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Ruth King

JUNE 2018: THE MONTH THAT WAS SYDNEY WILLIAMS

http://swtotd.blogspot.com/

Perhaps the universe operates according to a plan? I don’t know. But life on earth is in constant and unpredictable flux. Change is ever-present, whether caused by nature or man. What is needed are pilots to help navigate treacherous shoals, not whether to move left or right, but to plot courses based on a moral compass, in accordance with the ideals laid down by the Founding Fathers and one dependent on simple, proven principles of right and wrong, like common sense, the Ten Commandments, or Jordan Peterson’s “12 Rules for Life.”

No month is without news highlights and June was no different. Certainly, Singapore vied for top billing. However, the story in the winning envelope was the release of the Inspector General’s report on its probe into the actions of the FBI and the Justice Department during the summer of 2016. It tells a story of corruption, collusion and bias within the nation’s premier law enforcement agency. Even The New York Times reported that it painted a harsh portrait of the FBI during the 2016 presidential election, describing a destructive culture in which James Comey, the former director was “insubordinate… Senior officials privately bashed Donald J. Trump, and agents came to distrust prosecutors.” Current FBI Director Christopher Wray, in a subsequent press conference, appeared in denial: He said he took the report seriously, but nothing in it “impugns the integrity” of the FBI. “Our brand is doing just fine.” The Wall Street Journal reported: “Though IG Michael Horowitz’s conclusions are measured, his facts are damning.” While the report claimed there was no documentary or testimonial evidence to suggest political bias, facts suggested otherwise. Most damning was the text exchange between Peter Strzok, the FBI agent in charge of the Trump-Russia investigation and his paramour, top FBI lawyer Lisa Page. In August 2016, Ms. Page texted Mr. Strzok, “[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right?” Mr. Strzok responded, “No. No, he won’t. We’ll stop it.”

The Bazaaris’ Revolt in Iran: Who is Behind It? by Amir Taheri

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12616/iran-bazaar-revolt

The Grand Bazaar is not just a mega shopping mall; it is the core of a whole way of life. It contains six mosques, 30 hotels, more than 20 banks, six libraries, 9 religious seminaries,13 primary and secondary schools, and is the source of direct or indirect employment for more than 600,000 people.

Since 1979, the Grand Bazaar’s enthusiasm for the Khomeinist regime has cooled somewhat without turning into open hostility. Thus, the current events must be regarded either as a fleeting aberration or as a serious sign that the Khomeinist regime may be losing one of its major bases of support.

One thing is certain: The Grand Bazaar has well-established and tested mechanisms for popular mobilization and a show of force in the streets. If it is angry, it can show its anger. And when it does, it would be foolish for anyone not to take notice.

Last week, Tehran’s Grand Bazaar was shut, with its example imitated in the capital’s other business districts such as Maqsud-Shah, Qaysarieh, Khayyam, Sayyed Vali and Pachenar, among others. At the same time, bazaars in several other cities, notably Isfahan, Mash’had, Bandar Abbas, Kerman and Tabriz also organized token strikes in sympathy with Tehrani merchants.

Is Guilt Killing the West from Within? by Giulio Meotti

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12569/guilt-museums-artifacts

“The fact is that we have no idea what would have become of the world’s ‘looted’ antiquities if they hadn’t been preserved in Western collections. Would the treasures of Beijing’s Summer palace have survived Mao’s Cultural Revolution? Would the Elgin marbles have survived Turkish tour guides chopping off chunks to sell as souvenirs? Would Daesh [ISIS] have spared those Middle Eastern artefacts that survive in European museums?” — Zareer Masani, historian.

When Christians in Iraq were exiled, murdered or persecuted en masse by the so-called Islamic State, the West stood silent — as if these Christians were the agents of Western colonialism and not the legitimate and oldest inhabitants of the Middle East, long before the Arabs converted to Islam.

When a mob destroyed the French Institute in Cairo, burning books and collections, those who now want to return the “colonial artifacts” stood silent. Where are our Monuments Men now?

A “sense of guilt” for colonialism is debasing the West from within, according to Professor Bruce Gilley, and authoritarian regimes such as Iran, Russia, China and Turkey are profiting from this weakness.

The Romans called it damnatio memoriae: the damnation of memory that resulted in destroying the portraits and even the names of the fallen emperors. The same process is now underway in the West about its colonial past. The cultural elite in the West now seem so haunted by feelings of imperialist guilt that they are no longer confident that our civilization is something to be proud of.

A sense of guilt now seems a kind of post-Christian substitute religion that seduces many Westerners. The French scholar Shmuel Trigano suggested that this ideology is turning the Westerners into “post-colonial subjects” who no longer believe in their own civilization, but instead what will destroy it: multiculturalism. In France, for example, a manifesto was launched for “a multicultural and post racial republic”. The result would be, in the words of the anthropologist Jean-Loup Amselle, a “war of identities” and a clash between communities. Last month, the UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said that, if elected Prime Minister, he would order the British Museum to return to Greece the Elgin Marbles, the frieze that had surrounded the Parthenon of Athens and one of the major attractions of the British Museum. “This whole campaign is sheer lunacy,” wrote Richard Dorment. But it is a lunacy spreading all over Europe.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he wants to change the rules that make French public collections untouchable, and allow the return to Africa of dozens of historical artifacts now in the Louvre Museum. Macron has appointed two commissioners, the writer Senegalese Felwine Sarr and the art expert Bénédicte Savoy, to prepare a report.

A Profile in Courage By Spencer Abraham

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/06/book-review-lead-yourself-first-raymond-kethledge-courage-a-judge-needs/

A review of Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude, by Raymond M. Kethledge and Michael S. Erwin.

Judges used to be rugged, because they had to be: Back when Supreme Court justices “rode circuit,” they traveled to far-flung parts of the country to hear cases. Justice Field — wearing a coat with pockets big enough for two pistols — would sail to Panama, cross the country by burro, and then sail up the coast to San Francisco. Nowadays, the more popular image of a judge might be that of a soft-handed Ivy League establishment type: Someone who grew up with elites, went to school with elites, got his ideas from elites, and eventually rejoined his kind inside the Beltway. President Trump himself famously has “one overarching question” when evaluating judicial nominees: “He’s not weak, is he?” Are there any judges left of the old mold?

I can think of at least one. I don’t know if Judge Raymond Kethledge has ever ridden a burro (or gone to San Francisco), but I do know that he has tracked game through the Michigan wilderness, pulled salmon out of the St. Mary’s River, and battled swells in his aluminum fishing boat on Lake Huron. Although not formally part of his job description as a federal judge (his own “circuit riding” takes him south to Cincinnati rather than north to upper Michigan), these rugged pursuits nonetheless illustrate the way Kethledge approaches his job. He is well-renowned for not mincing words. His decisions (which he writes himself, from outline to published opinion) are refreshingly concise, especially compared to the doorstops routinely churned out by other chambers. He holds fast to the text of statutes and the Constitution (i.e., the law) and rebukes those litigants (often federal agencies) who do not. His rigorous thinking mirrors his rigorous living.

Judge Kethledge, along with coauthor Michael Erwin, has now given us a book, Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude, about other leaders who have found clarity, creativity, balance, and courage through a process of rigorous thought and focused reflection. Think of General Ulysses S. Grant, holed up in the cabin of his ship until he composed a daring plan to get his troops through Vicksburg. Or General James Mattis, the “Warrior Monk” (and now the secretary of defense) who in 2011 assumed command of American military operations in the Middle East, and who took his copious library with him wherever he went.

Several others have already glowingly reviewed Lead Yourself First, but none have explained what it tells us about the man who co-wrote it. I recognize in these pages the Raymond Kethledge I’ve known since he worked for me as a young staffer more than 20 years ago, a man who has displayed the same vital leadership qualities — intelligence, creativity, balance, and, above all, courage — that he identifies in the book.

House Republicans Grill Rosenstein over Trump-Russia By Andrew C. McCarthy

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/06/trump-russia-probe-house-republicans-grill-rod-rosenstein/

The political branches are designed to scrap with each other, not dictate to each other.

‘You’re the boss.”

That was Representative Jim Jordan’s terse rejoinder during a feisty exchange with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein at the House Judiciary Committee’s oversight hearing on Thursday. The Ohio Republican was blasting Rosenstein over information Republicans say Justice Department officials have concealed from Congress for a year.

As the jaw-boning continued, Rosenstein fended off claims that he had personally withheld files, redacted key portions of documents, and counseled a controversial witness, FBI agent Peter Strzok, to refuse to answer questions at a closed-door congressional interview.

These calls were made by subordinates, Rosenstein DAG-splained.

“They work for you,” Jordan bluntly replied.

And so it went. Rosenstein pointed out that, yes, 115,000 people work for him. Translation: He cannot possibly know what each of them is doing the moment they are doing it. When condescension failed, he tried earnestness: He’ll intercede with underlings if the committee brings any errors to his attention. Tin-eared, he emphasized that he had already done this several times . . . oblivious to the committee’s exasperation that it has several times been necessary to do.

Two discordant notes clanged throughout the joust. First, if Rosenstein is not actively instructing his charges to withhold information, he needs to work on his management skills, since they clearly assume this stonewall is a top-down enterprise. Has anyone been disciplined for hiding from Congress Strzok’s explosive text promising to “stop” Donald Trump from being elected? And that’s hardly an atypical concealment. If Rosenstein isn’t encouraging this nonsense, how come nobody’s walking the plank over it?

Second, while House Republicans revel in reminding anyone who will listen that DOJ’s intransigent middle managers work for Rosenstein, they never quite get around to mentioning that Rosenstein works for President Trump. The president is better positioned than the DAG to order more transparency. And if the “witch hunt” narrative is valid, the president would be the chief beneficiary of more transparency. Yet, for all his Twitter bombast, Trump abstains . . . and then House Republicans dutifully target their ire at Rosenstein.

There’s lots of “deep state” rhetoric in the air, but Thursday looked more like a quagmire: Everybody dug in, everybody more vulnerable than their bravado suggests.

The information at issue relates, in part, to the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election — and specifically when and why the Obama administration monitored the Trump campaign on suspicion of “coordination” in the Kremlin’s perfidy. Also on demand are documents pertinent to the Hillary Clinton emails investigation.

Rosenstein and Wray Squirm on the Hill By Emerald Robinson

https://amgreatness.com/2018/07/01/rosenstein-and-wray-squirm

Rod Rosenstein and Christopher Wray went up to Capitol Hill on Thursday to tell the House Intelligence Committee that neither one of them had noticed anything wrong with Robert Mueller’s special probe or with the anti-Trump bias of its staff.

No matter what Congress and the public had read in the massive inspector general’s report recently, they wanted everyone to know that the deputy attorney general and the FBI director had the Bureau under control now, and that Rosenstein had Wray and Mueller under control, too. Everything is fine. Nothing to see here. Couldn’t Congress just leave them alone? Here were two men metaphorically standing outside their houses now burnt to the ground, and asking the firemen inside for coffee. Should we pity them or lock them up as madmen?

Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) pointed out that Rosenstein had conflicts everywhere you turned. How could he oversee the Mueller probe when he had written the memo to President Trump recommending former FBI Director James Comey be fired in the first place? If reports were true that Mueller was investigating the president for “obstruction” related to firing Comey, then hadn’t Rosenstein set up a loop to investigate himself? Wasn’t he the origin point of the whole mess?

“Congressman, I can assure you that if it were appropriate for me to recuse, I would be more than happy to do so,” Rosenstein said. “But it’s my responsibility to do it.” Apparently, he felt comfortable being the responsible party for the whole mess. That air of supreme confidence would not last long.

Then Rosenstein assured Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), “There is no one more committed to rooting out abuse and misconduct than I. We look to find any credible evidence, and we give it to Chairman Nunes.” That was a soothing answer, except for the fact it was untrue. Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) has told the world repeatedly that Rosenstein is obstructing his investigation. Nunes had even appeared on Sean Hannity’s show to tell the public that his staff felt threatened by Rosenstein.

They’re coming to America By Victor Sharpe

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/sharpe/180629

Neil Diamond’s acclaimed hit song, “They’re Coming to America,” was his patriotic interpretation of historic and legal immigration into the United States. The powerful melody ends with an interpolation of the traditional and patriotic song, “My Country, Tis of Thee.”

But now we have illegal aliens infiltrating our 1,989-mile-long southern border, and many are coming to the sound of a very different and horribly discordant melody, one often tinged with Islamic and Arabic overtones.

According to released data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency as far back as 2014, an estimated 5,063 individuals from nations that harbor Islamic terrorists were arrested in that year alone trying to cross into America from Mexico. None of these were Mexicans, Guatemalans, or Hondurans; they were citizens from far-away nations consumed by militant Islam. It has been going on for many years and here are some of the figures from five years ago:

Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are still battling the Taliban, was the home of 70 people arrested at the southern frontier in 2013 alone.

Syria, birthplace of ISIS and a civil war ravaged nation, with some 400,000 dead, saw 72 of its nationals captured at our southern border.

Sudan, designated by the State Department as an official “state sponsor of terrorism,” where Christians in the south have been the subject of massive genocide by the Arab Muslim north, was the starting point for 168 individuals who were stopped heading to the U.S.A.

Israel ranks 11th in UN Happiness Report Amb.(Ret.) Yoram Ettinger

1. According to the UN 2018 World Happiness Report (based on Gallup World Poll survey), Israel ranks 11th, as it was ranked in 2017, trailing Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Australia. The ranking is based on life expectancy, income, social support, freedom, trust and generosity. According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, 89.8% of Israeli Jews and 80.7% of Israeli Arabs – age 20 and above – are satisfied/happy, while 85% of Israeli Jews and 89% of Israeli Arabs feel safe (The Marker, June 29, 2018).

2. Warren Buffett, the Chairman, President and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway: “I’ve lived through Israel’s entire 70-year history and I believe it is one of the most remarkable countries in the world…. It is a good thing for Israel that there is an America, and it is a good thing for America that there is an Israel…. (Jerusalem Post, June 14).”

3. The Germany-based Skion GmbH private investment bank led – along with Germany’s Altana – a $300MN round of investment in Israel’s Landa Digital (nanography) Printing. Both investors are owned by the $25BN net worth Susanne Klatten, Germany’s wealthiest woman. (Globes Business Daily, June 28).

4. The Dutch healthcare technology giant, Philips, acquired Israel’s cardiac imaging EPD Medical (image-guided procedures for heart rhythm disorders) for $292MN in cash in addition to $245MN in deferred milestone payments (Globes, June 7).

5. The Mountain View, California-based (FinTech) Intuit is expanding its Israel operation, hiring a few hundred more employees over the next three years, which will require $50MN annually. Intuit launched its Israel operation in 2014 upon acquiring Check for $360MN and then cyber technology Porticor for $10MN. Currently, Intuit explores the acquisition of a young artificial-intelligence Israeli company (Globes, June 27).

LINDA GOUDSMIT: NATIONALISM IS NOT A DIRTY WORD

http://goudsmit.pundicity.com/21337/nationalism-is-not-a-dirty-word
http://goudsmit.pundicity.com
http://lindagoudsmit.com

When did American nationalism become a dirty word? Under Obama of course! Obama’s leftist war against America is a war against American nationalism. America emerged from WWII as the most powerful economic nation on earth and invincible militarily. Enemies of the United States domestically and internationally would need a different strategy to defeat her.

Aesop’s 6th century B.C. fable “The Four Oxen and the Lion” offers that strategy.

“A lion used to prowl about a field in which four oxen used to dwell. Many a time he tried to attack them; but whenever he came near they turned their tails to one another, so that whichever way he approached them he was met by the horns of one of them. At last, however, they fell a-quarrelling among themselves, and each went off to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. Then the Lion attacked them one by one and soon made an end of all four. United we stand, divided we fall.”

American nationalism is the common denominator that unifies America which is why the war against America specifically targets American nationalism. Obama’s leftist strategy is one of creating divisiveness within America because divided we fall. This is how it works.

The great conflict in the world today is between nationalism and internationalism. Nationalism supports the national sovereignty of independent countries trading fairly in the global marketplace. Internationalism supports globalism – a globalized one world nation, one world economy, one world language, one world currency, one world flag, one world educational curriculum, one world police force, one world army, and most significantly one world government.

The New World Order of one world government is deceitfully marketed by globalist elites as the universal system for social justice and income equality. The problem, of course, is that the “New” World Order is a return to the very old world feudal system of masters and slaves. There is nothing new about a binary socio-political system having the few elite rulers at the top of the social pyramid and the enslaved masses at the base. Obama’s leftist lemmings are useful idiots participating in their own destruction and do not realize they will end up as slaves in the new world order.

Ohio Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Protect Kids from Transgender Mafia at School By Megan Fox

https://pjmedia.com/parenting/ohio-lawmaker-introduces-bill-to-protect-kids-from-transgender-mafia-at-school/

Parents have the right to say no to dangerous hormone therapies and disfiguring surgery.

In a recent court decision, Sylvia Sieve Hendon, an Ohio juvenile court judge, awarded custody of a gender-confused minor to the grandparents so he could defy his parents’ wishes and get hormone therapy. The decision alarmed lawmakers and parents in the state so much that new legislation is being considered to stop it from happening again.

Ohio House Bill 658 sets out clear guidelines regarding parental rights when children face the mental disorder of gender dysphoria. The bill ensures that parents have the final say on how to treat their children who are experiencing gender confusion and makes it illegal for anyone else to do so (like teachers or school therapists) without parental consent. The law also would make it illegal for a judge to remove a minor from his parents’ custody for refusing to treat gender dysphoria with irreversible, dangerous drugs that can cause sterility and disrupt natural development. Further, the law would require any adult with authority over a child to inform the parents if the child is considering gender “therapy.”

Transgender activists are intent on demonizing this law. From the gay publication Them, Mary Emily O’Hara writes,

Ohio House Bill 658 would turn school employees, psychologists, and social workers into spies of a sort; the legislation mandates that they disclose to parents if a minor approaches them with questions about gender identity or seeks mental health care for gender dysphoria. And if they don’t inform the child’s parents — regardless of concern for the safety or wellbeing of the child — they would face felony charges.

In every school across this nation, teachers and counselors are prohibited from giving a minor Tylenol without parental consent, yet activists want them to be able to refer kids for body mutilation without telling their parents? Parents must give consent to send kids on field trips, watch movies, and even eat a hot lunch. Why is it offensive to inform parents when their minor child is having an identity crisis? What kind of educators would want to hide such a serious thing from the people who love the child the most? Parents in this nation are held responsible financially and otherwise for the well-being of their children. They take on all the risks and burdens of parenting and are responsible for anything their minor child does (and sometimes can even go to jail for it). Shouldn’t parents get the benefit of making major decisions concerning those minors when it comes to something as life-altering as gender reassignment surgery or “therapy”?

If state legislatures don’t do something to protect parents’ rights soon, the Gaystappo will be forcing parents to not only agree to poisonous hormone “therapy,” but making them pay for it too! Already in several states the gay rights activists have pushed through legislation that bars parents from seeking Christian counseling for their children suffering from gender or sexual confusion.