IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

What Was Kamala Harris Thinking? By Jim Geraghty

Posted By on June 24th, 2021

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/what-was-kamala-harris-thinking/

Vice President Kamala Harris “clearly thinks she’s ‘winning’ something by refusing to [visit the border],” I noted at the end of today’s Morning Jolt. “What she thinks she’s winning is anybody’s guess.”

This afternoon brings word that Harris will indeed travel to the border, 91 days after President Biden appointed Harris to “lead efforts to stem migration across the U.S.–Mexico border.” Many Democrats have disputed the characterization of Harris as the “border czar.” But Biden himself said this, referring to her role on this issue: “I’ve asked her, the VP, today — because she’s the most qualified person to do it — to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that help — are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border.”

Would Harris have gotten some bad press by visiting the border three months ago? Sure, but it would have been one bad news cycle. White Houses get those all the time, and they survive them all the time. By waiting, Harris ensured that Republicans could bring it up over and over again, while also ensuring she would get asked about it and have awkward moments like her giggling, “I haven’t been to Europe, either. I don’t know what you’re getting at,” in response to NBC News’s Lester Holt. Now, when Harris visits, Republicans will point out, accurately, that U.S. Customs and Border Protection have had three straight months of border captures that are the worst in 20 years. With four months to go, it’s already the worst year since 2006.

To avoid one bad news cycle, Harris accepted three months of bad press.

And we’re left wondering: Just why the heck was Harris so reluctant to visit the border? It certainly isn’t a blanket administration opposition to photo opportunities, or else the president wouldn’t visit an Alexandria rock-climbing facility and joke about scaling a 60-foot wall. It’s become almost cliché in conservative media to say that Harris has bad political instincts, but I think that understates just how much she chooses to make avoidable mistakes.

It’s possible that for three straight months, Harris assumed that the following week or month would bring better news and signs that the waves of migrants are abating. If that’s the case, it’s not encouraging, because it suggests the administration’s policies and messaging will work any day now, despite all the counter-evidence.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Suddenly, Democrats Express Support for Voter ID Laws By Rick Moran

Posted By on June 24th, 2021

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/06/23/suddenly-democrats-express-support-for-voter-id-laws-n1456545

Democrats have used voter ID laws to hammer Republicans for their supposed racism in supporting this simple voting integrity measure. In some campaigns, such as the Georgia governor’s race of 2018, Democratic hysterical opposition to voter ID led to a media frenzy about the “suppression” of the black vote.

It was never anything of the sort, of course. And as proof, try this on for size: National Democrats who skewered the GOP for passing voter ID laws now say it’s fine. Some, like Georgia’s Stacey Abrams (who wept about “suppression” of the black vote), now claim it’s simple common sense.

Washington Examiner:

In 2018, Georgia’s wannabe governor, Stacey Abrams, said voter ID laws are intended to “scare people out of voting.” Now, she audaciously says, “No one has ever objected to having to prove who you are to vote. It’s been part of our nation’s history since the inception of voting.”

Recently elected Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock is even more brazen in lying about opposing voter ID laws.

For years, then-Pastor Raphael Warnock, now a senator from Georgia, claimed ID laws were a form of “voter suppression” so “unnecessary and unjustifiable” that they amount to “dismember[ing]” Martin Luther King Jr.

Now he lies, “I have never been opposed to voter ID. And in fact, I don’t know anybody who is.”

The sudden reversal is because swing Democrat Joe Manchin agreed to support a compromise in the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act that included voter ID.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

World Gone Upside Down: Buffalo Elects Socialist Mayor While NY City Could Very Well Elect a Law-And-Order Democrat By Rick Moran

Posted By on June 24th, 2021

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/06/23/buffalo-elects-socialist-mayor-while-ny-city-could-very-well-elect-a-law-and-order-democrat-n1456483

Buffalo, the second-largest city in New York, elected a woman, a political novice, and a socialist as mayor on Tuesday night. India Walton defeated 4-term incumbent Mayor Byron Brown by 1500 votes.

It was a shocking result — if you hadn’t been paying attention the last 4 years. Brown, a former state Democratic Party chair and a charter member of the New York political establishment, lost to a socialist because the socialist wasn’t part of the establishment. If that’s too complicated for you, look at the mayoral results in New York City.

Eric Adams is holding a lead at the moment. In fact, no one knows what’s going on with this “ranked voting” that’s confusing everyone. Indeed, the purpose of rank voting appears to be designed to make the result of the election as muddled as possible.

Not a bug. A feature.

Adams leads by a small plurality. The race will almost certainly be decided by voters’ second, third, fourth, and fifth choices. Adams may be the first choice of a plurality of voters, but with so many candidates in the race, he may end up not winning anything.

But Adams, a former Republican, supports funding for more police. His campaign platform reads, “If we are for SAFETY — we NEED the NYPD!”

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Army Finally Defines ‘Extremism’ When It Comes to Screening Out ‘Hate Group’ Members By Stacey Lennox

Posted By on June 24th, 2021

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stacey-lennox/2021/06/23/exclusive-army-recruiting-command-now-hunting-extremists-in-the-application-process-n1456597

The Army has decided to ask all applicants for enlistment a question about an association with “extremist/hate groups” in the screening process. This requirement might seem reasonable. However, according to the latest communication, extremism is defined in terms of individual belief and advocacy.

In a recent congressional hearing, Senator Tom Cotton questioned Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin regarding racially-charged exercises and training content presented during the 60-day stand-down to root out extremism. Austin disavowed the concepts that members of the military reported receiving training on. Representative Jim Banks (R-Ind.) also questioned Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday about placing How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi on a recommended book list for sailors. From Gilday’s answer, it is doubtful he ever read the book that some social justice warrior lackey probably placed on the list.

Yet social justice content is leaking its way into the military through some mechanism. Now, the Army Recruitment Command uses subjective and easy-to-politicize criteria to identify potential “extremists” who wish to enlist. This change comes amid the Pentagon considering ways to intensify social media scrutiny in background investigations.

Recommended: Whistleblowers Explain How Biden’s Woke ‘Extremism’ Training Is Tearing the Military Apart

On June 22, an Ops Flash instructed Army recruiters that the inclusion of a question regarding any association with “extremist/hate” organizations must be answered and uploaded for all applicants for commissioning in the Army before testing, before the physical exam, and before military entrance processing. The required form updated the gang participation question that has been asked since the 1990s:

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Sorry, But It’s Democrats – Not Republicans – Who Are The Radicals Worth Worrying About

Posted By on June 24th, 2021

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/06/24/sorry-but-its-democrats-not-republicans-who-are-the-radicals-worth-worrying-about/

How many times have we read about the “extremist right” and how “radicalized” conservatives have become?

Wikipedia has a long entry on the “radical right,” but nothing on the “radical left.” Los Angeles Times reporter Jackie Calmes has a new book out subtitled “The Radicalization of the Republican Party.” CNN’s Brian Stelter says that “Experts warn about the radicalizing power of right-wing media networks.” The list is endless.

Enough! This is the mother of Big Lies!

Every day, it is the Democratic Party that is pushing an agenda more radical than yesterday. Its agenda is comprised of critical race theory, defunding police, open borders, socialism, nationalized health care, a federal takeover of elections, extremist environmentalism, packing the Supreme Court, killing the filibuster, the Green New Deal, cancel culture. None of these gets majority support in this country.

This isn’t just a small slice of the Democratic Party, either. Poll after poll shows that it is those who identify as Democrats who are way out of the mainstream. Let’s review some of the recent polling evidence to show who’s actually been radicalized in this country.

Critical Race Theory

The Biden administration is only the tip of the spear when it comes to attempts by the left to shove the Marxist-based “critical race theory” down everyone’s throat, particularly in the attempt to propagandize students. Team Biden is trying to bribe schools into teaching this race-baiting ideology to kids.

How mainstream is CRT? A new Economist/YouGov survey finds that 58% of Americans who know about CRT view it unfavorably, and 55% say it’s bad for America.

But among Democrats? Almost 90% view CRT favorably and 85% say it’s good for the country.

Casting the country as irredeemably racist and pitting races against each other in permanent battle: How much more radicalized can you get?

Related to this is the fact that nearly two-thirds of Democrats (64%) favor reparations, compared with just 29% of independents and 10% of Republicans, according to a UMass Amherst poll.

MEDIA Comments turned off

Washington Post ‘Clarifies’ Error-Riddled Hit Piece On Top Anti-CRT Investigative Journalist The article is a part of the left’s response to stinging critiques of the open racism embodied in critical race theory, which has led to Chris Rufo and others being targeted.By Gabe Kaminsky

Posted By on June 24th, 2021

https://thefederalist.com/2021/06/22/washington-post-clarifies-error-riddled-hit-piece-on-top-anti-crt-investigative-journalist/

Over the weekend, The Washington Post joined the Christopher Rufo smear campaign. He’s a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who has become the face of public opposition to critical race theory. The article’s misrepresentations led to a story “clarification” that doesn’t go far enough.

The article, written by “reporters” Laura Meckler and Josh Dawsey, is predictable and appalling in its failure to accurately define critical race theory and how Rufo has exposed it.

WaPo’s piece is a part of the left’s response to stinging critiques of the open racism embodied in critical race theory, which has led to Rufo and others being targeted in The Atlantic, The New York Times, NBC News, and on MSNBC and CNN. But in terms of how this report ranks on language manipulation and aversion to truth, Meckler and Dawsey’s article might very well top the bunch.

Yes, Insisting White Skin Means Privilege Is Racist

Before getting into the meat of the half-cooked smear, Meckler and Dawsey propose an insufficient definition of critical race theory (CRT).

Rufo alleged that efforts to inject awareness of systemic racism and White privilege, which grew more popular following the murder of George Floyd by police, posed a grave threat to the nation …Conservatives say analyzing these issues through a racial lens is, in and of itself, racist.

This is an inadequate descriptor for the movement that is overhauling American institutions. CRT does incorporate the idea of systemic racism, but is far more radical than employing a “racial lens.”

The writers skim over the reality that the left takes things a step further, communicating through the neo-Marxist ideology that white people are implicitly racist based on the skin color they were born into, and that those who do not submit to “antiracist” “equity” dogma are racist. This is yet another example of the left’s progressive-or-bigot binary.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Washington Doublethink and the Iran Deal By Ruthie Blum

Posted By on June 24th, 2021

https://www.jns.org/opinion/washington-doublethink-and-the-iran-deal/

 The administration in Washington outdid itself in doublethink this week. Faced with the election of mass executioner Ebrahim Raisi to the Iranian presidency, top White House aides and media champions put such a spin on the situation that they ought to take home the gold in the George Orwell Olympics.
To counter the problem presented by Raisi’s record as a sadist who commanded the torture and murder of masses of innocent Iranians, members of and apologists for Team Biden told The New York Times over the weekend that the “ascension of a hardline government” might actually constitute a window of opportunity to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran from which former President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018.
The logic behind the delusion is that Raisi, who announced on Saturday that neither Iran’s ballistic-missile program nor its support for regional militias would be up for negotiation, won’t be replacing incumbent Hassan Rouhani for six weeks, supposedly just enough time for all parties to the JCPOA to iron out any remaining differences and sign on the dotted line.
Furthermore, according to the Times, if a final deal is reached before Raisi takes the reins, “Iran’s moderates would be set up to take the blame for capitulating to the West and bear the brunt of popular anger inside Iran if sanctions relief does not rescue the nation’s stricken economy. But if the deal comes together, the new conservative government under Mr. Raisi can take the credit for an economic upswing, bolstering his case that it took a hardline, nationalist government to stand up to Washington and bring the country back.”

This is an astonishing view for three reasons.

First, Biden and his administration have been hot to trot back to the JCPOA from the get-go, despite claims of playing hard to get. One way that they’ve kept up the pretense is to engage in European Union-sponsored negotiations in the Austrian capita, referring to them as “indirect talks” and conducting them through shuttle diplomacy between rooms in a Viennese hotel.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

What China Did to Apple Daily, It Could Do to Any Company Beijing uses the odious National Security Law to silence Hong Kong’s feisty voice for freedom.By L. Gordon Crovitz and Mark L. Clifford

Posted By on June 24th, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-china-did-to-apple-daily-it-could-do-to-any-company-11624485349?mod=opinion_lead_pos7

Jimmy Lai started the Apple Daily newspaper in 1995 to defend the Hong Kong way of life before the 1997 handover to China. Its inaugural launch editorial declared: “We are convinced that Hongkongers who are accustomed to freedom will not stay silent in the face of unreasonable restrictions and unfair treatments, for Hongkongers are born with a passion for freedom.” Apple Daily journalists pledged to “stick to our posts and work hard, to be proud Hongkongers through and through.”

That was before the Chinese Communist Party last year forced Hong Kong under the boot of its National Security Law, which this week took down Apple Daily. Its crime was being the most popular source of news and opinion focused on Hong Kong values such as the rule of law, free markets and the free flow of information. The newspaper’s demise mirrors the experience of the Hong Kong people as Beijing deploys the National Security Law to exert control over the territory. Hundreds have been arrested under the repressive law, including longtime legislators.

As members of the board of Next Digital Ltd. , the publicly traded company that operates Apple Daily, we voted Wednesday to close down the paper after the Hong Kong authorities used the law to freeze the company’s assets without a trial or even a court order. The freeze makes it impossible for the company to pay its staff, buy ink or keep the electricity on.

Hong Kong authorities had already jailed Mr. Lai, who is now serving a 20-month prison term for participating in an assembly that was deemed unlawful. Some 500 armed police raided the Apple Daily offices last week. They arrested Next Digital’s CEO and Apple Daily’s editor in chief and denied bail to both; the chief editorial writer was arrested this week.

The way the authorities undermined the functioning of equity markets, property rights and contracts is a warning for other companies that are publicly traded in Hong Kong or simply doing business there.

John Lee, the Hong Kong secretary for security, invoked the National Security Law on his own to prohibit Mr. Lai from voting the 71% of Next Digital shares that he owns, denying him the rights inherent in shareholding on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. Mr. Lee then froze Next Digital’s bank accounts, announcing it would be a crime for the company to make financial transactions. He warned the company’s banks not to enable any transactions. The company could no longer access accounts with tens of millions of U.S. dollars to pay its bills or to accept payments for subscriptions and advertisements.

EDUCATION Comments turned off

Viral School Board Speech: It Is My Constitutional Right To Critique Your Fascism Posted By Tim Hains

Posted By on June 24th, 2021

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2021/06/23/viral_school_board_speech_it_is_my_constitutional_right_to_critique_your_fascism.html

In this viral video, Simon Campbell, a former member of the Pennsbury, PA school board, rips his former colleagues for allegedly seeking to censor video of spicy public comments and criticism of the school district.

“I’ve got news for you, School Board President Benito Mussolini, your power does not supersede that of the U.S. constitution and the rights of the citizens of this great country,” he said before being warned not to name-call.

“I’m quoting you from the U.S. Supreme Court. The judges wrote: ‘This nation is founded on the profound national commitment to the principle that debate of public issues shall be uninhibited, robust, and wide open. And that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.’ That’s constitutional case law in this nation. I don’t have to be nice to you. Nobody behind me has to be nice to you.”

EDUCATION Comments turned off

Rep. Lee Zeldin: Critical race theory’s radical politicization of education undermines who we are as Americans Critical race theory requires that everything be viewed through the lens of race. It focuses on identity group politics Rep. Lee Zeldin R-NY District 1

Posted By on June 24th, 2021

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/critical-race-theory-radical-education-americans-rep-lee-zeldin

For 18 years, I have been proudly serving as a soldier in the United States Army. Service has taught me two enduring lessons: 

First, our men and women who serve this country look at each other as brothers and sisters, with one common mission. Our politics, religion, race and ethnicity are of no consequence. All that is important to us is supporting each other, whether on the battlefield or at home. If that support means giving your life to save your brother, you selflessly do your duty. 

Second, all those deployed abroad since 9/11 in locations such as Iraq and Afghanistan have seen firsthand what happens when a nation is governed, not by the rule of law, but by the iron fist of authoritarianism. It gave us all a new appreciation of what we have in America – a nation of laws, freedom of expression and religion, the right to bear arms, equal opportunity for all, and due process. 

These two lessons are important foundational pieces of who we are as Americans. We judge people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, their religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation. And we jealously guard our fundamental rights so that we can continue to be the greatest nation on earth.

Unfortunately, those two principles are under attack in our schools. For years, we have seen the lurch to the left in our education system, but now that lurch has turned into an assault on our values, and it is being directed at our children within schools across the country in the form of critical race theory.

In short, critical race theory in education teaches children that America’s law, institutions, values, traditions and language are systemically racist and must be torn down. It requires that everything be viewed through the lens of race. It focuses on identity group politics and ignores that we are all unique individuals with different goals, skills and limitations.