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Ruth King

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Anti-Socialists Make the Time 100: Trump, Venezuela’s Guaidó, and Brazil’s Bolsonaro By Tyler O’Neil

By on April 17th, 2019

https://pjmedia.com/trending/anti-socialists-make-the-time-100-trump-venezuelas-guaido-and-brazils-bolsonaro/

On Wednesday, TIME Magazine named the 100 most influential people, and three prominent opponents of radical socialist policies made the list. President Donald Trump has famously declared that the United States “will never become a socialist country.” Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has reversed socialism in his country, and Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó is challenging the authoritarian Nicolás Maduro.

Each of these leaders has a positive profile in the TIME 100. Former Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) praises Donald Trump for his foreign policy. Ian Bremmer hails Bolsonaro as a force against corruption, even while warning about what Bremmer sees as his “ultraconservative” dangers. Former Colombian President Juan Miguel Santos praises the courage of Juan Guaidó.

None of these profiles mentions the anti-socialism activism of these powerful leaders, but each of them has made important strides for freedom in their countries.

Trump has cut taxes, benefitting a broad swath of the American people and boosting the economy. He has also worked to free Americans from some of the excessive regulations of the bureaucratic state.

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Progressive Socialists Defend the Indefensible Again By Mike Huckabee

By on April 17th, 2019

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/04/17/progressive_socialists_defend_the_indefensible_again_140070.html?

A simple apology would have been the least Democrats could offer after a video surfaced of freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar brushing off the 9/11 attacks as “some people did something.” Yes, Rep. Omar, “some people” (radical Islamists) “did something” (they murdered almost 3,000 innocent citizens in an act of cowardly, cold-blooded hate). And your shoulder shrugging ambivalence about it as if someone accidently ran a stop sign is disgusting. Those weren’t soldiers wearing Kevlar and carrying weapons who were slaughtered. They were office workers, flight attendants, business people, but especially just moms and dads, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and neighbors.

Instead, Democrats have gone on the offensive, calling Omar’s critics racist and accusing one of their Republican colleagues — an Iraq war veteran who lost an eye in combat — of not doing enough for his country.

Over the weekend, others joined in defending Omar as the victim and blaming the whole controversy on Republicans.

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Ten post-Mueller questions that could turn the tables on Russia collusion investigators By John Solomon,

By on April 17th, 2019

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/439234-ten-post-mueller-questions-that-could-turn-the-tables-on-russia-collusion

Soon, the dust will settle from special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, and Americans will have a fuller understanding of why prosecutors concluded there wasn’t evidence to establish that Donald Trump and Russia colluded to hijack the 2016 election.

At that point, many voters exhausted by the fizzling of a two-year scandal, once billed as the next Watergate, will want to move on like a foodie from an empty-calorie shake.

But a very important second phase of this drama is about to begin, as Attorney General William Barr, Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) put the Russia collusion investigators under investigation.

Their work will be, and must be, far more than just a political boomerang.

It must answer, in balanced terms, whether the FBI was warranted in using the most awesome powers in the U.S. intelligence arsenal to spy on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign at the end of the 2016 election.

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Mayor Pete Picks a Fight With Pence — and the First Amendment By Steve Cortes By Steve Cortes

By on April 17th, 2019

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/04/17/mayor_pete_picks_a_fight_with_pence_–_and_the_first_amendment_140084.html

As the world’s Christians celebrate Holy Week, people of faith in America who subscribe to the centuries-old understanding of marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman increasingly find themselves maligned in the public square, even if their beliefs only apply to their private lives. In this regard, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg is leading a new, very public assault upon religious tolerance, and in doing so attacks the very foundation of the First Amendment.

Buttigieg recently declared to a fawning Ellen DeGeneres on her show that “I’m not interested in feuding with the vice president.” This curious statement ignores the fact that a “feud” requires at least two sides in conflict, and this contrived Pete vs. Mike struggle involves only the mayor lobbing verbal volleys at Vice President Pence. In addition, for someone supposedly uninterested in a fight, Buttigieg’s nonstop litany of lamentations aimed at Pence’s Christian principles suggests otherwise.

For example, the openly gay mayor recently lectured that “the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand, [is] that if you have a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.” Quite apart from fomenting a “quarrel,” Pence has in fact displayed total respect and even deference toward Buttigieg. After the mayor publicly disclosed his sexuality in 2015, then-Gov. Pence responded: “I hold Mayor Buttigieg in the highest personal regard. … I see him as a dedicated public servant and a patriot.”

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Jordan Peterson, And the New Chivalry written by Esther O’Reilly

By on April 17th, 2019

https://quillette.com/2019/04/12/jordan-peterson-and-the-new-chivalry/

In his recent appearance at Liberty University, Jordan Peterson delivered this verdict on the dominant attitude toward masculinity among our society’s elites: “I don’t think we do a very good job at the moment of encouraging men. We have this idea that there’s something intrinsically oppressive about the patriarchy and about masculinity in general. And I think that’s nonsense. I think that strong, honest, truthful, courageous men pursuing noble goals is of great benefit to everyone, male and female alike.” Members of the student audience applauded loudly, little knowing that not 10 minutes later, a scene would unfold in which Peterson would have an opportunity to match action to words.

By now, tens of thousands of people have seen the clip of the desperate young man who slipped past security to rush the stage and appeal to Peterson for help. The high-definition video feed was cut, but amateur footage shows Peterson leaving his seat and following David Nasser, Liberty University’s Campus Pastor, to engage. Nasser assures the troubled boy that he is “in the right place,” telling security to stand down while he leads the audience in prayer. As the student collapses in sobs, Peterson can be seen kneeling down to put a calming hand on his heaving shoulders. After the student is escorted offstage, the video feed comes back up as Nasser and Peterson return to their seats. Peterson seems shaken and visibly moved to tears.The whole vignette plays out in less than two minutes. Yet it affords an opportunity for reflection—by shedding light not only on the specific nature of Jordan Peterson’s appeal, but also on the larger question of what masculine virtue can and should look like in the modern age.

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Emma Lazarus and Donald Trump: Solving the Border Crisis By Stephen B. Presser

By on April 17th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/04/16/emma-lazarus-and-donald-trump-solving-the-border-crisis/

On the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor are the famous lines from poet Emma Lazarus: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me . . .” The United States is a signatory to the United Nations 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Article 33 of the Convention provides: “No Contracting State shall expel or return a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”

Article 33 appears to implement a bit of Emma Lazarus’s poem, but it’s also clear from the U.S. Constitution that the sovereign people have delegated to their representatives the power of determining who can gain entry to this country. Article I, Section 8 provides that Congress is given the power “To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization.” Congress has also passed legislation seeking to implement asylum for the kind of refugees contemplated by Article 33.

But in a recent statement about the deluge of undocumented foreign nationals from Central America now seeking admission at our southern border, President Trump observed:, “They come up. In many cases, they are rough gang members. In many cases, they are people with crime records. And they are given a statement to read by lawyers standing there waiting. It says, ‘I have great fear for my life. I have great fear for being in my country.’ Even though in some cases, some of these people are holding their country’s flags and waving their country’s flags . . .”

Similarly, former Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, in a December 20 press release, announced a new administration policy to prevent aliens “trying to game the system” by asserting groundless asylum claims and then “disappear[ing] into the United States, where many skip their court dates . . .”

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Hamas’s Honesty and the Deal of the Century by Khaled Abu Toameh

By on April 17th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14081/hamas-honesty-peace-deal

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s threats serve as a reminder that Hamas and other Palestinian terror group consider Israel one big settlement that needs to be annihilated. Above all, Hamas has never accepted the “two-state solution” or changed its charter, which explicitly states: “When our enemies usurp some Islamic lands, Jihad [holy war] becomes a duty binding on all Muslims…. We must spread the spirit of Jihad among the [Islamic] Umma, clash with the enemies and join the ranks of the Jihad fighters.”

Hamas cannot reach any political deal with Israel because it does not agree to Israel’s right to exist. This is the message that Sinwar and leaders of all Palestinian terror groups want the world to hear. For the terrorist leaders, the only peace they will accept is one that results in the elimination of Israel and the evacuation of all Jews from their homes.

The Hamas Charter is a straightforward, unambiguous message that says: “[Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas]….There is no solution to the Palestinian problem expect by Jihad.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has undoubtedly read the Hamas charter. He knows that if he accepts any peace plan that does not include the expulsion of all Jews from their homes, he will be denounced by his rivals in Hamas as a traitor. Abbas is also aware of Hamas’s threats to shower Israel with rockets. He knows that at the same time as Hamas attacks Israel, it will seek to flatten him for “betraying” Arabs and Muslims in “allowing” Jews to continue living in “their” state. This is the Palestinian reality that the “Deal of the Century” is about to be dealt.

April 15 marked the 18th anniversary of the firing of the first Hamas rocket toward Israel. On this day, 18 years ago, Hamas’s military wing, Izaddin al-Qassam, launched its first rocket attack at Israeli population centers near their border with the Gaza Strip.On the eve of this occasion, Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader of the Gaza Strip, threatened that his movement will continue to fire rockets at Israel. The rockets, he said, will be fired at Israeli “settlements” not only near the border with the Gaza Strip, but also at supposed “settlements” in the Israeli cities of Ashkelon, Ashdod and Tel Aviv.

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German Government: Anti-Israel, Pro-Iran by Stefan Frank

By on April 17th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14064/germany-government-israel-iran

Supporting one-sided resolutions against Israel is not Germany’s only unfriendly act against the Jewish state. Chancellor Angela Merkel has put pressure on other European Union states so that they do not transfer their embassies to Israel’s capital. Stopping the murder of Israelis is also not on the German government’s agenda.

Last year the Palestinian Authority (PA) allocated $330 million to pay terrorists, and Germany paid $100 million to the PA. So it is fair to say that Germany pays the PA to reward the murder of Jews.

While Chancellor Angela Merkel talks about “Germany’s special historical responsibility for Israel’s security”, her government channels German taxpayer money to murderers of Jews, and President Steinmeier sends congratulatory telegrams to those who plan the annihilation of the Jewish state.

“We must no longer let Israel down at the UN. It is madness that we are constantly on the side of countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran or Yemen against Israel” — Frank Müller-Rosentritt, member of the German parliament’s committee on foreign relations for the opposition Free Democratic Party (FDP).

German Chancellor Angela Merkel likes to think of herself as a friend of Israel. In a speech she gave in the Knesset in Jerusalem in Mach 2008, she said:

“Here of all places I want to explicitly stress that every German government and every German chancellor before me has shouldered Germany’s special historical responsibility for Israel’s security. This historical responsibility is part of my country’s raison d’être. For me as German chancellor, therefore, Israel’s security will never be open to negotiation. And that being the case, we must do more than pay lip-service to this commitment …”

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Holy Smoke Reflections on a fire. (And Sir Roger Scruton) Bruce Bawer

By on April 17th, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273504/holy-smoke-bruce-bawer

One thing that jumped out at me, as I watched Notre Dame burn in real time on BBC and Sky News, was the statement of some reporter or commentator or architectural expert that the cathedral could and would be rebuilt, although perhaps the new structure would be “more modern” than the old one. Later that evening, in his speech to the nation, President Macron vowed: “We will make the Cathedral of Notre Dame even more beautiful.”

More modern? More beautiful? My alarm bells went off, and they weren’t fire alarms.

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In November, Sir Roger Scruton was named to a government commission in Britain that, after at least a half century of ugly architecture, is tasked with ensuring that new public housing will be beautiful. Throughout his long and varied career, Sir Roger has had a lot to say about beauty. He has spoken wisely about the connection among the good, the true, and the beautiful, and has strongly opposed those who place beauty on a lower level of importance than goodness and truth. He is one of a relatively small and brave band of cultural critics who have linked the contemporary decline of beauty as a criterion, not just in architecture but also in art, music, and literature, and the accompanying ascent of what can only be called a cult of ugliness, to a broader rise in social and cultural decadence throughout the Western world. Emblematic of that cult of ugliness are such buildings as La Défense and the Pompidou Center. As one after another of these hideous creations went up in recent decades, blighting the skyline of the City of Light, the eight-centuries-old Cathedral of Notre Dame, in the very heart of the French capital, stood as an enduring rebuke to them and everything they represented.

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California.Gov.Con Clinton cronies are surging in the Golden State. Lloyd Billingsley

By on April 17th, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273474/californiagovcon-lloyd-billingsley

Four months after taking over from Jerry Brown, Gavin Newson headed south some 3,000 miles to El Salvador. The California governor left little doubt that the trip was to challenge the immigration policies of President Donald Trump.

Newsom claimed he would address the basic reasons Salvadorans flee to California, and he set out to boost the tourist industry in El Salvador, where the beaches boast “some of the best waves in the world.” That got plenty of publicity but another reason for the trip was overlooked.

When Gavin Newsom is out of state, the lieutenant governor becomes governor of California. So Newsom was giving some love to Eleni Kounalakis, who boasts a back story of considerable interest.

Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis is the daughter of Angelo Tsakopoulos, a real-estate tycoon with a net worth of $600 million. According to Greek USA Reporter, Angelo is a “top political donor to the Clintons as well as the Democratic Party,” and Angelo’s “donations to former President Bill Clinton were rewarded with a night in the prestigious Lincoln Bedroom.” In 2013 Tsakopoulos, “confirmed that Hillary Clinton will seek the Democratic nomination in the next Presidential election.”

Angelo’s daughter Eleni, a protégé of Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer, raised more than $1 million for Hillary Clinton in 2008 and that money found its reward. On January 7, 2010, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton swore in Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary. This was pay-for-play in the best Clinton style.

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