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July 2020

“November’s Election – None of the Above?” Sydney Williams

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

On a multiple-choice test “none of the above’ may be a legitimate response. But no matter how tempting that answer may seem to voters sick and tired of politics, such a response on November 3, 2020 is not acceptable. As we celebrate our country’s 244th birthday, we should consider the critical importance of the election four months out.

While no politician is the paragon of virtue drawn by Parson Weems of an idealized George Washington, character has slipped down the scale of traits we treasure when electing leaders. In 2020, we will be offered a choice between a man whose thin skin exposes a large ego, and a man whose intellectual capacity wanes as his defects wax. Mr. Trump’s flaws are well publicized – orange hair, ungrammatical speech, his volatility and personal insecurity seen in his untempered Tweets and his apparent admiration for dictators. But they are all superficial. No matter his appeasing words about Putin and Xi Jinping, he has been tougher on Russia and China than his predecessors. His dyed hair and manner of speaking may offend those raised in coastal, elitist families, but they are far less damaging to democracy than was the misuse of intelligence services by the Clinton campaign and the Obama Administration in undermining a freely elected President. Charges of corruption against Mr. Trump have been investigated for four years by a zealous press, a partisan House, Special Counsel Robert Mueller and a complicit FBI. They came to naught. On the other hand, mainstream media has been largely silent on financial favors sought by Mr. Biden for his son in Ukraine and China and on his alleged sexual assault on a staff member.

Nevertheless, and despite the impurity of both candidates, the single most important factor in this election has been the hijacking of the Democrat Party by illiberal, so-called “progressives.” Professor Wilfred McClay of the University of Oklahoma described the random and willful destruction of statues, acts condoned by many city mayors: “…these acts of destruction are acts of pure, unmitigated hate…,” hatred not dissimilar in its intensity to that levied against President Trump by the New York Times and the Washington Post. “Unless new leaders come forth,” wrote Heather MacDonald in City Journal this past week, “who understand their duty to maintain the rule of law, the country will not pull back from disaster.”

A Pledge for July 4 by Lawrence Kadish

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16161/a-pledge-for-july-4

As we encounter days of darkness;
Virus tyranny from abroad;
Criminality and
Insurrectionists at home;

With inner strength, and Light
from above, we shall endure and
prevail above adversities
As we honorably salute America’s Founding Fathers and our legacy of heroic Patriots!

Germany’s Continuing Anti-Semitism Problem by Judith Bergman

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16098/germany-antisemitism

The German government’s new report flies in the face of major EU reports… German statistics on anti-Semitism have been the object of criticism for quite some time.

“The majority of [anti-Semitism] cases in Berlin are attributed to right-wing extremists — without evidence…” — Die Welt, May 7, 2019.

“For a long time, experts have criticized the attribution of the majority of cases to far-right perpetrators… and that too little attention is paid to other groups of perpetrators, such as those from Islamist and other Muslim circles”. — Die Welt, May 7, 2019.

Yet, despite problematic evidence and flawed statistics, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer is still claiming that virtually all anti-Semitism comes from the far-right. Why?

Despite all these measures, anti-Semitic crime in Germany is the highest it has been in the past two decades. This news alone should raise concerns in Germany that hate-speech laws such as the NetzDG, while severely limiting free speech, are not working. It should also concern other EU countries, such as France, that are looking to Germany as an example to follow.

Almost all anti-Semitic crimes in Germany in 2019 were committed by right-wing extremists, according to a recently published government report, “Politically Motivated Crime in 2019.” In the report, “politically motivated crimes” are divided into right-wing crimes, left-wing crimes, crimes motivated by foreign ideology, crimes motivated by religious ideology and unassigned crimes.

According to the report, anti-Semitic crimes were 13% higher in 2019 than in 2018, with 2,032 anti-Semitic crimes committed in 2019, the highest number in Germany since 2001. According to the report, 93.4% of those crimes were committed by right-wing extremists.

“The biggest threat is still the threat from the right,” Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said following the release of the crime report. “We must remain alert and tackle it. It is an order of magnitude that accompanies us with concern, with great concern.”

The German government’s new report flies in the face of major EU reports: In November 2018, the EU’s Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published a report, “Antisemitism – Overview of data available in the European Union 2007–2017,” which quoted the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) as stating that in 2017:

“The main perpetrators of antisemitic incidents are ‘Islamists’ and radicalised young Muslims, including schoolchildren, as well as neo-Nazis and sympathisers of extreme-right and, in some cases, extreme-left groups”.

Germany was among the countries surveyed.

If It Weren’t for Double Standards, Our Media Would Have None By Angela Kelley

https://amgreatness.com/2020/07/02/if-it-werent-for-double-standards-our

The Marxist blood running in the veins of the media, of celebrities in Hollywood, in nearly every Democratic politician, and unfortunately some weak sister Republicans, demands that we do not question the Left.

Since the death of George Floyd in May, the top headlines every day report that the protests stem from his alleged murder. Though the left-leaning woke media insists on describing the protests as “peaceful,” they have spiralled into destructive rioting and are responsible for deaths, in some cases, at the hands of Marxist opportunists looking to upend our Founders, our institutions, our Constitution, and our way of life. 

An MSNBC reporter standing in front of burning buildings said, “This is mostly a protest, it is not, it is not, generally speaking, unruly.” In the face of destroyed buildings (including a brand new low-income housing unit), looting, lawyers tossing Molotov cocktails into police cars, and the shooting death of David Dorn (a retired policeman who was guarding his friend’s business), the legacy media continues on with this “peaceful change” narrative.

Legacy media, as well as Antifa and some Black Lives Matter activists are little more than opportunists. They can “never let a crisis go to waste,” as Rahm Emanuel and now Hillary Clinton like to say. The progressive media understands what this means, and while it’s interesting to see how the news anchors, editors, and writers all seem to have similar talking points, they may only be loosely tied to actual Democratic directives. They don’t really need marching orders anymore. They are so very tightly anchored to the same political philosophies, attitudes, and methods that they speak as one voice even without prompting. As Alinskyite Democrats, they know “the issue is never the issue; the issue is always the revolution.”

The mainstream media continuously ignore the weekly shootings in Chicago and other large cities. Two young children died this past weekend in Chicago from the violence, and  at least 16 other people are dead while at least 50 others were wounded in shootings. These people matter too. The children matter. The adults matter. The police who put their lives on the line every day for people in those communities matter.

Flawed Greatness: The American story is the human story By Robert Barbosa

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/07/flawed_greatness_the_american_story_is_the_human_story.html

The American story is a beautiful one. Our revolutionary foundation built upon natural rights and the nature of man was the starkest break from societal norms the world has ever known.

The focus of the Declaration of Independence was to provide the litany of grievances American colonials had against the king to justify our break from Britain’s despotic grip. That said, something much more powerful was born from this document: the American Soul.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

What seemed like an obscure addition or eloquent wordsmanship set the foundation of the American Creed. We are all created equal in the eyes of God. Natural rights are not bestowed upon us by governments, but instead governments are “instituted among men” to secure the inalienable rights we are born with.

Joseph Ellis writes, “With these words, Jefferson had smuggled the revolutionary agenda into the founding document, casually and almost inadvertently planting the seeds that would grow into the expanding mandate for individual rights that eventually ended slavery, made women’s suffrage inevitable, and sanctioned the civil rights of all minorities.”

Let’s Move Statues Honoring Heroes To Places That Will Protect And Preserve Our History Kathleen Crowley and Bob Maistros

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/07/03/lets-move-statues-honoring-heroes-to-places-that-will-protect-and-preserve-our-history/

Growing up, these commentators were taught and unashamedly believed that America was the greatest nation on earth. Today, understatement aside, that conviction is no longer entirely fashionable.

Now, people across the country watch in horror as memorials to men and women widely regarded as heroes in establishing that greatness are threatened, toppled or taken away:

Christopher Columbus, once hailed as “the discoverer of America,” but now no longer welcome even in the state capital named after him.
George Washington, long revered as the “Father of His Country,” and Thomas Jefferson, honored this weekend in particular as the primary author of the Declaration of Independence – today reduced to mere “slaveholders” in the minds of much of the public.
Andrew Jackson, stalwart defender of the Union whose majestic mounted sculpture in Lafayette Park was vandalized in full view of the White House.
Teddy Roosevelt, the progressive who risked his reputation to invite Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House and courageously advocated better conditions for African-Americans.
Ulysses Grant, who as commander of the Union forces won the war that freed slaves and as president was recognized as an early proponent of civil rights.
Stunningly, abolitionists such as Matthias Baldwin, John Greenleaf Whittier, or William Seward.

U.S. Sends Two Aircraft Carriers to South China Sea for Exercises as China Holds Drills Nearby USS Reagan, USS Nimitz to visit South China Sea’s disputed waters while Chinese navy holds drills there

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-sends-two-aircraft-carriers-to-south-china-sea-for-exercises-as-china-holds-drills-nearby-11593816043?mod=hp_lead_pos1

The U.S. is sending two aircraft carriers into one of Asia’s hottest spots to deliver a pointed message to China that it doesn’t appreciate Beijing’s military ramp-up in the region.

The USS Ronald Reagan and USS Nimitz are set to hold some of the U.S. Navy’s largest exercises in recent years in the South China Sea from Saturday—at the same time that China is holding drills in the area.

With tensions rising between the two over trade, the coronavirus pandemic and China’s crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong, U.S. officials said they wanted to challenge what they called Beijing’s unlawful territorial claims.

“The purpose is to show an unambiguous signal to our partners and allies that we are committed to regional security and stability,” said Rear Adm. George M. Wikoff, commander of the strike group led by the USS Ronald Reagan, in an interview.

Desperation In The Cry Of Revolutionaries Rioting For Socialism By Douglas V. Gibbs —

https://canadafreepress.com/article/desperation-in-the-cry-of-revolutionaries-rioting

Racism is the final accusation of a desperate political ideology, and the tool that former Russian communists said the Marxists would use as a part of their ideological subversion in the United States to achieve their “revolution.”  Violence is the final desperate act of scoundrels bent on change, and realizing that the bourgeoisie is not quite as ready to leap into socialism as they thought.  And if they don’t get what they think they want, they are ready to burn it all down, because their Marxist puppeteers told them to.

A commenter on a recent article wrote that I am not even aware of my [white] privilege.  Does that apply to my Mexican wife?  My mixed grandchildren who are a mixture of white, Mexican, and Filipino or Puerto Rican (depending on which ones)?  Does that apply to my good friend Harry who is Puerto Rican and agrees with me on this stuff?  How about my video-making counterpart Alfonzo Rachel, who is black?

Black Lives Matter is the Democrat Party’s KKK

Black Lives Matter is the Democrat Party’s KKK, but slightly different.  The KKK terrorized blacks and white republicans, and now the BLM terrorizes whites and black republicans.  Same thing, with a slight twist.  Making the screaming children running around in the streets calling for change the true racists…and desperate ones, at that.

We are witnessing the desperate cry of a group of revolutionaries who don’t understand why there is a resistance to their cry for socialism.  Every tyranny has in common the need for a common enemy.  A perpetual enemy.  A battle cry for the revolution, and a unifying factor for the foot soldiers to fight against.

From the annals of true history regarding communism, fascism, and other dictatorial systems, to George Orwell’s 1984, the same is true.  Tyranny, to survive, needs two things.  A perpetual enemy, and a free market system to become a parasite on.  However, if America falls, the host is dead, and so will be the parasite.  There will be no producers remaining to suck off of.

Frederick Douglass’s “Plea for Freedom of Speech in Boston” *******

“Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist.” 

Introduction by Kurt Lash

On December 3, 1860, a group of abolitionists, including Frederick Douglass, gathered at a public meeting hall in Boston, Massachusetts, to discuss “How Can American Slavery be Abolished?” Scheduled to coincide with the one-year anniversary of John Brown’s death (what abolitionists referred to as the “martyrdom” of John Brown), the meeting took place only a month after the election of the Republican Abraham Lincoln. The country was coming apart: South Carolina had declared its intention to secede from the Union and it appeared that other southern states would do the same.  Congress began considering emergency measures, including a constitutional amendment protecting slavery, hoping to convince the southern states to remain in the Union. Northern public opinion, already deeply divided over the issue of abolition, became a tinderbox of explosive emotions as each side increasingly advocated the use of force in support of their position.   

It was in the midst of this cauldron of public debate that Boston abolitionists decided to hold their event, one ostensibly about ending slavery but also one celebrating the violent abolitionist John Brown. Not surprisingly, the meeting attracted members of the public who were opposed to the abolitionist agenda.  In fact, the meeting was overwhelmed by a mob seeking to disrupt the event and prevent Frederick Douglass and the other abolitionists from speaking. Opponents filled the hall, shouted down the abolitionists, and mounted the stage. Abolitionist efforts to retake control of the event led to confrontation and chaos.  Police, who had done nothing to protect the meeting, eventually intervened and cleared the hall. No one was (seriously) injured, but the anti-abolitionists achieved their goal: The event was completely disrupted and the scheduled discussion of slavery never took place. Newspapers around the country reported on the near riot, with headlines in the New York Tribune blaring, “Freedom of Speech Violated in Boston . . . Police Powerless.”

A few days later, Frederick Douglass delivered a previously scheduled lecture at Boston’s Music Hall.  At the end of his prepared remarks, Douglass added a short statement regarding the fundamental importance of freedom of speech and the responsibility of officials to protect free expression from the mob.

If You Really Believe Black Lives Matter, Stop Supporting Black Lives Matter by Ben Weingarten

https://thefederalist.com/2020/07/03/if-you-really-believe-black-lives-matter-stop-s
Impassioned Americans don’t understand that Black Lives Matter is a rhetorical facade masking Marxist ideas that would destroy the lives of vulnerable Americans.

When people and organizations throw money at identity politics, do they know that the causes they support conflict with their purported goals?

Black Lives Matter (BLM) cloaks itself in garb of justice and morality. By its very name, well-intentioned people are compelled to support it. After all, who does not think the lives of black people matter? Uninformed yet impassioned Americans are unaware that the organization’s name is a rhetorical facade that masks a Marxist core.

The truth is that the three people who founded BLM include two avowed Marxist organizers and an activist sympathizer. Beyond supporting more “mainstream” leftist positions, such as socialized health care and dramatically increased taxes, BLM’s platform has historically called for more radical policies. These include creating collective ownership in black communities, instituting reparations including for illegal aliens, defunding the police, and “disrupt[ing] the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure.”

The Evil Underpinnings of BLM

BLM, like the Women’s March, has from its start been ardently antisemitic. Members of BLM carried out a pogrom in the Los Angeles area in May during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. You probably never heard about it because in the intersectional left-wing milieu, Ashkenazi Jews sit at or near the apex of the privilege pyramid.

That is, the descendants of Eastern European Jews, 6 million of whom were massacred during the Holocaust, are considered by BLM and its ideological cohorts to be the world’s greatest victimizers. For the like-minded media, covering such atrocities would only undermine the narrative and hurt the cause, so they remain silent. For BLM, antisemitism is not a cancellable offense.