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President Trump Signs Historic Executive Order on Police Reform Says “reducing crime and raising standards are not opposite goals.” Joseph Klein ****

Posted By on June 17th, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/06/president-trump-signs-historic-executive-order-joseph-klein/

President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday on police reform after addressing police officers and other invited guests in the White House Rose Garden. The executive order is entitled “Safe Policing for Safe Communities.” It provides a sensible approach to police reform that rejects the left’s attempt to portray support for strong law enforcement and police accountability for misconduct as mutually exclusive. “Americans believe we must support the brave men and women in blue who police our streets and keep us safe,” President Trump said in the remarks he delivered in the Rose Garden before signing the executive order.  “Americans also believe we must improve accountability, increase transparency, and invest more resources in police training, recruiting, and community engagement. Reducing crime and raising standards are not opposite goals. They are not mutually exclusive. They work together. They all work together.”

The executive order acknowledges the instances where police officers have misused their authority, and the effect of such misconduct on African-American communities in particular. The order states that “we must redouble our efforts as a Nation to swiftly address instances of misconduct.” But it also recognizes the vital work of law enforcement officers who “provide the essential protection that all Americans require to raise their families and lead productive lives.”

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Remembering William Sessions Tried to prevent politicization of FBI, fired by President Clinton. Lloyd Billingsley

Posted By on June 17th, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/06/remembering-william-sessions-lloyd-billingsley/

William Sessions, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, died on June 12 in San Antonio, Texas, at the age of 90. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, Sessions served until 1993, when President Clinton fired him, charging poor leadership and use of his position to leverage perks. The more likely cause was Sessions’ effort to prevent the politicization of the FBI, then gearing up under the new administration.

President Clinton fired Sessions on July 19, 1993. The next day at approximately 1 p.m. Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster came out of his office with his suit jacket in hand. He told Linda Tripp, an aide to White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum, that he left some M&Ms on a tray if she happened to want any. Foster didn’t say where he was going, but as he headed out the door, he told Tripp “I’ll be back.” As it turned out, he wouldn’t be back.

At approximately 6 p.m. that day, Foster’s body was found in Fort Marcy Park in Virginia, on the George Washington Parkway. Foster had suffered a gunshot wound to the head, but in one account he was found on a berm near a Civil War cannon in a straight coffin-like position, with the gun still in his hand. That seldom if ever happens in a suicide, the default explanation for Foster’s fate.

Accounts also differed on where, exactly Foster’s body had been found, which raised the possibility that it may have been moved. A point-blank gunshot wound to the head leaves an enormous amount of blood, bone and tissue but accounts of the body, and photos of the scene, do not reflect that reality.  The bullet was never found, and accounts also differed on the type of gun found in Foster’s hand.

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

When Will We Stand Up To The Tyrants Of Woke Conformity?

Posted By on June 17th, 2020

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/06/17/when-will-we-stand-up-to-the-tyrants-of-woke-conformity/

Not so long ago, someone told us “You. Can’t. Say. Anything.” This is America in 2020. Those who speak outside the narrative established by a hard-left mob that has marched through our institutions are blacklisted. If we fail to mount a forceful resistance, there’s a grim future awaiting us.

We’ve seen this coming. The casualty list has been growing for years. The purge is now white hot. What was a non-controversial statement last week is grounds for a death sentence tomorrow. It seems every day we see someone caving in with a groveling apology, declaring they suddenly have a lot to learn, swearing they’re looking forward to the moment they can meet with their hostage-takers and work toward a resolution that will appease them.

But it will never be enough. Apologies and appeasement only encourage the bullies. The Woke mob never sleeps. It lives to cancel the lives of others. We are warned: Conform or else.

No manifesto exists to guide the shock troops through their revolutionary occupation of our society. But on Monday, the day Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy was forced to ask forgiveness for the sin of wearing a One America News t-shirt, praising the network, and criticizing the mainstream media, a maniacal Twitter storm from a leftist blogger laid out the belief system that undergirds the movement:

Mike Gundy cannot remain the OK State head coach. Too influential of a position in society. Fire him, unless he agrees to get extensive psychological help.

It’s time we acknowledge that conservatism isn’t just some political view. It means you’re the very bottom rung of society, dangerous and deranged. Some conservatives are trying to become better people. Great. But people who flaunt their conservatism are psychotic.

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Liberal Reporter: It’s the Left That Destroyed Legitimacy of Coronavirus Containment Measures Matt Vespa

Posted By on June 17th, 2020

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2020/06/16/liberal-reporter-its-the-left-that-destroyed-legitimacy-of-coronavirus-containment-measures-n2570661

The coronavirus panic is over. It’s done. Finished. And the lockdowns are done too. You can’t keep us locked up. Not anymore. Stay inside unless there’s a Black Lives Matter thing going on is what we’ve been told for two weeks. The credibility of the experts is over. The era of the experts is over. There is no pause to a pandemic, and if there are spikes of COVID cases, it’ll be because of all these demonstrations and riots that ensued following the officer-involved fatality of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police on May 25.

We were told to stay inside and keep the hospitals from being overrun. It was meant to help out the medical workers, remember? Nope. Medical workers and experts were out there supporting these protests, while the media shamed those who dared to venture outside. The old line was, “you’re all selfish bastards for going outside or wanting to reopen your business.” It quickly became “why aren’t you protesting racism, you selfish bastard?” Silence is violence with this mob. Words are violence, too.

The quick switch just adds to the notion that this virus, while contagious, really wasn’t all that bad. How could it be for the media and the Democratic Party to turn on such a dime? In New York City, Comrade Bill de Blasio’s new contact tracing edict is bound for failure; you are not to ask new COVID patients if they had attended any George Floyd demonstrations. Now, how does that make any sense? It’s just glorious to watch. Now that the Floyd unrest is dying down, these same so-called experts have revamped the panic porn machine on coronavirus and just expect us to go back inside. I can’t laugh any harder. We’re not. And there will be no second lockdown. If people die, they die. Life isn’t fair, and you can blame the medical experts for blowing up their own spot on this. We don’t have to listen to you anymore, Democratic operatives. And yes, these so-called doctors are no better than MSNBC talking heads. The nation has moved on; we’re getting back to normal. Onward we go, so please shut up.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

African Nations Demand UN Investigation into American Police Brutality. No, Really By Rick Moran

Posted By on June 17th, 2020

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/06/16/african-nations-demand-un-investigation-into-american-police-brutality-no-really-n540615

This would be hilarious if it wasn’t racist to think so. Delegates from several African nations have requested that the UN Human Rights Council investigate “systemic racism” in the U.S. as well as American “police brutality.” They will also examine reports of “violence against ‘peaceful protesters”” The UNHRC agreed and will begin hearings soon.

Some of these nations are part of the same crew that demanded the UN investigate elections in the U.S. as leftists invited representatives from some of the most corrupt autocracies in the world to pass judgment on the fairness of U.S. elections.

This time, it’s representatives from nations like Angola, DR Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Qatar who will be judging the United States for human rights abuses.

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Road to Recovery: Retail Sales and Dow Surge By Matt Margolis

Posted By on June 17th, 2020

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2020/06/16/road-to-recovery-retail-sales-jump-17-7-in-may-dow-surges-n540000

The Commerce Department reports that U.S. retail sales surged by a record 17.7 percent in May over the previous month, in part due to a rebound in consumer spending caused by the coronavirus recession, which caused many businesses to close or limit business.

The Associated Press reports that “retail sales have retraced some of the record-setting month-to-month plunges of March (8.3%) and April (14.7%) as businesses have increasingly reopened. Still, the pandemic’s damage to retail sales remains severe, with purchases still down 6.1% from a year ago.”

The changes have in many cases intensified the financial strain on traditional physical stores and boosted online purchases. Sales at non-store retailers, which include internet companies like Amazon and eBay, rose 9% in May after posting growth of 9.5% in April. Clothiers achieved a stunning 188% monthly gain, but that was not enough to offset a 63.4% drop over the past 12 months.

Retail sales account for roughly half of all consumer spending, which fuels about 70% of total economic activity. The rest of consumer spending includes services, from cellphone and internet contracts to gym memberships and child care.

Last month’s bounce-back comes against the backdrop of an economy that may have begun what could be a slow and prolonged recovery. In May, employers added 2.5 million jobs, an unexpected increase that suggested that the job market has bottomed out.

The bounce in May’s retail numbers suggests that the worst of the coronavirus recession is behind us.

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America Has a Silent Black Majority They fear crime more than police and know rioters are opportunists, not revolutionaries. Jason Riley

Posted By on June 17th, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-has-a-silent-black-majority-11592348214?mod=opinion_lead_pos8

It’s too early to know what will come of the violent protests in response to the death of George Floyd. But we do know that recent history has not been especially kind to militant efforts to advance racial equality.

The methods championed most famously by Martin Luther King Jr. culminated with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, two of the most consequential laws in U.S. history. By contrast, the Black Power movement that followed eventually imploded, and its most prominent leaders wound up exiled, imprisoned or victims of murderous rivalries. Whatever white sympathy the civil-rights movement had gained was quickly depleted in the aftermath of rioting in Detroit, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and other major cities.

Moreover, the heightened group identity associated with black militants, as with the Black Lives Matter movement today, was followed by a white backlash in the 1970s and ’80s, which saw the rise of the skinhead and white-power movements in the U.S.

You don’t need to read an academic paper to understand that peaceful civil-rights demonstrations have had more success than violent protests, but a Princeton scholar just published one that is well worth your time. Writing last month in the American Political Science Review, Omar Wasow, a professor of politics, described the results of a 15-year research project on the political consequences of protests.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Coronavirus and the Climate The pandemic shows the limits of what countries will endure to reduce emissions. Walter Russel Mead

Posted By on June 17th, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-and-the-climate-11592235174?mod=opinion_featst_pos3

As Covid-19 continues to disrupt the world economic and political order, the global climate-change movement faces a choice: Learn the lessons of the pandemic or fail.

On the one hand, the lockdowns in response to Covid-19 led to the sharpest reduction in emissions on record, with 2020 global CO2 emissions projected to fall by nearly 8% compared with 2019, according to the International Energy Agency. According to the United Nations Environment Program, that tracks almost exactly with what’s needed. UNEP estimates that emissions will need to fall by 7.6% year after year from 2020 through 2030 if the world is to have any chance of keeping the average temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

As environmentalist group Extinction Rebellion co-founder Clare Farrellwrote in April, “the things we were told we simply can’t change when we were on the streets last year are perfectly possible (necessary!) to change if we decide to prioritise. Coronavirus is showing us what’s possible, at least.”

Yet Ms. Farrell warned against premature celebrations. “People are using this crisis to celebrate the fall in emissions when the truth is, they will need to drop way more than coronavirus has caused them to if we’re to stand a chance.”

It’s actually even worse. Most of the measures that led to the drop in emissions aren’t economically sustainable. The economic damage inflicted by lockdowns has been so savage that political leaders around the world are pushing to reopen their economies as the pandemic continues to rage. It’s hard to imagine that countries would put themselves through this much disruption and pain to stave off future threats to the planet.

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Deadly Sino–Indian Border Clash Sparks Fears of Renewed Conflict By Daniel Tenreiro

Posted By on June 17th, 2020

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/deadly-sino-indian-border-clash-sparks-fears-of-renewed-conflict/

For decades, China and India have managed to maintain an uneasy peace on their disputed border. That peace may now be in jeopardy.

For the first time since 1975, the long-running Sino–Indian border dispute has turned deadly, claiming the lives of at least 20 troops. For decades, the two sides have avoided active military hostility, despite occasional brinkmanship. While China and India appeared to be pulling back in recent weeks, the deaths could reignite the border stand-off that started in early May.

“During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday with casualties on both sides,” the Indian Army said in a statement Tuesday. An Indian officer and two soldiers died in the clash, and another 17 Indian troops later succumbed to their injuries due to the sub-zero temperatures of the Himalayan border region.

The editor of the Global Times, a Chinese state-run newspaper, said that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had also suffered casualties, but did not specify whether any of its troops had died. “I want to tell the Indian side, don’t be arrogant and misread China’s restraint as being weak,” Hu Xijin said in a tweet. “China doesn’t want to have a clash with India, but we don’t fear it.”

On June 6, the two sides agreed to a de-escalation plan in commander-level talks. The agreement reportedly included a roadmap to disengagement from three of the four stand-off points in the disputed border zone, according to Dhruva Jaishankar, the director of the Observer Research Foundation’s U.S. Initiative. In the ensuing days, officials in the border region conducted further dialogue to facilitate de-escalation.

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How Our Anti-American Education System Made Riots Inevitable By Inez Feltscher Stepman

Posted By on June 17th, 2020

https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/16/how-our-anti-american-education-system-made-riots-inevitable/

Rioting social justice warriors are remaking the world as they see fit, consistent with what they’ve been taught from K-12 to the highest echelons of learning.

The past fire-lit weeks in America’s cities have made clear that the protests, and the riots that attend them, have little to do with the condemnable alleged murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis.

Even in the non-violent demonstrations, protesters can be seen burning the American flag, an act that just 30 years ago engendered such outrage it spurred Congress to pass an unconstitutional law, but doesn’t even warrant coverage today. In broad daylight, protesters have defaced and toppled statues dedicated to any and all figures of America’s history.

Lest anyone think the mob’s Year Zero behavior stopped with the slaveholding Confederacy, in Boston a monument to the 54th Massachusetts, an all-black Union regiment during the Civil War, was among those vandalized. Matthias Baldwin, an early abolitionist, got the same treatment in Philadelphia, as did the lesser-known Rotary Club founder Paul Harris, whose plaque in Washington D.C. was marked simply with an ignorance-acknowledging “probably a racist.” The monument to the author of the Emancipation Proclamation on the National Mall was likely spared only because of the protection of the National Guard.

As John Daniel Davidson has noted, toppling statues is not a good sign for the future of the republic; it looks a lot less like a policy conversation about police reform than it does regime change and revolution.