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Ruth King

Hot Air: No Global Warming for Eight Years By Catherine Salgado

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/catherinesalgado/2023/02/04/hot-air-no-global-warming-for-eight-years-n1667955

Recently published data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that there has not been global warming for the past eight years. And NASA satellite data reportedly confirms that evidence, showing no global warming for eight years and five months, according to JunkScience’s Steve Milloy. But leftists are quick to warn people against drawing the obvious conclusion that the world isn’t about to become a burning ball of fire.

Recently published evidence also showed that there was actually a near-record low of major hurricanes in 2022, indicating that weather isn’t getting progressively and exponentially worse globally, despite the climate frenzy of the media and governments. And the Northeast is currently experiencing record cold in a harsh winter, with Mt. Washington, N.H., yesterday dropping to -45.5 degrees Fahrenheit and -107 degree wind chill.

Axios, which normally loves to scare-monger about global warming, reported today, “Arctic outbreak shatters records in Northeast.” I’m going to go out on a limb — or a glacier — and say that the Northeastern U.S. is definitely not about to suffer devastating effects from “global warming.”

White House KNEW About the Chinese Spy Balloon and Covered It up — but Then… By Robert Spencer

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/robert-spencer/2023/02/04/bombshell-white-house-knew-about-the-chinese-spy-balloon-and-covered-it-up-but-then-n1667854

How cowardly and compromised is the Biden regime? We have fresh evidence of just how bad it is, courtesy of the Chinese spy balloon. The world found out about the now-infamous balloon on Thursday, when a Montana resident named Chase Doak spotted it and posted a video. But that was not the first that Old Joe Biden’s handlers heard of the balloon. Now it has come to light that they knew about it all along but kept the knowledge secret so as to avoid a confrontation with the Chinese Communist Party and keep Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s now-canceled trip to Beijing on track. Patriots can thank Chase Doak for the small show of spine from the Biden State Department that the cancellation represented.

“Not gonna lie,” Doak tweeted with his video. “First, I thought this was a #ufo. Then, I thought it was @elonmusk in a Wizard of Oz cosplay scenario. But it was just a run-of-the mill Chinese spy balloon!” But Bloomberg revealed in a bombshell report Friday that “as it turns out, US authorities were well aware of the unidentified object that had entered American airspace on Jan. 28, that had then left and re-entered over North Idaho on Tuesday.” But Blinken was slated to huddle with the ChiComs in Beijing, and Old Joe and his henchmen didn’t want to let something as trivial as what J. Michael Waller of the Center for Security Policy terms “China’s military espionage incursion into the US” get in the way of a friendly tête-à-tête in the Forbidden City.

In fact, Biden had already been informed about the spy balloon long before Chase Doak spotted it, and his handlers were holding nervous discussions about whether or not to shoot it down. Yet Blinken thundered Friday that China’s decision to launch the spy balloon was an “irresponsible act” that represented a “clear violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law.” He added that China’s “decision to take this action on the eve of my planned visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have.”

‘Responsibility’ In The Debt-Ceiling Negotiations? Fuhgeddabadit. Bob Maistros

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/02/03/responsibility-in-the-debt-ceiling-negotiations-fuhgeddabadit/

AP: “Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in an Associated Press interview Saturday” that “demands by House Republicans for spending cuts in return for backing an increase are ‘a very irresponsible thing to do.’” — Huffington Post

“The greatest threat to America, it doesn’t matter if you sit before a four-star general, they’ll tell you the debt is the greatest threat to this nation. And for the president to say he won’t even negotiate is irresponsible.” — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at his weekly news conference

‘Irresponsible?” Seriously? This from an Establishment politician first elected to Congress 16 years ago, during which time federal outlays have more than doubled and national debt has tripled under congresses and administrations of both parties?

And from a liberal Democratic economics near-lifer long known as an inflation dove, who as Fed chair ran an accommodative policy to cover for Obamite profligacy?

Who, as Treasury chief, in just two years has driven into the ground an economy that was roaring back after COVID lockdowns, while insisting inflation was “transitory” and abortions necessary to economic growth?

Not to mention presumably brainstorming and helping shepherd through the Biden economic troupe’s $1.9 trillion American “Rescue” spendapalooza, its $1.2 trillion infrastructure hog trough, its $200 billion semiconductor industry boondoggle, its $1.7 trillion Green New Deal-not-so-lite “Inflation Reduction” hornswoggle, and the $1.9 trillion everything-including-the-kitchen-sink (but not gas stove) omnibus(t)?

Pardon this commentator while he is engulfed in an Earth-shaking belly laugh.

Pompeo: Biden’s Weakness on Spy Balloon Assures Chinese Aggression Steps the Biden administration should take in response to China’s reconnaissance balloon Mike Pompeo

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/full-of-hot-air-how-bidens-weakness-assures-chinese-aggression/

President Joe Biden’s weakness with China is once again on display. Earlier this week, U.S. officials tracked a Chinese reconnaissance balloon over the American mainland. A Chinese Communist Party spokesperson claimed this was nothing more than a “weather research” balloon that had simply blown off course. Sure, the CCP’s harmless weather balloon just happened to pass over multiple sensitive military sites vital to America’s national security—nobody should believe that nonsense, especially not the Biden administration.

Even if it were true, the CCP’s policy of civil-military fusion—which requires all available research and technology, from China’s private sector or otherwise, to be shared with the Chinese military—makes such an excuse an impossibility. Thus, this appears to be an intentional act of espionage, and it signals that the CCP is feeling ever more emboldened with Biden in charge. If the Biden administration does not act to change this paradigm quickly, the threat of conflict will only continue to grow. Weakness breeds aggression. America must demonstrate clear strength and resolve.

This is far from the first time the CCP has engaged in acts of espionage against the American people. China is, and has been for years, aggressively engaged in acts of espionage and propaganda against the American people at all levels of American society. The threat from the CCP is very real here at home, in places like Des Moines, Tallahassee, and Pittsburgh. Its malign activity doesn’t stay in Beijing or Wuhan; it is already inside our gates.

The CCP has targeted officials in our federal government, like congressman Eric Swalwell and Senator Dianne Feinstein, as well as our universities, local governments, media, think tanks, and more. The CCP underwrote a program of “Confucius Institutes” at American universities, ostensibly to foster cultural connections on our campuses, but in reality, to spy on students and professors and steal intellectual property. China’s economy was built on the backs of Americans not only by taking American jobs but also, crucially, by an unparalleled campaign of corporate espionage that has robbed Americans of billions of dollars’ worth of intellectual property. Even seemingly innocuous apps like TikTok have been revealed to be little more than tools for collecting the private information of Americans and spreading CCP propaganda.

Biggest Gift to Iran’s Mullahs, China and Russia: Biden Administration’s Weak Leadership by Majid Rafizadeh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19371/biden-gift-iran-china-russia

Thanks to the Biden administration’s weak and vacillating leadership, Iran, Russia and China have been emboldened to levels never before seen.

[T]he Biden administration has not been taking any action to deter, disincentivize or punish those who breach the sanctions. Ever since the Biden administration assumed office, in fact, Iran’s oil exports have been on the rise… of which more than 800,000 barrels a day are being exported to China.

Thanks to the Biden administration’s abject posture towards China; its dithering over help to Ukraine; its ruining the US economy by shutting down America’s energy independence then rushing to buy oil from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela rather than Canada; the unconscionable abandonment of Afghanistan and our allies there; the Biden family’s appearance of influence-peddling, and, by closing down the China Initiative, the administration’s failure to stop Communist China’s runaway espionage, Russia, Iran and China are simply not taking the US seriously.

So long as the Biden administration does not demonstrate real leadership, Iran, Russia and China will continue to seize all opportunities to become more empowered and emboldened. The Biden administration’s legacy so far appears to be leaving the world a far more dangerous place.

Thanks to the Biden administration’s weak and vacillating leadership, Iran, Russia and China have been emboldened to levels never before seen.

First, the US sanctions against Russia are completely being smoothly violated by Iran’s mullahs and China. Despite the Biden administration’s sanctions, Iran’s oil exports have reached a new peak last month.

George Soros: The Man Who Wants ‘Cities to Fall Apart’? by Lawrence Kadish

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19373/goerge-soros

According to published reports, George Soros is teaching college courses these days to thousands of students.

To be clear, he is not actually on campuses in front of the class. Rather, exhaustive investigations by journalists reveal how his reach, influence, and above all, money, is resetting curriculum to reflect his political ideology wherever and whenever he can.

Investigative author Matt Palumbo wrote in the New York Post last month:

“In 2020 alone, Soros’ Open Society Foundations budgeted more than $63 million, or just over 5% of its budget, toward influencing higher education here and abroad….

“More than 19 colleges had individually received at least $1 million from Soros, including Harvard University, Columbia University, Indiana University, and Georgetown University, among others.”

One institution in particular, Palumbo reveals, has significantly benefited from Soros’ campaign of campus influence, Bard College.

“Bard College had received nearly $80 million total from Soros when he announced in 2020 that he’d be awarding it an additional $100 million over the next decade.”

For what purpose?

It would appear that Soros is seeking to leverage his enormous wealth to create a new political cadre from an emerging generation that will pursue his goals today, and long after he is gone. It is what these goals are that is being questioned (for instance here , here and here).

Soros was a student of Karl Popper (author of The Open Society and Its Enemies) in London. Later, to promote freedom and defeat totalitarianism, Soros donated millions to such causes as Lech Walesa’s Solidarity Movement, which led Poland out of the grip of the Soviet Empire, and to financing democracy movements in Yugoslavia working to oust Slobodan Milosevic.

Theater of the Absurd in J6 Courtrooms As judges hand down one absurd sentence after another, one might be inclined to laugh at the absurdity of it all except, of course, it’s not funny. By Julie Kelly

https://amgreatness.com/2023/02/03/theater-of-the-absurd-in-j6-courtrooms/

The Department of Justice carefully crafted the dramatic moment in court.

A federal prosecutor handed an enclosed paper bag to an FBI agent responsible for investigating members of the Proud Boys, now on trial for seditious conspiracy related to their participation in the events of January 6. The bag contained “evidence of the unlawful entry of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 and evidence of the disruption to the certification of the 2020 presidential election,” FBI Special Agent Elizabeth D’Angelo told assistant U.S. Attorney Nadia Moore on Wednesday.

D’Angelo cautiously pulled the evidence out of the bag to present to the jury.

Spectators in D.C. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly’s courtroom were on the edge of their seats. What would the mystery bag reveal?

Would it disclose the group’s intricate but failed plot to overthrow the government? A detailed list of weapons the “seditionists” planned to use in service of their dastardly deed? Names of targeted officials?

A nervous hush fell over the room; sweat beads formed on furrowed brows. Finally, the big moment arrived.

It was—a set of challenge coins.

Moore: Can you give a brief description of what they are?

D’Angelo: They are challenge coins. This one is black and gold—and this package contains four black and gold colored challenge coins.

Moore: Are these the same coins that were seized from Zachary Rehl’s home?

D’Angelo: Yes.

What?

A pregnant Iranian woman is about to be executed By Andrea Widburg

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/02/a_pregnant_iranian_woman_is_about_to_be_executed.html

Not only will Iran also execute the innocent life within her, but you won’t believe what led to this dual death sentence.

Increasingly, indoctrinated American college students agree that life would be better without the First Amendment. After all, that pesky First Amendment means that they are routinely exposed to ideas that frighten them or with which they disagree. What they fail to understand is that, once the government has the power to dictate what is acceptable speech and what is not, you discover yourself in a world like Iran, where the government plans to execute a pregnant woman for daring to burn a picture of the Ayatollah Khomenei.

This appalling report originated with IranWire:

Iranian judicial officials have sentenced a pregnant woman in her early-20s to death, and her execution is imminent, IranWire understands.

Shahla Abdi, an ethic Kurd from the northwestern province of West Azerbaijan, was arrested in Urmia in mid-October at the peak of nationwide protests triggered by the September death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police.

Abdi is said to have received capital punishment for setting fire to a portrait of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founding father of the Islamic Republic.

A fellow woman inmate told IranWire that Abdi was held in Urmia Central Prison for about a month. Some prisoners say the young woman was transferred to Tabriz Prison about three weeks ago; according to others, she was taken to the detention center of the Ministry of Intelligence.

“When I saw this woman, she looked very young but weak and abused, and I realized that she was four months pregnant,” the inmate said. 

Another inmate said that Abdi is 21 or 22 years old.

This story is so surreal that I double-checked to see whether it’s been confirmed anywhere else. Daily Tribune/News of Bahrain, a regional outlet in the Middle East, has relied on IranWire to report the same story. Likewise, The National, a Canadian Broadcast Corporation outlet published in the UAE, has the same report. In other words, those geographically closest to the story believe it’s true.

American Students — Dumber and More Woke By Robert Weissberg

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/02/american_students__dumber_and_more_woke.html

Professors often complain about the current crop of students being less intellectually talented than when they began their careers decades back. Such griping is, of course, easy to dismiss — it has occurred for millennia. Unfortunately, this time around the grumbling may be true and not the usual nostalgia for “the good old days.”  The anecdotal evidence from textbook reading levels, shortened college syllabi, scrapbook-like research assignments, proliferating college remedial classes, grade inflation, and the popularity of “gut” college majors such as Gender Studies, is indisputable. We have also invested hundreds of millions in our schools yet test results such as the SAT are flat over the past half century. Add the countless stories of illiteracy among high school “graduates” despite falling class size and expensive reforms. Judged by the standards of evolution, Americans may be going backwards.

The best evidence of this decline are data from the highly respected General Social Survey on mean IQ by decade among graduate students, undergraduates, and high school students (a tip of the hat to Charles Murray on Twitter). This is a complicated subject given how America’s demography has altered, and measuring IQ via surveys might be iffy, but the numbers, even if a bit unsure, are alarming.

These data are divided into three groups: those with high school diplomas, undergraduate degrees, and graduate degrees. Then the data are then divided by decades beginning in the 1960s through to the 2010 onward decade. The overall pattern is a steady decline in IQ scores for each group from decade to decade. For example, high school graduates in the 1960s had an average IQ of 99.3 but this figure declined so by 2010 and onward, it was 93.5. A similar drop occurred among college graduates — from 113.3 in the 60s to 100.4 in the 2010 decade. For those with graduate degrees, the fall was from 114.0 to 105.8.          

These are depressing numbers. That in 2010 the average college student had an IQ of 100.4 (almost exactly our national average) signifies that we are miles away from trying to educate the brightest youngsters. Worse, with an average of about 100, many of those enrolled must score below 100 and thus suitable only for low-skill occupations. This picture may even be worse than these numbers suggest if we subtract out the many smart international students now enrolled in U.S. higher education.  

That Didn’t Age Well! Read The Most Clownish Takes About The Laptop Hunter Biden Admits Was His By: Tristan Justice

https://thefederalist.com/2023/02/03/that-didnt-age-well-read-the-most-clownish-takes-about-the-laptop-hunter-biden-admits-was-his/

Hunter Biden admitted, in a roundabout way through his lawyers, that the infamous laptop featuring a trove of explicit content that surfaced in 2020 was his. On Wednesday, his attorneys demanded that Biden allies in the Justice Department launch investigations of the people who found the computer.

Biden’s lawyers sent two 14-page letters to the Delaware attorney general and the Department of Justice this week calling on officials to probe whether the people who gave the laptop — which was abandoned property at a Delaware computer repair shop owned and operated by John Paul Mac Isaac — to the New York Post violated state or federal laws.

“There is considerable reason to believe” that the individuals involved “in accessing, copying, manipulating, and/or disseminating Mr. Biden’s personal computer data” may have committed crimes, the attorneys wrote. “Mr. Mac Isaac has admitted to copying that data without Mr. Biden’s consent, and Mr. Mac Isaac has admitted to distributing copies of that data from his place in Delaware.”

In other words, the laptop is undoubtedly Hunter Biden’s despite the remarkable spin from Democrats, the president, and the media who were desperate to dismiss the computer as Russian disinformation. Below are some of the statements that aged the worst.