BOOKS Comments turned off

Hunter Biden’s Beautiful Things is an ugly piece of fiction Only in America — and banana republics and one-party dictatorships — can naked nepotism be converted into virtue By Dominic Green

Posted By on April 6th, 2021

https://spectator.us/topic/hunter-biden-book-beautiful-things-cbs-interview/

“All this makes Beautiful Things more than a celebrity addict’s confession. It’s a whitewash, an attempt to spin Hunter Biden’s story back onto the familiar rails of pity and redemption – and yet another attempt by Hunter to spin some cash out of his famous last name while the media cover for him. There’s nothing of public interest in any of this, is there?”

Biden is dishonest. His memory is shot. He’s an influence-peddler pretending to be a victim, a lifelong exploiter of his public position who hides behind the lowest forms of sentimentality.

Hunter Biden, of course. You’d have to be on the wrong end of a three-day crack binge to confuse Hunter Biden with the impeccably honest, mentally agile and profoundly principled multimillionaire career politician Joe Biden.

Hunter has written an autobiography. Or rather, some desperate and shameless mercenary has ghosted it for him. It belongs to the most execrable category of literature, the political memoir — the sort of book written to launch a political career (Dreams From My Father) or, as in this case, to end one (Ten Percent for the Big Guy).

The book is called Beautiful Things and has a picture of Hunter as a child on its cover. NPR calls it ‘harrowing’ and compares it to ‘degradation porn’. Perhaps this is supposed to dissuade NPR listeners from looking too closely: NPR prefers ethical porn. But we should look closely, because Hunter Biden’s business dealings are a matter of national interest. So is the ongoing effort by a mostly pro-Democratic media to kill the story around him.

HOMELAND SECURITY, IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

Border Patrol agents arrest Yemeni men who were on the FBI’s Terrorism Watch List One man was arrested in late January and another was arrested in late March.By Alex Nitzberg

Posted By on April 6th, 2021

https://justthenews.com/government/security/border-patrol-agents-arrest-yemeni-men-who-were-fbis-terrorism-watch-list

Border Patrol agents have arrested illegal alien Yemeni men present in the U.S. illegally who were on the FBI’s Terrorism Watch List.

Authorities apprehended a man on January 29 and records checks showed that the 33-year-old was on the FBI’s Terrorism Watch List and on the No-Fly list, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which also reported that agents discovered a cell phone sim card concealed beneath his shoe’s insole.

Similarly, agents on March 30 arrested an individual for illegally entering the country and records checks showed that the 26-year-old man was included on the FBI Terrorism Watch List and the on the No Fly List, according to CBP.

“The No Fly List is a small subset of the U.S. government Terrorist Screening Database (also known as the terrorist watchlist) that contains the identity information of known or suspected terrorists. This database is maintained by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center,” according to TSA.gov.

BOOKS, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

My New Book on Journalism, Exposing Corruption, and the Resulting Risks, Dangers and Societal Changes Glenn Greenwald

Posted By on April 6th, 2021

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/my-new-book-on-journalism-exposing?token

On Mother’s Day in 2019, I obtained a massive archive of materials from Brazil’s most powerful officials. The reporting we did changed the country, and our lives.

In 2015, I travelled to Sweden for an event with former Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein. It was billed as a conversation about modern journalism between the reporter who had broken the biggest story of the prior generation (Watergate) and the one responsible for the biggest story of the current one (NSA/Snowden revelations).

A couple of years earlier, at the height of the Snowden reporting, Bernstein and I had traded some barbed insults through the media. So before traveling to Sweden, he generously reached out to invite me to dinner in order, essentially, to clear the air so that we could have a civil conversation. The night before the event, we met for dinner at the hotel restaurant. We quickly laughed off the acrimony — it had been a couple of years prior, and both of us have had much worse said about us — and proceeded to have a perfectly enjoyable conversation.

Truth be told, I was excited to meet and talk to Bernstein. Though his Trump-era persona became conventionally fixated on melodramatizing Trump’s evils for CNN, at the time Bernstein for me was most associated with the high investigative drama of Watergate. As a kid, it was that journalistic triumph, along with the Pentagon Papers, that captured my obsessive attention and shaped my views of what journalism is: reporters and whistleblowers who risk everything and face various multi-level dangers to confront and expose corruption by the most powerful actors in society. Throughout pre-adolescence, I spent countless hours reading All the President’s Men and repeatedly watching the excellent 1976 film based on it — in which Bernstein was played by Dustin Hoffman and Bob Woodward played by Robert Redford — and that noble and exciting iconography stayed with me and shaped how I view what journalism should be. It still does.

Our two-hour conversation that night covered many topics, but one comment from Bernstein stayed with me. “I know you likely already know this,” he said, “but a story like the NSA reporting you’re doing is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so make sure to enjoy it while it lasts.”

CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB Comments turned off

“Cities Will Be on Fire” – Black Lives Matter Activist Warns “All Hell Will Break Loose” If Officer Chauvin Is Not Convicted in George Floyd Death By Jim Hoft

Posted By on April 6th, 2021

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/04/cities-will-fire-black-lives-matter-activist-warns-us-cities-will-burn-officer-chauvin-not-convicted-george-floyd-death/

Black Lives Matter activist Maya Echols, who is also a signed model with IMG Worldwide, warned in a recent Tik-Tok video that “cities will burn” if Police Officer Derek Chauvin is not convicted in the death of drug addict and thief George Floyd.

Echols says, “All hell is going to break loose!”

Maya Echols: “If George Floyd’s murderer is not sentenced just know that all hell is going to break loose. Don’t be surprised when buildings are on fire.”

CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB Comments turned off

Will Anyone Face Any Consequences For Gaslighting Americans On The Hunter Biden Story? Ben Domenech

Posted By on April 6th, 2021

https://thefederalist.com/2020/12/11/will-anyone-face-any-consequences-for-gaslighting-americans-on-the-hunter-biden-story/

So now that it is overwhelmingly evident the New York Post’s initial Hunter and Jim Biden story wasn’t based on hacked material, wasn’t Russian misinformation, is clearly something people deserved to know before voting, and that big tech and America’s corporate media tried to make sure that didn’t happen – and that once again rather than alter their behavior or ask for forgiveness, they’re going to instead attempt to gaslight you about all of it – I have a number of questions.

First, when did Joe Biden first learn that his repeated claims the stories about his son and his brother were Fake News – or in his phrasing, debunked, smears, and the like – were in fact false? When was he briefed on this exactly, and by whom? And why, given that every effort was made to distance Hunter from the campaign, did the defensive announcement come from the Transition instead of just from Hunter himself if Joe, as he has always claimed, has nothing to do with this.

Second, William Barr reportedly worked very hard to keep the Hunter Biden investigation hidden from the public – something that won’t help his standing with the conspiracy minded. While I can understand why this was done, will there be some explanation offered as to why this wasn’t an unusual act of deference, influenced by the 2016 concerns over James Comey’s behavior? Andrew McCarthy offers an explanation here, one which I am not sure will satisfy critics who believe American voters at least deserved to know the rumored investigation was real much earlier in the process.

For Big Tech: Has Facebook detailed which of its paid Fact Check partners were the basis for it suspending the Hunter Biden story’s spread? Have these partners retracted or altered their checks? Will they remain Fact Check partners going forward given such obvious inaccuracy?

FOREIGN POLICY, ISRAEL, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Palestinians: US Taxpayer Money Going to Terrorists by Bassam Tawil

Posted By on April 6th, 2021

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17208/palestinians-terrorists-us-aid-money

The memo, however, does not specifically say that the renewed US funding would be conditioned on ending the Palestinians’ “pay-to-slay” program. Instead, the Biden administration is only seeking a “commitment” from the Palestinian leadership to end the stipends.

It is likely that PA President Mahmoud Abbas may make such a “commitment” to the Biden administration. In reality, however, Abbas has announced over the past few years that he would never stop the payments to the imprisoned terrorists and the families of the “martyrs.”

In the world of Abbas and the Palestinians, any Palestinian who is killed while carrying out a terror attack against Jews is a martyr and hero.

“We will not deduct or suspend the allowances. Even if we are left with one penny, we will spend it on the families of the prisoners and martyrs. We consider the martyrs and prisoners as our stars.” — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Wafa.ps

The Palestinian leadership is now hoping that the Biden administration will turn a blind eye to the “pay-for-slay’ program and allow them to continue funding terrorists and their families.

The Palestinians are letting the world know that the payments to the terrorists will absolutely continue, just not through the banks. The Palestinians are trying to make it look as if this is a problem related only to the method of payment, and not the fact that the money is going to reward terrorists for murdering, or attempting to murder, Jews.

It is clear that any Palestinian “commitment” to cease rewarding terrorists will not be worth the paper it is written on. Abbas and his henchmen are telling the Biden administration one thing in English and their people the opposite in Arabic. They have no intention whatsoever of stopping the blood-soaked payments. In order to ensure that they continue, the Palestinian leadership are funneling the terror funds through the Palestinian post offices.

If and when the Biden administration resumes financial aid to Abbas, those who will resume collecting US taxpayer dollars are the terrorists.

The Biden administration’s decision to resume unconditional US financial aid to the Palestinians will allow the Palestinian Authority (PA) to continue rewarding terrorists who kill Jews, and sometimes, as “collateral damage,” others.

Last week, the Biden administration reportedly confirmed to Congress that the PA has continued to use international aid money to reward terrorists and their families.

The Biden administration, however, emphasized that the PA’s actions will not impact its plan to renew funding to the Palestinians.

A non-public State Department report revealed that the Palestinians distributed at least $151 million in 2019 on their “pay-to-slay” program, in which international aid dollars are spent to support imprisoned terrorists and their families. Financial statements also revealed that at least $191 million was lavished on “deceased Palestinians referred to as ‘martyrs.'”

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Media, Politicians Still Spreading the ‘Big Lie’ About Officer Sicknick Democratic leaders and the American news media aren’t just dishonest and shameless—they’re fully depraved. By Julie Kelly

Posted By on April 6th, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/04/05/media-politicians-still-spreading-the-big-lie-about-officer-sicknick/

Three months ago this week, Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, 42, died. The 12-year veteran of the force passed away the day after hundreds of Trump supporters mobbed the Capitol to protest Congress’ certification of the 2020 Electoral College.

The United States Capitol Police department issued a statement on January 7, just hours after he died. “Officer Brian D. Sicknick passed away due to injuries sustained while on-duty,” the press release read. “Officer Sicknick was responding to the riots on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol and was injured while physically engaging with protesters.  He returned to his division office and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.”

Sicknick’s death is a central rallying cry to bolster the narrative that the events of January 6 amounted to a “deadly insurrection” and the perpetrators must be punished accordingly. To produce compelling optics, Sicknick’s remains lay in state in the Capitol rotunda—a somber memorial attended by Joe Biden and his wife as well as lawmakers from both political parties—the weekend before House Democrats launched their second impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

In fact, the allegation Trump allies murdered Sicknick with a fire extinguisher is still included in the bill of particulars against the president. “The insurrectionists killed a Capitol Police officer by striking him in the head with a fire extinguisher,” the trial memorandum claimed, without evidence, citing only a January 8, 2021 New York Times article as proof.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

For once, in an airline mask story, the right person got punished By Andrea Widburg

Posted By on April 6th, 2021

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/04/for_once_in_an_airline_mask_story_the_right_person_got_punished.html

Yet another story about airlines behaving badly broke on Monday. This time, a family of four got kicked off a flight because the 2-year-old toddler was eating. However, unlike all the other grotesque examples of panicked mask fascism, this story has a happy ending: The flight attendant who caused the ruckus was the one who ultimately got kicked off the plane, and the family was allowed back on.

As a preliminary matter, the evidence is very strong that little children neither get nor give COVID to those around them. And as a factual matter, putting masks on a child who has just turned two is cruel. The family’s situation was also very difficult: Not only did they have a baby who had just turned two, but they also had a special needs child who has seizures and the mother is seven months pregnant. Also, it may matter that the family was obviously Jewish (for the father was wearing a yarmulka), a point I’ll address a little later.

In the case of this family, people surrounding the family objected to the flight attendant kicking the family off when the toddler wanted to eat something. Eventually, the flight attendants, for reasons that aren’t clear, kicked everyone off the plane.

This story, however, has a happy ending: Everybody but the bullying flight attendant was allowed back on the plane.

But back to that point about the family being Jewish This is the third time in two years that flight attendants have kicked Jewish families off planes for weird or inappropriate reasons.

P.C.-CULTURE Comments turned off

Portland Wokies Target Trees for Racism By Jessica Marie Baumgartner

Posted By on April 6th, 2021

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/04/portland_wokies_target_trees_for_racism.html

Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School in Portland, Oregon is currently delaying the adoption of a new mascot, a tree. In today’s hyperpolitical public education system, it seems that even trees are unable to avoid identity politics.

Students were excited to celebrate natural wonders. Unfortunately, the vote on this resolution was delayed because Portland Public Schools Board of Education Director, Michelle DePass has growing concerns that trees could possibly be seen as a symbol of lynchings from the past. She commented, “I’ve heard from a couple of community members now about the idea of using a tree — which, of course, I mean, personally, I love evergreens, I’m from Oregon — but using a tree that’s used to lynch people in our mascot, if there was any consideration as to the imagery there, that we’ve all seen from people hanging from trees and using this mascot.”

According to Ida Wells principal Filip Hristic, “Ida Wells has a very particular connection to Woodrow Wilson, which we thought was a wonderful counterpoint to the history that we were trying to both surface and and move away from. And it was somebody who stood strong and stood proud against what Woodrow Wilson and many others, like him have promoted.”

He went on to state, “And so we felt like she was a very appropriate choice for us in response to his legacy. And in choosing the mascot, as we looked around our community to see what is most prominent, what is most reflective of where we are, evergreen seemed like an obvious choice. The last thing I would want is to inadvertently cause harm, or to in any way be associated with what she devoted her life to fight against,” speaking of the school’s namesake.

Adding noncognitive, natural plants to the ever-growing list of “things considered racist” in modern society is a sign of the times. With critical-race theory being heralded and pushed by many leaders in power, this kind of inadvertent dilemma will not be an isolated incident.

BOOKS Comments turned off

Lessons From a Journalist’s First Encounter with Totalitarianism Hope springs eternal. Lloyd Billingsley

Posted By on April 6th, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/04/hope-springs-eternal-lloyd-billingsley/

“The future seemed empty to Wraithby. It was easy to burn up the past, but not so easy to face a future lacking everything that had given the past substance.”

That is from Winter in Moscow, by Malcolm Muggeridge, first published in 1934, and proclaimed by historian A.J.P Taylor as the best book on Soviet Russia. In 2021, Winter in Moscow could well be the best book for what is now going on in America: surging totalitarianism, fake news, cancel culture, and wokeness. That dynamic was already on display when Muggeridge went to the USSR in 1932 as a correspondent of the Manchester Guardian.

Wokeness took the form of a general idea in narrow, empty minds, an idea pioneered by French historian Hippolyte Taine. Since these minds are incapable of questioning the idea, they become quite literally possessed. The prevailing general idea of the time was a classless, utopian society, which Wraithby, the name Muggeridge uses for himself, accurately calls the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.

As Wraithby observes, “from time to time the Dictatorship of the Proletariat dramatizes its inner conflicts, assembles a cast and plays out on a stage a mimic battle. Triumphantly leads itself in chains through the streets of Moscow in honor of a mimic victory.”  In Red Square, Wraithby visits the Lenin mausoleum and reflects: “The head inside its glass case was fungoid, fresh and vivid like a fungus growing in darkness, unwholesome like a fungus, soft and poisonous.”