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August 2021

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Cyberwar – Part One by Peter Schweizer

By on August 25th, 2021

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17654/cyberwar-part-one

Directly, these attacks [on the U.S.] strike at parts of our electrical grid, our food supply, our energy providers, banks, business computer networks and government systems. Indirectly, they threaten our livelihoods and our sense of security and stability.

[Cyberwar is] an undisguised assault against military and civilian infrastructure meant to cripple the targeted country, destroy or damage its communications and command systems, and create immediate and total chaos among its people.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime has denied its involvement, as it always does. No one believes them.

[Former U.S. National Security Adviser John] Bolton warns that to protect the American people, the defense establishment needs to focus much more attention on early threat-recognition.

Moreover, it is clear the U.S. government must be more assertive in pointing the finger at Vladimir Putin when a Russian attack is unmasked.

Cybercrime often merges with cyberwarfare. The techniques of both are similar, even if their intentions are not. Yet, unlike their “real-world” counterparts, we cannot afford to treat the former as merely a law enforcement problem and the latter as a military problem. Today’s gnat is tomorrow’s nuclear-tipped missile.

In a recent article, former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton highlighted the cyberwarfare being waged on the West every day by Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. The assault is an accelerating proxy war, a coordinated terrorism campaign conducted by both hired criminals and military intelligence agencies, capable of great economic and societal damage. At the same time, even at lower intensity, it is a subtler attack on Western morale.

Directly, these attacks strike at parts of our electrical grid, our food supply, our energy providers, banks, business computer networks and government systems. Indirectly, they threaten our livelihoods and our sense of security and stability. That is, at least for the present, the most important thing about them.

The SolarWinds hack of 2020 compromised a top-tier provider of IT management services by injecting malware into the company’s routine software update to its 33,000 customers. Those victimized customers included hundreds of large companies, as well as the federal departments of Treasury, Commerce, and even Homeland Security. The hack was extremely sophisticated and operated for months before it was discovered. Cybersecurity analysts in and out of the government say conclusively it was the work of a hacking group they call “Nobelium,” operating with the support, if not the direct control, of the Russian government. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime has denied its involvement, as it always does. No one believes them.

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Hey, Biden Voters! You didn’t have a clue about how power works in the real world. You should have. You were a grown-up. You had no excuse.  By Bruce Bawer

By on August 25th, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/08/24/hey-biden-voters/

Damn you all.

You’re American citizens, with the right to vote in presidential elections.

For four years, we had a president who, over the course of a single term, managed to undo a great deal of the mischief wrought, and a great many of the mistakes made, by his recent predecessors. Trump revived America’s economy, shored up Americans’ individual liberties, forged several remarkable peace agreements, and greatly strengthened our international position—thus firmly checking the ambitions of our powerful adversaries. 

But, Biden voters, he had a personality that rubbed you the wrong way. He wrote nasty tweets. In the language of TV production, he was too “hot.” You wanted “cool.” 

The Democrats put up a candidate who was plainly in mental decline. It was obvious every time he spoke. But you didn’t pay terribly close attention to his speeches. The sources from which you get your “news” carefully clipped out all of the bits of his appearances in which his befuddlement was manifest. If you heard someone speak out about his senility, you dismissed the charges out of hand.  

Biden also had a less-than-stellar professional history. He’d spent decades in the Senate as little more than a fixture, an empty suit, a vapid, smiling shill for the credit-card companies and other corporations based in his shabby little state. In the lead-up to the 2020 election, mountains of evidence were made public indicating that Biden was even more deeply corrupt than we already knew, taking massive bribes from nefarious foreign powers. 

Yes, that story was banned from social media. Still, you could have known about it if you’d had the slightest bit of curiosity—and the slightest sense of civic responsibility. 

For years, your trusted news sources fed you lies about Trump and Russia. Those lies, which anyone with any sense recognized from the outset as preposterous, were finally disproved. But your sources never showed remorse or shame. Most of them never even corrected their stories—not really, not with any class or conviction. They just moved on—smoothly, slickly, smarmily—to other slanders, such as the ludicrous case of the Trump’s phone call to the president of Ukraine. 

If you’d really been paying attention, you’d have noticed at least some of this. But you were as caught up in the shell game as they were. It didn’t matter to you that Trump was exonerated. In fact, you really didn’t care what was true and what was false. You just wanted more reasons to hate him. 

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No Jab, No Medicare? How far are they ready to go? Joseph Hippolito

By on August 25th, 2021

http://www.ruthfullyyours.com/wp-admin/post-new.php

The federal government has become so desperate to get Americans vaccinated against COVID-19 that it plans to hold Medicare and Medicaid payments hostage.

On Wednesday, Joe Biden, the virtual president, announced that nursing homes will receive federal money for Medicare and Medicaid expenses only if their employees are vaccinated.

The “Delta variant”, it appears, justified the step.

“I’m using the power of the federal government as a payer of healthcare costs to ensure we reduce those risks to our most vulnerable seniors,” Biden said. The Department of Human Services will issue the mandate, which will take effect in September, in conjunction with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Biden made his announcement less than two weeks after a left-wing think tank made a wider-ranging proposal along similar lines. On Aug. 6, three members of the Center for American Progress proposed linking Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for all health-care providers to staff vaccinations. The three made their argument on the center’s website.

“Making COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for providers participating in Medicare and Medicaid would protect vulnerable patients, set a positive example for other employers, and contribute to the national effort to contain the virus,” wrote Jill Rosenthal, Emily Gee and Maura Calsyn. Rosenthal is the center’s director of public health policy, Gee is its senior economist on the subject, and Calsyn is the center’s vice president and coordinator for health policy.

The think tank was created by John Podesta, President Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff and the former chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

While the authors made no mention of making individual benefits dependent upon vaccination, their proposal raises that frightening possibility. Since the federal government adopted part of that recommendation, what would prevent those who need Medicare and Medicaid from eventually being targeted?

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Nevergreen: A Victim of Cancel Culture Strikes Back With a Devastating Campus Satire “Let our hatred of hate begin!” Daniel Greenfield

By on August 25th, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/08/nevergreen-victim-cancel-culture-strikes-back-daniel-greenfield/

“What? What was controversial?”
“It may not have been the words, per se. But your free speech created controversy.”
“Therefore it was controversial,” Luiz said.
From Nevergreen by Andrew Pessin.

7 years ago, Professor Andrew Pessin, a respected teacher of religion and philosophy at Connecticut College, criticized Hamas. Back then, cancel culture wasn’t the familiar buzzword that it is now, but when the local Students for Justice in Palestine affiliate and the college paper came after him, the college leadership sided with the mob and against their own professor.

Front Page Magazine took on the story back then, exposing the radical hate of the mob’s leaders. In the years that have passed, Pessin’s experiences have been replicated on campuses across the country. Social media mobs have spread beyond the campus, coming for ordinary people with the misfortune to appear on some social justice Twitter influencer’s radar.

And college campuses have only gotten crazier and more dangerous in the last 7 years.

Now, Andrew Pessin is back with Nevergreen. Though none of the events of the novel reproduce his own encounter with campus cancel culture (that would be life, not art), and there is no Nevergreen College (although there is an Evergreen College which was the epicenter of one of the worst radical campus meltdowns), Pessin’s novel distills the madness that has taken over campuses across the country in a still of literary satire that is all the more devastating because it’s so disarming.

There are the “atheists in the ‘Be Grateful God is Dead Club'” and a character is described as wearing “the official t-shirt of the campus tea shop, Chai Guevara, featuring the iconic image of the revolutionary leader sipping a mug of chai itself emblazoned with the Chai Guevara logo”.

A professor named “Peace” teaches conflict studies while making threats, and the students campaign for a wheelchair ramp for the high diving board.

“‘It’s for the principle, the principle of inclusion,” the earnest young woman explained when J. asked whether any wheelchair-bound person were likely to actually use the diving board.”

At Nevergreen College, 1984’s Two-Minutes-Hate is countered with an “official Two Minutes of Hate-Hate later this afternoon”. And Nevergreen’s protagonist J becomes its target.

“To help us prepare for our collective two minutes of hating hate, our Two-Minute Hate-Hate,” Corrie said solemnly, having memorized this part, “indeed to help us focus our energy on the hate we must hate, I present to you, my dear fellow haters of hate, the face of hate.”

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Biden’s Gift to Global Jihadists: A Safe National Homeland All while selling out Americans stranded in Afghanistan. Joseph Klein

By on August 25th, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/08/bidens-gift-global-jihadists-safe-national-joseph-klein/

President Joe Biden continues to humiliate the United States by letting the Taliban terrorists dictate the terms of his surrender.

Indeed, the president just capitulated to the terrorists’ threat to adhere to his own self-imposed deadline of August 31st  for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. The evacuation of U.S. troops from the Kabul airport has already begun.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid warned during a press conference in Kabul that:

August 31 is the time given and after that it’s something that is against the agreement. All people should be removed prior to that date. After that we do not allow them, it will not be allowed in our country, we will take a different stance.

And Biden dutifully followed the orders.

The president is so infused with the radical agenda of his left-wing base that he began his August 24th address to the American people on the latest developments in Afghanistan with praise for the House of Representatives’ passage of the Democrats’ budget framework for their socialist $3 trillion budget bill. He went out of his way to thank Speaker Nancy Pelosi for pushing this “progressive” leftist program through the House. Then he put in a word of support for the Democrats’ partisan voting bills to federalize elections. He spent more than five minutes of his twelve minute address on left-wing domestic policies that had nothing to do with the Afghanistan crisis on most Americans’ minds. 

When Biden finally got around to discussing that crisis, he stated that his administration was on pace for an August 31st withdrawal. He added, however, that meeting this deadline depends on continued cooperation from the Taliban in allowing access to the Kabul airport.

The U.S. would judge the Taliban by their actions, Biden added. But his own actions can only be judged as an appeasement of the Taliban.

The president left himself a little wiggle room to adjust the timeline should that become necessary. He referred vaguely to the development of contingency plans just in case they are needed. But that is ultimately meaningless talk because the U.S. administration is operating from a position of weakness.

Biden failed as Commander-in-Chief to plan for a safe and orderly evacuation for as long as it takes, backed by a credible threat of overwhelming force against the Taliban, al Qaeda, and ISIS if they try to interfere with the evacuations.

Instead, Biden has allowed the Taliban to call the shots even when it comes to completing the evacuation of American citizens. As for those Afghans seeking to escape the Taliban’s wrath for working with the United States, they are out of luck. The Taliban are no longer letting them leave the country.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

The woke crusade against Western civilisation Classicists are recasting the ancient world as the cradle of racism. Frank Furedi

By on August 25th, 2021

https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/08/24/the-woke-crusade-against-western-civilisation/

Cambridge University’s archaeology museum is to display signs explaining the apparent ‘whiteness’ and lack of ‘diversity’ among its ancient sculpture plaster casts – all as part of an anti-racism campaign.

This sounds like satire, but it’s not. Cambridge University’s Classics faculty really has chosen to focus on ‘the role of classical sculpture in the history of racism’. In effect, this ancient seat of learning is undertaking an act of cultural vandalism. It is seeking to recast Greek and Roman civilisation as the cradle of modern racism.

The museum says the sculptures give a ‘misleading impression’ of the whiteness and ‘absence of diversity’ in the ancient world. Aside from the philistinism of this approach, the important question to ask is why it is being adopted now.

It seems that all it took for the Classics faculty to decide ancient sculptures were a bit racist was an open letter to the faculty chair, written in 2020, from students, alumni and staff. This letter called for a ‘public acknowledgement of the problems of racism within Classics and… for active anti-racist work within our discipline’. And, just like that, this august institution gave in – it effectively said that the ancient world is something of which we should be ashamed.

The Classics faculty has since declared it will ‘turn the problem into an opportunity’. This will entail drawing attention to ‘the diversity of those figured in the casts’, and to the ways that the sculptures’ ‘colour has been lost and can be restored’.

In addition to all this, the Classics faculty has now published an action plan showing how it will deal with racism in Classics more broadly. This includes providing training for Classics tutors on how to discuss sensitive topics, and a review of all the language used in course titles and materials.

For some, the decision of Cambridge’s Classics faculty to portray Classics as racist is just another example of the dominance of identity politics in universities. But there is much more at stake here.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

A Virus More Potent than COVID By Eileen F. Toplansky

By on August 25th, 2021

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/08/a_virus_more_potent_than_covid.html

This one actually is tearing the country apart, and the cure is not apparent.

Shame and blame are animating features of the Critical Race movement.  The latest example of Critical Race Theory can be found in the article from Inside Higher Ed and is titled “Camera’s On: Surveillance in the Time of COVID-19.”  Author Margaret Finders “(pronouns: she, her, hers) is former chair and professor in the department of education at Augsburg University and Joaquin Muñoz (he/him/his pronouns) is assistant professor in the American Indian studies department at the university.”

The authors claim that asking students to keep cameras on during synchronous online class sessions is actually “indicative of an attitude toward teaching that positions students as docile bodies in need of constant surveillance.”  In fact, though “sharing an empty box or just a name seems to make many instructors uncomfortable … feeling such discomfort does not give them the right to demand entry into students’ private spaces.”

Who is “demanding entry into students’ private spaces”?  The Zoom screen does not meander into other rooms.  It shows the face of the student. 

But the more important point according to Finders and Muñoz is that “the ideologies of  ‘cameras on’ are incredibly problematic due to their racist, sexist and classist [emphasis mine] undertones.”

And so Marxist ideology is front and center in the article.  The clearly combative words and alleged high moral stance are the first indication that the left is on the march.  After all, the leftist machine is adept at manufacturing outrage.  Strategic ambiguity and changing the meanings of words to suit its nefarious purposes are never-ending.

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The Good News—A COVID-19 Update By Thomas T. Siler, M.D.

By on August 25th, 2021

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/08/the_good_newsa_covid19_update.html

Now that we have had 18 months to “slow the spread” it is time to take stock of the pandemic. We have learned many good things that the media and our pandemic managers rarely report. Most fundamentally, we do not need to be afraid of COVID-19 anymore. The media and some government health authorities are still pushing hysteria and fear, but that should not prevail. Let’s look at the good news that can calm our fears about COVID-19. There’ll be time at a later date to look at the bad and the ugly of the resolving pandemic.

1) Globally, the survival rate for COVID-19 is 99.8%. Under the age of 70, the survival rate for COVID-19 is 99.97%. This is on par with many influenza seasons. Americans younger than 70 do not have to fear COVID-19 any more than influenza and we know how to protect the elderly.

2) Herd immunity for the alpha strain is here. Sixty-seven percent of the American population have had at least one COVID-19 vaccination. The official number of cases is about 10% of the population, but several antibody studies show that the percentage of those with natural immunity is 4-6 times higher. Dr. Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins professor, estimates that 80-85% of the population is immune from natural immunity and vaccination. Those who deny this must explain how cases and deaths started to decline in January way before there was a significant vaccine effort. COVID-19 will not go away. Instead, we are transitioning now from a pandemic to endemic status and, indeed, some eminent virologists say vaccinating in the middle of a pandemic is making herd immunity more difficult to obtain through the creation of variants.

3) The average age of death from COVID is 78. The average life expectancy in America is 78. This is not to say, “Don’t worry, only old people are dying of COVID-19.” However, this fact should direct and inform our policies to protect the elderly especially. Children and those under age 70 are at much lower risk.

4)  Early outpatient treatment should be adopted immediately for COVID-19. Hydroxychloroquine works. Ivermectin works. It has been estimated 85% of COVID-19 deaths could have been prevented were these medicines used early. America’s Frontline Doctors have an excellent compilation of research. The cost of these treatments is $1/day. A new IV treatment, REGEN-COV, has been approved for early use in COVID-19. Don’t wait to see if you will get sick. Treat early.

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ELECTIONS Comments turned off

House Passes John Lewis Voting Rights Act By Brittany Bernstein

By on August 25th, 2021

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/house-passes-john-lewis-voting-rights-act/

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act in a party-line vote, 219-212.

Democrats claim the bill, known as H.R. 4, would strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Proponents argue the measure is needed as it would make it more difficult for states to restrict future voting access.

However, Republicans have argued that the legislation is an example of federal overreach into states’ authority over elections. Representative Rodney Davis (R., Ill.) called the bill a “partisan power grab which circumvents the people to ensure one-party rule.”

The measure faces a tough road ahead in the evenly divided Senate.

President Biden on Tuesday urged the Senate to pass the bill, as well as the “For the People Act.”

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Supreme Court Orders Reinstatement of ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy in Blow to Biden Admin By Brittany Bernstein

By on August 25th, 2021

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/supreme-court-orders-reinstatement-of-remain-in-mexico-policy-in-blow-to-biden-admin/

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to block a lower-court ruling that will require the Biden administration to reinstate the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers at the U.S. border.

The court’s three liberal justices dissented, saying they would have granted the administration’s request to halt the lower court’s order.

The administration had sought to end the policy, formally known as Migrant Protection Protocols, which forces migrants to await their U.S. immigration court dates in Mexico. The program was first suspended when Biden took office and was later formally terminated.

However, Texas and Missouri sued to challenge the Biden administration’s decision to end the program.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled earlier this month that the administration had violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it moved to end the program.

The lower court ruled that the administration must make a “good faith effort” to reimplement the program.

Last week, the Biden administration argued in a petition it filed with the Supreme Court that reinstating the program would result in “irreparable harm.”

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