EDUCATION Comments turned off

PIERS MORGAN: Trump is right, the 1619 Project promotes fake history

Posted By on September 9th, 2020

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8709447/PIERS-MORGAN-Trump-right-1619-Project-promotes-fake-history.html

1776 is a year very close to my heart, and indeed all British hearts.

It was the year we lost control of Americans and the consequences were apocalyptic – not least for me personally.

Let’s be very clear: if it wasn’t for King George III’s shocking incompetence and weakness, then there would have been no Declaration of Independence, no United States of America, and a Union Jack flag would today be flying proudly over the White House as I, King Piers I, was served my morning tea in the Oval Office by a liveried butler before addressing my people across the country…my BRITISH people, or at a push, my British-American people.

So, 1776 is a very important, and frankly rather depressing year for we Brits.

But it’s a considerably more important one for Americans, who wouldn’t exist as Americans free from British colonial rule without the events that happened that year.

Indeed, it is the single most important year in America’s history because it’s the year America effectively began.

That’s why the annual July 4 celebrations are always celebrated so fiercely and proudly by Americans, and in a rather more subdued manner back in my home country.

For the vast majority of Americans, it signifies the greatest day in the country’s history.

History matters.

History is the bedrock of any country, good, bad and ugly.

History is what informs, educates and inspires future generations.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

‘Transforming’ the U.S. – Into What? by Judith Bergman

Posted By on September 9th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16429/transforming-the-us

Local businesses have been moving out. Greg Goodman, co-president of Portland’s Downtown Development Group recently wrote in a letter to Mayor Ted Wheeler and the city council that the number of businesses moving out of the city “is like nothing I have seen in 42 years of doing business in downtown”. Goodman said that the businesses leaving included Daimler Chrysler, Air B&B, Banana Republic and Microsoft, and argued that their departure “does have most everything to do with the lawlessness you are endorsing downtown.”

“I would encourage each of you to walk around downtown Portland in the morning. You aren’t sweeping the streets, needles are all over the place, garbage cans are broken and left open, glass from car windows that have been broken out is all over the streets, parks are strewn with litter… You are willfully neglecting your duties as elected officials to keep our city safe and clean.” — Greg Goodman, in a letter to Portland’s Mayor Ted Wheeler and the city council.

One influential national politician, however, promised with a smile that the “protests” are “not going to stop… They’re not going to stop before election day in November and they’re not going to stop after election day…. They’re not going to let up and they should not…”

America could indeed be “transformed,” but if safe and successful cities keep being transformed into places of crime-ridden lawlessness, is that what Americans want?

At least 13 US cities “have cut funding from police department budgets or decreased officer numbers with several more in the process,” according to a recent report by Forbes. Austin, Texas, one of the recent additions to the list of cities defunding police, cut $150 million, nearly a third of its police budget.

ELECTIONS, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

How to Steal an Election by Chris Farrell

Posted By on September 9th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16474/how-to-steal-an-election

In one of the greatest public disinformation campaigns in American history, the “Transition Integrity Project” (TIP) released a 22-page report in August 2020 “war gaming” (their term) four election crisis scenarios…. The outcome of each TIP scenario results in street violence and political impasse.

The political power resourced and generated from a document like the TIP report… introduces the threat of terror and street violence (to the general population) as a “normal” or “expected” outcome.

Here is what you will see, hear and read in the next few weeks: “Yes, expect violence in the aftermath of the election, because now that is the new ‘normal.’ Trump made us do it….”

Who is paying the bills for TIP and its affiliates?… No one does this for free, and someone (or some entity) is paying the bill. Who?

What evidence is there of awareness and preparedness on the political Right to confront and counter the TIP (and other Leftists) and their plans to disrupt the election? Not much. Time is short. The Left’s threat of violence and subversion of the election is real. How we respond is critical.

How does one ensure their political allies are ideologically synchronized, and know exactly how to disrupt a presidential election? What about the “journalists” in the news media and the babblers on social media — how does one get them onboard with the planned nationwide revolutionary disruption? Easy! Publish a report titled: “Preventing a Disrupted Presidential Election.”

In one of the greatest public disinformation campaigns in American history — the Left and their NeverTrumper allies (under the nom de guerre: “Transition Integrity Project”) released a 22-page report in August 2020 “war gaming” (their term) four election crisis scenarios: 1. A decisive Trump win; 2. A decisive Biden win; 3. A narrow Biden win; and, 4. A period of extended uncertainty after the election. The outcome of each TIP scenario results in street violence and political impasse.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

US chip industry won’t survive tech war, Chinese experts say….David Goldman

Posted By on September 9th, 2020

https://asiatimes.com/2020/09/us-chip-industry-wont-survive-tech-war-chinese-exper

Wars happen because the opposing sides have different views of the likely outcome. In the Sino-American tech war, though, both Chinese and American tech company executives argued that America’s semiconductor giants would be the losers. The outlier is the Trump Administration, which appears to believe that it can beat China in a tech war.

Commenting on reports that the Trump Administration is weighing sanctions against Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China’s largest chip fabricator, an official at a big Chinese tech company said, “The scenario at the moment is that it’s just a matter of time before [the American chipmakers] don’t survive.” China will retaliate by putting massive resources behind a campaign to displace American chip designers, chip software developers, and chip equipment manufacturers, and drive them out of the market, the Chinese executive said.

Companies at risk include designers like Qualcomm and Nvidia, chip software developers like Cadence and Synopsis, and equipment makers like Applied Materials, Lam Research and KLA-Tencor. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index lost 5.7%, or $100 billion of market capitalization, on Sept. 4 following news reports that China was about to launch a massive program to develop so-called third-generation semiconductors as part of a $1.4 trillion, five-year subsidy plan for tech industries.

An American bill to provide $25 billion in support for the semiconductor industry during the next five years circulated last June but appears lost in the shuffle of negotiations over economic stimulus.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The UAE-Israel accord is a win for every Muslim Those exhausted by the anger and division that have been haunting the Islamic world can hold their heads higher now By Ed Husain

Posted By on September 9th, 2020

https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/the-uae-israel-accord-is-a-win-for-every-muslim-1.1072408

For almost twenty years, Muslims across the world have been on the defensive. Muslim identity has been largely under attack. The terrorist incidents of September 11, 2001 on New York and Washington DC cast – in many a popular imagination – every Muslim as suspect in some way. In almost every continent, a dark cloud hung over us. The security checks at airports are only a manifestation of that deep distrust.

Osama bin Laden and a range of extremist organisations hijacked the Palestinian cause: they created nothing but more loss, terrorism and humiliation for the noble Palestinian people. Now, with the visionary accord between the UAE and Israel, three new horizons open: reinstating Muslim dignity, reviving a two-state solution opportunity and creating regional economic prosperity.

I am a British Muslim. In my teens, I helped raise money in London for Hamas. My peers and I believed suicide bombers were martyrs heading for paradise. We were wrong.

The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, 2,500 years ago taught that there is only one constant in life: change. Life flows ever onwards. After 9/11, I recognised the blunder of my beliefs. I changed. In my twenties, I lived in Damascus next to a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria. In my thirties, I lived in New York and Washington where I advised the US government. I saw the suspicion of Muslims in the eyes of American officials. It always boiled down to something unspoken: show us peace in Islam; stop talking about it.

And that is exactly what the Abraham Accord is doing: showing peace between peoples, not only preaching it. The accord represents an important opportunity to further reject “Islamophobic” accusations of terrorism and anti-Semitism. We can say: “We believe in one God. Peace is possible. A new way of co-existence is achievable. We are not pawns for the mullahs of Iran or the Muslim Brotherhood. Look at the UAE.”

ISRAEL, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

When will the Palestinian man wake up?! By Hani Al-Dahiri

Posted By on September 9th, 2020

https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/597569/Opinion/Voices/When-will-the-Palestinian-man-wake-up!

It is regrettable to see the plight of Palestinian brothers whose politicians have traded their cause for more than 60 years. These politicians saw to that the issue remained alive and did not reach any settlement. They sabotaged negotiations and rejected all peace initiatives, whether those presented by the Israeli side or those by other international parties.

The Palestinian politicians did this at the expense of their cause and their people so as to gain from the situation, which has remained as is till date. The intransigent attitude that they pursued for decades was the only guarantee for their survival with donations pouring in and aid funds boosting their treasuries and accounts in the European banks from all sides, especially from the countries of the Arab and Islamic worlds.

Today, things have changed, and the peoples who used to sympathize with the Palestinian cause are fully aware of this game by people with vested interests. The Palestinian issue means the death of the issue in the minds of millions of people, because it is the inevitable result of six decades of lying, trickery and collection of money in the name of a crisis whose owners do not want it to be resolved.

A few days ago, the courageous Emirati step to normalize relations with Israel came and that delivered an explicit message to the Palestinian political leaders: “The time has come to confront between yourselves and those who are deceived by you… the time for playing and jumping the ropes as well as trafficking with the concerns of the Palestinian people is over.”

As for serving the interest of the Arab people in Gaza and the West Bank, it requires the intervention of rational Arabs to negotiate with the Israeli side and work to establish comprehensive peace in the region away from gangs who eye only political gain.

MOVIES AND TELEVISION Comments turned off

It didn’t seem possible, but the Oscars are going to be even woker than ever By Andrea Widburg

Posted By on September 9th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/09/it_didnt_seem_possible_but_the_oscars_are_going_to_be_even_woker_than_ever.html

The 92nd Academy Awards show was one of the last big events in 2020 before life stopped for the Wuhan Virus. If people had known about a future of masks and isolation, maybe more Americans would have watched than the record low of 23.6 million viewers. But then again, perhaps not, given that winners cannot seem to stop lecturing Americans for being hate-filled, racist, misogynistic yutzes.

The smart thing for the Academy to do in the face of a seemingly unstoppable ratings hemorrhage would be to make the Oscar show more friendly to the viewers. The Academy could nominate movies people like to watch and then limit the speeches to conform to the old rule that, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” Instead, as part of its “Academy Aperture 2025” initiative, the Academy has opted to make the nominations even more politically correct, promising Americans that future films will showcase stifling politically-correct orthodoxy.

On Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences put out a press release announcing all of its impossibly woke requirements for movies beginning in 2022 (meaning films produced in 2021).

The press release has created four “standards”:

“On-screen representation, themes and narratives”
“Creative leadership and project team”
“Industry access and opportunities”
“Audience development (i.e., marketing”)

Under each standard, the Academy lists a variety of mix-and-match quotas that must be met for a specific standard to qualify for Oscar consideration. For example, lead actors must include one of every victim-identity race or ethnicity group. Ensembles must include gay people and handicapped people. Storylines have to touch upon intersectionality, victim-identity issues. Apprenticeships and internships must have all the underrepresented people represented. Thirty percent of a film’s crew has to meet victim-centric intersectionality metrics. Here, for example, is the buffet menu for movie-makers listing the choice of possible requirements for what the audience sees:

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Rochester Proves ‘Black Lives’ Don’t Matter to BLM By Nicholas L. Waddy

Posted By on September 9th, 2020

https://amgreatness.com/2020/09/08/rochester-proves-black-lives-dont-matter-to-blm/

Over the July 4 weekend, 13 people were shot in this city of just 200,000 people. But has BLM organized marches on the homes of notorious domestic abusers or drug dens? Of course not.

For almost a week, Black Lives Matter and like-minded activists have been marching in the streets of Rochester, New York, protesting the death of Daniel Prude at the hands of police. BLM zealots even harassed diners and overturned tables at two restaurants located next to the apartment building in which I live, creating a social media firestorm. Events in Rochester have even attracted the notice of none other than President Donald Trump.

We Rochesterians are not used to playing a starring role in the national news cycle. Well, now we are, like it or not.

The curious thing? Daniel Prude died months ago, and under circumstances that hardly suggest racial animus played a role in his demise. He was a mentally deranged man on drugs—someone the police had to restrain as best they could. And restrain him they did, based on well-established policies and procedures. Unfortunately, based on a variety of circumstances—some of them completely outside the control of the police officers who detained him—Prude later died. This makes Tuesday’s announcement by the police chief that he and his entire command staff would resign at once baffling and unfortunate. The move only reinforces the (false) perception that the police were culpable in Prude’s death.

The facts be damned, however—the media and the anti-police outrage industry can turn almost any questionable incident caught on camera into an instant scandal. In fact, as we see in this case, a police “killing” need not even be recent to excite “anti-racist” fervor. Nor must it be demonstrably racist, as events this summer have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt.

ELECTIONS, FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

If Biden Wins, China Wins—and America Loses By Steven W. Mosher

Posted By on September 9th, 2020

https://amgreatness.com/2020/09/08/if-biden-wins-china-wins-and-america-loses/

The new Cold War between the United States and China is a zero-sum game, which will only be resolved when one system decisively triumphs over the other.

The New York Times on Monday published a 3,100-word story headlined “Joe Biden’s China Journey.” The three reporters whose bylines appear on the article engage in a painfully obvious effort to explain away the former vice president’s long and cozy relationship with communist China. Now, at long last, they suggest, Biden is ready to get really tough on China. Tougher even than Trump.

Good luck to them selling that fractured fairy tale. 

Biden has appeased China and advanced its interests for as long as I’ve been paying attention to China policy, which is to say since shortly after the Democratic presidential nominee arrived in Washington, D.C., nearly a half-century ago and I arrived in Hong Kong with the Seventh Fleet. American workers have paid a heavy price for the combination of naïveté and greed that has driven Biden’s views about China over the decades. The naïveté came first, of course. The greed came later. 

In the 1990s, Biden pushed for and voted repeatedly to protect China’s “most-favored-nation” trade status, which ensured that cheap Chinese-made goods would flood America’s big-box stores. Even worse, he championed China’s entry into the World Trade Organization under terms that heavily favored the Communist giant. This blunder cost the United States 60,000 factories and 3.5 million jobs.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Questions the Media Should Ask Joe Biden By David Harsanyi

Posted By on September 9th, 2020

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/09/joe-biden-questions-media-should-ask-candidate/

Skip softballs about ‘Trump’s soul’ and ask, for starters, why Biden has changed his mind on every major bill he supported as a senator.

An Atlantic reporter asked Biden about anonymously sourced claims (published last week in The Atlantic) that Trump had made belittled remarks about veterans: “When you hear these remarks . . . what does it tell you about Trump’s soul and the life he leads?”

Follow-up: What would Biden “say to supporters of QAnon” and to Trump for “not rejecting that conspiracy?”

“We also know that Russia has been trying to sow doubt about the system. Are you concerned at all that this messaging may be working, that your supporters may give up on voting by mail because they’re concerned that it may be rigged?”

“You said today is the angriest you’ve been as a presidential candidate, but you said you’re trying to restrain yourself. Aren’t there a lot of people out there who are supporting you or inclined to not vote for the president, who would say, ‘Why isn’t Joe Biden, angrier about all of this?’”

“Do you know when you will have another COVID test? Do you have any planned, any future testing coming up?”

And so on.