My e-mails overflow with news that Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon has harshly criticized Bernie Sanders calling him a liar and ignorant fool. To be fair Sanders started the volley by calling Israel’s Prime Minister a “racist.” Danon said these things at a public forum that guaranteed media coverage.
Israeli diplomats should not butt into American elections just as American diplomats and legislators should not butt into Israeli elections….rsk
https://twitter.com/andrewbostom/status/1234166783516585984
THANKS TO DR. ANDREW BOSTOM, M.D.
NIAID Dir Fauci’s welcome sobriety on corona/COVID-19, which “may ultimately be more akin to a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1%)” [published by the ideologically Left, NEJM, no less!] https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2002387
The latest threat to global health is the ongoing outbreak of the respiratory disease that was recently given the name Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19). Covid-19 was recognized in December 2019.1 It was rapidly shown to be caused by a novel coronavirus that is structurally related to the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). As in two preceding instances of emergence of coronavirus disease in the past 18 years2 — SARS (2002 and 2003) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) (2012 to the present) — the Covid-19 outbreak has posed critical challenges for the public health, research, and medical communities.
In their Journal article, Li and colleagues3 provide a detailed clinical and epidemiologic description of the first 425 cases reported in the epicenter of the outbreak: the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China. Although this information is critical in informing the appropriate response to this outbreak, as the authors point out, the study faces the limitation associated with reporting in real time the evolution of an emerging pathogen in its earliest stages. Nonetheless, a degree of clarity is emerging from this report. The median age of the patients was 59 years, with higher morbidity and mortality among the elderly and among those with coexisting conditions (similar to the situation with influenza); 56% of the patients were male. Of note, there were no cases in children younger than 15 years of age. Either children are less likely to become infected, which would have important epidemiologic implications, or their symptoms were so mild that their infection escaped detection, which has implications for the size of the denominator of total community infections.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15020/imported-antisemitism-supporters
A 2014 survey of antisemitism by the US Anti-Defamation League covered 100 countries. It found that all the countries in the top 10 most antisemitic locations were in the Middle East or north Africa region, with an overall figure of 73%. The West Bank and Gaza came at the top, with 93% of Palestinians expressing antisemitic views.
The 1988 Covenant (Mithaq) of Jeremy Corbyn’s good friends (and Israel’s enemies)… could not be more religious in nature…. “Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious.” Note that they say they are fighting “Jews”, not “Israelis”.
In the end, the only thing that can oppose it will be a renewal of a secular reform that once had a deep impact in many Muslim countries only to falter after the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979. Without that, peace may never return to the Middle East.
On March 6, 2019, Britain’s Equalities and Human Rights Commission launched a probe into claims that the country’s Labour Party, currently led by the lifelong Trotskyite Jeremy Corbyn, is “institutionally anti-Semitic”.
We are all too familiar with the development that the conflation of antisemitism and antizionism may be found today within politics.[1] Challenging this distortion remains a priority in Western countries. Fortunately, as recent events within Britain’s Labour Party have shown, many constituents are rejecting the overt antisemitism and anti-Israel extremism of the groups who have often underhandedly taken control of their party.[2]
It increasingly seems as if one source of antisemitism — as shown by more than one survey in Europe and in the United States — is that there often seems to be widespread antisemitism within Muslim communities (here, here and here).
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15660/iran-elections-outcome
For the first time in 40 years…. [t]he so-called “moderates” and “reformists” whose task was to give a North Korean-style regime a Scandinavian varnish have been reduced to insignificance…. Thus even without Ahmadinejad’s bloc, the IRGC and affiliates enjoy a solid majority.
The fact that the new Majlis reflects the true nature of the regime as never before must be regarded as a positive development…. In foreign policy, the new Majlis could end the illusion, most recently entertained by former US President Barack Obama, that the way to bring Iran back into the international fold is to back the “moderate” faction by offering concessions to the regime.
The next Majlis reveals the true nature of the Khomeinist system as a typical “Third World” regime with a military-security backbone and a thin ideological varnish. Something like the Castroist outfit in Cuba, the Zimbabwe of Robert Mugabe, and, above all, North Korea, which is Khamenei’s ideal model of government…. Seen in that light, no one would expect the Islamic Republic to respect human rights, encourage citizen participation in decision-making and put the quest for economic development above obsession with ideological purity.
The results show that the overwhelming majority of Iranians either reject the current regime or, at last no longer actively support it…. For the Iranian opposition, the unmasking of the regime is a great boon; knowing who exactly one is fighting against is the first step towards shaping a credible strategy for change.
Describing the latest exercise in voting in Iran’s “elections” may require a high degree of indulgence. When all candidates are pre-approved by the authorities and no one is declared a winner without the stamp of the “Supreme Guide”, to speak of elections would mean stretching lexical flexibility to breaking point. And, yet, the rigmarole in question merits attention for a number of reasons.
https://amgreatness.com/2020/02/29/america-has-a-con-woman
To date, these are the facts on the fraud alleged to have been committed by a member of the U.S. Congress. Yet nobody is likely to do more than mutter at the striking absence of scruples in Ilhan Omar.
The FBI, which Americans are meant to trust with matters of life and death, is unable—or unwilling—to confirm whether U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) perpetrated fraud by marrying her brother, Ahmed Elmi, to let him obtain a coveted green card, thus granting him permanent-resident status in the United States, and a path to citizenship. But the bureau is reportedly “investigating.”
Conversely, the Daily Mail, a British tabloid, had little difficulty gathering a critical mass of facts, enough to conclude that, in 2009, Omar did indeed secretly wed said sibling. The newspaper, and anyone else suggesting the same, has yet to be sued by Omar. Could the story be true?
As it happens, a Somali community leader has also outed Ilhan Omar as an outlaw. Abdihaikm Osman Nur contends that the Somali-born freshman congresswoman “had indeed married her brother.” So reported Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Despite “a lack of paperwork in war-torn Somalia,” which complicates an investigation and a definitive determination, the British tabloid dug up the requisite information that the FBI has yet to release. The young man whom Omar is alleged to have married certainly bears a remarkable resemblance to the congresswoman. They’re both . . . pretty (although Elmi looks happier and a lot more festive).
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/03/democrats_escalate_the_lies_theyre_throwing_at_trump_about_coronavirus.html
With the rise of coronavirus, the Democrats are so desperate to destroy Trump that they’re lying about everything possible, celebrating damage to the American economy, and working hard to drive ordinary Americans into a blind panic. This is an unusually sordid display of partisanship over country, although none of them have the grace to be ashamed. A look at Obama’s presidency reveals that the Democrats’ standards were quite different back then.
To set the stage, here are a few indisputable facts:
On January 31, 2020, as China confirmed that 259 people had died and there were about 100 cases reported outside of China, President Trump ordered that the U.S. would prevent foreign nationals who had recently visited China from entering the country. He also ordered quarantined American travelers who posed a high risk.
Democrats called Trump a racist.
Democrats were worried that Trump’s germ phobia would make him issue even more and worse racist orders.
President Trump held a press conference during which (1) he was surrounded by government scientists who explained what was going on (2) he appointed Vice President Pence, a competent, experienced administrator, to be the White House point person on coronavirus efforts.
Democrats called Pence a killer.
Democrats also announced that henceforth they would call coronavirus “TrumpVirus” because Trump had appointed Pence to oversee the administrative end of dealing with coronavirus and because Trump said there was no need for panic.
Nancy Pelosi complained that Trump had waited too long to act, even though when she spoke not a single American had died.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/02/book-review-last-letters-what-real-resistance-looks-like/
A new translation of letters between a husband and wife who resisted the Nazis offers a portrait of steadfast grace and courage.
In 2020, it is not difficult to find books, podcasts, and other media about resisting fascism and living in a political dystopia. But not all “resistance” manuals are created equal. One recent addition should be lauded for offering more than a simple picture of oppression.
In Last Letters: The Prison Correspondence 1944–1945, Shelley Frisch faithfully translates a compilation of letters between Helmuth von Moltke and his wife, Freya, written between September 1944 and January 1945. The letters were exchanged during the months that Helmuth was in Tegel prison, in Berlin, and were carried in secret by the prison chaplain, Harald Polechau. The Moltkes’ stoic refusal to give in to spiritual or moral defeat, even in the face of Helmuth’s death, is striking.
Count Helmuth von Moltke was a law student in Berlin when Hitler rose to power in January 1933. Helmuth was the great-grand-nephew of the Prussian field marshal Helmuth von Moltke the elder, a celebrated military commander, and was the great nephew of Helmuth von Moltke the younger, a German general during World War I.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/02/goodbye-liz/
She flip-flopped, fibbed, and pandered her way out of the race.
In a recent interview with 60 Minutes, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to describe the political scene:
A few years ago, there was a revolution against the intelligentsia. People said, “You know, those people, particularly on the coasts, are trying to tell us what to do.” They wanted a change. That explains Donald Trump. Now, people seem to have changed. This cycle, people want stability.
Have they changed so much? Bloomberg thinks the tides are turning in his direction. I’m not so sure on either count. If people wanted the intelligentsia, if they wanted someone on the coasts telling them what to do, Elizabeth Warren would be on her way to the Democratic nomination. Instead, she is soon to be packing up her campaign. Her job will have been to knife Michael Bloomberg before he could launch a sneak attack on Sanders on Super Tuesday.
Warren was clearly the favorite candidate of academics and journalists — the intelligentsia. Why? Because she was the quintessential “front row” candidate, to borrow a term from author and photographer Chris Arnade. The image of her campaign will be her on a debate stage, hand raised, ready with an answer — but losing support roughly every minute she speaks.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2020/02/29/10600-cdc-employees-
With the stock market in correction, public health alerts, travel restrictions, and hot spot quarantines across the globe, the coronavirus has certainly captured public attention.
Taxpayers are rightly wondering if the billions of dollars they send to Washington every year will help keep them and their families safe.
The U.S. agency primarily responsible is the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), a sub-agency of U.S. Health and Human Services. Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com found that the CDC invested heavily in acquiring and keeping talent. Headcounts and compensation are at all-time highs in nominal terms.
So, can this elite group of doctors and healthcare professionals safeguard the health of the nation?
In 2018, the agency employed 10,639 staffers who earned $1.1 billion. The average pay was $106,000 — with doctors earning up to $288,653. The statistics are compiled from the last year available with analysis by our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.
https://spectator.us/four-takeaways-joe-biden-south-carolina-victory/
1) Joe Biden lives to fight another day, bloopers, gaffes, and all. But on Tuesday he needs to win a major state or finish a strong second to seize the spot as Bernie Sanders’s chief competitor.
Biden’s poor showing in Iowa and New Hampshire meant the South Carolina primary was his last stand. His recent polling showed his lead was small and decreasing. So the stakes were high and the situation dire. But the former VP was right to go all-in for South Carolina, which he always called his firewall. His loyalty to President Obama and his endorsement by Rep. James Clyburn were crucial in a state with a large African American population. Clyburn, the highest ranking African American in the House of Representatives, is widely respected in his home state of South Carolina, and he revered in the black community. His backing and his political network helped Biden immensely. So did Biden’s relatively moderate positions, which are more popular among African-Americans than Bernie’s harsh radicalism.
2) Biden’s victory calls into question Mike Bloomberg’s basic ‘theory of the case’, which was that Biden was too weak to survive and would leave the middle of the field open after his candidacy collapsed.
Bloomberg was only half right. He was right that there is no strong, fresh candidate in the middle lane. Mayor Pete Buttigieg did well in Iowa but hasn’t caught fire and has little support among key minority constituencies. Amy Klobuchar hasn’t done well, either. For now, then, it looks like Biden is Mayor Mike’s main obstacle in that lane.
But Bloomberg was wrong that Biden would drop out quickly or that the former New York mayor’s huge advertising budget could hide his glaring defects as a retail politician. He was wrong, too, in deciding to debate twice before Super Tuesday. To call him a poor debater is a vast understatement. He was fairly effective in CNN’s one-on-one town hall last week, but he was dreadful in the multi-candidate debates, which were more like food fights than intelligent discussions of public policy. Bloomberg is, at heart, a corporate manager, and he sounds like one.
