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Ruth King

Orbán’s Warning for Europe Sohrab Ahmari

https://compactmag.com/article/orban-s-warning-for-europe

If the United States were a serious power, it would pay heed to the warnings issuing from Hungary about the economic calamity facing Europe. Instead, Team Biden has dispatched a same-sex-married liberal activist as its envoy to Budapest in an apparent attempt to tweak the Hungarians’ conservative sensibilities. It’s the sort of stunt that would elicit little more than eye rolls—but for the fact that we live in deadly serious times.

At the ruling Fidesz party’s annual “picnic” last weekend in Kötcse, a village two hours’ drive southwest from the capital, the message was dire: The United States is driving its trans-Atlantic allies to ruin by globalizing a local, intra-Slavic conflict in Ukraine. And European leaders are going along, obstinately sticking with sanctions that have failed to force a rethink in Moscow, let alone “collapse” the Russian economy or trigger a palace coup against Vladimir Putin.

“Sanctions work when deployed by stronger actors against the weak,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told me as we sat down for a brief interview on the sidelines of the Kötcse conference. “Europe isn’t the stronger actor when it comes to energy. And so the sanctions aren’t working.” It seems like an obvious enough point, but these days, it takes the gruff rationality of the “black sheep” of the European family to voice the obvious.

Western leaders make-believe as if Moscow is some small-time Mideast “rogue regime,” which they can bring to heel by cutting it off from global trade and financial flows. There are only two problems. One is that this isn’t 1999 anymore: What Fareed Zakaria condescendingly called “the rise of the rest” means the rest of the world doesn’t salute when Washington and Brussels hand down sanctions diktats—“the rest” can afford to disobey.

ROSH HA SHANA SEPTEMBER 7 1945

On September 2, with the surrender of Japan World War 2 officially ended.  For the Jewish people the harsh truth unfolded on Rosh Ha Shana in 1945.  One third of our population was exterminated by the Nazis with the complicity of many nations whose policies and indifference trapped the Jews of Europe.

Three years later, in spite of the turpitude of those who opposed it-most notably Great Britain- Palestine was liberated on May 14th, 1948 and renamed with its historical and religious name “Israel”-the last words of the martyred who prayed “hear oh Israel.”

Fast forward to tomorrow night when we will gather to celebrate 5783 of Jewish survival now numbered at almost 15 million throughout the world with the largest population 6.9 million who live in Israel and speak, write, read and bicker in Hebrew, our restored ancient language.

Israel is the fount and the locus of Jewish survival and on this holiday we celebrate the unbroken chain which started in Hebron millennia ago and our privilege to live in America a most exceptional nation.

And then we eat and have a jolly time.

As we used to abbreviate in the Bronx, I wish everyone a “happy and healthy!” rsk

The Great Canadian Mass Graves Hoax Why so many journalists embraced a story as “true” even though it wasn’t real. Bari Weiss

https://www.commonsense.news/p/the-great-canadian-mass-graves-hoax?utm_source=email

Last year, The New York Times dropped a bombshell headline: ‘Horrible History’: Mass Grave of Indigenous Children Reported in Canada. As other outlets picked up the shocking story, marches, protests and riots erupted across Canada. One former Canadian minister called it “Canada’s George Floyd moment.”

But according to veteran journalist Terry Glavin, the shocking story about a mass graves wasn’t true.

And saying that—reporting that—came at a very high cost.

Terry Glavin has been a reporter for over 20 years. In that time, he’s had a particular focus on persecuted minorities. Both in faraway places like China, Afghanistan, Russia and Iraq, but also in his own backyard, where he has reported extensively on the First Nations of Canada and the abuses they have suffered at the hands of the state. So how is it that someone who has spent his career giving voice to the most vulnerable, found himself accused of genocide denial?

That’s what today’s fascinating and provocative conversation on Honestly is about. In the end, it’s about what happens when the truth no longer matters.

Woke Youth’s State-Sanctioned Rebellion All these woke youths have accomplished is to fundamentally transform themselves into blunt instruments shoved into the arsenal of the leftist establishment.  By Thaddeus G. McCotter

https://amgreatness.com/2022/09/23/woke-youths-state-sanctioned-rebellion/

Though I know the cliché has lost its cache, I am, in fact, old enough to remember when youthful rebellion was organic, autonomous, and anti-establishment. Such is no longer the case amongst today’s woke youth, who have been indoctrinated to serve as tools of the leftist establishment.

Woke youth’s “rebellion” is not organic. This is not to say that woke youth’s rebellious streak isn’t innate. But their youthful “outrage” is conditioned; and their rebellious acts are channeled at progressivism’s opponents by the Left’s civil religion and its high priests—namely, the deep state, the Democratic Party power-brokers, woke corporations, and the dinosaur media and social media.

Encapsulated by the DIE cult (“diversity, inclusion, and equity”), the Left’s civil religion has been inculcated into woke youth from birth—in some cases, by their leftist parents, and/or by leftist institutions, such as public K-12 schools and those of “higher learning.” Ultimately, their “rebellious” streak continues to be honed by public and private institutions and, of course, corporate and social media. It is this external, controlling impact of these leftist entities that prevents woke youth from committing organic acts of rebellion. And it is by design. 

Because it is inculcated by the leftist establishment to serve its civil religion, woke youth’s “rebellion” is not organic and, ergo, it is incapable of being autonomous. The leftist establishment provides the targets, the rules of engagement, the propaganda and justifications, and the rewards for rebellious woke youth. Thus, woke youth have about as much autonomy over their rebellious acts as an “at will” employee. 

It is stunning how woke youth refuse to understand an elementary fact that is, however, not lost upon the objects of their rebellion—namely, that the Left are now the American establishment. In many ways, this has long been the case and it is the more so the harder the Left continues to deny it. Bluntly, they must. To concede they are the current establishment will destroy the Left’s most cherished, core myth: that they speak—and rebel—for the downtrodden and dispossessed. If one recognizes the Left is speaking, not for the poor, but to do the bidding of Bill Gates, Big Tech, the deep state, et al.—how outré! One knows this is the case, however, because their acts of rebellion garner not rebukes, but praise in the pages of the Washington Post and social media posts across cyberspace. Where is the “noble” rebellion in that? 

Is Biden deliberately destroying America’s military defenses? By Andrea Widburg

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/09/is_biden_deliberately_destroying_americas_military_defenses.html

It’s not just the newest Air Force Academy initiative that explicitly bars straight men. It’s everything!

The Supreme Court has made clear that discriminating against people based on sex or sexual orientation is illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. That has not stopped the Air Force Academy from initiating a new program explicitly closed to “cisgender men.” Horrible as that is, it pales compared to some of the other things Biden has been doing that will destroy America’s military readiness.

The Air Force Academy notified its cadets (i.e., students) that it is offering a new fellowship program—the Brooke Owens Fellowship—for “gender minorities” only, with straight men explicitly excluded:

If you are a cisgender woman, a transgender woman, non-binary, agender, bigender, two-spirit, demi gender, genderfluid, genderqueer, or another form of gender minority, this program is for you. If you are a cisgender man, this program isn’t for you… but we encourage you to check out our spin- off programs, the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship and the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship Program!

The Brooke Owens fellowship was established to encourage more women to enter the aerospace field. That kind of discrimination has long been accepted, although it shouldn’t be. The feeling was that it was still a necessary form of affirmative action for women. The program’s having morphed from women to myriad imaginary genders, though, blows apart any pretense that this is a women-only program. It’s now discriminating against both women and men.

Biden Administration Standing Idly By While Iran’s Mullahs Advance to Nuclear Bomb by Majid Rafizadeh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18925/iran-advance-nuclear-bomb

[M]ore than a year and half of negotiations seems to have benefited no one except the ruling and Islamist mullahs of Iran. The endless negotiations seem simply to have bought time for the mullahs, so that they could comfortably advance their nuclear program to their highest level ever. Not only has the Biden administration seen no urgency to change its disastrous path, it is actually redoubling efforts to for Iran talks, presumably after America’s mid-term election on November 8.

The Biden administration has even been ignoring a joint statement issued by the UK, France and Germany admitting that Tehran “has no credible civilian need for uranium metal R&D and production, which are a key step in the development of a nuclear weapon.”

The Biden administration needs to make it plain to Iran’s ruling mullahs that if Tehran advances its nuclear program further, severe military, political, diplomatic and economic options against Iran are on the table.

Economic sanctions, which will cut the flow of funds to the Iranian regime and the terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, must be imposed as well. The Biden administration also needs to stand firm against countries such as China, which are violating US sanctions by buying oil or trading with the Iranian regime.

It must be made unmistakably clear to the Iranian regime that the United States will not allow Iran’s current regime, a designated state sponsor of terrorism, to arm itself with nuclear weapons and emerge as yet another global nuclear threat, in the Middle East, in Europe and throughout South America.

The Biden administration implemented its agenda to revive the Obama nuclear deal after US President Joe Biden assumed office in January 2021. Now, more than a year and half of negotiations seems to have benefited no one except the ruling and Islamist mullahs of Iran. The endless negotiations seem simply to have bought time for the mullahs, so that they could comfortably advance their nuclear program to their highest level ever. Not only has the Biden administration seen no urgency to change its disastrous path, it is actually redoubling efforts to for Iran talks, presumably after America’s mid-term election on November 8.

New York Seeks Marijuana Dealers ‘With Experience’ High taxes and licensing preferences for ex-cons make a hash of the state’s market for legal weed. By Jonathan Turley

https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-seeks-marijuana-dealers-with-experience-convictions-regulation-licenses-dispensaries-commerce-cannabis-weed-11663949176?mod=opinion_lead_pos10

New York state seeks people “with experience” to help establish what could become the biggest legal marijuana market in the country. The explanation sounds like a punch line: New York will offer licenses and subsidies to people with marijuana convictions on their records.

New York legalized the possession and use of marijuana for adults last year and created a licensing system to govern eventual sales in brick-and-mortar stores. New Yorkers will even be able to get joints delivered.

The application window for these licenses closes Sept. 26. The state anticipates the first legal dispensaries will open before the end of the year. The size of the legal marijuana market in New York could ultimately be more than $7 billion annually.

Politicians are eager to tax and regulate all this commerce, and the legal marijuana market could be the source of massive new revenue for New York. Many states have already piled excessive taxes on legal weed sales. New York plans an array of taxes, including a complex tax based on the potency of the pot. There will also be rules preventing cannabis businesses from writing off standard expenses. That is in addition to a 9% state sales tax and any local sales taxes that get tacked on.

But what legislators ignore is that all these taxes have the perverse effect of increasing black-market demand. After Prohibition ended, people didn’t continue to buy bathtub gin when legal and safer alcohol was available. But states also didn’t massively increase the price of newly legal alcohol to make bathtub gin more attractive. In New York there is already a $2 billion marijuana black market.

Broken Border: Biden immigration policies spur ‘staggering’ death toll By Anna Giaritelli,

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/faith-freedom-self-reliance/broken-border-biden-immigration-policies-spur-staggering-death-toll

Biden’s Broken Border is a five-part Washington Examiner series highlighting the border security records President Joe Biden has shattered in less than two years in office and the trickle-down effects that the crisis is having on the United States. Part One  looked at how Biden already broke the record for migrant apprehensions in 2022.  Part Two examined the dramatic shift in demographics of migrants crossing the border illegally. Part Three showed the consequences of children crossing the border alone in unprecedented numbers. Part Four, below, looks at the record number of migrants dying while attempting to enter the United States. And Part Five will examine the deadly fentanyl crisis that has rocked communities deep within the country.

More migrants have died attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally under President Joe Biden than ever before — a catastrophic consequence of border policies that have pushed many through dangerous terrain as ports of entry have largely been closed for asylum-seekers .

Senior federal law enforcement officials at Border Patrol headquarters in Washington told the Washington Examiner they expect to surpass 800 bodies recovered at the southern border by the end of September, the conclusion of the government’s fiscal 2022 year.

“It’ll likely hit over 800 for FY22. I thought I would never see that number,” one official not authorized to speak with the media wrote in an email. “This administration does not care about dead Hispanics.”

Internal homeland security data obtained by the Washington Examiner show the government is aware of 746 deceased immigrants found in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California between last October and Sept. 6. Landowners and federal, state, and local police are typically the ones who make the discoveries.

The FBI Paid for Russian Disinformation While Punishing a Patriot Ben Weingarten

https://www.newsweek.com/fbi-paid-russian-disinformation-while-punishing-patriot-opinion-1745574

To understand the state of disrepair of our national security and law enforcement apparatus, look to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s contrasting treatment of Russian disinformation-spinner Igor Danchenko, and whistleblowing Special Agent Steven Friend.

We recently learned the Bureau rewarded the former for his lies, while punishing the latter for his truths.

Danchenko, a Russian national, was the key researcher behind the key document—the Steele dossier—behind the key effort to undermine candidate, and then topple, President Donald J. Trump: Russiagate.

Today, we know Danchenko fabricated communications with the purported central source behind some of the document’s most salacious claims. By lying to the FBI about that, and much else that would have called into question his credibility, as well as the dossier’s veracity, Danchenko played a seminal role in corrupting our political and legal systems. He helped subvert a presidency and the will of the public, foist a fraud on the FISA court, and eviscerate the civil liberties, ravage the reputations, and drain the banks accounts of those wrongfully ensnared in the Russiagate hoax—along with our rotten Deep State.

Compounding the outrage, after the FBI learned Danchenko had misled it, it claimed in multiple FISA warrant applications used to spy on Trump campaign advisor Carter Page and Trump world that Danchenko, Steele’s “primary sub-source,” was “truthful and cooperative.”

Liz Truss showed up Biden at the UN It wasn’t the American president who sounded like the leader of the free world: John Pietro

https://spectatorworld.com/topic/liz-truss-showed-joe-biden-united-nations/?utm_source=Spectator+World+Signup&utm_

British prime minister Liz Truss’s speech at the United Nations this week was spot-on. It was clear, concise and left no question that the UK would do everything in its power to lead in the defense of the West and its values.

President Biden’s address, by contrast, left you feeling overwhelmed and unsatisfied. That’s not to say he failed to speak about Ukraine — he spent a reasonable amount of time on it — but the substance just was not there. Truss made a clear commitment to continue to “sustain or increase… military support to Ukraine, for as long as it takes,” a concrete and actionable statement. Though Biden issued a ringing condemnation of Putin’s war, he only made a vague pledge to “stand in solidarity against Russia’s aggression.”

Proposed US actions were non-existent: there was no promise to bolster defense spending or maintain or increase direct military aid to Ukraine. We were left to assume that, given his touting of American and allied aid to Ukraine, Biden was implying it would continue, but in the context of his speech, that did not seem sufficient. Putin needs to know that he will not get a break, that his threats are not going to change the West’s calculus. Now, as Russia is escalating, explicit statements of strength, unwavering resolve and determined action are essential.

The US is the greatest military and economic power on earth, while the UK is in the midst of a devastating energy crisis and persistent high inflation. Britain should not have to be leading the charge against Russia.