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February 2019

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Al Gore comes out in favor of Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal By Ethel C. Fenig

By on February 9th, 2019

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/02/al_gore_comes_out_in_favor_of_ocasiocortezs_green_new_deal.html

Noted environmentalist but failed science prognosticator and multi, multi, multi-millionaire Al Gore, whose lavish homes fit the lifestyle of a Democrat former senator, former Democrat vice president, failed Democrat presidential candidate, Academy Award-winner, Grammy-winner, Nobel Peace Prize-winner, and all-around hypocrite chimes in on fellow (yeah, yeah, she’s a woman) Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.)’s equally non-scientific scheme to ruin the USA while getting rich — probably — and more famous in the process.

The Green New Deal resolution marks the beginning of a crucial dialogue on climate legislation in the U.S. Mother Nature has awakened so many Americans to the urgent threat of the climate crisis, and this proposal responds to the growing concern and demand for action. The goals are ambitious and comprehensive — now the work begins to decide the best ways to achieve them, with specific policy solutions tied to timelines. It is critical that this process unfolds in close dialogue with the frontline communities that bear the disproportionate impacts today, as this resolution acknowledges. Policymakers and Presidential candidates would be wise to embrace a Green New Deal and commit to the hard work of seeing it through.

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MOVIES AND TELEVISION Comments turned off

‘Never Look Away’ Review: Towering Art as High Drama Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s latest feature explores the power of art as exemplified by an artist who resembles painter Gerhard Richter.By Joe Morgenstern

By on February 9th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/never-look-away-review-towering-art-as-high-drama-11549578464?mod=cx_picks&cx_navSource=cx_picks&cx_tag=video&cx_artPos=6#cxrecs_s

When your debut feature wins an Oscar—and almost universal acclaim—the path ahead probably leads downhill. That was the case for the German filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. His electrifying 2006 political thriller, “The Lives of Others,” set in the former East Germany, explored state-sponsored surveillance, the beauty of empathy, and what it means to be human. His second film, “The Tourist,” starred Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp in a silly Hollywood confection about gangsters and mistaken identity; it left Mr. Donnersmarck’s admirers wondering how he would climb back from such a steep descent. “Never Look Away,” in German with English subtitles and entering national release this week, provides the answer: by taking on, with formidable if not total success, a mountainous subject—the power of art as exemplified by an artist who resembles the towering figure of Gerhard Richter, and as dramatized in a fateful family saga across three eras of German history.

Either of those two elements might have been ambitious enough to fill a conventional feature. This one, which runs a few minutes more than three hours, is filled to overflowing, though only occasionally does it seem overlong. (An extended sequence about the avant-garde scene in postwar Dusseldorf conspicuously verges on self-parody.) And as befits a story about the visual arts, it was shot by the great American cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, who gave us the peerlessly pure images in Carroll Ballard’s “The Black Stallion.”

Mr. Donnersmarck’s artist hero, Kurt Barnert (Tom Schilling), offers a perfect pretext for re-examining his nation’s calamitous past, from the rise of the Nazis before World War II through postwar division to unification in unimagined peace and prosperity. “Never Look Away” is equally about the suffering Kurt’s family endures during much of that time, and about Kurt’s art—how he makes it, how it changes him and those it touches. The details of his life sometimes hew closely to those of Mr. Richter’s; at other times they’re freely fictionalized. (The fraught relationship between the filmmaker and Mr. Richter, arguably the world’s pre-eminent living artist, was recently examined in a New Yorker piece by Dana Goodyear.) Rich as the film may be in aesthetic considerations—very rich indeed—it’s the startling arc of Kurt’s life story that sustains the dramatic narrative.

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EDUCATION, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Florida’s Voucher Vindication New data shows how school choice lifts college prospects.

By on February 9th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/floridas-voucher-vindication-11549670717?cx_testId=16&cx_testVariant=cx&cx_artPos=4&cx_tag=collabctx&cx_navSource=newsReel#cxrecs_s

One issue that helped Florida Governor Ron DeSantis beat progressive Andrew Gillum in November’s gubernatorial nail-biter was his support for the state’s private school voucher program. To understand why that mattered, consider a report this week on the link between K-12 school choice and college success.

Nearly 100,000 low-income students can attend private school in Florida under its Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC) program, and 68% of the students are black or Hispanic. When the Urban Institute examined limited data in 2017, it found that school-voucher alumni weren’t much more likely to earn bachelor’s degrees at Florida’s state universities than were their public-school peers. Some critics seized on this as evidence of school-choice failure.

Now comes new evidence from the Urban Institute, which this time examined a larger data set of some 89,000 students. The researchers compared those who used school vouchers to public-school students with comparable math and reading scores, ethnicity, gender and disability status. The new research also included students who attended private and out-of-state colleges and universities in addition to Florida schools.

High school voucher students attend either two-year or four-year institutions at a rate of 64%, according to the report, compared to 54% for non-voucher students. For four-year colleges only, some 27% of voucher students attend compared to 19% for public-school peers. Voucher students also appear to have broader post-high school options. About 12% of voucher students attended private universities, double the rate of non-voucher students.

What of graduation rates? Voucher students who entered the program in elementary or middle school were 11% more likely to get a bachelor’s degree, while students who entered in high school were 20% more likely. Some 35% of students in the study participated in the voucher program for only a year. But the researchers note that “the estimated impact on degree attainment tends to increase with the number of years of FTC participation,” indicating the program is important to student success. High schoolers who stayed in the voucher program for at least three years “were about 5 percentage points more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree, a 50 percent increase.”

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

A Visit With Venezuela’s Interim President ‘ Juan Guaidó says in an interview.‘I personally don’t believe that Russia and China are on Maduro’s side,’ By Annika Hernroth-Rothstein

By on February 9th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-visit-with-venezuelas-interim-president-11549667894

Much of the Western world has recognized Juan Guaidó’s claim to be interim president of Venezuela, but the old president, Nicolás Maduro, seems determined to hold on to power. Does Mr. Guaidó hope for foreign intervention? “It’s important to remember that a dictator will not freely relinquish power after having hijacked the constitution and ruled with threats and promises,” he tells me in an interview in his office at the National Assembly. “Sometimes it is necessary to put enough pressure on him that he leaves. A military operation may be the most effective form of pressure, but it is not the form we hope for and believe in.”

He goes on to say that all options are on the table—echoing the public statements of President Trump and other U.S. officials—but insists he prefers a peaceful process that would enable fair elections and spare the Venezuelan people from costs of war. Anyhow, he says, Mr. Maduro is increasingly isolated.

Some countries—China, Russia, Turkey and Iran prominent among them—have continued to support Mr. Maduro, but Mr. Guaidó says he isn’t worried that Venezuela will become the focal point of a new cold war. “The support for the democratization of Venezuela and for our struggle has been enormous—completely unparalleled,” he says. “I personally don’t believe that Russia and China are on Maduro’s side—they are simply protecting their investments here in Venezuela. But slowly they are realizing that Maduro cannot offer them either stability nor guarantees. What the opposition stands for is stability, protection of Venezuela, and a fostering of democratic processes.”CONTINUE AT SITE

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POLITICS Comments turned off

The PMS Caucus By Julie Kelly

By on February 8th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/02/07

In a gracious move at his State of the Union address, President Trump gave a shout-out to the historic number of women serving in Congress this year. “Exactly one century after Congress passed the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote, we now have more women serving in Congress than at any time before,” the president said, pointing to a claque of congresswomen seated in front of him.

The female Democratic representatives, many dressed in white to honor the suffrage movement’s 100th anniversary, erupted with self-congratulatory glee. The same gals who were seen scowling, seething, and fake-crying just moments before suddenly were giddy, clapping wildly and high-fiving each other.

Say hello to the PMS Caucus.

Rather than demonstrate that women politicians on a combative national stage can govern in a sober and diplomatic way, female Democrats in Congress—don’t call them ladies—unfortunately are playing into the very stereotypes that they claim to want to disprove. They are moody, petulant, and impulsive. When confronted about their bad ideas or egregious remarks, these Cycle Sisters rage about sexism and racism rather than respond in good faith. They have profanity-laced temper tantrums and emotional breakdowns in public.

Their collective mood is so foul and unpredictable that one feels almost compelled to give them a box of chocolate donuts, a dose of Midol, and send them to bed with a heating pad.

The PMS Caucus showed their true colors on Tuesday night—and one of them wasn’t white. They were red and blue, and not in an American way. Their de facto leader, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) glowered throughout the president’s speech. The youngest person ever to serve in the people’s house didn’t applaud when the president heralded a federal agent who rescued hundreds of women and girls from sex traffickers. She also refused to stand when First Lady Melania Trump was introduced; at the introduction of American war veterans; for record low unemployment among minorities; and for plans to eliminate the scourge of AIDS.

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POLITICS Comments turned off

Ocasio-Cortez: ICE Doesn’t ‘Deserve a Dime’ of Funding By Jack Crowe

By on February 8th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-ice-doesnt-deserve-a-dime-of-funding/

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) said Thursday that she would work to deprive the Department of Homeland Security of funding until the agency adopts more permissive immigration-enforcement policies.

“This is one of the most urgent moral issues and crises that we have in America right now,” Ocasio-Cortez said during a rally outside the Capitol building. “This is not a political issue. Children dying in detention centers should not be a partisan concern. It should be a universal concern for every American in the United States.

“We’re here to say that an agency like ICE, which repeatedly and systematically violates human rights, does not deserve a dime,” she added.

Invoking Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen’s claim that the agency does not have a policy of separating migrant children from their parents, Ocasio-Cortez argued that Nielsen is ignorant of the enforcement policies pursued by her subordinates.

“I will not give one dollar to a secretary who does not care about her life and does not care to investigate a child’s death,” she said to applause. “I will not give one dollar to black-box detention facilities that think that some people in this country are deserving of constitutional protections and others are not.”

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

India Is Falling Behind China in an Asian Arms Race High defense-spending totals mask the weakness of its weapons systems, and the threat is growing. By Sadanand Dhume

By on February 8th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/india-is-falling-behind-china-in-an-asian-arms-race-11549583595

When it comes to military spunk, no Indian politician shows it off like Narendra Modi. The prime minister sometimes dons camouflage to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, with troops on the borders with China and Pakistan.

While inaugurating a film museum last month, Mr. Modi greeted the audience with a catch phrase from “Uri: The Surgical Strike,” a recent Bollywood hit about a 2016 military operation in which Indian soldiers entered Pakistani-controlled territory to take out purported terrorist training camps. The prime minister often cites the episode to contrast his muscular leadership with the allegedly feckless opposition.

Unfortunately, Mr. Modi’s spending priorities do not match his rhetoric. Last week’s federal budget—a stopgap exercise before national elections this spring—underscores his habit of choosing butter over guns.

The budget promises income support for poor farmers, increased outlays for a government health-insurance scheme, tax cuts for the middle class, and pensions for workers in informal businesses. Though the $60.9 billion earmarked for defense is the most ever in absolute terms—and an 8% increase over last year—defense outlays have dipped to a modest 2.1% of gross domestic product.

That decline is made worse because much of India’s military budget is consumed by salaries for its bloated 1.4-million-strong army, rather than for buying weapons and investing in new technologies. Inflation and a weakening rupee—India imports about two-thirds of its military hardware—crimp the budget further. CONTINUE AT SITE

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Get China and Russia Out of Venezuela – and the Western Hemisphere by Gordon G. Chang

By on February 8th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13700/venezuela-china-russia

The partnership of Beijing and Moscow is certainly up to no good. As an initial matter, the duo, powers from the other side of the world, are in Venezuela to take on the United States, not help it.

It is doubtful, as Matt Ferchen of the Leiden Asia Center in the Netherlands suggests, that Beijing can help another society transition to democracy. The same, of course, can be said about Vladimir Putin’s Russia. After China and Russia worked to turn Venezuela into “the Syria of the Western Hemisphere,” they are not about to democratize it.

An outreach from Washington “would legitimize the concept that Russia and China have a constructive role to play in Western Hemisphere security… the U.S. has everything to lose from inviting China and Russia to the table, and no realistic prospect of gains.” — Robert Evan Ellis of the U.S. Army War College, to Gatestone.

China and Russia make no global problem better. The only sensible approach, therefore, is to remove them from our hemisphere, and the place to begin to do that is Venezuela.

“What are our national security interests in Venezuela?” Adam Smith, the Washington Democrat who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, asked Erin Burnett on January 29 during her CNN primetime show. “The idea that we’re going to go in and do battle in Venezuela over who should be running that country, I don’t see a single U.S. national security argument for doing that.”

Not a single interest, Chairman Smith? In December, two Russian Tu-160 Blackjacks landed near Caracas. The Mach 2, nuclear-capable bombers can launch cruise missiles with a range of 3,410 miles, putting the U.S. homeland at risk from the airspace over Venezuela. The Blackjack bombers also buzzed America’s West Coast as they left the region last month.

Representative Smith charged President Trump with making Venezuela policy “on whims and fantasies and no reality behind it.”

On the contrary, Trump policy is based on the reality that the U.S. must be involved in the resolution of the Venezuelan crisis and not on the whims or fantasies that bad actors on their own will produce constructive solutions.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Has Turkish President Erdoğan Distanced Himself from the Muslim Brotherhood? by Burak Bekdil

By on February 8th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13704/turkey-erdogan-muslim-brotherhood

The picture sent shockwaves through the Turkish grassroots: A poor Egyptian member of the Muslim Brotherhood, handcuffed by the Turkish police, put aboard a Turkish Airlines plane to fly back to Cairo, to be tortured and eventually executed. Is President Erdoğan not a staunch supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood? Is he not an eternal enemy of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who came to power after toppling the Muslim Brotherhood man, former president Mohamed Morsi, a darling of Erdoğan?

The “mistake” was that the Erdoğan administration was not expecting Hussein, so the immigration officers treated him as just another illegal entry. He would not have been arrested and extradited if the Turkish authorities had known he was a member of the Ikhwan.

False alarm. Erdoğan apparently has not changed, after all.

The picture sent shockwaves through Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s grassroots: A poor Egyptian member of the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan in Arabic) handcuffed by the Turkish police, put aboard a Turkish Airlines plane to fly back to Cairo, to be tortured and eventually executed. Is President Erdoğan not a staunch supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood? Is he not an eternal enemy of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who came to power after toppling the Ikhwan man, former president Mohamed Morsi, a darling of Erdoğan? Did Erdoğan not freeze diplomatic relations with el-Sisi’s Egypt?

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Is Gantz falling from grace? Most of the promises Gantz made in his speech are already being fulfilled by the current prime minister. By Ruthie Blum

By on February 8th, 2019

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Right-from-wrong-Is-Gantz-

When the new Great White Hope of the Israeli opposition, Benny Gantz, delivered his first public speech last week, the press couldn’t contain its excitement. During the hours before he took to the podium to address a packed hall of supporters, all Hebrew broadcasters treated the event as momentous enough to warrant an hour-by-hour countdown.

The fervor was palpable. Prior to Gantz’s December 27 announcement of the formation of his party, Israel Resilience, the Left was on the verge of despair. Polls were showing the implosion of the once illustrious Labor Party – whose past prime ministers include David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres – and the fizzling out of the elusive “center.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, on the other hand, was soaring in the surveys. Consensus had it that Likud would emerge victorious in the April 9 elections. To prevent the sure win from being too great – and to force Netanyahu to forge a coalition with others vying for prized portfolios – parties across the spectrum went into high gear, if not high anxiety.

When Gantz threw his hat into the ring, the mood instantly shifted. Here was a guy who might give Netanyahu a run for his money. At 59, the former IDF chief of staff is neither too young nor too old. He is also tall and handsome, with piercing blue eyes that, until four years ago, gloriously contrasted his dark green military uniform.

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