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Ruth King

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Obama Promised A ‘Middle Class’ Economy, Trump Delivered It John Merline

By on February 11th, 2020

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/02/11/obama-promised-a-middle-class-economy-trump-delivered-it/

In his State of the Union address five years ago, President Barack Obama talked at length about what he called “middle-class economics.” After years of economic stagnation, he promised that the only thing needed to revive the economy was more middle-class benefits. The middle class has made substantial gains since then, but only because President Donald Trump ignored everything Obama said.

In Obama’s address, he described “middle-class economics” as “helping folks afford childcare, college, health care, a home, retirement.” In other words, still more federal middle-class entitlements and new mandates on employers (higher minimum wage, paid family leave, etc.).

Instead, Trump delivered tax cuts derided by the left as a giveaway to the rich, and deregulated measures that Democrats had claimed were pro-growth.

And when Trump addressed Congress last week, he rattled off a long list of economic gains that resulted from his break from Obama’s “middle-class economics.” It turns out that cutting taxes and regulations, not more government spending, is what the middle class needs.

Included in Trump’s list was the fact that the wealth of the bottom half of American households increased three times as fast as the “1%.”

 “That’s true, according to Federal Reserve data,” said Reuters. “On average, Americans have seen a 17% jump in household wealth since Trump’s election, while wealth at the bottom half has increased 54%.” The top 1% has seen a gain of 13%.

Democrats have been complaining about increases in income inequality for years. How do they explain the fact that it’s declining under Trump?

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MEDIA Comments turned off

A Journalist Was Fired for Criticizing Ilhan Omar ‘Islamophobia’ cancel culture at work. Tue Feb 11, 2020 Daniel Greenfield

By on February 11th, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/02/journalist-was-fired-criticizing-ilhan-omar-daniel-greenfield/

Narmeen Choudhury spends a lot of time tweeting about Islamophobia. The daughter of Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants has claimed that she faced discrimination in the workplace. But the one man she accused of Islamophobia was fired after 22 years on the job and is now suing for justice.

Choudhury had come to work at WPIX in 2011. Ken Evseroff, the reporter she accused, had not only been working at the New York City television station since 1997, but had worked his way up the hard way. Where Choudhury had graduated from Boston U, Evseroff had come out of SUNY and had done everything from working as a reporter to laboring as a camera operator on everything from All My Children to Nightline. By the time he came to WPIX, Evseroff was a seasoned professional.

And he expected to be treated like one.

The clash between Choudhury and Evseroff encompassed not just her allegations of Islamophobia, but class, political and generational differences. Choudhury was a privileged millennial from Duchess County married to an executive director at JP Morgan. And, like many privileged millennials, the WPIX reporter had a history of building her brand and lubricating her career by alleging incidents of discrimination.

In 2015, she claimed, “my husband was called a sand n***er”.  The story didn’t seem like an especially plausible event in multicultural Manhattan in the final years of the Obama administration. And some might wonder how anyone would have guessed that her finance executive husband was Muslim.

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EDUCATION, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Soros Starts $1 Billion Anti-American University Fighting nationalism and climate change are its goals. Matthew Vadum

By on February 11th, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/02/soros-starts-1-billion-anti-american-university-matthew-vadum/

Radical anti-American financier George Soros recently unveiled a scheme to sink $1 billion into a new global university to fight nationalism and climate change, twin phantoms he emotes are “threatening the survival of our civilization.”

Why is this a bad thing?

Because global warming is a hoax and nationalism –at least in a good nation like the United States— is a good thing, and because Soros is a living, breathing malignancy who has devoted the past several decades of his life to advancing evil in the world.

If America is indeed “one nation under God,” as the Pledge of Allegiance states, then believing in and supporting this country is American nationalism.

That is a bridge too far for Soros, a naturalized American, who views himself as a citizen of the world.

Soros said in 2018 that nationalism was “the dominant ideology in the world,” but to him, all nationalism, including American nationalism, is bad. People like Soros regard nationalism as tribalism, jingoism, superpatriotism, or a combination of the three. Because he is an Esperanto-speaking, United Nations-loving internationalist, Soros hurls the word “nationalism” as an epithet.

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ELECTIONS Comments turned off

A U.S. Senate candidate from Maine uses a guillotine for its logo By Andrea Widburg

By on February 11th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/02/a_us_senate_candidate_from_maine_uses_a_guillotine_for_its_logo.html

“Democrat Bre Kidman, who’s challenging Susan Collins, wants people to think of a revolution when they think about this non-binary person’s candidacy.”

When most people think of a guillotine, they think of rivers of blood flowing during the French Revolution and during Hitler’s ascendancy in Germany (when he guillotined around 16,500 people). Civilized countries do not decapitate people to gain political power. Nevertheless, Bre Kidman, an attorney who is challenging Senator Susan Collins for her Senate seat in Maine, has decided that a stylized image of a guillotine is the perfect logo for its campaign.

(Kidman claims not to be either male or female and adopts the pronouns “they or them.” This is consistent with Progressive demands that individuals who call themselves non-binary should be accorded plural pronouns. That, however, is a grammatical bridge too far. The English language has a perfectly good singular pronoun for things – and people – that are neither male nor female: “it.”)

Of course, Kidman contends that the guillotine is merely symbolic. It’s not a call for actual blood; it’s just a suggestion that, if Kidman and the Left generally do not get the change they demand, there might be blood:

“The guillotine is an image which calls to mind what people have done for revolution before,” said Kidman, an attorney who’s running for the seat held by Republican Sen. Susan Collins. “If we can find a better path to revolution than that we owe it to ourselves and our country.”

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IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

The Trump administration is finally going after sanctuary cities By Andrea Widburg

By on February 11th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/02/the_trump_administration_is_finally_going_after_sanctuary_cities.html

One of the most galling things that the left has done is to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement by creating so-called sanctuaries to protect known criminal illegal aliens from arrest. The phrase “sanctuary city” (or sometimes “sanctuary state”) is something of a misnomer, of course, because while these places are sanctuaries for criminals who are being released back into the community, they’re anything but sanctuaries for the communities ravaged by those same immigrants.

Early on, the Trump administration tried to withhold federal funds from California as a way to block it from declaring itself a sanctuary. The problem was that California rushed into federal court where a friendly activist judge immediately issued a nationwide injunction. It wasn’t until July 2019 that the Ninth Circuit reversed that decision, and then only on narrow grounds.

Suddenly, though, after three years, the Trump administration is moving aggressively against the sanctuary city/state problem. It began last week when the administration announced that it was prohibiting New York state residents from participating in programs such as Global Entry and NEXUS which allow low-risk travelers to enter the U.S. more easily.

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

The Folly of Global Climate Forecasting By Trevor Thomas

By on February 11th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/02/the_folly_of_global_climate_forecasting.html

It was particularly warm in Northeast Georgia this past week — no doubt thrilling the earth-worshipping faithful. We’ve also been very wet. After the latest round of rain, temperatures returned to a more winterlike feel. On this past Friday, there were a few murmurings of small amounts of snow on Saturday morning. Of course, any amount of snow in Georgia is news, but as late as Friday evening (scroll to the bottom of the page for the video of the Friday evening/Saturday morning forecast), most forecasts were making little of the potential snowy event.

According to the Friday forecasts, most of north Georgia was only going to get one-half inch to one inch of snow, and temperatures were going to warm into the mid-to-upper forties by Saturday afternoon. Thus, any snow that fell was supposed to melt quickly. We were paying special attention to these forecasts because we were traveling several miles for a karate tournament on Saturday morning.

Even on Saturday morning, forecasters were still saying the snow was going to be minimal and not much of a concern. We left our northeast Georgia house headed southwest about 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning. The snow was just starting to fall. The storm was moving southwest to northeast, so we were heading right into it. As we traveled, the snowfall was getting heavier. The precipitation on radar looked impressive. We were barely thirty minutes down the road, and we started getting nervous.

The snow was quickly piling up and the traffic was slowing down. It was as if we were headed to a global warming conference and Al Gore’s plane had just landed! As we continued on our way we saw several cars on the sides of the road, unable to navigate the snow-covered asphalt. What’s more, as we communicated with friends already at the tournament, we were getting reports of road closures.

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IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

AG Barr Announces ‘Significant Escalation’ Against Left-Wing ‘Sanctuary Cities’ By Matt Margolis

By on February 11th, 2020

https://pjmedia.com/trending/ag-barr-announces-significant-escalation-against-left-wing-sanctuary-cities/

During a speech at the National Sheriff’s Association 2020 Winter Legislative and Technology Conference in Washington, D.C., Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department would be filing multiple lawsuits against state and local governments for interfering with federal immigration enforcement, in what he described as a “significant escalation” to combat “sanctuary city” policies.

Attorney General Barr identified illegal immigrants who enter this country and commit crimes as a significant problem for law enforcement to address. “For many decades, under both Republican and Democratic administrations, the priority for immigration enforcement has been identifying these criminal aliens and deporting them from the country as soon as they are eligible for release by state and local authorities,” Barr stated. “Those efforts are a vital part of how we keep our country safe. Immigration enforcement is an essential part of law enforcement.”

“Unfortunately, in various jurisdictions, so-called ‘progressive’ politicians are jeopardizing the public’s safety by putting the interests of criminal aliens before those of law-abiding citizens,” Barr continued. “They have put in place policies and laws designed to thwart the ability of federal officers to take custody of these criminals and thereby help them escape back into the community. They often proudly brand their jurisdictions as ‘sanctuaries,’ and package their obstructive policies in idealistic and misleading rhetoric about ‘protecting the immigrant community.'”

Let us state the reality upfront and as clearly as possible: When we are talking about sanctuary cities, we are talking about policies that are designed to allow criminal aliens to escape.  These policies are not about people who came to our country illegally but have otherwise been peaceful and productive members of society.  Their express purpose is to shelter aliens whom local law enforcement has already arrested for other crimes.  This is neither lawful nor sensible.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Middle East Conflict You Haven’t Heard About Turkey and Egypt are feuding over the fate of Libya and who controls the region’s resources. By Nicholas Saidel

By on February 11th, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-middle-east-conflict-you-havent-heard-about-11581277914?mod=opinion_major_pos6

Iran isn’t the only flashpoint in the Middle East. Less noticed are tensions between Egypt and Turkey over the fate of Libya, where a messy civil war has been raging since 2014. This antagonism could further destabilize the Middle East, which could set off another refugee crisis in Europe. The fight may also disrupt maritime commerce in the Mediterranean and lead to a resurgence of ISIS in Libya.

Two events set off the quarrel. One was Turkey’s decision last month to deploy troops to Libya in support of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and his internationally recognized Government of National Accord, known as the GNA. Then there’s Turkey’s maritime accord with the GNA in November. Egypt has substantial energy interests in the eastern Mediterranean, and the agreement sets out exclusive economic zones for Turkey and Libya that would hamstring further exploration by Egypt in a region rich in natural gas.

There is no shortage of foreign involvement in Libya’s civil war. Egypt—like Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia—backs Libyan militia leader Khalifa Haftar and the Libyan National Army under his command. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has provided logistical support to Mr. Haftar as he fights militias loyal to the GNA. There are reports of more direct support from Egypt, including weapons shipments. Turkey, along with Qatar, backs the GNA, which has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood—an archenemy of Egypt’s secular, military government.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Mini-Merkel’s Mega Meltdown German conservatives head for a welcome new leadership race.

By on February 11th, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/mini-merkels-mega-meltdown-11581380318?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

German politics was thrown into new turmoil Monday when Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union, announced she won’t run for Chancellor next year. The defense minister, known as AKK, was Chancellor Angela Merkel’s preferred successor.

The final straw for Ms. Kramp-Karrenbauer and her critics was a conflict with the CDU’s local branch in Thuringia in the former East Germany. State elections there in October were inconclusive, as has become the norm in Germany. The CDU and center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) hemorrhaged votes while the neo-communist Left and far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged. After months of negotiations, local CDU leaders agreed to cooperate with the AfD and the free-market Free Democratic Party to form a state government—defying Mrs. Merkel and Ms. Kramp-Karrenbauer’s blanket ban on CDU alliances with the AfD.

Yet Ms. Kramp-Karrenbauer—called “mini Merkel” for her close relationship with Germany’s long-time leader—never enjoyed full control of the party. Her selection as leader in late 2018 represented an attempt to suppress debate within the party by rejecting the free-market convictions of Friedrich Merz or the more assertive tone on cultural issues from Jens Spahn, both of whom challenged AKK.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Cold War Over Venezuela Moscow has a stake in Maduro’s regime, but its value to Putin depends on oil. By Walter Russell Mead

By on February 11th, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cold-war-over-venezuela-11581379011?mod=opinion_lead_pos9

There weren’t many bipartisan moments in last week’s State of the Union address. Most Democratic legislators sat on their hands as President Trump hailed overall rising wages as well as record low unemployment for African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Hispanics. But in a move that testifies to the humanitarian and geopolitical concerns Venezuela presents, Democrats and Republicans rose together to applaud Juan Guaidó, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, who is recognized as the country’s legitimate ruler by nearly 60 nations including the U.S.

Days after U.S. legislators applauded Mr. Guaidó, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in Caracas, offering aid and comfort to the beleaguered government of Nicolás Maduro. The message seemed clear: Russia is prepared to stand up to the U.S., even in the Western Hemisphere, to protect its Venezuelan allies.

For the Trump administration’s foreign policy, the tangle with Russia over Venezuela is a local problem with global consequences. When I interviewed him recently, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo identified a short list of administration priorities for 2020. Real progress toward change in Venezuela and an improved relationship with Russia are both high on the list. With both Russiagate and Ukrainegate in the rearview mirror, it would appear that the administration has a new freedom to reach out diplomatically to the Kremlin—but that hardly comports with the rock-star treatment given to Mr. Guaidó in Washington last week.

More than three years into the Trump administration, the U.S.-Russia relationship remains icy. The U.S. has placed sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would connect Germany to Russian natural gas. In northeastern Syria, American and Russian forces have engaged in tense standoffs even as Vladimir Putin doubles down on his support for Bashar Assad. The week before the State of the Union, Mr. Pompeo visited Ukraine, bringing promises of aid and support. This looks and feels more like a Cold War than another “reset” of the U.S.-Russia relationship. What’s going on?

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