RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/12/27/open-season-on-jews-in-new-york-assault-on-young-mother-among-latest-antisemitic-attacks-reported-in-city/?utm_content=news1&utm_medium=weekend_email&utm_campaign=email&utm_source=interna

Police in New York City have been dealing with rash of hate crimes targeting Jews during the 2019 holiday season.

A 34-year-old Jewish woman out walking with her young son became the latest victim of the spree of violent hate crimes against visibly-identifiable Jews in New York City during the holiday week.

The woman and child had been strolling through a quiet section of the Gravesend neighborhood in Brooklyn on Thursday when they were set upon by the assailant — a 42-year-old woman who was later apprehended by police.

The attacker reportedly had emerged from a Dunkin Donuts outlet in the neighborhood when she spotted the mother and son. She yelled an antisemitic slur and proceeded to beat the mother about the head with her shoulder bag.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/475894-interminable-impeachment

President Trump’s acquittal in the U.S. Senate is a foregone conclusion. But it will not be impeachment’s conclusion for Democrats. Democrats’ decision not to send House impeachment articles to the Senate clearly signals their strategy: Delegitimize any action short of removal. They will not let impeachment go, now or ever, because they must counter their sagging – and President Trump’s strengthening – political position.  

Democrats have been calling for President Trump’s removal forever, pursuing de facto impeachment since taking the House this year, and pursuing it in fact since September. This marathon became a sprint: One week in the House Judiciary Committee and one day on the House floor. Now, it has abruptly halted at what should be its climax.  

House leaders say they are not sending the impeachment articles to the Senate in order to leverage a fair trial there. How this gives them leverage, or how a trial there could be less fair than the House’s proceedings, is unclear. What is clear is that Democrats intend to maintain impeachment as an issue beyond its constitutional course. To rephrase Yogi Berra: “It ain’t over, even after the fat lady sings.”

To understand why, it is necessary to understand the myriad reasons behind Democrats’ singular obsession with impeachment.  

First, they have a weak case. This was evidenced by the bipartisan opposition to impeachment and the Democrats’ inability to convince even one Republican to support it.

Democrats therefore must blame someone else, and they are laying the foundation for claiming that someone else – additional witnesses – could have provided it.  

https://www.theepochtimes.com/can-trump-put-humpty-dumpty-the-usa-back-together-again_3186323.html

I’m no Nostradamus—indeed Nostradamus was no Nostradamus when it came to predictions, if you read the actual history. But I’m certain “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Donald Trump, despite the inevitable hiccups, will not be removed from office by the Senate and will win reelection next November.

But as much of a rough ride as the two hurdles might be, they are far from his most significant challenge. His real challenge, and it will be an extraordinarily difficult one, close to a 10 on the Richter Scale, will be to put Humpty-Dumpty—aka the United States of America—back together again.

Our society is riven as it hasn’t been since the Civil War. Families, friendships, work places are all fractured. Although we are rich as never before and at peace (cf. Matt Ridley and Michael Barone), we are, days before Jan. 1, 2020, effectively two countries at each others’ throats.

Some say this is Trump’s fault. His extreme rhetoric has driven us apart. To some degree this is true, but the yet more substantial causes were and are his opposition in the Democratic Party, the FBI, the CIA, and the media—not necessarily in that order but all working in tandem. (Entertainment and the academy helped too.)

Reading the inspector general’s report and the many intimations of what is going on with John Durham’s investigation, it is clear that Trump was ganged up upon in an unprecedented, and quite likely illegal, way even before he was nominated, let alone elected.

https://amgreatness.com/2019/12/26/pelosis-streets-of-san-francisco

The House Speaker’s recent antics bring to mind a saying, sometimes attributed to Mark Twain: politicians and diapers should be changed often, and for the same reason.

A specter is haunting San Francisco, the city by the Bay, also known as “The City.” Call it the “defecation crisis,” or an excess of excrement, but as they say, it is the shit, and lots of it. So much, in fact, that maps mark out favored defecation areas, and we are not talking about dogs here. Human beings are dropping their drawers and unloading at will, and that’s a problem.

When fecal matter dries, particles become airborne and can spread dangerous viruses such as rotavirus. Inhaling those germs can be fatal, according to infectious disease expert Lee Riley of UC Berkeley, just across the San Francisco Bay. So the dangers of continuing to allow this folly have been proved by science—but The City wasn’t always so foolish.

In 1967, on the cusp of the “Summer of Love,” Scott McKenzie released the song “San Francisco,” all about the gentle people and wearing flowers in their hair. McKenzie passed away at 73 in 2012, and current conditions in The City require some revision to his famous song, perhaps along these lines:

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2019/12/space-destroy-baltimore-hits-highest-murder-rate-daniel-greenfield/

Are we pro-crimed out yet?

Obviously not. As “criminal justice reform” marches on, complete with revolving door crime, cashless bail, and the rest of the horror show. Meanwhile “space to destroy” continues paying dividends in the “city that bleeds” which has just turned into one long episode of The Wire.

Baltimore could wrap up 2019 with its highest per-capita homicide rate on record as killings of adults and minors alike for drugs, retribution, money or no clear reason continue to add up and city officials appear unable to stop the violence.

Police recorded 338 homicides as of Tuesday, following a week of relentless gunfire that saw eight people shot — three of them fatally — in one day and nine others — one fatally — another day. That total is up from 309 in 2018 and four shy of the 342 killings tallied in 2017 and 2015, the year when the city’s homicide rate suddenly spiked.

“Suddenly”.

What could have possibly happened in 2015? Oh that’s right. Black Lives Matter threw a tantrum over the accidental death of drug dealer Freddie Gray. And Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said, “We also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well.”

The media and its assorted fact checkers have turned themselves inside out trying to make her unsay what she said. But here are the numbers.

And then the “homicide rate suddenly spiked”.

This is the fifth year in a row this Mid-Atlantic community dubbed “Charm City” has reported more than 300 killings. Before 2015, that number had generally been on the decline, but the trend reversed after civil unrest followed the death in police custody of a young black man, Freddie Gray.

We had to make it to the 7th para to hear about Freddie Gray. Who’s described as a young man, instead of a drug dealer. And the race riots are described as civil unrest.

Keep spinning, guys. It’s working great.

https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/12/26/man-attacks-three-kosher-eatery-patrons-in-new-jersey-on-christmas-day/

JNS.org – A quiet national holiday was shattered with midday reports spreading on social media of a man attacking Jews at a local kosher eatery.

Shortly before noon on Dec. 25, the Teaneck, NJ, police department received a call reporting an altercation inside of Sammy’s Bagels at 1439 Queen Anne Road, an area surrounded on all sides by kosher and Jewish-owned stores. Sammy’s is a combination of three store fronts; it has pizza and bagel counters, with a made-to-order salad bar, and an organic coffee and beverage bar between the two.

Because of its variety of offerings, it is busy from early morning until evening, and, at that moment, was full of patrons grabbing a quick lunch or a takeout pizza.

According to a release by Township Manager Dean Kazinci and Police Chief Glenn O’Reilly: “The preliminary investigation revealed that this person entered the store and confronted two patrons. He engaged in a verbal dispute with the first patron by using an expletive while telling him to take off his hat. He confronted a second patron inside the store using the same language. This second confrontation turned into a shoving match at which time the patron received a scratch to his face. When the suspect exited the store, he made his way to Palisade Avenue where he confronted a third individual. Again, he made the same comment.”

https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/12/26/assault-on-2-young-jewish-boys-among-4-antisemitic-attacks-in-new-york-city-in-48-hours-cops-confirm/

“More than half of the hate crimes reported in New York City this year have been antisemitic in nature, with over 150 incidents targeting Jews — a rise of 63 percent on the previous year, according to figures released by the New York Police Department in September.”

An assault on a pair of Jewish children was among the four antisemitic attacks in New York City to have occurred in the space of two days this week, police in the city confirmed on Thursday.

The two boys, ages 6 and 7, were allegedly struck from behind by a group of teenagers in the lobby of a residential building in Williamsburg section of Brooklyn on Monday night. according to police. The victims were treated for minor injuries.

The incident took place just hours after an Orthodox Jewish man was attacked on a busy Manhattan street by an assailant who reportedly yelled, “F–k you, Jew bastard.”

A suspect, 28-year-old Steven Jorge of Miami, was arrested following the assault — which took place on E. 41st Street, near 3rd Avenue — and charged with a hate crime.

One occurred around 2 a.m. on Kingston Avenue, where a group hurled antisemitic slurs at a 25-year-old man — with one of them throwing a drink at the victim.

https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/26/california-faces-lowest-population-growth-since-1900-after-decades-of-economically-ignorant-policies/

As reported by the LA Times, according to data recently released by the Department of Finance, California’s population growth rate for the year ending July 1, 2019, was the lowest the state has experienced since 1900. Estimates indicate the Golden State’s population grew by 0.35 percent over the course of the year (or by 141,000 people), down from 0.57 percent for the previous year ending July 1, 2018.

California’s growth in population was buoyed by the net difference between births and deaths in the state, which amounted to 180,800 people. However, this number was tempered by net losses in migration, which indicate more people are exiting the state than entering it.

While international migration or legal immigration into the state added to California’s population, there was significant negative domestic migration — or rather, people leaving California for other states — amounting to nearly 40,000 residents. According to the Department of Finance, this phenomenon represents “the first time since the 2010 census that California has had more people leaving the state than moving in from abroad or other states.”

What Happened to California’s Population Growth?

But where are these people going? According to William Frey of Brookings Institution, they’re heading elsewhere in the West to places economies are picking up, housing costs are cheaper, and there may be no state income tax. According to Frey, the most popular destinations were Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.

Immigration levels are also declining, which accounts for some of California’s drop in population growth. “In the past, California would be growing because immigration would counteract domestic outmigration,” Frey told the LA times. “The outmigration is in places where housing prices are high and therefore immigration is not being able to counter that.”

Dowell Myers, a demographics expert at USC, told the LA Times that California housing prices are preventing millennials from really establishing the requisite “nest” needed to have kids. He pointed to the shortage of housing choking the supply.

“I think we need to have enough housing for workers to live in and for people to start families. Older people have the right to stay in their houses, but we need to make room for the young people or else we will turn into a retirement city by the sea,” Myers explained. He pointed to LA County as an example, given it experienced a 17 percent decline in the amount of children residing in the area over the last 10 years.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-unemployment/u-s-jobless-claims-fall-point-to-sustained-labor-market-strength-idUSKBN1YU0SM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits fell last week in a sign of ongoing labor market strength.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 222,000 for the week ended Dec. 21, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims would fall to 224,000 in the latest week. Claims have been volatile in recent weeks around the U.S. holiday season and end of the year.