MEDICINE AND HEALTH Comments turned off

Congress To Probe COVID Vaccines — And It’s About Time

Posted By on February 23rd, 2023

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/02/23/congress-to-probe-covid-vaccines-and-its-about-time/

One of the key functions of Congress is to oversee how our government’s many branches do their jobs. It’s a central part of holding those in power accountable. That’s why it’s good news that the new Republican House has decided to investigate the COVID-19 vaccines, which turned out to be deadlier, and far less effective, than promised.

This is not one of the “gotcha” committees, such as the ones run by the Democrats during the last session of Congress that amounted to little more than political sideshows with no real serious intent of reform or improving government.

Instead, as reported by The Epoch Times, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic will investigate possible side effects of the vaccines, how and why they were approved by government regulators, and why they were forced on the public. The previous Democratic Congress was too busy investigating President Donald Trump and spending trillions on “stimulus” to do the job.

Iowa Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Weeks said the investigation’s goal is to prepare for future similar pandemics, “and that includes perfecting our vaccine development. In order to do so, we must have complete transparency in vaccine research, clinical trials and adverse reactions, and manufacturing.”

She added, “I expect our oversight hearings will shed light on the FDA approval process, the potential for side effects, and ultimately the success rate and safety of the vaccine — each of which will help us to navigate future global health emergencies.”

To which we say, it’s about time.

As others, we’ve been shocked by recent revelations from peer-reviewed studies that show the mRNA vaccines were less effective and possibly even harmful for large groups of people, while the almost-fetishized forced-wearing of masks had basically zero effect on the spread of the disease.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Why Netanyahu is right about Israel’s rogue supreme court His country is not on the verge of authoritarianism John Pietro

Posted By on February 23rd, 2023

https://thespectator.com/topic/why-netanyahu-is-right-about-israels-rogue-supreme-court/

Despite recent hyperbole, Israel is not on the verge of authoritarianism. The proposed reforms to the country’s judicial system, which have attracted so much controversy — usually under the assumption that they will turn Benjamin Netanyahu into an Israeli Viktor Orbán — are lacking in historical context.

The Israeli Supreme Court is one of the most activist courts in the world. It has assigned itself more authority and subverted the balance of power between Israel’s different branches of government. It has done all this while at the same time lacking any kind of serious accountability to the electorate.

In 1950, two years after Israel’s founding, the Knesset (parliament) agreed on what is called the Harari Resolution, whereby the state would not adopt a constitution immediately but instead craft one over time. The components of what will eventually become the constitution are called Basic Laws, though as of 2023 Israel has yet to follow through with this plan. The legal status of the Basic Laws is rather nebulous in the sense that they are not yet a true constitution but are also more than just typical legislation. Some have restrictions placed on how they can be amended, and some are very vague and broad. All of these factors play into the problems that Israel’s judicial system faces.

In the absence of a constitution, the Israeli Supreme Court did not immediately acquire the power of judicial review (when the court reviews the validity of laws). Without a constitution to appeal to, there is no higher legal authority against which to judge the validity of laws. This gave the Knesset, at least in theory, parliamentary supremacy.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Victimhood and mudslinging now define American politics Out the window go basic standards of decency, along with coherent arguments Charles Lipson

Posted By on February 23rd, 2023

https://thespectator.com/topic/victimhood-mudslinging-define-politics-nikki-haley/

The 2024 campaign has hardly started, but the air is already filled with noxious fumes, most of it from desperate cable TV hosts and anonymous social-media posters. Don Lemon’s sexist comments about Nikki Haley are the latest example, but the vitriol has spread much wider. It reveals a dank corner of American politics, filled with mud-slinging and name-calling, degrading our public square.

Donald Trump specializes in these attacks.. He has already launched several, unsuccessfully, on the man he sees as his most formidable competitor. Calling Florida’s popular governor “Meatball Ron” and “DeSanctimonious” isn’t an argument. It’s an epithet. It has the intellectual heft of giving someone the middle finger.

Lemon’s sour attacks on Nikki Haley have attracted the most attention because he has long been a prominent media personality. Why was it sexist to say she was “past her prime?” Because Haley, now age fifty-one, is actually in her sweet spot as a rising politician. What Lemon undoubtedly meant, without actually saying so directly, is that she is past her sexual prime. That is not usually considered the best reason to pick a president. Nor has it been applied to men seeking the office. When people say Biden is “past his prime,” as they frequently do, they aren’t talking about his sex life. They are worried about his mental confusion and physical frailty.

Lemon’s rant was hypocritical, as well, because he didn’t apply that same standard to his preferred female leaders. He didn’t mention it when he backed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court. She was fifty-one at the time. He didn’t mention it when he backed Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. She was born in 1947. He never used it to criticize Kamala Harris. She’s fifty-eight. The list goes on and on.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Rehabilitating a War Criminal like Assad is Not an Option by Con Coughlin

Posted By on February 23rd, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19429/rehabilitating-war-criminal-assad

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s offer to ease border restrictions to allow aid agencies better access to areas of northern Syria that were devastated by the recent earthquake is nothing more than a calculated ploy to have the punitive sanctions regime against Damascus eased.

The same pattern of double-dealing is now evident with the Assad regime’s blatant attempt to exploit the humanitarian disaster caused by the earthquake on the Turkey-Syrian border for its own ends.

Instead of easing sanctions against Assad, the Biden administration should be supporting efforts to establish an international war crimes tribunal that will ensure Assad and his henchmen stand trial for their despicable crimes.

Nor is Syria the only rogue Middle Eastern state seeking to exploit the earthquake.

Reports have also emerged that Iran, Syria’s main regional ally, is similarly seeking to take advantage of the humanitarian disaster to expand its military presence in Syria, a policy that is designed to intensify its efforts to threaten neighbouring Israel.

It is reported that Iran is using the earthquake to smuggle convoys of weapons disguised as humanitarian aid for earthquake victims in Syria.

The Biden Administration should not be encouraging them in their duplicity.

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s offer to ease border restrictions to allow aid agencies better access to areas of northern Syria that were devastated by the recent earthquake is nothing more than a calculated ploy to have the punitive sanctions regime against Damascus eased.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Ramaswamy Reaches for the Presidency The entrepreneur wants Americans to believe in their principles again.

Posted By on February 23rd, 2023

https://www.wsj.com/articles/vivek-ramaswamy-running-for-president-gop-donald-trump-primary-338c0737?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

Donald Trump proved that you don’t need to hold elective office before you try for the Oval Office, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is taking that as inspiration as he announced Tuesday that he’s running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. He has a chance to make a contribution to the race even if he is a long shot.

The 37-year-old Ohio native attended Harvard and earned a law degree from Yale, but don’t hold that against him. In 2014 he also founded a biotechnology firm, Roivant Sciences, and served as CEO until 2021. We’ve come to know him over the years through his contributions to these pages, which are provocative and well-wrought even if we disagree.

Mr. Ramaswamy has preternatural energy and can argue his brief with the best of them. He’ll be formidable if he can marshal the polling support to make it onto a debate stage. He was early in campaigning against the woke infection in American business with his 2021 book, “Woke, Inc.”

He’s also been a stalwart voice for free speech against the censorship of the tech giants. His enthusiasms sometimes get carried away, as with his proposal to make political beliefs a legally protected characteristic, like race or religion. If you think companies are woke now, wait until employees can’t be fired for attacking their employers.

MOVIES AND TELEVISION Comments turned off

Tàr-ed and Feathered By Leonard Bakker

Posted By on February 22nd, 2023

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/02/emtremed_and_feathered.html

The announcement of the Academy Award nominees is usually a day of mourning for conservatives, mindful as we are of the dictum that ‘politics is downstream from culture’ and American culture has taken a decidedly leftist, ever more frightening turn in recent years, with Hollywood leading the charge. Yet this year we have something to cheer about from one of the odds-on favorites for the night’s biggest awards: Best Actress and Best Picture.

The movie I speak of is Tàr. And no, Tàr is not the latest cinematic installment of the Jurassic Park theme ride, but a serious movie about a paragon of traditional western culture — the conductor of one of the world’s leading orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic — played to pitch perfect perfection by Kate Blanchett as the fictional but biographically realistic Lydia Tàr.

Right from the movie’s outset, we see some solid jabs landed by the redoubtable Blanchett cum Tàr. Interviewed by the New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik, she blithely refuses to take the proffered bait of feminist victimhood, telling him that she had no complaints about the trajectory of her career and that the ‘Pauline’ awakening toward the acceptance of female conductors proceeded apace. And this was just the warmup for the real fireworks that follows when Blanchett leads a class for aspiring conductors at the fabled Julliard School of Music.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Biden Is Still After Your Gas Stoves

Posted By on February 22nd, 2023

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/02/22/biden-is-still-after-your-gas-stoves/

Shortly after a Biden administration official boasted about how the federal government might ban gas stoves for being “unsafe,” the White House reassured the public that no such ban was in the works.

We warned readers at the time not to believe such reassurances because “once this sort of train starts moving there is often no stopping it.”

That was in early January. It took less than a month for the Biden administration to prove us right.

Earlier this month, the Department of Energy released a proposed rule that, if implemented, would essentially regulate gas stoves out of existence.

The new proposed rule comes despite the fact that the same federal department had decided in the past that – aside from an existing ban on always-lit pilot lights – efficiency mandates on gas stoves didn’t make much sense, since all they do is burn natural gas.

But Biden’s regulators decided to ditch common sense, insisting that appliance makers could squeeze out more heat through new designs.

The industry, which knows a thing or two about building appliances that customers want and can afford, recognizes BS when it sees it.

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Stand Up to China’s Bullying and Defend Taiwan The island nation is a candle against the darkness of the Communist Party. By Mike Gallagher

Posted By on February 22nd, 2023

https://www.wsj.com/articles/stand-up-to-bullies-and-defend-taiwan-select-committee-ip-theft-human-rights-uyghurs-hard-power-jinping-aa34bd85?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

“Mr. Gallagher, a Republican, represents Wisconsin’s Eighth Congressional District and is chairman of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party.”

I’ve just returned from Taiwan, where I had the privilege to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen. Her message: “Today, saying ‘I am Taiwanese’ is an expression of honor.” The Taiwanese have thrived and built a democracy in defiance of the dark shadow of Chinese Communist Party aggression.

My grandmother told me that “every bully is deep down a coward.” When President Dwight Eisenhower arrived in Taipei in 1960, the Chinese Communist Party, in a fit of rage, spent a week pounding the Taiwanese island of Kinmen with more than 85,000 rounds of artillery. When Speaker Nancy Pelosi touched down in Taipei last August, the party threw another tantrum. For days after her visit, sortie after sortie of fighter jets violated Taiwan’s airspace, warships cruised into Taiwan’s territorial waters, and bombs exploded around the island.

Every day we read about the party harassing dissidents in the U.S., disappearing tech executives such as Jack Ma, coercing American companies into ideological complicity. The party locks ethnic minority populations in concentration camps for possessing religious books or the wrong smartphone app. It welds its own citizens into their apartments for “public health.” Confident nations don’t act like this. The party’s rulers are defined by a fear of their own people and operate from a place of almost crippling paranoia.

I’m chairing the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party this Congress, and when we think about how to deter the Chinese Communist Party, it’s useful to think about how you deal with a bully—by getting your friends together and standing up.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Killing Jews Brings Light into The Hearts of Palestinians by Bassam Tawil

Posted By on February 21st, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19432/palestinians-killing-jews

Just last week, the head of [Fatah], Mahmoud Abbas, received a phone call from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who reportedly promised to put pressure on Israel to halt its “unilateral measures.” Needless to say, Blinken did not complain to Abbas about Fatah’s incitement or the celebration of terror attacks by many Palestinians.

What makes a human being say intentionally crushing an infant beneath the wheels of a car makes the perpetrator a “hero”? What makes them call the car-ramming murder of 8- and 6-year-old brothers a “heroic commando operation”?

This is the result of decades of anti-Israel incitement and brainwashing by Palestinian leaders, which their funders have never told them to stop. As far as most Palestinians are concerned: 1) All Jews are “settlers,” and 2) Israel is one big settlement that must be eliminated.

Furthermore, finding humor in a cartoon of a terror attack victim’s head on a platter about to be eaten as part of a traditional Palestinian feast is hard to comprehend. Why do we keep hearing Palestinians claim that terror and glorification of the murder of innocent civilians is a “natural response”?

There is nothing “natural” about murdering Jewish children waiting at a bus stop. There is nothing “natural” about murdering unarmed civilians outside a synagogue. There is nothing “natural” about dancing and handing out candy to celebrate terrorism and the murder of Jews, or of anyone.

The EU, the US, and other international funders of the Palestinians continue to finance a government that refuses not only to condemn terror, but that actually grows it like a lucrative slave-farm for terrorists. For some Palestinians, such as the leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, that even includes sending women and children to blow themselves up and using babies as human shields. The leaders do not, of course, send out members of their own families for this “achievement.”

Sadly, these funders do not even ask the Palestinian leaders, as a condition of their funding, to stop calling for violence and to stop rewarding murder. One has to ask: Why not? If you go to a bank and request a mortgage, the bank will stipulate conditions. That is “natural.”

Considering the undisguised vitriol of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority in support of terrorism — with both words and money — how could Israel seriously be expected to engage in any fruitful peace talks with the Palestinians?

After the recent wave of terror attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank, Palestinians again took to the streets to celebrate the murder of Jews. As part of the celebrations, the Palestinians danced, chanted slogans in support of the terrorists and handed out sweets to passersby.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Joe Biden Fiddles With World War In Ukraine As U.S. Border, Railways Burn By: Joy Pullmann

Posted By on February 21st, 2023

https://thefederalist.com/2023/02/20/joe-biden-fiddles-with-world-war-in-ukraine-as-u-s-border-railways-burn/

Where is Biden as his country is in flames? Hiding from his crimes against Americans and our Constitution by urging atrocities in Ukraine.

Americans received a pristine view of Democrats’ disastrous America-Last policies this morning as Joe Biden paid a surprise visit to Ukraine while his own country literally burns with manmade disasters he continues to inflame.

Biden’s Federal Emergency Management Agency denied any money to help clean up a burning chemical disaster zone in the Republican state of Ohio, but Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it clear that Biden will get a blank check to slosh around hundreds of billions from U.S. taxpayers to prolong the carnage of war in Ukraine — and the profits from it from insane deficit spending that also threatens U.S. national security.

Not only is key U.S. infrastructure on fire stateside, but Biden, in violation of his oath of office, also set the U.S. border figuratively on fire immediately upon assuming the presidency by lifting former President Trump’s effective enforcement of U.S. national security laws. Cities and towns across the United States are overwhelmed with mass human trafficking and the outsourcing of U.S. border control to international drug cartels allied with the top U.S. foreign adversary, Red China.

It’s no surprise that American support for expanding the U.S. proxy war with Russia is declining. They can see that their neighbors have to pay tens of thousands of dollars a year for health insurance even if they never see a doctor because they’re really paying off the health expenses of illegal migrants, and that their neighbors are dying from the fentanyl trafficked with the human flood of misery across the border.