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Maduro acknowledges his socialist delusions Lawrence Haas

Posted By on February 15th, 2020

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/483213-maduro-acknowledges-his-socialist-delusions

Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s quiet move to restore elements of free enterprise to his nation’s economy should serve as a cautionary tale for anyone listening to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ siren song of socialism in the Democratic primaries or who is still tempted by promises of socialist bliss.

Maduro’s move represents a desperate attempt to dampen public outrage, and thus maintain his grip on power, in the midst of an astonishing economic collapse that economists view as the world’s worst in decades in the absence of war.

Venezuela’s tale is hardly a unique one. In recent decades, socialist nations across the world have scrapped their doctrinaire visions and incorporated elements of free enterprise to rescue their ailing economies. Perhaps most striking, a post-Mao China opted for a more market-based economy as Deng Xiaoping conceded that his nation could not otherwise compete with the United States.

Maduro’s bow to reality is particularly instructive. It comes a decade after the Great Recession and financial collapse of 2008 and 2009 shook confidence in capitalism and emboldened the proponents of socialism and other alternative models. With that crisis long over, however, capitalism has again proved its mettle by nourishing more prosperity and higher living standards while Venezuela’s economy continues shrinking at an alarming rate.

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Is the DOJ the US Department of Injustice? By Patricia McCarthy

Posted By on February 15th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/02/is_the_doj_the_us_department_of_injustice.html

It is ironic that just as the Democrats are losing their cookies (for the umpteenth time in the past few weeks) over a Trump tweet regarding the absurd sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, the DOJ says it is dropping charges against Andrew McCabe, the proven liar, leaker, and hoax conspirator who was part of the coup cabal at the FBI along with Comey, Strzok, Page, et al.  It seems also that Lt. Col. Vindman will not be investigated by the military.

There is one form of justice for Democrats — no charges ever — and a harsh form for any Republican.  Roger Stone is mostly a figure of fun, a wannabe player who exaggerated his proximity to actual players.  He is guilty of virtually nothing that warrants nine years in prison, but because the prosecutors, all attached to the Mueller team, had to have something to show for the $32M spent on their Russia hoax, they want him sent away to die in jail.

Is letting McCabe off the hook for lying and leaking a ploy?  Are there more serious charges coming?  He sure doesn’t think so.  He’s so self-absorbed that he is complaining about what his family has been through for two years!  His family!  He and his cohorts have ruined numerous lives with their baseless witch hunts; the families of all of them have endured far more hardship than the weasel McCabe.  Some have lost everything.  It is doubtful that McCabe and his team of traitors have ever given a thought to what they have put the president and his family through except perhaps with glee.  This bunch that tried to take down a candidate, then a president they decided should not hold that office are arrogant beyond belief; they’re smug, elitist white-collar criminals all, and it’s beginning to seem as if they are all going to get away with their treasonous crimes.

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The Terrorists Migrating into Europe by Judith Bergman

Posted By on February 15th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15290/the-terrorists-migrating-into-europe

“Most migrant terrorists involved in thwarted or completed attacks were purposefully deployed to the migration flows by an organized terrorist group to conduct or support attacks in destination countries.” — Todd Bensman, “What Terrorist Migration Over European Borders Can Teach About American Border Security”, Center for Immigration Studies.

Bensman’s report indirectly proves that the three EU countries — Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic — which refused to take in any of the migrants that came during the migrant crisis, citing security concerns, were right.

The leadership of the European Union, however, initiated legal proceedings at the Court of Justice of the European Union against the three countries over the issue…. A ruling on the issue by the Court is expected early next year.

In response to the Advocate General, Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller, said that “ensuring security for our citizens is the most important goal of the government’s policies. Our actions were dictated by the interests of Polish citizens and the need for protection against uncontrolled migration”. — Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller, Reuters, October 31, 2019.

A new report, “What Terrorist Migration Over European Borders Can Teach About American Border Security”, by Todd Bensman, a senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, describes the extent to which terrorists disguised as migrants have entered the European Union to commit terrorist attacks. Although the study was written primarily for an American audience to prevent the same mistakes from being made on US borders, the study is extremely relevant for the European public — especially as Germany recently warned of a repeat migration crisis, similar to the one that occurred in 2015. According to Bensman:

“Between 2014 and 2017, 13 of the 26 member states lining the so-called Schengen Area’s external land borders recorded more than 2.5 million detections of illegal border-crossings along several land and sea routes, an historic, mostly unfettered surge that came to be known as the ‘migrant crisis’. The Schengen Area, which generally encompasses the European Union, consists of countries that combined immigration enforcement of a common external border of 27,000 sea miles and 5,500 land miles while removing all interior border controls to facilitate the free movement of goods and people.

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Female Genital Mutilation By Paul Sutliff

Posted By on February 15th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/02/2_13_2020_19_20.html

On January 30th of this year, a 12-year-old girl in Egypt died as a result of her parents having Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) performed on her. Egypt has had a law outlawing the practice since 2008. The parents have been charged.  This law was written to protect females because Islamic social norms permit and encourage this practice.

According to Ian Askew, World Health Organization Director for the Department of Reproductive Health and Research:

FGM describes all procedures that involve the partial or total removal of external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.  It has no health benefits.

More than 200 million girls and women alive today are living with FGM and many are at risk of suffering the associated negative health consequences as a result.

These include death, severe bleeding and problems urinating.  Longer-term consequences range from cysts and infections to complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths.

FGM is a grave violation of the human rights of girls and women.

Another term used for FGM is female circumcision.  Some countries prefer the term FGC, as it is seen as “more neutral.”  (The “C” being a reference to “cutting.”)  This “more neutral” term allows their medical personnel to package FGM into the “birth package.”  Ebony Ridell Bamber, the head of advocacy and policy at Orchid Project, a UK-based NGO working towards ending FGM, states that.  “It really contributes to legitimizing and entrenching the practice even further.”

In Islam, legitimization comes when shariah, Islamic law, endorses and promotes a practice.  Under shariah, female circumcision is required of Muslim females. This is documented in Reliance of the Traveller: 

e4.3   Circumcision is obligatory (O: for both men and women.  For men it consists of removing the prepuce from the penis, and for women, removing the prepuce (Ar. Bazr) of the clitoris (n: not the clitoris itself, as some mistakenly assert).  (A: Hanbalis hold that circumcision of women is not obligatory but sunna, while Hanafis consider it a mere courtesy to the husband.)”

Islamic scholars have been found using this piece to declare to non-Muslims that shariah does not agree with FGM, going so far as to claim it is unIslamic if carried out to the extreme and totally removing the clitoris:

Female circumcision, known pejoratively in its extreme form as female genital mutilation or cutting, is not prescribed in the Quran and there are no authentic prophetic traditions recommending the practice.  The basis in Islamic law is that it is not permissible to cause bodily harm and any such practice of female circumcision proven to be harmful would be unlawful.

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The new Russian geopolitics By Areg Galstyan

Posted By on February 15th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/02/the_new_russian_geopolitics.html

Recent domestic political changes in Russia, including the process of amending the Constitution, have become the subject of close attention.  Most experts believe that Putin’s main goal is to formulate new political structure to preserve his rule over the county after the end of the term in 2024.  However, the reasons for these transformations have deeper roots that are associated with changes in the geopolitical picture of the world.

Imperialism has always been the core of Russian political culture: its forms and formats could vary in different eras, but the essence remained the same.  It lies in the fact that the main function of the Russian ruler (prince, tsar, emperor or president) is to ensure the state’s territorial integrity.  According to Russian strategists and thinkers, this goal is possible to achieve only when Russia has one of the central places in the system of international relations.  The mission to maintain the great power status has unified all the laeaders aof the country, no matter how different they have been: even Emperor Peter the Great, who promoted the Western model of development, and Tsar Alexander III, who followed a special Russian way.

To a certain extent, having led the country in the late ’90s, Vladimir Putin became a hostage to objective circumstances.  Being a moderate conservative who sympathized with the philosophies of Peter the Great, he set the task of ensuring consistent political and economic integration with the West.  This direction failed since the parties perceived the process differently.  Russia hoped that the United States and the European Union would build dialogue as equal partners, not as winners that dictate the rules of the game.  Many actions of leading Western countries (such as NATO’s expansion to the East) played into the hands of the part of the Russian elite who convinced the general public and the president that Washington and Brussels did not respect the opinion of Moscow and were the source of the main threats to national security.  In fact, it was the shortsightedness of Western policy, which completely ignored not only Russia’s global, but also regional interests, that left no arguments for Putin to maintain the strategic orientation toward the West.

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Three nations going insane By Mike Konrad

Posted By on February 15th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/02/three_nations_going_insane.html

A collection of three samples of outright stupidities from the news.

CHINA SACKS PARTY CHIEFS

China has sacked the top political leaders of virus-stricken Hubei province and its capital Wuhan, the highest-profile figures to be removed so far in a crisis that has killed 1,355.

The removals are the latest in a purge that saw Hubei’s two most senior health officials fired earlier this week as criticism grows over the way the outbreak has been handled, with claims of under-reporting.

The problem is not so much the party chiefs, who may or may not have been incompetent, but the increasing tyranny that rules over China.  The news and social media are full of reports that indicate that the Chinese government is lying about the scope of the event.

For a while, a few years back, it seemed as if China would grow into freedom along with its economy.  However, in 1996, the Chinese started constructing the Great Firewall of China to censor the internet.

In 1996, Beijing enacted a set of interim provisions for governing computer information, and in 1998, the Ministry of Public Security launched the Golden Shield project — a national filter that blocks politically sensitive content from entering the domestic network.

Over time, the Chinese dictatorship has gotten worse.

In 2018, China got rid of term limits to allow Xi Jinping to remain in power.

Then, in 2019, China ordered that sacred texts be rewritten.

CHINA is to rewrite the Bible and the Quran to reflect its archaic Communist ideology, new reports claim.

The bizarre order came from the all-powerful Committee for Ethnic Affairs which oversees all religious matters in the state. …

Reports say bible-bashing China wants all major religions to review their holy texts and to adapt them to the “era of President Xi Jinping”.

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Libraries at Georgetown University Remove Novels That Offend Some Students Comments Permalink Posted by Mike LaChance

Posted By on February 15th, 2020

https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/02/libraries-at-georgetown-university-remove-novels-that-offend-some-students/

In a situation like this, why aren’t the people who complain ever told to shut up and go away?

The College Fix reports:

Georgetown libraries remove dozens of novels that offend some students

When the staff at an “independent journal of politics and world affairs” complain to Georgetown University officials, they get results.

Administrators removed “all but a few books” from the McCarthy and Reynolds libraries after The Georgetown Review asked why they had so many books marked by “racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, fetishization, and pedophilia,” the publication reported in early February. The story was picked up last week by The Hoya.

Review staff came across the books, which appear to be all 20th century novels, while attending a “general body meeting” of the campus political satire group The Hilltop Show in McCarthy Library last month.

A Hilltop staffer soon “found more problematic books” in Reynolds Library, “portraying Christianity and the Priesthood as evil.” (The article notes that Hilltop’s “Research Team” contributed to the report.)

Only two books are identified by name in the article body: Cherokee, which contains “blatantly racist language degrading Native Americans,” and Death of an Informer. The article is bylined by Editors-in-Chief Jacob Adams and Justin Drewer.

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The Fail of the Left: Idealism Without Realism As one presidential candidate after another announces some crazy scheme to differentiate himself or herself, we need to remember that unbridled idealism without realism is dangerous. Andrew I. Fillat & Henry Miller

Posted By on February 15th, 2020

amgreatness.com/2020/02/14/the-fail-of-the-left-idealism-without-realism/

“The ends justify the means” (“TEJTM”) is a platitude that has been used throughout history to rationalize the pursuit of both laudable and iniquitous goals, more often the latter than the former.

The events leading up to “national socialism” in Germany and communism in the Soviet Union, for example, illustrate how utopian visions can give rise to evil empires. An individual’s quest to obtain and retain power can become an end in itself that leads to horrific consequences, as exemplified by such notables as Josef Stalin, Bashar al-Assad, and Mao Zedong. Even in religion-inspired campaigns, such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, and ISIS, original benevolent intentions can become obscured.

Sadly, we are seeing TEJTM appear all too frequently in today’s America. With the presence of social media and a compliant mass media complex, things that may be praiseworthy goals are giving rise to proposed or actual policies that are far from benign or realistic in their application.

This country is being culturally riven from any plausible ideal of “social justice” because, too often, its implementation has become an ideological winners-versus-losers exercise.

A stark example is New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s crusade to balance racial and ethnic representation in the city’s elite special high schools. He proposes to substitute social engineering for what is now a test-based, racially blind merit system. If disavowing merit is the cure, it is far worse than the disease, because America has achieved its preeminence based mainly on rewarding merit.

There are many other examples, which go far beyond New York, of supposed social justice trampling merit in school admissions, including at elite universities. And there are countless examples of the goal of social justice being perverted and used arbitrarily to advantage one group over others—for example, citizens being denied state benefits, or at least being carefully scrutinized, while illegal residents find doors open for them. Another example is proposed reparations that are to be paid to people with little or no connection to slavery by people with no responsibility for that sordid history.

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Wokeness, Free Speech, and the Role of Education Roger Kimball *****

Posted By on February 15th, 2020

https://amgreatness.com/2020/02/14/wokeness-free-speech-and-the-role-of-education/

This essay is adapted from a talk earlier in February delivered at the Center for the Philosophy of Freedom and the American Culture and Ideas Initiative at the University of Arizona.

Conservatives have rightly lamented the assault on free speech that is such a conspicuous and disfiguring reality of life in America today. But that loss only achieves its true significance in the context of a more fundamental erosion: the erosion of a shared political consensus that gives life to “We, the People.”

Back in New York, we have recently started an informal reading group at The New Criterion and Encounter Books. If that sounds dull, let me add that I have combined the reading with a little seminar on wine appreciation. At the moment, our palettes are padding around Bordeaux, learning to discriminate reliably among Paulliac, Saint-Estèphe, and Saint-Julien. Soon we’ll move east to the Right Bank and then further afield. 

At the same time, we are in the midst of reading Plato’s Republic, a book about nearly everything, including a major theme of my remarks today: the role of education. 

I thank my host Dan Asia for supplying the title of my talk, and I will get around to touching on all of its elements. In the meantime, I want to point out a certain ambiguity or incompleteness about the phrase “the role of education.” One immediately wants to know, “the role of education” in what? In free speech? In the perpetuation of wokeness? Perhaps this is the place to issue a trigger warning to the effect this talk is definitely not “woke.” Anyone anxious about being offended may leave with impunity. 

In what follows, I am basically going to follow some hints in the Republic, which inquires into the role of education in several senses: into what it means for individuals, to start with, and also what it means for society at large. Socrates signals the importance of education early on when he tells Glaucon, Plato’s elder brother and one of the chief characters in the dialogue, that “it is no trifling matter we are discussing, but the right conduct of life.” 

I think that’s right. Education, rightly understood, is important business. And it is worth noting that, traditionally, a liberal arts education involved both character formation and learning. It was, as the word “liberal” suggests, an education for freedom, for liberty. It might incidentally teach you how to plot a trajectory, dissect a frog, analyze a poem, or construct a pie chart. But at the end of the day, the aim of a liberal arts education was thoughtful reflection about the question “How should I live my life?” The goal was to produce men and women who, as Allan Bloom put it in The Closing of the American Mind, had reflected thoughtfully on the question “‘What is man?’ in relation to his highest aspirations as opposed to his low and common needs.” 

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BOMBSHELL: U.S. Atty. John Durham Is investigating Whether Obama Admin Hid Evidence of Russian Meddling By Matt Margolis

Posted By on February 15th, 2020

https://pjmedia.com/trending/bombshell-us-atty-john-durham-is-investigating-if-obama-admin-hid-or-manipulated-evidence-of-russian-meddling/

According to a bombshell report from the New York Times Friday morning, U.S. Attorney John Durham has been investigating whether Obama administration officials hid or perhaps manipulated intelligence about Russia’s meddling.

Of course, that’s not exactly how the New York Times wants you to see this story. From the very first paragraph, the NYT tries to spin the story as a partisan fishing expedition, not a legitimate investigation of Obama-era corruption. “Trump administration officials investigating the government’s response to Russia’s election interference in 2016 appear to be hunting for a basis to accuse Obama-era intelligence officials of hiding evidence or manipulating analysis about Moscow’s covert operation, according to people familiar with aspects of the inquiry.”

Mr. Durham appears to be pursuing a theory that the C.I.A., under its former director John O. Brennan, had a preconceived notion about Russia or was trying to get to a particular result — and was nefariously trying to keep other agencies from seeing the full picture lest they interfere with that goal, the people said.