ISRAEL Comments turned off

The Abraham Accords and the Intransigence of the Palestinian-Arabs in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza Alex Grobman

Posted By on December 16th, 2020

https://thejewishvoiceandopinion.com/the-abraham-accords-and-the-intransigence-of-the-palestinian-arabs-in-judea-samaria-and-gaza/

 The Abraham Accords, the term given to the series of agreements reached last summer allowing normal relations between Israel and several of her Arab-Muslim neighbors, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and now Morocco, were greeted with optimism and approval by the Trump administration.

“Everybody who joined the Abraham Accords will see the benefits for their own people,” declared US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said he was “highly confident that many, many more nations will ultimately choose to do the right thing and recognize Israel as the rightful homeland of the Jewish people.”

In stark contrast to Pompeo’s confidence in other Arab nations’ ultimate decision to recognize the Jewish people’s return to their ancestral homeland, are the expressions emanating from the Palestinian Authority and its counterpart in Gaza, Hamas. These Palestinian groups have been brutal in their condemnation of the accords and those countries that have signed them.

Exploiting Children

Before his death this past November, Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian politician and negotiator, called the accords “a poisoned stab in the back of the Palestinian people and an attempt to try and get around international legitimacy.”

Statements such as these have an effect on the Palestinian-Arabs as well as the Arab-Muslim populations in the countries that are making peace with Israel.

For example, a report from Palestinian Media Watch, a non-profit research institute that studies Palestinian society by monitoring and analyzing its media and schoolbooks, illustrates the opposition to normalizing relations with Israel. Posted on the official Facebook page of the PA faction, Fatah, headed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, is a video clip of Bahraini children conveying their enmity towards the Abraham Accords.

POLITICS Comments turned off

A Republican NeverTrump Postmortem How history will view these self-proclaimed conservatives and protectors of principle. Bruce Thornton

Posted By on December 16th, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/12/republican-nevertrump-postmortem

Of all the bizarrerie over the last four years, the Republican NeverTrump (RNT) phenomenon is the strangest. Pundits, commentators, and writers who self-identified as Republican and conservative did not see Donald Trump’s historic upset victory as a cause for celebration. Instead, they saw it as a disaster to be mourned and attacked with more vitriol than they ever expended on Barack Obama, not just one of the most progressive presidents ever elected, but a failure both at home and abroad.

Many factors explain this mystery, but one stands out: the revelation that there is indeed a bipartisan political guild that cares more about maintaining its own power, prestige, and perks than instituting policies that keep America safe, prosperous, and free.

It’s understandable that many establishment Republicans would be put off by Trump. He didn’t come from the world of government, universities, and think-tanks, which is unaccountable to the market and so can fail forever. He owned businesses where concrete results are more important than abstract theorizing or rhetorical cleverness. A world where common sense and practical wisdom are more useful than institutional “paradigms,” “grand narratives,” and received wisdom. It galled the intellectual clerisy to think that such a boor and Philistine could achieve the highest office in the most powerful nation in human history.

But once the primaries were over and Trump had won the nomination, these complaints over style and personality were beside the point, and reflected distaste for one particular kind of American identity shared by a critical mass of the over 60 million voters who put him in office. More important was one simple fact: Trump’s victory meant that Hillary Clinton, a deep-swamp creature likely to continue the disastrous polices of Barack Obama––a tax-and-spend, hyper-regulatory, civil society-intruding degradation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights––would leave our political stage, taking her unpleasant personality, sordid ambition, mediocre achievements, and history of felonious behavior with her.

EDUCATION Comments turned off

The Disunited State of America Hardworking mainstream American taxpayers are subsidizing the revolution in America’s schools. It’s time to stand up and say, “Enough.” by Larry Sand

Posted By on December 16th, 2020

https://amgreatness.com/2020/12/15/the-disunited-state-of-america/

“We acknowledge that we meet on stolen land.”

The above quote kicks off a contemptible “White Privilege” PowerPoint presentation that the San Diego Unified School District is forcing its teachers to watch. Authored by Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi, two high-profile race hustlers, all the usual victimology blather is in full bloom—you know, whites by virtue of their skin color are advantaged, white fragility is a real problem, etc., ad nauseam.

Unacknowledged, of course, is that this is being subsidized by taxpayers—fragile white ones and otherwise. As if the above were not despicable enough, because too many black students are failing in San Diego schools, the district will no longer let late work or bad behavior affect a child’s grade. Yes, the soft bigotry of low expectations is in full bloom in “America’s Finest City.”

It is far more than a San Diego problem, however; much education throughout the country has gone “woke.” But just how far have we gone?

The EdWeek Research Center finds that 81 percent of the nation’s teachers, principals, and district leaders support the Marxist Black Lives Matter movement. Many of America’s miseducated children are now going through an anti-American indoctrination that would have Mao Zedong beaming.

In Los Angeles, a middle school math coach created a map of police shootings for “a lesson on proportionality and graphing.”

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Courage vs. Covid 2020: The Age of UnReason, the Year of Fear. Jack Kerwick

Posted By on December 16th, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/12/courage-vs-covid-jack-kerwick/

The present year is the Year of Fear. It is the year of raw, wildly irrational fear. 

For sure, the inexhaustible fear-mongering on the part of opportunistic political partisans in the Government-Media-Industrial-Complex has exacerbated, exponentially exacerbated, the fears of tens and tens of millions of Americans. Yet the elites have not, strictly speaking, caused this fear.

They have only revealed it for all of the world to see.

To put this in terms with which most of us have long been familiar, the transformation of a cold virus into an existential crisis legitimizing the indefinite revocation of the United States Constitution and the reduction of the Land of the Free to an internment camp—and one in which its prisoners seem only all too happy to observe “Social Distancing” protocols while cowering behind their masks—has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that most people really are ridden with fear.    

Fear is universal. It is at once necessary and desirable—as long as it is oriented toward objects that warrant its attention. 

In other words, when the fear is reasonable, when it is proportionate to the danger posed, it is fulfilling its natural function. 

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Trudeau’s China Syndrome PM invites China’s army for “cold weather training” in Canada – while China holds Canadians captive. Lloyd Billingsley

Posted By on December 16th, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/12/trudeaus-china-syndrome-lloyd-billingsley/

December 10 marked two years since China’s Communist regime seized Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.  “These two Canadians are an absolute priority for our government,” Canadian foreign minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told reporters, “and we will continue to work tirelessly to secure their immediate release and to stand up for them as a government and as Canadians.” According to another story that broke last week, the government’s true priority is to ignore the captives and stand up for China.

Secret government documents obtained by Rebel News reveal that the Trudeau government invited the People’s Liberation Army to conduct a “winter survival training exercise” at the Canadian Armed Forces base at Petawawa, Ontario. Defense chief Jonathan Vance canceled the training when China kidnapped Kovrig and Spavor. That came days after Canada detained Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, sought in the United States for fraud.

The government documents name Meng Wenzhou, but not Kovrig and Spavor, who show up only as “consular cases,” with no reference to their status as hostages. The biggest revelation was the cooperation between the Trudeau government and the People’s Liberation Army of Communist China.

“That cold-weather warfare you are referring to is just one of 18 different joint projects the Canadian armed forces had with the People’s Liberation Army in 2019 alone, Rebel News founder Ezra Levant told Tucker Carlson of Fox News. “Canada is training one- and two-star Chinese generals in our war colleges, training lieutenants and majors, commanders. We’re sending Canadians over to China, we’re bringing Chinese — I think they are not just soldiers, I think they’re spies, as well, and I don’t know a single person in this country knew about it.”

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

COVID stats demonstrate that very little COVID is transmitted through bars and restaurants By Jack Hellner

Posted By on December 16th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/12/covid_stats_show_that_very_little_covid_is_transmitted_through_bars_and_restaurants.html

When will the media and government officials show the actual scientific data, instead of just repeating the talking points, that they base all their strict mitigation and lockdown decisions on science? It’s clearly a lie. The answer is ‘never’ because neither facts nor science have mattered for a long time.

All that matters to this bunch is power over the people. Taking freedom and prosperity away is what power-hungry politicians and bureaucrats do.

On COVID, and its lockdowns, shutting down gyms, hair-cutters, bars, and restaurants, they’re particularly dishonest. Look:

What New York’s Contract Data Show:

Schools are safe, but living rooms less so during the pandemic. 

The vast majority of coronavirus cases in New York are spread by contact in living rooms and social gatherings, according to contact tracing data released on Friday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 

The data made public by New York officials offers one of the more specific glimpses into how COVID-19 is transmitted in the state.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Europe Confronts Second Wave of Coronavirus by Soeren Kern

Posted By on December 16th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16864/europe-coronavirus-second-wave

On December 11, Germany recorded 29,875 new coronavirus cases, a one-day record, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases.

Economists are warning that the second coronavirus lockdown has increased the risk of another recession in Europe’s largest economy.

“After the coronavirus crisis, Germany will look different: Now many companies, such as car factories, suppliers, steelworks and mechanical engineering companies will be closed forever. Even if the country is unlocked again, companies that are gone cannot start up again. Consumers and entrepreneurs are unsettled. This is poison for the economy and jobs.” — Tichys Einblick, German blog, December 1, 2020

In Sweden, which has stood out for its “no lockdown” approach to the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven imposed the toughest restrictions yet after a spike in the number of infected people filling intensive care units. He said that the “unprecedented” response was needed if Sweden is to “curb transmission.”

The German government has reimposed strict lockdown measures in an effort to reverse a spike in Covid-19 infections. Beginning on December 16, all non-essential shops and businesses, as well as all schools and daycare centers, will be closed until at least January 10.

The new restrictions, which were agreed upon after talks between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of Germany’s 16 federal states, come after less intrusive lockdown measures that began on November 2 failed to significantly bring down the number of infections.

On December 11, Germany recorded 29,875 new coronavirus cases, a one-day record, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases. Germany’s intensive care unit capacity — the most important measure of a health system’s ability to deal with the pandemic — is at a critical level, with only 5% to 10% of intensive care beds available in some parts of the country, according to the Association of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI).

MEDIA, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Is America’s Fourth Estate (Free Press) in Foreclosure? by Leni Friedman Valenta with Jiri Valenta

Posted By on December 16th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16863/free-press-foreclosure

The modern meaning [of the fourth estate]… refers to the press as a fourth and free power — as even a “watchdog” — over the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our government. Today, however, it is the watchdog that needs watching.

It was all right for the New York Times, as its editor-in-chief, Dean Baquet, admitted, to have “built our newsroom” around the fake Russia Hoax for two years, but substantiated facts concerning the Biden family’s influence peddling were apparently “not fit to print.”

So far, still to be answered, is the question: If elections can ignore legalities with impunity, how, going forward, can there be trustworthy elections?

The “fourth estate” refers to freedom of the press. The term may have first been used by the philosopher-statesman Edmund Burke, who in 1787 highlighted the press as free and apart from the other three British “estates” — clergy, royalty and commoners.

The modern meaning, however, refers to the press as a fourth and free power — as even a “watchdog” — over the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our government. Today, however, it is the watchdog that needs watching.

The foundation on which the United States is built, freedom of speech and freedom of the press, is enshrined in the First Amendment to the US Constitution:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Before our eyes, however, this freedom is being distorted, strangled and withheld.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Here’s What Was Discovered About Dominion Machines Used in a Swing State Beth Baumann

Posted By on December 16th, 2020

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethbaumann/2020/12/15/new-report-says-dominion-voting-systems-has-a-remarkably-high-error-rate-n2581624

Judge Kevin Elsenheimer of the 13th Circuit Court on Monday ordered a “forensic imaging” of the Dominion Voting Systems machines and software used in Antrim County, Michigan, where 6,000 votes for President Trump were incorrectly attributed to former Vice President Joe Biden. The Michigan Secretary of State stated the error took place because of “human error” not a software “glitch.”

The order was made after Antrim County resident William Bailey filed a lawsuit challenging the integrity of the election results. Specifically, he brought up concerns about how county election officials originally reported their unofficial results. The focus of the election results weren’t on the outcome of the presidential contest but rather on a local proposal to allow a marijuana dispensary in town, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Earlier this month Allied Security Operations Group (ASOG) in Dallas inspected the election equipment. Originally the report wasn’t going to be made public without receiving approval from the judge first. Elsenheimer came back and said a report can be released as long as the software’s coding are redacted. In the newly-released report, ASOG stated Dominion’s software has a 68 percent chance of errors.

“The allowable election error rate established by the Federal Election Commission guidelines is of 1 in 250,000 ballots (.0008%). We observed an error rate of 68.05%. This demonstrated a significant and fatal error in security and election integrity,” the report states. “The results of the Antrim County 2020 election are not certifiable. This is a result of machine and/or software error, not human error.”

“It is critical to understand that the Dominion system classifies ballots into two categories, 1) normal ballots and 2) adjudicated ballots. Ballots sent to adjudication can be altered by administrators, and adjudication files can be moved between different Results Tally and Reporting (RTR) terminals with no audit trail of which administrator actually adjudicates (i.e. votes) the ballot batch,” the report states.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Michigan Legislative Committees Slap Multiple Cities with Election-Related Subpoenas Beth Baumann

Posted By on December 16th, 2020

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethbaumann/2020/12/15/michigan-legislative-committees-issue-election-related-subpoenas-n2581632

The Michigan Legislature’s House and Senate oversight committees on Tuesday voted to subpoena election materials from Detroit and its suburb, Livonia. 

The cities have been instructed to turn over all hard drives, communications with poll workers, absentee counting boards and any other election-related materials. 

The joint committee is also interested in reviewing documentation about voting machines, including when they were purchased, what previous elections the machines were used in, and the accuracy tests that were conducted on the machines. 

Detroit and Livonia were asked to turn over policies relating to the Wuhan coronavirus, including instructions given to poll workers and the rules guiding ballot challengers. 

From Just the News:

A Nov. 28 order memo from the State Bureau of Elections had followed the same protocol as prior elections and ordered the deletion by November 30 of “E-Pollbook laptops and flash drives … unless a petition for recount has been filed and the recount has not been completed, a post-election audit is planned but has not yet been completed, or the deletion of the data has been stayed by an order of the court or the Secretary of State.”