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February 2019

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Israel releases report on links between BDS and terrorists

By on February 5th, 2019

http://www.israelhayom.com/2019/02/04/israel-releases-

Several dozen current or former members of Hamas and the PFLP are involved in BDS activity through Palestinian and international NGOs, Strategic Affairs Ministry report says • “What we discovered surprised even us,” says Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan.

The government released a report Sunday claiming to reveal close links between the Palestinian-led boycott movement against Israel and terrorist groups.

The Strategic Affairs Ministry, which leads Israel’s efforts against the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, said it uncovered extensive connections between pro-boycott groups and activists affiliated with Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The BDS movement dismissed the report as “wildly fabricated.”

The 80-page report claims several dozen current or former members of the Palestinian groups, both designated terrorist organizations by the U.S., European Union and Israel, are involved in BDS activity through Palestinian and international nongovernmental organizations.

“We have always seen indications of connections between BDS groups and designated terrorist organizations,” Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan said. “What we discovered surprised even us.”

Most of the cases were based on accusations of affiliation or expressions of sympathy for terrorist groups, in some instances connected to acts that took place years ago. At least two people on the list have received international recognition for human rights work.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Philippines: Christians Slaughtered, Churches Bombed by Raymond Ibrahim

By on February 5th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13658/philippines-christians-slaughtered

The new terrorism in the Philippines is not merely inspired by political or territorial grievances, real or imagined, but rather is imbued with intrinsic hate for the “other” — for the “infidel.”

In May 2017, in the city of Marawi, a civilian bus was stopped by jihadis; when 9 passengers were discovered to be Christian — apparently because they were not able to quote the Koran — they were tied together and shot dead, execution style. The jihadis who took over Marawi during the uprising forced women into sex-slavery and ordered Christian men embrace Islam or be used as human shields against the Philippine Army.

January’s deadly church-bombing, which claimed 20 lives and wounded more than 100, is the latest reminder that, as with other nations that have a sizeable Muslim minority, the Philippines is embroiled in the jihad. While the ostensible reason behind it may be political or territorial, the sadistic hate that accompanies attacks on Christians and their churches suggests that ideology is the ultimate cause.

On Sunday, January 27, extremist Muslims bombed a Catholic cathedral during Mass in the Philippines. At least 20 people were killed and 111 wounded.

At 8:45 am, two explosives were detonated about a minute apart in or near the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo. According to the Associated Press:

“The initial explosion scattered the wooden pews inside the main hall and blasted window glass panels, and the second bomb hurled human remains and debris across a town square fronting the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, witnesses said.”

Photographs on social media showed human bodies and remains strewn on the street just outside the cathedral. Last heard, the officiating priest, Fr. Ricky Bacolcol, “was still in shock and could not speak about what happened,” said a colleague.

After the first bomb detonated, army troops and police posted outside the cathedral rushed in, at which point the second bomb went off. Fifteen of the slain were civilians, five were military men; 90 of the wounded were civilians.

The cathedral, located in a Muslim-majority area, was heavily guarded; it had been hit before. In 1997, Catholic Bishop, Benjamin de Jesus, was gunned down just outside the cathedral; in 2010, grenades were hurled at it twice, damaging the building.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

King Kang on a Rampage Leftist colossus tilts UCLA toward totalitarian thought control. Lloyd Billingsley

By on February 5th, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272745/king-kang-rampage-lloyd-billingsley

Editors’ note: At the end of the 1960s at UCLA, the Black Panthers and the US organization battled for control of the new Black Studies program. In time, Chicano Studies, Women’s Studies, and Queer Studies also gained official recognition. Through the 1970s and 1980s, the University of California system rejected academically-qualified students and accepted others based on race and ethnicity. In 1996, voters responded with the California Civil Rights Initiative, which banned racial and ethnic preferences in state education, employment and contracting.

Twenty years later, UCLA’s Vice Chancellor for Equity Diversity and Inclusion is a specialist in “implicit bias” theory but shows a distinct preference for politically correct groups of the Left. Meanwhile, professors of a certain ethnicity and conservative political profile are ostracized for championing free speech. Even their staff and student supporters come under fire.

Below is Part III of Frontpage Mag’s 4-part series by Lloyd Billingsley on this state of affairs at UCLA.

[Read Part I: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272686/diversity-lysenkoism-rules-ucla-lloyd-billingsley)

Read Part II: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272720/king-kang-makes-ucla-safe-jew-hatred-lloyd-billingsley

Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden won ten NCAA national championships, including a record seven in a row. As a student at UCLA, Keith Fink was something of an academic John Wooden, winning three national debating championships. After earning a law degree, Fink returned to the campus in 2008 as a professor, in the same department as his college debate coach Thomas Miller. Fink became popular with students, with good reason.

Jewish students Negeen Arasteh and Shahab Naimi, for example, sought out Fink’s classes because he is “one of the best teachers at UCLA.” Students of all backgrounds and disciplines packed classes such as “Sex, Politics and Race: Free Speech on Campus.” In all his classes, Fink championed what he calls “fundamental American values,” such as free speech and due process. Politically correct campus bosses didn’t like it.

As professor Fink told Frontpage last year, “They are all afraid of a vocal, rational intelligent conservative who can provide a check on the progressive narrative they seek to indoctrinate the students with and empowers the students with knowledge of their rights on how to fight against the UC when their rights are being violated.” Jerry Kang, UCLA Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and his commissars responded by slapping restrictions on Fink’s class sizes.

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POLITICS Comments turned off

Democrats Are the Party of Destruction By Eileen F. Toplansky

By on February 5th, 2019

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/02/democrats_are_the_party_of_destruction.html

The first image that came to mind after viewing the 2019 expression of exultant joy by New York Democrat representatives when Governor Cuomo called for a constitutional amendment to shore up abortion for New Yorkers was the 1939 jubilation by the German Reichstag when Hitler asserted that the end of world Jewry was his ultimate goal.

In both cases, the elation was about death. It is not really surprising, since it is becoming patent that the “D” in Democrat stands also for “destruction.” Democrats may couch their destructive tendencies in euphemisms like “social justice” and “women’s rights,” but one thing is clear: there is no objection from any Democrats as the party embraces the most radical left-wing ideology, meant to result in the demise of America. Success is to be destroyed; advancement is to be suppressed. Babies are expendable. Hubris under the cloak of social justice slogans runs amok.

It extends to each issue the Democrats embrace. Every city that has come under Democrat control is proof positive that instead of raising the standard of living for the occupants, the city falls to crime, gangs, and drugs. In fact, “America is awash with troubled, dysfunctional cities that have been electing Democratic mayors for decades.”

Their restrictive economic policies combined with outright corruption result in the death of the middle class. Once that is gone, the city is done for. Yet the Democrat slate of socialist-loving candidates continues to opt for this destruction as its members tout the 70% tax, which would turn America into Venezuela. Concomitant with this assault is the death of outrage as “diversions, half-truths, equivocations and sophistry” now describe the Democratic Party.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

OCASIO CORTEZ AND JEREMY CORBYN

By on February 5th, 2019

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., praised British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn after she spoke with him over the weekend.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

✔ @AOC It was an honor to share such a lovely and wide-reaching conversation with you, @jeremycorbyn! Also honored to share a great hope in the peace, prosperity, + justice that everyday people can create when we uplift one another across class, race, + identity both at home & abroad.

Jeremy Corbyn

✔ @jeremycorbyn Great to speak to @AOC on the phone this evening and hear first hand how she’s challenging the status quo. Let’s build a movement across borders to take on the billionaires, polluters and migrant baiters, and support a happier, freer and cleaner planet.

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Trump’s Foreign-Policy Critics Are Losing Congress rebukes him. But the public is cool to the post-Cold War consensus. Walter Russell Mead

By on February 5th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-foreign-policy-critics-are-losing-11549325062

Is President Trump losing control of the foreign-policy agenda? Last week the administration suffered a stinging political defeat as the Senate voted 68-23 to advance a bill that criticizes his plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan. This comes on the heels of Congress’s refusal to accede to Mr. Trump’s demands for further funds to fortify the U.S.-Mexico border and the Senate’s December vote to end U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia’s operations in Yemen. It is now clear the president’s foreign-policy and national-security approach faces increasing and often bipartisan congressional opposition.

Yet the White House shows no sign of backtracking. Far from meeting his critics halfway, Mr. Trump and his foreign-policy team announced progress in Afghanistan negotiations that opponents call a surrender, doubled down on plans to withdraw troops from Syria, announced its impending withdrawal from an arms-control agreement many consider foundational to the post-Cold War security order in Europe, and attacked the judgment of his senior intelligence officials. The administration also advanced an aggressive hemispheric strategy aimed not only at Venezuela, but also at Cuba and Nicaragua—the other two regimes in what national security adviser John Bolton calls the “troika of tyranny.”

There is no sign Mr. Trump can or will be persuaded to reconsider his approach. He does not believe existing arms treaties serve American interests; his withdrawal from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty was motivated by the same considerations that drove his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. Meanwhile, he wants to reduce American commitments in the Middle East and sees close links with Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt as the best way for the U.S. to retrench militarily while containing Iran.

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P.C.-CULTURE Comments turned off

Psychologists Respond to the APA’s Guidance for Treating Men and Boys

By on February 4th, 2019

https://quillette.com/2019/02/04/psychologists-respond-to-the-apas-guidance-for-treating-men-and-boys/
Introduction — John P. Wright, Ph.D.

John Paul Wright is a professor of criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati. He has published widely on the causes and correlates of human violence. His current work examines how ideology affects scholarship. Follow him on Twitter @cjprofman.

Thirteen years in the making, the American Psychological Association (APA) released the newly drafted “Guidelines for Psychological Practice for Boys and Men.” Backed by 40 years of science, the APA claims, the guidelines boldly pronounce that “traditional masculinity” is the cause and consequence of men’s mental health concerns. Masculine stoicism, the APA tells us, prevents men from seeking treatment when in need, while beliefs rooted in “masculine ideology” perpetuate men’s worst behaviors—including sexual harassment and rape. Masculine ideology, itself a byproduct of the “patriarchy,” benefits men and simultaneously victimizes them, the guidelines explain. Thus, the APA committee advises therapists that men need to become allies to feminism. “Change men,” an author of the report stated, “and we can change the world.”

But if the reaction to the APA’s guidelines is any indication, this change won’t happen anytime soon. Criticism was immediate and fierce. Few outside of a handful of departments within the academy had ever heard of “masculine ideology,” and fewer still understood how defining traditional masculinity by men’s most boorish—even criminal—behavior would serve the interests of men or entice them to seek professional help. Instead of passing quietly into the night, as most academic pronouncements do, the APA’s guidelines did what few such documents have ever done: They engendered a social media maelstrom, and likely not only lost professional credibility, but potentially created new barriers for men who need help.

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POLITICS Comments turned off

Prescient Column :The Next Obama Meet Kamala Harris, California attorney general, aspiring senator . . . and future president? Mark Pulliam Winter 2016

By on February 4th, 2019

https://www.city-journal.org/html/next-obama-14181.html

The 2016 race to replace four-term U.S. senator Barbara Boxer of California, one of Congress’s most liberal politicians, appears likely to result in the election of an even more liberal successor: state attorney general Kamala Harris. In an increasingly polyglot state that exalts appearance and symbolism over substance, the ever-stylish and multiracial Harris—she is the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican-American father—finds herself in the right place at the right time. She’s enjoyed a meteoric rise in California politics—the first woman, African-American, or Asian-American elected as the state’s top law-enforcement officer. Whether the Senate will be a political stepping-stone for Harris or a final destination depends on how credibly she portrays herself as a politician with national stature. Her fans compare her with President Barack Obama; her detractors do the same.

Now 51, Harris cruised to reelection as attorney general in 2014, after eking out a close victory over Los Angeles County district attorney Steve Cooley in 2010. (Before becoming attorney general, she served two terms as district attorney of San Francisco, where she unseated popular incumbent Terence Hallinan.) The outcome of the 2010 contest, which took nearly a month to resolve, was decided by just 74,000 out of 8.8 million votes, or a margin of 0.8 percent—one of the closest statewide elections in California history. Cooley, a moderate Republican, had been the front-runner in most preelection polls, and he even declared victory on election night. But the results proved too close to call, and Harris eventually prevailed when all provisional and mail-in ballots were counted. And so a position formerly held by Republican law-and-order stalwarts such as George Deukmejian and Dan Lungren, as well as a relatively tough-on-crime liberal like Jerry Brown, fell into the hands of an outspoken opponent of capital punishment whose campaign drew almost no law-enforcement support.

Belying the “aspiring governor” nickname for state attorneys general, Harris set her sights on the Senate early in 2015, when the 75-year-old Boxer announced that she would retire rather than seek a fifth term in office.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Growing Anti-Maduro Alliance By Matthew Continetti

By on February 4th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-growing-anti-maduro-alliance/

The administration of our “America First” president is leading an international and multilateral effort to restore popular sovereignty and human rights in what was once the richest country in South America. This is an historical irony worth welcoming. Today, after a weekend of protests in Caracas, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Poland, among others, joined the growing number of countries recognizing 35-year-old Juan Guaidò as president of Venezuela.

It’s a trend that Donald Trump started. Last month the opposition-controlled National Assembly designated Guaidò president after the disputed inauguration of socialist autocrat Nicolás Maduro. On January 23, Trump validated the assembly’s decision and mobilized the U.S. government behind Guaidò’s democratic revolution.

The president of the Organization of American States, as well as the governments of Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Canada, Chile, and Australia, followed Trump’s lead. Israel recognized Guaidò a few days later. Now the Europeans have joined the bandwagon.
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Two decades of socialism have impoverished and corrupted Venezuela. The United States and Canada say they will send humanitarian aid, putting the generals who continue to support Maduro on defense. “To the Venezuelan military high command, now is the time to stand on the side of the Venezuelan people,” John Bolton Tweeted on February 2. The military is all that stands between Maduro and the abyss. His Cuban puppeteers, and his Russian, Chinese, and Iranian allies, will be dealt a major setback if the armed forces abandon Maduro and new elections are held.

The situation is fluid and dangerous. But the number of Guaidò’s friends is rising as Maduro grows ever more isolated. And given the ruin Maduro has brought to Venezuela, Guaidò needs all the friends he can muster.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

MLK’s Niece Alveda King Calls on Ralph Northam to Drop ‘Ku Klux Klanish’ Abortion Laws

By on February 4th, 2019

https://pjmedia.com/video/alveda-king-calls-on-ralph-northam-to-reverse-ku-klux-klanish-abortion-laws/
“You are a pediatrician. You know those are human beings.”
On Monday morning, Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece Alveda King stopped short of calling for Gov. Ralph Northam (D-Va.) to resign in the wake of the blackface scandal. Instead, she urged him to “stop doing Ku Klux Klanish things” and rescind his support for abortion laws. The blackface controversy emerged with a yearbook photo seeming to show Northam either in blackface or a Ku Klux Klan robe, but that followed a week of controversy over a radical abortion bill the governor supports.

“When the story initially broke, I said, ‘Well, wow! Thirty-five years ago — we need to forgive him.’ However, forgiveness is one thing but how do we move forward is another thing,” King told “Fox and Friends.”

“And rather than to ask the governor to resign, I would ask him to rescind all of the legislation that he has approved that supports the crime against humanity which is abortion,” she declared.

King said she would deliver this message to Northam: “I would say, ‘Stay there, reverse all those actions, stop agreeing to kill little human beings in the womb. You are a pediatrician. You know those are human beings right there in the womb!'”

Alveda King addressed the ugly racial history of abortion — which arguably continues in the present (billboards in Dallas and Cleveland targeted black women with pro-abortion messages last year, and black women have disproportionately high abortion rates). “Stop working with Planned Parenthood — who Margaret Sanger really did speak to the Ku Klux Klan, she did. And so, [I would tell him to] stop doing Ku Klux Klanish things and reverse and rescind all of those ugly laws that he is still supporting today,” she said.

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