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Ruth King

Let Us Not Become Veneztralia Michael Galak

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2019/01/let

What I do not understand is Venezuelans voting for the very policies which subsequently devastated their country. What I understand even less are the polls indicating Australian voters are buying Bill Shorten’s Chavez-lite policies and class-war rhetoric.

Venezuela, the richest country in South America not so long ago, is sliding into the abyss of civil war and bloodshed. The shops are empty and astronomic inflation has rendered the national currency, Bolivar, worthless. Oil production, the economy’s mainstay, is reduce to a trickle and default on overseas loans is likely. Venezuela’s military, up to its neck in drug-trafficking, has been shooting people on the streets, with 26 are dead by the latest count. The country is in torment and turmoil. Whether one calls the massive protests and demonstratikons a rebellion, a revolution or an insurrection makes no difference; suffering is the same no matter what name you give it.

This tropical country, blessed with abundant fertile soil, an extensive coastline and one of the world’s largest known oil reserves, is motherless broke. People are emigrating in droves to anywhere they can, voting with their feet. The only governments which support the present regime are the usual suspects: Moscow, Moldova and the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, plus China, Turkey, North Korea, Cuba and Zimbabwe.

What Northam’s Walk Back Really Means By Alexandra DeSanctis

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/what-northams-walk-back-really-means/

After a disastrous interview yesterday morning on WTOP radio, Virginia governor Ralph Northam attempted some damage control that somehow muddled the situation even further. That interview, of course, dealt with a bill proposed in Virginia that would significantly loosen the state’s limits on abortion in the last three months of pregnancy. The sponsor of the legislation, Kathy Tran, conceded during questioning that her bill could permit a woman to receive an abortion even during labor.

Asked about Tran’s bill and her comment, Northam offered some thoughts that ended up touching off a firestorm: “When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of obviously the mother, with the consent of the physician — more than one physician, by the way — and it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities. There may be a fetus that’s non-viable,” he said. This was objectionable enough, but the governor went on.

“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” Northam continued. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

For many observers, this sounded a bit too close to possible infanticide. After Northam’s interview became the subject of scrutiny, his spokesperson offered a statement on the governor’s remarks:

Republicans in Virginia and across the country are trying to play politics with women’s health, and that is exactly why these decisions belong between a woman and her physician, not legislators, most of whom are men.

A Curious Time for InsideHigherEd to Lose Interest in Campus Speech By Frederick M. Hess & Cody Christensen

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/a-curious-time-for-insidehighered-to-lose-interest-in-campus-speech/

Colleges have a free speech “problem.” From high-profile instances at Missouri, Yale, and Middlebury, to more recent events at UC Berkeley and Sarah Lawrence College, we’ve seen college leaders allow the campus left to harass speakers, silence debate, and drive conservative views and values from the academy.

This state of affairs is one reason why InsideHigherEd’s annual survey of college and university chief academic officers has been especially useful. Since 2015, this survey has been the only annual snapshot that captures what senior college administrators think about trigger warnings, free speech, and academic freedom — and thus the only reliable way to gauge changes in their actions or attitudes. In light of the contretemps of the past year, many were eager to see what campus leaders had to say.

Unfortunately, in the latest survey, released last week, those questions had been neatly scrubbed from the survey. Yep, one of the nation’s primary news outlets covering higher education decided that now would be a propitious time to stop asking about academic freedom and free speech on campus.

What might appear to be simply a curious case of bad timing is emblematic of a larger problem with the higher ed-industrial complex — a tendency to sweep under the rug those developments which raise uncomfortable questions about the orthodoxies and agendas pervading campus culture. This dynamic was on full display last fall in the lawsuit that Students for Fair Admissions has mounted against Harvard’s admissions policies, when all the quarreling factions of academe responded by finding a way to link arms in the cause of race-based admissions.

The survey did find time to ask whether conservative and liberal students feel welcome in classrooms on their campus. Four percent of provosts expressed reservations about whether liberal students feel welcome; 12 percent expressed concerns about whether conservative students do. Given that surveys of students have indicated that half of them report having censored themselves in class for fear of what will be said in response, this kind of question provides a useful, sometimes laughable, window into the self-serving bubble that campus mandarins occupy.

Trump and the Latino Vote By Victor Davis Hanson

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/donald-trump-and-the-latino-vote/

Trump would not have to change his policies to capture 40 to 50 percent of the Latino vote (which is quite different from “Latino” spokespeople on television and the Jorge Ramos crowd), as opposed to simply articulating them:

1) The “new” Democratic party not only show signs of a new more insidious anti-Semitism — as we’ve seen from comments by Senator Feinstein, Harris, and Hirono, and the surreal and barbarous statements coming out of Virginia and New York on third-trimester abortion (and near infanticide). But it is now becoming anti-Catholic to a degree not seen in decades in America. Why would a devout Catholic wish to side with such bigotry? Trump is on the right side of the abortion and the religious-discrimination issues.

2) Hispanic unemployment is at record low levels in a growing economy. One can see the realities by simply driving around small towns in Central California where the flurry of activity and demand for labor are unprecedented, and workers have a range of options and leverage not seen in the 21st century. Even slight decreases in border crossings are force multipliers in the empowerment of Mexican-American and other Hispanic citizens in efforts to boost wages and gain options in employment. Trump’s policies did much of that, visible even in highly regulated and less dynamic California. Few middle-class commuters wish to endorse the New Green Deal that would mandate soon ending chain saws, leaf blowers and the workers’ daily commute.

No Shutdown for Small Business The NFIB survey shows another hiring surge in January, and better pay for workers. By James Freeman

https://www.wsj.com/articles/no-shutdown-for-small-business-11548951611

Many political reporters have spent the last six weeks cataloging alleged harms to the economy from the partial government shutdown ended last week. Meanwhile outside of government, America’s small companies were ramping up their historic effort to employ new workers. That’s according to the latest National Federation of Independent Business employment survey, due out later today.

“Job creation was solid in January with a net addition of 0.33 workers per firm (including those making no change in employment), up from 0.25 in December,” reports NFIB Chief Economist William Dunkelberg. He adds that the measurement of January’s job creation among small firms was “the best reading since July.”

While many government workers were sitting at home waiting for taxpayer dollars to start flowing again, business owners were hoping that new job applicants would start showing up at America’s small firms. “Thirty-five percent of all owners reported job openings they could not fill in the current period, down 4 points from December’s record high. Labor markets are still tight,” says Mr. Dunkelberg.

A tight labor market means higher pay for scarce workers. The NFIB economist elaborates:

The percent of business owners reporting that they increased employee compensation continued at 45 year record high levels. Thirty-six percent reported higher compensation in January, up 1 point from December and one point below September’s record high. Twenty percent planned increases in the next few months (down 4 points), predicting further gains in wages and benefits.

This welcome news that the small business economy continued to hum while parts of the government came to a halt doesn’t mean there are no clouds on the horizon. While hiring plans were still positive in January, they were less robust than in the prior period. Says Mr. Dunkelberg:

A seasonally-adjusted net 18 percent plan to create new jobs, down 5 points from December’s reading. Not seasonally adjusted, 23 percent plan to increase total employment at their firm, and 3 percent plan reductions. Job creation plans were strongest in construction (net 32 percent), and manufacturing (net 26 percent).

He adds that owners of small firms aren’t expecting much of an economic slowdown this year though he believes growth in 2019 will likely be less rapid than last year due in part to the continuing worker shortage across the U.S. economy. CONTINUE AT SITE

Pediatricians Speak Out Against Medical Profession’s Utter Lack Of Caution For Trans Kids Given the undeniable medical and psychological risks of administering opposite-sex hormones, the physicians question how any child, adolescent, or parent can give truly informed consent. By Jane Robbins

http://thefederalist.com/2019/01/31/pediatricians-speak-medical-professions-utter-lack-caution-trans-kids/

It seems like just yesterday the sexual revolution was focused on legal protections for same-sex couples and individuals with same-sex orientations. But once that battle was won (or lost, depending on your perspective), radicals in the LGBT movement flooded the cultural zone with new demands.

“Gay rights” became yesterday’s cause, replaced by “transgender rights.” The goal was to increase the tiny population of people with gender dysphoria and elevate their problems and demands above those of any other group.

The most troubling agenda item for the transgender radicals became the demand that dysphoric children be provided medical intervention to help their bodies mimic those of the opposite sex. Such interventions can include puberty blockers (which disrupt the natural maturation of the body), cross-sex hormones (which flood the body with hormones natural to the opposite sex), and surgery to remove healthy but unwanted reproductive organs and perhaps to craft faux organs natural to the opposite sex.

These treatments are controversial even among the “LGBs” in the LGBT alliance, in part because plentiful research demonstrates that the vast majority of children with dysphoria will outgrow it without receiving dangerous and potentially irreversible treatment. Their concerns are shared by the self-described “left-leaning, open-minded, and pro-gay rights” group youthtranscriticalprofessionals.org. These professionals warn that “policies that encourage––either directly or indirectly––such medical treatment for young people who may not be able to evaluate the risks and benefits are highly suspect, in our opinion.”

Despite the recklessness of administering such “gender-affirming treatment,” many physicians have either jumped on the bandwagon (whether out of fear, ideology, or lust for financial reward) or have kept a discreet silence lest they be targeted for apostasy. And when they join or otherwise enable the mob, lives can literally be ruined.

Presumably all physicians understand the biological reality that there are only two sexes, and that an individual cannot change his or her chromosomes to shift from one to the other. Hormone levels can be raised or lowered and mutilating surgery can be performed, but the patient is still left with a cheap (or rather, highly expensive) imitation of the real thing.

WHO IS ILHAN OMAR- A REMINDER

https://pjmedia.com/davidsteinberg/105-articles-cover-ilhan-omars-win-zero-cover-her-anti-semitism-finance-investigations-or-perjury-evidence/
105 Articles Cover Ilhan Omar’s Win. Zero Cover Her Anti-Semitism, Finance Investigations, or Perjury Evidence By David Steinberg November 8, 2018

Here’s a quick summary of Ilhan Omar’s controversies: Can you identify a candidate in recent memory with a more disturbing set of skeletons?

Omar has made — and defended — anti-Semitic statements that are indistinguishable from Ayatollah Khamenei’s Twitter feed.
Just weeks ago, the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board opened an investigation into her after evidence of a third major violation surfaced.
A stunning amount of evidence — official state documents, court proceedings, and time-stamped, verified social media posts from Omar’s own account — shows that Ilhan Omar may have committed multiple serious federal and state felonies. Immigration fraud, marriage fraud, many instances of perjury, tax fraud, student loan fraud, and more are implicated by the evidence.
Zero evidence has surfaced to counter any of that hard evidence.
On the contrary, Omar has been caught deleting much of it.

The media has made the following decision: Presenting Ilhan Omar as a symbol is more valuable information for the public than presenting Ilhan Omar as an individual with a remarkably troubling background. Transparently, the media has decided this is a hill to die on. Their reputations, their readers’ trust, the rule of law, and America’s struggle against anti-Semitism are secondary to pleasurable, if false, symbolism.

Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar Compares Israel to Iran By Tyler O’Neil

https://pjmedia.com/video/muslim-rep-ilhan-omar-compares-israel-to-iran/

On Tuesday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress, compared Israel to Iran and said she “chuckles” when Israel is called a democracy.

“When I see Israel institute a law that recognizes it as a Jewish state and does not recognize the other religions that are — that are living in it, and we still uphold it as a democracy in the Middle East, I almost chuckle,” Omar told Zainab Salbi on the Yahoo News show “Through Her Eyes.”

She would “chuckle … because I know that if, you know, we say — we see that in any other society we would criticize it, we would call it out. We do that to Iran, we do that to any other place that sort of upholds its religion. And I see that now happening with Saudi Arabia, and so I am aggravated truly in those contradictions.”

While Israel does indeed identify itself as a Jewish state and applies some restrictions to the practice of Judaism in order to preserve orthodoxy, it does not force non-Jews to live according to religious laws. By contrast, Iran institutes a harsh Shia interpretation of sharia (Islamic law), where a woman who leaves the house without her face veiled is subject to arrest and even torture.

Israel is not perfect, but Iran is an oppressive theocracy. Omar’s defense of the Islamic Republic as equivalent to the Israeli declaration that it is a Jewish state is disgusting.

Yet Omar has also endorsed Somalia’s new president (she is Somali-American), and days later, her brother-in-law had a job in the administration. Sharia remains the basic source for Somalia’s legal system.

Omar has suggested that Israel is an “apartheid state,” an insinuation that led many to accuse her of anti-Semitism, and photos suggest she married her brother in service of felonies.

THE PARTY OF DEATH: STEVE CORTEZ

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/01/31/the_party_of_death_139331.html

Catholics long were a bulwark of the Democratic Party. This allegiance crystalized in the 1884 election in which James Blaine and the Republicans smeared opponent Grover Cleveland’s Democrats as the party of “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion,” referring to alcohol legality, Catholic churches, and former Confederate support. The phrase badly backfired on Blaine, making Cleveland president and creating a solid Catholic voting bloc for Democrats for a century.

Today, Catholic Americans are a pivotal swing voter group, with incredible success in deciding national winners. This bloc was especially determinative in 2016 when working-class Catholics in the Midwest, many of whom had voted twice for President Obama, flocked across the aisle and delivered Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin for Donald Trump. In fact, Trump won the Catholic vote by a 52 percent-45 percent spread, almost the same Catholic margin that had returned Obama to office in 2012.

Looking to 2020, Democrats’ task of reclaiming Catholic voters has become daunting due to recent pro-abortion extremism and the blatant anti-Catholicism of prominent Democratic politicians.

Last week New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, himself a Catholic, ordered the spire above the One World Trade Center illuminated in pink to commemorate passage of the most permissive abortion law in America, which allows the procedure to be performed all the way up to birth. In response, Albany Bishop Edward Scharfenberger wrote to Cuomo that “your advocacy of extreme abortion legislation is completely contrary to the teachings of our pope and our Church.” Politically speaking, Cuomo’s position is also contrary to overwhelming public opinion, as only 13 percent of Americans, per Gallup, support legal third-trimester abortion, including only 18 percent of Democratic voters.

But compared to the Democrats in Virginia, Cuomo actually seemed restrained. House Democrats there submitted an abortion bill that sponsor Kathy Tran admitted would permit pregnancy termination even once delivery of the baby begins. Gov. Ralph Northam — who is a physician — responded to the uproar by going even further, stating that “if a mother is in labor…the infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and family desired.”Apparently, the extremist governor of Virginia thinks that making a fully delivered newborn baby “comfortable” while his or her right to live is determined represents … compassion?

Venezuela’s Guaidó says police showed up at house looking for his wife By John Bowden

https://thehill.com/policy/international/427885-venezuelas-guaido-says-police-showed-up-at-house-looking-for-his-wife

The self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela says police forces loyal to President Nicolás Maduro showed up at his house asking for his wife in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó told reporters at a public event Thursday that the move was meant to intimidate him as he seeks international support for his bid to oust Maduro as the country’s president.

“I will hold you responsible for any intimidation of my baby, who is just 20 months old,” the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly said.

In a tweet, the interim president wrote that police forces had returned to his house, though it was unclear for what purpose.

“At this moment the FAES is in the apartment of my wife Fabiana,” Guaidó tweeted, adding that Maduro would be held responsible for his daughter’s safety.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been a vocal supporter of Guaidó’s bid to oust Maduro, tweeted that Cuban-trained “shock troops” were in Guaidó’s home and that there would be “severe” consequences for any violence.