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Ruth King

HISTORY, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

From England in 1819 to Hong Kong in 2019 By Christopher J. Scalia

By on August 17th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/08/hong-kong-protests-peterloo-massacre-1819-history-rhymes/

Two hundred years ago today, Britain was shocked by the violent suppression of a peaceful protest. Here’s hoping history doesn’t repeat itself.

History rhymes: The massive protests in Hong Kong have happened to coincide with one of the most tragic demonstrations in British history. Two hundred years ago today — Aug. 16, 1819 — tens of thousands of English men and women gathered in St. Peter’s Field in Manchester to demand parliamentary reform. The deadly response from the city’s authorities in what is called the Peterloo Massacre, or the battle of Peterloo, galvanized the radical movement, outraged the British public, and embarrassed the government. Two centuries later, it reminds us of the dangers of even peaceful political protest.

The years following Britain’s victory in the Napoleonic Wars were marked by serious economic problems, which inflamed the sense among many Britons that they were not adequately represented in Parliament. A radical reform movement grew around the country, spurred on by a charismatic speaker named Henry Hunt.

When Hunt visited Manchester to call for universal suffrage and annual parliaments, about 60,000 men, women, and children came to listen. They were laborers — cotton-factory workers and loom weavers, for example — from around the region, and they carried signs that read “Liberty or Death,” “Universal Suffrage,” and “Taxation without Representation is Unjust and Tyrannical.”

The large crowd and its demands alarmed a British government that remembered the French Revolution. Hunt himself was a figure of particular concern, in part because he’d been involved in a demonstration that deteriorated into a riot three years before. So Manchester’s magistrates commissioned a warrant for his arrest and ordered a group of yeomanry, or volunteer, cavalrymen to disperse the crowd almost immediately after he started his speech.

But the yeomanry did not keep the peace; they brought chaos. Waving sabers in the air, they struck the weapons indiscriminately into the crowd, causing panic and sending the gathered people running in all directions. Many were trampled. According to one witness, “The piercing shrieks and deep moanings of the people were indescribable; the petitioners were carried off their feet many yards.”

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BOOKS Comments turned off

The Bogus Story That Launched a ‘Collusion’ Probe By Andrew C. McCarthy

By on August 17th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/08/ball-of-collusion-book-excerpt-bogus-story-that-launched-collusion-probe/

A minor functionary’s farcical encounter with a self-promoting schemer provided the excuse for an investigation.

Editor’s note: Andrew C. McCarthy’s new book is Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency. This is the fourth in a series of excerpts; the first can be read here, the second here, and the third here.

The George Papadopoulos Origin Story has never added up. It has been portrayed as the Big Bang, the Magic Moment that started the FBI’s investigation of “collusion” — a suspected election-theft conspiracy between Donald Trump’s campaign and Vladimir Putin’s regime. But if the young energy-sector analyst had actually emerged in early 2016 as the key to proving Trump–Russia espionage, you would think the FBI might have gotten around to interviewing him before January 27, 2017 — i.e., a week after President Trump had been inaugurated, and six months after the Bureau formally opened its “Crossfire Hurricane” probe.

You would probably also think Papadopoulos, Suspect One in The Great Cyber Espionage Attack on Our Democracy, might have rated a tad more than the whopping 14-day jail sentence a federal judge eventually imposed on him. You might even suppose that he’d have been charged with some seditious felony involving clandestine operations against his own country, instead of . . . yes . . . fibbing to the FBI about the date of a meeting.

That, however, does not scratch the surface. We are to believe that what led to the opening of the FBI’s Trump–Russia investigation, and what therefore is the plinth of the collusion narrative, is a breakfast meeting at a London hotel on April 26, 2016, between Papadopoulos and Joseph Mifsud, a Maltese academic we are supposed to take for a clandestine Russian agent. We are to take Papadopoulos’s word for it that Mifsud claimed Russia possessed “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands” of “emails of Clinton.” We are further to believe that “the professor” elaborated that, in order to help Donald Trump’s candidacy, the Kremlin would release these “emails of Clinton” at a time chosen to do maximum damage to the Democratic nominee’s campaign.

The story is based on no credible evidence. If it were ever presented to a jury, it would be laughed out of court.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

DR. JASON HILL- ON NIHILISTIC HATE OF ISRAEL VIDEO ON THE GLAZOV GANG

By on August 17th, 2019

https://jamieglazov.com/2019/08/16/dr-hill-inside-the-palestinian-death-cult/

Unveiling an Islamic culture founded on nihilistic hate.

This new edition of The Glazov Gang features Dr. Jason D. Hill, a professor of philosophy at DePaul University in Chicago, and a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. His areas of specialization include ethics, social and political philosophy, American foreign policy and American politics. He is the author of several books, including We Have Overcome: An Immigrant’s Letter to the American People. Follow him on Twitter: @JasonDhill6.

Dr. Hill sheds disturbing light on The Palestinian Death Cult, unveiling an Islamic culture founded on nihilistic hate.

Don’t miss it!

And make sure to watch Dr. Hill discuss Jewish People – The Creators of Time — where he puts forward an ethical defense of Zionism. It is the blockbuster interview from which the above clip is taken.

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MOVIES AND TELEVISION Comments turned off

WHERE’D YOU GO BERNADETTE? A REVIEW BY MARILYN PENN

By on August 17th, 2019

In Where’d You Go Bernadette, Cate Blanchett plays a woman who has lost her personal mission in life after becoming a mother.  Although she was formerly a super-star architect who won a MacArthur Genius Award, she has slipped into becoming, over the years, her teenage daughter’s “‘best friend” and chauffeur in a baffling relationship that will be unfamiliar to 99% of today’s mothers.  Making this even more difficult to fathom is the slavish imitation of Anna Wintour in Ms. Blanchett’s hairdo, sunglasses and even the name Bea for her daughter.  We look at Bernadette thru the lens of that other highly successful career woman and wonder what the director had in mind.  Did he think the screenplay was insufficient to remind us of whom Bernadette was meant to be without showing us an image of one of the most photographed working women in the world?

This is a bewildering movie directed by Richard Linklater whose previous films, including “Before Sunrise”,  showed great sensitivity to the subtle nuances of male/female relationships.  In this film, we are meant to believe that a highly creative man in his own right never noticed that his highly creative wife had stopped doing anything for at least 14 years.  Though we see or are told that she seldom leaves her house, has no friends, doesn’t sleep, alienates people (including her husband) and has refused any sort of help, we are also supposed to accept that all she needed to finally recharge her batteries was an aha moment along with the miraculous good fortune of meeting the right person at the right time while paddling through the waters of Antarctica.  

So this is essentially a fairy tale not about Saint Bernadette who had 18 visions, but about a fairy queen struck by a magic wand that eclipsed all distances and unlikely occurrences to restore her royal crown.  And since this is a fairy tale, the abusive neighbor next door, played reliably by Kristen Wiig, becomes the tunnel to freedom that Bernadette needed  for her escape to wholeness so that all would be right in the kingdom of Utopia, a word that literally means nowhere.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

‘BDS Is a Bullsh*t Purity Test’ for Democrats: Bill Maher Rants Against Boycott Israel Movement VIDEO

By on August 17th, 2019

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/bds-is-a-bullsht-purity-test-for-democrats-bill-maher-rants-against-boycott-israel-movement/

omedian Bill Maher lashed out at the Boycott Israel movement and its popularity among some progressive Democrats, saying “BDS is a bullshit purity test” within the party.

His comments came after a days-long public furor over the planned visit to Israel and Palestine by Muslim Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.), who are vocal BDS supporters. Their visit was foiled after the Israeli government backtracked on its initial approval a month ago and decided to block the pair from entering after President Donald Trump publicly encouraged the country to do so. (Israel later flip-flopped once more, to allow the Congresswomen in, but both Tlaib and Omar ultimately chose not to go.)

Maher, not holding back, slammed the boycott efforts as mere virtue signaling.

“BDS is a bullshit purity test by people who want to appear woke but actually slept through history class,” he said, to both cheers and jeer. “It’s predicated on this notion, I think, it’s very shallow thinking that the Jews in Israel, mostly white, and the Palestinians are browner, so they must be innocent and correct, and the Jews must be wrong. As if the occupation came right out of the blue, that this completely peaceful people found themselves occupied.”

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Foreign investment keeps seeking Israel’s hightech Yoram Ettinger

By on August 17th, 2019

https://bit.ly/2MjsB41

The sustained growth of Israel’s economy for 15 consecutive years – 3.1% and 3.3% growth projected for 2019 and 2010 respectively – the flow of foreign investment to Israel’s hightech industries, the expanding production of natural gas in Israel and low unemployment (3.6%), have led Standard & Poor’s credit rating agency to reaffirm Israel’s AA- rating with stable economic outlook, notwithstanding Israel’s growing budget deficit (3.8% of GDP) and the current electoral turmoil (The Marker, August 5, 2019).

2. The downturn of Arab economies is presented by Dr. Adam Reuter, Chairman and Founder of Financial Immunities, Israel’s largest financial risk management firm. According to Dr. Reuter, more than ¾ of the Arab countries face a severe economic crisis, which has also afflicted the wealthy Persian Gulf countries due to the significant decline of the price of oil, their over-reliance on oil production, and the intensified lethal threat by Iran’s Ayatollahs. Seven Arab countries face the potential of insolvency (Morocco, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon), and six additional Arab countries experience a de-facto bankruptcy (Syria, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Tunisia and Algeria).

The reduced price of oil has been generated, substantially, by the dramatic expansion of oil and natural gas exploration in the US (e.g., shale oil, directional and horizontal drilling, fracking, etc.), which has transformed the US from the world’s largest oil importer to the largest oil and natural gas producer and the third largest oil exporter. The US is increasingly becoming the leader of the global oil industry, which has minimized the impact on the price of oil by the collapse of two major oil exporting countries, Iran and Venezuela (Globes, August 6).

3. The San Francisco-based CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tech giant,Salesforce, acquired the Francisco Partners-owned Israeli company, Clicksoftware, for $1.35BN. Francisco Partners acquired Clicksoftware in 2015 for $438MN.  Previously, Salesforce acquired the following Israeli companies: Datorama – $850MN in July 2018, Bonobo – $50MN in May 2019, Implisit – tens of millions in May 2016 and Navajo – $30MN in August 2011 (Globes, August 9). Amazon acquired Israel’s E8 Storage for $50MN-$60MN, which will be integrated into Amazon’s Israeli research and development center – Annapurna Labs, which was acquired for $350MN in January 2015. In January 2018, Amazon acquired Israel’s CloudEndure for $250MN (Globes, August 1).

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ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

The Mountebank Left Is Banking on You Introducing the 1619 Project. Thaddeus G. McCotter *****

By on August 17th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/08/16/the-mountebank

Some time ago, I noted the irreconcilable difference between the Left and the rest of America: the majority of our fellow citizens believe America is an inherently good nation that continues its pursuit of a more perfect union; the Left believes America is an inherently evil nation that must be transformed fundamentally into an oppressive socialist state—at best.

For the Left to win this existential argument, it must distort and revile America’s history to destroy the truth of American Exceptionalism. If the past is evil, the present has no choice but to reject America’s history and its defenders; and to embrace the dishonest leftist ideology and the agenda of those who loathe America.

This is a dangerous devolution of the classical American political paradigm, in which both antagonists, conservatives and liberals, agreed America was an exceptional, fundamentally decent nation but differed about how to effectuate a more perfect union. This devolution has several causes, but notable is the incestuous relationship between the leftist media and left-wing academics. 

But, then, what can one expect when citizens subsidize leftist “professors” who use their positions to indoctrinate the hatred of America; and subscribe to a hubristic media that have conveniently jettisoned the veneer of objectivity in favor of the “righteous” left-wing propagandizing of “accountability journalism”?

What one can expect is this: the New York Times Magazine’s “1619 Project.”

According to Mara Gay of the New York Times’ editorial board, the 1619 Project “[i]n the days and weeks to come, we will publish essays demonstrating that nearly everything that has made America exceptional grew out of slavery.”

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Broken Promises Lindsey Graham vowed to get to the bottom of the scandal. We’re still waiting. Julie Kelly

By on August 17th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/08/16/russiagate-probe-empty-threats-broken-promises/

Nearly a year ago, President Trump ordered the declassification of documents related to the FBI’s investigation into his 2016 presidential campaign. The requested trove included several redacted pages from the final FISA warrant issued against Trump campaign aide Carter Page; all FBI reports related to the preparation of that FISA application; and text messages between key officials, including former FBI Director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe.

This week, the government finally released one set of materials—interviews with Bruce Ohr, a top Justice Department official whose wife worked for Fusion GPS on its Trump-Russia dirt-digging project funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign. The FBI made the notes public after Judicial Watch, a government watchdog group that does the heavy lifting Congress consistently fails to do, forced the Justice Department to hand over the so-called 302 forms after attempting to thwart the group’s Freedom of Information Act requests since last summer.

The documents confirm that Ohr acted as Fusion GPS’ personal handler in the Justice Department; he continued communicating with Fusion chief Glenn Simpson and dossier author Christopher Steele after the election. “Bruce Ohr, who was serving as the highest ranking-career official in the DOJ in 2016, played a crucial role in passing on unfounded allegations against Donald Trump from . . . Steele . . . and Simpson to the FBI,” according to Epoch Times reporter Jeff Carlson. 

Bruce Ohr is still employed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Delay, Delay, Delay . . . Deny, Deny, Deny

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

America Can Stop China from Dominating Artificial Intelligence–And Should by Gordon G. Chang

By on August 17th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14731/america-can-stop-china-from-dominating-artificial

The People’s Republic of China, nonetheless, is already an AI powerhouse, and for America to maintain its edge—and to prevent U.S. tech from being used for exceedingly disturbing purposes —Washington should force U.S. companies to end cooperative AI projects in China.

The West should be seriously concerned: whoever wins at AI will both dominate the global economy and field the most destructive conventional military force.

Unfortunately, American companies are helping China’s leaders in what many call—correctly—crimes against humanity. For instance, AI researchers from Microsoft, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Michigan State University gave keynote speeches at the Chinese Conference on Biometric Recognition in Xinjiang in August of last year on facial recognition, a social-control technology.

Some of Google’s research is in China. The company has three AI operations there: the Google AI China Center in Beijing, established in 2017, and partnerships with China’s two premier educational institutions, Peking University and Tsinghua University….If the labs remain open, the net flow of AI learning will be out of the U.S. into China.

Moreover, Chinese researchers, if they could not work for American companies in China, would not, as Vox suggests, necessarily find employment in their homeland. Some of those seeking research slots would follow other Chinese to the United States, and that would exacerbate one of Beijing’s big AI vulnerabilities. “China’s Path to AI Domination Has a Problem: Brain Drain,” is the title of an August 7 article posted by the MIT Technology Review. The U.S. can make that crucial problem even more severe.

China, writes Amy Webb in Inc., has been “building a global artificial intelligence empire, and seeding the tech ecosystem of the future.” It has been particularly successful, Webb, the founder of the Future Today Institute, believes. “China is poised to become its undisputed global leader, and that will affect every business,” she notes.

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ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

How Al Sharpton Abandoned Africa’s Slaves By Charles Jacobs

By on August 17th, 2019

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/08/how_al_sharpton_abandoned_africas_slaves_.html

The eminent African-American economist Glenn Loury recently wondered in the New York Times why leading Democrats would defend Al Sharpton, a man who is a blatant anti-Semite, an anti-white racist, and to many, a simple con man.  Joe Biden calls him “a champion in the fight for civil rights.” Elizabeth Warren says “he has dedicated his life to the fight for justice for all,” and Kamala Harris lauds him as a man who “has spent his life fighting for what’s right.” Records show that President Obama had Sharpton visit his White House 118 times.

This, after Sharpton’s many outrages: the Tawana Brawley rape hoax of 1987, the anti-Jewish Crown Heights riots of 1991, and the firebombing of a Jewish-owned Harlem fashion boutique in 1995.

Loury suggests that any one of these things should have disqualified Sharpton from national platforms, along with any praise by Democratic Party leaders. But there’s something else, something no less repugnant, and perhaps even more shocking, that should obliterate once and for all the perception of Al Sharpton as a tough guy who never buckles when it comes to defending his race.

Al Sharpton is betraying black people currently enslaved in Africa. He went there. He spoke to them. He promised the slaves he met that he would awaken American blacks to their plight, but then he abandoned them. He abandoned them, I believe, because they are enslaved by Arab Muslims.   A review of just how this came about should be instructive.

In 2001, as Sharpton contemplated a run for president in the 2004 election, he made a trip to Sudan to verify reports of the ongoing enslavement of Christian blacks there by Arab Muslims. Reports were emerging of Arabs from northern Sudan raiding black Christian villages in the south of Africa’s then-largest country, killing the men and enslaving the women and children. (Full disclosure: At the time, I headed a movement to educate the public about modern-day slavery. We worked with the human rights organization Christian Solidarity International, which over the years redeemed tens of thousands of slaves in Sudan who were returned to their villages.)

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