MEDIA, POLITICS Comments turned off

Dem Visits Cuba to Learn about “Economic Development” and “Quality of Life” Another Democrat parrots communist-scripted lies. Humberto Fontova

Posted By on April 17th, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273490/dem-visits-cuba-learn-about-economic-development-humberto-fontova

“Forget the peripheral ignorance; let’s look at the central stupidity: –….. it’s inescapable: The editorial staff of one of the world’s most prestigious newspaper (one owned by Rupert Murdoch, no less!) was unaware that Castro and Che Guevara’s regime killed people.”

Move over AOC! Just when you thought AOC (or her scriptwriter) was unbeatable. Just when you thought blather from public servants could not possibly become more daft. Just when you thought AOC’s throne atop the pinnacle was unreachable and her crown secure—New Orleans’ Democrat mayor LaToya Cantrell (or her scriptwriter) lunges for the royal scepter.

You see, amigos: The Democrat mayor and a retinue of associated New Orleans city officials spent all of last week in Havana, Cuba to, in the mayors office’s own words:

“see firsthand how (Cuba’s) history has produced unique opportunities and challenges in the areas of economic development, trade, health care, education and other quality of life issues.”

I realize this sounds like shameless AOC idiocy one-upsmanship. I realize that learning about “quality of life” from a place that saw multiple times as many desperate people die trying to escape it, as died trying to escape over the Berlin Wall, sounds like shameless click-bait, or even a Saturday Night Live or Monty Python skit. So here’s the proof.

In a way, however, the visit seems appropriate. After all, the rulers of one place drove out practically all productive residents with punitive socialist policies that converted a once charming and prosperous place into a huge slum except for a few tourism enclaves. The other place is named Cuba.

From Stalinist Cuba Democrat Cantrell dutifully performed all the traditional Democrat rituals mandatory for such visits, primarily hailing Cuba’s glorious “healthcare and education!”

EDUCATION Comments turned off

Our Expensive, Manipulated Public High SchoolsBy E. Jeffrey Ludwig

Posted By on April 17th, 2019

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/04/our_expensive_manipulated_public_high_schools.html

The idea of spending one’s way out of educational problems did not begin with New York’s recently appointed chancellor, Richard Carranza. It can be traced to Jonathan Kozol, whose first bestseller on education came out in the 1960s. Kozol was an educational reformer who emerged as a critic of education after he spent less than a painful year teaching 4th grade in the Boston public schools. As Kozol matured as an educational reformer, he shifted away from harping on the racism of the white teachers, as he did in his first book, Death at an Early Age.

A later book, Savage Inequalities, advanced a different view. Under this view, the new reformers propose to make teachers and principals accountable by ending tenure (tenure has been weakened but is still in place in New York City) and inspired reforms such as implementing new ways of rating teachers (Danielson rating system) and implementing the small high school movement. The last initiative was undertaken by Deborah Meier and then driven by the Coalition for Essential Schools and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Teacher unions got on board with the idea that inner-city schools fail not because of the racism of the teachers, the premise of Kozol’s first book, but because they have less money to spend than more successful suburban schools.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

A LETTER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP FROM AMERICAN JEWISH LEADERS….SEE NOTE

Posted By on April 16th, 2019

One of the sponsors of this letter is Americans for a Safe Israel, an organization that I am proud to belong to since 1973.rsk

Dear Mr. President,

Thank you for your friendship towards the Jewish community in the United States and around the world, especially in Israel. Your unprecedented affinity for the Jewish People is all the more commendable, given the inexcusable and deplorable false accusations of Antisemitism which have dogged your presidency since its earliest days. We encourage the continuation of a warm relationship with the Jewish community built upon mutual respect.

We were distressed to read an open letter publicized by several American Jewish organizations, many of whom “boycotted” some of your previous overtures to the Jewish community, encouraging you to pressure Israel to compromise her rights as an independent democracy. One of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledges, made while campaigning for his recent re-election, was to extend Israeli sovereignty over Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
Throughout your presidency, you have done everything possible to keep your own campaign promises — with the move of the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, pledged by every President since Bill Clinton, being a prime example.

For decades, Israel has attempted to nurture coexistence with Arab communities which desire to live outside Israeli governance, while retaining control over its borders and national security in that very hostile part of the world. Both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama recognized that Israeli sovereignty would extend to Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria in any final peace agreement. It is unfair and unreasonable to hold these Jewish communities hostage to the continuing intransigence of the Palestinian Authority. And it is outrageous to suggest setting policy to kowtow to the Antisemitic, terrorist-financed effort to boycott the world’s only Jewish state.

ISRAEL, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Coalition of Pro-Israel Organizations asks President to Let Israel Decide on Sovereignty

Posted By on April 16th, 2019

https://coalitionforjewishvalues.org/2019/04/coalition-of-pro-israel-organizations-asks-president-to-let-israel-decide-on-sovereignty/

Twenty-one diverse pro-Israel organizations sent a joint letter to President Trump today, urging him to permit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a free hand to extend Israeli sovereignty over Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. The letter comes in response to one from left-wing groups, dominated by arms of the American Reform and Conservative Jewish movements, calling upon the President to indicate that he will “not support any Israeli proposals to annex the West Bank, in whole or in part.”

The new letter was organized by Rabbi Pesach Lerner and Rabbi Yaakov Menken of the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV) and Rabbi Yechezkel Moskowitz of the Jewish Heritage Preservation Society. “It is important for those who believe in traditional values, who believe in a strong and safe State of Israel, who appreciate the actions of President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, to speak up,” said Rabbi Lerner, President of the CJV. “We cannot allow the liberal left to be the only voice.”

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Ruthie Blum: Netanyahu and Jewish worry about what the neighbors might think

Posted By on April 16th, 2019

https://www.jns.org/opinion/netanyahu-and-jewish-worry-about-what-the-neighbors-might-think/

America is already divided, as is Israel, between those who favor appeasing enemies while reprimanding friends, and those who espouse the opposite view.

A few days ahead of the Knesset elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to extend Israeli sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria. This campaign promise, which was reported by many unfriendly news outlets as a ploy to garner votes from the far-right, had nothing to do with his ultimate victory, however. The real reason for his win was simple. The Likud Party that he heads is most closely aligned with the position of mainstream Israeli society, which holds centrist views laced with the realism born of experience.

This is not to say that Netanyahu’s annexation announcement was insignificant. On the contrary, it was so straightforward and insistent that it led many right-wingers say that they’d believe it when they saw it.

Politicians tend to talk a big talk, after all, particularly during a campaign. And Netanyahu, as Israelis across the political spectrum agree, is nothing if not a brilliant politician. A “magician” is what he was called on election night by left-wing pundits shifting from elated to despondent as exit polls gradually were replaced by actual country-wide vote counts.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Banning Straw Emojis Will Relieve About As Much Pollution As Banning The Straws Themselves- Brad Slager

Posted By on April 16th, 2019

https://thefederalist.com/2019/04/16/banning-straw-emojis-will-relieve-much-pollution-banning-straws/

Activist-peddled environmental hysterics are leading to nonsensical calls for plastic straw emojis to be banned. Prosecute the emoji thought crimes!

California lawmakers believed they were saving the planet by banning plastic straws, so they passed laws that criminalized waiters handing out the fluid vacuum tubes. Starbucks tried to one-up California with some corporate virtue signaling by ending their use of straws in drinks, but the company foolishly replaced them with sippy cup-type lids that actually use more plastic.

Now an environmental outfit is being even more ridiculous about the accursed cylindrical inhalation apparatus. The plan: to remove digital representations of the demonized drink devices. The multinational spirits conglomerate Bacardi is teaming with the environmental nonprofit Lonely Whale to implore the Unicode Consortium (the global authority on uniform programming language) to assist their efforts.

In an open missive they dubbed a “Cease And De-sip Letter,” in an effort to be cute, as well as a PSA video featuring actor Daniel Franzese of “Mean Girls” fame, the partners declared how important their efforts were. “Marine life is badly affected by plastic waste in our waterways, and refusing disposable plastics, such as the single use plastic straw, is a simple way that each of us can take action,” stated the press release.

Why are they reaching out to Unicode, specifically? Because of their noble goal: They want to remove plastic straws from emojis featuring soft drinks and cocktails. They also, by all appearances, want to be taken somewhat seriously.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

The Moral Case For Israel Annexing The West Bank—And Beyond Israel has the moral right to annex all of the West Bank, for a plethora of reasons. Israel’s right to exist is non-negotiable and it has a right to unilaterally apply Israeli law over its nation-state. By Jason Hill

Posted By on April 16th, 2019

https://thefederalist.com/2019/04/16/moral-case-israel-annexing-west-bank-beyond/

Jason D. Hill is honors distinguished professor of philosophy at DePaul University in Chicago. His areas of specialization include ethics, social and political philosophy, American foreign policy, cosmopolitanism and race theory.

The April 2019 election victory for Benjamin Netanyahu will see him serve a record fifth term as Israeli prime minister and form a new right-wing coalition government. It also brings the promise of a commitment Netanyahu made to the nation during his campaign: That he would annex Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.

Vowing to extend sovereignty without distinguishing between settlement blocks and the isolated settlements, Netanyahu promised not to transfer any sovereignty to the Palestinians. His victory in the elections will, hopefully, see the enactment of Netanyahu’s promise.

Israel has the moral right to annex all of the West Bank (even Area C) for a plethora of reasons.
Israel’s Mistake Was Allowing the Palestinian Pretense

Israel made an altruistic mistake toward the Palestinian people after the 1967 defensive war with Jordan. Rather than regard them as “war settlers” or refugees or, after legally occupying conquered territory, as “illegal occupants,” they made the Palestinian people their political and moral problem.

After victory, the “war settlers” could have been seen as enemies of the state: supporters of the Fatah (Palestine Liberation Organization) Charter, which basically calls for the end of Jewry in the region. Under a malevolent and illiberal regime, they would have been regarded and treated as such, not as Israel did treat them: as human beings with specific, inalienable rights.

Under a different set of political sensibilities, the Palestinian people would have been militarily removed from the area because, morally speaking, after the 1967 war, they never belonged there. The proper response from Israel should have been to immediately annex the land and make the people there the responsibility of their original political homeland: Jordan.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Conservative and Labour Parties Are Both Unfit to Govern By Douglas Murray

Posted By on April 16th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/british-conservative-and-labour-parties-are-both-unfit-to-govern/

A great question looms over British politics. Should we smash the major parties? By “major parties” I obviously mean the Conservative and Labour parties. And when I say “we” I mean, of course, the British voting public. Since the government delayed Brexit once again this month, it seems that Britons will soon be asked to vote in this year’s European Parliament election. That will be three years after we voted to leave the European Union. With the Conservative government showing a monumental incompetence in matters great and small it looks as though we might also face a general election before this parliament comes to its purported end in 2022. Suddenly it looks as though the two-party system which was meant to be uncrackable could finally crack.

A YouGov poll carried out last week showed Labour coming top of the forthcoming EU elections (24 percent) and the Conservatives down 8 percent to only 16 percent. Only just behind them are Nigel Farage’s new Brexit party (15 percent) and Nigel Farage’s old Brexit party, UKIP (14 percent). So in the EU Parliament elections the Conservatives could well be beaten by a party that didn’t exist until last week. Some Conservatives appear to think, “Well that’s just the European elections: the public were always badly behaved during those.” Except that the British public’s ill-discipline no longer appears to be limiting itself to European elections. A YouGov poll on voting intentions in a general (domestic) election shows the Conservatives four points behind Labour at just 28 percent. For such an election the Brexit party and UKIP poll 8 percent and 6 percent respectively. And so we see the possibility here not just of a Labour government but of the Conservative party being destroyed.

Like a lot of Conservative voters, I no longer abhor the prospect. Not because we relish a Corbyn government — very far from it. A Corbyn government would put Britain on a road to national decline that would make the 1970s look like our heydays. But the Corbyn Labour party has its own problems. It is fighting against its own parliamentary party and in the country as a whole there is now a clear divide between the pro-EU Labour party that dominates in metropolitan areas like Islington (Corbyn’s own constituency) and the vast swathes of the north of England who voted to leave the European Union and are the Labour party’s only remaining base.

POLITICS Comments turned off

Farrakhan Defends Omar’s 9/11 Remarks, Appealing to Conspiracy Theories By Jack Crowe

Posted By on April 16th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/louis-farrakhan-defends-ilhan-omars-9-11-remarks-appealing-to-conspiracy-theories/

“There were many Israelis and Zionist Jews in key roles in the 9/11 attacks,” he said in 2015.

Nation of Islam founder and notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan defended Representative Ilhan Omar’s glib description of the September 11 attacks Monday by dismissing the attacks as nothing more than a false-flag operation designed to draw the U.S. into Middle Eastern conflicts.

In a video posted to YouTube last year and tweeted out Monday by the Nation of Islam account, Farrakhan accuses the Bush administration of orchestrating the 9/11 attacks in order “to get the country into war at the expense of young patriotic men and women.”

“3,133 Scientists Back Ilhan Omar on 9/11 Deep skepticism exists about the gov’t version of 9/11. Many experts—architects & engineers—say the World Trade Center Towers were destroyed in a controlled demolition. Listen to @LouisFarrakhan #IStandWithIlhan,” reads the tweet, which includes a link to the video.

The tweet expresses Farrakhan’s support for Omar, who has received an onslaught of criticism from Republican lawmakers and conservative pundits for using the phrase “some people did something” to describe the World Trade Center attacks, which killed more than 3,000 Americans.

Farrakhan has previously blamed a cabal of highly placed Jewish government officials for helping to execute the attacks.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Telling the Stories of Persecuted Christians in Iraq, Egypt, Iran, Bolivia, and Kazakhstan at the U.N. By Paul Archuleta

Posted By on April 16th, 2019

https://aclj.org/persecuted-church/telling-the-stories-of-persecuted-christians-in-iraq-egypt-iran-bolivia-and-kazakhstan-at-the-un

Recently, through our international affiliate, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), we submitted reports detailing religious persecution in Iraq, Egypt, Iran, Bolivia, and Kazakhstan as part of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) Universal Periodic Review (UPR). As we have told you previously, the UPR is an important function of the HRC and its purpose is to remind U.N. Member States “of their responsibility to fully respect and implement all human rights and fundamental freedoms” through assessing the status of human rights in a particular Member State.

At each session, the UPR working group assesses the human rights of select Member States. Prior to these assessments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) – such as our affiliate the ECLJ – have the ability to file written reports on the particular Member States up for review. In our reports, we detail the persecution Christians face in any offending Member States, which will hopefully lead to meaningful change to allow for greater protection of religious freedom around the world.

We have long told you about the persecution and struggles that Christians and other religious minorities face in Iraq as a result of the genocide perpetrated by ISIS. In our report on Iraq, we detailed how these atrocities have resulted in a massive humanitarian crisis, and that if Christians and other religious minorities are to have a future in Iraq action must be taken now to provide them with the aid and assistance they so desperately need to rebuild their lives.