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June 2020

My Say: June 5, 1944 Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower gave a speech to U.S. soldiers, the day before the invasion of Normandy.

The average age of the assembled troops was 26 with many younger than twenty. They were there to protest tyranny.

As poet Hannah Senesh said “Blessed is the heart with strength to stop its beating for honor’s sake” rsk

Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force:

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.

In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944. Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations1 have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned. The free men of the world are marching together to victory.

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

Riots, Brought To You By District Attorneys Who Won’t Prosecute

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/06/05/soros-investments-in-far-left-district-attorneys-campaigns-yields-bitter-fruit/

Radicalized district attorneys in cities across America are putting violent rioters and looters back on the streets, and letting other hardened criminals walk. More than anyone, one man is responsible for this outrage: Billionaire socialist George Soros.

St. Louis is a case in point. There, prosecutor Kim Gardner let 36 people arrested for looting and rioting go scot-free, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Gardner’s office used the pathetic excuse that it needed “essential evidence” from the police, implying it had none.

One wonders how people caught in flagrante delicto could simply be released. The answer is, Gardner is a far-left acolyte of Soros, having been the recipient during her 2016 election of no fewer than three separate donations from a Soros-backed political-action committee.

It’s not the only example of Soros’ malign influence. Philadelphia District Attorney Lawrence Krasner, who was elected with Soros money, reportedly “has no interest” in prosecuting rioters in the city. As infuriating as this and other instances of prosecutorial misconduct are to many of us, it’s likely we’ll see more of it in the future.

Tiananmen vigil in Hong Kong draws thousands despite coronavirus-related ban

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3087623/tiananmen-vigil-

Police stand back as crowds pour into Victoria Park in Causeway Bay and take up a couple of soccer pitches
Show of defiance comes on a politically charged day as legislature passes a law criminalising disrespect for national anthem

Thousands flooded Hong Kong’s Victoria Park on Thursday night for the annual candlelight vigil to mark the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, defying a ban on the mass gathering imposed by the police for the first time on health protection grounds.

Police, who had warned they had thousands of riot officers ready and would enforce anti-coronavirus
 rules limiting groups to a maximum of eight people each, stood back as the crowds poured into the park in Causeway Bay and took up a couple of football pitches.

The peace was broken only in Mong Kok when protesters blocked Argyle Street and plain-clothes police officers used pepper spray and batons to stop them. Sources said at least four people were arrested.

Palestinians in Turkey: What Erdogan Says vs. What Erdogan Does by Khaled Abu Toameh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16086/palestinians-turkey-erdogan

While Erdogan is paying lip service to the Palestinian cause and praising Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by the US, EU, Canada and Australia, Palestinian refugees who fled to Turkey from Syria are complaining of discrimination and mistreatment by the Turkish authorities.

According to Palestinian sources, there are about 10,000 Palestinian refugees in Turkey who are suffering from discrimination and living in dire conditions.

The suffering of the Palestinian refugees fleeing Syria begins the moment they arrive at the border with Turkey, Thuri Tamim, a Palestinian refugee, told the Palestinian Refugees Portal, an independent website covering news related to Palestinian refugees.

If Erdogan really wants to help the Palestinians, he can start by ordering his government to stop arresting and harassing Palestinian refugees. If he really wants to help the Palestinians, he can stop playing host and cash cow to Hamas, a terrorist group that has brought nothing but misery to Palestinians and Israelis alike.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan excels at making statements in support of the Palestinians. His actions, however, suggest quite a different attitude about the plight of thousands of Palestinian refugees who fled to Turkey from Syria in the past two years.

For a start, Erdogan does not even recognize these refugees as Palestinian — although they carry ID cards issued by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) as well as other documents defining them as Palestinian.

Erdogan considers these refugees Syrian, not Palestinian, because they arrived from Syria and their temporary travel documents were issued by either the Syrian government or UNRWA.

Social Justice Cancels Social Distancing Being wrong is one thing, but demanding that everyone except a select few submit to draconian government rules is its own kind of injustice. Julie Kelly

https://amgreatness.com/2020/06/04/social-justice-cancels-social-distancing/

And just like that, social distancing is canceled. At least for some.

After submitting to house arrest orders for the past three months in order to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, Americans may have noticed a slight change in the rules this past week. There are no duct-taped outlines on city streets telling unruly mobs protesting the death of George Floyd where to stand. Rioters are not instructed to loot stores in opposite directions on downtown streets in order to avoid contact. Face coverings are optional but certainly useful when attempting to avoid identification by local law enforcement.

Drs. Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci are not seizing the White House press podium to lecture lawless thugs about keeping grandma safe from COVID-19. Social media shamers, the same ones who just a few weeks ago were publicly denouncing fun seekers in the Ozarks, are in silent solidarity with social distancing rulebreakers in downtown Chicago, Minneapolis, and New York City. The Atlantic isn’t accusing Democratic leaders of unleashing “an experiment in human sacrifice” and CNN’s Chris Cuomo isn’t calling groups congregating to break windows at pricy boutiques and assault police officers “fools” for not staying six feet apart.

In fact, the rules have changed so much and so quickly that the very same “experts” who demanded we adhere to unproven (and possibly counterproductive) social distancing dogma now explain why these rules don’t equally apply. 

Joseph Klein :The Left’s Defense of Arson and Looting as Weapons Against ‘Institutionalized Racism’ Once again, progressives maliciously elevate nationwide violence and anarchy.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/06/defense-arson-and-looting-weapons-against-joseph-klein/

Massachusetts Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey hailed the acts of arson occurring across the country as some sort of symbol of regeneration. In a speech she delivered to the Boston Chamber of Commerce on June 2nd, Healy said, “Yes, America is burning, but that’s how forests grow.” She later tweeted that “we must seize the opportunity we have right now to build anew in ways that rid us of the institutionalized racism that’s led to America burning today.”

Healey’s first duty as attorney general is to uphold the laws of her state and prosecute criminal violations. Arson is a serious crime. Arsonists must be arrested and prosecuted, whether they are agitators of the left or right. There is no legal defense that excuses arson because the arsonists believe they are fighting “institutionalized racism.” What’s next – that looting is a legitimate form of wealth redistribution to combat what some social justice advocates have called “racial capitalism”? It’s time to send Healey packing for inciting violence and dereliction of duty.

Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons struck the right chord with his response to Healey’s outrageous forest fire analogy:

“By choosing to highlight this insane analogy, it should be clear to Massachusetts residents that no matter what else Democrats like Attorney General Healey say, they will always condone mob tactics. The Radical Democrats, led by the likes of Attorney General Healey, sat back and watched as cities went up in flames over the weekend, and are now openly admitting that this is all part of their plan to fundamentally change America by any means possible. This is no way to honor the memory of George Floyd, or correct the problems that led to his unjustified killing.”

Dear Ilhan Omar: Let’s Have a Conversation About Racism and Police Brutality Let’s take a look at how minorities are treated in nations where your religion permeates. Raymond Ibrahim

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/06/dear-ilhan-omar-lets-have-conversation-about-raymond-ibrahim/

Two themes permeate much of the discourse surrounding ongoing riots: that racism in America, particularly against blacks, is “systemic”; and that any show of force against the “protesters”—many of whom are simply criminals, looters, and thugs out to capitalize on a tragedy—is more proof of America’s ingrained racism and intolerance.

Wonderfully encapsulating these two points is Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).  In a recent interview, she asserted that “we are living in a country that has truly for a long time brutalized African-Americans, from slavery, to lynching, to Jim Crow, to mass incarceration and now to police brutality.”  As for the rioters, they “were terrorized,” Omar claims, “by the presence of tanks, by the presence of the National Guard and the militarized police.”

Let’s respond to these two charges of “brutalization” and “terrorization” by way of analogy—say, by looking at how minorities are treated (including vis-à-vis tanks) in nations where Omar’s religion permeates, that is, Muslim nations.  Egypt is a perfect example, as its non-Muslim minority, the Christian Copts, make for about the same percentage of the general population that blacks do in America: 15%.

1,288 ‘Public Health Professionals’ Disgrace Their Profession By Jason Richwine

1,000 “public health professionals, infectious diseases professionals, and community stakeholders.” The letter argues that it’s okay if the current protests/riots spread COVID-19 because racism is itself a public-health issue that needs to be addressed.

Let’s take that argument seriously for a moment and ask a follow-up question: Why, then, was there so much criticism of the anti-lockdown protests? The premise of those protests was that continuing lockdowns caused far more economic damage than was necessary. If anything is a public-health issue, surely record unemployment, social isolation, and bans on people going to hospitals for non-urgent care should count.

Well, here is how the letter distinguishes between anti-racism protests and anti-lockdown protests:

. . . [W]e do not condemn these [anti-racism] gatherings as risky for COVID-19 transmission. We support them as vital to the national public health and to the threatened health specifically of Black people in the United States . . . . This should not be confused with a permissive stance on all gatherings, particularly protests against stay-home orders. Those actions not only oppose public health interventions, but are also rooted in white nationalism and run contrary to respect for Black lives.

It’s difficult to understand how any reasonable person could have committed those words to print. Even just, “Yeah, we’re hypocrites, so what?” would have been a more satisfying response.

The Return of the Riot Ideology Why have so many Americans forgotten the lessons of the 1990s? Robert Stacy McCain

https://spectator.org/riot-ideology-james-scurlock-david-dorn-biden-1990s/

James Scurlock was a criminal. David Dorn was a cop. The two men never met, but the cause of their deaths — Scurlock in Omaha, Nebraska, and Dorn in St. Louis, Missouri — was related. Both were killed this past week as a result of the dangerous storm of violence that most media outlets describe euphemistically as “protests” or “unrest.”

Americans are being told by intellectuals, politicians, and TV pundits that this deadly chaos is about “systemic racism,” to quote Joe Biden, but what we are actually witnessing is the return of a dangerous belief system that Manhattan Institute scholar Fred Siegel called “the riot ideology.” People are being killed, businesses are being looted, and the fundamental basis of a free society is being jeopardized because this irresponsible mentality has been promoted as a solution to racial inequality, when in fact it is a major cause of the problem. The deaths of James Scurlock and David Dorn illustrate the damage done by the riot ideology.

Scurlock was shot dead after he assaulted a bar owner in Omaha’s Old Market district Saturday night. National media have tried to turn Scurlock into a martyr, with CBS News headlining their version of the story, “A white bar owner in Omaha shot and killed a black protester. He won’t face charges.” Was Scurlock a “protester”? He was not shot while engaged in a protest. Instead, as the Omaha World-Herald reported, Scurlock had been engaged in vandalism, caught on surveillance video smashing up an office on Harney Street about 10:15 p.m. Saturday night. Forty minutes later and half a block away, windows were smashed at a bar owned by Jake Gardner, a Marine Corps veteran who was on the premises with his father, trying to protect his business from being looted in the so-called “unrest.” The two men emerged from the bar, and the elder Gardner was assaulted by one of Scurlock’s accomplices. When the bar owner brandished a pistol, he was jumped by two people, and fired what he called “warning shots,” causing them to flee. That’s when Gardner was attacked from behind by Scurlock, who was shot dead.

The black youth of St. Louis have lost a role model, and why? Because the riot ideology justifies looting (and arson, vandalism, and every other kind of criminal violence) as an expression of “social justice.” 

All of this was captured on video, which the district attorney played at a press conference where he announced no charges would be filed against Gardner, who had clearly acted in self-defense. National media outlets, however, have sought to portray this as “the killing of a black protester,” in the words of the Washington Post, as if vandalism and assault are legitimate ways to protest, or as if James Scurlock was killed because he was black. (For more, see John Jiang’s American Spectator article, “How the Media Fans the Flames.”)

Project Veritas begins its Antifa exposé By Andrea Widburg

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/06/project_veritas_begins_its_antifa_expose_.html

Project Veritas ought to be called Project Fortitudo so as to recognize the mind-boggling bravery of an undercover operative who infiltrated the Rose City Antifa organization in Portland, Oregon, one of the oldest active Antifa groups in America. The anarcho-leftist Antifa specializes in violent street fighting, putting at extreme risk anyone who goes into the group with a hidden camera.

That’s the risk a Project Veritas investigator took, beginning sometime in the past, but at least eleven months ago. (To protect the investigator’s identity, the year in which he began his undercover operation is bleeped out.)

Although Antifa has leaped to prominence in the past few days, as it’s joined forces with Black Lives Matter to wreak havoc in American cities, conservatives have been aware of it for some time. For most of us, Antifa became a concern beginning with the Berkeley rioting when the Berkeley Republicans invited conservative speakers, such as Milo Yiannopoulos or Ben Shapiro, to the UC campus. Even the Washington Post noticed that Antifa had a problem.

Antifa members showed up and engaged in extreme violence, including setting fire to the campus. As a hint that Antifa is the paramilitary arm of the Berkeley Democrat party, the mayor told the police to stand down as Antifa and other leftist organizations beat conservatives with poles, pepper spray, and fists. Rose City Antifa gets the same sweet treatment from Portland’s mayor.