Publishers beware: Banning books isn’t good for freedom (or business) by Ruthie Blum

ttps://www.jns.org/opinion/publishers-beware-banning-books-isnt-good-for-freedom-or-business/

 In an open letter posted last week to his website, young-adult novelist Barry Lyga called for like-minded colleagues in the industry to join him in blocking the publication of bodies of work written by anyone associated with the outgoing administration in Washington.

Titled “No Book Deal for Traitors,” the letter begins, “We all love book publishing, but we have to be honest—our country is where it is in part because publishing has chased the money and notoriety of some pretty sketchy people, and has granted those same people both the imprimatur of respectability and a lot of money through sweetheart book deals.”

It goes on, “As members of the writing and publishing community of the United States, we affirm that participation in the administration of Donald Trump must be considered a uniquely mitigating criterion for publishing houses when considering book deals.

“Consequently, we believe: No participant in an administration that caged children, performed involuntary surgeries on captive women, and scoffed at science as millions were infected with a deadly virus should be enriched by the almost rote largesse of a big book deal. And no one who incited, suborned, instigated, or otherwise supported the Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt should have their philosophies remunerated and disseminated through our beloved publishing houses.

From Pompeo’s Twitter Account, an Understated Policy Statement By Jimmy Quinn

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/from-pompeos-twitter-account-an-understated-policy-statement/

Mike Pompeo’s Twitter account has apparently tucked a notable policy statement into an otherwise unremarkable legacy-burnishing tweetstorm — and it has significant implications for U.S. support of Israel at the U.N.

The tweet was just one of the dozens that the secretary of state’s account has fired off every day since the start of 2021 to note his foreign-policy accomplishments as he nears the end of his tenure. It’s generally unremarkable stuff — some old pictures and graphics with snappy, occasionally stilted sloganeering (though more than a few Pompeo critics have seized on it as an opportunity to go after the top Trump official).

But Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noticed a decision that has otherwise gone unremarked upon: When @SecPompeo shared the 2018 press release announcing the U.S. decision to halt funding to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the post stated that “it’s estimated <200,000 Arabs diplaced in 1948 are still alive and most others are not refugees by any rational criteria.” UNRWA serves Palestinian refugees exclusively — it says that there are 5.8 million of them in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Palestine — and it’s the only organization within the U.N. system that focuses on a specific set of refugees. (All other refugee groups are handled by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.) It’s a testament to the U.N.’s single-minded obsession with criticizing Israel, holding the Jewish state to a different standard.

Joe Biden’s risky rush to undo every Trump action

https://nypost.com/2021/01/18/joe-bidens-risky-rush-to-undo-every-trump-action/

The Joe Biden era officially begins Wednesday, and from the looks of it, his much-ballyhooed calls for “unity” are out the window.

Notably, he intends to rejoin the Paris accords on climate change and end President Trump’s ban on travel from several nations that have serious problems with terrorism-promoting extremism. Sources say he’ll also rescind Trump’s approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. All are big symbols for the left — but with potentially big practical impact.

The prez-elect still has time to rethink what looks to be a blanket reversal of every Trump policy. Consider immigration, where Biden has made it clear he’s going to loosen Trump’s restrictions on asylum claims and decrease deportations; he’s even talked of ending the successful cooperation with Mexico to counter the surge at the southern border.

But, lo and behold, caravans are already on the way, with some 8,000 Honduran migrants in Guatemala. How many other crises could come from an ill-considered rush to “trump Trump” on every front? There’s certainly not a lot of common sense in many of those Day One executive orders.

Dozens Arrested, Eleven Cops Injured in NYC during MLK Day Protest By Mairead McArdle

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/dozens-arrested-eleven-cops-injured-in-nyc-during-mlk-day-protest/

Dozens were arrested Monday night in New York City when Black Lives Matter protesters clashed with police outside City Hall during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day march.

Hundreds of demonstrators marched peacefully from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to City Hall in Manhattan, where they were met with a heavy police presence.

The demonstration turned violent around 8:30 p.m. in City Hall Park, and police began making arrests after demonstrators started throwing projectiles, blocking traffic, and vandalizing property. Videos posted on social media show police urging the crowd to disperse before starting to make arrests.

At least 29 people were arrested near Chambers and Centre streets and eleven officers were injured, including a captain who was hit in the head with a glass bottle. None of the officers are in serious condition. It is unclear how many protesters were injured during the clashes.

In another video, police can be seen shoving several protesters as well as wrestling one person to the ground. Protesters can be heard shouting obscenities at officers.

Last week, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the New York Police Department over the “excessive enforcement” used against protesters calling for racial justice over the summer, including using pepper spray and batons on protesters and “kettling” or trapping demonstrators.

James is calling for federal oversight of the NYPD. The federal government is already monitoring the NYPD to ensure that it retires its stop-and-frisk policy, which was found in 2013 to have been used in an unconstitutional manner.

Last summer, riots broke out in New York City following the police custody death of George Floyd in May. About 450 businesses across the city were damaged and in many cases looted over May and June, according to the city’s Department of Small Business Services. More than 2,000 people were arrested at those demonstrations over the same period.

Janice Dean slams Cuomo over COVID response: ‘He wants to be a celebrity,’ not a leader Dean said she’s learned over the past months that Cuomo is a ‘bully’ By Catie Perry

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/janice-dean-cuomo-covid-response-celebrity-leader

Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean called out New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for how the state has handled the coronavirus pandemic on FOX Business’ “Making Money with Charles Payne.”

Dean has been a vocal critic in the past months, specifically about how New York has treated the elderly while virus cases were surging in nursing homes – Dean’s husband’s parents both died after contracting the virus in a New York nursing home.

Recently, Cuomo’s office responded to Dean’s latest criticisms and claimed “she’s not a credible source on anything except maybe the weather.”

JANICE DEAN: I think I’m an expert on grief. I think I’m an expert on what’s happened in nursing homes. I think I’m an expert on this governor, having covered him for the last 10 months and his atrocious leadership – from putting COVID-positive patients into nursing homes for 46 days, and the fact that he doesn’t take any responsibility and he’s actually refusing to answer to lawsuits. The Justice Department is looking into why he’s covering up the total number of seniors that we lost in nursing homes. My mother-in-law died in the hospital, but her number doesn’t count because the governor does not count those who died outside of the nursing home, but contracted the virus inside of it. And some of those totals are, in some cases, double what they are officially reporting. So that’s why I’ve been very critical of this governor. And, you know, he’s a bully. I’ve learned that over the last several months.

In the middle of a pandemic, he had the time to write a memoir of his leadership and how he flattened the curve. The curve right now is on the rise. And then he missed 17 meetings at the White House, Charles, for coronavirus response in all of the states because he was promoting his book.This governor wants to be a celebrity. He likes to hang out with Robert de Niro and actors like Ben Stiller. He had a birthday party for himself where you could join virtually by signing a check to the Andrew Cuomo campaign for $1,000. He wants to be a celebrity. And my response is: go be a celebrity. Please go to Hollywood and join your fellow governor, Gavin Newsom. We need somebody who actually wants to rule this state.

Hillary Clinton And Nancy Pelosi Agree: Trump And Putin Probably Coordinated Capitol Riot Posted By Tim Hains

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2021/01/19/hillary_clinton_and_nancy_pelosi_agree_trump_and_putin_probably_coordinated_capitol_riot.html

Hillary Clinton@HillaryClinton
·
@SpeakerPelosi
and I agree: Congress needs to establish an investigative body like the 9/11 Commission to determine Trump’s ties to Putin so we can repair the damage to our national security and prevent a puppet from occupying the presidency ever again.

During a visit to Hillary Clinton’s podcast this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed with the suggestion that “we should have a 9/11 commission” to investigate “Putin puppets” behind the riots on Capitol Hill.

MORE HEADLINES JANUARY 19, 2021

Melania Trump gives farewell address to the American people https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxEeYAKJrEQ WHITE HOUSE LISTS A FULL INVENTORY OF ALL PRESIDENT TRUMP HAS GOTTEN DONE, AND IT WILL BLOW YOU AWAY Aimee Herd / White House News Staff : Jan 18, 2021  WhiteHouse.gov No Thanks, I’ll Be Skipping the Inauguration https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2021/01/18/no-thanks-ill-be-skipping-the-inauguration-n2583248?   FBI warned of large-scale nationwide protests by Trump supporters, […]

Nuclear Extortion: Mullahs Want More Concessions from Biden by Majid Rafizadeh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16975/iran-nuclear-extortion

Iran… rejoined the global financial system with full legitimacy — plus billions of dollars flowing into the treasury of the IRGC and its expanding militias across the Middle East. You would think, then, that the regime would be delighted to return to the same nuclear deal, right? Wrong. The mullahs want an even sweeter deal.

Biden already showed his cards by stating that he wants the deal. The regime now knows that Biden seems desperate for a deal, and doubtless sees this as a delectable weakness.

The ruling mullahs also most likely assume that they can extort even more concessions from a Democrat administration, particularly Biden’s, because they successfully did so in the past….

Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif… told a forum… that he wants a new deal. “A sign of good faith is not to try to renegotiate what has already been negotiated,” he said, adding in the same speech that the US must “Compensate us for our losses.” Iran’s top judicial body had already demanded that the US pay $130 billion in “damages.”

The regime, in addition, is playing another dangerous game, as it did with the Obama administration, to program to extort greater concessions from the Biden administration: It is ratcheting up nuclear threats.

The Iranian regime received a dangerous and unprecedented level of concessions from the Obama administration for Iran’s 2015 “nuclear deal,” known as the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) — which, by the way, Tehran never signed. The major concession was that the deal paved the way for Iran legally to become a full-blown nuclear state.

The Pernicious Effects of Popular Nuclear Mythology by Stephen Blank and Peter Huessy

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16974/popular-nuclear-mythology

While one looks with alarm at the massive Russian nuclear modernization effort now nearing completion, the disarmament lobby — such as Ploughshares and Global Zero — views such modernization as simply a reflection of how the American threat is perceived by the Russians.

There is also little doubt that the Russian Federation’s priority investment in nuclear weapons was — and remains — aimed primarily to checkmate the United States’ conventional weapons superiority, and give Russia a free hand to use its own military power for hegemonic purposes. The same could be said of North Korea and Iran’s decisions to go along their respective paths to nuclear breakout.

What brings the issue to the forefront today is that many luminaries of previous administrations who may now be staffing the incoming administration still hold these historically inaccurate views.

A commitment to a “sole-purpose” posture — or to its equivalent, a “no-first-use” stance — not only undermines the US nuclear umbrella upon which America’s allies have relied for 70 years, it also invites a Russian first strike. Moscow’s conventional and nuclear forces are configured for just that kind of operation and are ultimately restrained only by the American nuclear deterrent.

If the United States wrongly assumes that Russia’s deterrent serves no offensive purpose, we would be ignoring recent and authoritative evidence to the contrary…. Russia’s military posture is fundamentally offensive…. “active defense.”

Russia’s ability to initiate conventional strikes against its rivals and adversaries is closely backed up by nuclear weapons.

Iran would undoubtedly see even partial unilateral US disarmament as a green light for its nuclear quest. One can imagine what that would lead to in the Middle East.

Moreover, US unilateral acts of altruism, designed to lead by example, will not be reciprocated: states in general, and certainly Russia and China, are, to quote Charles De Gaulle, “cold monsters.”

There is a widespread belief, especially among advocates of nuclear disarmament, that a country with nuclear weapons is primarily interested in self-protection. The narrative continues with another belief — really more of a wish — that nuclear weapons should never be used to deter anything other than a nuclear attack from an adversary and, if that can be agreed upon, nations would then be willing to get rid of nuclear weapons altogether.

By Dems’ logic, couldn’t Obama and Biden be impeached and convicted for their actions in 2016 so they can never hold office again? By Jack Hellner

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/01/by_dems_logic_couldnt_obama_and_biden_be_impeached_and_convicted_for_their_actions_in_2016_so_they_can_never_hold_office_again.html

Isn’t it pure abuse of power and obstruction of justice when an administration is so consumed with maintaining power that it uses the massive personnel and taxpayer resources to destroy their political opponent while protecting their chosen successor from prosecution no matter how many crimes she committed?

For some reason, I have never seen Pelosi, Schumer, Hoyer, Durbin, AOC and other Democrats asked the following questions no matter how many times they have been interviewed the last 4 1/2 years:

Is it OK that the DNC and Hillary paid a foreign national over $10 million to create a fictional dossier to take out Trump?
Is it OK that the DNC and Hillary campaign committed fraud by lying to the FEC that the money paid to a foreign source was for legal fees instead of telling the truth. (And Democrats say they are the party of truth over lies)
Is it OK that several FBI swamp creatures used this fake dossier when they continually lied to the FISA court in order to spy on people surrounding Trump as they allowed Hillary and her aides to get off scot free? (and the Democrats say that under them, the Justice Department operates independently and no one is above the law)
Is it OK that so many people in the Obama administration, including Biden himself, spent the two months after the 2016 election unmasking people and seeking to destroy people like Flynn instead of helping the Trump administration and having a peaceful transition of power?

Image credit: Daniel Schwen CC BY-SA 4.0 license

As a matter of fact, I don’t remember Obama, Biden or Hillary asked these same obvious questions no matter how many times they have been interviewed and kissed up to the last several years as to how great they are and were.