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Ruth King

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Time Magazine’s Iran Guide For Parents Refuses To Call Soleimani A Terrorist January 8, 2020 By Tristan Justice

By on January 8th, 2020

https://thefederalist.com/2020/01/08/time-magazines-iran-guide-for-parents-refuses-to-call-soleimani-a-terrorist/

Time Magazine’s “Time for Kids” publication issued a guide Tuesday for parents on how to talk with their children about the situation unfolding in Iran riddled with biased omissions.

The legacy outlet first refers to Qasem Soleimani, the recently slain Iranian general responsible for hundreds of American deaths, as a “top military leader in Iran,” rather than a terrorist. In the next line, the guide explains that President Donald Trump took action on Soleimani simply because Trump said Soleimani was a terrorist.

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Trump Wins His First Sanctuary City Fight Just before Christmas, the Ninth Circuit rejected Los Angeles’s petition to reconsider its ruling upholding the administration’s COPS rules.

By on January 8th, 2020

https://spectator.org/trump-wins-his-first-sanctuary-city-fight/

Imagine, for a moment, that you or someone you know has become a crime victim. The perpetrator, you learn, had been incarcerated before this offense, and federal immigration officials, discovering that he was in the country illegally, wanted to pick him up for deportation. The jail, however, sits in a “sanctuary city,” so it refused to hold the suspect for immigration officials or even notify them before releasing him back into the community — thus allowing him to harm you or your loved one.

This scenario, which has played out numerous times, illustrates why many Americas are angry about sanctuary cities.

Donald Trump, of course, promised to end them. Beginning in 2017, however, his administration lost a series of legal battles with sanctuary cities. In each case, courts prevented the administration from using its grant-making authority to disincentivize sanctuary policies.

Sanctuary cities were having their cake and eating it too — thumbing their noses at the federal government’s request for basic law enforcement cooperation yet taking in federal law enforcement grant funds.

So last July’s ruling in City of Los Angeles v. Barr must have felt like a gut punch. Reversing a lower-court judgment for Los Angeles, a three-judge panel of the famously liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld scoring factors used by the administration in awarding Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants — scoring factors that handicapped sanctuary cities.

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Did the Media Force a False Narrative on the Trayvon Martin Case? A new lawsuit claims Trayvon’s defense used a false witness — and the mainstream media refuses to look into it. Rael Jean Isaac

By on January 8th, 2020

https://spectator.org/did-the-media-force-a-false-narrative-on-the-trayvon-martin-case/

There has been widespread reporting of the civil lawsuit for $100 million being brought by attorney Larry Klayman on behalf of George Zimmerman, the man who shot and killed Trayvon Martin almost eight years ago. At the core of the lawsuit is the claim that the key witness against Zimmerman at his trial, Rachel Jeantel, was a fake witness pretending to be Diamond Eugene, the 16-year-old girl who was on the phone with Trayvon in the last minutes before his death.

The lawsuit, based on investigative reporting by documentary producer Joel Gilbert, targets Trayvon’s parents, their lawyer Benjamin Crump, both Jeantel and the real Diamond Eugene, prosecution lawyers and the state of Florida, all of whom, according to the lawsuit, knew or should have known of the witness substitution. The Martin case had far-reaching implications, poisoning race relations and resulting in the creation (by its own account) of Black Lives Matter. For Klayman, setting the record straight in this case and imposing high damages “has the potential to break the back of the race-baiting industry, to set a precedent that you can’t get away with this stuff anymore.”

Not on the list, but, as Gilbert points out, “a main culprit in this story,” are the mainstream media. Zimmerman was taken into custody by the Sanford, Florida police following the shooting and released without charges. This was because their investigation found his claim that he had acted in self-defense convincing. According to Zimmerman’s story, he was a member of Neighborhood Watch in his housing complex, which had experienced a wave of robberies. He had called the non-emergency number of the police when he saw a suspicious person hanging around in the rain. He left his car briefly when he was asked in which direction the person had gone, but returned to it and did not see Trayvon Martin until the latter jumped him, broke his nose, and pummeled his head on the concrete path while he cried for help. His story was supported both by his injuries and eyewitness testimony. But the media fastened on the alternative narrative promoted by the Martin family and their attorney, Crump, of a white racist vigilante who willfully gunned down an unarmed black child buying snacks for his younger brother.

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Europe’s Nigerian Mafia by Judith Bergman

By on January 8th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15398/europe-nigerian-mafia

Italian intelligence has named the Nigerian mafia “the most structured and dynamic” of any foreign crime entity operating in Italy, according to the Washington Post…. What distinguishes the Nigerian crime networks is their severe brutality…

Black Axe has also spread to Canada, where a 2015 report by the Globe and Mail described it as a “death cult”… linked to “decades of murders and rapes…. In the US, the FBI recently linked a series of financial frauds to Black Axe.

“…traffickers tell victims of human trafficking to apply for asylum and then get a status to be able to stay here in Germany, but they continue to be exploited in prostitution.” — Andrea Tivig, Terre des Femmes, Infomigrants.net, March 15, 2019.

“In addition to a common fondness for crime, the culture of immigrant gangs is a cocktail of religion, clan affiliation, honor, shame and brotherhood… The harder and the more brutal [you are], the stronger you are, and then you create awareness of yourself and attract more [people]”. — Naser Khader, member of the Danish Parliament for the Conservative Party and co-founder of the Muslim Reform Movement, Jyllands-Posten, November 22, 2018.

In policy debates, the detrimental effects of migration on crime, particularly gang crime, do not receive nearly the attention — if any — they deserve. They should.

One of the fastest growing criminal networks in Europe is now the Nigerian mafia, which is spreading its criminal activities across the continent. It consists of rival groups such as Black Axe, Vikings and Maphite. Most recently, authorities in Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Malta conducted an international operation directed at two of the major Nigerian mafia groups. Police accused the gangs of human-trafficking, drug trafficking, robbery, extortion, sexual violence and prostitution.

According to a June 2019 report by the Washington Post on the Nigerian mafia in Italy:

“They hold territory from the north in Turin to the south in Palermo. They smuggle drugs and traffic women, deploying them as prostitutes on Italy’s streets. They find new members among the caste of wayward migrants, illicitly recruiting at Italian government-run asylum centers.”

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Turkey: Turning on Washington to Benefit Moscow by Stephen Blank and Peter Huessy

By on January 8th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15380/turkey-washington-moscow

“Turkey and [Libya’s] Government of National Accord reached an unusual agreement to essentially carve up much of the energy-rich eastern Mediterranean between them — threatening to cut out Greece and Cyprus from the coming bonanza.” — Foreign Policy, Keith Johnson, December 23, 2019.

Turkey’s confrontations with the US and NATO, of which it is a member, have served Russia well, giving Putin huge returns on a relatively small investment — returns that are likely to grow in 2020.

Turkey’s often seeming contradictory relations with the United States and Russia — such as, for instance, Ankara’s boosting of cooperation with Ukraine, on the one hand, and defending the Libyan government against General Khalifa Haftar’s insurgency on the other — likely stem from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s apparent drive to become a leading regional and global power.

To this end, Erdoğan has steadily constructed a repressive authoritarian regime resembling that of Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, as the March 31, 2019 municipal elections in Istanbul demonstrated, Erdoğan’s domestic base, including within his own Justice and Development Party has narrowed in favor of the Turkish nationalist right.

To counter his weakened position at home, Erdoğan evidently thinks he needs to demonize America and resist US policies in Syria and the eastern Mediterranean.

In addition, on its economic front, in May 2019, Turkish ships invaded Cyprus’s Exclusive Economic Zone and started drilling for gas. Turkey interposed its navy there, to deter any resistance, and now is not only increasing its drilling force, but is even talking about drilling in the Aegean or Black Sea.

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The Austrian People’s Party and the Greens – A Successful Coalition for the Future? by Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff

By on January 8th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15397/austria-peoples-party-greens

They [the Austrian Greens Party] now enjoy unprecedented attention not afforded to other small political parties. Moreover, the European Union has always viewed coalition governments with a Greens participation as “sexy and future-oriented”, with German chancellor Angela Merkel having had her eyes on a coalition with the Greens for a long time.

European media outlets are hailing the new and “future-oriented” Austrian government as a “model for Germany”, “the only chance to combat [right-wing] extremism”, and “a model that could be worth copying”. Criticism, even in its slightest form, has been virtually non-existent.

Whereas the Austrian Greens Party is eco-socialist, capitalizing on the current worldwide trends purportedly to save the planet from extinction due to “climate change”, the People’s Party champions an eco-social market economy, developed by former Austrian vice-chancellor Josef Riegler. It calls for the balance of a free market economy, social fairness and the protection of natural resources. How these seemingly conflicting views were reconciled in a coalition agreement will be discussed in the near future.

After the end of a popular coalition government between the Austrian People’s Party and the Freedom Party — as well as snap elections on September 29, 2019, and extensive exploratory talks among all political parties — coalition negotiations between the allegedly center-right People’s Party and the far-left Greens Party reached their conclusion on January 2, 2020. Austrians had to exercise patience for more than 100 days until they would once again be governed by an elected administration. Since the previous government’s crash and the following parliamentary no-confidence vote against then-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, an unelected, appointed, technocratic caretaker government had been in charge.

The People’s Party under the leadership of Sebastian Kurz together with the Greens under the leadership of Werner Kogler garnered 53% of the vote in 2019, the hitherto smallest support for a coalition government. In 2017, when the People’s Party and the Freedom Party entered their government, they could count on the backing of 62%, a percentage that remained stable in polls until the Chancellor Kurz called for snap elections following the emergence in May 2019 of the Ibiza-video. which showed the Austrian vice-chancellor in a shady meeting with a woman claiming to be the niece of a Russian oligarch on the island of Ibiza.

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DON SURBER: THE STATE OF THE DONALD

By on January 8th, 2020

https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-state-of-donald.html

Last night, the Drudge Report was its melodramatic best with headlines declaring John Bolton Will Talk! Executive Privilege Fight! Cracks in Republican Unity! And — brace yourself — Ann Coulter has dumped President Trump again. This time for taking out General Salami.

None of this matters. This is Donald John Trump’s world now. We just live in it.

I reached that conclusion because to understand Donald Trump is to understand the world we are in, such is the power of the American presidency. Few have tapped as deeply into the potential power as he has. Certainly no one since Ronald Wilson Reagan.

The Bushes, Clintons, and Obama exploited the presidency for prestige (the Bushes) or money (the others).

Presidents Trump and Reagan entered the White House with fame and fortune in hand. They used the presidency for the greater good.

Reagan’s tale is over and has been told by better people in better ways. He brought back capitalism here and smote communism in Russia.

President Trump’s journey is ongoing. We know its destination, but the route reveals itself one click at a time. Conrad Black calls him a president like no other. The times demand it, and besides it is his nature, is it not?

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American Historical Association Rejects Anti-Israel Resolutions for Fourth Time by Shiri Moshe

By on January 8th, 2020

https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/01/06/american-historical-association-rejects-anti-israel-resolutions-for-fourth-time/

Two resolutions targeting Israel failed to pass at the American Historical Association’s annual meeting in New York on Sunday, amid a years-long campaign encouraging the organization to take a stance in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The measures — which were introduced by academics affiliated with the group Historians for Peace and Democracy (H-PAD), and supported by 104 signatories — were among a total of three items submitted by AHA members that were voted on during the business meeting, and the only ones focused on a foreign country. While their text did not explicitly mention the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, the movement has previously been endorsed by H-PAD.

The first of the two resolutions urged AHA, which counts some 12,000 members in its ranks, to call on Israel to allow Palestinian faculty and students to travel without restriction in pursuit of higher education, and to cease denying entry to any foreigners “seeking to promote educational development in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”

The second called on the US State Department to contest “Israel’s denials of entry of U.S. academics who have been invited to teach, confer, or do research at Palestinian universities.”

Five supporters and five opponents of the resolutions were each given two minutes to debate their side in front of around 125 meeting attendees before voting commenced. The first resolution was rejected with a tally of 80 against, 41 supporting, and one abstention, while the second failed with 61 against, 36 supporting, and three abstentions, according to several meeting participants.

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Media Reactions to Soleimani Assassination Are Beyond Parody Debra Heine

By on January 8th, 2020

https://amgreatness.com/2020/01/07/media-reactions-to-soleimani-assassination-are-beyond-parody/

No one expected the U.S. media to take President Trump’s decision to rid the world of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani well, but the MSM’s outpouring of grief over the top terrorist kingpin’s death has reached Onion/Babylon Bee levels of parodic absurdity.

The media has played up Soleimani’s reputation as a brilliant military strategist beloved by his people, while downplaying his responsibility for the destruction of countless lives across the Middle East.

The fact is, Soleimani was a monster.

Qassem Soleimani was responsible for 11 recent attacks on U.S. facilities in Iraq even before the one that killed a U.S. contractor; Iranian attacks on neutral, civilian shipping in the Gulf; the attack on Aramco facilities in Saudi Arabia; IEDs that killed hundreds of American soldiers in Iraq. He was the architect of Iran’s strategy of mobilizing militias to destabilize neighboring states and the brutal strategy of bleeding Syria dry.

While we may not be at war with Iran, Soleimani has been at war with the United States for 15 years.

Soleimani was also notoriously brutal to his own people, as Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad pointed out in the Washington post.

This past November, thousands of Iranians took to the streets across the country to protest against the regime, in the biggest challenge to the clerical rule in 40 years. According to Reuters, more than 1,500 people were killed by security forces, including units of Soleimani’s Revolutionary Guard, and at least 7,000 have been arrested. The Internet was shut down for five days

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Democrats Are Now Incapable Of Protecting America Thomas McArdle

By on January 8th, 2020

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/01/08/democrats-are-now-incapable-of-protecting-america/

In the immediate aftermath of Iranian missile attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq – apparently designed to save face rather than kill Americans – is it an overstatement to apply Orwell’s ultra-totalitarian slogans to the left in the free country of the United States of America today? “War is peace,” The Party in “1984” assured its servile proles, “freedom is slavery,” and “ignorance is strength.”

After all, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi assured us that the people’s elected representatives could cast their votes for ObamaCare while being entirely ignorant of the contents of the law. And the “Medicare For All” being pushed hard by top-tier Democrats running for president, such as Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, obviously means freedom of choice of health plan for no one. To have such liberty, they tell us, would make us slaves of the rich health insurers.

But national security is where the Orwellian really comes through. The reality of war is defeating the enemy, and oftentimes that necessarily means killing your adversary’s military strategists. For instance, over the course of seven months, exiled Czechoslovakian soldiers planned and successfully executed Operation Anthropoid, the 1942 killing of Reinhard Heydrich, a powerful Nazi security chief and one of the formulators of Hitler’s genocide of the Jews. A well-reviewed film of the operation was released several years ago.

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