BOOKS, ELECTIONS Comments turned off

‘Broken Values’: US-Israel expert documents how the Democrat party abandoned basic American truths By David Isaac

Posted By on September 10th, 2020

https://worldisraelnews.com/broken-values-us-israel-expert-documents-how-the-democrat-party-abandoned-basic-american-truths/

Author Gideon Israel has examined the Democratic platform to pinpoint when and how the party’s values changed so drastically.

It’s not a simple matter to quantify changes in values over time in a political party. Yet Gideon Israel has done just that in his excellent new book, Broken Values: How the Democratic Party Betrays its Followers and America.

His brainstorm: Analyzing the party platform and how it has evolved over the years.

In the U.S., few pay much attention to a party’s platform. If it’s thought of at all, it’s as a document to be dusted off every four years for election season. Israel convincingly shows, in fact, that the document is an important barometer of change, one in which the party invests much effort.

As he notes, the Democratic National Committee, when formulating its 2008 platform, said “more than 1,600 ‘listening sessions’ took place in communities across the country, with nearly 30,000 Americans participating in the crafting of the platform.”

In the case of the Democratic party, Israel documents how the party has abandoned basic American values, adopting a dark view of America, a country built on stolen lands and mired in systemic racism.

Israel heads the Jerusalem-Washington center, a group that develops initiatives to help strengthen ties between Israel and the U.S. He recently spoke with World Israel News.

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

Wake Up America, and Smell the Anti-Semitism:By Eve Barlow

Posted By on September 10th, 2020

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/smell-the-anti-semitism-america

Americans of all races and political outlooks revile and attack Jews with unprecedented glee, while American Jews would rather talk about anything else

I don’t think of Delaware as a center of anti-Semitic hate. But on the night of Aug. 26, the University of Delaware’s Chabad house was burned to the ground, causing an estimated $75,000 worth of damage. According to the state fire marshal, the fire was intentionally set. While the university’s president acknowledged that the site was “an active part of UD’s religious, faith, and spiritual diversity” the fire marshal’s office found no indication that this was a hate crime. Gov. John Carney called the crime “upsetting.”

Only three years earlier, in 2017, Gov. Carney was showing his solidarity and support while visiting the Siegel Jewish Community Center and its Albert Einstein Academy primary school in Wilmington after the JCC received five bomb threats in the space of two months. In February of this year, the same JCC reported that it’s still receiving bomb threats. Delaware’s Jewish community is pushing for an expansion of the state’s hate crime laws.

The pathway from experiencing casual hatred to receiving bomb threats to living communal life under siege to suffering defaced and burned down buildings is all too wearyingly familiar for Jews in Delaware, as well as in the traditional urban centers of American Jewish life. Horrifying footage from Brooklyn on August 29 showed two Haredi men being rammed by a car—an incident that seems no more politically determinable than the regular anti-Semitic chanting or vandalizing of Jewish property at Black Lives Matter marches, or white supremacist bomb threats.

Two weekends ago, a sign reading “The Jews Want a Race War” appeared over the I-405 freeway in Los Angeles. It was dangled by a man named Jon Minadeo Jr. One sign turned into two, with the adjacent sign reading “Honk if you know.” According to witnesses many cars honked. The sign was eventually removed.

The following day, Minadeo was filmed outside the Chabad in Marina del Rey, exercising his free speech rights against America’s Jews once more as part of a tour he dubbed “Name the Nose.” “These Jewish terrorists are the people behind 9/11,” he shouted on the steps. The white van he drove was graffitied with slogans that offer some of his conspiracy theories: “The Jews are spawns of Satan,” “Trump is owned by Jews,” “Jews run Hollywood.” His group, the Goyim Defense League, posted anti-Semitic flyers last year in San Francisco and run a YouTube-style site called Goyim TV.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize nomination is futile – opinion The Nobel Peace Prize may garner nearly a million bucks for its laureates with liberal appeal, but it’s not worth the medal it’s engraved on. Ruthie Blum

Posted By on September 10th, 2020

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/trumps-nobel-peace-prize-nomination-is-futile-opinion-641851

The announcement that US President Donald Trump was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize provided much headline fodder this week, but was it really that dramatic? The answer is no.

For starters, this isn’t the first time that Trump has been nominated for the coveted award that grants laureates nine million Swedish kronor ($935,366). A bit more than two years ago, a group of 18 members of Congress – Rep. Luke Messer (R-Indiana) and 17 other House lawmakers – including Mark Meadows (R-North Carolina), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), Diane Black (R-Tennessee) and Steve King (R-Iowa) – nominated him for having worked “tirelessly to apply maximum pressure to North Korea to end its illicit weapons programs and bring peace to the region.”

In their letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee on May 2, 2018, the congresspeople stated that Trump “successfully united the international community, including China, to impose one of the most successful international sanctions regimes in history.”

They further argued that the sanctions “decimated the North Korean economy and have been largely credited for bringing North Korea to the negotiating table. Although North Korea has evaded demands from the international community to cease its aggression for decades, President Trump’s peace through strength policies are working and bringing peace to the Korean Peninsula.”

Therefore, they concluded, “We can think of no one more deserving of the committee’s recognition in 2019 than President Trump for his tireless work to bring peace to our world.”

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The withdrawal agreement debacle The choice now cannot be between disaster or dishonour Melanie Phillips

Posted By on September 10th, 2020

https://melaniephillips.substack.com/p/the-withdrawal-agreement-debacle?token=

After announcing that the British government was introducing legislation to override parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement that it concluded with the EU last year, Boris Johnson told the Commons yesterday that this would provide

a legal safety net to protect our country against extreme or irrational interpretations of the protocol that could lead to a border down the Irish sea in a way that I believe, and I think Members around the House believe, would be prejudicial to the interests of the Good Friday agreement and prejudicial to the interests of peace in our country. 

In response to the objection that the Prime Minister had signed this agreement containing the wording of this protocol, his spokesman said the agreement was “not like any other treaty”. This was because it was sealed 

at pace in the most challenging possible political circumstances to deliver on a clear political decision by the British people and with the clear overriding purpose of protecting the special circumstances of Northern Ireland. It contains ambiguities and in key areas there is a lack of clarity. It was written on the assumption that subsequent agreements to clarify these aspects could be reached between us and the EU on the detail.

The previous day, when the storm over this broke, Boris Johnson was reported as being about to tell EU leaders that the Brexit divorce deal was “contradictory”. 

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

Clinically Deranged Adam Schiff Mounts His Dead Russia Horse Again Stephen Cruiser, 

Posted By on September 10th, 2020

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/stephen-kruiser/2020/09/10/clinically-deranged-adam-schiff-mounts-his-dead-russia-horse-again-n914615

As has been pointed out by many of us recently, the Democrats really aren’t behaving as if their presidential candidate had a substantial lead in the polls.

Yes, the polls have been tightening, but the Dems have been in a sort of flop-sweat panic mode since the Republican National Convention ended. There is, of course, the fact that every public appearance by der Bidengaffer since then has been hovering in the neighborhood of “unmitigated disaster.”

The Democrats do seem to be trying to get to their October surprises early this year. That reeks of desperation.

Speaking of reeking, California’s little impeachment pitbull Adam Schiff is back. Guess what, kids? He’s got another whistleblower!

Fox News:

The House Intelligence Committee received a whistleblower complaint claiming Trump administration officials at the White House and the Department of Homeland Security suppressed intelligence reports related to Russian election interference, Democratic Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said Wednesday.

In a statement, Schiff said former Intelligence and Analysis Acting Under Secretary Brian Murphy filed the whistleblower reprisal complaint on Tuesday with the DHS Office of Inspector General.

“We’ve received a whistleblower complaint alleging DHS suppressed intel reports on Russian election interference, altered intel to match false Trump claims and made false statements to Congress,” Schiff, D-Calif., tweeted Wednesday afternoon. “This puts our national security at risk.”

Oh.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

The Value of Political Markets The betting odds are useful, but they could be better Charles Lipson

Posted By on September 10th, 2020

https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/commentary/value-political-markets

As the election draws nearer, political junkies pay closer attention to poll numbers. But they are well aware of the difficulties and gaps in those numbers. It’s gotten harder to reach truly random samples of voters and harder to be sure they are giving their true opinions since some opinions risk a torrent of graffiti and social ostracism.

Even if a survey generates a valid random sample and gets voters’ honest opinions, a national poll won’t predict results in the Electoral College, which is expected to hinge on six to eight swing states. Those states need to be polled intensively and the results presented for each individually. Finally, once the raw data is collected, pollsters must make educated guesses about which subgroups will actually show up and vote. These assorted guesses and varied polling methods are why so many observers rely on Real Clear Politics polling averages, compiled from several highly regarded sources.

Besides these averages, political analysts now pay close attention to “political betting markets.” The odds in early September show a tight race—making Democrat Joe Biden a favorite to win the presidential race, but only by a few points.

ELECTIONS, ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Francis Menton: The Biden Energy Plan is a Joke

Posted By on September 10th, 2020

https://us7.campaign-archive.com/?e=a9fdc67db9&u=9d011a88d8fe324cae8c084c5&id=618a2a8c73

In any rational world, a candidate proposing the energy plan that Joe Biden has proposed for the United States would be laughed out of the race for President on that ground alone. The word “unserious” does not remotely begin to describe the situation. In essence Biden says he will cause a complete transformation of the U.S. energy economy within 30 years — or maybe it’s 15 — with no idea what technology might be able to accomplish that, how much it might cost, or how much poorer the effort might make the American people. We have moved from the real world into the realm of fantasy and gaslighting. And yet, at least as of today, Biden continues to lead in most polls.

The Biden campaign calls his proposals the “Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Climate Justice.” A few excerpts:

Biden believes the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face. . . . As president, Biden will lead the world to address the climate emergency and lead through the power of example, by ensuring the U.S. achieves a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions no later than 2050. . . . He will not only recommit the United States to the Paris Agreement on climate change – he will go much further than that. He will lead an effort to get every major country to ramp up the ambition of their domestic climate targets. . . .

Read through the whole thing, and you will find next-to-no specifics as to how such goals might be accomplished. However, if you do get deep enough into the document, you will begin to realize that the promises made depend totally on fantasies about the development of technologies that don’t currently exist and in all likelihood never will exist, at least in any economically viable form:

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Palestinian claim examined Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger

Posted By on September 10th, 2020

https://bit.ly/3bLqm3k

Are Palestinians the descendants of the original inhabitants (Canaanites) of the Land of Israel, as claimed by the Palestinian Authority, or are they descendants of recent waves of immigration?

Systematic Arab migration within the Middle East

Arab migration within the Middle East – including to/from the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean – has been an intrinsic feature of the region for millennia.
Illinois University Economics Prof. Fred Gottheil wrote (The Smoking Gun: Arab Immigration into Palestine, 1922-1931): “According to the International Labor Organization, Middle East migrant workers – moving within and beyond the Middle East – make up approximately 9% of the world’s total.”

According to the Geneva-based Global Commission on International Migration, “The world’s highest share of migrant population is to be found in the Middle East.”
The scope of Egyptian emigration is highlighted by the Washington, DC-based Migration Policy Institute: “More than 6 million Egyptian emigrants lived in the Middle East North Africa region as of 2016, primarily in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.”

This busy traffic of Arab migrants was, also, prevalent during the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, when Arab/Muslim emigrants – many of them from Egypt – pursued a better standard of living in various parts of the globe, including Ottoman and British-ruled Palestine.

MY SAY: Comments turned off

KINDLY DISMOUNT YOUR HIGH HORSES AND STOP VIRTUE SIGNALING

Posted By on September 10th, 2020

 Please stop abetting the left by declaring that Trump was not your first choice or that you are troubled by his character or that the tweets are annoying you and all the reluctance and virtue signaling. The hour is late.

Only a resounding victory for the re-election of Donald Trump can derail the Democrat determination to create post election challenges and chaos. If he loses abandon all hope. rsk

BOOKS Comments turned off

Dr. Fauci Defends President Trump From Woodward Attack, Says Trump Told Public ‘the Reality of What Was Going On’ By Matt Margolis

Posted By on September 10th, 2020

woodward-attack-says-trump-told-public-the-reality-of-what-was-going-on-n911707

Reports on Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book Rage have the usual suspects accusing President Trump of irresponsibly downplaying the COVID-19 virus. Trump being accused of downplaying the virus is nothing new.

“I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic,” Trump said.

Trump’s critics have taken this to mean that Trump was misleading the American public about the severity of the disease—an allegation disputed by none other than Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

During an interview on Fox News on Wednesday, Dr. Fauci disputed the notion that Trump ever downplayed the coronavirus. According to Fauci, Trump’s public statements were no different than sentiments expressed during White House Task Force meetings.

“In my discussions and the discussions of other task force members with the president, we were talking about the reality of what was going on, and then we would get up in front of the press conferences … he really didn’t say anything different than we discussed when we were with him.”

“I didn’t really see any discrepancies between what he told us and what we told him in what he ultimately came out publicly and said.”

“Did you get a sense that [President Trump] was or wasn’t playing this down?” Fox News’ John Roberts asked.

“No, no, I didn’t. I didn’t get any sense that he was distorting anything,” Fauci replied. “In my discussions with him, they were always straightforward about the concerns that we had. We related that to him. When he would go out, I’d hear him discussing the same sort of things.”