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Ruth King

Fear of a Name: Why are the Media and Law Enforcement Afraid to Call Terror What It Is? Refusing to name the problem doesn’t make it go away; it only increases fear of the thing itself. By Naomi Risch

https://amgreatness.com/2025/01/08/fear-of-a-name-why-are-the-media-and-law-enforcement-afraid-to-call-terror-what-it-is/

Shamsud-Din Jabbar posted videos declaring his support for ISIS and drove a pickup truck with an ISIS flag into a crowd in New Orleans. By so clearly associating his murderous rampage with a recognized terrorist group, Jabbar could not have intended more clearly for the incident to be a terrorist attack. In response, FBI assistant special agent in charge Althea Duncan said at a press conference, “This is not a terrorist event… simply improvised explosive devices.”

The Washington Post’s headline was, “Truck rams New Orleans crowd,” and only mentioned ISIS ties in the second subheading. NPR, NBC, and ABC all ran articles about the attack without using the words “terror,” “Islamic,” or “Islamism,” opting not to specify exactly what sort of “attack” it was.

Evidently, law enforcement, in addition to the press, is fearful of naming the problem. The FBI did later state in a press release that it was investigating the incident as a “terrorist attack,” but they should never have hesitated to call it such. Fear of calling terrorism what it is is extremely problematic in and of itself and draws a strong parallel to the Harry Potter series.

For most of the Harry Potter series, very few characters aside from Harry can bring themselves to even say the name of the most dangerous wizard of all time—Voldemort—not unlike the small number of politicians and law enforcement spokespeople who call radical Islam and terrorism what they are. Even Harry’s professors who teach defense and employees of the Ministry of Magic, the governing body in Harry’s world, generally can’t bring themselves to say Voldemort’s name, at least above a whisper. But as Harry’s friend Hermione so wisely puts it, “Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself.”

New Year’s Jeers As 2025 kicks off, there is no end to the bad news in the public education sector. By Larry Sand

https://amgreatness.com/2025/01/08/new-years-jeers/

Now that the holiday season hoopla is behind us, a look at the latest doings in education is in order. To begin with, the sex cultists are still alive and well. In fact, according to The Heritage Foundation, 16 states force transgender lessons on children.

Heritage’s “Gender Ideology as State Education Policy” report highlights the education standards and frameworks of states that encourage gender ideology, which is defined as “the subordination or displacement of factual, ideologically neutral lessons about biological sex with tell-tale notions such as ‘gender identity,’ ‘sex assigned at birth,’ and ‘cisgender.’”

Not surprisingly, only one of the states—Wyoming—is of the red persuasion. In deep blue Oregon, the state’s health standards include “heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer, asexual, two-spirit, and pansexual.” in their definitions of sexual and romantic orientations.

In a similar vein, New Jersey’s learning standards state, “Gender assigned at birth means the gender that someone was thought to be at birth, typically recorded on their (sic) original birth certificate. The gender someone was assigned at birth may or may not match their (sic) gender identity.”

Hence, with the onslaught of misinformation and proselytizing, it becomes understandable that 5.1% of adults younger than 30 claim to be transgender or nonbinary, per a Pew Research poll, and this social contagion is being used as a political cudgel by many with a perverse agenda.

In reality, according to UCLA’s Williams Institute, an LGBTQ advocacy group, a staggering 99.4% of the population does not have the physical traits that cause someone to become transgender.

Also, Brown University physician and researcher Lisa Littman released a study in 2018 that showed “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” in young people may be driven by “social and peer contagion.” She stresses that nearly 70% of the teenagers were involved with a peer group in which at least one friend had identified as transgender.

Pope Francis Violates Catholic Teaching by Bearing False Witness Against Israel by Alan M. Dershowitz

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21295/pope-francis-bearing-false-witness

Pope Francis has joined the chorus of blood libelers who have accused Israel of genocide, writing: “According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide.” This indictment is totally false as a matter of fact, law and morality. The Vatican knows what genocide is. It perfected this crime against humanity during the Crusades, the Inquisition and the priest-inspired pogroms that led to the Holocaust.

The reality is that Israel has killed far fewer civilians in relation to combatants than any nation in history while fighting comparable urban wars, especially where Hamas combatants hide among civilians, precisely in order to induce Israel to kill as many civilians as possible.

By accepting Palestinianism and supporting the Hamas narrative, he is siding with the enemies of Christianity, the enemies of Judaism and the enemies of decency. I will not curse Pope Francis; the bible has already done so: “Now the LORD had said unto Abram…. And I will make of thee a great nation…. And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee.”

Since the end of World War II, the Vatican has tried hard to make up for its centuries of attacks on the Jewish people, including the Crusades, the Inquisition, priest-incited pogroms, and theological claims that the Jews killed Jesus. The Vatican’s complicity in genocide during World War II took the form of Pope Pius XII’s refusal to create a “crisis of conscience” among German Catholics by forbidding them from participating in the mass murder of Jews.

Why Is “Or There Will be All Hell to Pay” Not the Entire Negotiation? by Lawrence Kadish

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21296/trump-hostages-hell-to-pay

President-elect Donald J. Trump has warned that unless the hostages being held by Hamas are released by January 20, the day of his inauguration, “all hell will break out.”

Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is already in Doha, Qatar, negotiating. Not very astonishingly, the negotiations keep breaking down….

The question arises: why is Witkoff in Qatar negotiating? Negotiating for what? How many dead hostages for how many live Palestinian terrorists now in Israeli prisons?

Why is Trump’s statement, “there will be all hell to pay,” not, by itself, the negotiation? It seems that all Witkoff would need to do is detail every name, alive or dead; the date, time and drop-off point for all the hostages, and then go home. No Palestinian prisoners released to resume a career in terrorism; no pallets of cash going to government leaders who commit war crimes — just, “You took them, you have them; if even one hostage is missing or has so much as a scratch, ‘it will not be good for Hamas.'”

Why is the US degrading its prestige by even trying to negotiate with terrorists? Instead of negotiating, Hamas and its patron, Qatar, should be feeding the hostages, attending to their medical needs and preparing them to come home. Now, how would that be for “The Art of the Deal”?

Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.

Golden Globes Reportedly Banned Israeli Actress Gal Gadot from Wearing Hostage Pin By Haley Strack

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/golden-globes-reportedly-banned-israeli-actress-gal-gadot-from-wearing-hostage-pin/

Israeli actress Gal Gadot has been vocal in her support of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. Her activism stands out among the sea of her progressive peers in Hollywood, who, for the most part, are either anti-Israel, apathetic to the war, or quiet supporters of Israel. But Gadot, along with a small group of Hollywood stars, has not wavered in her defense of Israel despite political, social, and professional pressure.

Gadot was allegedly banned from wearing a yellow pin honoring the hostages at the Golden Globes, the Jerusalem Post reported:

Ynet and N12 reported that Gadot was forbidden to wear the pin, which is considered a political statement by the awards organizers, even though it does not express support for any political party or for the war itself but is only a reminder that approximately 100 hostages are still held . . .

Ynet quoted a source close to Gadot as saying, “As a presenter, she was bound by specific rules and could not wear the pin. Gal struggled with this decision, which is why she posted her call to free the hostages before the event. Working with her team, she found a creative solution by wearing a yellow ring to symbolize the cause. It was important to her to honor the guidelines while still drawing attention to the hostages.”

Mr. Attorney General, How Many Capitol Riot Murder Charges Did You Bring?Andrew McCarthy

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/mr-attorney-general-how-many-capitol-riot-murder-charges-did-you-bring/

Illustrating yet again that Democrats haven’t come to grips with why they lost the election and what Americans think of their politicization of law enforcement, here’s Biden attorney general Merrick Garland today, emoting on the fifth anniversary of the Capitol riot:

On this day, four years ago, police officers were brutally assaulted while bravely defending the United States Capitol. They were punched, tackled, tased, and attacked with chemical agents that burned their eyes and skin. Today, I am thinking of the officers who still bear the scars of that day as well as the loved ones of the five officers who lost their lives in the line of duty as a result of what happened to them on January 6, 2021.

Let’s stipulate that Garland is quite right to castigate all who punched, tackled, tased, chemically attacked, or otherwise assaulted police officers. There is chatter in the air about pardons of the rioters; I don’t know what President-elect Trump plans to do upon taking office, but it would be a profound mistake — one his administration would come to regret — if he grants clemency to people convicted of assaulting cops (or, for that matter, damaging property). As we’ve covered here extensively for five years, it was ridiculous for the Justice Department to prosecute hundreds of people on misdemeanor charges of parading and the like — the kind of charges DOJ would ordinarily never file but that the Biden Justice Department, under Garland’s leadership, prosecuted in a patently political effort to inflate the Capitol riot (aka “The Insurrection”), condemnable as it was on its own terms, as if it were a 9/11-scale terrorist attack.

To repeat for the umpteenth time, no police officers died in the line of duty during the Capitol riot. The fact that Garland, federal bureaucrats, and police officials have tried to exaggerate the perils of the riot, and in so doing – and occasionally in grappling with insurance claims involving loved ones of cops who tragically committed suicide after the riot – have claimed police were killed due to the events of that day, does not make it so.

We all know this; but don’t take my word for it.

It is a serious felony violation of federal law to murder a federal officer in the line of duty. It is punishable by death or life imprisonment. Federal laws that the Justice Department enforces also severely punish conspiracies and attempts to murder federal officers who were carrying out their official duties. By a recent count, Garland’s Department of Justice filed charges against nearly 1,600 people in connection with the events of January 6, 2021. Not a single charge of murder of a federal officer, nor conspiracy or attempt to murder a federal officer, was alleged by DOJ.

Yoav Gallant’s exit, stage left Ruthie Blum

https://www.jns.org/yoav-gallants-exit-stage-left/

Former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant’s resignation from the Knesset, which he tendered on Jan. 1, became official at 10 a.m. on Sunday morning. Despite pressure from retired defense officials-turned-talking heads that he reverse his decision, Gallant—whom Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu finally fired from his Cabinet post in early November—remained steadfast.

In a press conference Wednesday evening to announce the move, however, he indicated that he’d be returning to the political arena in the future. Given his simultaneous declaration of loyalty to Likud principles and harsh critique of its chairman, he seemed to be hinting at a plan to beat Bibi in the party’s next primary race.

If that’s what he’s thinking, he needs to have his head examined. Given his behavior since the government was sworn in at the end of 2022, he’d be lucky at this point to garner enough support among Likud voters to obtain a realistic spot on the party’s list for the 26th Knesset, let alone rise to the top of the heap.

So a comeback on his part is probably going to involve forming or joining a different faction that describes itself as part of the “center” or “center-right,” yet resides on the left side of the electoral-poll pie chart with the rest of the “anybody but Bibi” crowd.

Another possibility is that the warm embrace he received by oppositionists and the protest movement will grow chilly once he’s no longer of use to them as a tool to weaken or oust Netanyahu through the crumbling of the coalition.

In such an event, Gallant may find himself in the same boat as many of his colleagues with illustrious careers in the Israel Defense Forces: settling for a highly paid gig at a politically correct think tank.

It’s just as well. For the past two years, Gallant has exhibited a greater allegiance to the elitist “old boys’ network” of the IDF top brass than to the government he was appointed to represent.

Joseph Figliolia The NIH’s Ideological Approach to Gender Medicine Under Jay Bhattacharya, Trump’s nominee to head the agency, it can recommit to evidence-based principles.

https://www.city-journal.org/article/jay-bhattacharya-nih-gender-medicine

In 2015, the National Institutes of Health launched the Sexual and Gender Minority Research Office. Its purpose: to rectify the absence of health data on this cohort by prioritizing research and improving data collection. While the new office (SGMRO) does not have grantmaking authority on its own, its wide sphere of influence shapes the nature of the grants being considered for funding and the overall spirit of research on sexual and gender minorities (SGM). Moreover, the SGMRO and its associated working group and coordinating committee function as connective tissue linking the NIH’s various institutes, centers, and offices, allowing them to spread their understanding of the health of “individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, transgender, non-binary, Two-Spirit, queer, and/or intersex.” While many of the SGMRO’s priorities are laudable and in principle worthy of scientific inquiry, in practice they have enshrined activist assumptions about the nature of “gender identity,” “gender-affirming care,” and the causes of “health inequities” at NIH.

The catalyst for establishing the new office was a 2011 report commissioned by the NIH to survey the known research on “LGBT” health. Conducted by what is now the National Academy of Medicine, the report stated, “All aspects of the evidence base for transgender-specific health care need to be expanded.” The authors noted a need for more research on how treatment for gender dysphoria should be managed “under the new paradigm of greater diversity of gender identities” and on both the benefits and harms of sex-trait modification procedures, particularly related to hormone use.

With the benefit of hindsight, the 2011 report contains signs of things to come—for instance, recommendations to consider “intersectionality” and “minority stress” as guiding principles. But in many ways the document reads like a relic from a bygone era of scientific discourse, full of genuine humility and a desire for more scientific data on LGBT health more broadly. The report concluded that overall data on LGBT health was so sparse that a substantial research program was needed. In 2012, what is now known as the Sexual and Gender Minority Research Coordinating Committee issued a report that accepted the 2011 findings and recommendations, culminating in the founding of the SGMRO in 2015.

Trudeau’s Reign of Terror Will Likely Stop Short of Canada’s Total Destruction But he tried his best. by Robert Spencer

https://www.frontpagemag.com/trudeaus-reign-of-terror-will-likely-stop-short-of-canadas-total-destruction/

At long last, on Monday Justin Trudeau has announced his pending resignation, although it will be awhile before he is actually gone. In declaring his intention to resign, Trudeau prorogued parliament until March 4, which means it will not be in session, but will not be dissolved. During this period, the Liberal Party will select a new leader, after which Trudeau says he will finally depart from the scene. Thus the misrule of this curious man is likely to come to a definitive end reasonably soon, and we can only hope that he doesn’t do too much more damage between now and then.

Trudeau is the embodiment of David Horowitz’s indelible dictum that “inside every progressive is a totalitarian screaming to get out. He himself has been upfront about this. Back in 2013, before he was prime minister, he was asked what country he admired most. Trudeau answered: “You know, there’s a level of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime and say ‘we need to go green fastest … we need to start investing in solar.’ I mean, there is a flexibility that I know Stephen Harper must dream about, of having a dictatorship that he can do everything he wanted, that I find quite interesting.”

Then when Fidel Castro died in 2016, Trudeau’s statement gave no hint of the bloodthirstiness and repression of the Communist regime in Cuba. Instead, the vacant and vapid Canadian prime minister was fairly gushing with praise for “Cuba’s longest-serving President.” He declared that “Fidel Castro was a larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century. A legendary revolutionary and orator, Mr. Castro made significant improvements to the education and healthcare of his island nation.”

Trudeau admitted that Castro was a “controversial figure,” but insisted that “both Mr. Castro’s supporters and detractors recognized his tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people, who had a deep and lasting affection for ‘el Comandante.’” He said that his family was joining “the people of Cuba today in mourning the loss of this remarkable leader.”

This was not just an ill-considered outpouring of grief for a man Trudeau obviously loved dearly. His praise for China and for Castro have in common an admiration for the authoritarian’s ability to get things done with no regard for the opposition or the give-and-take of the democratic process. China was able to go green and Castro was able to make significant improvements to education and healthcare (in Trudeau’s view, not in real life) because they didn’t have to deal with all the carping and compromise that working with parliaments and voters entails.

Biden’s Terrible Legacy: A Tsunami Of Growth-Killing Regulations

https://issuesinsights.com/2025/01/07/bidens-terrible-legacy-a-tsunami-of-growth-killing-regulations/

On Joe Biden’s first day in office, he signed a raft of executive orders, one of which we said was “almost entirely overlooked but could easily end up having the biggest impact.”

Turns out we were right.

The executive order – “Modernizing Regulatory Review” – would, we predicted, “unleash the regulatory state with a ferocity never before seen in this country.”

With this one executive order, Biden shows that he’s intent on giving regulators carte blanche to impose massive new rules on businesses and households, on virtually anything and everything they do, regardless of costs. There’s little else Biden has done so far that will have as wide-ranging an impact.

As the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Clyde Wayne Crews explains, that order “undermined the crucial watchdog mission of the White House Office of Management and Budget,” which had served as a check on the administrative state. “The federal government’s sole watchdog … has been transformed into a cheerleader for regulation.”

The CEI publishes the definitive guide to federal regulation each year, called “10,000 Commandments.”

Last week, the Federal Register, which is the repository of Washington’s rules and regulations, provided the latest evidence that Biden let regulators off the chain.

The 2024 Federal Register weighed in at 107,262 pages – the most in history and a 45% increase from Biden’s first year in office.

Last year, alone, Biden finalized 3,248 rules, of which 343 were deemed “significant,” meaning they added more than $200 million in compliance costs.