NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Meghan Markle, George Floyd, Muhammad and free speech by Ruthie Blum

Posted By on March 16th, 2021

https://www.jns.org/opinion/meghan-markle-george-floyd-muhammad-and-free-speech/

The latest scandal surrounding the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is noteworthy. This isn’t because of the ire that it’s been arousing, however; righteous indignation is literally and figuratively all the rage during these days of “woke.”

No, the element that sets this brouhaha apart from its predecessors is the absence of mass murder. Yes, when the ink dries on the current pages of the Paris-based periodical and the Twittersphere moves on to the next hashtag, there won’t be any corpses to count.

The current storm involves a lampoon of Oprah Winfrey’s March 7 interview on CBS with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Titled “Why Meghan quit Buckingham,” the March 13 cartoon depicts Markle being kneed in the neck by Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, with the explanation: “Because I couldn’t breathe anymore.”

The reference was to the May 25 killing of African-American George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. The insinuation is that Markle, whose mother is black, whisked her husband out of the United Kingdom as a result of her being slowly suffocated by the ostensibly “racist” royal family.
The former member of the “Suits” cast even indicated this during her intimate chat with Oprah that was viewed by more than 60 million people worldwide.

MEDIA Comments turned off

Glenn Greenwald:How Do Big Media Outlets So Often “Independently Confirm” Each Other’s Falsehoods?

Posted By on March 16th, 2021

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/how-do-big-media-outlets-so-often?token=ey

There were so many false reports circulated by the dominant corporate wing of the U.S. media as part of the five-year-long Russiagate hysteria that in January, 2019, I compiled what I called “The 10 Worst, Most Embarrassing U.S. Media Failures on the Trump-Russia Story.” The only difficult part of that article was choosing which among the many dozens of retractions, corrections and still-uncorrected factual falsehoods merited inclusion in the worst-ten list. So stiff was the competition that I was forced to omit many huge media Russiagate humiliations, and thus, to be fair to those who missed the cut, had to append a large “Dishonorable Mention” category at the end.

That the entire Russiagate storyline itself was a fraud and a farce is conclusively demonstrated by one decisive fact that can never be memory-holed: namely, the impetus for the scandal and subsequent investigation was the conspiracy theory that the Trump campaign had secretly and criminally conspired with the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election, primarily hacking into the email inboxes of the DNC and Clinton campaign chief John Podesta. And a grand total of zero Americans were accused (let alone convicted) of participating in that animating conspiracy.

The New York Times’ May, 2017 announcement of Robert Mueller as special counsel stated explicitly that his task was “to oversee the investigation into ties between President Trump’s campaign and Russian officials” and specifically “investigate ‘any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump.’”

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Vaccines Free Us From Fauci’s Despotic Reign Soon, life will be back to normal — and no longer controlled by politicking public health experts. by Reed Spaulding IV, MD

Posted By on March 16th, 2021

https://spectator.org/covid-vaccines-dr-fauci/

One year into this pandemic, we are seeing signs of hope that life will return to normal sometime this year. States across the country are relaxing COVID restrictions. This is drawing criticism from some, including President Biden, calling such moves “Neanderthal thinking.” Perhaps it takes one to know one, Joe. Who let you out of the basement, anyway? Far from being Neanderthals, millions of people are rightfully celebrating a relative return to normalcy in many states across the country. Godspeed to them, I say.

How did we get here? How did we come to a point where we feel gratitude that our government is “allowing” us to begin to live normally again? COVID itself undoubtedly harmed many people’s health and has sadly killed over half a million of our citizens, but the mitigation policies also have caused much harm to others. Many of us have been shocked to learn that we live in a country where the stroke of an executive’s pen can shutter businesses, force masking, etc., with no legislative input whatsoever.

How did they get away with this type of societal control? Well, every good story of psychological manipulation has a bogeyman (or perhaps I should say “bogeyperson,” to please the woke crowd). Whom did the writers of 2020 pencil in as the monster in this tale? In order to maintain complete control, they intelligently picked the most damning and insidious villain possible. They picked you.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

How to End Biden’s Fake Climate Apocalypse If there’s no pushback against the Left, we’ll see a dramatic drop in our standard of living. Rael Jean Isaac

Posted By on March 16th, 2021

https://spectator.org/climate-change-global-warming/
With the wave of executive orders and legislation coming from the Biden administration, and the cultural antics of his woke supporters, Biden’s war on fossil fuels has received insufficient attention. Yet energy is the lifeblood of our economy, and making traditional energy sources vastly more expensive is the single most destructive aspect of Biden’s policies. If this country does not successfully mobilize against these policies, the vast majority will experience a dramatic drop in their standard of living.

Supposedly the assault on fossil fuels — via regulation; cancellation of pipelines; concocting a huge, wholly imaginary “social cost of carbon”; taxes; and solar and wind mandates — is necessary to save the planet from imminent catastrophe produced by man-made global warming.

But genuine climate scientists, as we know from those who dare to speak up, are amazed and horrified. Richard Lindzen, long at the top of the field as a former professor of atmospheric sciences at MIT, laments that the situation gets sillier and sillier. He told the recent CPAC conference (his message was read by the Heartland Institute’s James Taylor):

One problem with conveying our message is the difficulty people have in recognizing the absurdity of the alarmist climate message. They can’t believe that something so absurd could gain such universal acceptance. Consider the following situation. Your physician declares that your complete physical will consist in simply taking your temperature. This would immediately suggest something wrong with your physician. He further claims that if your temperature is 98.7F rather than 98.6F you must be put on life support. Now you know he is certifiably insane. The same situation for climate is considered “settled science.”

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

China’s Useful Elitists: Westerners Exploited for Beijing’s Domestic Image By Richard Bernstein ****

Posted By on March 16th, 2021

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2021/03/16/chinas_useful_elitists_westerners_exploited_for_beijings_domestic_image_767855.html

Early in February, the BBC broadcast interviews with several Uighur women who graphically described the horrific treatment they’d received while detained in one of the concentration camps where China has reportedly locked up a million or more ethnic Muslims for “vocational training” and “deradicalization.”

John Ross, British academic: China approvingly noted his claim that the BBC was controlled by British intelligence.

China’s response was swift and predictable. It accused the BBC of passing along “fake news” about Xinjiang, the COVID epidemic and other matters. The BBC, China’s authorities said, had “seriously violated” regulations that news broadcasts be “truthful and fair.” Chinese newspapers also dutifully passed on an accusation against the network from a British journalist and academic named John Ross. Ross claims that the BBC is largely controlled by the British intelligence service MI5, which, according to Ross, directly “vets” all members of the broadcaster’s staff.

The Chinese press cited a tweet in which Ross said that “coordination of the BBC with military intelligence,” had come “from a special office inside BBC headquarters.”

China often turns to foreign “experts” such as Ross to supply credibility for its persistent complaint that the Western media is “anti-China” and in cahoots with foreign governments, especially the United States. Ross is one of several foreigners, generally attached to Chinese universities or research institutes, who have emerged as apologists for Beijing, especially as it has come under intensifying criticism for its human rights violations in Xinjiang and Hong Kong and its ever tighter control of opinion across the country. 

An old tradition: Back in the 1930s, this book by a left-leaning American journalist presented to generations of Americans a view of the rising Mao Zedong as a benignly progressive figure.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

WATCH: ‘Apartheid’ Myth Thoroughly Debunked by Arab-Israeli Lawmaker

Posted By on March 16th, 2021

https://unitedwithisrael.org/watch-apartheid-myth-thoroughly-debunked-in-speech-by-arab-israeli-lawmaker/?

While it surely wasn’t his intention to praise Israel, Ayman Odeh cited incredible statistics proving that it is a diverse and inclusive country.

You know the claim that Israel is an apartheid state? Well, this Arab Knesset member proves it couldn’t be more false.

Ayman Odeh is the leader of the Joint Arab List and he is not known for his positive feelings toward the Jewish State, going so far as to collaborate with officials in the Palestinian Authority in condemnation of Israel.

But even Odeh can’t deny reality when he cites these incredible statistics about the Israeli-Arab community, demonstrating that Israel is a diverse, inclusive country. He destroys the false notion that Israel is an apartheid state.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Free Thomas Caldwell. Now. Diana West

Posted By on March 16th, 2021

https://dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/4212/Free-Thomas-Caldwell-Now.aspx

Saw an amazing report, the next best thing to man bites dog: Federal judge raps sloppy, run-amuck US attorneys. Even according to Politico of the precious Left, this was a “setback” to the Justice Department’s “widest ranging conspiracy case” related to the January 6 Capitol protest.

What happened is this: Judge Amit Mehta ordered the pre-trial release of Lt. Commander (USN, ret.) Thomas Caldwell (above), 66, to home confinement pending trial on numerous charges spun out of the DOJ fever dream that a handful of Oath Keepers militia (of which Caldwell is not even a member) conspired to lead a pre-planned attack on the Capitol to stop Congress from certifying the fraudulent 2020 election.

That may not sound like much, but he judge’s decision lets a crack of light onto what has been unmitigated darkness. 

Politico:

The decision is a setback for the Justice Department as it seeks to show that some elements of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol were part of sophisticated and organized cells intent on violently blocking the transition of power. 

The reason the judge’s decision is a “setback” is because Caldwell is the Justice Department’s “lead defendant” in its fantasy of premeditated insurrection. How, in their hasty and error-filled indictment (see below), did Government lawyers conclude Caldwell was a leader of this supposed army of Trump rebels? Because Caldwell’s social media handle is “Commander Tom.”

That the moniker is just a relic of Caldwell’s Navy days would be funny if the consequences of this sloppy prosecutorial overreach were not so serious.    

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Capitol Investigation Seeks to Criminalize Political Dissent The government’s response to the January 6 melee isn’t about justice. It’s about partisan retribution and revenge. And the consequences will be disastrous. Julie Kelly

Posted By on March 16th, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/03/15/capitol-investigation-seeks-to-criminalize-political-dissent/

In the early hours of March 12, FBI agents in southwestern Florida barricaded a neighborhood to prepare to raid the home of one resident. Christopher Worrell of Cape Coral was arrested and charged with several counts related to the January 6 Capitol melee. Even though Worrell had been cooperating with the FBI for two months, the agency nonetheless unleashed a massive, and no doubt costly, display of force to take him into custody.

Law enforcement agents, according to one neighbor who spoke with a reporter, wore “whole outfits . . . like military and it was crazy. There was like six or seven . . . big black vehicles. They busted down the front door.” The raid included “armed men with helmets and a tanker truck” and was partially executed by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Worrell never entered the Capitol building on January 6; he isn’t accused of committing a violent crime. But a D.C. judge overturned a Florida judge’s ruling to release Worrell pending further review of his case. He remains in jail.

Ginning Up “Domestic Terrorism”

Worrell’s arrest is the latest in what the U.S. Department of Justice warned would be an “unprecedented” investigation leading to sedition charges filed against American citizens. Attorney General Merrick Garland pledged to make the Capitol Breach manhunt his top priority; on his first day in office, he received an update on the investigation from FBI Director Christopher Wray. Garland has compared January 6 to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, including 15 children.

Roughly 300 people have been arrested so far, many of them transported to Washington, D.C. to await trial and dozens denied bail after federal prosecutors argued the defendants, including a high school senior from Georgia, pose a threat to the nation.

The Capitol Breach probe, the department’s official title, is a flagrant political prosecution targeting Trump supporters. Every display—from heavy-handed FBI raids to a militarized Washington, D.C.—is designed to portray the President Trump’s allies as domestic terrorists.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Nigerian Gunmen Kidnap Primary-School Teachers in Latest Abduction Surge in armed militancy has worsened security in northwest Nigeria, where kidnapping for ransom has become a lucrative industry

Posted By on March 16th, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/nigerian-gunmen-kidnap-primary-school-children-in-latest-mass-abduction-11615820244?mod=world_major_2_pos1

Gunmen kidnapped three teachers from a primary school in northwestern Nigeria on Monday, government officials said, as parents of students kidnapped in another school four days earlier staged a protest demanding the government bring their children home safely.

Samuel Aruwan, the security commissioner for Kaduna state, initially said that authorities had received reports that both pupils and teachers had been abducted on Monday morning in the Birnin Gwari area, but later issued a statement to say the missing children had escaped. A local vigilante group who was hunting for the kidnappers said it would take until Tuesday morning to say definitively that none of the students had been abducted.

The victims’ families said the gunmen arrived Monday morning, shortly after school gates had opened, and attacked the school. Primary schools in Nigeria usually admit children between 6 and 9 years old.

“They came to the village looking like normal people and one of them drew a gun from his caftan and started firing before moving to the school,” said Abduljalal Usman, the elder brother of one of the abducted teachers.

It was the fifth mass school abduction since December in Nigeria’s northwest, where a surge in armed militancy has led to worsening security and kidnapping for ransom become a lucrative industry.

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

U.S. Outreach to North Korea Has Gone Unanswered, White House Says Biden administration has sought a dialogue on Pyongyang’s nuclear-weapons and ballistic-missile programs

Posted By on March 16th, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-outreach-to-north-korea-has-gone-unanswered-white-house-says-11615835288

The Biden administration has reached out to North Korea to launch a dialogue on Pyongyang’s nuclear-weapons and ballistic-missile programs but has yet to receive a response, the White House said Monday.

“Our goal is to reduce the risk of escalation. But to date, we have not received any response,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “Diplomacy continues to remain our first priority.”

Ms. Psaki didn’t explain how the Biden administration had tried to contact North Korea nor spell out what its message had been. The administration is currently conducting a review of its policy toward North Korea, which may be completed in coming weeks.

The U.S. has a number of ways to reach out to Pyongyang, including contact through North Korea’s mission to the United Nations, use of an intelligence channel the Obama administration established for sensitive communications with North Korea, and messages through Sweden, the U.S.’s “protecting power” in the country.

Washington and Pyongyang haven’t held nuclear talks since October 2019. The negotiations are held up over U.S. demands that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons program and long-range missiles in return for relief from U.S. sanctions.

Ms. Psaki said the administration has continued to engage with allies in Japan and South Korea as it crafts its own policy toward the region. She added that the U.S. hasn’t had an “active dialogue” with North Korea for more than a year.