NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The New Domestic War on Terror Has Already Begun — Even Without the New Laws Biden Wants Glenn Greenwald

Posted By on June 3rd, 2021

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-new-domestic-war-on-terror-has

The Department of Homeland Security on Friday issued a new warning bulletin, alerting Americans that domestic extremists may well use violence on the 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre. This was at least the fourth such bulletin issued this year by Homeland Security (DHS) warning of the same danger and, thus far, none of the fears it is trying to instill into the American population has materialized.

The first was a January 14 warning, from numerous federal agencies including DHS, about violence in Washington, DC and all fifty state capitols that was likely to explode in protest of Inauguration Day (a threat which did not materialize). Then came a January 27 bulletin warning of “a heightened threat environment across the United States that is likely to persist over the coming weeks” from “ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority” (that warning also was not realized). Then there was a May 14 bulletin warning of right-wing violence “to attack higher-capacity targets,” exacerbated by the lifting of COVID lockdowns (which also never happened). And now we are treated to this new DHS warning about domestic extremists preparing violent attacks over Tulsa (it remains to be seen if a DHS fear is finally realized).

Just like the first War on Terror, these threats are issued with virtually no specificity. They are just generalized warnings designed to put people in fear about their fellow citizens and to justify aggressive deployment of military and law enforcement officers in Washington, D.C. and throughout the country. A CNN article which wildly hyped the latest danger bulletin about domestic extremists at Tulsa had to be edited with what the cable network, in an “update,” called “the additional information from the Department of Homeland Security that there is no specific or credible threats at this time.” And the supposed dangers from domestic extremists on Inauguration Day was such a flop that even The Washington Post — one of the outlets most vocal about lurking national security dangers in general and this one in particular — had to explicitly acknowledge the failure:

Thousands [of National Guard troops] had been deployed to capitals across the country late last week, ahead of a weekend in which potentially violent demonstrations were predicted by the FBI — but never materialized.

Once again on Wednesday, security officials’ worst fears weren’t borne out: In some states, it was close to business as usual. In others, demonstrations were small and peaceful, with only occasional tense moments.

EDUCATION, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

DIVERSITY IS GREAT, BUT IT DOESN’T MAKE STUDENTS LEARN BETTER. We have always known this, and if the Supremes take up racial preferences again soon, we need to start admitting it. John McWhorter

Posted By on June 3rd, 2021

https://johnmcwhorter.substack.com/p/diversity-is-great-but-it-doesnt

As the Supremes are about to consider taking up yet another racial preferences case – the one about whether Asian applicants are being discriminated against at Harvard in favor of black and brown ones — we are in for the usual round of endless euphemism.

Wise heads will opine as if what we are talking about is administrators working with a pool of applicants of various races with dossiers of equal grades and test scores, hoping to assemble a class reflecting a rainbow of “diversity” from among them. The rub is supposedly that some doodooheads just think it’s plain “racist” to ever make such decisions with race in mind at all.

We will be led to think – or told to pretend to think – that somebody is opposed to there being too many black kids in a class, that they want whites to retain their “privilege” in admissions, that, well … it’s not always easy to glean just what people are trying to get across. But basically, doodooheads think we should just be color-blind, out of some principle hovering somewhere between naivete and bigotry.

We are to take from this that questioning how racial preferences work renders black applicants “unwelcome.”

Just why anyone would have a problem with racial preferences other than this coded bigotry is left gingerly unstated.

If it is acknowledged that racial preference policies entail admitting black students with a lowered cutoff of grades and test scores (italics deliberate – we will return to this) …

.. then it is implied that the lowering is slight, that admitting black students is a mere matter of putting a “thumb on the scale.”

That’s a lie of long standing. I wonder if there is room for an honest discussion of the issue.

* * *

I do not oppose Affirmative Action. I simply think it should be based on disadvantage, not melanin. It made sense – logical as well as moral – to adjust standards in the wake of the implacable oppression of black people until the mid-1960s.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

“Facts, Truth & Honesty” by Sydney Williams

Posted By on June 2nd, 2021

http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com

“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”    Thomas Jefferson January 12, 1819

                                                                                                                                                        

In the above letter to Nathaniel Macon, Senator from North Carolina, a proponent of slavery and a political foe, Jefferson explained wisdom that comes with age – that it can only be based on a foundation of honesty. If we are not honest with ourselves and others, what good are facts and truth?

A friend suggested an essay on facts and truth – a challenging but interesting assignment. The result is my opinion, expressed as truthfully as I was able, but it is not a factual last word. The two words are commonly used synonymously, but they are different. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines fact as “something that has actual existence…an occurrence…[or] having objective reality.” Truth is the opposite of a lie. It is defined by the same source as “the body of real things, events and facts.” But the roots of the two words provide clarity as to their differences. “Fact” comes from the Latin facio, to fashion or fabricate something, while truth comes from the old English word treoth, meaning fidelity or faith, as in “I pledge thee my troth,” an archaic wedding commitment, meaning a lifelong pledge of faithfulness.

Larry Walsh, founder of the technology business strategy company 2112 Group recently wrote an essay on how the technology industry must “freely share new facts” and stop “clinging to accepted truths.” He described the two words: “A fact is something that’s indisputable, based on empirical research and quantifiable measures. Truth is entirely different; it may include fact, but it can also include belief.” In my opinion, his definition of fact is too simplistic. There are facts that are unalterable, like grass is green, water is wet, and skunks are odoriferous. Other facts are subject to change, as products, mechanizations, services and research evolve and improve. A fact is a fact until it isn’t. What better examples than the use of “facts” to determine the origin of COVID-19, the cause of the Trump Russian probe, or what was behind the January 6 protests. Mr. Walsh’s definition of truth implies a deficiency in faith and historical knowledge and a supercilious attitude toward the beliefs of others.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Denver School Board Director and Black Lives Matter Activist Accused of Molesting Over 60 Undocumented Teens By Debra Heine

Posted By on June 2nd, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/06/01/denver-school-board-director-and-black-lives-matter-activist-accused-of-molesting-over-60-undocumented-teens/

A Democrat Denver School Board director and Black Lives Matter organizer has been accused of sexually assaulting over 60 undocumented students—some as young as 14-years-old.

The alleged predator, Tay Anderson, denied the accusations over the weekend, while announcing that he will step back from everyday board duties during the investigation.

The allegations came out during legislative testimony last week, when a parent claimed that a person employed by the district was sexually assaulting and targeting undocumented teens, CBSDenver reported.

Mary Brooks Fleming, a mother of three students within the Denver Public School district, testified before the state House Judiciary Committee that some of the children were “violently raped” by the employee and, in some case, forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Brooks Fleming appeared before the committee to testify in support of legislation that would make it easier for victims to sue institutions who employ child sexual abusers. The mother is a volunteer at a local nonprofit organization that aids sexual assault victims.

“Individuals were coming to my home asking for medical attention. One was as young as 14 and needed stitches. All in all, 61 high school students and one recent graduates would turn to me for help,” Fleming said, shaking and holding back tears. “Sixty-two victims as young as 14! Sixty-one were undocumented or dreamers. All were so afraid of this one man!” she added.

The DPS school board confirmed in a statement Friday night that the accusations were against Anderson, and that Denver police was also aware of the allegations.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Progressive Jews Delude Themselves By Eileen F. Toplansky

Posted By on June 2nd, 2021

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/06/progressive_jews_delude_themse

To my Jewish brethren who in their heart of hearts think they are being virtuous, you must understand that the Black Lives Matter movement that so many of you marched for, sent money to, and still support with admiration has at its core the deep desire to annihilate Jews and destroy Israel. Here is the proof. In 2015 at a panel discussion at Harvard Law School, Black Lives Matter cofounder Patrisse Cullors called for the end of Israel.

It does not matter what denomination of Judaism you belong to or if you even believe in G-d but as a thinking being you must begin now to acknowledge that supporting a group that calls for the annihilation of your fellow Jews should go against every fiber of your moral compass.

There is no distinction between hating a country and seeking to wipe out its inhabitants. Israel is always the target with leftist groups like Black Lives Matter.

In fact, the latest form of  Jew hatred is the delegitimization of the Jewish people. It “represents a fundamentally different set of characteristics from prior expressions of hate” and it operates “differently from prior forms of anti-Jewish expression.”

Historically, the Anti-Defamation League’s  ‘model of measuring anti-Semitic attitudes focused on group traits and individual behaviors. This approach, developed in the post Second World War era, does not take into account how as a people and nation-state, Jews today are being re-defined and demonized.’

The ‘global Jew’ is being identified as destroying established cultural and religious norms while promoting Jewish influence and control. The other objective, in connection with this new assault, is the delegitimization of the State of Israel.

EDUCATION Comments turned off

Muslim Prof. Claims Islamic Scholars Have Placed ‘Too Much Emphasis on Jihad As Violent’ The peculiar worldview of Sohail Hashmi. Andrew Harrod

Posted By on June 2nd, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/06/muslim-prof-claims-islamic-scholars-have-placed-andrew-harrod/

Islamic scholars historically have placed “too much emphasis on jihad as basically a violent” rather than nonviolent doctrine, stated Mount Holyoke College international relations professor Sohail Hashmi in an April 11 webinar. Hosted by the Muslim group Critical Connections in Hashmi’s Pioneer Valley region of Massachusetts, his lucid lecture on “Jihad vs Just War: A Comparative Analysis” provided detailed, disturbing insight into Islamic doctrines of jihad warfare.

As in a previously analyzed webinar, Critical Connections founder Mehlaqa Samdani moderated and worried in her introduction about “Islamophobic groups” dominating discussion of hot-button issues like jihad. Her “Islamophobia” reference ironically recalled the religiously repressive nature of the terrorism-sponsoring Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the home of her co-moderator, Karachi University student Rutaba Tariq. She represented Pakistan’s branch of the Model Organization of Islamic Cooperation (MOIC), a student affiliate of the OIC, whose fifty-seven member states (including “Palestine”) have long sought to ban “Islamophobic” criticism of Islam worldwide. While Hashmi took no critical notice of the OIC, she encouraged viewers to join MOIC; additionally, Georgetown University professor John L. Esposito, an apologist for these efforts and all things Islamist, made a brief cameo appearance.

Yet Hashmi’s presentation did not deny that serious concerns about jihad are well-founded, not irrational, even as he claimed that Christian just war and Islamic jihad doctrines are “extremely alike.” He argued that Jesus’ teachings in the New Testament are “very heavily biased in the pacifist direction,” such that Christian thinkers developed just war theory largely on the basis of self-defense in natural law. More disturbingly, although “jihad is a very broad concept,” which “means simply to struggle,” in the eighth-ninth centuries Islam’s “classical jurists spent most of their time talking about what we could call an expansionist or an offensive jihad.”

This was a “jihad to expand the Islamic empire, to expand the realm of Dar al-Islam,” Hashmi noted. The “fundamental aspect of Dar al-Islam is that this is the territory where Islamic law is supreme” and “Muslims are not necessarily the majority.” Thus Muslim-conquered areas like Mesopotamia and Egypt “remained primarily non-Muslim for centuries,” he explained.

This “imperialist jihad” in the classical view, Hashmi explained, would supposedly benefit non-Muslim “benighted peoples.” “Once non-Muslims had lived under the benefits of this divine law, of this Islamic law, they would of their own accord realize the merits of Islam, the religion, and they would of their own accord, of their own free will, convert to Islam,” he said. He later specified how the modern Islamic Republic of Iran’s constitution advocates the “spread of an Islamic community of nations.”

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Israel’s Just Cause The need for a professional and effective informational campaign. Joseph Puder

Posted By on June 2nd, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/06/israels-lost-cause-joseph-puder/

Anti-Semitism, the undying virus that still infects millions in the Muslim world and beyond, found a pretext to once again show its poisonous venom. The anti-Semitic protests, in many European cities as well as Latin and North American communities, used the 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, (the Islamist terrorist group controlling Gaza), to malign the Jewish state with ugly obscenities such as an “apartheid state,” and characterizing Zionism (the Jewish national liberation movement) as Nazi-like. The slogans voiced in these protests didn’t match the facts that led to the conflict. Israel was seeking a long-term peace accommodation with Hamas, and instead got a barrage of rockets from Gaza aiming to kill Israeli civilians in its capital – Jerusalem, central Israel, including Tel Aviv, and particularly, in the communities surrounding the Gaza Strip. Israel, charged with the sacred duty to protect its civilian population, retaliated by destroying the sources of the rockets, cannons, and mortar fire. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) avoided many terrorist targets when innocent civilian bystanders were in the vicinity. Moreover, the IDF warned Gazan civilians to evacuate prior to bombing a Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) specific target. Hamas did the exact opposite, seeking to maximize Israeli civilian casualties. Yet, in world capitals, be it in Europe, America, or the Middle East, the truth and the facts are irrelevant. Anti-Semitism is irrational, as are these ugly protests.

Jews, having served as scapegoats in Christian Europe for almost 2,000 years, and a somewhat shorter period in the Muslim Middle East, became a convenient target for regimes to let their majority population vent their political, economic or social frustrations on the minority of Jews in their communities. Today however, the Jewish state – the collective Jewish body, has become a more convenient target, not that individual Jews in Europe or the Americas are immune as we have clearly seen in recent years. Some of the European governments, in seeking to appease their violent Muslim immigrants (Germany alone invited more than a million Muslim migrants into their country, who were brainwashed with pathological hatred for Jews and Israel) often criticize Israel, creating fertile ground of increased anti-Semitism. In the US, the Biden administration is being pressured by an anti-Semitic group of radical Democratic Party members in the US Congress, to disassociate the US from Israel. What we see in large portions of the West is moral equivalency, where actual right and wrong has become irrelevant. 

Demographics alone point to an unfair fight between Israel and the Palestinians. 1.6 billion Muslims, most of whom automatically support their fellow Muslim Palestinians, are arrayed against less than 16 million Jews worldwide, with a sizeable percentage being anti-Zionist. It means that Muslim voices on behalf of Palestinians will always be louder than Jewish voices, as well as violent and intimidating, whether it takes place in Berlin, London, Paris, Buenos Aires, Montreal, or Santiago de Chile. This is true for the social media as well.

Demographic disadvantage notwithstanding, Israel it seems rarely mounts on effective worldwide informational (hasbara in Hebrew) campaign to go along simultaneously with its far more effective military campaign. This anomaly is unfortunate since Israel has justice on its side. Hamas clearly and deliberately initiated this war, and its declared agenda is to destroy the Jewish state. One often hears those voices in the West who bemoan the fact that Gaza Palestinians have far more casualties than Israel does.  Consider therefore these simple facts. While Israel built shelters to shield its people from bombs, Hamas built attack tunnels to penetrate into Israel in order to murder and kidnap civilians in particular. They do not, though, build shelters for their people. Moreover, Israel cares enough for the Palestinian civilians to warn them of an impending attack, and canceling certain operations that might hurt innocent bystanders. Of course, there will always be unintended consequences, and civilians will get hurt. This however, has to do with the simple fact that Hamas uses civilians as human shields, and places their firepower in residential areas such as schools, hospitals, and apartment buildings. Hamas then uses children who died because of its own negligence, for its propaganda, to generate international sympathy.

FOREIGN POLICY, HISTORY Comments turned off

Biden’s Deceptive Acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide Why his vow “never again” rings hollow. David Boyajian

Posted By on June 2nd, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/06/what-lies-beneath-bidens-deceptive-acknowledgment-david-boyajian/

Joe Biden’s April 24 statement acknowledging the Armenian Genocide (1915–1923+) carried out by Turkey was welcome, but flawed. Indeed, “Turkey” appears nowhere in the document. Moreover, the State Department swiftly undermined Biden’s virtuous-sounding words.

American acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide isn’t even new. The U.S. House has passed several resolutions on the Genocide. And a nearly unanimous Congress did so in 2019.

Presidents going back to Woodrow Wilson have described the Armenian ordeals with language such as: an effort to exterminate all Armenians; terrible massacres; mass killings; death marches; and an ancient [Armenian] homeland was erased. If these don’t describe genocide, the word is meaningless.

In 1951, the State Department cited the Armenian “massacres [as a] crime of genocide” in a filing at the International Court of Justice. In 1981, President Reagan included “the genocide of Armenians” in a Holocaust proclamation.

Genocide acknowledgments should not — like car insurance — lapse if not renewed annually. Will the Holocaust become a non-genocide next year if the White House happens to overlook it?

Still, the president’s statement is noteworthy. It could even reinvigorate several Armenian American lawsuits against Turkey. But the statement has problems.

It tries to take the heat off today’s Republic of Turkey by blaming only “Ottoman-era … authorities” for the Genocide.

After the Allies defeated Ottoman Turkey in WWI (1918), Ottoman General Mustafa Kemal’s (Ataturk) forces continued to massacre Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks. Kemal also ordered that Armenia be “politically and physically eliminated.” When he established the Turkish Republic in 1923, Kemal appointed Ottoman genocidists and continued to persecute Christians.

Thus, as President Erdogan himself has confirmed, his country is a “continuation” of Ottoman Turkey. Knowing this, the Turkish Republic has always tried to evade accountability for the Genocide.

Disgracefully, though, Biden tries to assist Turkey in that regard by writing, “We do this not to cast blame” [on Turkey].” The president has no right to hand Turkey a “Get Out of Jail Free card.”

Just two days later, American Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy tried to help Turkey duck accountability. “The Armenian Genocide took place in 1915, the [UN] Genocide Convention did not come into force until 1951 … from the legal perspective the Convention is not being applied retroactively.”

BOOKS, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Most Important Book You Will Read This Year And once you’ve read it, spread the word. Or say goodbye to America.

Posted By on June 2nd, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/06/most-important-book-you-will-read-year-bruce-bawer/

Rarely has an author been proven correct so quickly. Last month, Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, the commander of a Colorado-based Space Force squadron, published a book entitled Irresistible Revolution: Marxism’s Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military. On May 7, podcaster L. Todd Wood (“Information Operation”) posted an interview with Lohmeier about the book.

In their 34-minute exchange, Lohmeier – a former Air Force fighter pilot and flight instructor who, at Space Force, was in charge of detecting ballistic missile launches – exuded decency, rectitude, and a deep respect for the uniformed services. He didn’t criticize anybody by name; he only made frankly undeniable statements about the Marxist nature of some of the ideas that are now being taught to U.S. servicepeople. It was crystal clear that in speaking out, he was convinced he was doing his patriotic duty.

A week to the day after the interview was posted, Lohmeier’s superiors abruptly relieved him of his command. A Space Force spokesperson announced that an investigation had been initiated into whether Lohmeier’s comments on the podcast “constituted prohibited partisan political activity.” In fact, the entire point of Lohmeier’s commentary was that members of the American military are today being brainwashed with hard-core Marxist ideas that not only constitute partisan political activity but seek to demonize the country the military is supposed to be defending. As for Lohmeier’s own comments, there was nothing remotely partisan or political about them – unless you consider it partisan or political to be a patriot.

On the one hand, Lohmeier’s dismissal is a disgrace. On the other hand, what better way to draw attention to the supremely urgent message of his book – a truly sensational exposé that should be read by everyone who cares about America’s fate in this perilous era of woke insanity.

Much of Lohmeier’s book consists of anecdotes about his encounters with the Marxist bilge now being endorsed by the Department of Defense in the name of “diversity and inclusion.” For example, last year, after the death of George Floyd, Lohmeier and other men and women stationed at his base were shown two videos. One of them depicted American history as, in the words of its director, “400 years of white supremacy.” It portrayed the Constitution as oppressive and stated that all whites are racists, whether they know it or not. The other video described America as a “system of oppression,” accused Donald Trump of fueling “systematic racism,” presented Obama and the Clintons as anti-racist heroes, and promoted ideas about America that, in Lohmeier’s view, seemed intended “to justify…violent riots.”

Lohmeier was disturbed. But those videos were only the tip of the iceberg. “As a commander of young military professionals, all of whom have taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution,” he writes, “I became concerned that race-based identity politics would erode the trust and confidence these young people have in their country and in the Constitution.” No kidding. He could justifiably have taken his criticism much further. To feed members of the military this kind of propaganda is to plunge them into utter cognitive dissonance – into Orwellian Doublethink. If you’re going to promote such ideas – which paint America as a racist republic that shouldn’t be defended but overthrown – why have a military at all, unless you’re planning to use it to stage a Communist revolution?

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

China’s Attempt to Avoid the American Tech Monopoly Trap David Goldman

Posted By on June 2nd, 2021

https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2021/05/chinas-attempt-to-avoid-the-american-tech-monopoly-trap/

One of the great paradoxes of recent economic history is how little the information technology sector has contributed to overall productivity. Economist Raicho Bojilov examined total factor productivity across the major industrial economies from the 1970s to the present and observed:

Somewhat surprisingly, we do not witness, even with a lag, a major pickup in the productivity growth in other industries that are directly and indirectly connected to the IT industry. One would expect that if the IT industry were the engine of the US economy that generates the products, technologies, and techniques of the future, then the other industries would even­tually experience a jump in productivity rates to levels comparable to those of the IT industry. Thus, one may wonder why aggregate productivity in the US has not grown much more in accordance with the innovations and major productivity gains that have been achieved in the IT industry.1

Bojilov adds that “the annual rates of indigenous innovation in the US and the UK have made only a partial recovery during the IT revolution: while higher than the rates for the period 1970–1990, they are still lower relative to the rates witnessed in the postwar years until the late 1960s.”

Why have IT improvements failed to radiate through the broader economy? There are many possible explanations, but the transformation of once-disruptive tech companies into rent-seeking monopolies is surely an important one. The monopolization of information technology arises from the nature of the technology itself: so-called network effects make it convenient to have one venue on which to post political comments and cat pictures, one provider of office software that everyone uses, one giant internet retail marketplace, and so forth. But the fact that technological monopolies have their origin in network effects rather than in the nefarious manipulation of mar­kets does not eliminate the potential for abuse.