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Ruth King

IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

The Problem With Biden’s Plan to House Illegal Aliens Another racket designed for very clear purposes. William Davis

By on August 25th, 2023

https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-problem-with-bidens-plan-to-house-illegal-aliens/

Faced with an unrelenting surge of foreign nationals coming to the southern border, the Biden Administration has devised a new plan: More comfortable housing for people in the country illegally.

The White House is requesting roughly $1 billion in funding to set up new housing for illegal aliens while their overwhelmingly illegitimate asylum claims play out in the courts. Under the administration’s plan, beneficiaries of this new program would be free to go where they wish during the day, but would have to check in and stay the night in their houses, according to Axios.

But, here’s the kicker. According to the Washington Free Beacon, the language of the White House’s proposal would allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to use any of its funding on housing for illegal aliens instead of enforcement. The use of the funds would be at the discretion of anti-borders Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. One can only imagine how Mayorkas is salivating at the potential opportunity to use his agency’s funding to further his anti-borders agenda.

As former Acting ICE Director and Immigration Reform Law Institute Senior Fellow Tom Homan put it, this program would “would serve as yet another enticement, another magnet that will bring more families to our borders.”

If this new housing program were to take effect, it would serve as further encouragement for foreign nationals to make the dangerous journey through Central America to the U.S. The Biden Administration spent the first half of 2023 concocting schemes to artificially lower the number of illegal crossings at the southern border, but those numbers still skyrocketed by more than 30 percent last month. The promise of new and improved housing for illegal aliens will surely cause those numbers to soar even higher, empowering the cartels, and causing many migrants to die in the process, while further disrupting border communities already overwhelmed by the crisis.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The ‘China Century’ Is Over

By on August 25th, 2023

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/08/25/the-china-century-is-over/

For decades we’ve heard that China will some day, very soon, be the world’s hegemon, both through its stunning economic growth and its rising military might. Move over, America, here comes China. Just as the 1900s were the “American Century,” the 2000s would be the “China Century.” Not so fast.

Google “The China Century” and you get 1 billion hits. It’s that ingrained as an economic truism.

But in recent years, China has entered a kind of doom loop of debt accumulation, population shrinkage and a productivity slowdown that is eroding its once powerful economic growth and threatens to halt many of the economic advances it made over the last 50 years.

We’ve watched as decades of 10% annual GDP growth, a result of Deng Xiaoping’s 1979 market-oriented reforms, began dropping sharply under Chairman Xi Jinping, China’s born-again Communist leader. The nation’s traditional growth engines of soaring government debt, consumer spending, and foreign investment are now sputtering.

There are two big reasons for this.

One, is China’s single-child policy. Soon the nation of 1.4 billion will shrink outright. Economic growth usually follows population growth.

Two, the return to communist principles under Xi, whose totalitarian policies and crackdowns on dissent and human rights since 2012 have led to an exodus of foreign investment and know-how, and created a stagnant domestic economy.

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ELECTIONS Comments turned off

DeSantis And Ramaswamy Were The Only GOP Debaters Who Understood Their Base By: Shawn Fleetwood

By on August 25th, 2023

https://thefederalist.com/2023/08/24/desantis-and-ramaswamy-were-the-only-gop-debaters-who-understood-their-base/

EXCERPT

Aside from DeSantis and Ramaswamy, the other six talking heads apparently don’t know what time it is or care. Right now, we have a Department of Justice weaponizing America’s law enforcement apparatus in an attempt to imprison a former president and the 2024 GOP presidential front-runner ahead of a major election. We have leftists attempting to chemically castrate and indoctrinate our children. We have a wide-open southern border allowing millions of illegal aliens to pour into our country unchecked.

We have a tyrannical health bureaucracy attempting to bring Covid authoritarianism back into style. We have abortion-obsessed Democrats trying to legalize baby-killing up until the moment of birth. We have leftist nonprofits interfering in our elections to benefit Democrats, plus many other pressing challenges.

But sure, let’s continue to talk about tax cuts and defending the borders of countries that aren’t our own while the left ransacks every institution in the country. I’m sure our children will be grateful when all that’s left of their country is a broken shell of what the great American experiment used to be.

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MEDICINE AND HEALTH Comments turned off

Christopher Rufo: Barbarism in the Name of Equality An Austin-based doctor performs “non-binary” genital surgeries.

By on August 25th, 2023

https://rufo.substack.com/p/barbarism-in-the-name-of-equality?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

The debate about transgender medicine is shifting. Legislators in 20 states have recently passed bills to restrict transgender medical interventions, such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and genital surgeries, for minors. And the tide of public opinion appears to be moving against “gender-affirming care,” a euphemism for child sex-change procedures not supported by the evidence and that often cause devastating consequences. Preventing such procedures for patients under age 18 has to be the baseline.

But opponents of gender medicine should not celebrate prematurely—the battle is far from won. And while restrictions on such procedures for minors are essential, more scrutiny should be focused on a lesser-known practice: “non-binary” surgeries for adults.

Curtis Crane is one of the doctors leading this movement. Crane is a University of Iowa and Dartmouth College-trained urologist and plastic surgeon who specializes in transgender medical interventions, including experimental non-binary surgeries. 

In 2015, Crane received a flurry of publicity as an innovator in vaginoplasty, which involves castrating and creating an artificial vagina for “male-to-female” patients, and phalloplasty, which involves creating and installing an artificial penis for “female-to-male” patients. He boasted of a one- to two-year waitlist and claimed to have one of the highest volumes of transgender surgeries in the United States.

Since then, business has boomed. Crane operates clinics in San Francisco, California, and Austin, Texas, employs a team of five doctors, and conducts procedures on more than 1,000 patients per year. As part of this caseload, his practice has veered into the disturbing new territory of non-binary surgery, which includes castration, eunuch, and nullification procedures, which Crane describes as the process of “removing all external genitalia to create a smooth transition from the abdomen to the groin.” Crane has also designed and performed hundreds of non-binary surgeries in which he fashions together both male and female genitalia for a single individual. That is, he creates an artificial penis for a woman, while retaining her vagina; or creates an artificial vagina for a man, while retaining his penis.

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ANTI-SEMITISM, EDUCATION Comments turned off

George Washington University’s antisemitism problem Jewish students must conceal their identity to avoid being “confronted or heckled” on campus.A.J. Cadchetta

By on August 25th, 2023

https://www.jns.org/column/antisemitism/23/8/24/313268/

George Washington University (GW) has an antisemitism problem. As GW alumnus Avi D. Gordon, executive director of Alums for Campus Fairness, said, his alma mater has long “fostered a hostile environment for Jews.”

Gordon isn’t alone. A recent staff editorial in GW’s student newspaper argued that antisemitism “fit a pattern of discriminatory classroom conduct” at the prestigious university. Things have gotten so bad that, in January, the student association passed an Ending Antisemitism Order, which prompted Mark Wrighton, then-president of GW, to form a “Special Presidential Task Force to Combat Antisemitism.” In March, a sophomore on the task force, Sabrina Soffer, wrote that she has friends who “conceal” anything that identifies them as Jewish so they won’t be “confronted or heckled” on campus.

But GW is under new leadership and last month it terminated its relationship with the anti-Israel Middle East Studies Association (MESA), which bills itself as a “learned society” but acts like a slightly more literate version of every other anti-Israel activist group.

Expelling MESA was a good first step, and it could mark the beginning of the end of GW’s antisemitism problem, but there is more to do. With a new president at the helm, the university is at a crossroads.

GW’s BDS problem

The anti-Israel BDS movement is an accurate gauge of the problem.

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HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Accelerating Innovation, Security, & Education in the Digital Age: Chuck Brooks

By on August 25th, 2023

https://www.digitalfirstmagazine.com/accelerating-innovation-security-education-in-the-digital-age/

Chuck Brooks, President of Brooks Consulting International, is a globally recognized thought leader and subject matter expert Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies. LinkedIn named Chuck as one of “The Top 5 Tech People to Follow on LinkedIn.” He was named as “Cybersecurity Person of the Year by Cyber Express, as one of the world’s “10 Best Cyber Security and Technology Experts” by Best Rated. Chuck received two senior Presidential appointments, including as Legislative Director of The Science & Technology Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security and as Special Assistant to the Director of Voice of America. He has also served in executive roles for Fortune 500 companies. Chuck has an MA in International relations from the University of Chicago and a BA in Political Science from DePauw University.

Recently, in an exclusive interview with Digital First Magazine, Chuck shared his insights on the future of cybersecurity landscape, his career trajectory, what sets Brooks Consulting International apart from other market competitors, the key qualities required to be a successful security leader, future plans, pearls of wisdom, and much more. The following excerpts are taken from the interview.

What are your thoughts on where the cybersecurity industry is heading?

The Cybersecurity industry is heading toward the right paths and it along many divergent paths. First, there is more focus by the C-Suite on the importance pf protecting digital assets. It is being taken more seriously in budgets, responsibilities and in planning. Compliance and policy recommendations from The US Security Exchange Commission (SEC) and The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s CISA, and in the EU, the GDPR have reinforced the need for enhanced cybersecurity and privacy. Private/public cooperation is expanding as is global cooperation. Also, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and early quantum computing algorithms are impacting the landscape in terms of automation, threat detection, and analytics. The Cloud is becoming more competitive and secure, and managed cybersecurity providers are helping close gaps for small and medium businesses that do not have the resources to hire expertise and procure top of the line solutions. However, having said all that, it is still a game of catch up as internet connectivity continues to expand. In addition, the sophistication of criminal hackers (also employing AI and ML tech) that are often abetted by nation states is becoming more brazen and successful with ransomware and DDoS attacks. Cybersecurity is in a state of flux and there will always be gaps to fill but the challenges and opportunities for the cybersecurity industry certainly have not been lessened.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Biden Clan’s Con Is Coming to an End Victor Davis Hanson

By on August 25th, 2023

https://victorhanson.com/the-biden-clans-con-is-coming-to-an-end/

Despite years of Biden family and media disinformation, we are finally learning that Joe Biden really did fire Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin for looking into state corruption involving the oil company Burisma and Hunter Biden—and ultimately Joe Biden himself.

As Vice President, Biden, in his own words, bragged that he had threatened to cancel the deliverance of American foreign aid to Ukraine unless Shokin was dismissed.

So what is the Congress to do now—un-impeach and exonerate an innocent impeached Donald Trump, and instead impeach a guilty Biden for essentially the same allegations?

After all, the Left redefined the impeachment bar in 2019 as leveraging foreign aid to Ukraine to benefit one’s political career.

And that is exactly what Joe Biden did to ensure his son could continue to raise millions for the Biden family with foreign governments, while being shielded from political consequences.

An impeached Trump also was accused of using the power of government to go after his likely 2020 presidential rival by suggesting that Joe Biden and his family were corrupt, and should be investigated by Ukrainian officials for fraud and bribery.

Despite Joe Biden’s denials, Trump was right: there was plenty of evidence to link Ukrainian unwarranted payoffs going into Biden family coffers.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Like Mercenaries throughout History, Prigozhin Became a Threat to the Man Who Hired Him With Dictators like Vladimir Putin, You Only Get One Try; Charles Lipson

By on August 25th, 2023

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/24/mercenary-chief-prigozhin-dead-wagner-boss-plane-putin/

“Never strike a king,” Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “unless you are sure you shall kill him.” Good advice, but it comes too late for Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian leader of the Wagner mercenary army.

Vladimir Putin, that old KGB man, already knew Emerson’s message, deep in his guts. He also knew the unstated part: if you try to kill the king and you fail, you will be the dead one.

And so Prigozhin was.
 
Prigozhin, once Putin’s ally, should have known the limits of their ties

The leader of the Russia’s most effective mercenary force had once been Putin’s chef and ally. He had the Kremlin’s support when he formed Wagner. He had it, too, when he led his soldiers in the grinding, brutal battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, where Wagner lost tens of thousands of soldiers in the house-to-house fighting. As the fighting wore on, however, Prigozhin learned the limits of Putin’s support.

The Kremlin’s fear was that, if Prigozhin and his mercenaries got credit for this prominent victory in Bakhmut, Wagner’s success would undermine the prestige of the regular Russian army and ultimately threaten Putin’s own power.

Preventing that erosion is why the regular military’s two leaders, Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and military chief of staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov, ultimately denied Wagner the ammunition and supplies they needed to complete their victory. Then Shoigu and Gerasimov, presumably at Putin’s direction, tried to deny Wagner credit for taking the city.

Prigozhin’s Fatal Decision to March on Moscow
 
Prigozhin was furious at this betrayal and said so repeatedly on his widely-circulated social-media posts. When his PR campaign failed, Prigozhin took much more drastic—and ultimately fatal–action. He mobilized his troops to march on Moscow.

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ISRAEL, MEDIA Comments turned off

The Washington Post’s ‘Good’ Terrorists by Bassam Tawil

By on August 24th, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19920/washington-post-good-terrorists

The attacks by the Fatah-affiliated terrorists came days after The Washington Post published a story from Balata Refugee Camp, near Nablus, in which its correspondents romanticized members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, even documenting them as they visit their barber for a haircut.

The “fighters” The Washington Post is referring to are the terrorists responsible for a series of shooting, stabbing and car-ramming attacks against Jewish civilians and soldiers in the Nablus area and Israel over the past few months. Notably, these terrorists do not hide their involvement in the wave of attacks. In fact, they often boast of the attacks and post videos and posters documenting their role.

What the newspaper fails to mention is that this terrorist [who “bought his M16 [rifle] for $20,000 with the money he earned working in construction in Tel Aviv”] is one of tens of thousands of Palestinians who were granted permits (by Israel) to come and work in Israel as part of an effort to boost the Palestinian economy and improve the living conditions of the Palestinians in the West Bank.

The terrorist did not seek work in the Palestinian Authority-controlled territories because he knew he would have earned much less…. The terrorist was able to save $20,000 from his work in Israel, but instead of using the money to build a new house or improve his living condition, we are told that he chose to establish “the Balata cell of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.”

The correspondents are apparently impressed by the fact that another terrorist, Ammar, paid 20 shekels (six dollars) to buy them coffee. Ammar had been shot multiple times by Israeli soldiers while attempting to murder Jews near Nablus in April. He managed to escape, but two of his fellow gunmen were killed.

The correspondents go on to claim, falsely, that “there are no sports teams” in Balata Refugee Camp.

The truth is that the camp has a soccer club that was established in 1954. It is called The Balata Youth Center and states that it “aspires to be the main supporter of all sports, cultural, social, and scouting activities…It also aspires to have a special playground for all sports, such as football (soccer), basketball, handball, volleyball, table tennis, and other individual and group games.” The local soccer team has even won several championships.

The terrorists could have joined the soccer team, but preferred to form a terror group to attack Jews.

Instead of highlighting that many of the terrorists are involved in intimidation and extortion of the local community, The Washington Post attempts to depict them as honest law-enforcers.

“The [Balata] Camp has been hijacked by an armed group that is terrorizing and threatening to kill residents who dare to speak out,” the Fatah Office of Information and Culture itself said back in 2015. It accused the gunmen of extorting money from wealthy businessmen from Nablus and running a big market for weapons and drugs.

“A recent report by the Post provided what was essentially free advertising for a US-designated terrorist group,” noted Sean Durns, a senior researcher analyst for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. “Worse still, the Post’s foray is part of an ongoing trend in Western news outlets being used by terrorist organizations to promote their propaganda.”

After the recent murder of the Jewish woman near Hebron, one might wonder whether The Washington Post is planning to send its correspondents back to spend time with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorists to hear, first-hand, how proud they are that they murdered an innocent kindergarten teacher in cold blood.

How would the newspaper’s readers have reacted had it sent its correspondents to spend time with Al-Qaeda or Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists to hear their pride in having committed atrocities against American citizens?

The Post piece leaves one with the distinct impression that there is such a thing as a good terrorist: one who targets Jews.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Actually, Joe, All Your ‘Objectives’ Were Failures Here’s a list of what he should actually apologize for By Victor Davis Hanson

By on August 24th, 2023

https://amgreatness.com/2023/08/21/actually-joe-all-your-objectives-were-failures/

“Name me a single objective we’ve ever set out to accomplish that we’ve failed on. Name me one, in all of our history. Not one!”

-President Joe Biden, August 16, 2023 

Joe Biden in one of his now accustomed angry “get off my grass” moods dared the press to find just one of his policies/objectives that has not worked. Silence followed.

Perhaps it was polite to say nothing, given even the media knows almost every enacted Biden policy has failed.

Here is a summation of what he should instead apologize for.

Biden in late summer 2021 sought a 20th anniversary celebration of 9/11 and the 2001 subsequent invasion of Afghanistan. He wished to be the landmark president that yanked everyone out of Afghanistan after 20 years in country. But the result was the greatest military humiliation of the United States since the flight from Vietnam in 1975.

Consider the ripples of Biden’s disaster. U.S. deterrence was crippled worldwide. China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea almost immediately began to bluster or return to their chronic harassment of U.S. and allied ships and planes. We left thousands of allied Afghans to face Taliban retribution, along with some Western contractors.

Biden abandoned a $1 billion embassy, and a $300 million remodeled Bagram airbase strategically located not far from China and Russia, and easily defensible. Perhaps $50 billion in U.S. weaponry and supplies were abandoned and now find their way into the international terrorist mart.

All our pride flags, our multimillion gender studies programs at Kabul University, and our George Floyd murals did not just come to naught, but were replaced by the Taliban’s anti-homosexual campaigns, burkas, and detestation of any trace of American popular culture.

Vladimir Putin sized up the skedaddle. He collated it with Biden’s unhinged quip that he would not get too excited if Putin just staged a “minor” invasion of Ukraine. He remembered Biden’s earlier request to Putin to modulate Russian hacking to exempt a few humanitarian American institutions. Then Russia concluded of our shaky Commander-in-Chief that he either did not care or could do nothing about another Russian invasion.

The result so far is more than 500,000 dead and wounded in the war, a Verdun-stand-off along with fortified lines, the steady depletion of our munitions and weapon stocks, and a new China/Russia/Iran/North Korean axis, with wink and nod assistance from NATO Turkey.

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