ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Republicans’ Anti-DeSantis Curriculum Attacks Are A Gift To The Left By: Shawn Fleetwood

Posted By on August 2nd, 2023

https://thefederalist.com/2023/08/01/republicans-anti-desantis-curriculum-attacks-are-a-gift-to-the-left/

Several GOP congressmen furthered Democrats’ lie that Florida’s curriculum teaches slavery was beneficial to blacks.

It’s bad enough when Democrats and their legacy media allies intentionally distort facts to smear conservatives. It’s inexplicable when Republicans help them do it.

Last week, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott — a contender for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination — accepted Democrats’ phony premise that there’s something wrong with Florida’s slavery curriculum. Vice President Kamala Harris and regime-approved media had been fomenting the complete lie that the Sunshine State’s new African American history curriculum teaches students that slavery was beneficial to black Americans.

As The Federalist’s Eddie Scarry and others have pointed out, these claims are total nonsense. The standards are clear in teaching that, despite their enslavement, blacks developed skills that “in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit” — not that slavery was beneficial to them. It’s worth mentioning that the College Board’s African American studies course includes similar teachings.

But these facts didn’t stop Republicans like Scott from advancing Harris’ false narrative about the subject. When asked about it late last week, Scott embraced the lie and used it to attack fellow 2024 primary contender Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“[T]here is no silver lining in freedom — in slavery. The truth is that anything you can learn, any benefits that people suggest you had during slavery, you would have had as a free person,” Scott said. “[Slavery] was just devastating. So, I would hope that every person in our country, and certainly running for president would appreciate that. Listen, people have bad days, sometimes they regret what they say, and we should ask them again to clarify their positions.”

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Who are the six co-conspirators in Trump’s latest indictment on election interference? By Caitlin Doornbos

Posted By on August 2nd, 2023

https://nypost.com/2023/08/01/who-are-the-six-co-conspirators-in-trumps-latest-indictment-on-election-interference/

Former President Donald Trump was indicted in federal court on Tuesday for allegedly making “knowingly false” claims of voter fraud and sending rioters to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in a desperate ploy to remain president despite losing the 2020 presidential election.

While Trump is the only person charged in the crimes so far, the 45-page indictment includes references to six unnamed “co-conspirators.”

Special counsel Jack Smith said Tuesday the six individuals remain under investigation for their role in the former president’s attempt to overthrow the election he lost.

“Since the attack on our Capitol, the Department of Justice has remained committed to ensuring accountability for those criminally responsible for what happened that day,” Smith said during a brief press conference Tuesday.

“This case is brought consistent with our commitment and our investigation of other individuals continues.”

While Smith has not disclosed the names of those under investigation, The Post identified the most likely individuals listed as co-conspirators in the indictment using previously known facts about Trump’s circle of cronies in the months following the November 2020 election.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

If He Was Bribed, Biden Must Go, Majority Says: I&I/TIPP Poll Terry Jones

Posted By on August 2nd, 2023

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/08/02/if-he-was-bribed-biden-must-go-ii-tipp-poll/

As the Biden corruption probe broadens, and more evidence comes to the fore of possible bribery of the Biden family by foreign powers, a question arises: What do Americans think should be done if the allegations are true? The overwhelming response: Biden should leave or be removed from office and not run again, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows.

In an earlier story we wondered: “If any of these charges are shown to be true, can Biden weather the ensuing political storm? Or will he face a choice of impeachment or resignation, a la Richard Nixon, and thereby force the Democrats to find a new standard bearer in 2024?”

In our online poll of 1,341 adults taken from July 5-7, with a margin of error of +/-2.7 percentage points, we answered that question: Biden is not likely to weather the political storm.

A strong majority of 63% in our poll suggested that President Joe Biden should either be impeached (33%) or resign immediately (30%) if the charges prove true. Just 20% said Biden should “Stay in office and run again in 2024, if he wishes.” Another 17% said they weren’t sure.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Another Troubling Trump Indictment Special counsel Jack Smith’s broad theory of fraud has dangerous implications.

Posted By on August 2nd, 2023

https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-indictment-2020-election-jack-smith-january-6-fraud-e0068c4f?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

Donald Trump’s post-election behavior in 2020 was deceitful and destructive, and his malfeasance on Jan. 6, 2021, was disgraceful, but was it criminal? That’s the claim in the extraordinary indictment issued Tuesday by a federal grand jury established by special counsel Jack Smith.

Democrats have long sought an indictment related to Jan. 6, but on that score what’s striking is what’s not in the 45-page document. There is no evidence tying Mr. Trump to the Oath Keepers or Proud Boys who planned to, and did, breach the U.S. Capitol that day. That was the worst offense against democracy, and more than 1,000 people have been prosecuted in connection with it.

Yet the indictment offers no new evidence to establish a connection between the riot and Mr. Trump beyond his well-known tweets and public statements. Surely Mr. Smith would have added this to his conspiracy charges if he had found such evidence. Mr. Trump is also not charged with encouraging an “insurrection,” which is the word and charge leveled by the press corps and Democrats.

***

Instead the indictment charges one obstruction and three conspiracy counts related to what it claims was a broad effort to overturn the 2020 election based on “dishonesty, fraud, and deceit.” The indictment concedes that Mr. Trump “had a right, like every American, to speak publicly about the election and even to claim, falsely, that there had been outcome-determinative fraud during the election and that he had won.”

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

China to Wage War on America from the Arctic by Gordon G. Chang

Posted By on August 1st, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19833/china-arctic

This month, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported that the Shanghai-based Polar Research Institute of China revealed that “China has completed the field testing and evaluation of an underwater listening device that will be deployed on a large scale in the Arctic Ocean.”

The innocuous-sounding report tells us that China intends to wage war against the United States and Canada from the Arctic.

Other than this buoy, the institute said, China had “never planted a listening device there.”

That assertion is not truthful. Last fall, the Canadian military, according to Canada’s Globe and Mail in February, removed buoys placed by China in Canadian waters in the Arctic.

“China is now covertly preparing the groundwork for militarization of the largely undefended northern territory and critical Arctic sea routes.” — Charles Burton of the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute, to Gatestone, July 2023.

All of this data is needed to listen for submarines, specifically American ones. China wants to track and destroy American subs from the top of the world before they can flood into Asian waters.

The U.S.’s generous “engagement” approach to China has resulted in China obtaining observer status in the Arctic Council although no Chinese territory is in or near the Arctic.

China already has two permanent research stations in the Arctic, one in Norway and the other in Iceland. That is two too many.

[F]or China the Arctic is primarily a military domain. In addition to the buoys they are leaving in the Arctic, the Chinese are surveilling the area by air. The spy balloon that flew over the lower 48 states this year initially crossed into Alaska and Western Canada.

China is not only pressing the United States and Canada from the north. In the other direction, China is establishing military bases in South America and the Caribbean and is infiltrating saboteurs across the border with Mexico. The Biden administration is allowing a hostile state to go hard against America from all sides. A menacing China is now everywhere in the Western Hemisphere.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Are the Walls Closing in on the Bidens? When a protection racket starts to sink. by Tim Graham

Posted By on August 1st, 2023

https://www.frontpagemag.com/are-the-walls-closing-in-on-the-bidens/

Everyone paying attention to the latest revelations about Hunter Biden and his energetically supportive father knows that journalists and Republican officials have opened a vein, or “the walls are closing in.” Even so, the leftist media are trying to report as little of this damaging scandal material as they possibly can.

We can scarcely imagine the anxious political chatter inside pro-Biden newsrooms, but let’s imagine it sounds something like Jen Psaki’s MSNBC show. Psaki brought all her persuasive pressure on former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan to recant how he tweeted former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden were both unpopular and “both potentially face very serious legal troubles.” It should apparently be unthinkable to compare them. Psaki argued, “Hunter Biden is not in office, he’s not serving in government … not equivalent!”

New scoops are underlining this is a Joe Biden scandal. The New York Post reported Hunter Biden’s former business partner and friend, Devon Archer, will be testifying that he put Joe Biden on the phone with his business associates from Burisma at least two dozen times. That’s worse than the story of Hunter intimidating foreign clients by claiming his dad is in the room, listening in.

IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

New York City: A Sanctuary No More Frantic Dems now drowning in the cesspool of their own creation. by Byron York

Posted By on August 1st, 2023

https://www.frontpagemag.com/new-york-city-a-sanctuary-no-more/

Recently, New York Mayor Eric Adams announced that the city has printed thousands of flyers it plans to distribute at the U.S.-Mexico border. The flyer has a simple message to illegal border-crossers: Don’t come to New York.

The headline is in all caps: “UPDATES TO ASYLUM-SEEKERS FROM THE CITY OF NEW YORK.” The flyer goes on to say that more than 90,000 migrants have come to the city since April of last year. Now, the handout says, “There is no guarantee we will be able to provide shelter and services to new arrivals.” The flyer goes on to warn, “Housing in NYC is very expensive,” as is the cost of “food, transportation and other necessities.”

And then the message: “Please consider another city as you make your decision about where to settle in the U.S.”

Adams also announced that New York is going to get tough with migrants who are already in the city and are staying in its shelters. “In the coming days, the city will begin providing 60 days’ notice to adult asylum-seekers to find alternative housing paired with intensified casework services to help adult asylum-seekers explore other housing options and take the next step in their journey,” a city statement said. “Each asylum-seeker given notice will have multiple touchpoints with caseworkers over their 60 days to discuss their options and plan their next steps.” The short version of that is: We’re kicking you out. Find somewhere to go.

Adams, a Democrat, has come a long way since 2019, when he was the borough president of Brooklyn and, like some others in his city’s government, wanted to attack then-President Donald Trump’s policy on immigration. “Make no mistake, New York City will ALWAYS stand up to Donald Trump and call out his cynical plots to divide our country,” Adams tweeted on April 16, 2019. “To anyone in the world fleeing hatred and oppression, the ultimate city of immigrants wants you to remember: You’re ALWAYS welcome here.”

As it turned out, ALWAYS did not actually mean always. It didn’t even mean five years. Now, just four years after his everlasting commitment, Adams is telling illegal immigrants to stay away.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Climate Change Hasn’t Set the World on Fire It turns out the percentage of the globe that burns each year has been declining since 2001. By Bjorn Lomborg

Posted By on August 1st, 2023

https://www.wsj.com/articles/climate-change-hasnt-set-the-world-on-fire-global-warming-burn-record-low-713ad3a6?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

One of the most common tropes in our increasingly alarmist climate debate is that global warming has set the world on fire. But it hasn’t. For more than two decades, satellites have recorded fires across the planet’s surface. The data are unequivocal: Since the early 2000s, when 3% of the world’s land caught fire, the area burned annually has trended downward.

In 2022, the last year for which there are complete data, the world hit a new record-low of 2.2% burned area. Yet you’ll struggle to find that reported anywhere.

Instead, the media acts as if the world is ablaze. In late 2021, the New York Times employed more than 40 staff on a project called “Postcards from a World on Fire,” headed by a photorealistic animation of the world in flames. Its explicit goal was to convince readers of the climate crisis’ immediacy through a series of stories of climate-change-related devastation across the world, including the 2019-20 wildfires in Australia.

This summer, the focus has been on Canada’s wildfires, the smoke from which covered large parts of the Northeastern U.S. Both the Canadian prime minister and the White House have blamed climate change.

Yet the latest report by the United Nations’ climate panel doesn’t attribute the area burned globally by wildfires to climate change. Instead, it vaguely suggests the weather conditions that promote wildfires are becoming more common in some places. Still, the report finds that the change in these weather conditions won’t be detectable above the natural noise even by the end of the century.

EDUCATION Comments turned off

Why Universities Should Get Rid Of DEI Statements Tom Hafer and Henry I. Miller

Posted By on August 1st, 2023

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/08/01/why-universities-should-get-rid-of-dei-statements/                                                                                                        

Many U.S. universities, including MIT, our alma mater, now require Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) statements in applications for tenure-track professorships, and even for graduate students.  In many cases it is the first filter for applicants, so you may be the new Einstein but if your DEI statement says something like, “I treat all people equally regardless of race or gender,” you will be out of luck.  As discussed below, that isn’t what is meant by DEI, which demands fealty to equity – that is, equal outcomes – not equal opportunity free of discrimination.

Mandatory political pronouncements such as the anti-Communist oaths of the 1950s and 1960s were long ago ruled unconstitutional by U.S. courts. And given the recent Supreme Court decisions regarding affirmative action and freedom of speech, mandatory DEI statements should also be eliminated.

What is DEI, and why might there be objections, legal and ethical, to it?

Let’s start with the words themselves. Here is what Google (via Oxford Languages) says for Diversity: “the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc.”  

Note what is not there: anything about a range of different ideas or viewpoints. But it is new ideas that will define future progress, not superficial differences such as skin color, ethnicity, or gender. And how does this comport with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s invocation to judge men not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character? Have we abandoned that?

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

What Happened to Robert Malley? The downfall of the White House’s favorite Iran whisperer is a mystery wrapped inside a cover-up BY Lee Smith

Posted By on August 1st, 2023

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/what-really-happened-to-robert-malley-lee-smith

In late June, reports started circulating that White House heavy Robert Malley had been suspended from his job in the Joe Biden administration. That was surprising. Before he was pushed out, Malley had been seen as the visionary architect of the Democratic Party’s Middle East policy. He’d been Barack Obama’s conduit to Iran before Biden named him to do the same thing for his White House. For someone in his position to lose that job amid renewed talks with Iran was notable, but the most intriguing detail, hidden by the Biden team for months, was the reason why he was sidelined: He had reportedly mishandled classified documents.

So what was Malley doing that compelled the Bureau of Diplomatic Security to open an investigation on him before passing it to the FBI? Security clearances are a kind of currency in Washington and it’s unusual for a senior official to lose access to his colleagues’ secrets, especially a policymaker of Malley’s status. Had he been amassing boxes of documents in his home like former President Donald Trump? Had he taken classified documents from secure facilities and moved them to private work and residential spaces like Biden?

A large part of Malley’s work was to circulate information throughout the U.S.-based Iranian diaspora that eventually found its way to Tehran. According to Iran press reports that have foreign policy circles talking, those contacts are what got him in trouble. And the fact that the details about Malley’s suspension are coming from Iranian rather than U.S. media is a big clue that something big is missing from the White House’s highly minimized account.

At the beginning of July the Tehran Times, an Iranian regime English-language media outlet, published an article with insider details but no definite answer to the central mystery. According to the article, Malley’s clearance was suspended on April 21, two months before the news went public. Since then he’s met with CIA Director William Burns and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to try to resolve his situation but, according to the article, has not yet been granted an audience with Secretary of State (and high school classmate) Antony Blinken.