WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Turkish Hostage Crisis By Rich Lowry

Posted By on August 14th, 2018

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/08/erdogan-must-release-pastor-andrew-brunson/Erdogan’s case against American pastor Andrew Brunson is ludicrous.

It’s never a good idea to negotiate with a hostage-taker, but when it’s a NATO ally, there isn’t much choice.

The Trump administration has been trying to get back a Christian pastor detained in Turkey since October 2016, and when a possible deal at the sidelines of the NATO summit fell through, it decided to drop the hammer.

A couple of weeks ago, the administration sanctioned Turkey’s justice and interior ministers — remember, these are top officials of a fellow NATO country. The action hit the Turkish currency and stock market hard. Then President Donald Trump intervened in his inimitable style, with a tweet promising a doubling of aluminum and steel tariffs against the country and pointedly noting the drop in the value of the lira.

As always, the president’s shoot-from-the-lip style is open to question, but Turkey deserved every last character — including the two exclamation points — in that presidential tweet. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not Justin Trudeau or Angela Merkel, a leader firmly within the liberal West who annoys Trump. He’s an Islamist authoritarian who is fundamentally changing the character of an erstwhile ally.

Erdogan’s resort to hostage-taking as a tactic to gain leverage over allies — it’s not just us — is a barbarous throwback and a disgusting homage to rogue states such as Iran and North Korea. He also has grabbed a Turkish-American NASA scientist and local employees of American consulates.

The case against the pastor, the highest-profile case, is ludicrous. Andrew Brunson lived with his family in a seaside city, Izmir, for more than 20 years until the government, after Erdogan survived a coup, decided that he was guilty of aiding terrorist organizations and carrying out military espionage.

EDUCATION Comments turned off

The Deflation of the Academic Brand By Victor Davis Hanson

Posted By on August 14th, 2018

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/08/academic-brand-deflated-elite-degrees-worth-less/When self-professed experts are wrong over and over, for decades, what’s the value of a university degree?

Trumpism is sometimes derided as an updated know-nothingism that rejects expertise and the input of credentialed expertise. Supposedly, professionals who could now save us tragically have their talent untapped as they sit idle at the Council of Foreign Relations, the economics Department at Harvard, or in the offices of the Brookings Institution — even as Trump’s wheelers and dealers crash and burn, too proud, too smelly, or too ignorant to call in their betters to come in and save Trump from himself.

But do the degreed classes, at least outside math, the sciences, engineering, and medicine, merit such esteem anymore?

Anthony Scaramucci’s Harvard Law degree seemed no guarantee of the Mooch’s circumspection, sobriety, or good judgement.

Bruce Ohr’s similar degree did not ensure either common sense or simple ethics. Or, on the contrary, perhaps at Harvard he learned that progressive ends justify any means necessary to obtain them. In any case, Ohr thought there was nothing wrong in keeping quiet about his spouse’s work on the discredited Steele dossier, or indeed in aiding and abetting the seeding of it, while he was the fourth-ranking official at Trump’s Department of Justice.

MEDIA Comments turned off

End the Double Standards in Reporting Political Violence By David French

Posted By on August 14th, 2018

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/08/political-violence-reporting-double-standard/The refusal by many media outlets to offer proportionate coverage empowers the worst elements of the radical Left.

Let’s take a short walk down memory lane. Not long ago, on January 2, 2016, a small group of armed protesters seized an unoccupied federal building in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is located in a relatively isolated area in eastern Oregon, and the occupied building itself was far from any populated area. The protests were related to a long-running land dispute between the federal government and Steve and Dwight Hammond — a dispute that culminated in a vindictive prosecution against the Hammonds, under the federal Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, for two “burns” that caused a trifling amount of damage (less than $1,000) to public lands.

The occupation created a media firestorm. It was covered from coast to coast, and #OregonUnderAttack trended on Twitter. The occupation was the news story for days. It spawned countless think pieces lamenting the rise of violence on the right — including a debate about whether the protesters were “domestic terrorists.” The protests continued until the last arrests in early February. On January 26, law enforcement shot and killed one of the protesters when he attempted to evade a roadblock, left his car, and seemed to reach for his waistband as he fled the scene on foot.

Again, all of this was covered, breathlessly, from beginning to end.

HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Judge Allows Release of New Mexico Terror Suspects By Debra Heine

Posted By on August 14th, 2018

https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/judge-allows-release-of-new-mexico-terror-suspects/

A judge on Monday denied a motion by state prosecutors to detain five suspected Muslim extremists arrested after a raid at a Northern New Mexico compound earlier this month, clearing them to be released, pending trial.

Prosecutors presented several hours of testimony and evidence in court, but Judge Sarah Backus, an elected Democrat, said, “The state failed to meet the burden of showing the suspects were a danger to the community,” according to KOB 4.
David Lynch @RealDavidLynch

BREAKING: Judge Sarah Backus has denied motion to keep the five suspects found at the Taos County compound 10 days ago behind bars until trial.

Siraj Wahhaj, Hujrah Wahhaj, Lucas Morton, Jany Leveille, and Subhannah Wahhaj each face 11 counts of child abuse after eleven hungry and malnourished children ages 1 to 15 were found living in the “filthy” compound in Amalia, New Mexico, near the Colorado border. The children have since been placed in the protective custody of state welfare workers with the Children, Youth and Families Department. CONTINUE AT SITE

POLITICS Comments turned off

ELECTIONS ARE COMING…VERMONT EDITION

Posted By on August 14th, 2018

https://pjmedia.com/election/vt-dem-primary-features-a-bernie-sanders-staffer-a-greenie-a-transgender-and-a-14-year-old-boy/
Vt. Dem. Primary Features a Bernie Sanders Staffer, a Greenie, a Transgender, And a 14-Year-Old Boy byTyler O’Neil

On Tuesday, voters in Vermont will nominate candidates for the governor’s race in November. Democrats have quite a cast of characters to choose from: a Bernie Sanders staffer, an environmental activist, a transgender person, and a 14-year-old boy.

The first two may not be quite that far outside the norm. Brenda Siegel, an activist who champions relief for victims of the opioid epidemic and the Brattleboro hurricane, worked for Bernie Sanders before he was cool. Siegel interned for Sanders when he was in the U.S. House of Representatives (1991-2007).

A classic big government Democrat, Siegel supports a $15-per-hour minimum wage, universal health care, an emphasis on green energy, and “a deep look at our transportation system.”

James Ehlers may upstage Siegel on environmental issues, however. Executive Director of the local green (or should I say “blue?”) group Lake Champlain International, Ehlers also supports the far-left activism that categorizes the Democratic Party in the increasingly radical Green Mountain State. His website declares that “healthcare is a human right,” backs paid family leave, advocates for more funding to Planned Parenthood, champions a $15-per-hour minimum wage, demands water quality, supports unions, and pushes more government in general.

Ehlers enjoys the backing of the AFL-CIO and the Vermont Building and Construction Trades Council.

Green energy may not be sexy enough in this race, however. (Or should I say, “gender-y?”) Christine Hallquist, a biological man who identifies as a woman, has launched a powerful bid to become the first transgender governor in American history.

The former CEO at the Vermont Electric Cooperative, Hallquist became the first CEO to “transition” while in the job. “My path to being my authentic self was certainly not easy,” Hallquist said at a campaign kickoff. “However, it’s always been important to me to live openly and honestly. I chose to transition in a very public way because I felt I owed it to those at Vermont Electric Cooperative who put their trust in me.” CONTINUE AT SITE

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Norway’s Favorite Anti-Semitic Cartoonist Strikes Again By Bruce Bawer

Posted By on August 14th, 2018

https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/norways-favorite-anti-semitic-cartoonist-strikes-again/

After the publication of a dozen Muhammed cartoons in the September 30, 2005, issue of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten led to mass Muslim mayhem, the story of the cartoons went worldwide – but the cartoons didn’t. Well, yes, you could find them online. But very few of the newspapers, newsmagazines, and TV news programs that reported on them actually showed them. They were too scared. One brave exception was Vebjørn Selbekk, then editor of Magazinet, a tiny Norwegian newspaper. In its January 9, 2006, issue, he reprinted the cartoons as part of a feature examining their impact. The feature included an interview with Norway’s most famous editorial cartoonist, Finn Graff, who has been plying his trade at various newspapers – most recently Dagbladet – since 1960. Asked if he would ever draw anything that might offend Muslims, Graff said no. He admitted that he feared the possible repercussions, but also insisted that his decision was based “as much on respect for [Muslims’] religious belief as on real fear.” In other words, as I wrote in my 2009 book Surrender, “he supposedly respected beliefs that he knew might drive people to kill him.”

For reprinting the Danish cartoons, the courageous Selbekk ended up being savaged by pretty much the entire Norwegian cultural establishment and pressured to apologize by people at the highest levels of the Norwegian government. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg (now head of NATO) declared that, yes, Norway had free-speech rights, but that those rights came with responsibilities, which Selbekk had ignored; Stoltenberg also insisted that no major Norwegian newspaper had reprinted the cartoons. (On the contrary, Aftenposten had done so, and Dagbladet had run them on its website, but in the effort to single out Selbekk for demonization these inconvenient facts were dropped down the memory hole.) On February 10, 2006, Selbekk capitulated and, in the presence of government ministers and reporters, formally expressed his contrition to fourteen imams representing forty-six Norwegian Muslim organizations. It was a disgraceful day for Norwegian liberty. CONTINUE AT SITE

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Sweden Approaches the Brink, Keeps Head in Sand By Michael Walsh

Posted By on August 14th, 2018

https://pjmedia.com/trending/sweden-approaches-the-brink-keeps-head-in-sand/

Sweden was the first European country to fully embrace the “diversity” myth, which posits that nation-states are unquestionably improved by a huge influx of non-native cultural aliens. The vogue for “multiculturalism” — which is effectively a process by which the native culture is supplanted and replaced by a foreign one, otherwise known as invasion and conquest — has since spread to other nations, to the manifest detriment of each of them.

And yet the manic ability to continue to prize “diversity” at the expense of national cohesion continues, aided and abetted by the international media (in this case, Reuters) which is completely on board with the cultural-Marxist program of Western cultural destruction:

Youths torched and vandalized scores of cars in the Swedish city of Gothenburg and surrounding towns and Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Tuesday the disturbances looked organized ” almost like a military operation”.

Note the obfuscatory word, “youths,” which has become a standard journalistic euphemism for “young Muslim males.”

It was unclear what triggered Monday night’s unrest but Sweden has seen a rise in violence in areas with high unemployment and other social problems and the incident echoed rioting in the capital Stockholm in 2013. Mounting public concern about gang-related and other violence has become a central issue in campaigning ahead of a national election on Sept. 9.

How about that!

Police said that up to 100 cars were either set fire to or vandalized in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-biggest city located in the western part of the country, and in nearby towns such as Falkenberg and Trollhattan, an industrial area with high unemployment. There were no reports of injuries.

Two men, 16 and 21 years old, were arrested on Tuesday and police said it expected to make more arrests during the day. Police said gangs were involved but gave no details.

Including the names and cultural nationalities of the perps in the gangs. CONTINUE AT SITE

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Strzok’s firing reveals the scandal at the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility By Thomas Lifson

Posted By on August 14th, 2018

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/08/strzoks_firing_reveals_the_scandal_at_the_fbis_office_of_professional_responsibility.html

Because Trump-haters already are donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to Peter Strzok’s GoFundMe begathon, they are likely to fund his lawyers making an issue of his firing. The fact that the deputy director of the FBI overruled the Office of Professional Responsibility’s recommendation for a mild penalty of a 60-day suspension and a demotion will no doubt be a centerpiece of their argument that politics reared its ugly head, and he is a martyr.

Good.

Sara Carter, with many sources within the FBI, lays out the case that the OPR acted with bias and needs reform. I recommend that you read the whole thing, but here are some excerpts:

[W]hat could have led FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich, to make the decision to overrule OPR? …

Former FBI special agents, some of whom worked with OPR for years, said they agree with Bodwich’s decision. They told SaraACarter.com that the system is broken and Bodwich had no other choice but to step in and fire Strzok. They say political leanings, friendships and dual systems of justice inside OPR have plagued how cases regarding FBI agents are adjudicated and handled.

MEDIA Comments turned off

Media Conspiracy Theories About Devin Nunes Are Getting Out Of Control by Mollie Hemingway

Posted By on August 14th, 2018

http://thefederalist.com/2018/08/14/media-conspiracy-theories-devin-nunes-getting-control/
The media claims it’s crazy for Devin Nunes to say in ‘secret’ audio that Democrats want to impeach President Trump and that he has political reasons for opposing Rod Rosenstein’s immediate impeachment.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee secretly bought and paid for an information campaign alleging treasonous collusion between Donald Trump and Russia to steal an election belonging to Clinton.

The campaign was run by Fusion GPS, which specializes in spreading information into the media. Fusion GPS principal Glenn Simpson and British ex-spy-for-hire Christopher Steele secretly met with myriad media companies during the campaign and after the election to spread their dramatic tales claiming that Trump campaign affiliates were working hand-in-hand with Russian operatives, and that the Russians had compromising information on President Trump.

They also got the information — which they claimed came from Kremlin operatives and other Russians with ties to Vladimir Putin — into the U.S. government to secure widespread spying on the Trump campaign.

Literally nothing of significance alleged in the information campaign has been proven to be true. Yes, Russia is a country with Putin as a leader, and yes Carter Page visited Russia, but two years into one of the most thoroughly investigated issues of our time, no evidence has been provided to come even remotely close to proving Page is a mastermind spy who secretly coordinated with Russian officials to bring down America’s next president. Or that Michael Cohen went to Prague to make arrangements with the Russian officials. Despite the dramatic claims of Paul Manafort’s involvement in this Russian plot, Special Counsel Robert Mueller has told the court that nothing in Manafort’s money-laundering trial will touch on this claim.

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

Ambrose: Donald Trump doing plenty for black Americans Jay Ambrose

Posted By on August 14th, 2018

http://www.bostonherald.com/opinion/op_ed/2018/08/ambrose_donald_trump_doing_plenty_for_black_americans

President Trump is making life better for black Americans everywhere you look while his predecessor fumbled. But hey, say his critics, not everything is perfect yet, so don’t give in to his policies. It’s an unbudging, self-inflicted blindness that can hardly be called racism itself even though it is similarly destructive.

The loudest Trump triumph of the moment has been dips to the lowest black unemployment in history, and get this: Jobs confer purpose, they provide pride, they build community, they set one up to help others, they enable social mobility, they lift the spirit. Welfare limps, jobs jog and you don’t get them through semi-socialist policies. You get them through deregulation and tax reform of the Trump kind, encouraging businesses to expand, lowering expenses and inspiring entrepreneurship.

Well, the critics say, there is still a large gap between black and white unemployment, and yes, there is, but you hardly address it by saying current job gains are therefore not that big a deal. We’re told, too, that jobs multiplied during the Obama administration. They did, but slowly as black family income dropped, hindrances known as regulations abounded and President Barack Obama said manufacturing would never be the same again. Manufacturing is now taking off.