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell, who along with her reporters never saw a Spanish consonant that didn’t require a hard roll and NBC’s Lester Holt, who made it his business to debate candidate Trump in the 2016 presidential debates, instead of leaving that job to hapless Hillary. Then there is the mediocrity who reports from the White House for NPR, who thinks everything has to do with race and gender, because flogging that obsession takes no work and reliably builds a career.

For over three years, and only with the occasional exception of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, the entire American media establishment, online and offline, has been complicit in spreading lies; despicable, anti-American lies. They spread the Russian collusion hoax for nearly three years, shamelessly exaggerating every smug utterance from the loathsome House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA). Again and again, they predicted that this time, Trump’s presidency was done for, and when Trump finally was exonerated, they just moved on to the next hoax.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Fauci-ism: Dream or Nightmare? The Founders’ focus was liberty. Progressivism, by contrast, is all about restoring the old order of rulers and ruled. By Robert Curry

By on May 20th, 2020

https://amgreatness.com/2020/05/19/fauci-ism-dream-or-nightmare/

The takeover of America’s state, local, and federal governments by Fauci and his team is a dream come true for the progressives. Since at least the time of Woodrow Wilson, the progressives have dreamed of and campaigned for an America ruled by experts.

Rule by experts: this is it. How do you like it?

Fauci and Co. have taken control of the lives of individual Americans to an extent that surpasses anything achieved by fascism’s great original, Benito Mussolini. Of course, there is a difference. Mussolini was a pompous orator who favored a military uniform. Fauci speaks softly and wears the mantle of science. But just as Mussolini’s oratory led Italy to disaster, Fauci’s pronouncements have already done enormous damage to America. The full extent of the damage to America by Fauciism is yet to be determined.

Though it pains me to say so, it is up to you to determine how much damage to America he is going to be allowed to do.

Fauciism has been a long time coming. About a century ago, Woodrow Wilson, the first American president to reject utterly the American founding, set in motion the changes that brought us to our present circumstance. The Founders, I reckon, would not be surprised by the upsurge of Fauciism, human nature being what it is, and the wisdom of the Founders’ generation being hard-won and too easily lost.

Just in case you are puzzled by what I have to say about Wilson, here he is, speaking for himself:

No doubt a great deal of nonsense has been talked about the inalienable rights of the individual, and a great deal that was mere vague sentiment and pleasing speculation has been put forward as fundamental principle…

Wilson, the very model of the modern progressive, completely rejected the Founders’ self-evident truths and unalienable rights. Wilson and the modern progressives saw the Declaration and the Constitution as anachronisms that America needed to progress beyond.

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ELECTIONS Comments turned off

A Trump-Friendly, Anti-AOC Democrat Is Poised to Win a New York House Seat—With Some Help From the Pandemic By Adrian Carrasquillo

By on May 20th, 2020

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-friendly-anti-aoc-democrat-poised-win-new-york-house-seat-some-help-pandemic-1504143

New York’s 15th congressional district, with Yankee Stadium at its heart, is home to some of the country’s poorest and most diverse people, an Obama oasis bordering AOC’s neighborhood—and yet it is on the verge of electing a Trump-loving Democrat for its open seat in the House.

That Democrat is Reverend Ruben Diaz Sr., a flamboyant, cowboy hat-wearing New York City councilman who immediately distinguished his views when he announced his run in 2019, saying “I am the opposite of AOC in the South Bronx.”

And that has national Democrats, opponents and progressives like Planned Parenthood and LGBT groups in a panic because the 77-year-old minister has a history of making inflammatory statements about homosexuals and strongly opposes abortion because of his religious beliefs.

“He would instantly become Donald Trump’s favorite New York congressman,” strategist Eric Koch of anti-Diaz super PAC Bronx United told Newsweek, adding that Diaz Sr. would be an unreliable Democratic vote in the House caucus.

To complicate matters, he has a son, Ruben Diaz Jr., who is his namesake and a Bronx borough president many call the most popular politician in the borough. Diaz Jr. is regularly asked to comment on his father’s actions, as he did disapprovingly when Diaz Sr. invited Senator Ted Cruz to visit the Bronx, but the consensus is that his son is a political plus for the reverend.

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MOVIES AND TELEVISION Comments turned off

Remembering the Hill-Thomas story By Silvio Canto, Jr.

By on May 20th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/05/remembering_the_hillthomas_story.html

On Monday night, our local PBS station showed “Created Equal…..Clarence Thomas in his own words.”    

It was a great documentary and I learned a few things about his early days and marriage.  

Like some of you, I recall the day that President Bush nominated him.  I happened to be with my father that day and he seemed very happy with the choice.  He told me that Thomas would make a great justice because he faced a lot of adverisity coming up in life.  (On a personal note, “overcoming adversity” was a theme that my late father would always go back to. It made people tougher and better, he would say)

Then came Anita Hill and the documentary became very intense.  It was interesting to watch then Senator Joe Biden and the late Senator Ted Kennedy sitting next to him.  Am I the only person watching who thought that Biden made a fool of himself talking about “natural law”?  Clarence Thomas couldn’t understand what he was saying either.

Two things really struck me about the documentary:

First, Justice Thomas reminded his opponents that the “Tarring and feathering” would eventually come back to get them.  He must have been thinking about now candidate for president Joe Biden who faces a 1993 sexual misconduct allegation a lot more credible than Anita Hill’s.  I wonder if Mrs. Biden understands the pain that Mrs. Thomas went through?  

Second, the media and the Democrats had no trouble believing Hill.  You can see in the documentary how they all lined up to support a woman who had absolutely no proof of anything.  It all looked so eerily similar to the effort to get Judge Brett Kavanaugh.  

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Clean Energy Via Legislative Diktat By Charles H. Battig

By on May 20th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/05/clean_energy_via_legislative_diktat_.html

For those enamored by the clean electric-car,  smoke-and-mirrors “emission elsewhere scheme” comes  the recently enacted “Virginia Clean Economy Act”, which includes one of the largest energy storage targets in the country at 2.4 GW by 2035, and prompts state regulators to craft a carbon dioxide cap and trade program that meets the objectives of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

The act, which requires Virginia’s electric utilities and competitive suppliers to generate electricity from 100% renewable energy by 2050, passed on the same day that Dominion Energy, the state’s largest utility, announced its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

Carbon dioxide has been deemed a pollutant via legislative diktat.  Accordingly,  embedded in this legislation is language which prevents the Virginia State Corporation Commission from approving “any investor-owned utility to own, operate, or construct any electric generating unit that emits carbon as a byproduct of combusting fuel to generate electricity” until the state legislature has had a chance to review a report from the Air Pollution Control Board. Also embedded are escape clauses allowing fossil-fuel energy just in case the 100 per cent carbon-free dream mandate fails in the real world. In keeping with current virtuous political correctness and emotional zeitgeist, the bill also requires utilities and the commission to consider the social cost of carbon when reviewing the need for a new generation facility.

However, Dominion Virginia Power now says it may need to import energy from pollution-intensive sources out of state, even though nuclear power is part of the permitted energy mix.  The price tag for this legislated decree wrought via politically virtuous green posturing, environmental sloganeering, and pandering to climate activists now comes to light.  Get ready for acres of environmentally destructive solar panel installations which will fail to meet energy demand in the midst of winter, while decimating native habitat and leaching toxic chemicals into the soil.   Look to the new Warren Buffet  solar project in Arizona as the template for  yet another taxpayer billion dollar boondoggle promising pollution free energy (when the sun shines), and reliance on giga-battery installations when it does not.

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