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Will we ever know the truth about Russiagate? Every revelation, though it sheds some local light, actually makes the whole picture murkier Roger Kimball

Posted By on October 19th, 2020

https://spectator.us/ever-know-russiagate-truth-biden/

Writing in mid-October, anno domini 2020, it is sobering to speculate that when the results of a certain upcoming political contest are finally decided, an item that has captivated the public’s attention for nearly four years might be about to evaporate without trace. I refer, of course, to that great long-running entertainment, the Trump-Russia Collusion Delusion.

As I write, the latest morceaux are the revelations from John Ratcliffe, the newly installed Director of National Intelligence, to the effect that Russian intelligence believed that Hillary Clinton had approved a plan ‘to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services’ during the 2016 presidential campaign. Why? Typical campaign dirty tricks, in part. But then there was also the bulletin, sent from the CIA to Peter Strzok, disgraced lovebird and then head of the FBI’s counterespionage section, minuting ‘Hillary Clinton’s approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private mail server’.

The watercress around those revelations were some heavily redacted handwritten notes by John Brennan regarding a meeting with President Obama, former FBI head James Comey and national security adviser Susan Rice about Hillary’s Russian dressing.

What was the recipe for that dressing? Take one washed-up former MI6 spy, Christopher Steele. Pay him through a complicated cutout to dig up, or at least make up, dirt about Donald Trump and ‘the Russians’. Include allegations of financial shenanigans, but for hot sauce include micturating Russian prostitutes hopping up and down on a hotel bed in Moscow in front of Donald Trump. Get your main ingredients from a suspected Russian spy named Igor Danchenko, formerly of the Brookings Institution. Bake until golden brown and then leak this steaming pile of opposition research, covertly bought and paid for by Hillary’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee as intelligence ‘findings’ rather than what they were: unbridled, malicious fabrication used as ‘evidence’ for several FISA warrants against Carter Page, a US citizen whose surveillance provided a back door into the Trump campaign.

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Covid-19 launches the Fourth Industrial Revolution In China- David Goldman

Posted By on October 19th, 2020

https://asiatimes.com/2020/10/covid-19-launches-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/

Deploying diagnostic tech, detecting patterns with AI, Asian countries suppressed pandemic with little testing

China has a big edge on the rest of the world when it comes to AI and data analysis. Photo: AFP/Peter Steffen/DPA

Some wars are won by attrition with roughly similar casualties on both sides. Others are unequal contests in which superiority in technology or organization leaves the losing side with most of the casualties.

Ancient battles with edged weapons, in which the side that turns and runs takes most of the damage, reflect superior organization.

Modern battles with unequal outcomes mostly reflect superior technology – Prussia’s breech-loading cannon in 1870, Japan’s long-range naval artillery in 1905 or Israel’s avionics advantage in 1982.

But the superior organization also achieved unequal outcomes in modern warfare, for example, Germany in 1940, Japan in Singapore in 1942 and Israel in 1967.

Covid-19

China has won what probably will be recorded as the decisive battle for hegemony with the United States over Covid-19, employing a combination of superior organization and technology. China, South Korea and Taiwan demonstrated the effectiveness of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies using artificial intelligence and big data.

Germany and Japan, which did not employ electronic contact tracing or apply AI to the analysis of patterns of contagion, did almost as well in controlling the disease with conventional public health methods.

Unlike China, Taiwan and South Korea, though, Germany and Japan have not succeeded in returning economic and civic life to normal.

No one expected, or planned for, this battle. Indeed, when it began neither side saw it as a battle. Nor is China the only winner: All of East Asia displayed more or less the same prowess in suppressing the pandemic, along with Germany, the sole winner among the major Western economies.

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The Bidens: Media Selling A Preposterous Alternate Reality Francis Menton

Posted By on October 19th, 2020

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2020-10-18-the-bidens-media-selling-a-

It was Wednesday October 14 that the New York Post broke its big story about the Hunter Biden laptop and emails, confirming Joe Biden’s personal involvement in Hunter’s Ukraine/Burisma corruption. The big news the following day was the efforts of social media giants Facebook and Twitter to limit the circulation of this story on their platforms. But how about the rest of the media? Clearly, they were all aware of this story. So, how would they report it? Could they really just ignore a story of this significance in the final stages of a presidential election campaign?

With the passage of a few days, the answer to that question is now in. An official talking point was developed, and somehow got adopted by every single organ of the Democrat media. The official talking point is that the emails are a “possible disinformation campaign” put out by the Russians on behalf of Trump. Yes, it’s the return of Russia, Russia, Russia! Somehow, dozens of media organs adopted this exact same talking point within hours of each other. Is there a source? I’ve gone through about a dozen of these pieces, and every single one that I have found attributes the story to some anonymous source. The sources are not all the same, but supposedly every single one seems to have demanded anonymity. Odd, isn’t it?

Meanwhile, the indications that the emails are genuine have greatly strengthened. I’ll get to that in a bit. But first let’s look at a sample showing the official mainstream media talking point:

From USA Today, October 17: “A tabloid got a trove of data on Hunter Biden from Rudy Giuliani. Now, the FBI is probing a possible disinformation campaign.” Excerpt: “Less than three weeks before one of the most contentious presidential campaigns in history, federal authorities are investigating whether the material supplied to the New York Post by Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, is part of a smoke bomb of disinformation pushed by Russia.” Source: “according to a person familiar with the matter.”

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Hunter Biden’s laptop: A Russian trick, a hack-job — or just what it looks like? By Andrew McCarthy

Posted By on October 19th, 2020

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/521637-hunter-bidens-laptop-a-russian-trick

If the stakes were not high, it would be a laugh-riot to listen to people who relied on the Steele dossier in an Intelligence Community assessment, and in four sworn FISA warrant applications, going on now about the Biden laptop being a “Russian disinformation” hoax.

But let’s be serious about authenticity for a second.

In a court of law, even in a criminal case where a person’s liberty is at stake, there is a presumption in favor of admitting relevant evidence as long as it appears to be what the proponent represents it to be.

That is, the evidence is put before the jury. Lingering questions about its provenance go to the weight of the evidence — meaning, how much, if any, importance we should ascribe to it. They do not result in the suppression of the evidence.

The most salient consideration in analyzing the authenticity of an item is the item itself. 

I do not mean to dismiss such circumstances as the biases of the source of the evidence, the chain of custody, the opportunities there have been to tamper with it, and any indication that it has been tampered with in some way. To be sure, all of these indicators can be significant. In some situations, they can be so significant that the proffered item should be given no probative weight.

CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, ELECTIONS Comments turned off

MI GOP Senate Candidate John James Responds To Biden Insult: “The people you’re relying on so desperately for the position you want are African-Americans—yet, you continue to insult us” Eric Thompson

Posted By on October 19th, 2020

https://davidharrisjr.com/eric/mi-gop-senate-candidate-john-james-responds-to-biden

It seems very strange when Sleepy Joe Biden disparages ANYONE , especially a talented black war veteran running for the US Senate; “a disaster”.

Michigan Republican Senate candidate, John James blasted Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden for telling a small group of supporters in Michigan on Friday that the GOP candidate running against the do-nothing Senator Gary Peters, is a “disaster.”

100 Percent Fed Up – The West Point grad and successful black businessman, John James,  recorded a blistering response to Biden’s accusation about him and posted it on Twitter.

“Joe Biden, don’t forget your place in Black America. You’re only where you are because you were Barack Obama’s vice president—That’s it…that’s it!” he warned.

“The people you’re relying on so desperately for the position you’re in and for the position you want, are African-Americans—yet, you continue to insult us,” James told the Democrat presidential candidate.

The Republican Senate candidate, and Iraq war veteran, who flew army helicopters, and now runs a successful auto-supply chain business, reminded Joe Biden of some of the racist comments he made that were all caught on video, “You ain’t Black if you don’t vote for me!—Asking somebody if they’re a junky—Calling the president, Barack Obama, ‘clean,’ as if he wouldn’t be for some other reason?”

CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Trump vs. Biden — 5 reasons why a sane person should vote – again – for Trump Liz Peek

Posted By on October 19th, 2020

www.foxnews.com/opinion/trump-biden-sane-person-vote-trump-liz-peek

Four years ago, supporting Donald J. Trump for president was controversial.

Today, backing the president is downright risky. People are losing their jobs, children are being kicked out of class and businesses are boycotted because their owners support President Trump. Imagine.

Hitting back at the Democrats’ assault on Candidate Trump in 2016, I wrote a piece for the Fiscal Times titled: “Five Reasons a Sane Person Might Still Vote for Trump.” The arguments I highlighted hold up well, and are perhaps even more persuasive today.

First up: Education.

If you believe in equal opportunity, you want all youngsters to receive a decent education. In many Democrat-led cities, Hispanic and African-American kids do not receive one.

And yet the teachers’ unions and their Democratic Party backers refuse all accountability or reforms, condemning millions of Black and brown children to second-class status.

New York City spends $28,808 per public school pupil but in 2019 only 28% of black kids were proficient in math and 35% made the cut in English.

That is unacceptable, but Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would respond by handing even more funds over to his union pals and supporting the status quo.

Why? Because he needs money from the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, two of our nation’s largest political donors.

In the past year alone, those two unions spent $25 million on political campaigns, 94% going to Democrats. That doesn’t include the invaluable in-kind contribution of millions of teachers being sent door-to-door signing up Democrat voters and getting them to the polls.

President Trump has championed school choice, which is overwhelmingly popular across the nation. A recent RealClear Opinion Research poll showed 77 percent of voters approve of families being allowed to use their tax dollars for a school that works for them, including 69% of Black respondents.

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MY SAY: BEN SASSE’S RANT BY RUTH KING

Posted By on October 19th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/10/ben_sasses_rant.html

In the Senate election of November 2014, Ben Sasse, a conservative Republican endorsed by the Tea Party, won the race propelled by the same popular sentiments that brought Donald Trump to the White House two years later.  Nebraska is a Republican stronghold with Senator Deb Fisher and three GOP congressmen. Sasse is now running for re-election.

He has been critical of the President on several occasions but voted with him on most public policies such as tax cuts, the border wall, the nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and acquittal of all impeachment charges, and he has issued a full-throated endorsement of Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

He has not criticized President Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, nor has he lobbied for masks and social distancing. On his website he is in agreement with the assessments of the President quoting the CDC:

“Who is at risk?

The current risk assessment from the Centers for Disease Control states: The immediate risk for individuals of being exposed to COVID-19 is thought to be low.”

In fact, on September 10, 2019 when he was gearing up for re-election the President tweeted his support:

“Senator Ben Sasse has done a wonderful job representing the people of Nebraska. He is great with our Vets, the Military, and your very important Second Amendment. Strong on Crime and the Border, Ben has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”

That endorsement quelled his criticisms until he won a primary and was assured victory on November 3.

What then could explain his screed bruited by the New York Times in the headline:

“Slamming Trump, G.O.P. Senator Warns of a ‘Republican Blood Bath’

Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska issued a scathing takedown of President Trump during a telephone town hall with constituents, saying he cozied up to dictators and white supremacists.”

For nine minutes he castigated the President for mishandling the pandemic and treating it as a PR opportunity; “kissing dictators’ butts” while ignoring human rights abuses; mocking evangelicals behind closed doors; flirting with white supremacists: and mistreating women.

The most ironic accusation, in light of the revelations of Hunter Biden’s chicanery, is “His family has treated the presidency like a business opportunity.”

To be fair, Sasse has advocated a more muscular approach to the Chinese and a stronger defense of Hong Kong. But there are arguments on both sides of the issue.

Most of the “conservative” #NeverTrumpers throw narrative spitballs while Sasses lobbed a grenade and added:  “What the heck were any of us thinking, that selling a TV-obsessed, narcissistic individual to the American people was a good idea?”

Has he been spooked by polls? Does he seriously prefer Biden?

In his words contemplating a Democrat victory he evokes a “Venezuela style” Supreme Court with dozens of justices installed by ascendant Democrats.

A cynic could wonder who is pushing his buttons, or even more cynically and vulgar whose butt is he kissing?

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The Cost of Bidenomics A new study on Biden’s tax, health-care, energy and regulation proposals predicts $6,500 less in median household income by 2030.

Posted By on October 19th, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cost-of-bidenomics-11603055037?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

Joe Biden has shrewdly kept the campaign focus on Covid-19 and President Trump, which has helped him avoid having to talk much about his own policies. That’s especially true of his economic proposals, which a new study out Sunday from the Hoover Institution shows will have a damaging impact on growth, job creation and household income.

Mr. Biden often cites Moody’s, the credit-rating service, for saying his economic plan will yield faster growth and more jobs. “Wall Street,” he likes to say when he mentions Moody’s, as if that’s a conservative stamp of approval, even as he claims Mr. Trump is a captive of Wall Street.

But everyone knows most economists at today’s big financial institutions have a Keynesian bias that posits consumer demand and government spending as the main drivers of growth. That’s certainly true at Moody’s, whose chief economist is Mark Zandi, who in our view underestimates the impact of higher tax rates and regulation in his economic calculations. This isn’t a personal criticism, but a factual statement about his economic model.

We are also not predicting a “depression,” as Mr. Trump does, if Mr. Biden wins the election. On dire economic predictions, Mr. Trump is the mirror image of Paul Krugman on the left. The data show that the U.S. economy is recovering from the pandemic shutdowns faster than most economists predicted. Democrats may attempt to portray the economy as a disaster that requires trillions of dollars in new spending, but Mr. Biden would inherit an economy with strong growth momentum.

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5 Other Things We’ll Learn About Biden After The Election

Posted By on October 19th, 2020

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/10/19/5-other-things-well-learn-about-biden-after-the-election/

For weeks, Joe Biden has played coy about whether he’d pack the Supreme Court with liberals should he win the White House and Democrats take control of the Senate. The media has largely ignored the issue, as they have anything that might harm Biden’s chances.

So what else isn’t Biden, or the press, telling us? What else will voters learn after they’ve cast their ballots? We can think of five things that, had voters known about them before Nov. 3, would have no doubt sapped support for Biden.

1. Biden is a far-left liberal with a big agenda. In his one debate with President Donald Trump, Biden seemed to distance himself from his party’s far left. He said he wasn’t in favor of the Green New Deal, and didn’t support Medicare for All. His entire campaign is built around saying nothing about what he’d do as president, other than be a nice guy.

Biden’s succeeded because on the few occasions where he’s answered questions from the media, they lob him softballs. But make no mistake, Biden is fully on board with his party’s far-left agenda, something we’ve been pointing out in these pages for months.

The Green New Deal that Biden says he opposes, for example, is contradicted by his own campaign website: “Biden believes the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face.”

Biden wants to eliminate carbon emissions from power plants by 2035, which is only five years later than the socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal. He plans to reach net-zero carbon emissions for the entire country by 2050, which is the same deadline as the GND.

On Medicare for All, Biden has simply sidestepped the issue with his proposal to create a “public option” for everyone. Moderate Democrats rejected the public option in 2010 because they knew that it would quickly lead to the elimination of private insurance. Biden’s plan will reach the same destination as socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All.

Biden’s tax-and-spend plans are just as ambitious, and on social issues, Biden is as leftist as they get.

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Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now My interview with scholar, activist, author, and “heretic” Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Jason D. Hill

Posted By on October 19th, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/10/ayaan-hirsi-ali-interview-jason-d-hill/

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somalian-born, Dutch-American scholar, former politician, author and activist, is also one of the world’s leading public intellectuals. She is known for her critiques of Islam, and her intransigent devotion to freedom of speech. She is the author of numerous books. Her latest is Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now.

Hirsi Ali is also a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and the founder of the AHA Foundation which is a non-profit organization for the defense of women’s rights. The organization fights against female genital mutilation and forced marriages.

Hirsi Ali’s life is proof that grit, tenacity and an exalted vision for one’s life can result in the achievement of greatness. Born in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1969 and raised as a devout Muslim before later leaving the religion, Hirsi Ali spent her childhood among her birthplace, Saudi Arabia and Kenya where she learned English. She fled Kenya for Germany pending an arranged marriage she had no choice in formulating. Alone, but armed with a heroic spirit and a belief in life’s better possibilities, she quietly boarded a train from Bonn to Amsterdam. There, she ended up in a refugee camp, was granted asylum, and worked for a while cleaning factories. Hirsi Ali learned and mastered Dutch from scratch within a year. She eventually earned a university degree in political science and, at age 33, was elected to the Dutch parliament.

She fled Holland after receiving death threats for working on the film Submission with Theo Van Gogh, who was shot eight times and murdered by a 26-year-old Dutch Moroccan Islamist terrorist.

In Heretic, Hirsi Ali makes several uncompromising statements about Islam. She writes that violence is inherent in Islam, and that Islam is not a religion of peace. She submits that this does not mean that Islamic belief makes Muslims naturally violent. Rather, the call to violence and the justification for it are explicitly stated in the sacred texts of Islam. Hirsi Ali argues that this theologically sanctioned violence is there to be activated by a number of offenses including but not limited to apostasy, adultery, blasphemy and threats to the honor of family and Islam itself.

A dignified human being with a rarefied mind, and possessed of an almost preternatural calmness, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, while preparing for the publication of her new book Prey, granted me the pleasure of this interview.