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Keep an eye out for Israel Derangement Syndrome Juliet Moses

Posted By on January 19th, 2020

ttps://www.spectator.com.au/2020/01/keep-an-eye-out-for-israel-derangement-syndrome/

I am not a psychiatrist, but I’ve observed a kind of psychosis in far-left activists of the West who claim to be progressives championing the Palestinian cause: Israel Derangement Syndrome, or IDS.

Sufferers of this insidious illness don’t rationally advocate for Palestinians and criticise Israeli policies, in the same way they’d criticise other states. They are doctrinaire cultists possessed of an unadulterated, unhinged hatred for Israel, which they see as a uniquely evil state that must be eradicated. Until then, it will be their all-consuming, defining cause; never mind the Uyghurs, Kurds or Iranian women. In indulging in the delusion that the end (of Israel) goal will eventually occur, they are complicit in perpetuating the conflict and emboldening the despotic regimes that act against the interests of the very people they purport to champion, the Palestinians.

Corbynism is the most recent prominent example of IDS. While we will no longer be bombarded with its leader’s sneering visage, the animosity towards Israel that its dogmatism exemplifies, replete with conspiracism and terrorist sympathising, is unlikely to fade. And it is rising across the Atlantic

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America Is Deeply Divided Because The Left Has Become So Shallow Frank Bullit

Posted By on January 18th, 2020

https://issuesinsights.com/2020/01/18/america-is-deeply-divided-because-the-left-has-become-so-shallow/

Virtue signaling and luxury beliefs have driven us apart.

‘The country is hopelessly split,” says the November 2018 Intelligencer headline. According to The Hill, “Analyst says U.S. is most divided since Civil War.” Not quite a year ago, the History Channel reported that “some historians are also raising the alarm over division in the country.”

Naturally, President Donald Trump and everyone who voted for him are being blamed for the bitter breakup. But this is nothing more than the political left projecting on others the exact sort of behavior it’s engaged in.

An angry mixture of Democrats, “progressives,” socialists, and democratic socialists that makes up the political left is driven not by ideas but by its members’ desperate need to establish their social status. They want to be identified with those they consider “cool.” Think of Barack Obama, most high-profile Democratic politicians, celebrities, and media stars.

Yes, it’s a lot like high school.

The pursuit of social status is done through virtue-signaling (which “does not require actually doing anything virtuous … It takes no effort or sacrifice at all,” says the author of the term), and the holding of luxury beliefs. The former, artfully defined in Wikipedia as “the contrivance of a false appearance of virtue or goodness,” is used to confirm the latter, which has been described as ”ideas and opinions that confer status on the rich at very little cost, while taking a toll on the lower class,” as well as “good public relations” that protect “you from being branded a bigot and being expelled from public society.”

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WHO IS MANU RAJU? HE IS JUST WHAT McSALLY CALLED HIM….A LIBERAL HACK….

Posted By on January 18th, 2020

https://amgreatness.com/2020/01/16/az-sen-martha-mcsally-calls-cnn-reporter-a-liberal-hack-triggering-liberal-hacks-on-twitter/

AZ Sen. Martha McSally Calls CNN Reporter a ‘Liberal Hack,’ Triggering Liberal Hacks on Twitter Debra Heine

Commentary editor Noah Rothman simply called McSally’s words “pretty uncalled for.”

But they were called for, as Raju is one of the Hill’s most shameless and reliable mouth pieces for Democrats.

Until the Russia Collusion hoax fizzled, Raju was one of its biggest peddlers.

In December of 2017, for instance, Raju was involved in”one of the most humiliating spectacles in the history of the U.S. media,” as the Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald put it.

With a tone so grave and bombastic that it is impossible to overstate, CNN went on the air and announced a major exclusive: Donald Trump, Jr. was offered by email advanced access to the trove of DNC and Podesta emails published by WikiLeaks – meaning before those emails were made public.
***

There was, alas, just one small problem with this massive, blockbuster story: it was totally and completely false. The email which Trump, Jr. received that directed him to the WikiLeaks archive was sent afterWikiLeaks published it online for the whole world to see, not before. Rather than some super secretive operative giving Trump, Jr. advanced access, as both CNN and MSNBC told the public for hours they had confirmed, it was instead just some totally pedestrian message from a random member of the public suggesting Trump, Jr. review documents the whole world was already talking about. All of the anonymous sources CNN and MSNBC cited somehow all got the date of the email wrong.

Federalist co-founder Sean Davis challenged Tapper to explain how the CNN reporter could have gotten that story so wrong without being either a liberal hack or “too stupid to read the date on the email.”

The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway called Raju “a favorite and reliable leak recipient for Democrats.”

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Martha McSally’s Blasphemy By David Harsanyi

Posted By on January 18th, 2020

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/martha-mcsally-hack-comment-journalists-see-some-great-sacrilege/

As I note in my New York Post piece today, I don’t believe that Martha McSally, who is serving her first term in the Senate after being appointed to take John McCain’s seat, is going to be helped much by accusing CNN’s Manu Raju of being a “hack.” Attacking the press might be an effective way to excite national conservatives, but it probably does little to entice independents and moderates in Arizona.

One group, however, was greatly affected by the interaction: journalists, who seem to believe that McSally has engaged in some great sacrilege. A distressed National Press Club statement calls her comment “ethically wrong.” The New York Times’ Michael Barbaro says it is “never” ok to attack a journalist. One wishes there would have been this level of outcry when Elizabeth Warren, also a senator, called Fox News a “hate-for-profit racket.” But so it goes.

The Washington Post’s media critic labeled the interaction “chilling.” Now, “chilling,” it seems to me, would more appropriately describe the government spying on reporters or throwing someone into prison in effort to appease foreign theocrats. I’m pretty sure, at this point, the largely inconsequential McSally-Raju kerfuffle has generated more outrage from mainstream journalists than either of those cases.

It should also be noted, rude or not, that McSally’s underlying grievance is legitimate. CNN, as Charles Cooke has written, is no longer a news network, and Republicans have no ethical responsibility to treat it as such, whether one of its reporters happens to be asking a legitimate questions or not. And no matter how many times his colleagues put the word “respected” in front of Raju’s name, it doesn’t change the fact that he has a long history of partisan bias, not only with his still-unexplained Don Jr. “collusion” piece, but on the issue of Brett Kavanaugh and many others. The fact that Raju does some good reporting, doesn’t mean he isn’t also a partisan. You can be both.

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The Never-Ending Impeachment By Matthew Continetti

Posted By on January 18th, 2020

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/01/trump-impeachment-never-ending-effort/

Efforts to remove Trump didn’t start with Ukraine. And won’t end there.

Maybe Nancy Pelosi waited to send impeachment to the Senate because she was waiting for her pens to arrive. The fancy commemorative ballpoints, featuring the speaker’s name engraved in gold, that Pelosi gave to colleagues at Wednesday’s engrossment ceremony quickly became the subject of mockery. Republicans saw them as emblematic of Democratic partisanship and triviality. “Nothing says seriousness and sobriety like handing out souvenirs,” said Mitch McConnell. “As though this were a happy bill-signing instead of the gravest process in our Constitution.”

In Pelosi’s eyes, impeachment is something to celebrate. It’s more than an accomplishment. It’s the most significant product of the 116th Congress. What McConnell calls “the gravest process” has been the preferred means of Democrats to inflict maximum damage on President Trump and possibly remove him from office before the end of his term. The trial that begins on Tuesday has been years in the making. And the drive to impeach Trump won’t end when the verdict is rendered. He may well end up the first president to be impeached multiple times.

Maxine Waters has been chanting “impeach 45” since the spring of 2017. Representative Al Green introduced the first impeachment resolution that summer. Tom Steyer founded “Need to Impeach” that October. In November 2017 a group of House Democrats introduced additional articles of impeachment. The same thing happened in December 2017, January 2018, March 2019, May 2019, and July 2019. House Democrats accuse Trump of violating the emoluments clause, obstructing justice, associating with white nationalism, separating families of illegal immigrants, and more.

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The Democrat candidates have consistently ignored Israel in their debates By Andrea Widburg

Posted By on January 18th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/01/the_democrat_candidates_have_consistently_ignored_israel_in_their_debates.html

A Jerusalem Post article points out something interesting about the Democrat Party debates to date: They are loudly silent about Israel. While each of the six candidates who made it to the January 2020 debate had a great to say about Iran, and especially how wonderful Obama’s Iran Deal was and how all would handle Iran so much better than President Trump ever could, none even whispered the word Israel.

Things would have been different, says Herb Keinon, at a Republican debate:

Were the tables reversed, were this a debate among Republican contenders, Israel would most likely have been a major part of the conversation, even if the thrust of the discussion was Iran and not the Palestinian issue. Republican candidates – in talking about Iran or the nuclear deal – would surely have inserted lines about “the need to keep Israel safe” or “working strongly with our close ally Israel.”

As former Mideast negotiator Aaron David Miller told the Jewish Insider after the debate, “Had it been a Republican debate, with Iran as focus, they would have been stumbling over one another with pro-Israeli references.”

What the debate reflects, says Keinon, is a profound change in the Democrat Party as a whole. The candidates have determined that supporting Israel is no longer an advantage to a candidate:

The current candidates – those on the debate stage and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was not there – apparently feel they have little to gain politically right now by speaking on Israel.

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For Democrats worried about Bernie, Bloomberg’s looking good By Andrea Widburg

Posted By on January 18th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/01/for_democrats_worried_about_bernie_bloombergs_looking_good.html

Democrats are running out of options. So far, no candidate of the week has promised to be capable of beating President Trump and his supercharged economy or even of staying in the race. Worse, Bernie, the candidate who almost certainly cannot win, is peaking at the perfect time, right before the primaries. You can see the fear in a John Ellis opinion piece at the Washington Post:

At the moment, two realities drive the Democratic presidential campaign.

Reality No. 1: Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is leading in most polls in both Iowa and New Hampshire. He’s also the best organized in both states. And he’s got a hot hand; what used to be called “momentum.”

Reality No. 2: Democratic primary voters are, as Gallup put it, “thinking strategically about [their] 2020 nominee.” Here’s Gallup’s write-up from two months ago: “Six in 10 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents would prefer to see the party nominate the candidate with the best chance of beating President Donald Trump, even if that person does not share their views on key issues. By contrast, 36% say they would rather have the reverse: a candidate aligned with them on almost all the issues they care about, even if that person is not the most electable.”

So, who is electable? John Ellis thinks he has the answer:

Which helps explain why Democrats across the country will soon find themselves with a newfound appreciation for the virtues of one Mike Bloomberg, former Republican mayor of New York and billionaire founder of a financial data services empire.

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ELECTIONS ARE COMING: ARIZONA MARTHA McSALLY FOR SENATE

Posted By on January 18th, 2020

Martha Elizabeth McSally is a United States Air Force combat veteran and politician serving as the junior United States Senator for Arizona. A Republican, she previously served as the U.S. Representative for Arizona’s 2nd congressional district.
Democrats are determined to defeat this outstanding Senator. Please visit:

https://mcsallyforsenate.com/

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If CNN Can’t Take Punches, They Shouldn’t Be Throwing Them By David Marcus

Posted By on January 18th, 2020

https://thefederalist.com/2020/01/17/if-cnn-cant-take-punches-they-shouldnt-be-throwing-them/

The powers that be at CNN were in full outrage mode yesterday after Republican Sen. Martha McSally called Manu Raju, one of their congressional correspondents, a “liberal hack,” and refused to answer his questions.

After the incident, much of the minimal airtime left over from trashing Donald Trump all day was expended in defense of Raju and the network, which they clearly feel, has been unfairly besmirched. I’ve got two words for them: toughen up.

A statement from their PR department said, “It is extremely unbecoming for a U.S. Senator to sink to this level and treat a member of the press this way for simply doing his job.” Oh no, not unbecoming. What is it when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls Fox News’ Tucker Carlson a “white supremacist sympathizer?” Is that unbecoming or is that speaking truth to power?

Speaking of Fox News, or as your anchors like to refer to it, “a different network,” usually with a smug smirk of superiority and some quip about how CNN only trades in facts, what should we make of your attacks on that network? Your media critic Brian Stelter has an HBO special coming out called, “After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News.” Whoa, whoa, whoa. Fake news? I thought that was dangerous rhetoric that threatens the republic. How dare you undermine the institution of the news media?

As a guy who grew up in Philly I’d like to inform CNN that you don’t get to come to the playground, smack everyone around and then run to the teacher when they hit you back. So here are a few jabs for you purveyors of pure, unbiased truth. Lets run down the list of people you told viewers are likely to take down Trump over the past few years. James Comey, Robert Mueller, Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, Michael Avenatti, the whistleblower, the SDNY, Andrew McCabe, Stormy Daniels, and now John Bolton and Lev Parnas.

The mathematical probability of being that wrong, that often while acting in good faith falls somewhere between zero and zero. Do they hate their viewers? Its like they are in an abusive relationship with them where they prey on their emotions, contently promising a better, Trump-free tomorrow, constantly disappointing that expectation.

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Impeachment is now just another bludgeon in the armory of political warfare There is nothing new in the plot of this lugubrious sitcom Roger Kimball

Posted By on January 18th, 2020

https://spectator.us/impeachment-bludgeon-armory-political-warfare/

A couple of days ago, members of the United States House of Representatives processed with all their accustomed pomp and dignity to file, formally, two articles of impeachment against President Trump. Yesterday, Chief Justice John Roberts swore in the senators, who promised, scout’s honor, to deliberate with all the impartiality for which that great legislative body is known, i.e., to deliver their verdict almost exclusively on party lines. They didn’t say that, of course, because niceties must be preserved in these august chambers, especially when the television cameras are running, but everyone knows that is what is mean by ‘impartial’ in our political life today.

In other words, what we have here was a sterling instance of what the philosopher Yogi Berra called ‘déjà-vu all over again’. The Democrats have been talking about impeaching Donald Trump from the day he was elected. As Rep. Al Green memorably put it back in 2018,  ‘I’m concerned if we don’t impeach this president, he will get re-elected.’ And we can’t have that, can we?

Unless your name is Bill Kristol or Rachel Maddow, you know that the actual articles of impeachment are preposterous trumped up charges. One article alleges abuse of power, but what it describes is simply the exercise of power, which — pay attention class — is not the same thing. The contention is that the President withheld Congressionally approved military aid from Ukraine in order to bully the Ukrainians into digging up dirt of the Democrats’ leading Geritol candidate for president in 2020, Joe Biden. One problem with this fantasy is that everyone directly involved in the discussions denies anything like that happened. The whole contention is a rabbit hole that only political desperation could entice one to follow. (Another problem is that no one needs to dig up dirt on Joe Biden: he is a motorized, self-contained backhoe for scandal, digging up dirt on himself free and for nothing.)

The other article alleges ‘obstruction of Congress’. Never heard of that one? That’s OK, no one else had either. The Dems in the House were on a hasty war path (apologies to Elizabeth Warren) against Donald Trump: they wanted him gone, now, and he had the temerity to go to the courts to defend himself. Outrageous! Impeach for seeking legal counsel.