The Armenian Genocide Forges On by Raymond Ibrahim

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17304/armenian-genocide

“At the beginning of 1915 there were some two million Armenians within Turkey; today there are fewer than 60,000…. denial of the Armenian Genocide by successive regimes in Turkey has gone on from 1915 to the present.” — The Genocide Education Project.

Not only has Turkey repeatedly denied culpability for the Armenian Genocide; it appears intent on reigniting it, most recently by helping Azerbaijan wage war on Armenia in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, which again erupted into armed conflict in late 2020.

“Why has Turkey returned to the South Caucasus 100 years [after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire]? To continue the Armenian Genocide.” — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Facebook, October 1, 2020.

These mercenaries and their Azerbaijani partners, among other ISIS-like behavior, “tortured beyond recognition” an intellectually disabled 58-year-old Armenian woman by hacking off her ears, hands, and feet — before murdering her. Her family was only able to identify her by her clothes.

Answering the question, “If you could get away with one thing, what would you do?” — asked to random passersby on the streets of Turkey — a woman recently replied on video: “What would I do? Behead 20 Armenians.” She then looked directly at the camera and smiled while nodding her head.

Much of this genocidal hatred should be unsurprising: Turkish public school textbooks, as a recent study found, continue demonizing Armenians — as well as Jews and Christians.

Today, April 24th, is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, marking 106 years since the start of the Armenian Genocide, when the Ottoman Turks massacred approximately 1.5 million Armenians during World War I.

Most objective historians who have examined the topic unequivocally agree that it was a deliberate, calculated genocide. According to the Genocide Education Project:

“More than one million Armenians perished as the result of execution, starvation, disease, the harsh environment, and physical abuse. A people who lived in eastern Turkey for nearly 3,000 years [more than double the amount of time the invading Islamic Turks had occupied Anatolia, now known as “Turkey”] lost its homeland and was profoundly decimated in the first large-scale genocide of the twentieth century. At the beginning of 1915 there were some two million Armenians within Turkey; today there are fewer than 60,000.

“Despite the vast amount of evidence that points to the historical reality of the Armenian Genocide, eyewitness accounts, official archives, photographic evidence, the reports of diplomats, and the testimony of survivors, denial of the Armenian Genocide by successive regimes in Turkey has gone on from 1915 to the present.”

Not only has Turkey repeatedly denied culpability for the Armenian Genocide; it appears intent on reigniting it, most recently by helping Azerbaijan wage war on Armenia in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, which again erupted into armed conflict in late 2020.

As Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s prime minister, observed in October 2020: “Why has Turkey returned to the South Caucasus 100 years [after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire]? To continue the Armenian Genocide.”

During this recent conflict, which did not concern it, Turkey sent sharia-enforcing “jihadist groups.” According to French President Emmanuel Macron, they — including the pro-Muslim Brotherhood Hamza Division were sent from Syria and Libya to terrorize and slaughter Armenians. The Hamza Division reportedly kept naked women in prison while operating in Syria.

These mercenaries and their Azerbaijani partners, among other ISIS-like behavior, “tortured beyond recognition” an intellectually disabled 58-year-old Armenian woman by hacking off her ears, hands, and feet — before murdering her. Her family was only able to identify her by her clothes.

Losers: Markle and McCain. Winner: The Queen Elizabeth II has lived a life of dedication and duty, and done so with impeccable class. By Ilana Mercer

https://amgreatness.com/2021/04/23/losers-markle-and-mccain-winner-the-queen/

Fancy that! A member of a political dynasty, the McCains, has panned the duty-bound British monarchy.

There is a revolving door between Big Media, be it the neoliberal CNN or neocon Fox News, and members of the political duopoly. Whether practiced by the Left or the Right; this is indisputably immoral, and a conflict of interest.

To spout received opinion, Fox News has auditioned Ben Domenech, husband of the irredeemably awful, never-MAGA Meghan McCain.

At the conclusion of a wishy-washy Fox segment about the wanton Meghan Markle, the man who had married into the McCain political dynasty declared: “There is nothing more American than hating the British Crown.”

That’s a shallow stance at best. For, if forced to choose between the mob (democracy) and the monarchy, the latter is preferable and far more benevolent. This thesis is anatomized in Democracy—The God that Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order, by libertarian political philosopher Hans-Hermann Hoppe.

In his seminal work, Hoppe provides ample support—historical and analytical—for democracy’s inferiority as compared to monarchy:

. . . democracy has succeeded where monarchy only made a modest beginning: in the ultimate destruction of the natural elites. The fortunes of great families have dissipated, and their tradition of a culture of economic independence, intellectual farsightedness, and moral and spiritual leadership has been lost and forgotten. Rich men still exist today, but more frequently than not they owe their fortune now directly or indirectly to the state.

“[I]n light of elementary economic theory, the conduct of government and the effects of government policy on civil society can be expected to be systematically different, depending on whether the government apparatus is owned privately or publicly,” explains Hoppe.

“From the viewpoint of those who prefer less exploitation over more and who value farsightedness and individual responsibility above shortsightedness and irresponsibility, the historic transition from monarchy to democracy represents not progress but civilizational decline.”

The raw, ripe, rule of the demos has diminished the queen, but has yet to destroy her. Queen Elizabeth might be a member of a landed aristocracy, much-maligned in radical America—but she has acquitted herself as would a natural aristocrat.

Elizabeth II has lived a life of dedication and duty and done so with impeccable class. Her Majesty has been working quietly (and often thanklessly) for the English people for over half a century.

The Squad’s newest member – Jamaal Bowman (D- NY-16) By David Zukerman

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/04/the_squads_newest_member.html

Jamaal Bowman — the House’s newest anti-Semite.

Jamaal Bowman, M.C., has been my congressman since January 3 of this year.  He defeated Eliot Engel,  my previous member of Congress for 32 years, in a Democrat primary context.  Engel was ousted from Congress having reached the pinnacle of his 16-term tenure: chairmanship of the House Committee on International Relations.  As chairman of this committee, Engel was reliably pro-Israel — in a congressional district with a significant number of Jewish constituents.

Jamaal Bowman is no Eliot Engel,  As if to make this perfectly clear, he has signed up as sponsor of H.R. 2407, an anti-Israel measure introduced by Rep. Betty McCollum, (DFL, Minn.).

Who are the other sponsors of this anti-Israel measure, intended, apparently, at undoing the progress toward Middle East peace of the Abraham Accords midwifed by the Trump administration?  Why,  Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, and the other members of the notorious “Squad,” of course.  And now comes Jamaal Bowman, to be the first male Squad member.

H.R. 2407 takes for granted Israel’s “abuse” of Palestinian children living under its military detention and calls for denying aid to the Jewish State.  H.R. 2407 includes language that could have been taken from the most one-sided and biased anti-Israel resolutions to be adopted by the U.N. General Assembly of years past.

It is said that McCollum’s anti-Semitic measure — and let’s call H.R. 2407 for the anti-Jewish mindset it reflects — has little chance of passing.  No?  Is it not possible  that the Democrat Party is moving towards the mindset of that Pharaoh of Exodus who knew not Joseph, and proceeded to decree the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt – including the drowning of male babies?

China Funds Africa’s Fossil Fuel Renaissance—To Africa’s and the World’s Peril By Vijay Jayaraj

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/04/china_funds_africas_fossil_fuel_renaissanceto_africas_and_the_worlds_peril.html

China is pushing major advances in Africa’s energy sector. It will inevitably use the African fossil fuel sector as security for its own future energy needs. The geopolitical consequences could be serious.

Countries in Africa are in dire need of economic uplift for which a fossil-fuel supported energy sector is indispensable. In a world of growing opposition to fossil fuels, China has become Africa’s key fossil fuel enabler.

Africa Must Move Forward, and Fossil Fuels Are an Absolute Necessity

The African continent is at a critical phase of development. Decades of slow economic development are proving to be a major hurdle in tackling poverty, expanding access to basic utilities, and overall improvement of living standards.

To break free from this persistent lack of growth, Africa countries must adopt the tried and tested method of economic growth and industrialization used in Europe, North America, and Asia: a strong energy sector that aids a budding industrial economy.

Developed economies across the globe achieved phenomenal success during the 20th century by using fossil fuels to provide the energy required for the industries, households, and transportation.

But the anti-fossil fuel lobby threatens Africa’s ambitions. Even Africa’s primary funders, like the African Development Bank, have stopped funding fossil-fuel projects. This is a big blow to Africa’s ambitions to break free from centuries of poverty and the existing $50 billion per annum investment gap in Africa’s energy sector.

Denying African countries’ energy sovereignty will perpetuate widespread poverty and delay economic progress. China is stepping in to aid African countries with fossil fuel development.

Iran’s Goals By Shoshana Bryen

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/04/irans_goals.html

What if Iran doesn’t actually plan to use a nuclear weapon?

What if Iran wants, as various of its officials have said over the years, to prevent being toppled the way Saddam Hussein was, or Moammar Gaddafi or Hosni Mubarak?  To prevent a 20-year U.S.-led invasion like that of Afghanistan?  Nuclear-armed North Korea, not to mention Russia and China, have received far more forbearance from the U.S. than the leaders of Iraq, Libya, and Egypt, or the Afghan people.  Yes, all things considered, its better to be a nuclear-capable Iran than not.

Iran might be willing to accept delays in the program in exchange for time, space, and money to pursue its other long-term goals.  We can’t know that for certain, which makes pressure and a tight negotiating posture essential for the U.S. and its allies, and makes the ongoing, effective sabotage at nuclear-related facilities a well executed blessing.

The time to parse Iran’s non–nuclear weapons goals is now, before making concessions to Tehran.

Biden and Obama administration officials and their media supporters appear to regard a return to the JCPOA (the “Iran deal”), or even an extended and more restrictive JCPOA, as the solution to the problem of Iran.  But it is not.  Regardless of the outcome of the Vienna talks, the problems that make Tehran a threat to peaceful order at home and abroad will remain and likely be exacerbated.

This calls into question the proposition that Iran needs protection — nuclear or not — from the U.S. and Israel.  You don’t need nuclear protection if you plan to be a civilized country.  On the other hand, if you are planning to do something aggressive, hegemonic, deadly, and illegal, nuclear protection from the consequences seems wise.

Tehran’s goals include hegemony in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea; proxy forces controlling Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon (the “Shiite Crescent”); Shiite supremacism across the Muslim world; diminution of U.S. power and prestige in the region; and ultimately, the destruction of Israel, which stands in the way of the other goals.

Iran is fairly far along.  The “Crescent” not only provides close access to Israel, but also spreads across the northern borders of two key Sunni adversaries — Saudi Arabia, guardian of Mecca and Medina, which the mullahs covet, and Jordan.  It splits historic foe Sunni Turkey from the other Sunni Middle East states.  Only Israel keeps Iran from digging in deeper, and Israel was helped by the reduction in available cash for Iran by President Trump’s “maximum pressure” regime.

China’s Moral Disfigurement By Perry Link

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2021/05/03/chinas-moral-disfigurement/#slide-1

The Communist Party has attacked, but not destroyed, the nation’s traditional ethics

In 2001 Gordon G. Chang, an American lawyer who worked many years in China, published a book called “The Coming Collapse of China.” The corruption and hypocrisy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would be its undoing, Chang argued. A spirited controversy among China-watchers ensued. Nonsense — Chang is dreaming, said CCP defenders. No, it’s you apologists who are dreaming, replied CCP critics. As years ticked by with the regime still in the saddle, the apologists grew smug: We told you so.

I asked the opinion of Liu Binyan, the doyen of Chinese investigative journalists, who was widely revered in the 1980s as “China’s conscience” but was living in forced exile when Chang’s book appeared. “The title of the book is misleading,” said Liu. “Coming collapse? Morally speaking, China has already collapsed.” Liu explained his comment: After the massacre of protesters in 1989 and the CCP elite’s raid on the Chinese economy, during which a few high-ranking officials in the 1990s lopped off great chunks of it — electricity, IT, banking, shipping — and placed these in the hands of their own families, who profited spectacularly, cynicism had overtaken the country. Moral language of any kind was now a shell game; all that mattered was winning. The attitude of the elite seeped down through the whole of society. Liu told me about a new term that had arisen: zaishou, literally “slaughter the familiar,” which meant that, after swindling strangers had become commonplace, people were now going a step further. In zaishou one “slaughtered” friends and family; loyalty and trust were low-hanging fruit, there to be gutted for personal advantage. 

Illustrative stories are many. Here is one, reported in 2007 in Beijing Youth Daily: A wealthy businessman was keeping a mistress when his wife discovered the fact. She was irate but did not ask for divorce. Instead she demanded that her husband hand the woman over for a personal beating by her. The husband negotiated with his wife over how long the beating must last. Then, wishing to spare his mistress, he went to the Internet and placed a notice on a popular jobs forum: “Wanted: woman to receive beating by another woman. Should be about 35 years old.” He offered pay of 300 yuan (around $40) per minute. He got ten applicants and chose one, and the beating proceeded. The wife, albeit deceived, was satisfied. 

In citing this bizarre story I do not claim that it represents a pattern, because it likely does not. I merely want to illustrate the sort of thing that can happen in a society as ethically unmoored as China’s has become. The novelist Yu Hua has quipped that one advantage of writing about Chinese society today is that it is so vast and so adrift that one can imagine just about anything and still feel confident that it has probably happened somewhere. 

Biden’s Climate Folly By Rich Lowry

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/04/bidens-climate-folly/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=featured-content-trending&utm_term=first

Making energy more costly, turning a blind eye to China’s brutality.

The White House, in effect, hosted the highest-powered Zoom call ever Thursday with a virtual summit on climate.

Everyone who is somebody participated, from Vladimir Putin (otherwise plotting a potential invasion of Ukraine) and Xi Jinping (taking time out from grinding Hong Kong to dust) to Pope Francis and Bill Gates.

The story line was big, ambitious goals for reduced emissions and a renewal of U.S. “credibility” after President Donald Trump supposedly trashed it by pulling out of the Paris climate accord.

Biden announced a commitment to cut U.S. emissions in half from 2005 levels by 2030. This was greeted by huzzahs from elite opinion-makers, but the commitment, and the entire effort, is misbegotten.

A key theory driving it is that if the U.S. cuts its emissions, everyone else around the world will as well, preserving Earth as we know it.

But even well-intentioned countries are liable to miss, or to manipulate, their climate targets, whatever they say. And not all countries are well-intentioned.

Consider China, which the Biden administration has been desperate to get on board. Amazingly enough, climate envoy John Kerry was the first Biden official to visit China, signaling that climate change is more important to the administration than China’s threatening behavior toward Taiwan, its aggression in the South China Sea, its suppression of the Uyghurs, its predatory trade practices or its theft of intellectual property.

Kerry got verbiage from the Chinese about tackling climate change “with the seriousness and urgency that it demands.”

Biden vs. American History John Hinderaker

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/04/biden-vs-american-history.php

The Biden administration is seeking to institutionalize critical race theory in American education. Thus, on Monday Biden’s Education Department promulgated a proposed rule on American History and Civics Education. The rule “proposes two priorities for the American History and Civics Education programs, including the Presidential and Congressional Academies for American History and Civics(Academies) and National Activities programs….” More broadly, it shows the direction the administration will go as it influences primary and secondary education.

That direction is basically anti-American. It seeks to inculcate a distorted version of American history in our children:

The Department recognizes that COVID-19—with its disproportionate impact on communities of color—and the ongoing national reckoning with systemic racism have highlighted the urgency of improving racial equity throughout our society, including in our education system. As Executive Order 13985 states: “Our country faces converging economic, health, and climate crises that have exposed and exacerbated inequities, while a historic movement for justice has highlighted the unbearable human costs of systemic racism. Our Nation deserves an ambitious whole-of-government equity agenda that matches the scale of the opportunities and challenges that we face.”
***
For example, there is growing acknowledgement of the importance of including, in the teaching and learning of our country’s history, both the consequences of slavery, and the significant contributions of Black Americans to our society. This acknowledgement is reflected, for example, in the New York Times’ landmark “1619 Project” and in the resources of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History.[2]

Virginia moving to eliminate all accelerated math courses before 11th grade as part of equity-focused plan State says framework includes ‘differentiated instruction’ catered to the needs of the child Sam Dorman

https://www.foxnews.com/us/virginia-accelerated-math-courses-equity

Virginia exploring plan to end advanced diplomas for gifted students

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is moving to eliminate all accelerated math options prior to 11th grade, effectively keeping higher-achieving students from advancing as they usually would in the school system.

Loudoun County school board member Ian Serotkin posted about the change via Facebook on Tuesday. According to Serotkin, he learned of the change the night prior during a briefing from staff on the Virginia Mathematics Pathway Initiative (VMPI).

“[A]s currently planned, this initiative will eliminate ALL math acceleration prior to 11th grade,” he said. “That is not an exaggeration, nor does there appear to be any discretion in how local districts implement this. All 6th graders will take Foundational Concepts 6. All 7th graders will take Foundational Concepts 7. All 10th graders will take Essential Concepts 10. Only in 11th and 12th grade is there any opportunity for choice in higher math courses.”

His post included a chart with what appeared to be set math courses for 2022-2030.

VDOE spokesperson Charles Pyle indicated to Fox News that the courses would allow for at least some variation depending on students’ skill level. “Differentiated instruction means providing instruction that is catered to the learning needs of each child (appropriate levels of challenge and academic rigor),” Pyle said.

Maxine Waters’s Long History of Reckless Rhetoric The California congresswoman has never been a peacemaker. She’s always been on the side of rioting.By Joseph Perkins

https://www.wsj.com/articles/maxine-waterss-long-history-of-reckless-rhetoric-11619213954?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

“If Rep. Waters continues to get away with her unhinged rants, it may only be a matter of time before she is responsible for a tragedy. Then Auntie Maxine will have no one to blame but herself.”

The Ku Klux Klan was in Huntington Beach, Calif., on April 12, holding a “White Lives Matter” rally. It was a 37-minute drive away from the Hawthorne district office of Rep. Maxine Waters. “ Auntie Maxine ” (as the Democrat calls herself) declined to confront the Klan. But she flew all the way to Minneapolis last weekend to coach protesters awaiting the outcome of the Derek Chauvin trial.

“I hope we get a verdict that says guilty, guilty, guilty,” Ms. Waters said. “And if we don’t . . . we’ve got to stay on the street. We have to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational.”

The 82-year-old lawmaker has been notorious for such incendiary language since she was first elected to Congress in 1990. She called the 1992 riots that followed the acquittal of the Los Angeles police officers who were filmed beating Rodney King an “insurrection.” She meant it as a term of approbation. Sixty-three people died during the L.A. riots, but Ms. Waters declared that she wouldn’t tell her constituents “to go inside, to be peaceful, that they have to accept the verdict.”