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Ruth King

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Creepy Pete By Michael Brendan Dougherty

By on February 8th, 2020

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/02/pete-buttigieg-uncanny-candidate/

He may not be a robot, but there’s something uncanny about this candidate.

It has to be said: There is something plain amazing about Pete Buttigieg’s run for the presidency. His last election was for mayor of a very small city. No offense to South Bend, Ind., but being the nation’s 308th largest city is not something to brag about. In his last election before the Iowa caucus Buttigieg  won the support of less than 9,000 people. Pete Buttigieg did this by outlasting, out-fundraising, and out-debating former governors and a California senator, and lapping billionaire entrepreneurs. He beat a national front-runner and essentially tied the runner-up to the 2016 Democratic nomination. From unknown to serious contender for the presidency in less than a year: This is real Mr. Smith stuff, a tribute to the everyman nature of democracy.

To repeat myself, this is amazing, amazing stuff.

But also, it’s really creepy.

Right?

A few nights ago, the Iowa meltdown was just starting to dawn on us. Officially the Iowa Democrats were telling us that they had verified precisely zero percent of the votes.

And while we pondered that fact, this man, “Mayor Pete” emerged on cable news to dispel the utter confusion and uncertainty and declare himself the victor, based on his own tabulation. Think about that for a minute.

This is a man from nowhere who seems to have spent a great deal of time in the last few years managing his own Wikipedia page. His popularity is widely attributed to the work of a single media genius, Lis Smith. And as he was declaring himself the winner, a flurry of reports were being filed that there were some questionable financial connections between the developer of the Iowa vote-counting app and the Pete Buttigieg campaign.

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Victors in Iowa, Sanders and Buttigieg Are Targets in Democratic Debate

By on February 8th, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/us/politics/democratic-debate-recap.html?emc=edit_na_20200207&ref=cta&nl=breaking-news&campaign_id=60&instance_id=0&segment_id=21094&user_id=2dfc89bd6c52e6103e5ac62f916a8f0d&regi_id=2636639

In the most contentious debate so far, Joseph R. Biden Jr. challenged Bernie Sanders over gun regulation, and Amy Klobuchar accused Pete Buttigieg of presenting himself as a “cool newcomer.”

The two victors in the Iowa caucuses, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., came under sharp and sustained criticism in a Democratic presidential debate on Friday, as their rivals tried to stop their momentum by assailing Mr. Sanders for his left-wing ideas and past opposition to gun control while targeting Mr. Buttigieg over his thin résumé and ties to big donors.

In the most contentious debate so far, taking place four days before the New Hampshire primary, the runners-up in Iowa charged at Mr. Sanders and Mr. Buttigieg, who appeared in the best position among the top candidates to win New Hampshire and perhaps take command of the race.

But their opponents, several of whom have significant advantages of their own, showed that they would not give way without a fight: Mr. Buttigieg especially came in for bruising treatment, drawing tough challenges from every other candidate onstage, including over his criminal-justice record as mayor and his failure so far to appeal to black and Latino voters.

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., seeking to recover from his limp finish in Iowa, raised the issue of Mr. Buttigieg’s lack of support among minorities in the opening moments of the debate, saying Mr. Buttigieg had not shown he could “get a broad scope of support.” He repeatedly alluded throughout the evening to his own base among African-Americans, especially in South Carolina, whose primary is this month and is considered a political firewall if his flagging campaign does not recover before then.But Mr. Buttigieg was not Mr. Biden’s only target: He also warned that nominating Mr. Sanders would taint down-ballot Democratic candidates with the label of socialism, and, in his most blunt attack so far on Mr. Sanders, Mr. Biden rebuked him for having opposed gun control legislation in the 1990s. Mr. Sanders, who has long since disavowed that stance, called it a function of representing “a very, very rural state.”

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The Political Genius Behind Trump’s SOTU Theatrics Karin McQuillan

By on February 7th, 2020

https://amgreatness.com/2020/02/06/the-political-genius-behind-trumps-sotu-theatrics/

“The ranks of President Trump’s supporters are swelling with former Democrats, with independents, with blacks and Hispanics, and with former nonvoters. He has earned their trust and their enthusiasm through bona fide real-life achievements. Trump has surprised everyone with his capabilities. He has unleashed the power of Americans to make our country great. We’ve never had a president like him.”
President Trump’s political genius was on display in his 2020 State of the Union address on Tuesday, as much as were his many achievements from his first three years.

As the president began to roll out his introductions of guests in the gallery, with each one, he was doing a three-for-one. No person with a heart remained dry-eyed. The stories and the dramas were electrifying moments for normal people watching and sharing the guests’ sorrow, joy, pride, hope, and desire for justice.

These guests also conveyed a political meaning—an in your face challenge to the Democrats on key policy conflicts such as homelessness, abortion, school choice, honoring those who sacrifice for our safety and freedom, borders, and sanctuary cities. Trump was going for the hot-button issues, not by debating, but by showing their human face.

Each real-time drama demonstrated how the president delivers for real people, individual people.

Lastly, the pathos associated with each guest was paired on camera with the stony-faced Democrats unwilling to applaud. They didn’t applaud for all the great statistics showing the lowest black unemployment and lowest black poverty in history. They didn’t applaud Charles McGee, the 100-year-old World War II veteran and Tuskegee airman who President Trump announced he had honored earlier in the day with a promotion to brigadier general.

Trump used the opportunity to display both his respect and his understanding that blacks have been treated as second class citizens in living memory, relating how after 130 combat missions, McGee returned home to “a country still struggling for civil rights.” Trump upped the emotional power by also introducing General McGee’s 13-year-old great-grandson, who aspires to be a Space Force officer, a new branch of the military President Trump established last year.

Democrats found nothing here to applaud. They want the race narrative to be 1619, America to be eternally damned as a foundationally racist country. Trump’s position, in contrast, raises everyone up: “From the pilgrims to our Founders, from the soldiers at Valley Forge to the marchers at Selma, and from President Lincoln to the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Americans have always rejected limits on our children’s future.” Trump wants to remind black Americans that this inheritance of striving and overcoming belongs to them, too.

In Trump’s America, we are a land of heroes. We all unite in honoring and loving our common heroes. Whose team would you rather be on?

It was clear from the choice of guests that President Trump is going all out for the black vote, with personal stories of courage, success, and hopes answered. The first five featured guests were African American. The Democrats scowled through it all. It was shocking.

The very first was a previously homeless and drug-addled black veteran, now sober and working thanks to a President Trump supported enterprise zone, for which Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) got a special shout out and a close-up on camera. This was an unspoken challenge to the Democrats’ failed policies on the homeless.

The next was awesome because President Trump upped the ante and used a reality TV approach to create a dramatic moment in real-time. He introduced Janiyah Davis, an adorable fourth grader and her pretty single mom, desperate for a better school and better future for her daughter. Her hopes to get her daughter a good education in a charter school were blasted by Pennsylvania’s governor, a Democrat, who vetoed the expansion of school choice for 50,000 children.

President Trump came to the rescue. “Janiyah, I am pleased to inform you that your long wait is over. I can proudly announce tonight that an Opportunity Scholarship has become available, it is going to you, and you will soon be heading to the school of your choice!”

For me, the most moving real-time experience was seeing a young mother and her miracle 2-year-old child, born after only 21 weeks. Trump didn’t need to make a pro-life argument. He showed it to us in an unforgettable, living moment. In doing so, he changed that debate forever.

When the president announced he was asking Congress to ban late-term abortion, we weren’t listening to a debate. We were watching a human face, the face of the child’s mother—seeing intense emotions surge through her—surprise, gratitude, elation, love, vindication, triumph.

President Trump co-opted and promoted initiatives Democrats once claimed, making them his own: incarceration reform, family leave for men and women, infrastructure, high-speed internet for all communities, stamping out human trafficking. Democrats were unwilling to applaud for anything but the pork-barrel possibilities of infrastructure spending.

He also challenged weird and unpopular Democrat policies head-on, from socialized medicine to protecting criminal aliens. President Trump introduced a grieving Hispanic man who lost his beloved brother to a criminal alien released in sanctuary California. It was hard not to cry as the man struggled to hold back his tears. With that very human moment, Trump announced a game-changing tactic against Democrats’ sanctuaries for criminal aliens. “Senator Thom Tillis has introduced legislation to allow Americans like Jody to sue sanctuary cities and states when a loved one is hurt or killed as a result of these deadly policies.”

Another one of Trump’s signature end-runs around seemingly impregnable Democrat resistance.

Trump trolled the Democrats with fearless in-your-face conservative causes such as Second Amendment rights and prayer in the schools.

One of the greatest moments was bestowing the Presidential Medal of Freedom on broadcaster Rush Limbaugh.

Previous Republican presidents have never had the nerve to associate themselves with the brilliant, funny, accomplished, and cherished Limbaugh, for fear of the media blowback. President Trump walks right through those cowardly self-imposed limits and sets off fireworks.

Where Trump showed political genius over and over, the Democrats came across as political morons.

And so it continued all night, culminating in President Trump’s rousing love song to Americans and America:

Our ancestors built the most exceptional Republic ever to exist in all of human history. And we are making it greater than ever before! . . . We settled the new world, we built the modern world, and we changed history forever by embracing the eternal truth that everyone is made equal by the hand of Almighty God. America is the place where anything can happen! America is the place where anyone can rise. And here, on this land, on this soil, on this continent, the most incredible dreams come true! This Nation is our canvas, and this country is our masterpiece. . . . Our brightest discoveries are not yet known. Our most thrilling stories are not yet told. Our grandest journeys are not yet made. The American Age, the American Epic, the American Adventure, has only just begun!

It was at that moment that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) stood, during the thunderous applause, and tore up President Trump’s speech. It was no fit of pique. She had obviously practiced and realized she had to divide the speech in segments and rip each one. Her gesture was disrespectful, petty and vindictive, but perhaps worst of all, ludicrous.

The ranks of President Trump’s supporters are swelling with former Democrats, with independents, with blacks and Hispanics, and with former nonvoters. He has earned their trust and their enthusiasm through bona fide real-life achievements. Trump has surprised everyone with his capabilities. He has unleashed the power of Americans to make our country great. We’ve never had a president like him.

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Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Parasite’ Is Overrated, Implausible, Class-Struggle Nonsense By John Tamny

By on February 7th, 2020

https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2020/02/06/bong_joon-hos_parasite_is_overrated_implausible_class-struggle_nonsense_104067.html

In the years after World War II, Korea’s economy was in tragic shape. In 1948, the country’s per capita income of $86 put it on par with Sudan. Disastrous policies led to hyperinflation, snail-paced growth forced mothers to make choices about children along the lines of Sophie’s, plus literacy rates in the country were among the lowest in the world. Analyzing the situation, one U.S. official concluded that “Korea can never attain a high standard of living.” The reason, he observed, was that “there are virtually no Koreans with the technical training and experience required to take advantage of Korea’s resources and effect an improvement over its rice-economy status.” 

Happily, however, predictions are made to be discredited. The speculation about what became South Korea’s future proved incorrect. Wildly so. Fast forward to the present, and South Korea now finds itself impressively prosperous. Though GDP isn’t the most accurate or worthy of numbers, what was once wrecked by war (among other things) is now one of only two countries (along with Taiwan) to “have managed 5 percent growth for five decades” on the way to its economy presently ranking as the world’s 13th largest. South Korea is one of the biggest trading partners for both China and the United States, and it can claim some of the most prominent global consumer brands, including LG and Samsung. All that, plus the country’s citizens enjoy, according to The New Koreans author Michael Breen, “the fastest, most extensive mobile broadband networks and the highest penetration of smartphones in the world.” Much has changed in this once desperately poor country, and it’s surely for the better.

All of the above, and realistically much, much more, rates as a backdrop to commentary meant to offer a counter-argument to all the excitement among critics about the 2019 South Korean film, Parasite. Directed and co-written by Bong Joon-ho, it’s presently the longshot but trendy pick to take home the Best Picture prize at Sunday’s Academy Awards. That it’s even nominated is a reminder of how politicized everything’s become, including critiques of films.

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In her post-SOTU and acquittal press conference, Pelosi lied about Trump By Andrea Widburg

By on February 7th, 2020

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

Thursday was a day in which President Trump and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi engaged in a war of words. His attacks were based upon the non-stop efforts Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi, have made to overturn the 2016 election. Hers were based upon the fact that Trump’s policies have been wildly successful, while the Democrats have achieved nothing other than banging their heads against the brick wall that is President Donald Trump.

The setting for Pelosi’s ferocious verbal attack against Trump was her weekly press conference. The reasons for her anger and disconnect from reality were twofold:

First, on Tuesday, Trump gave a State of the Union speech that was magnificent. In the first part, he recited his accomplishments, all of which have benefitted the American people, especially the 99% (unlike Obama’s “presidency for the 1%”). He then outlined plans that will bestow even more benefits on Americans, while introducing individuals who embody America’s greatness.

Pelosi, on the other hand, engaged in petty pantomime, capped by her ripping up her copy of Trump’s speech. It was juvenile and offensive.

Then, on Wednesday, the Senate acquitted Trump of the impeachment charges the House Democrats had brought against him. The outcome was preordained, but it was still a slap at the Democrats and a triumph for Trump.

It was against this backdrop that Pelosi dropped any pretense of respect for the President or his office and went crazy making things up:

As you know, this week we had the State of the Union.  As required by the Constitution of the United States, the President is to submit in writing or in person, his statement of the State of the Union.  What happened instead was a President using the Congress of the United States as a backdrop for a reality show, presenting a state of mind that had no contact with reality whatsoever.

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IDF Soldiers Wounded in Jerusalem Car-Ramming Attack Attend Their Western Wall Swearing-In Hours Later avatar by Benjamin Kerstein

By on February 7th, 2020

https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/02/06/idf-soldiers-wounded-in-jerusalem-car-ramming-attack-attend-their-western-wall-swearing-in-hours-later/

In spite of their injuries, a group of IDF soldiers managed to make it their swearing-in ceremony on Thursday night at the Western Wall in Jerusalem despite being wounded in a car-ramming attack near the city’s old train station in the early morning.

Twelve Golani Brigade soldiers were hit by a car driven by a Palestinian terrorist while on their way to the induction event following the completion of their military training. There were no fatalities, and the perpetrator was arrested Thursday evening at the Gush Etzion junction in the West Bank.

The attack came amidst a wave of terror attacks, including a shooting near the Temple Mount and another in the West Bank.

Several of the injured soldiers, some using crutches, arrived at the Western Wall to be sworn in. Others watched a live broadcast of the ceremony from the hospital.

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Oberlin Reaches Settlement With Ex-Professor Who Claimed Israel Behind ISIS, Charlie Hebdo Shooting by Shiri Moshe

By on February 7th, 2020

https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/02/06/oberlin-reaches-settlement-with-ex-professor-who-claimed-israel-behind-isis-charlie-hebdo-shooting/

A professor fired from Oberlin College after sharing multiple social media posts targeting Jews and Israelis has recently settled a discrimination lawsuit against her former employer.

Joilynn “Joy” Karega-Mason, previously an assistant professor at the private Ohio liberal arts school, faced widespread criticism after The Tower news blog reported in February 2016 that she had published various Facebook posts espousing conspiracy theories, among them that Israel was behind the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris, the 2014 downing of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine and the Islamic State terrorist group.

She also endorsed an image claiming the Jewish Rothschild family owned “your news, the media, your oil and your government,” as well as a video by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, in which he claimed that “there were many Israeli and Zionist Jews in key roles in the 9/11 attack.”

After initially defending her right to free speech, Oberlin launched an investigation into Karega-Mason’s conduct and announced in August 2016 that it had put her on paid leave. She was ultimately dismissed that November following a vote by Oberlin’s Board of Trustees, which accused Karega-Mason of “failing to meet the academic standards that Oberlin requires of its faculty and failing to demonstrate intellectual honesty.”

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Palestinians: Arab Leaders Talking to Israel Are ‘Traitors, Jews’ by Khaled Abu Toameh

By on February 7th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15547/palestinians-arab-leaders-israel

Why is it permissible for Egypt’s Abdel Fattah Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah to have diplomatic relations with Israel, and not permissible for the leader of Sudan to sit with the Israeli prime minister?

Several key Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, seem to be fed up with the ongoing Palestinian rejection of every proposed Palestinian-Israeli peace plan. The Palestinians have never even proposed a counter-offer.

The Palestinians’ threats and condemnations… seem primarily aimed at deterring Arabs from even considering the possibility of making peace with Israel. The former stand-off was working brilliantly for the Palestinians; why stop?

The Palestinian leadership would like to continue holding the entire Arab world hostage to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What the Palestinian leaders clearly do not want is for Arab leaders to act in the interests of their own people.

Arab heads of state now have the opportunity to decide whether they will permit Palestinian leaders to continue their time-tested strategy of terrorizing everyone into submission, or — unlike the Palestinian leaders — to seek the best for their own people.

After rejecting and strongly condemning US President Donald Trump’s plan for Mideast peace, the Palestinian leadership has now found the time to threaten Arabs not to make peace with Israel. In addition, Palestinian leaders have also stepped up their attacks against the US and are inciting Arabs against the Americans and Arab leaders who maintain close ties with the Trump administration.

The vicious Palestinian attacks on the US increased after Trump announced last week his “Peace to Prosperity” plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Shortly after the announcement, Palestinians took to the streets of Ramallah and other West Bank and Gaza Strip cities to burn photos of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as US and Israeli flags. The protests erupted shortly after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivered a speech in Ramallah in which he rejected the Trump plan, dubbing it a “conspiracy” and “slap of the century.”

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US Kills Top Terrorist, Leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula: Trump By Isabel van Brugen

By on February 7th, 2020

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-kills-al-qaeda-leader-another-top-terrorist-in-the-arabian-peninsula-trump_3229409.html

President Donald Trump confirmed on Feb. 6 that U.S. forces have killed Qassim al-Rimi, leader of the extremist Islamist group al Qaeda (also al-Qa’ida) in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Al-Rimi claimed responsibility for December’s tragic shooting at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida that left three people dead.

Al-Rimi killed in a counterterrorism operation in Yemen, Trump confirmed in a statement on Thursday evening, without elaborating on the date of his death.

“At the direction of President Donald J. Trump, the United States conducted a counterterrorism operation in Yemen that successfully eliminated Qasim al-Rimi, a founder and the leader of al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and a deputy to al-Qa’ida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri,” a statement from the White House read.

Rimi joined al Qaeda in the 1990s, working in Afghanistan for Osama bin Laden.

“Under Rimi, AQAP committed unconscionable violence against civilians in Yemen and sought to conduct and inspire numerous attacks against the United States and our forces,” Trump continued.

“His death further degrades AQAP and the global al-Qa’ida movement, and it brings us closer to eliminating the threats these groups pose to our national security,” the president said.

AQAP, formed in 2009, has long been considered by the United States as one of the deadliest branches of the al Qaeda network founded by Osama bin Laden.

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Trump’s Heroic Truth And Israel’s historic opportunity. Caroline Glick

By on February 7th, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/02/trumps-heroic-truth-caroline-glick/

In Israel’s early years, every time the U.S. ambassador traveled to Jerusalem to meet with government leaders, he would have his chauffeur stop his car at the entrance to the city, and replace its diplomatic license plates with regular civilian plates. The State Department refused to recognize that Jerusalem was part of Israel. The license plates were for Israel. And so, in a show of contempt and rejection of Israel’s right to its capital city, he removed his diplomatic plates before entering Jerusalem, and put them back on when he left.

President Harry Truman was the first world leader to recognize the State of Israel, just moments after David Ben-Gurion declared its independence on May 14, 1948. But his recognition was skin deep. Truman, like all of his successors until Donald Trump, recognized Israel’s existence but didn’t recognize the Jewishness of Israel. He saw Israel as a refuge for Holocaust survivors and other Jews fleeing persecution, but he didn’t accept that the nation of Israel in 1948 was the nation of Israel from the Bible. He didn’t accept that the Jewish refugees in European DP camps were the descendants of the prophets or that the forefathers of the kibbutzniks in the Jezreel Valley were the priests at the Temple in Jerusalem.

Israel, as far as he was concerned, was a new state, a poor state of Jewish refugees. And he treated it accordingly.

Truman’s anti-historical view of the Jewish state produced a two-faced American policy towards Israel. On the one hand, the American officials spoke warmly of the Jewish homeland. On the other hand, they treated Israel like a beggar that should be thankful for scraps and loose change.

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