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Ruth King

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Israel: A Country That Chooses Resilience Over Trauma Finding a balance between a vibrant life and a deadly fight for survival. by Christine Williams ******

By on December 28th, 2022

https://www.frontpagemag.com/israel-a-country-that-chooses-resilience-over-trauma/

Editors’ note: Frontpage Associate Editor Christine Douglass-Williams recently had the honor of attending the Christian Media Summit in Jerusalem hosted by the Israel Government Press Office. Below, she shares her experience and analyzes the ongoing challenges facing the Jewish State.

With the goal of strengthening ties between Christians around the world and the State of Israel, the 2022 Christian Media Summit (CMS) convened in Jerusalem from Dec. 11-14 for dialogue and to experience Israel firsthand. Following my last attendance in 2019, I wrote at WND “Israel: World leader in tech, diversity, human development.” Israel’s culture of life and progress radiates, despite its coexistence with deadly enemies, its fight for survival and an effective propaganda war against it that propagates anti-Semitism. It is a country united by an inviolable collective determination that transcends partisanship, a determination that characterized this year’s summit.

The summit launched with a Gala Event featuring a warm welcome by Nitzan Chen, director of the Israel Government Press Office (who openly acknowledges that Jesus was a Jew) and speeches that included Rabbi David Rosen, international director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee, who captured the essence of Christian-Jewish relations today: “We are living in the golden age of Jewish-Christian relations with some serious flaws and challenges. … We have never had a relationship with the Christian world as good as the one we have now.”

One disappointment drew some local media attention: the absence of a scheduled welcome by Benjamin Netanyahu, a favorite among evangelicals. Sentiments were split amid whisperings, yet an understanding prevailed that Netanyahu was under extreme pressure to form a coalition, and quickly. Yair Lapid could have greeted us, as could have Naftali Bennett or Isaac Herzog, but Israel’s government was in a crisis moment – in the face of global realignments to boot. Netanyahu’s absence, though felt, was hardly viewed by most attendees as a mortal sin given the political climate.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Our Bipartisan Apache Dance Why did so many Republicans hand the Democrats such a victory? by Bruce Thornton

By on December 28th, 2022

https://www.frontpagemag.com/our-bipartisan-apache-dance/

In early 20th century Paris, violent street gangs called Apaches became a popular cultural fad. Apache shirts and argot showed up in cabaret entertainment, fashion, and movies. Most famous was the Apache Dance, a pas de deux mashup of seduction and feigned violence in which the man slapped his paramour around and she pummeled him until the couple reconciled. The audience all knew that when they left the stage, they were heading for the same bed.

The recently passed omnibus budget bill that capped 2022 is a good reminder of the essential unity of our political guild, one obscured by the theater of “divisive partisanship” frequently decried by pundits. This current bill triples-down on the earlier near-trillion-dollar Inflation Reduction Act, and the near-third of a billion CHIPS Act that subsidizes the semiconductor industry–– “an embarrassing stew of accountability-free corporate welfare and government spending,” as the Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel reported on July 28. Republicans–17 Senators and 24 House members–voted for the bill.

Now comes the $1.85 trillion omnibus spending bill crammed with pork, aka once-banned “earmarks,” for Senators’ home states and House members’ districts. Additionally, the bill contains policies Democrats couldn’t pass through the “regular order” process of committee hearings, debates, amendments, and votes on individual bills. Republicans again, 18 Senators and nine House members, voted for the bill, with 226 House members voting by proxy. Rather than chagrin for facilitating this subversion of Congress’s Article 1 powers, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he was “pretty proud” of achieving Republican “priorities” with yet another spending binge of money we don’t have.

How can a Republican who professes to be a conservative and champion of the Constitution be “proud” of  “woke” Leftist policies and “priorities” like “family planning/reproductive health including in areas where population growth threatens biodiversity or endangered species”? We all know that “family planning” and “reproductive health” are euphemisms for abortion. So taxpayers are going to be fleeced for $575 billion to sacrifice more human beings on the altar of “biodiversity.”

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

New Age Idols (No, Not Taylor Swift) Andrew I. Fillat and Henry I. Miller

By on December 28th, 2022

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/12/28/new-age-idols-no-not-taylor-swift/

First in a series.

From ancient times, the worship of people or objects other than a Supreme Being was viewed as apostasy, most vividly depicted in the Old Testament by the Golden Calf in Exodus. While idolatry is instigated primarily to control obedient followers, religion has typically had its roots in the notion of deliverance from suffering, salvation, a code of righteous conduct, and a sense of comfort. However, fervent religious belief has also entrenched powerful overlords and been responsible for the persecution and death of millions in the name of holy righteousness. Idolatry and activist religion thus have a great deal in common.

Call it whatever you like, but the United States today is in the grip of several manifestations of a kind of idol worship. This article is the first of a series examining these modern golden calves. We ascribe this disturbing development to educational institutions abandoning a focus on critical thinking and instead nurturing a “clergy” who preach reverence to their conceptual idols. This produces students who lack adequate reasoning skills and instead parrot supposedly enlightened narratives fed to them, much to society’s detriment by crowding out beneficial debate.

The first and most pervasive example of today’s transition from reason to idolatry is the Church of Climate Change. Not only is the U.S. in thrall to this, but most of the West has also genuflected. The cause even has its own Joan of Arc in unhappy, deluded Greta Thunberg. At this point, the theology is centered on the belief that climate change is such an existential near-term threat to humanity that no attempts at mitigation should be off limits, regardless of their futility or collateral damage.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Israeli ‘liberals’ aren’t doing the LGBTQ flag—or democracy—proud By Ruthie Blum

By on December 28th, 2022

https://www.jns.org/opinion/israeli-liberals-arent-doing-the-lgbtq-flag-or-democracy-proud/

In a Army Radio interview on Monday, MK Yorai Lahav Hertzanu—an openly gay member of outgoing caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party—warned that the coalition deals currently being finalized could be deadly for the LGBTQ community. He was referring, in particular, to a Religious Zionist Party (RZP)-proposed amendment to existing anti-discrimination laws. The updated version would enable private businesses not to provide services that contradict their faith.

“I really think it will end in murder,” he said, dubbing the issue in question “incitement” by “irresponsible elected officials … Words will not be the end of it; words have power.”
Funny he should have mentioned that, given the incessant, ugly, anti-Orthodox vitriol his camp has been spewing, not to mention calls for civil insurrection against the not-yet-instated government. But then, Lahav Hertzanu is among the many disgruntled losers of the Nov. 1 Knesset election who distort the language of their nemeses, while displaying bald-faced hypocrisy in the process.

Let’s start with the first half of the double whammy. The latest brouhaha erupted when RZP MKs Orit Strock and Simcha Rothman defended the need to legislate the right of establishments to operate in accordance with their religious beliefs. Strock said that this should apply to doctors, if and when alternative physicians are available to take their place. Rothman gave hotels as an example.

Predictably, the response from the soon-to-be opposition has been to accuse Prime Minister-designate Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu of caving to his “homophobic” and “racist” partners. Petitions and letters rejecting the move, assumed by detractors to be targeting LGTBs—have popped up all over, from the ivory towers of academia and high-tech to the halls of hospitals.

The outrage, like that expressed by the “anybody but Bibi” crowd over the haredi parties’ demand for the right to hold gender-segregated events, wasn’t spontaneous, however. On the contrary, it’s been cultivated and nurtured over time to combust on command.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Israel’s New Government Isn’t What You’ve Heard Contrary to U.S. media reports, we seek to bring the Jewish state closer to the American model. By Bezalel Smotrich

By on December 28th, 2022

https://www.wsj.com/articles/israels-new-government-isnt-what-youve-heard-free-market-religious-exercise-democracy-judicial-reform-eu-11672172820?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

The U.S. media has vilified me and the traditionalist bloc to which I belong since our success in Israel’s November elections. They say I am a right-wing extremist and that our bloc will usher in a “halachic state” in which Jewish law governs. In reality, we seek to strengthen every citizen’s freedoms and the country’s democratic institutions, bringing Israel more closely in line with the liberal American model.

Israel is a Jewish and democratic state and will remain so. After five elections in less than five years and suffering the rule of a weak and fractious coalition dependent on a radical Islamist party’s backing for a year and a half, the country has finally formed a popular and stable government. Our bloc will strengthen Israel in the face of radical Islam and its terror proxies, open the country up economically, and usher in growth and prosperity for the benefit of all citizens.

As finance minister, I will pursue a broad free-market policy. This includes removing the government price controls and import restrictions that have limited competition and kept consumer prices high, as well as regulatory reforms and a loosening of bureaucratic control over small businesses. Inspired by U.S. right-to-work laws, we will pursue similar measures to reduce union control in Israel’s labor force.

On matters of religion and state, the new government will never seek to impose anything on a citizen that goes against his or her beliefs. We wish only to increase the freedom of religious people to participate in the public sphere in accordance with their faith, without coercion on secular people. For example, arranging for a minuscule number of sex-separated beaches, as we propose, scarcely limits the choices of the majority of Israelis who prefer mixed beaches. It simply offers an option to others. We also will work to guarantee that religious believers aren’t punished by the government for standing by their beliefs. This is no different from the rights the U.S. Supreme Court recently affirmed in its Masterpiece Cakeshop decision. Contrary to some American reporting, we seek to protect all citizens from coercion that would violate their conscience—nothing more.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Blue State Exodus Continues The latest Census data show California losing, and Florida gaining, from U.S. domestic migration.

By on December 28th, 2022

https://www.wsj.com/articles/americas-blue-state-exodus-census-data-red-blue-lockdowns-pandemic-florida-california-economy-progressive-11671993469?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

Texas and Florida make up about 15% of the U.S. population but accounted for 70% of its population growth this past year. That’s one of the revealing facts in the Census Bureau’s annual assessment of U.S. migration released last week. The biggest news is that the exodus from progressive-led states hasn’t slowed even as Covid lockdowns eased.

The U.S. population grew by about 1.2 million between July 2021 and July 2022, with foreign immigration accounting for a million of the total. Yet the Census Bureau found that some states still lost population because migration to other states exceeded foreign immigration.

California (343,230), New York (299,557) and Illinois (141,656) lost the most residents to other states, but New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Oregon, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Louisiana were also big losers. Where are all these folks moving?

Mostly to states with lower taxes, more affordable housing and a higher standard of living. Florida drew the most newcomers (318,855), followed by Texas (230,961), North Carolina (99,796), South Carolina (84,030), Tennessee (81,646), Georgia (81,406) and Arizona (70,984). More people moved to West Virginia than left for the first time in a decade.

Texas ranked first in overall population growth (470,708), followed by Florida (416,754), North Carolina (133,088), Georgia (124,847), Arizona (94,320), South Carolina (89,368), Tennessee (82,988), Washington (45,041), Utah (41,687) and Idaho (34,719).

One new trend is the migration from the Pacific Northwest. Between 2010 and 2020, Washington drew 371,258 newcomers from other states.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Erdogan’s Syrian Gambit by Burak Bekdil

By on December 28th, 2022

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19265/erdogan-turkey-syria-gambit

Since the violence resumed, Erdogan has threatened to launch a full-scale military incursion into Syria’s Kurdish areas — which would be the fourth such major Turkish incursion since 2016.

Erdogan most likely calculates that fresh epic tales of military heroism would further consolidate his nationalistic voting base [before June 2023 presidential elections], especially at a time when most Turks are struggling to survive after their incomes have severely eroded under a year-on-year inflation rate of 84%.

A Turkish military incursion would be a fight in a land that already looks like hell.

An estimated 15.3 million Syrians (out of a population of 22.1 million) will require humanitarian assistance in 2023, compared to 14.6 million people in 2022, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. — Washington Post, December 12, 2022.

The report also cited… [that] at least 25% of children under the age of five in some [Syrian] districts are stunted and at risk of irreversible damage to their physical and cognitive development as well as “repeated infection, developmental delay, disabilities and death.” — Washington Post, December 12, 2022.

In the predominantly Kurdish northeast Syria, the number of malnourished children has surged by over 150% just in the past six months. — UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, November 8, 2022.

“Washington… is urging Turkey in ever stronger terms not to launch an operation. The Turks do not appear to be heeding Washington’s call, in part because they heard the same tune before their 2018 incursion against the SDF in Afrin, Syria, and didn’t suffer any long-term consequences for ignoring it that time.” — James Jeffrey, Chair of the Middle East program at the Wilson Center and former U.S. ambassador to Ankara, Foreign Policy, December 9, 2022.

The only advantage of a Turkish military incursion might be for Erdogan, who may well be using a war in Syria to distract potential voters from the wretched economy he gave them.

The northernmost region of Syria, which has a 910-kilometer border with Turkey, offers one of the world’s most complex war theaters. That is so not only because of the countless number of state and non-state actors operating in this third-world land with limited hydrocarbons, but also because of shifting alliances, conflicts with conventional and asymmetrical warfare tactics, and the surreal bedfellows that these factors often create.

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FOREIGN POLICY, HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Biden Opens Door to China Sabotage in North Dakota by Gordon G. Chang

By on December 27th, 2022

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19260/china-sabotage-north-dakota

The Biden administration just cleared a Chinese company to own 370 acres of land within 12 miles of Grand Forks Air Force Base in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

As a result, China will be able to use a proposed $700 million corn milling plant on the site to spy on military communications and even disrupt them. In Beijing, they must be shaking their heads in disbelief….

[T]he failure to include all military installations in the implementing regulations was a clear case of regulatory malpractice.

As a result of these enormous mistakes, Fufeng USA, a subsidiary of a Shandong province-based agribusiness giant, is, at least for the moment, free to build its wet corn milling and biofermentation plant in Grand Forks.

“The worst-case scenario involves active sabotage of operations at the Grand Forks facility. Should the U.S. and China end up in a shooting war over, say, Taiwan, Fufeng’s property near the Air Force base could be used to send malicious signals to jam passing satellites or disrupt the operation of drones. We have made ourselves vulnerable on our own territory.” — Brandon Weichert, author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, to Gatestone; December 2022.

President Joe Biden can use his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to block the sale of the Grand Forks land and the building of the milling facility.

“[T]he most serious problem: The [CIFIUS] Committee is chaired by Treasury, which never saw a foreign investment it did not approve. “This means, as a practical matter, that an agency that basically doesn’t give a damn about national security is entrusted with running a process that supposedly evaluates and protects national security.” — Frank Gaffney, Vice Chair of the Committee on the Present Danger; to Gatestone, December 2022,

The CFIUS mandate must be broadened “to include any foreign investment that threatens our national security interests or, for that matter, other vital interests, in the face of unrestricted and especially economic warfare.” — Frank Gaffney to Gatestone; December 2022

China’s regime, which has declared a “people’s war” on the U.S., uses investments to undermine America. In wartime — the Communist Party believes it is currently in such a struggle with America — Washington needs to prohibit all investments from China, especially ones near critical Air Force installations in North Dakota.

The Biden administration just cleared a Chinese company to own 370 acres of land within 12 miles of Grand Forks Air Force Base in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

What Did Nancy Pelosi Know and When Did She Know It? The January 6 select committee never intended to act as a truth-seeking mission but rather perform a cover-up for what actually happened. By Julie Kelly

By on December 27th, 2022

https://amgreatness.com/2022/12/26/what-did-nancy-pelosi-know-and-when-did-she-know-it/

The January 6 select committee finally released its long-delayed report late on December 23 after most Americans had happily turned away from politics to enjoy the Christmas weekend with family and friends. The Friday night news dump, a common tactic when government officials want to bury something controversial, was not exactly a vote of confidence in the panel’s ultimate work product.

As expected, the bulk of the 845-page document spun a well-worn tale that portrayed Donald Trump as the sole villain in a so-called “insurrection” the committee wants us to believe was engineered to keep him in the White House. Page after page included dramatic interpretations of snippets from witness testimony intended to bolster the committee’s preconceived conclusions.

Analysis of how law enforcement and intelligence services failed to prepare for the “attack,” a promise made by the committee in its original sell job to the public, is buried in a relatively brief appendix at the end. And despite confirmation the government was aware violence might occur—the FBI used a threat tag, “CERTUNREST2021,” purportedly to categorize in advance information related to January 6—federal and local agencies did not prevent what the Biden regime branded a terror attack comparable to 9/11. (FBI Director Christopher Wray’s name is not mentioned once in the report and it appears unlikely he sat for a transcribed interview.)

Even so, in the face of extensive evidence that those agencies were on high alert, committee members still faulted Trump: “Few in law enforcement predicted that the President of the United States would incite a mob attack on the Capitol, that he would send them to stop the joint session knowing they were armed and dangerous, that he would further incite them against his own vice President while the attack was underway, or that he would do nothing to stop the assault for hours,” the report dishonestly stated.

Another official who escaped accountability in the report is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the lawmaker mainly responsible for protecting Capitol grounds. Committee members avoided any criticism of Pelosi, instead allowing her to write the foreword. (It’s also unclear whether committee investigators interviewed the speaker.)

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

Left-Wing Academics Seek to Revoke Honorary Degrees for Conservatives By Eric Lendrum

By on December 27th, 2022

https://amgreatness.com/2022/12/26/left-wing-academics-seek-to-revoke-honorary-degrees-for-conservatives/

Multiple far-left activists at various universities and colleges are demanding that schools rescind any and all “honorary degrees” that have been bestowed upon prominent conservative figures.

The Daily Caller reports that the latest example comes from Syracuse University, which has begun taking steps to revoke an honorary degree given to Rudy Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York City and later attorney for President Donald Trump. In April, the University Senate passed a resolution demanding that the Board of Trustees take action to rescind Giuliani’s degree. Giuliani, who was hailed as a national hero for his leadership after the September 11th attacks, led the legal team that attempted to fight back against voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Since the 152-year-old university has never done so before, the school does not even have a formal process in place for revoking anyone’s degree. Yet due to pressure from the far-left, a spokeswoman for the school confirmed that the school has officially adopted a new process for doing so, solely for the purpose of hurting Giuliani. The Senate Committee on Honorary Degrees will now make the final decision, and could make its choice as soon as spring.

In addition to Syracuse, three other universities have already revoked honorary degrees for Giuliani: Drexel University, Middlebury College, and the University of Rhode Island.

The effort to revoke honorary degrees has targeted multiple officials from the Trump Administration, including the President himself. Lehigh University and Wagner University rescinded President Trump’s honorary degrees following the peaceful protest at the United States Capitol on January 6th, 2021. He also lost an honorary degree from Robert Gordon University simply for running for president in 2015.

The University of Rhode Island, in addition to Giuliani, also revoked a degree for Lieutenant General and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who was falsely accused of coordinating with the Russian government and was later exonerated.

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