ELECTIONS Comments turned off

The Democrats deserve a drubbing in the Midterms They have shown nothing but contempt for voters’ concerns. Sean Collins

Posted By on November 1st, 2022

https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/11/01/the-democrats-deserve-a-drubbing-in-the-midterms/

With about a week to go until the US Midterms on 8 November, pundits are predicting a ‘red tsunami’ – that is, huge Republican gains across the country. Democrats know it and are ‘[bracing] for a red wave in the House’, according to the New York Times. They are even having to spend resources defending formerly safe seats.

So, in a sign of things to come, Democrats have already begun the blame game. As a sorry Politico headline has it: ‘Democrats debate themselves: why do we suck?’ Some Democrats say it is their messaging. For others, it is a lack of focus on jobs and inflation. Barack Obama believes the Democrats’ problem is that they have become too woke. The former president warns the Democrats not to be ‘buzzkills’, saying that political correctness makes people ‘feel as if they are walking on eggshells’. Everyone is looking to blame something.

Whatever the cause, the Democrats are right to be worried. At stake in the Midterms is control of Congress, as well as many state governorships and legislatures. Right now, the Democrats have effective control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate (the latter is split 50-50, but vice president Kamala Harris casts tie-breaking votes). The Republicans need to flip only five Democratic seats to retake a House majority, and polls indicate they will do so handily. In the Senate, the Republicans need only one seat from the Democrats, and their chances look promising in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada. Controlling both the House and Senate would be a huge win for the Republicans, meaning they could block president Joe Biden’s agenda for the remaining two years of his term.

It is true that, in terms of the election cycle, the Democrats are swimming against the tide. Since the Second World War, the party holding the White House has lost an average of 28 House seats in the first Midterms of a new presidency, according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Paul Pelosi and the violence we care about The liberal media’s double standards on political violence are horrifying. Brendan O’Neill

Posted By on November 1st, 2022

https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/10/31/paul-pelosi-and-the-violence-we-care-about/

It was the mention of zip ties that got me thinking. Apparently the man who allegedly broke into the San Francisco home of Nancy and Paul Pelosi on Friday was carrying zip ties. A possibly crazed individual approaching the home of a powerful politician with plastic fasteners that can be used to bind a person’s hands – it was both a nightmarish prospect and a familiar one, too. Wasn’t another public figure in the US recently targeted by someone who had zip ties? And a gun, a knife, pepper spray and a crowbar? Yes. It was Brett Kavanaugh. But many don’t remember that. Because thanks to the media, certain acts of political hate get less traction than others.

People are rightly horrified by what happened to Paul Pelosi on Friday. David DePape allegedly broke into the Pelosi home and yelled ‘Where is Nancy?’. She wasn’t there. DePape then allegedly attacked Mr Pelosi, who is 82, with a hammer. Pelosi suffered a skull fracture and is still in hospital, though he is expected to make a full recovery. This was a horrific assault on an elderly person, as well as seeming to have been motivated by a deep political animus. Sadly, it was not a one-off. There was a creepily similar incident at the home of Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh in Maryland in June.

A 26-year-old man from California travelled to Maryland allegedly with the intention of murdering Kavanaugh. That’s what he is charged with – attempted murder. He was armed with a tactical knife, a Glock 17 pistol, zip ties and other murderous paraphernalia. The difference between Kavanaugh’s alleged tormentor and the man who allegedly broke into the Pelosi home is that the former failed to gain entry. He spied two US marshals close to Kavanaugh’s home and called off his deadly mission. Kavanaugh was luckier than Paul Pelosi.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Palestinians: Why Are Attacks on Christians Being Ignored? by Khaled Abu Toameh

Posted By on October 31st, 2022

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19066/palestinians-attacks-christians

“Did you see ever a Christian attacked a Mosk [sic] in Christian majority towns in Middle East? Off course No. This shows difference of culture, faith, respect & recognition we hold” — Shadi Khalloul, prominent Christian rights advocate, Twitter, October 29, 2022.

As in previous instances, the Palestinian Authority has failed to take real measures to punish those who attack Christians or Christian holy sites in the Bethlehem area.

The attacks by Muslims on Christians are often ignored by the international community and media, who seem to speak out only when they can find a way to blame Israel.

Another disturbing situation is that the leaders of the Christian community in the West Bank are reluctant to hold the Palestinian Authority and their Muslim neighbors responsible for the attacks. They are afraid of retribution and prefer to toe the official line of holding Israel solely responsible for the misery of the Christian minority.

Sadly, it is safe to assume that the plight of the Palestinian Christians will only intensify in light of the silence of the international community and the all-too-justified fear of retaliation burdening their own leaders.

A series of violent incidents in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, and the nearby towns of Beit Jala and Beit Sahour, have left Christians worried about their safety and future under the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Many Christians living in these communities are complaining that the Palestinian Authority is not doing enough to punish those who attack churches and Christian-owned businesses. The perpetrators are Muslims who make up the majority of the population in the Bethlehem area.

BOOKS Comments turned off

Justice Corrupted: How the Left Weaponized Our Legal System Ted Cruz

Posted By on October 31st, 2022

The left has corrupted the U.S. legal system. Wielding the law as a weapon, arrogant judges and lawless prosecutors are intimidating, silencing, and even imprisoning Americans who stand in the way of their radical agenda. Their “enemies list” even includes parents who dare to speak up for their children at school board meetings.

In this shocking new book, Senator Ted Cruz takes readers inside the justice system, showing how the wrong hands on the levers of power can strangle liberty, crush opposition, and wreck lives. The notion of a “Democratic” or “Republican” Department of Justice is outrageous. That institution should safeguard the Constitutional rights of all Americans. Justice Corrupted will equip patriots and lovers of liberty to hold their government accountable.

MY SAY: Comments turned off

THE PLEASURE OF LUCIANNE GOLDBERG’S COMPANY

Posted By on October 31st, 2022

The media’s obituaries have referenced the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal ad nauseam. Lucie and Drucie her long time friend and companion are among my dearest friends. We enjoyed countless lunches either at her home or mine or at Michael’s restaurant in New York or the River Palm in Edgewater, New Jersey. Her July 4th parties were the stuff of legend. In addition to great vittles and fruits of the vine, we watched the fireworks and sang patriotic songs. She was irreverent and witty and loyal to our coterie of good friends. Fred, Carol, Bonnie, Chris, Panchali, Mary, Lynn, and Janie will forever remember the good times and pleasure of her dazzling company. rsk

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Permissible and Impermissible Incendiary Speech? For many on the Left, what most see as incendiary and violent rhetoric is simply contextualized as the necessary talk of social justice. By Victor Davis Hanson

Posted By on October 31st, 2022

https://amgreatness.com/2022/10/30/permissible-and-impermissible-incendiary-speech/

United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) hit the airwaves to connect the recent assault on Paul Pelosi with “fascism” and “white nationalism.” She insists that both are now ubiquitous. And both prompt increasing politically motivated violence. (Ocasio-Cortez remains oblivious to the greatest sustained political violence in our recent history; the 120 days of Black Lives Matter and Antifa-fueled rioting, arson, looting, and mayhem of summer and fall 2020—often cheered on or defended by public officials and social media.)

The deplorable violent attack on Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), has been described as the logical reification of increasing bitter political discourse. Shrill accusations spread even as full details of the attack are still not known. But the general picture of the assailant is one of an unhinged conspiracy freak of all flavors. He seems to have been a lunatic, drug-crazed white supremacist and anti-Semite, a former hemp jeweler, and nudist, who was either homeless or was living in a cluttered hippie-like commune in Berkeley plastered with pride and BLM flags. 

Nonetheless, almost immediately the Left has seized on the attack to blame supposed right-wing political rhetoric as the cause. 

As we enter the final week before the midterms and likely near-historic Democratic losses in Congress, this effort to manipulate violence in the news for last-minute political advantage will increase—but certainly it is not new. 

In late October 2018, after the despicable mass lethal shooting of worshipers in the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue, the Left immediately blamed Donald Trump and his supporters. That useful pre-midterm narrative insisted that Trump had provided the rhetorical fireworks that set off anti-Semite and conspiracy nut, Robert Gregory Bowers. 

The killer came from an atrocious family background. He was a known loner and outsider who came to embrace white nationalism. But in his incoherent rants and postings, he had made it clear that he was also no fan of Donald Trump. He considered the president pro-Jewish (Trump’s son-in law is Jewish and his daughter a Jewish convert) and a “globalist.” That fact, apparently, was of no importance. For the next week before the midterms, the media saturated coverage of supposed Trump culpability for Bowers’ crazy violence. 

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Free Bird Everything about Elon Musk insults the coddled, low-testosterone consensus that has been ruining America this last decade through the promulgation of its dependency agenda. By Roger Kimball

Posted By on October 31st, 2022

https://amgreatness.com/2022/10/29/free-bird/

“The Bird is Freed!”

That’s what Elon Musk tweeted upon the consummation of his bid to buy Twitter. ’Twas a consummation devoutly to be wished. Why? For one thing, as Musk later tweeted, henceforth comedy once again will now be “legal on Twitter.”

Musk’s acquisition of Twitter for more money than you or I can really contemplate ($44 billion) lit the punditocracy ablaze. On the Left there was, as St. Matthew (13:42) put it in another context, abundant “fletus et stridor dentium,” “wailing and gnashing of teeth.” On the Right, there were cheers and not a little “Schadenfreude,” which is German for “serves you right, knucklehead.” The Right also went in for some creative trolling.

The dominant narrative, on the Left anyway, is that Musk’s acquisition of Twitter represents a conservative takeover of the social media giant. Twitter had been a brash and scrappy upstart, you see, and now it has been “colonized” by the rich and powerful. . . .

That’s the idea, anyway. You can practically hear the Nabobs of the Narrative holding their breath while they wait to see if the public buys it. 

Their public will, of course. But how about the rest of us? 

The New York Times gave fastidious expression to this canard in a story headlined “Twitter, Once a Threat to Titans, Now Belongs to One.” A “threat to titans,” eh? What do you suppose that means? The Times explains in its subhead. “A decade ago, the social media platform was a tool for rebels and those challenging authority. But over time, the powerful learned how to use it for their own goals.”

In order to appreciate how funny this is, you can start with CNN’s story about the pile of money paid to the executives that Musk, in his first order of business, fired on Thursday. It is a large pile. According to CNN, Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s former CEO, Ned Segal (former CFO), and Vijaya Gadde (former Chief Legal Officer) will walk away with nearly $200 million. (I pause so that you, along with many others, can savor the word “former.”)

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Big ballot-havesting operation busted in Orlando, Florida By Monica Showalter

Posted By on October 31st, 2022

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/10/ballothavesting_operation_busted_in_orlando_florida.html

Ballot harvesting, according to the California Democrats who’d like to take it national, is an innocent practice where union members and activists, some of them illegally present in the country, do voters the favor, see, of helping voters fill out their ballots and then collecting those ballots for them so that they need never go to the polls. They call it “a new service.” It’s part of their “make every vote count” agenda, and who could be against that?

But out in Florida, where there’s still some semblance of objectivity, investigators found another story.

According to the Washington Times:

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s newly created Office of Election Crimes and Security is requesting a criminal investigation into charges of ballot harvesting in Orlando, a Democratic stronghold in the critical swing state.

Cynthia Harris, a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for District 6 commissioner in Orange County, which includes Orlando, provided a sworn complaint to the election crimes office, alleging left-leaning organizations have been perpetrating a scheme to encourage residents in black neighborhoods to apply for mail-in ballots and to fill out those ballots, which she said have been collected by paid canvassers, and sometimes altered, all in violation of state law.

In an interview with The Washington Times, Ms. Harris said she has video evidence of paid ballot harvesters operating in Orlando neighborhoods in both 2014 and 2017, and that the scheme has been going on for decades, continuing through the 2020 election and the 2022 primary.

MEDICINE AND HEALTH Comments turned off

Transgendering Language By David Solway

Posted By on October 31st, 2022

https://pjmedia.com/columns/david-solway-2/2022/10/29/transgendering-language-n1641125

As has become flagrantly obvious over the years, the political left and its myrmidons in the media, medical industry, social agencies, public libraries, and school system have become slickly adept at framing the cultural debate between conservatives and “progressives” by mutilating discourse, fudging long-accepted distinctions, and decoupling terms from their culturally ascribed referents. What was understood for centuries and millennia as decency becomes indecency, good becomes bad, virtue becomes vice, settled tradition becomes feral violence, family and marriage become barbarism and bondage (the feminist mantra), and so on. Conversely, what is destructive of customary order becomes enlightened transformation.

A comparatively recent and most egregious case in point involves what is now called “conversion therapy,” the target of the non-binary and transgender prepossession preaching “diversity” to minors — a cult that has now acquired conventional status. But what is “conversion therapy”?

It is a term calculated to deceive, to reverse normal assumptions by condemning parents concerned about their children’s sexual identity. Thus, to take an instance of adroit dissimulation, according to Human Rights Campaign (HRC), “So-called ‘conversion therapy,’ sometimes known as ‘reparative therapy,’ is a range of dangerous and discredited practices that falsely claim to change a person’s sexual orientation.” The truth is precisely the opposite. Responsible parents do not wish to “change” or “convert” their children’s sexual orientation but to retain it.

MEDICINE AND HEALTH Comments turned off

A Tour D’Horizon of the Transgender Anglosphere While other countries cheer the “transitioning” of minors, Britain stops it. by Bruce Bawer

Posted By on October 31st, 2022

https://www.frontpagemag.com/a-tour-dhorizon-of-the-transgender-anglosphere/

It’s a cartoon, but it’s not meant as a joke. It depicts a woman in a hospital bed holding her newborn baby. A man, apparently her significant other, is sitting on the bed. At the foot of the bed stands a midwife or nurse, who asks: “Who’s going to be breastfeeding?” Both parents’ hands are raised. Indeed, while the mother is breastfeeding the baby, the man has breasts – a real set of knockers – that are connected to a breast pump.

Again, it’s not supposed to be funny. The accompanying text explains that “induced breastfeeding” means “nursing a child to which you yourself haven’t given birth,” and that “you can choose to nurse, whether you are a cis or trans person, and whether you gave birth to the child or not.”

I ran across the cartoon on Facebook, where it had been posted by somebody who’d glimpsed it on the Instagram page of the rural, remote Swedish county of Värmland. It appears to have originated at the website of the RFSL, a Swedish LGBT+ rights group.

(As an extra PC bonus, incidentally, the midwife in the cartoon is wearing a hijab. But as one Facebook commenter noticed, her arms are uncovered, which means that when she goes home after work, her husband and the other men in her family will beat her to a pulp for being haram.)

Bottom line: the trans insanity is everywhere. In the Western world, anyway.

In the U.S., of course, transgender ideology is already the reigning orthodoxy throughout the health-care system. But trans activists operating within that system aren’t satisfied yet. They’re still on the advance, targeting younger and younger children for so-called “gender-affirming health care.” In August, it emerged that Boston Children’s Hospital had been “promoting ‘gender affirmation’ for kids as young as two.” In September, Christopher F. Rufo reported that Lurie Children’s Hospital, the largest facility of its kind in Chicago, was pushing transgenderism on pupils at Windy City middle schools and high schools.