Displaying the most recent of 90914 posts written by

Ruth King

Move Washington Out of Washington Roger Kimball

https://amgreatness.com/2019/11/09/move-washington-out-of-washington/

Anything that can be done to dismantle the Leviathan of administrative overreach should be done. A plan by Senators Marcia Blackburn and Josh Hawley to move federal departments to the states is not the end of the story. But it might mark the beginning of a sunny new chapter.

What do you suppose the Alliance for American Advertising has in common with the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, the American Society of Civil Engineers, or American Apparel and Footwear? Apart from beginning with the letter “A,” they are among the nearly 3,500 trades or firms that have dedicated lobbying operations in Washington, D.C.

And that doesn’t count the union headquarters located in D.C., from AFSCME (“We make America Happen”) to SEIU (“the nation’s most diverse union”) and beyond, they’re all there, hands out, telephones working overtime to get a little bigger slice of the government pie, made with 100 percent locally sourced materials, namely your tax dollars.

Have you noticed the odd feeling you get when walking around downtown D.C.? I used to think that it was because of the stately government buildings, the imposing aura of edifices like the Supreme Court (with its ironic motto, “Equal Justice Under Law”) or the Capitol or the White House. That’s part of it, no doubt, but for the daily pedestrian, an essential reality of life in Washington is brought home by the ubiquity of the lobbying efforts. They’re all there, the people that want something, and the people who get paid to articulate those wants to lawmakers, their gargantuan staffs, and the media. (I say “lawmakers,” though the House has pretty much given up on making laws for the sake of continuing their hit mini-series, “At Home with Impeachment.”)

The High Price of Stale Grievances written by Coleman Hughes (From June 2018)

https://quillette.com/2018/06/05/high-price-stale-grievances/

“Stale grievances are dredged up from history and used to justify double-standards that create fresh grievances in turn. And beneath all of this lies the tacit claim that blacks are uniquely constrained by history in a way that Jewish-Americans, East Asian-Americans, Indian-Americans, and countless other historically marginalized ethnic groups are not. In the midst of this breakdown in civil discourse, we must ask ourselves—academics, journalists, activists, politicians, and concerned citizens alike—if we are on a path towards a thriving multi-ethnic democracy or a balkanized hotbed of racial and political tribalism.”

In the fall of 2016, I was hired to play in Rihanna’s back-up band at the MTV Video Music Awards. To my pleasant surprise, several of my friends had also gotten the call. We felt that this would be the gig of a lifetime: beautiful music, primetime TV, plus, if we were lucky, a chance to schmooze with celebrities backstage.

But as the date approached, I learned that one of my friends had been fired and replaced. The reason? He was a white Hispanic, and Rihanna’s artistic team had decided to go for an all-black aesthetic—aside from Rihanna’s steady guitarist, there would be no non-blacks on stage. Though I was disappointed on my friend’s behalf, I didn’t consider his firing as unjust at the time—and maybe it wasn’t. Is it unethical for an artist to curate the racial composition of a racially-themed performance? Perhaps; perhaps not. My personal bias leads me to favor artistic freedom, but as a society, we have yet to answer this question definitively.

One thing, however, is clear. If the races were reversed—if a black musician had been fired in order to achieve an all-white aesthetic—it would have made front page headlines. It would have been seen as an unambiguous moral infraction. The usual suspects would be outraged, calling for this event to be viewed in the context of the long history of slavery and Jim Crow in this country, and their reaction would widely be seen as justified. Public-shaming would be in order and heartfelt apologies would be made. MTV might even enact anti-bias trainings as a corrective.

Though the question seems naïve to some, it is in fact perfectly valid to ask why black people can get away with behavior that white people can’t. The progressive response to this question invariably contains some reference to history: blacks were taken from their homeland in chains, forced to work as chattel for 250 years, and then subjected to redlining, segregation, and lynchings for another century. In the face of such a brutal past, many would argue, it is simply ignorant to complain about what modern-day blacks can get away with.

A Walk in the Lions’ Den: Zionism and the Left By Harold Goldmeier

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/11/a_walk_in_the_lions_den_zionism_and_the_left.html

I was on a speaking tour discussing “When Zionism Became a Dirty Word.”  My wife warned me that I will be walking into a lion’s den.

Susie Linfield was at a pleasant, tony New York dinner party, until she realized she was in the lion’s den as the only Zionist present willing to speak up.  The experience inspired her book, The Lions’ Den: Zionism from the Left from Hannah Arendt to Noam Chomsky (Yale University Press, 2019).  The book is a brilliant, intellectual, sociological exploration of eight popular, prolific thinkers and writers.  Her focus is on their ideologies regarding the modern Jewish people; our track-switch from religious faith to political and military creeds; and the great love of our life, the inamorata State of Israel.

Israel was conceived, founded, and remains in stewpots of controversy and derisiveness.  At the dinner party, one guest disparagingly dismisses the work of a particular journalist because, “oh, he’s a Zionist!”  Condescension fills the air.  Then Linfield retorts with, “‘Well, so am I.’  A frozen, stunned silence ensues … [as] they shoot pitying glances at my partner.”

Linfield’s subjects are not all consumed by anti-Israel ideology.  Maxime Rodinson, Albert Memmi, I.F. Stone, and Fred Halliday intellectually and ideologically struggle about Israel’s right to exist and the behavior of the Jews and Arabs.  “Rodinson was acutely aware of, and unsentimental about, the consequences of the Arab world’s underdevelopment, which is part of the realist Marxist tradition.”  The book “is not a general survey” of the Left’s relationship with Zionism or the relationship of Jews with the Left.  It is a series of portraits uncovering a rich, fraught, sometimes buried intellectual history, tackling “the Zionist Question.”  The points of view of her subjects are meticulously researched.  There are 34 pages of footnotes and an equally long bibliography.

Nikki Haley Dismisses Grounds for Impeachment and Triggers Never Trumpers By Stephen Kruiser

https://pjmedia.com/trending/nikki-haley-dismisses-grounds-for-impeachment-and-triggers-never-trumpers/

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley set liberal and (newly liberal) #NeverTrump heads on fire Friday when she poo-pooed the Democrats’ basis for wanting to impeach President Trump.

Haley’s remarks were taped for this weekend’s edition of “CBS Sunday.”

The Washington Examiner:

“I don’t think it’s good for us to ever want a foreign country to investigate an American,” she said. “That’s just not something we want to get into the practice of doing.”

However, she still dismissed the impeachment proceedings, saying, “I also don’t feel comfortable with the fact that we’re having an impeachment process during an election year.”

The latter part isn’t really surprising, given the weak candidate offerings the Democrats have before them despite a record large field. They no doubt believe that their best shot at weakening the president and deflecting from the still-strong economy is to keep saying “IMPEACHMENT!” every third word until November of next year.

What really triggered an acute attack of Trump Derangement Syndrome symptoms was Haley giving a very public voice to what many Americans are thinking:

“On what? You’re going to impeach a president for asking for a favor that didn’t happen and — and giving money, and it wasn’t withheld?”

What Drives the Jews to the AfD? VIDEO

https://gatesofvienna.net/2019/11/what-drives-the-jews-to-the-afd/

It is commonly assumed by the media — and also much of the general public — that Jews in Germany are afraid of the “right-extreme” AfD (Alternative für Deutschland, Alternative for Germany) because of its alleged Jew-hatred.

However, as most of us “Islamophobes” know, the real source of Jew-hatred in Germany and elsewhere in Western Europe lies on the Left, and especially among Muslims, who have formed an alliance with the Jew-hating Left.

The following video from Junge Freiheit features a discussion about Jews in the AfD, with two members of a group called the Federal Association of Jews in the AfD as special guests. They explain that the AfD actually enjoys widespread support from Jews in Germany, but news about this is routinely suppressed by the prominent Jewish interest groups that are in bed with the German establishment — or more precisely, with the international globalists who call the shots for the German establishment. Those mainstream Jewish groups, along with analogous Catholic and Protestant interest groups, routinely propagandize against the AfD.

Many thanks to MissPiggy for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

New book Palestinian Delusion makes the conflict easy to understand By Amil Imani

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/11/new_book_empalestinian_delusionem_makes_the_conflict_easy_to_understand.html

Robert Spencer’s new book, The Palestinian Delusion, under the “light of reason,” is an invaluable, accurate account that ranks as a most worthy scholarly work on the subject by a man of outstanding credentials, impeccable integrity, and unsurpassed qualifications.  This meticulously documented and comprehensive book is a treasure for anyone wishing to learn the truth of the Palestinian and Israeli conflict. 

Spencer methodically demonstrates not only that the Jews have the right to live in their ancestral homeland, but that the term “Palestinian” was invented.  “Invented people” may sound disturbing to some who have not taken the time to study historical facts.  However, truth is the best weapon against falsehood.  Spencer has carefully tied various historical origins with current events that provide facts and understanding about what is happening in our present time. 

Spencer states:

Another familiar theme of pro-Palestinian literature today is that the State of Israel exists on “stolen land”— stolen, of course, from the indigenous people of Palestine. In reality, the land is no more stolen than the Palestinian Arabs are its indigenous inhabitants. … Nonetheless, the myth has taken hold, and it is now widely taken for granted, in our age that has little historical memory and scant interest in gaining more, that the Palestinians are a genuine nationality and are the indigenous people of the land that Israel illegally occupies.

Higher Education’s Enemy Within An army of nonfaculty staff push for action and social justice at the expense of free inquiry. By  José A. Cabranes 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/higher-educations-enemy-within-11573251941?emailToken=

Judge Cabranes serves on the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He was Yale’s first general counsel, and later served as a trustee of Yale, Columbia and Colgate universities. This is adapted from remarks delivered Oct. 18 to the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which bestowed on him its Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education.

American higher education seems to be in a permanent state of crisis. Almost monthly, a federal court has occasion to reprimand some college or university for improperly chilling speech, even as some students continue to complain that campuses are too friendly to the wrong kind of speakers. Many institutions have cut back on faculty hiring, even as the cost of tuition grows. Two basic, and mutually reinforcing, phenomena are behind the chaos on campus.

First, colleges and universities have subordinated their historic mission of free inquiry to a new pursuit of social justice. Consider the remarkable evolution of Yale’s mission statement. For decades the university said its purpose was “to create, preserve, and disseminate knowledge.” The language was banal enough, but nevertheless on the money. In 2016, however, Yale’s president announced a new mission statement, which no longer mentions knowledge. Instead, Yale is now officially “committed to improving the world” and educating “aspiring leaders”—not only through research, but also through “practice.”

Second, American colleges and universities have been overwhelmed by a dangerous alliance of academic bureaucrats and student activists committed to imposing the latest social-justice diktats. This alliance has displaced the traditional governors of the university—the faculty. Indeed, nonfaculty administrators and activists are driving some of the most dangerous developments in university life, including the erosion of the due-process rights of faculty and students, efforts to regulate the “permissible limits” of classroom discussion, and the condemnation of unwelcome ideas as “hate speech.”

How did the university lose its way? How did this new alliance of activists and administrators supplant the faculty?

Warren & a few other Dem presidential hopefuls draw ‘dozens’ not hundreds to poorly-attended rally

None of these fools will ever be able to fill enormous arenas to full capacity with tens of thousands watching on big screen TVs outside!  This ‘environment gathering’ was a major flop. Audience only filled first 3 rows of seats in a small theater. They’re dreaming if they believe that can defeat POTUS MAGNUS. He’s an unbeatable legend in his own time. All of his challengers are as attractive as skunks at a garden party. Charlotte B.

https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1192965604724097024/photo/1

Read coverage of this event at DAILY WIRE below:

www.dailywire.com/news/warren-plays-to-nearly-empty-hall-as-enthusiasm-wanes-for-democratic-candidates

America Needs a War on Waste 100 Examples of Federal Taxpayer Abuse

https://www.openthebooks.com/wsj_100_examples_of_federal_taxpayer_abuse/
Our open letter to President Donald Trump took over two full pages of The Wall Street Journal.

After 225 years, the federal debt was $5.7 trillion.But in the last 20 years? It’s quadrupled, reaching close to $23 trillion.This level of fiscal irresponsibility is not sustainable.
We are publicly urging the President to lead the Transparency Revolution and War on Waste by implementing a four-step plan that includes publishing every White House expenditure online and incentivizing government employees to find and report areas of waste. 
SIGN YOUR NAME TO OUR PETITION, URGING THE PRESIDENT TO WAGE A WAR ON WASTE. 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PAYS TO PUT RUNNING SHRIMP ON A TREADMILL – $1.3 MILLION
FY2012-FY2017 | NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION | National Science Foundation (NSF) funded an experiment that tested how sickness impaired shrimp mobility by putting the crustaceans on a treadmill made an uproar in the media and in Congress nearly five years ago. Yet the NSF has once again given tax dollars to the same researchers to put the would-be seafood on a cardiovascular workout regime. The investigators – Louis and Karen Burnett – measure the crustaceans’ responses to low oxygen and high carbon dioxide environments in a variety of ways and would also test their reactions “when performing energetically demanding activities,” according to the award abstract. “The energetically demanding activities will be conducted with the aid of a treadmill, as the technique is effective and will help to make the data comparable to previous studies,” Arriens said.

LOBSTER TAIL & SNOW CRAB PURCHASES — $25.4 MILLION
FY2017-2018 | DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE | As the fiscal year wrapped up, federal agencies celebrated by splurging on luxury food items. The Department of Defense (DOD) originally reported spending $2.3 million on snow crab, Alaskan king crab, and crab legs and claws, plus another $2.3 million on lobster tail. Additionally, agencies spent nearly $300,000 on steak (ribeye, top sirloin, and flank). However, the DOD admitted to inflated disclosures. Their updated numbers reveal lobster and crab purchases amounted to $1.6 million in September 2018 and $25.4 million during an 18-month period. We have additional questions for the agency. Here is a video showing our data download and quantification of $2.3 million (Sept 2018) and $22.1 million (FY2018) in lobster tail purchases as reported by the DOD to the federal government’s official transparency portal at USAspending.gov.

MISTAKES & IMPROPER PAYMENTS DISTRIBUTED BY 20 FEDERAL AGENCIES – $1.5 TRILLION
FY2004–FY2019 | OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT & BUDGET | Congressional Research Service released a report on July 16, 2018, titled “Improper Payments in High-Priority Programs: In Brief.” Garrett Hatch, a specialist in American National Government, authored the report. In the summary, Hatch writes, “Over the period of FY2004 through FY2017, high priority improper payments have totaled $1.2 trillion.” Between FY2017 and FY2019 inclusive, the reports compiled by the Office of Management & Budget show that the agencies admit to approximately $140 billion per year in improper payments. Our reporting published at Forbes.

DEAD PEOPLE RECEIVED MISTAKEN & IMPROPER PAYMENTS – $921 MILLION
FY2018 | MULTIPLE FEDERAL AGENCIES | Dead people received $1 billion in benefits. Medicare, Medicaid, social security payments and also the federal retirement annuity payouts (pensions) kept flowing to dead recipients. Our reporting published at Forbes.

Demographic Jihad? Virginia Muslim Doctor Tied Women’s Tubes Without Their Consent By Robert Spencer

https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/demographic-jihad-virginia-muslim-doctor-tied-womens-tubes-without-their-consent/

The details of this case are simply horrifying. One woman tried for years to conceive a child, but couldn’t. When she finally consulted a fertility specialist, she discovered, according to the Virginian-Pilot, that her “Fallopian tubes had been burned down to nubs, making it impossible to conceive naturally.” It turned out that her physician, Dr. Javaid Perwaiz of Chesapeake, Virginia had tied her tubes without telling her was doing it or obtaining her consent. And she was by no means the only woman whom Dr. Perwaiz victimized in this way.

Dr. Perwaiz’s website is the soul of helpfulness, noting that he has “practiced in the Chesapeake region for over 30 years, providing expert and individualized care to his patients. Personally following each and every patient throughout their pregnancy, he is available 24/7 to meet all of your requests and expectations. His experienced office staff will individualize your care and coordinate your insurance coverage. They provide friendly and knowlegable service for all your healthcare needs. Same day appointments are often available.”

About the good doctor we are told that he was “educated abroad,” with no hint as to where – it was actually in his native Pakistan, as the Virginian-Pilot notes: “Perwaiz has had a medical license since at least 1980, according to state records, having attended medical school in his native Pakistan and completed a residency at Charleston Area Medical Center.”