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Australia is a Penal Colony Once More Only this time the inmates are Australians themselves. Katie Hopkins

Posted By on August 9th, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/08/australian-penal-colony-once-more-katie-hopkins/

Australia is in a very dark place.

The army has been drafted in to force people to stay in their homes, going door-to-door to check for compliance. Police helicopters circle overhead, threatening anyone in parks or public spaces with police action and fines; there is genuine fear over being caught outside without a permissible excuse.

No one is allowed more than 5 kilometers from their home address, only one person per household may leave to purchase supplies once a day, and Sydney-siders are not permitted to speak to friends or stop to browse; they may only get what they need and return home.

And this is all for 239 cases from 110,000 tests.

Other states are not faring much better. Queensland just locked down over five cases. Melbourne has been brutalized by its leader, Dan Andrews, who sees himself as something of a leader among tyrants, setting the bar for just how bad it can get and how harshly you can treat people and force them to comply.

And not a word of dissent is permitted. Not a single alternative viewpoint has made the editorials or commentariat.

The best effort has been made by Sky News Australia, loved by many as the last bastion of real talk. I made lunch plans with Rowan Dean of the popular show Outsiders when I knew I would be in Sydney. He is a good man, and is trying to keep some semblance of honesty in TV programming. For the crime of offering different opinions, Sky News Australia has been banned from YouTube for a week.

Videos from Alan Jones and the Outsiders program discussing hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin have been deleted by YouTube for violating community guidelines.

Others have been deleted by Sky News itself, including a September 2020 Outsiders clip of host Rowan Dean stating that “the jury is in on hydroxychloroquine – it saves lives,” and Jones saying there had been “rank dishonesty” around hydroxychloroquine and Australians were being denied access.

I am reminded of “The Scream” by Edvard Munch. I was deported from the country for my efforts to highlight the cruelty of keeping 35,000 people separated from their loved ones, and with them now banning media for non-compliance there is no one left to speak out for ordinary Australians.

I posted this brief explainer on my YouTube channel in support of those being imprisoned in their homes under this unofficial Marshall law.

BOOKS, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Disloyal New Freedom Center booklet exposes the military brass’s betrayal of our country.

Posted By on August 9th, 2021

s://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/08/disloyal-frontpagemagcom/

In this new Freedom Center booklet, Disloyal: How the Military Brass is Betraying Our Country, author Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, reveals how the U.S. Military’s promotion of Critical Race Theory and efforts to purge “extremists” is endangering America’s future. Greenfield documents the shocking penetration of Critical Race Theory and woke leftist ideology into numerous branches of the American military. He describes how these recent attempts to divide the military by race and condemn the nation it exists to defend, have undermined unit cohesion and military readiness while having a devastating impact on troop morale.

“Disloyal” lays bare the disturbing actions and statements of some of America’s leading military leaders who have capitulated to America’s ideological enemies before even entering the field of battle. Among these are Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who has required both Critical Race Theory and the ahistorical and un-American 1619 Project as core elements of the Pentagon’s military training programs. Also unmasked is Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who vocally rejected the use of the military to put down violent BLM/Antifa riots and later defended the military’s adoption of CRT to Congress, stating, “I want to understand white rage and I’m white, and I want to understand it.”

Nor does the rot stop there. Greenfield reveals how Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Michael Gilday, in an effort to radically transform the U.S. Navy, created “shared” video “conversations” featuring Navy officers lamenting America’s “systemic racism” and “implicit bias.”  Under the leadership of Chief of Staff Charles Q. Brown Jr., the Air Force also now produces official videos promoting CRT struggle sessions and the idea that all enlisted men must confront their “unconscious bias.”

“In a military led by disloyal commanders, America becomes the enemy,” Freedom Center Founder David Horowitz states in the introduction to Disloyal.

“Tragically for our nation, the Biden administration is continuing Clinton and Obama’s destruction of the military,” echoes Greenfield. “Our country is barely surviving a woke government and woke corporations, it will not survive the disloyal military leaders of a woke military.”

This new Freedom Center booklet is an urgent and vital read. [Read in PDF form: HERE.]

BOOKS, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Trans Activism’s Long March through Our Institutions By Helen Joyce

Posted By on August 9th, 2021

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/08/trans-activisms-long-march-through-our-institutions/
This article is adapted from the author’s book Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality.

Harm to children’s bodies, loss of women’s privacy, and perversion of language are all included in the collateral damage.

For a movement that is supposedly about the latest oppressed minority gaining full human rights, transactivism has progressed remarkably far and fast.

What campaigners mean by “trans rights” is gender self-identification: that trans people be treated in every circumstance as members of the sex they identify with, rather than the sex they actually are.

This is not a human right at all. It is a demand that everyone else lose their rights to single-sex spaces, services, and activities. And in its requirement that everyone else accept trans people’s subjective beliefs as objective reality, it is akin to a new state religion, complete with blasphemy laws.

Even as one country after another introduces gender self-ID, very few voters know that this is happening, let alone support it.

In 2018 research by Populus, an independent pollster, crowdfunded by British feminists, found that only 15 percent of British adults agreed that legal sex change should be possible without a doctor’s sign-off. A majority classified a “person who was born male and has male genitalia but who identifies as a woman” as a man, and only tiny minorities said that such people should be allowed into women’s sports or changing rooms, or be incarcerated in a women’s prison if they committed a crime.

Two years later, YouGov found that half of British voters thought people should be “able to self-identify as a different gender to the one they were born in.” But two-thirds said legal sex change should only be possible with a doctor’s sign-off, with just 15 percent saying no sign-off should be needed. In other words, there is widespread support for people describing themselves as they wish, but not much for granting such self-descriptions legal status. The same poll also asked whether transwomen should be allowed in women’s sports and changing rooms, sometimes with a reminder that transwomen may have had no genital surgery, and sometimes without. The share saying yes was 20 percentage points lower with the reminder than without — again demonstrating widespread confusion about what being trans means, and that support for trans people does not imply support for self-declaration overriding reality.

A poll in Scotland in 2020 suggests that even young women, the demographic keenest on gender self-ID, become cooler when reminded of the practical implications. A slight majority of women aged 16 to 34 selected “anyone who says they’re a woman, regardless of their biology” as closer than “an adult human female, with XX chromosomes and female genitalia” to their conception of what the word “woman” means. (Young men were much less keen on the self-ID definition, though keener than older men. Overall, 72 percent of respondents chose the biological definition.) But that 52 percent share fell to 38 percent answering “yes” to: “Do you think someone who identifies as a woman, but was born male, and still has male genitalia, should be allowed to use female changing rooms where women and girls are undressing/showering, even if those women object?”

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Former Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher’s powerful insights and future purpose By Andrea Widburg

Posted By on August 9th, 2021

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/08/former_navy_seal_eddie_gallaghers_powerful_insights_and_future_purpose.html

He’s gone from being the victim of a whisper campaign and an abusive prosecution to becoming an advocate for others unjustly accused.

In 2018, Navy SEAL Chief Eddie Gallagher was arrested for alleged war crimes, brutally tried in the court of public opinion, and ultimately vindicated. Unwittingly, Chief Gallagher found himself one of the first victims of an increasingly woke military. I had the pleasure of speaking with Gallagher to learn what he thinks is going on. I also learned about the Pipe Hitter Foundation, a constitutionally important organization Gallagher created to protect people in the service and first responders who find themselves railroaded.

Before the interview, I read excerpts for his book, The Man in the Arena: From Fighting ISIS to Fighting for My Freedom. The chapter entitled “Mean Girls,” gripped me. Gallagher describes how a small crew of junior members in his platoon, dissatisfied with the demands he made on them, and angry that he had called them out on their poor performance, decided to destroy him. This dovetailed with my belief that leftism has used classic toxic femininity — emotionalism, viciousness, backstabbing, and passive-aggression – to remake society.

Chief Gallagher defies lay expectations about SEALS because he doesn’t vibrate with energy or project a deafening personal amplitude. He’s low-key and unassuming. His record says he’s a man of action; his demeanor says he’s a thoughtful man.

I opened by asking Gallagher whether these “mean girls” represented the newer generation of young people entering the service. No, Gallagher said. First, though, he agreed that “There has been a movement in this country…where it was ‘everyone needs to be in touch with their emotions; everybody needs to accept people for the way they’re feeling,’ and this and that.”

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The More Abuse Democrats Heap On The GOP, The More Benefits They Accrue Lewis K. Uhler, Peter Ferrara and Joseph Yocca

Posted By on August 9th, 2021

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/08/09/the-more-abuse-democrats-heap-on-the-gop-the-more-benefits-they-accrue/

Like the battered wife who inexplicably returns to her abuser, Senate Republicans are recklessly reappearing to provide Joe Biden and Congressional Democrats a crucial win on infrastructure spending even while Biden and company continue to attack the GOP for every ill under the sun.

After more than 6 months of “take-it-or-leave-it” one-party rule by Biden, Pelosi and Schumer, their thinnest of majorities has produced not one single bipartisan advancement for America, but more than enough failure as it has appeared to finally run-aground. 

Biden’s approval numbers are falling fast as inflation caused by too much government spending has the nation on the jitters.  The southern border is a dumpster fire and everything this administration touches reveals dangerous incompetence.  For the first time since the Obama/Biden years more Americans think the country is moving in the wrong direction and they are clearly right. 

Yet, Biden’s standing is the high water mark among his clan.  Kamala Harris recently registered the lowest approval rating for a VP in more than 60 years as evidence of infighting between the White House and EEOB betrays a tragic insecurity about this administration’s future. 

Congressional approval is even more desperate and Chuck Schumer is slashing about for a path to advance this big government agenda — for which he has no mandate — as his electoral clock winds down to the midterms which everyone recognizes as a likely rout for the current ruling Democrats.

And still, these Democrats can count on Senate Republicans to bail them out.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Who Will Be The Vindicator To ‘Cancel’ China? Bob Maistros

Posted By on August 9th, 2021

ttps://issuesinsights.com/2021/08/09/who-will-be-the-vindicator-to-cancel-china/

“U.S. trade deficit hits record $75.7 billion in June … So far this year, the goods deficit with China, the largest that the United States runs with any country, totals $158.5 billion, an increase of 19.2% compared to the same period in 2020.” — APNews

For once the Bidenites have something right: Paramount Leader Xi isn’t about to scribble a check amounting to nearly half our annual gross domestic product. 

And why should he when China shockingly came out of COVID in an even stronger position vis-à-vis the U.S. economically?

Not to mention that the Chinese are the tightwad tyrants who of late, according to the Wall Street Journal, have “blown up what would have been the world’s largest initial public offering, launched probes into some of (China’s) biggest technology companies, and wiped out more than $1 trillion in market value while investors scramble for cover.”

The goal? “(E)nsuring companies do more to serve the Communist Party’s economic, social and national-security concerns.”

FOREIGN POLICY, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Taliban Advance Escalates in Afghanistan Biden’s precipitous withdrawal is quickly becoming a debacle.

Posted By on August 9th, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-taliban-next-targets-kabul-afghanistan-11628169126?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

Biden Administration officials continue to insist that diplomacy is the only solution in Afghanistan. The Taliban has other ideas as its military advance continues over ever more Afghan territory and targets government officials who worked with the U.S.

The group’s “martyrdom battalion” launched an elaborate suicide attack on the Afghan defense minister’s home last week, killing eight and wounding 20. Gen. Bismillah Khan Mohammadi and his family weren’t harmed during the attack, which was followed by gunfights on the streets of downtown Kabul.

The Taliban said Wednesday that the latest bombing would be the first of many “retaliatory operations against key figures and leaders of the Kabul administration.” On Friday it assassinated Dawa Khan Menapal, the government’s chief media officer who helped local and foreign press. A Taliban spokesman took credit for what he called a “special attack” to punish Menapal “for his actions,” according to Reuters.

Kabul isn’t on the brink of collapse, but it will be increasingly dangerous for civilians, government officials and foreigners. Expect more violence in the capital as the U.S. withdraws and only a few hundred American troops remain to guard facilities like the U.S. Embassy. On Saturday the Embassy advised all Americans to leave the country on the first available commercial flight.

The Taliban now controls or contests more than 80% of Afghanistan’s districts, according to the Long War Journal, and provincial capitals are under siege. The city of Zaranj in Nimroz, a southwest province bordering Iran, was overrun by the Taliban Friday. Kunduz, a city of some 300,000 in the northeast, fell on Sunday.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Anti-Semitism Isn’t Merely Another Kind of Hate People organize against the Jews as part of an ideological struggle. By Ruth Wisse

Posted By on August 9th, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/anti-semitism-yair-lapid-israel-bdsm-ben-and-jerrys-marxism-palestine-bigotry-11628447206

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid startled the Conference Against Antisemitism in Jerusalem last month by redefining the term: “The anti-Semites weren’t only in the Budapest ghetto,” he said. They were also “the slave traders,” the Hutus who committed genocide in Rwanda, “those Muslims who have killed more than 20 million fellow Muslims in the past decade,” and “those who beat young LGBT people to death.”

It was, Mr. Lapid explained, a political appeal. “We need allies,” he said. “Anti-Semitism is racism, so let’s talk to all those who oppose racism. . . . Anti-Semitism is hatred of outsiders, so let’s recruit anyone who was ever an outsider and tell them—this is your fight too.”

Five days later, Ben & Jerry’s, a division of Unilever and a self-styled champion of progressive values, demonstrated Mr. Lapid’s naiveté by announcing that it will pull out of Israel because selling its ice cream in the “Occupied Palestinian Territory”—the loaded Arab term—was “inconsistent with our values.” The Arab League had launched the original pan-Arab boycott of Israel in 1945, defining any Jewish presence in Palestine as an occupation of Arab territory. That boycott would have done far greater damage had the U.S. not intervened to thwart it, which it did because Israel’s destruction was inconsistent with American values.

But America has changed. At the end of the 20th century, a home-grown boycott, divestment and sanctions movement became an American arm of the war against Israel, uniting a self-defined progressive coalition on the side of Arab-Muslim rejectionism. Anuradha Mittal, Ben & Jerry’s chairman and a supporter of BDS, is the initiator of today’s boycott of Israel, a country whose creation she once called a “catastrophe.” She knows that blaming Israel undermines its legitimacy, causing not only economic but political and diplomatic harm.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Georgia ballots rejected by machines were later altered by election workers to count

Posted By on August 9th, 2021

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/georgia-ballot-adjudication-spoiled?utm_source=breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

Records obtained by Just the News provide unprecedented glimpse into human adjudication of thousands of ballots, where marks for candidates like Trump were sometimes removed so ballots could count for Biden.

A day after the November election, as Donald Trump and other Republican candidates clung to evaporating leads in Georgia, vote counters in Atlanta were confronted by a paper ballot known only by its anonymizing number 5150-232-18.

A Dominion Voting machine had rejected the ballot on election night because the voter had filled in boxes for both Trump and his Democratic opponent Joe Biden, an error known as an “overvote.” The machine determined neither candidate should get a tally, and the ballot was referred for human review.

The image of the ballot, obtained by Just the News, shows the voter messily scribbled a large blob in the box to select Trump as president while also putting a thinner check mark next to Biden’s name.  

At 6:10 p.m. ET on Nov. 4, 24 hours after the ballot was first scanned and rejected by Machine 5150, a panel of humans decided the vote should be awarded to Biden, with the notation “mark removed for Donald J. Trump.” You can see that ballot here:

Scores of additional ballots that same day had checks manually removed next to Trump’s name as well as many other candidates up and down the ticket — Libertarians, Democrats and write-ins alike — and the votes awarded instead to other candidates. 

Welcome to the arcane process known as adjudication, where human judgment is substituted for machine scanning in cases where voters incorrectly filled out a paper ballot. Election officials and official observers have dealt with it for years, with everyday citizens mostly oblivious to the process.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

CHICAGO HEADLINES

Posted By on August 8th, 2021

2 Chicago police officers shot, 1 killed; 3 in custody By Chuck Goudie and Maher Kawash
https://abc7chicago.com/2-cpd-officers-shot-1-killed-in-west-englewood-shooting–/10938393/

Female Chicago cop, 29, shot dead during traffic stop armed confrontation – two months after giving birth to her child
Ella French, 29, was fatally shot during a traffic stop Saturday
She had just returned from maternity leave and leaves behind a two-month-old  
Her male colleague is ‘fighting for his very life,’ a police spokesman said
The pair were fired upon after a vehicle carrying two men and a woman had been pulled over in the South Side of Chicago
Two suspects have been arrested and a weapon seized; a third is on the run 
The officer is the first to be shot and killed in the city since December 2018 
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9873491/Female-Chicago-police-officer-killed.html
Chicago surpasses 460 shooting incidents in July: police
The new figures bring the year-to-date totals to 1,973 shooting incidents and 2,471 shooting victims, compared to 1,779 incidents and 2,217 victims in 2020 By Lucas Manfredi

https://www.foxnews.com/us/chicago-surpasses-460-shooting-incidents-in-july-police