FOREIGN POLICY, ISRAEL Comments turned off

The Deadly Costs of Biden’s Israel Policy By Chip Roy & Victoria Coates

Posted By on August 2nd, 2023

https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/07/the-deadly-costs-of-bidens-israel-policy/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=next-article&utm_term=first

As terror spikes in Israel, President Biden is getting what he paid for.

Earlier this month, President Biden addressed the recent increase in violence in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin. After opining that the terrorist attacks against Israel were carried out by “extremist” elements among the Palestinians, the president added an interesting caveat — that the terrorism was to some extent provoked by Israel’s “extreme” right-wing government. In other words, the president of the United States created a moral equivalence between Palestinian terrorists murdering Israeli civilians and the duly elected government of Israel trying to defend them, simply because Israeli politics are not to his liking.

The president would do better to face the grim reality that the over $1 billion in taxpayer-funded foreign aid that his administration has poured into the Palestinian Authority (and the United Nations programs propping it up) over the last two and a half years has done nothing to improve the lives of the Palestinian people and has instead been diverted to fund the very terrorism for which he blames Israel. If Biden refuses to recognize this fact, Congress will have to act to protect the American people from inadvertently funding attacks on one of our closest and most critical allies.

Contrary to the Washington establishment’s preconceived notions of what works in Israel, Trump-era policy proved that defunding the Palestinians for their venomous anti-America rhetoric and abuse of American funds to reward terrorists and their families does not in fact result in a significant spike in violence. This despite the theoretically incendiary corollary policies such as moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and recognizing the Golan Heights as sovereign Israeli territory. Rather than stoking Palestinian violence, Trump’s policies led to the first peace deals between Israel and Arab states in 25 years.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Case for a Special Counsel to Investigate the Bidens By John Yoo & John Shu

Posted By on August 2nd, 2023

https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/08/the-case-for-a-special-counsel-to-investigate-the-bidens/?utm_source=recirc-

To save the DOJ’s rapidly deteriorating reputation, it is high time for Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special counsel.

Consider this clarion call for a special counsel:

There are certain extraordinary moments of crisis when the people’s faith in the integrity and independence of their elected officials is caused to waiver [sic]. These scandals tarnish the view that the Attorney General is an independent executive official who can be trusted to enforce the criminal law in the high offices of the government. To restore the utmost public confidence in the investigation of criminal wrongdoing by high-ranking government officials, the appointment of a special prosecutor then becomes necessary.

It did not come from Senator Charles Grassley or Representative James Comer, even though both men continue to diligently investigate allegations that Biden administration appointees either slow-walked or interfered with Justice Department probes into Hunter Biden’s alleged crimes. Nor did it come from Republican presidential-primary candidates who have called for a special counsel after the collapse of Hunter’s sweetheart plea deal, apparently designed to grant immunity from very serious felony charges.

No, the above quote comes from President Biden himself, in a 1987 article in the North Carolina Law Review defending independent counsels, who at that time possessed far more powers than do today’s special counsels. Writing as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Biden argued that the executive branch could not be trusted to investigate and prosecute its own members. Instead of allowing DOJ to conduct such investigations, he argued, Congress could override the normal separation of powers and create independent prosecutors with unlimited budgets and no accountability

Biden strongly supported the appointment of an array of special prosecutors to investigate those involved in the Iran–Contra scandal — cabinet members, DOJ officials, and even expanding to include Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. In a January 1987 interview, Biden stated that the Reagan DOJ, “at a minimum, gives the appearance of attempting to prevent certain information from coming to the fore,” and that, at worst, “someone tried to actively suppress an investigation.” In 2003, Biden and other Democratic senators sent a letter to President George W. Bush demanding a special counsel in the leak case involving CIA officer Valerie Plame. “We do not believe that this investigation of senior administration officials, possibly including high-level White House staff, can be conducted by

MOVIES AND TELEVISION Comments turned off

Why Everyone Should Go See ‘Sound of Freedom’ By Anthony Gonzalez

Posted By on August 2nd, 2023

https://pjmedia.com/culture/anthony-gonzalez/2023/08/02/why-everyone-should-go-see-sound-of-freedom-n1715508

Yesterday, I decided to go ahead and watch “Sound of Freedom” at my local theater. To say the movie was good would be insulting. It was an eye-opening, inspirational, and incredibly well-made film that captivated me from start to finish.

I didn’t know Hollywood had it in them anymore.

To date, “Sound of Freedom” has generated over $150 million at the box office. It should be noted that it has yet to be released internationally.

Even CNN is calling the film a “box office hit.” Who would’ve thought?

I think of the film as the Mike Tyson of the movie industry. No movie comes close, except “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One,” which I saw last week. With that being said, “Sound of Freedom” remains at the top of the leaderboard.

The movie highlights the dangers of the child sex trafficking that is going on everywhere around us. I bet many of us aren’t even aware of the crisis, at least not how it operates. I think of child sex trafficking as a silent pandemic, swooshing through the winds, staying in the shadows.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Biden Administration Refuses to Refill Strategic Oil Reserve By Eric Lendrum

Posted By on August 2nd, 2023

On Tuesday, the Biden Administration deliberately chose to not refill the strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) after depleting it to combat a surge in gas prices last year.

According to the Daily Caller, the report from Bloomberg said that the administration considered it to be “too expensive” to refill the vital reserve supply, as the current price of a barrel of oil is roughly $80. The SPR is still at a record low level after Biden released at least 180 million barrels in 2022, in an effort to reduce historically high gas prices prior to the 2022 midterm elections.

“The [Department of Energy (DOE)] remains committed to its replenishment strategy for the SPR, including direct purchases when we can secure a good deal for taxpayers; exchange returns; and cancellation of planned sales where drawdown is unnecessary, in coordination with Congress,” a DOE spokesman said in a statement.

The Biden Administration had previously said it would consider buying back oil to replenish the SPR once the average barrel price falls between $62 and $72, but the average price has instead been on the rise in recent months. On Tuesday, the price of Brent oil crude futures closed at $85.

The decision on Tuesday marked the fourth round of bids to refill the SPR, a crucial reserve supply that had previously only been meant for emergencies such as wartime. Biden’s decision to raid the SPR for the simple purpose of reducing domestic gas prices, so that he and his party would not suffer the consequences in an election, was widely criticized.

DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in July that the Biden Administration would seek to refill the SPR, but admitted that the task may have to wait for a second term.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

If The DeSantis Campaign is in Trouble Why is the Leftist Media Ramping up Their Attacks? Partisans are so desperate to destroy DeSantis they will literally accuse him of anything By Carpe Diem

Posted By on August 2nd, 2023

https://amgreatness.com/2023/08/02/if-the-desantis-campaign-is-in-trouble-why-is-the-leftist-media-ramping-up-their-attacks/

In the last week, the leftist propaganda media—practically in unison, has ramped up their attacks against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a concerted effort to declare the Republican primary race over—before the first debate has even occurred, and more than five months before the Iowa Caucuses.

These partisans are so desperate to destroy his campaign and sway public opinion that they will literally accuse him of anything, no matter how far removed it is from reality.

Here’s a small fraction of the recent headlines we’ve seen, which I’ve taken the liberty of correcting in bold, below the original.

“The Sputtering DeSantis Campaign Looks for a Restart,” writes the New York Times. 

“In Very Early Stages of Race, DeSantis Campaign Shifts Strategy.”

“Weak, small and reckless: how Ron DeSantis, Republican Napoleon, met his Waterloo,” says The Guardian.

“Strong and Effective: how Ron DeSantis crushed the Left’s radical agenda in Florida.”

“A DeSantis come-from-behind win is looking vanishingly unlikely,” says Politico.

“Politico is terrified DeSantis might win the GOP nomination.”

“Looking for a fight, Ron DeSantis tangles with Kamala Harris,” writes NBC.

“Looking for a fight with Ron DeSantis, Kamala Harris Lies about Florida’s African American history curriculum.”

MEDICINE AND HEALTH Comments turned off

Gender CONfirmation Surgery Exploring the perils of reality dysphoria By Lloyd Billingsley

Posted By on August 2nd, 2023

https://amgreatness.com/2023/08/02/gender-confirmation-surgery/

“Accredited medical professional groups agree that gender-affirming care is medically necessary, safe, and effective for trans and non-binary youth,” proclaimed Admiral Rachel Levine last October. Back in March, the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health ramped up that claim.

“President Biden supports you. I as the Assistant Secretary for Health will support you and I talk about this topic, everywhere I go, to get the word out,” said Levine, a Harvard grad and medical doctor. “I am positive and optimistic and hopeful that the wheel will turn after that and that this issue won’t be as politically and socially such a minefield.”

That endorsement invites a closer look at “gender affirming care,” which as NBC noted, “commonly includes cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, and gender reassignment surgeries.”

Dr. Maddie Deutsch, Associate Professor of Clinical Family & Community Medicine at the University of California – San Francisco (UCSF), and Medical Director for UCSF Transgender Care, reviews the “choices, risks, and unknowns associated with feminizing hormone therapy.” Taking higher doses of hormones, “will not necessarily bring about faster changes, but it could endanger your health.” Those pondering the hormone therapy might wonder what form the endangerment could take.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

The only way Ron DeSantis prevails Stop attacking Trump, for starters Roger Kimball

Posted By on August 2nd, 2023

https://thespectator.com/politics/only-way-ron-desantis-prevails-2024/ I wonder if Ron DeSantis’s favorite mot these days is from Mark Twain: “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Maybe so. But let’s face, the reports are many and deafening. They are also damaging. Consider, to take one recent example, the report, conveyed by Semafor, on the DeSantis Meme Team that works under the rubric of […]

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Wasted Years: Biden’s Foreign Policy Record The Biden administration has missed chances to stem the growing Chinese threat By James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer

Posted By on August 2nd, 2023

https://amgreatness.com/2023/08/01/wasted-years-bidens-foreign-policy-record/

U.S. foreign policy under President Biden has been defined by the combination of the failure to advance U.S. national interests and support for the progress of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The administration continues to act as though the threat from the PRC is not an urgent or an existential one where every moment matters. As such, the PRC’s comprehensive national power has continued to grow, as does its global influence. This matters because no matter who is president in January 2025, the U.S. has lost precious time in its confrontation with China.

U.S. foreign policy under Biden has suffered in four major areas.

First, in Europe, the Biden administration’s continued support for the attritional war in Ukraine serves to drain U.S. defense resources with no end to the conflict in sight. The administration will likely make a push to end the war in 2024 due to the U.S. presidential election cycle. This will be true whether Biden is the candidate for reelection or has been replaced by another. This continues while simmering unrest in Kosovo threatens to destabilize the western Balkans with inattention from the administration. Moreover, our British allies have been poorly treated by this administration due to the president’s apparent hostility stemming from his Irish ancestry. However, the greatest failure of the Biden administration in Europe is that it has not pressed Europe to decouple its economy from China. While there is clear evidence that Europe is looking to the U.S. for leadership on this matter, unfortunately, the U.S. has abandoned the Trump administration’s effort to decouple its economy from the PRC.

Second, in Asia, Biden’s failure is profound. Taiwan remains inadequately armed and supported by the U.S., while the PRC’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continues planning and preparations for its invasion of the island. Every day counts to bolster Taiwan’s ability to deter an attack with conventional weapons. The time lost will impose a terrific cost when the PLA does attack – and attack it will. Senior U.S. officers have warned of a Chinese attack. In March 2021, Admiral Philip Davidson, then commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, stated that China would attack Taiwan before 2027. In October 2022, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday warned that rather than a 2027 window for Chinese aggression, it may come in a 2023 window. The former commander of U.S. Strategic Command, Admiral Charles Richard, warned many times against the impending threat from China. Most recently, U.S. Air Force General Mike Minihan explained in a leaked January 2023 memo that PRC would attack in 2025. The halting measures Biden has taken are insufficient for a conventional deterrent.

Third, the Middle East, South America, the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific remain arenas of China’s expansion. Iran retains warmed relations with China while the UAE and Saudi Arabia build an increasingly close relationship with Beijing. The Venezuelan government and the new one in Brazil are proudly pro-China. China’s intelligence collection facility in Cuba appears to be expanding and will no doubt soon be expanded to permit a greater number of People’s Liberation Army forces. In Africa, the Chinese military presence continues to grow, with a base in Djibouti and a new one likely in one of the many West African nations that Beijing has cultivated around the Gulf of Guinea. China’s relationships with Angola and, increasingly, Nigeria are alarming. In the Pacific, the familiar pattern of economic investment becoming political influence is witnessed from the Solomon Islands to Kiribati. Biden’s cancellation of his visit to Papua New Guinea and of his visit to Australia to address the parliament is a stain that will not soon be forgotten.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

DeSantis Invites Kamala Harris to Florida to Settle ‘Benefits of Slavery’ Drama By Caroline Downey

Posted By on August 2nd, 2023

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/desantis-invites-kamala-harris-to-florida-to-settle-benefits-of-slavery-drama/

Florida governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday invited vice president Kamala Harris to Florida to debate her claims that the Sunshine State’s history curriculum endorses slavery.

“Over the past several weeks, the Biden administration has repeatedly disparaged our state and misinformed Americans about our education system,” the 2024 GOP candidate wrote in the letter.

Harris and other Democratic politicians have accused Florida’s  African American history curriculum of teaching that “enslaved people benefited from slavery.” Teachers’ union, the Florida Education Association, and the NAACP branded the standards “an attempt to bring our country back to a 19th century America where Black life was not valued, nor our rights protected.”

The curriculum includes 191 lessons emphasizing the punitive nature of slave codes, the economic undercurrents of the slave trade, as well as the post-abolition era of segregation and racism. Behind progressives’ hysteria, however, is one item instructing junior-high-school classrooms to “examine the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation).” An appended “Clarification” adds that students should consider “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

Harris tweeted last week that “extremists” in Florida erased African-American history. She then announced she’d visit Jacksonville, where she delivered remarks blasting the standards. DeSantis asked her to come back for another visit to settle the misunderstandings around the curriculum.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

What NASA and the European Space Agency are admitting but the media are failing to report about our current heat wave Thomas Lifson

Posted By on August 2nd, 2023

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/07/what_nasa_and_the_european_space_agency_are_admitting_but_the_media_are_failing_to_report_about_our_current_heat_wave.html

The current heat wave is being relentlessly blamed on increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but there is a much more plausible explanation, one that is virtually endorsed by two of the world’s leading scientific organizations.  It turns out that levels of water vapor in the atmosphere have dramatically increased over the last year and a half, and water vapor is well recognized as a greenhouse gas, whose heightened presence leads to higher temperatures, a mechanism that dwarfs any effect CO2 may have.

So why has atmospheric water vapor increased so dramatically?  Because of a historic, gigantic volcanic eruption last year that I — probably along with you — had never heard of.  The mass media ignored it because it took place 490 feet underwater in the South Pacific.  Don’t take it from me; take it from NASA (and please do follow the link to see time-lapse satellite imagery of the underwater eruption and subsequent plume of gases and water injected into the atmosphere):

When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on Jan. 15, it sent a tsunami racing around the world and set off a sonic boom that circled the globe twice. The underwater eruption in the South Pacific Ocean also blasted an enormous plume of water vapor into Earth’s stratosphere — enough to fill more than 58,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. The sheer amount of water vapor could be enough to temporarily affect Earth’s global average temperature.

“We’ve never seen anything like it,” said Luis Millán, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. He led a new study examining the amount of water vapor that the Tonga volcano injected into the stratosphere, the layer of the atmosphere between about 8 and 33 miles (12 and 53 kilometers) above Earth’s surface.