EDUCATION, P.C.-CULTURE Comments turned off

The war on Jordan Peterson Professor is canary in toxic coal mine of political correctness and petty thought police By Charles Hurt

Posted By on February 3rd, 2021

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/feb/1/the-war-on-jordan-peterson/

Leftist hatred for the Canadian psychology professor Jordan Peterson is really something to behold. He stands as an example of what happens to someone who strays from the crazy line of thinking by modern campus bigots.

Mr. Peterson is the canary in the toxic coal mine of political correctness and petty thought police.

Let’s start with the professor’s crime.

Simply put, Mr. Peterson does not share the monolithic, prevailing liberal orthodoxy on university campuses dictating that Western White males are the world’s evil oppressors and anyone who does not belong to that evil race is a victim trapped in circumstances beyond his or her control.

Consider for a moment the leftist premise to which the radical Mr. Peterson objects.

On its face, it is blatantly racist. Divvying up, defining and punishing groups of people based on their race (or gender) was racist 200 years ago during slavery times. It was racist 75 years ago. It is still racist today.

Yet, astonishingly, this reborn racism is widely embraced by the racists who dominate college campuses today. 

The second obvious flaw in this racist orthodoxy is the message it sends to non-White, non-males.

Any challenges, failures or misery you face in life are not your fault. And, even worse, there is nothing you can do to change your circumstances. So, just stew in your bitterness and hatred for White males along with the rest of us, goes the leftist campus orthodoxy of the day.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Alexei Navalny’s Cause: Can the Biden Administration marshal a unified Western response to the Russian opposition leader’s prison sentence?

Posted By on February 3rd, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/alexei-navalnys-cause-11612309007?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

We would have liked to have been in the room when Vladimir Putin confronted whoever came up with the idea to poison Alexei Navalny last year. The opposition politician nearly died, but the assassination attempt by Russian spooks has made him an even more prominent threat to the Russian dictator’s rule.

The Kremlin had Mr. Navalny arrested upon his return to Russia in January after several months of treatment in Germany, and on Tuesday a Russian court sentenced him to three-and-a-half years in prison (reduced by one year for time served). The charges of violating his parole from a previous conviction are a farce. This is a political arrest and sentence.

One lesson is that Mr. Putin and his gang must feel threatened. Protests in support of Mr. Navalny have been growing in major Russian cities. Mr. Putin has survived protests before, notably in 2012, but his popularity has sagged amid an economy weakened by lower oil prices and Western sanctions.

“[Putin’s] only method is killing people,” Mr. Navalny said in court. “For as much as he pretends to be a great geopolitician, he’ll go down in history as a poisoner.”

EDUCATION Comments turned off

Georgetown Professor: Islamic Slavery is Freedom? By Andrew Harrod

Posted By on February 2nd, 2021

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2021/01/georgetown-professor-islamic-slavery-is-freedom

“Slavery cannot be intrinsically evil in Islamic law,” Georgetown University professor Jonathan Brown stated during a July 20, 2020 webinar. This disturbing assessment came during a 2019-2020 series of presentations on his 2019 book, Slavery & Islam, whose theses have hardly improved upon this Muslim convert’s past scandalous comments on slavery.

On February 7, 2017, Brown had caused furor while presenting a paper on slavery and Islam at the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). Thereby he noted the traditional Islamic doctrine expressed in Quran 33:21 that Islam’s prophet Muhammad is an “excellent pattern” of behavior. Therefore this example sanctified the slavery practiced by him and his companions, including sex slavery, a doctrine that had justified slavery throughout Islamic history.

Once public, such views completely negated Brown’s disclaimer at the presentation’s beginning. “I always make some hyperbolic statement that really makes sense in the context,” he noted, such that he would face accusations of “calling for slavery.” Given such concern over criticism, he expelled this author from the presentation before it started.

Brown’s elaboration of his views during his subsequent book tour has been hardly more reassuring, for slavery is “simply a fact of life in the Quran” and perhaps even “part of the DNA of Islam.” “Every area of Islamic law is permeated by slavery,” something that “sharia, without exception until the 20th-century, validated.” Muslim scholars have even speculated about a “time when the laws of slavery will actually be needed again,” such as in a post-apocalyptic Mad Max-like world, he has noted.

CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Why Trump Should Press His Case On Voter Fraud Donald Trump can win his Senate trial on the merits, not just a technicality, and he should. By David Marcus

Posted By on February 2nd, 2021

https://thefederalist.com/2021/02/02/why-trump-should-press-his-case-on-voter-frau

With a major shakeup in Donald Trump’s legal team this weekend, increasing attention is being paid to what defense the former president will mount in his upcoming Senate impeachment trial.

Conventional wisdom is that Republican senators would prefer Trump simply argue that it is unconstitutional to impeach a former president. Reportedly, they do not want him to argue he was not guilty of inciting a riot, and most certainly do not want him to argue that there was, in fact, widespread election fraud.

One can understand why these senators would rather rule only on the narrow issue of the constitutionality. It is far less contentious than the other two arguments, and why even bother with them if the first argument makes them moot?

But for Trump, who has already lost his largest platform on Twitter, the ability to lay out the case on why he didn’t incite a riot and that there was widespread fraud may seem irresistible. It would be far riskier, but there is still a very good chance he would be acquitted, maybe by a closer margin — possibly with some annoyed votes in his favor, but acquitted nonetheless.

On all three counts, Trump has very reasonable arguments to make. And given that so many in the media have already made up their mind that he is obviously guilty, he would have a very low bar to cast doubt on that guilt. So let’s look at each defense on its own.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

A New Law To Contain Islamic Radicalism Threatens French Protestants

Posted By on February 2nd, 2021

https://markdurie.com/a-new-law-to-contain-islamic-radicalism-threatens-french-protestants/

Six years ago, when I was serving as the pastor of an Anglican church, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission wrote to the parish requesting that it implement measures to stop our church from funding terrorists.

Warning a quiet suburban Anglican parish against funding terrorism seems more than faintly ridiculous, but for some types of charities it could be entirely reasonable. For example, during the 1990’s the Islamic Council of Victoria was administering a “mujihadeen” account, to raise funds for jihad in Afghanistan, although representatives of the Council later stated that the ICV never funded any jihadis who were ‘extremist’.

The ICV’s mujahideen campaign had a religious basis in Islam. One of the obligatory five pillars of the faith is to make financial contributions, known as zakat. According to the Qur’an, these ‘alms’ can be used for various purposes, not all of which would meet the conventional Christian understanding of ‘charity’. One of the permitted uses is to fund jihadis. The Qur’an calls this ‘alms … in the path of Allah’. This phrase was explained by the renowned Muslim commentator Ibn Kathir as “‘in the path of Allah’ is exclusive for the benefit of fighters in jihad.”

The Islamic sharia presents many unique and specific regulative challenges for secular governments. In addressing these challenges the authorities are understandably loath to discriminate between religions, so when they set out to impose legislative boundaries around Islamic radicalism, there is a risk that the freedoms of other religions will be damaged.  Freedoms and privileges currently enjoyed by Christian charities could be wound back, as collateral damage of a scattergun response to Islamic radicalism.

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Arming Taiwan Against China Is A Smarter Strategy Than Sending U.S. Troops By Sumantra Maitra

Posted By on February 2nd, 2021

https://thefederalist.com/2021/02/02/arming-taiwan-against-china-is-a-smarter-strategy-than-sending-u-s-troops/

President Biden shouldn’t make empty promises. The strategy should be about bleeding China if they overstretch, rather than committing American lives to a potentially attritional war.

Largely unreported in corporate media, last week Chinese fighters apparently simulated sinking a U.S. carrier in an attack. On Jan. 23, according to intel sources, cockpit chatter highlighted a command to simulate targeting the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier group.

China has been in news over sporadic border clashes with India and a flyby of Taiwan on the day of President Biden’s inauguration. But a direct simulation of a strike on a U.S. carrier group signifies that Beijing now considers even a limited military clash with America over Taiwan within the realm of possibility.

That brings us to the biggest foreign policy question, which the Biden administration is likely not yet ready to face. What happens the day after China launches an invasion of Taiwan?

So far, the Biden administration’s reaction has signaled rhetorical continuity with the Trump era. American foreign policy wonks, despite all divisions, are bipartisan about the China threat. One might not hear it much in public, but despite being divided between realists who prefer a narrower national interest-based approach, and liberals and neoconservatives who prefer interventions and democracy promotion, foreign policy circles so far are united in their threat appraisal of the rise of China as the largest threat facing the United States.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Kamala Harris already becoming a problem for Biden White House By Thomas Lifson

Posted By on February 2nd, 2021

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/02/kamala_harris_already_becoming_a_problem_for_biden_white_house.html

I suspect that regret already is setting in among his handlers over their pick of Kamala Harris for Joe Biden’s running mate. The first of what will be many clean-up efforts began yesterday for her bungling an incident 8 days in office.  CNN reports:

The White House called Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin after Vice President Kamala Harris conducted interviews with West Virginia media, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation.

The outreach comes after Harris’ apparent move to apply pressure on Manchin frustrated the conservative Democrat, something that he made clear over the weekend.

The pressure VP Harris attempted to apply came in the form of an exclusive interview she granted to WSAZ TV in Huntington, WV. Curiously, I have been unable to locate a video clip on Rumble or YouTube or Twitter. Even WSAZ’s own website is not making available what has to be one of the most newsworthy broadcast moments in the station’s history.

In the interview, Harris tried to pressure the popular former governor by speaking directly to his own constituents:

On Thursday, Harris promoted the $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan in interviews with television stations in West Virginia and Arizona — states that are home to Democrats whose votes could be critical to passing Covid relief, including Manchin in West Virginia and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, along with Sen. Mark Kelly, who will face re-election in the state in 2022, in Arizona.

BOOKS Comments turned off

Andy Ngo Unmasks Antifa in New Book and Warns: ‘Antifa Lives and Thrives Only if America Dies.’ By Victoria Taft

Posted By on February 2nd, 2021

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/victoria-taft/2021/02/02/andy-ngo-unmasks-antifa-in-new-book-and-warns-antifa-lives-and-thrives-only-if-america-dies-n1422325

Antifa is the muscle, the Southern Poverty Law Center and other non-profits help pick the targets, and anyone who points out their totalitarian intolerance is called a fascist, promptly canceled, or burned in effigy. That’s the crazy Leftist triangulation playing out these days on the streets of Portland and in many other riot-prone American cities. Journalist Andy Ngo knows this all too well.

The angry red communist comrades of antifa and BLM have tried to cancel the Portland-based journalist but Ngo told PJ Media that it obviously hasn’t worked out too well for them. Antifa “protesters” beat him senseless and sent him to the hospital with brain damage in 2019, engaged in a sustained smear campaign against him due to his coverage of the group, and basically put out a hit on him, but Andy Ngo’s still standing. And thriving.

Instead of being canceled, Ngo wrote a book about antifa and BLM. Unmasked: Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy has just hit bookstores.

Though I’ve watched the Portland protest scene go from the chill Friday-at-4 drum circles to shrieking animal rights protesters, Occupy encampments, May Day melees, and antifa trying to burn down my hometown, Ngo’s book is a valuable resource and well told.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Trump Eviscerates Democrats’ Impeachment Charges By Tyler O’Neil

Posted By on February 2nd, 2021

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2021/02/02/trump-lawyers-claim-impeachment-is-a-legal-nullity-n1422577

On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump’s lawyers Bruce L. Castor, Jr., and David Schoen released Trump’s answer to the Democrats’ article of impeachment accusing him of “incitement of insurrection.” Trump’s response breaks the Democrats’ impeachment article into eight separate allegations and responds to each claim. In a nutshell, the former president argues that it is unconstitutional for the Senate to remove a president when he has already left office and that he is innocent of the Democrats’ charges.

Trump asks the Senate to “dismiss Article I: Incitement of Insurrection against him as moot, and thus in violation of the Constitution, because the Senate lacks jurisdiction to remove from office a man who does not hold office. In the alternative, the 45th President respectfully requests the Senate acquit him on the merits of the allegations raised in the article of impeachment.”

The Senate already voted to take up the impeachment, with five Republican senators joining 50 Democratic senators in holding the matter constitutional. However, 45 Republican senators voted not to hold the trial, given constitutional concerns. This vote signified that the Senate is not likely to convict Trump.

The former president makes a few extremely salient arguments against the Democrats’ impeachment article. In addition to the claim that the Senate cannot convict a former president on impeachment, Trump argues that the Democrats violated his free speech and due process rights in rushing to impeach him and that the article of impeachment is deceptively drafted in an unfair manner. Trump also claims that disqualifying him from office would constitute a “bill of attainder,” which has been broadly interpreted to mean a legislative act against a class of people that inflcits punishment on them without a judicial trial.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

YouTube Cancels the U.S. Senate It censors testimony from physicians on early treatments for Covid-19 patients. By Senator Ron Johnson (R-WIS.)

Posted By on February 2nd, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/youtube-cancels-the-u-s-senate-11612288061?mod=opinion_lead_pos5 Google’s YouTube has ratcheted up censorship to a new level by removing two videos from a U.S. Senate committee. They were from a Dec. 8 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing on early treatment of Covid-19. One was a 30-minute summary; the other was the opening statement of critical-care specialist Pierre Kory. […]