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Ruth King

Latin America: Surging Momentum for Designating Hezbollah a Terror Organization by Joseph M. Humire

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14905/latin-america-hezbollah

“Transnational terrorism poses an immediate threat to us here in the Western Hemisphere. Although the perceived center of gravity seems far away, groups like ISIS, al-Qa’ida, and Lebanese Hizballah operate where they can find recruits, raise support, operate unchecked, and pursue their terrorist agendas.” — U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan; ministerial conference on counterterrorism, December 11, 2018.

[W]hen the Department of Justice (DOJ), on October 15, 2018, designated Hezbollah as one of the world’s top five transnational criminal organizations, many Latin American governments turned their attention to Hezbollah’s illicit networks.

Argentine President [Mauricio] Macri’s leadership and political will have succeeded in establishing tremendous momentum for other Latin American governments to think critically about Hezbollah, as evidenced in President Abdo’s recognition of the Lebanese terror group in Paraguay last month.

At this moment, President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, and President Ivan Duque of Colombia, are working potentially to designate Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization.

Recent Hezbollah-related cases in Peru and Paraguay show that [Hezbollah’s] crime-terror actions in Latin America are far from over.

The counterterrorism conversation in Latin America is changing. On July 16, the Macri government of Argentina made history by becoming the first country in Latin America to officially designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization. Less than one month later, on August 9, the Paraguayan government followed suit and also officially recognized Hezbollah as a terror organization. Now, at least two other countries in the region are seriously considering issuing the same counterterrorism designation in the near future.

Video: Candace Owens Shuts Down Sham Hearing on ‘White Supremacy’ VIDEO

https://pjmedia.com/trending/video-candace-owens-shuts-down-sham-hearing-on-white-supremacy/

Candace Owens testified at a congressional hearing on white supremacy last week at which her opposition made a serious error underestimating her ability to smack down idiocy.

“White supremacy is indeed real, but despite the media’s obsessive coverage of it, it represents an isolated, uncoordinated and fringe occurrence within America,” she told lawmakers. Owens pointed out that it was “hilarious” that the panelists claiming that white supremacy is a growing threat did not provide statistics to back that up. That’s when Kathleen Belew, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago who studies white nationalism, stepped in it and attempted to smear Owens. “I object strenuously to your use of the word hilarious. To me this feels a lot like your reaction to being named in one of these manifestos,” she said, referring to the Christchurch massacre where Owens was named in the murderer’s ramblings.

Owens’ response should not be missed. It was epic. Watch below.

President Trump is the Religious Freedom President Rabbi Aryeh Spero

Conference of Jewish Affairs 

Rabbi Aryeh Spero released the following statement today:

“Today President Trump earned the distinction of being the Religious Freedom President.  In front of the United Nations, he spoke in soaring rhetoric that was profound, bold, and forthright.  He proclaimed the foundational American principle that our religious freedom is a right from God Himself. 

“It was obvious that the President’s remarks were not simply perfunctory, rather deeply felt and deeply important to him personally.  We at the Conference of Jewish Affairs were grateful for him once again spotlighting the scourge of anti-Semitism, something that he has chosen to speak about more than any other president. 

“His humanity shone forth as he spoke about the many prisoners of conscience and those oppressed by terrorists as well as Christians persecuted around the world simply for believing in their heart and, he was generous to those who have been victims of religious persecution and to those who are working to rescue people of faith from the clutches of terrorism.”

N.J. Schools Pushing Far-Left Indoctrination. What the Hell Is Betsy DeVos Doing? By Megan Fox

https://pjmedia.com/trending/n-j-schools-pushing-far-left-indoctrination-what-the-hell-is-betsy-devos-doing/

Melissa Barnett, a supervisor of English Language Arts in the Washington Township School District in New Jersey, caused outrage on Twitter by tweeting out a photo of hundreds of books in dumpsters. “This week, dumpsters were filled with books that should have left decades ago @TWPSchools and replaced with engaging, relevant, culturally diverse literature.”

This led to cries of “book burning” by critics and crowdsourcing to identify the books in the bins.PJ Media reached out to the Washington Township School District to find out more. “I was not unaware they were cleaning out a book room,” said Steve Gregor, director of secondary education. “Many of them were in poor condition and unreadable, dating back to the 1960s or earlier. We intended to replace [relevant] books with new copies.” Among the books that were reordered are Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, 1984, by George Orwell, Slaughter House Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, Dante’s Inferno, and Night, by Elie Wiesel.

CHARLOTTE’S NEWS WEB

https://spectator.org/whistleblowin-in-the-wind/

Whistleblowin’ in the Wind

Jed Babbin, Spectator.org

On July 25, President Trump had a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During that conversation Trump repeatedly asked or demanded that Ukraine investigate the possible corruption that may have occurred while former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter was a member of the board of directors of a Ukrainian energy company.

https://americantruthtoday.com/left-news/2019/09/22/antifa-goons-get-thrashed-by-federal-protective-service-as-they-attack-an-ice-facility/?

Antifa Goons Get Thrashed By Federal Protective Service As They Attack An ICE Facility

Jim Hayek, AmericanTruthToday.com

GOP Primary Challenger Bill Weld Accuses Trump of Treason over Ukraine Call By Jack Crowe

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/gop-primary-challenger-bill-weld-accuses-trump-of-treason-over-ukraine-call/

Republican presidential primary challenger Bill Weld said Monday that President Trump committed treason by urging the president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden for corruption.

“Obviously canceling primaries undermines Democratic institutions and Democratic elections. But thats far from the deepest crime that the president has committed here,” Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts, told MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough.

“He’s now acknowledged that in a single phone call, right after he suspended 250 million dollars of military aid to Ukraine, he called up the president of Ukraine and pressed him eight times to investigate Joe Biden, who the president thinks is going to be running against him,” Weld continued. “Talk about pressuring a foreign country to interfere with and control a U.S. election. It couldn’t be clearer, and that’s not just undermining democratic institutions. That is treason. It’s treason and pure and simple and the penalty for treason under the U.S. code is death.”

President Trump urged Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter, on eight separate occasions during a July phone call, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

Trump reportedly asked Zelensky to probe whether Biden used his influence as vice president to quash an investigation into a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma Holdings, which had recently hired Biden’s son, Hunter, to serve on its board of directors.

Why Ban Plastic Straws? By Madeleine Kearns

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/09/plastic-straw-bans-posturing-scientifically-informed-global-effort-needed/

What’s needed is a proportionate, scientific approach — not mere posturing.

I suppose this is what they call a “First World problem,” so humor me. It’s 8.30 a.m. I’ve just finished at the gym. I’m in line to get my breakfast smoothie. I wait, as patient people ought, till the voice crieth “Order for Muh-dy,” and I think, as a kind person should, Close enough. I smile as my change is handed to me. I pout. I sip . . . then:

*$&*%#%! This straw is made of paper. And now — owing to an entirely foreseeable combination of suction and saliva — it is disintegrating in my mouth. Whose idea was this?!

Please don’t pretend. I know you know what I’m talking about . . .

Recall the following science from the 1967 hit movie The Graduate:

Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?

Benjamin: Yes, I am.

Mr. McGuire: Plastics.

Benjamin: Exactly how do you mean?

How Hard Are Democrats Trying To Lose In 2020? Their cockiness can be seen in the degree to which Democrats act as if they have stopped caring about persuading swing voters. Warren Henry

https://thefederalist.com/2019/09/23/how-hard-are-democrats-trying-to-lose-in-2020/

Democrats are feeling pretty cocky about the upcoming presidential campaign. They look at polls showing their top three candidates all lead President Trump and start feeling like it doesn’t matter who they nominate.

Many Democrats forget that four years ago, polls showed Donald Trump as the only Republican losing to Hillary Clinton. They also forget that the Republicans are raising tons of cash to spend on ads defining Democrats’ nominee. Their cockiness can be seen in the degree to which Democrats act as if they have stopped caring about persuading swing voters.

In fairness, both sides are focused on a base turnout strategy for 2020 over a persuasion strategy. Team Trump may have the financial advantage necessary to work on expanding the electoral map, at a minimum causing his opponent to spend time and money on states a Democrat would like to take for granted. The president will also continue pitching moderates on his record, because he is always closing. Nevertheless, his campaign is founded on retaining the coalition that won 2016.

Democrats have their own base turnout strategy. Their current debate over “electability“ assumes they can win if they turn out the “rising American electorate” of unmarried women, minorities, and younger voters. They don’t remember—or don’t want to remember—that Barack Obama may not have eagerly sought votes from blue-collar white voters, but he made the effort not to lose too many of them.

Nate Cohn, who covers elections, polling, and demographics for The New York Times, recently warned Democrats on Twitter: “I think the salience of ‘persuasion’ in elections – whether voters flipping is a major force explaining variance in election results – might be the single area where I most completely disagree with the conventional wisdom on Twitter, or at least what the CW looks like to me. My ‘interactions’ are full of people asserting things like: there are no swing voters; the only thing that changed in 2018 is turnout, Democrats can’t and haven’t won over any Trump voters. And whatever you think of the optimal strategy for Democrats, this is all facially untrue… In our final polls of GA06, IL14, CA48 over the last days of the race, the sample was R+6 or more in all. Dems led in all, and ultimately won. Dems had huge inroads with past GOP voters.”

Media Corruption On Perfect Display In One Washington Post Paragraph Every single assertion of this paragraph isn’t just wrong, but the opposite of right. In each sentence, Trump is being blamed for things his political opponents have done.By Mollie Hemingway

https://thefederalist.com/2019/09/23/media-corruption-on-perfect-display-in-one-washington-post-paragraph/

ABC News’ White House correspondent Karen Travers approvingly tweeted out a paragraph of a front-page Washington Post rant written by Philip Rucker, Robert Costa, and Rachel Bade. The paragraph comes from their cri de coeur headlined “Trump’s Ukraine Call Reveals A President Convinced Of His Own Invincibility.”

While the article matches the headline in its extreme bias and shrill outpouring of opinion — seemingly written by the Democratic National Committee’s newest batch of enthusiastic interns — it is presented as if it’s news, a common problem with our current media culture. Here’s the paragraph:

Every single assertion of this paragraph isn’t just wrong, but the opposite of right. In each sentence, Trump is being blamed for things his political opponents have done. Let’s take a look at some examples.

Trump’s sense of himself as above the law has been reinforced throughout his time in office.

In fact, the main problem during the Trump administration has been the way the self-annointed “Resistance” in the media, unelected bureaucracy, and political institutions have treated Trump as if he were below the law. Traditionally, hard-fought losses are usually followed by an acceptance of the reality of election results, even if grudgingly.

In the case of Donald Trump, his campaign was spied on prior to the election by the intelligence services and government apparatus controlled by the opposing party. They used wiretaps, national security letters, human informants, and other surveillance. His transition was undermined by leaks suggesting that the FBI took seriously an uncorroborated and ludicrous collection of tall tales, “research” later determined to have been secretly funded by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee.

Sen. Chris Coons: Trump’s “Baseless” Smear About Biden And Ukraine Is Like Hillary’s Emails All Over Again Posted By Tim Hains

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/09/22/sen_chris_coons_trump_views_biden_as_greatest_threat_to_his_re-election.html

Sen. Chris Coons, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told MSNBC’s David Gura that he believes Trump must release the transcript of the call with the Ukrainian president that is said to be the subject of a whistleblower complaint. He also said that President Trump’s allegation that Joe Biden’s son profited off a corrupt business deal in Ukraine is a “baseless allegation” like Hillary Clinton’s emails.

“My gut reaction is ‘here we go again.’ In the 2016 campaign, President Trump repeated baseless allegations about Hillary’s emails over and over and over, to the point where the average voter couldn’t really tell you what it was actually about, but they just had the vague impression that something inappropriate had happened,” Coons said about Trump’s accusation. “That is exactly what President Trump is trying to do here, and I hope that both the media won’t take the bait and simply repeat these baseless allegations.”