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Reciprocity Is the Method to Trump’s Madness By Victor Davis Hanson

Posted By on July 12th, 2018

https://amgreatness.com/2018/07/12/reciprocity-is-the-method-to-trump

Critics of Donald Trump claim there is no rhyme or reason to his foreign policy. But if there is a consistency, it might be called reciprocity.

Trump tries to force other countries to treat the United States as it treats them. In “don’t tread on me” style, he also warns enemies that any aggressive act will be replied to in kind.

The underlying principle of Trump commercial reciprocity it that the United States is no longer powerful or wealthy enough to alone underwrite the security of the West. It can no longer assume sole enforcement of the rules and protocols of the postwar global order.

This year there have been none of the usual Iranian provocations—frequent during the Obama Administration—of harassing American ships in the Persian Gulf. Apparently, the Iranians now realize that anything they do to an American ship will be replied to with overwhelming force.

Ditto North Korea. After lots of threats from Kim Jong Un about using his new ballistic missiles against the United States, Trump warned that he would use America’s far greater arsenal to eliminate North Korea’s arsenal for good.

Trump is said to be undermining NATO by questioning its usefulness some 69 years after its founding. Yet unlike 1948, Germany is no longer down. The United States is always in. And Russia is hardly out, but instead cutting energy deals with the Europeans.

More importantly, most NATO countries have failed to keep their promises to spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

France Gives Muslim Killer of Elderly Jewish Woman a Pass Daniel Greenfield

Posted By on July 12th, 2018

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/270716/france-gives-muslim-killer-elderly-jewish-woman-daniel-greenfield

Every other Muslim terrorist or killer in Europe has his actions blamed on mental illness or drug use. This just continues the pattern. I wrote about the murder of Sarah Halimi last year.

Sarah Lucy Halimi was thrown out of the window of the third floor Paris apartment while she begged her Muslim killer to spare her life.

The 66-year-old director of an Orthodox Jewish nursery was woken from her sleep when she was violently beaten by her twenty something Muslim neighbor who then dragged her to the window.

She died on the street outside the building where she had lived for thirty years.

The killer had allegedly shouted, “Allahu Akbar”. In the tragic comedy of denial that every Islamic terrorism investigation inevitably becomes, the authorities are still hunting around for his motiv

Yonathan Halimi, Sarah Lucy’s son, describes the killer’s family as being known for its anti-Semitism. “One day, one of the killer’s sisters pushed my sister down the stairs, and the next time she called her a dirty Jew,” he described. Sarah’s brother said that the killer called Sarah and her daughter, “dirty Jews”.

The authorities stonewalled at every turn. And, predictably, the killer gets a pass. Allahu Akbar usually means motive unknown.

POLITICS Comments turned off

TRANSCRIPT: BRANDON STRAKA # WALK AWAY!

Posted By on July 12th, 2018

FULL TRANSCRIPT OF BRANDON STRAKA’S VIDEO

Once upon a time, I was a liberal.

Well, to be honest, less than a year ago, I was still a liberal.

I became a liberal because I felt I’d found a tribe whose values aligned with my own.

I staunchly reject racism of any kind, I reject the marginalization of any human being based off of their gender or sexual orientation. I reject tyrannical group think, I reject a system which allows an ambitious, misinformed, and dogmatic mob to suppress free speech, create false narratives, and apathetically steamroll over the truth.

I reject the acceptance of junk science and superstition to advance ideological agendas.

I reject hate.

These are the reasons why I became a liberal and these are the same reasons why I am now walking away.

For years now, I have watched as the left has devolved into intolerant, inflexible, illogical, hateful, misguided, ill-informed, un-American, hypocritical, menacing, callous, ignorant, narrow-minded, and at times, blatantly fascistic behavior and rhetoric.

POLITICS Comments turned off

#WalkAway’s Threat to Democrats’ Base A movement launched just weeks ago is crippling the Left. Matthew Vadum

Posted By on July 12th, 2018

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/270706/walkaways-threat-democrats-base-matthew-vadum

The grassroots #WalkAway movement aimed at getting disaffected Democrats to publicly and conspicuously abandon their increasingly radical, intolerant party is rapidly gaining steam.

The movement, founded in late May by gay hairstylist Brandon Straka, encourages Americans to share their personal stories of disillusionment with the Democratic Party and abandon, or “walk away,” from the party. #WalkAway primarily encourages the rejection of Democrat radicalism, as opposed to proselytizing on behalf of the Republican Party or Donald Trump.

“We want people on the right to use their voices and tell the world the truth about whom they are by making videos telling everyone what it means to be a conservative in America and what your values really are,” states the campaign’s website. “Tell minorities on the left, who have been told their whole lives that they are not welcome on the right because of the bigotry and hatred, that they are welcome. Tell them there is a seat at the table on the right for everybody.”

“This is a movement of Patriots from all walks of life – men, women, black, brown, white, straight, LGBTQ, religious, and non-believers – who share something very important in common. WE ARE ALL AMERICANS and we will not surrender our country.”

Democrats had been sliding left in the Obama era as the party embraced Black Lives Matter, traitor Chelsea Manning, and Antifa, but the slide has been accelerating in recent months as Trump Derangement Syndrome paralyzes their intellectual capacities. Small-c communist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s shocking upset victory in a Democrat New York primary race over House Democratic Caucus chairman Joe Crowley on an extreme-left utopian fantasy platform of abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, providing Medicare for All, and guaranteeing jobs for all, hasn’t encountered much pushback from the party establishment. Instead of the revulsion this Marxist ought to inspire, she has been welcomed with open arms. DNC Chairman Tom Perez describes the soon-to-be-congresswoman as the “future of our party.”

It is against this disturbing backdrop that the #WalkAway movement was founded.

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

President Trump Confronts NATO Free Riders Takes Germany to task for filling Russia’s coffers. Joseph Klein

Posted By on July 12th, 2018

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/270713/president-trump-confronts-nato-free-riders-joseph-klein

President Trump’s visit to Brussels for the two-day NATO summit got off to an intense start. “It’s very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia where we’re supposed to be guarding against Russia and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia,” President Trump said at the outset of a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday morning. “We are protecting Germany, we are protecting France, we are protecting all of these countries and then numerous of the countries go out and make a pipeline deal with Russia where they are paying billions of dollars into the coffers of Russia. I think that is very inappropriate.” The president went on to characterize Germany as “a captive of Russia” because of its dependence on Russia to meet its energy needs.

President Trump also repeated his oft-stated criticism that other NATO members were not paying their fair share for collective defense. “Many countries owe us,” the president said before attending the summit at NATO headquarters. “The United States is paying far too much and other countries are not paying enough… This has been going on for decades, for decades, it’s disproportionate and not fair to the taxpayers of the United States.”

German officials did not take President Trump’s barbs lightly.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Israel hosts UAE military delegation to review F-35s: report UAE reportedly aiming to be second Middle East country to get fifth-generation fighter

Posted By on July 12th, 2018

http://www.atimes.com/article/israel-hosts-uae-military-delegation-to-review-f-35s-report/

In a show of what some are calling a burgeoning Israeli-Gulf alliance against Iran, a military delegation from the United Arab Emirates is said to have traveled to Israel to get a first-hand look at advanced F-35 fighter jets acquired from the US.

Israel’s i24NEWS reported the event, citing unnamed sources who said that a US delegation was also present for the visit.

The UAE is said to be looking to become the second Middle Eastern country, after Israel, to have the fifth-generation fighter jet.

Israel received its first delivery of the Lockheed Martin-made stealth aircraft in 2016 and declared this year that it was the first country to use the jet in combat. It was later reported that the chief of the Israeli Air Force was chided by cabinet members for showing off the plane’s exploits with a photo of an Israeli F-35 flying above Lebanon.

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

David Goldman :NATO’s problem is that Europeans won’t fight It is refreshing to hear an American president call the Europeans out for the sybarites and deadbeats they are

Posted By on July 12th, 2018

http://www.atimes.com/article/natos-problem-is-that-europeans-wont-fight/

President Trump outraged European opinion by denouncing his allies on the far side of the Atlantic for their failure to meet NATO’s spending target of 2% of GDP.

Other alliance members, he added, should spend 4% of their output on defense, just like America does. His dudgeon at the Europeans was more than justified: the Europeans really are deadbeats who don’t pay their fair share of the cost of defending their own countries and leave the burden in the hands of American soldiers and taxpayers.

Trump’s remonstrations will fall on deaf ears. Why should Europeans spend money on arms, when they have no intention of using them?
A recent opinion poll found that small minorities in the core European members of NATO were willing to fight for their country under any circumstances.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Catalyzing Innovation via Centers, Labs, and Foundries Chuck Brooks

Posted By on July 12th, 2018

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2018/07/11/catalyzing-innovation-via-centers-labs-and-foundries/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

The cornerstone of collaboration is based on knowledge transfer; sharing of research tools, methodologies and findings; and sometimes combining mutual funding resources to meet shortfalls necessary to build prototypes and commercialize technologies.

Collaborations often involve combinations of government, industry and academia who work together to meet difficult challenges and cultivate new ideas. A growing trend for many leading companies is creating technology specific innovation centers, labs, and foundries to accelerate collaboration and invention.

As the development of new technologies continues to grow exponentially and globally, collaboration has more value as a resource for adapting to the rapidly emerging technologies landscape by establishing pivotal connections between companies, technologies and stakeholders.

In the US Federal government, the National Labs (including: Lawrence Livermore, Oak Ridge, Argonne, Sandia, Idaho National Laboratory, Battelle, and Brookhaven, and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC’s), and federally funded Centers For Excellence have been outlets for innovation and public/private cooperation. The benefits of the Labs’ role include experienced capability in rapid proto-typing of new technologies ready for transitioning, showcasing and commercialization. The Labs are a reservoir of specialized skills and capabilities with the best state-of-the art facilities for testing and evaluation of technologies.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Acting EPA Chief Promises to Continue Regulation-Slashing Mission By Stephen Kruiser

Posted By on July 12th, 2018

https://pjmedia.com/trending/acting-epa-chief-promises-to-continue-regulation-slashing-mission/

Good news, America, the anti-Trump media may have succeeded in wearing down Scott Pruitt but the agency he headed will continue President Trump’s objective of rolling back regulations.

Reuters reports that the goals at the Environmental Protection Agency remain unchanged:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s acting chief said on Wednesday he would carry out the Trump administration’s push to cut regulations on industry, while also seeking to improve air and water quality, echoing the policies of former head Scott Pruitt who stepped down last week.

The people who were so fervent about ousting Pruitt may now be in a “be careful what you wish for” situation.

Unlike Pruitt, Wheeler been known to shun the spotlight. But some environmentalists say his experience means he can carry out Trump’s deregulation policy more effectively.

Wheeler has plenty of bureaucratic experience, which is something Democrats usually value as part of their top-down lust for governing. Of course, the problem is that he isn’t on the side that wants the EPA to be the most powerful un-elected force in the United States government. Republicans tend to view the EPA’s mission in terms of keeping the air and water clean while Democrats treat is as the missionary arm of the Climate Change Church.

Rolling back EPA regulations is no easy task. The agency was practically weaponized during the Obama years. The president who was the best friend to Big Green added almost four thousand EPA regulations to the books during his two terms in office. One would almost have to create a separate agency just to deal with getting those off of the books. CONTINUE AT SITE

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Gunning for Judge Kavanaugh By Daniel John Sobieski

Posted By on July 12th, 2018

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/07/gunning_for_judge_kavanaugh.html

It’s not just the wrongly decided Roe V. Wade decision that liberals fear is in jeopardy with the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. They also fear their crusade against “semi-automatic” weapons may be exposed as the semantic, visual, and judicial fraud that it is:

“If you care about common sense gun violence protection, Judge Kavanaugh is your worst nightmare. If you want background checks, a ban on assault weapons, or any of the other common sense measures that we have in Connecticut, or California or New York, Judge Kavanaugh will strike them down.” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, who used to clerk on the court. “That’s in his record, it’s indisputable.”

“Give him a seat on this court, and you can say good-bye to the common sense measures in Connecticut, California and New York that have helped save lives,” he added.

President Trump may very well have picked Brett Kavanaugh to be his second nomination to the Supreme Court based on his clear-thinking opinion that there is no asterisk next the phrase “right to keep and bear arms” that says it is okay for that right to be infringed based on a “scary” appearance or advancements in technology:

Kavanaugh, who has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit since 2006, dissented from a 2011 decision in which a three-judge panel upheld the District of Columbia’s ban on so-called assault weapons and its requirement that all guns be registered. Kavanaugh disagreed with the majority’s use of “intermediate scrutiny,” saying an analysis “based on text, history, and tradition” is more consistent with the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment precedents.