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Ruth King

Are Illegal Aliens Bringing Leprosy to California? Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/274887/are-illegal-aliens-bringing-leprosy-california-daniel-greenfield

California has it all. Beaches, sunshine, typhus. Yes, there are sunny beaches and sunny typhus adjacent to some of those beaches. Also hepatitis outbreaks.

And now, leprosy.

According to the CDC, there are between 100 and 200 new cases of leprosy reported in the U.S. every year. A study just released from the Keck Medical Center at the University of Southern California looked at 187 leprosy patients treated at its clinic from 1973 to 2018 and found that most were Latino, originating from Mexico, where the disease is somewhat more common, and that there was on average a three-year delay in diagnosis, during which time the side effects of the disease — usually irreversible, even with treatment — began to occur.

Leprosy is still more prevalent in Central America and South America, with more than 20,000 new cases per year. Given that, there is certainly the possibility of sporadic cases of leprosy continuing to be brought across our southern border undetected.

And it seems only a matter of time before leprosy could take hold among the homeless population in an area such as Los Angeles County, with close to 60,000 homeless people and 75 percent of those lacking even temporary shelter or adequate hygiene and medical treatment

Illegal aliens spreading leprosy to homeless addicts in California? You can’t spell social justice without anti-social diseases. At this rate, California won’t be a sanctuary state. It’ll be a state walled in by other states and its sunny beaches will be populated by zombies.

But it’ll be fine because typhus-ridden zombies suffering from leprosy can’t use straws. That’s good for the environment. Right?

The CDC’s own numbers made it clear that leprosy is a disease brought into the country by immigrants from South America, Asia and Oceania. That last part mostly means Micronesia.

Bernie Sanders Attends ISNA Convention With Islamists Who Backed Killing Gay People And the media refuses to cover it. Daniel Greenfiel

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/274891/bernie-sanders-attends-isna-convention-islamists-daniel-greenfield

When ISNA, an Islamic group accused of supporting terrorists, announced a presidential forum for ISNACON 2019, the expectations were low. The Islamic Society of North America had been created by Muslim Brotherhood members and was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Hamas Holy Land Foundation trial.

And even if the 2020 Democrats were willing to overlook the minor matter of murdering Jews, which they usually are, Muzammil Siddiqi, ISNA’s former president who chairs its Fiqh Council, which dispenses Islamic sharia law, has assented to the death penalty for homosexuality.

At the 2019 ISNA convention, Siddiqi spoke on “Strengthening Our Connection with Allah.”

Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the World Trade Center bombing, was there at an Imam Round Table. Wahhaj has repeatedly endorsed violence against non-Muslims. That wouldn’t bother Democrats, but Wahhaj has also declared that “masculine women” are “cursed”, claimed that the “feminist movement” is headed by “lesbians” and then offered a reminder of Islam’s LGBT position.

“And you know, brothers and sisters, you know what the punishment is, if a man is found with another man? The Prophet Mohammad said the one who does it and the one to whom it is done to, kill them both,” Imam Wahhaj said.

(Meanwhile a social justice interfaith panel at the convention included ‘Rabbi’ Marissa Elana Singer, a lesbian anti-Israel activist with the T’ruah hate group, who works for Beit Simchat Torah, a gay temple.)

What kind of presidential candidate would attend a convention featuring support for killing gay people?

Either a very desperate candidate or an extremely radical candidate.

How Myanmar’s Military Duped the West Washington’s human-rights idealism may frustrate efforts to contain China. By Walter Russell Mead

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-myanmars-military-duped-the-west-11568069031

Yangon, Myanmar

Is the American foreign-policy community wise enough, disciplined enough, and knowledgeable enough about Asia to build an effective coalition to balance a rising China? The example of Myanmar is a worrying one.

Myanmar received extraordinary attention from the last administration, with visits from both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama. But the crucial Southeast Asian country turned out not to be the human-rights miracle many in both parties envisioned. And when events in Myanmar failed to follow the idealistic script written in Washington, the U.S. responded in ways that undermined the country’s reformers, empowered its military and strengthened China’s hand. The U.S. failed even to demonstrate a balanced approach to human rights the people of Myanmar might have respected.

In the early years of the Obama administration, many Americans fell in love with a fantasy: the idea that Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese political leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and endured 15 years of house arrest, was in the process of taking power from a defeated military junta. They misread the situation fundamentally.

In 2010 the military was frustrated. Decades of failed socialist planning had left the economy relatively backward, even as other Asian countries grew rich. Myanmar was largely dependent on Chinese investment, which made the generals nervous. They decided to begin to liberalize their domestic economy to promote faster growth and attract investment from Japan, the U.S. and Europe.

Max Boot reaches peak narcissism By Nicholas J. Kaster

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/09/max_boot_reaches_peak_narcissism_.html

Writing from his gilded perch at the Washington Post, Max Boot reflected on frustrations of being a #NeverTrump columnist:

“I love what I do and realize I am supremely lucky to be able to make my living by writing and speaking about the news of the day. I find contentment in the craft of writing and fulfillment in self-expression. But I do sometimes wonder what I am actually accomplishing. Much of my journalism for the past four years has been devoted to critiquing President Trump and opposing the spread of Trumpism. But no matter how many columns or sound bites I produce, he remains in office, acting… more erratically than ever. Sure, he’s not terribly popular — but he could still be reelected. I am left to ask if all my work has made any difference.”

This utter lack of self-awareness drew a response from National Review’s Charles C.W. Cooke, who tweeted that “Max Boot is genuinely beyond parody.”

From the confines of the bubble, Boot keeps churning out the same column over and over and yet Trump has not been driven from office. How unfair!

Elizabeth Warren’s Daft Fracking Scheme

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/09/elizabeth-warren-democrats-fracking-bans-bad-for-economy-bad-for-environment/

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts promises that if she is elected president, she will issue an immediate unilateral prohibition — based on some presidential power that she’ll invent as soon as she gets around to it — on the method of natural-gas production known colloquially as “fracking.” Other Democratic contenders, including Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris of California, have made similar promises.

Another way of saying this is that the Democrats promise to induce artificial scarcity in the energy market. Yet another way of saying this is that the Democrats promise to create effective subsidies for such relatively high-pollution energy sources as coal and diesel at the expense of a relatively low-pollution energy source in the form of natural gas. And yet another way of saying this is that the Democrats propose to subsidize petroleum producers from Russia to Iran at the expense of small to midsize businesses in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Mexico, Texas, and other energy-producing states.

Why?

What we call “fracking” relies on two relatively old technologies: hydraulic fracturing, which is used to break up underground shale formations to release oil and gas trapped therein, and horizontal drilling, which allows for the efficient recovery of that released oil and/or gas. Combining those two technologies with recent advances in everything from materials development to seismic imaging has revolutionized energy production in the United States — and that gets up the noses of certain people, prominent among them so-called environmentalists who are categorically opposed to all new development of conventional energy sources — even when that development comes with important environmental benefits. Their opposition is ideological and quasi-religious. It is based only very loosely on genuine environmental concerns.

Belgium MP climbs atop Antwerp’s City Hall to demand “an end to Islamic occupation” By Arthur Lyons

https://voiceofeurope.com/2019/09/belgium-mp-climbs-atop-antwerps-city-hall-to-demand-an-end-to-islamic-occupation/

Filip Dewinter, a well-known Flemish MP and city councilor, climbed the roof of Antwerp’s 500-year-old city hall building to call for an end to what he referred to as the “occupation of the city by Islam”.

The leader of the right-wing populist Vlaams Belang party in the Flanders part of Belgium, Filip Dewinter, posted a video on Twitter of himself delivering an Islam-critical message while he stands on top of Antwerp’s city hall roof beside a golden eagle. 

“At the beginning of the political year a special initiative: a statement from the roof of the Antwerp town hall, flanked by a recently restored eagle!” Dewinter wrote in the tweet.

During his message, Dewinter gives a short history lesson about the city, the city hall building, and how both relate to the idea of freedom. Dewinter also cites all of the different outside forces who have, at one time, occupied the city.

“This town hall has been around since 1565,” Dewinter said. “In those five centuries that the town hall has existed, it was besieged, set on fire and has experienced countless revolutions, wars, and invasions of our city. This town hall symbolizes the freedom of Antwerp.”

“It is not without reason that the office of the mayor of Antwerp is made of the wood of the tree of freedom that used to stand just in front of the town hall on the Grote Markt. Freedom is the essence of what the people of Antwerp believe in.”

The Political Excommunication of Erin Weir Betrays the Face of Modern Political Cowardice written by Eric Cline

https://quillette.com/2019/09/09/the-political-excommunication-of-erin-weir-betrays-the-face-of-modern-political-cowardice/

Erin Weir is not well-known outside of Canada. Even many Canadian readers won’t recognize the politician’s name. But the story of how he was smeared and excommunicated by his own political party presents a stunning indictment of political cowardice in the age of #MeToo. And what happened to him could happen to virtually anyone who runs for office.

Weir is a federal Member of Parliament (MP), having been elected in 2015 to represent the Saskatchewan riding of Regina-Lewvan. He ran in that election as a candidate for the New Democratic Party (NDP), which sits to the political left of Justin Trudeau’s governing Liberals, and constitutes the third-largest party in the Canadian parliament. His downfall began on January 30, 2018, the day he announced his candidacy for NDP caucus chair by sending an email to other NDP MPs, and to the leader of the federal NDP, Jagmeet Singh (who, at the time, had not yet become a Member of Parliament). The email set off a chain of events that eventually led to his expulsion from the NDP caucus, and stripped him of the opportunity to stand as a candidate for the party in the upcoming Fall, 2019, federal election. Under the Canadian political system, party leaders are free to unilaterally block candidates, no matter the views of voters or the rank-and-file. Without party affiliation, Weir’s political career is effectively over.

Weir’s undoing was the work of Christine Moore, an NDP MP for the Quebec riding of Abitibi-Temiscamingue. In a reply-all email responding to Weir’s expressed interest in becoming caucus chair, she wrote that she could never support him because “there are too many women (mostly employee[s]) who complained to me that you were harassing to them.” She then added: “As a woman, I would not feel comfortable to meet with you alone.”

Like Weir, Moore was not well-known—except insofar as she already had helped ruin the career of two MPs in Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party after advancing claims that they, too, were sexual harassers (a subject discussed in more detail below). And her new accusation would have come as a surprise (and still does) to anyone who knows Weir, a 37-year-old economist who once worked for the Canadian section of the United Steelworkers union.

Canada to appeal decision against ‘Made in Israel’ wine Move comes after court ruled that wine made in Judea and Samaria cannot be sold as Israeli because of settlement activity. Canadian regulator supports lifting restriction.

https://www.israelhayom.com/2019/09/09/canada-to-appeal-decision

The Canadian government announced on Friday that it will appeal a court ruling from July that stated wine made in Judea and Samaria cannot be labeld a “product of Israel.”

Shimon Koffler Fogel, CEO of The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), said, “Considering the substantive errors in the earlier judgment and the importance of the outcome of this case, CIJA will be seeking intervenor status in the appeal. We have retained the services of administrative law experts Mark Freiman and Eric Gertner.”

“It is our expectation that the Federal Court of Appeal will overturn the lower court’s decision. Our position is that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency came to a reasonable decision in accepting the label ‘Product of Israel’ for wines produced in all the geographical area comprised in the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) is the advocacy agency of the Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA.
The court decision was part of a three-year legal dispute over wine produced by Psagot Winery and Shiloh Winery in the West Bank, reported the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) at the time.

PM exposes ‘nuclear weapons development site’ in central Iran Israeli leader says Iran tried to “destroy evidence after they realized we are onto them,” calls on international community to exert more pressure. “This is the only way to stop Iran from getting the bomb,” he warns.

https://www.israelhayom.com/2019/09/09/watch-pm-netanyahu-makes-live-statement-on-iran/

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed on Monday that Iran was apparently in violation of its nuclear obligations, saying it had a “nuclear weapons development site” south of Isfahan.

Netanyahu said that the site, in Abadeh, was uncovered in the nuclear archives that Israel seized in a secret mission.

“In this site, Iran conducted experiments to develop nuclear weapons,” he said. “When they realized we uncovered this site, they destroyed it; they wiped it out. When they realized we were onto them, they tried to destroy the evidence,” he continued.

He then sent “the tyrants of Tehran” a stern warning: “We know what you are doing; Israel knows when you are doing it, and Israel knows where you are doing it. We will continue to expose your lies; what we see is a consistent pattern of Iranian lies, deception, and violations.”

He also spoke about the “atomic nuclear warehouse” that Iran had just outside Tehran, a day after nuclear inspectors confirmed it was indeed an undeclared site that contained radioactive material.

Polite Persuasion is Wasted on the Shrieking Left Peter Smith

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2019/09/civility-is-wasted-on-the-left/

Like Jordan Peterson’s reputation, Lionel Shriver’s conservative credentials were burnished by leftist idiocy. In Peterson’s case it was his interview on the UK’s Channel 4 by Cathy Newman. In Shriver’s case it was Yassmin Abdel-Magied walking out of the Brisbane Writers’ Festival in 2016 in protest at Shriver’s views on identity politics and cultural appropriation.

Neither Peterson nor Shriver are my kind of conservatives and, to be fair, I am sure they would not claim to be or would want to be. That’s fine. What I would like to say is that conservative warriors are now needed more than ever. Much less useful are prominent notables on the conservative side who come over all reasonable in the face of those intent on our destruction.

Peterson lost his standing with me when he suggested that Brett Kavanagh should first win his confirmation to the Supreme Court but then immediately resign to clear his name. That was a ridiculous suggestion, to put it extremely mildly. Clearly Peterson has no idea about the enemy we face.

I caught Shriver on Q&A last week. True, I could only stand five minutes or so before turning it off. Any longer spent watching Q&A is injurious to my peace of mind. Nevertheless, I saw enough to sense that Shriver was trying hard to appear “reasonable” to other panellists and to the usual green-leftist ABC audience. Hint for Shriver: Prostration is pointless. They’ll always despise you. Look to, say, Michelle Malkin for a role model.

Did I get a false impression of Shriver’s demeanour? I think not. The following evening I attended the Bonython Lecture in Sydney, where she explained that her engagement, front and backstage, with other Q&A panellists was civil; and, furthermore, she made a point of extolling the need for civility generally in political debate.