Displaying the most recent of 91900 posts written by

Ruth King

A United America Is Democrats’ Undoing By J.B. Shurk

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/02/a_united_america_is_democrats_undoing.html

Of all the things I loathe about the Democrat party, its celebration of victimhood takes the cake.  As is true of all political parties infected with virulent Marxism, it does not seek to help those truly in need.  It does the opposite.  It seeks out people who might never have seen themselves as victims and convinces them otherwise.  It is a party whose growth in membership is directly proportional to Democrats’ capacity to convert Americans into victims.  

Once a person understands Democrats’ pathological need to harvest new victims, it becomes obvious that they are not in the business of solving problems.  Fixing anything in society only reduces the number of future Democrats.  By celebrating victimhood, Democrats are committed to making things worse today than they were yesterday and even worse tomorrow than they are today.  Their growth model depends upon perpetual misery.

Americans saw this self-destructive phenomenon play out during Obama’s presidency.  Before the 2008 election, race relations between black and white Americans had steadily improved since the ’60s.  Racism was widely rejected as a repugnant practice of the past.  In fact, discrimination based upon the color of a person’s skin had become so offensive that courts were dismantling affirmative action programs that explicitly prioritized race over merit.  A lot of Republican voters, unhappy with their party’s nomination of Senator John McCain, crossed lines and voted for Barack Obama’s nebulous promise of “hope and change” with the expectation that a post-racial America would take root.

President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder chose another path.  They looked for ways to inflame racial tensions.  They deconstructed a half-century of American racial progress by routinely injecting racial controversy into matters that had nothing to do with skin color.  A black Harvard professor is detained in the Democrat stronghold of Cambridge, Massachusetts?  That’s because all cops are unconsciously racist (even the black ones).  A black male dies in a confrontation with a neighborhood watchman?  That’s because black boys are hunted outside their own communities.  Americans don’t want to pay more for worse health care?  That’s because wealthy white Americans are too selfish to understand the appeal of socialized medicine.  

Department of Veterans Affairs Eliminates $178,000 in Politico Subscriptions By Eric Lendrum

https://amgreatness.com/2025/02/11/department-of-veterans-affairs-eliminates-178000-in-politico-subscriptions/

On Monday, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that it had discovered and subsequently canceled $178,000 in subscriptions to Politico Pro, in the latest uncovered example of excessive government spending.

As reported by Fox News, VA Secretary Doug Collins made the announcement in a post on the social media site X, saying that he “ran across a $178,000 contract VA had with Politico and we promptly canceled it. That money can be better spent on Veterans health care!”

“It’s a new day at VA,” said Secretary Collins in a subsequent statement to the press. “We’re putting Veterans at the center of everything the department does, focusing relentlessly on customer service and convenience. We’re working every day to find new and better ways of helping VA beneficiaries. That means cutting wasteful spending and redirecting resources toward programs that benefit Veterans, families, survivors and caregivers.”

The news comes after a previous revelation that the entirety of the federal government had spent over $8 million on Politico subscriptions. This and other examples of government spending have been targeted by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Politico issued a statement denying that the publication was a “beneficiary of government programs.”

“As surely many of you saw today, there was a spirited discussion at the White House and among officials connected to the Department of Government Efficiency on the subject of government subscriptions for journalism products, at POLITICO and other news organizations,” said Politico’s CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and editor-in-chief John Harris in an internal memo distributed to staff on Wednesday.

President Trump, along with Musk and DOGE, has vowed to severely cut government spending that is determined to be wasteful, and to abolish federal jobs and even entire agencies that are determined to be unnecessary or redundant. DOGE has especially targeted the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as the Department of Education.

Trump’s Gaza Vision The president is right: the Middle East mold of the past 78 years must be broken. by Kenneth R. Timmerman

https://www.frontpagemag.com/trumps-gaza-vision/

Albert Einstein famously said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over again and expecting different results. That’s what the Arab states and the Palestinian leadership have been doing for over seventy years.

Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who has pitched himself as the modernizer of a very backward country, has rejected President Trump’s radical new proposals to spring the Gazan trap by saying there must be a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital – or else.

This is tired old dogma, which has paralyzed the region and legitimized the attempted genocide of the Jewish people of Israel for the past seventy-eight years.

In the past, the Saudi “or else” meant an oil boycott of the United States, which they imposed after the 1973 war – when they quadrupled world oil prices, ostensibly to punish the United States and other world powers that had supported Israel.

Could the Saudis pull off such a stunt today? Sure, they could cut back production, which would temporarily raise world oil prices. But with the United States now energy independent, the pain would be felt mainly by Europe, China, and the developing world.

The pain would also be felt by the Saudi people, who have become accustomed to lavish handouts from their princely leaders. What would happen to the Saudi monarchy if it could no longer afford to buy off their people?

Maybe the “or else” means that Saudi Arabia will fund the Palestinian Authority, either alone or with its Arab allies. But do the Palestinians want to become vassals of the Gulf Arabs? I think not.

Maybe by “or else” MBS (as the Saudi crown prince likes to be called) is signaling his willingness to finance the reconstruction of Gaza and the re-establishment of the political mafias that have terrorized the Palestinian people – as well as much of the world – since 1974?

Trump pushes Gaza plan in meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-jordan-king-abdullah-white-house-gaza/

Washington — President Trump hosted Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday and renewed his suggestions that Gaza could be emptied of residents, controlled by the U.S. and redeveloped as a tourist area — a plan that could likely only work if the Arab nation agrees to accept more refugees.

The pair met in the Oval Office, where Mr. Trump suggested he wouldn’t withhold U.S. aid to Jordan, Egypt or other Arab nations, if they don’t agree to dramatically increase the number of people from Gaza they take in.

“I don’t have to threaten that. I do believe we’re above that,” Mr. Trump said. That contradicted his previous suggestion that holding back aid was a possibility.

Abdullah was asked repeatedly about Mr. Trump’s audacious plan to remake the Middle East, but didn’t make substantive comments on it nor the idea that his country could accept large numbers of new refugees from Gaza. He did say that Jordan would accept roughly 2,000 children with cancer and other health problems “right away.” Mr. Trump said he did not know about that commitment, which he called “a beautiful gesture.”

The president also repeated suggestions that the U.S. could come to control Gaza, but he said that it wouldn’t require committing funds and would come to fruition. He also said that would be possible “under the U.S. authority,” without elaborating what that actually was.

“We’re not going to buy anything. We’re going to have it,” Mr. Trump said of U.S. control in Gaza. He suggested that the redeveloped area could have new hotels, office buildings and houses and “and we’ll make it exciting.”

“I can tell you about real estate. They’re going to be in love with it,” Mr. Trump, who built a New York real estate empire that catapulted him to fame, said of Gaza’s residents, while also insisting that he personally would not be involved in development.

Additionally, Mr. Trump used the meeting to renew his suggestions that a tenuous ceasefire between Hamas and Israel could be canceled if Hamas doesn’t release all of the remaining hostages it is holding by midday on Saturday.

Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Has Exposed Media’s Moral Vacuum By Mackenzie France

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2025/02/11/israel-hamas_ceasefire_has_exposed_medias_moral_vacuum_152337.html

After mounting domestic pressure and repeated attacks on Israel from the international community, Israel has had no other recourse but to accept a ceasefire deal with Hamas. The terms of this deal reveal that this is not a victory, but a compromise, a necessary evil that the people of Israel accepted to bring their hostages home.

The last few Sundays saw emotive scenes as some of the remaining Israeli hostages were reunited with their families in accordance with the terms of the ceasefire deal. This moment of joyful celebration has been tainted by biased media coverage and obsequious comments from Western leaders who have disregarded the plight of these hostages for months. Indeed, a casual observer – say, someone who catches the news for a few minutes a day – could be forgiven for thinking that the release of the Israeli hostages has been part of some agreed-upon “like-for-like” exchange.

In a statement on Jan. 19, U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the release of British-Israeli citizen, Emily Damari, as “long-overdue.” This comes, naturally, after months of totally ignoring the plight of the hostages on the world stage and instructing the U.K. to vote for ceasefire proposals not tied to their release at the UN.

Meanwhile, Western media coverage has done a huge disservice to innocent prisoners like Emily by equating their suffering to the just captivity of violent terrorists in Israeli jails.

Headlines from major outlets like the BBC describe “jubilant scenes” in the West Bank following the release of “Palestinian prisoners”; the Guardian reported how “Freed Palestinians and Israelis reunite[d]with families” after the releases on Jan. 26.

This depiction of the “prisoner exchange” glosses over the reality that Israel is being forced to liberate violent terrorist offenders in order to restore innocent men and women to their families.

The Democrats Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks

https://issuesinsights.com/2025/02/12/the-democrats-doth-protest-too-much-methinks/

The Democrats’ reaction to the Department of Government Efficiency’s necessary mission might seem a bit excessive. But it is understandable. Their taxpayer-funded slush fund has been exposed.

Rather than joining with Elon Musk, who is leading DOGE to root out federal waste and fraud, and improve the transparency of the murky federal leviathan, the Democrats are attacking him. At a rally a week ago outside the Capitol, Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley, chanted “Elon Musk must go” along with a rabble that seems eager to do harm to the South African billionaire.

There have been similar protests in other cities in which baying mobs demand that Musk be deported, sexually violated, even launched to Mars.

Meanwhile, the Congressional Progressive Caucus wants the Democrats to find a way to “fire” Musk. New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer has groused on X that “an unelected shadow government is conducting a hostile takeover of the federal government,” surely unaware that he’s implying that the permanent bureaucracy is a separate, unaccountable, untouchable and unconstitutional branch of the government. Harpy pundits swear Musk is carrying out a coup and is a threat to democracy, a frivolous slogan that the political left cannot resist using.

Other complaints against the DOGE operation included grousing that Musk’s team has access to sensitive Treasury data and is holding back important federal programs.

But the real reason the Democrats are so upset is because their racket at the U.S. Agency for International Aid has been exposed, and they fear it’s just the first of many similar duplicitous schemes throughout the government that will be uncovered. They’ve even been able to convince their core voters that Musk and his team, merely doing the job they were asked to do by the duly elected president, are pure evil that must be stopped.

David Axe China’s mysterious nuclear-battery submarine could hurt the US Navy badly in a Taiwan war Unique hybrid propulsion system offers a key advantage

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/12/china-mystery-nuclear-battery-submarine-taiwan-war-us-navy/

China’s new nuclear-battery attack submarine – a unique hybrid boat running on batteries like a conventional sub but which recharges them using a tiny nuclear reactor – could be the ultimate near-shore defence sub, and a big problem for US and allied forces in the western Pacific.

The submarine first appeared in commercial satellite imagery of the Wuchang shipyard in Wuhan, China back in April. Five months later, the Type 041 boat reportedly suffered an accident at its moorings – and apparently sank. 

While observers wait for signs Wuchang is repairing that first Type 041 or building new examples of the class, analysts are scrutinising its potential capabilities. Most notably the type seems to have a unique propulsion system – one that sidesteps longstanding engineering challenges in order to deliver a quiet attack submarine for near-shore operations, one that can stay submerged for long periods of time in order to preserve its stealth. The Type 041 is reportedly the first submarine with a tiny nuclear reactor that, while too small to power the entire boat, is big enough to charge the batteries for submerged operations. 

This is a novel approach to the problem of powering a mostly or entirely non-nuclear submarine while it’s underwater. Conventional diesel-electric submarines recharge their batteries using old-fashioned diesel engines. For that, they have to surface or at the least put up a “snort” air intake mast at periscope depth – potentially exposing them to detection and attack. The main alternative is to use nuclear power for propulsion, which produces a very capable boat but is very expensive.

Some navies mitigate this vulnerability by installing so-called “air-independent propulsion” systems in their smaller submarines. There are many different types of AIP. Some burn liquid oxygen. Others draw power from fuel cells. The Japanese navy builds attack submarines powered by lithium ion batteries, which can hold much more energy than normal batteries but are regarded as too dangerous to use in subs by most designers.

All AIP systems are complex, delicate and – when badly made – dangerous. 

Charles Lipson: Democrats loved ‘unelected power’ until Trump turned their own weapons against them The party of FDR and Obama created a powerful executive to ram through ‘progressive’ programmes. Now it’s being used to dismantle them

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2025/02/11/democrats-loved-unelected-power-trump-weapons-against-them/

With Democrats in disarray and unable to choose a positive theme, they have settled on the obvious alternative. Unite around their shared hatreds. Near the top of that list is Elon Musk and his Doge project. “Nobody elected Musk.” “He is more powerful than the president.” Time magazine tried to drive home that point by depicting him behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

These attacks are manifestly untrue, but they follow a shrewd piece of political advice, given by the old Leftist organiser, Saul Alinsky. Personalise your political grievances. Let one person stand for much bigger complaints. It’s easier to mobilise around that concrete target and move on to bigger goals by taking him down.

Republicans recognise the risk here. They have responded by pointing out that Musk answers directly to president Trump. There are no middlemen, no bureaucratic protections. Trump can fire Musk as soon as he becomes a political liability. That, of course, is what Democrats hope to make him.

This predictable back-and-forth is part of a broader attack on Trump’s swift, aggressive actions against entrenched Washington power centres. Rolling them back and asserting control is the heart of Trump’s MAGA agenda.

Both sides recognise that basic point, but they have overlooked another, equally important one that illuminates the long arc of America’s changing governance. Democrats created all the tools Trump is using to attack official Washington. Oops. They hoped to centralise power in the presidency and break through the old limitations of the 1787 Constitution. They largely succeeded after decades of effort. 

What the authors of this transformation never expected was a president who would use the great powers they handed him to dismantle their own cherished projects. Yet that is exactly what Trump is doing.

‘Qatar is Hamas, and Hamas is Qatar’ by Khaled Abu Toameh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21386/qatar-is-hamas

The Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas and other Palestinians on October 7 could have been released a long time ago had the Biden administration exerted pressure on Qatar to use its good relations with the Islamist group to force it to do so.

All Qatar had to do was to summon the Hamas leaders in Doha and give them an ultimatum to release all the hostages immediately or face deportation from the Gulf state. It is hard to see how the Hamas leaders would have been able to say no to their major political and financial patrons and backers….The Qataris were never under the slightest pressure.

“For years, Qatar supported the Taliban, and last year [2021] it helped it in its coup against the democratically elected Afghan government, and 13 American service members were killed in the violence. Today, Qatar is doing everything it can to give the Taliban international legitimacy and aid.” – Yigal Carmon, President and Founder of the Middle East Media Research Institute (memri.org), and served as counterterrorism advisor to two Israeli prime ministers; Haaretz, May 10, 2022 and memri.org, October 8, 2024

“Any Arab who hears American officials say that Qatar is America’s ally would burst into laughter…. Ask Egypt, not just the rulers, but the people and journalists. Ask the Emirates, the government and people. Ask Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan. They all know that for decades Qatar has been promoting Islamist and terrorist organizations. There are lawsuits against Qatar in the U.S. and Europe in connection with its support for terrorism.” – Yigal Carmon, President and Founder of the Middle East Media Research Institute (memri.org), and served as counterterrorism advisor to two Israeli prime ministers, memri.org, November 1, 2023

The Trump administration needs to understand what Arabs have known for years: that Qatar’s support for Hamas and other extremist Islamist groups is the main reason thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have died over the past few years.

US President Donald Trump’s recent statements regarding Qatar’s role in reaching the Israel-Hamas ceasefire-hostage deal surprised many, especially those who are familiar with the Gulf state’s longtime support for radical Islamist groups.

“Qatar is absolutely trying to help,” Trump told reporters in Washington. “I know them well, and they’re doing everything they can. Very tough situation, but they’re absolutely trying to help.”

MAGANOMICS: Fusion Energy Needs to be President Trump’s 21st Century Manhattan Project by Lawrence Kadish

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21385/maganomics-fusion-energy

America’s next great economic revolution — to be spearheaded by President Donald J. Trump — is currently being studied by the preeminent polling firm, John McLaughlin Associates.

A poll will investigate America’s next great economic and technological frontier: clean, limitless, inexpensive energy through nuclear fusion by a made in America nuclear reactor superior to China’s tokamak.

This new 21st Century Manhattan Project would entail a trailblazing, all-out effort to compete against Communist China, already investing billions into this field.

Just as President Franklin D. Roosevelt headed the original Manhattan Project, when America raced to develop a nuclear weapon before scientists in Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan could unlock its enormous deadly power and use it against the Allies in World War II, Trump could usher in a new Clean Controlled Fusion Energy Revolution.

In that era, Roosevelt recognized the existential threat and directed all necessary resources to win that fateful race. Today, we know China is investing enormous sums into fusion energy research that seeks to create a sustained reaction that would be channeled to create unlimited electricity. America must create technology that is far superior to China’s tokamak fusion reactors.