P.C.-CULTURE Comments turned off

The Transrealism of the Left By David Solway

Posted By on December 7th, 2019

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/12/the_transrealism_of_the_left.html

In the ongoing and infinitely tedious sex wars of our time, pitting women against men, women against women, men against women, men against men, and whatever seventy or so gender claimants lurk in between, it looks like the transgender brigade is winning the day. It represents, so to speak, the cutting edge of the intersectional fray.

Indeed, the trans phenomenon is perhaps the most interesting of the erotic variables that define the current wave of insanity, of which the transition from male to female, whether surgical, hormonal or cosmetic, appears to be the paramount factor in the venereal mix. Bathrooms in many establishments are no longer gender-specific. Women’s sporting events are increasingly dominated by biological males identifying as women. Corporations have climbed aboard the intersex, gender non-conforming and transgender bandwagon. Over fifty large companies, including Amazon, Coca Cola, ebay, Google, Microsoft and counting, have issued a statement affirming  “the rights and identities of transgender people,” ludicrously claiming that “gender definition determined by birth anatomy fails[s] to reflect the complex realities of gender identity and human biology” and implying the virtue of biomorphic mutation. Many religious institutions have welcomed such gender anomalies into the fold. Even preschoolers are being subjected to the LGBT+ blitz and are taught the blessings of transitioning.

The internet as well is awash with articles, blogs, book titles and reviews all touting the wonders of transgenderism in a concerted effort to persuade a skeptical public and encourage those who have undergone sexual “reassignment” or “confirmation” surgery — as if one could reassign what was never “assigned” in the first place. Literature of this sort studiously avoids the downside of treating gender dysphoria as a medical condition requiring drastic intervention and the immense unhappiness and well-documented suffering such treatment can and often does cause in later life.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION, POLITICS Comments turned off

The Democratic Party isn’t democratic. Their egalitarian pose helps them take power from the people and serve them up to their real constituents in the administrative state. Thaddeus McCotter

Posted By on December 7th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/12/06/the-democratic-party-isnt/

It’s high time American voters lodged a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (“BBB”) against an entity with a sketchy history of bogus claims and broken promises: the Democratic Party.

According to the BBB:

Misleading advertising occurs when, in the promotion of a product or any business interest, a representation is made to the public that is false or materially misleading. If a representation could influence a consumer to buy the product or service advertised, it is material. To determine whether an advertisement is misleading, the courts consider the “general impression” it conveys, as well as its literal meaning.

With that in mind, as both an oxymoron and an exercise in false advertising, the Democratic Party isn’t democratic.

In our constitutional republic, the sovereign citizenry, through elections, must consent to delegate their power to their elected servants. Even when enumerated by the Constitution, the citizenry’s delegation of power to their elected servants is temporary; and may be altered or extinguished by the people through means such as elections or the constitutional amendment process. It is this ultimate power of the citizenry that constitutes the revolutionary foundational principle of and the inviolable right of the people within our free republic.

This is why the Democratic Party isn’t democratic, unless one disingenuously uses the term in its bastardized Soviet iteration.

POLITICS Comments turned off

Cory Booker is Gonna Wear Out Out That Race Card Daniel Greenfield

Posted By on December 7th, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2019/12/cory-booker-gonna-wear-out-out-race-card-daniel-greenfield/

Back in the day, Senator Cory Booker kept trying to play the race card against Joe Biden, but was casually brushed off. Senator Kamala Harris was having too much fun playing the race card.

Now she’s out and Booker is gonna wear out that card.

“I’m just going to say it plain,” Booker said. “It is a problem that we now have an overall campaign for the 2020 presidency that has more billionaires in it than black people.”

I think Booker is actually quite happy that it’s working out that way. Even as he’s trying to portray Kamala as a martyr to American racism.

“It is a problem when an immensely qualified, widely supported, truly accomplished black woman running to lead the party — a party that is significantly empowered by black women voters — didn’t have the resources that she needed to continue here in Iowa,” he said, referencing U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, who ended her presidential campaign earlier this week.

Kamala had raised $11 million. She didn’t have the poll numbers to continue.

But please, send Cory donations on her behalf.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Trump vs. Schiff Is a Clash of One Titan His committee’s report on impeachment is weak propaganda that doesn’t even try to change minds. By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.

Posted By on December 7th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-vs-schiff-is-a-clash-of-one-titan-11575672861?mod=opinion_lead_pos8

Hearings were hardly necessary to show that Donald Trump, in all too characteristic a fashion, took interest in his administration’s Ukraine policy only when he saw a chance to lard on Ukrainian announcements that he could throw back in the face of domestic critics who questioned his 2016 legitimacy.

So why does Adam Schiff feel the need to stretch every truth beyond the breaking point in a House Intelligence Committee impeachment report released this week?

A media transcript plainly shows that acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney was not referring to a Ukraine quid pro quo when he said politics will influence foreign policy and that critics should “get over it.” Ambassador Gordon Sondland merely “presumed” that Mr. Trump sought a quid pro quo from Ukraine. Why falsely characterize these men’s statements, as the Schiff report does, when doing so is unnecessary to convince anyone that Mr. Trump nevertheless envisioned a quid pro quo?

Mr. Schiff claims Mr. Trump delayed “critical military aid” to Ukraine, but offers no evidence that the aid was critical. (The missiles discussed in Mr. Trump’s supposedly incriminating call with Ukraine’s president were not even part of the holdup.) He insists Mr. Trump’s dealings undermined U.S. national interests, but a president is perfectly entitled to differ with Mr. Schiff over what constitutes the national interest. With a casualness you expect only from the media, he relies on the fallacy that wishing to examine Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 election is tantamount to denying Russian meddling.

Mr. Schiff must gild the few lilies in his possession to distract from a glaring omission in his own proceedings. “Fact witnesses” were called to discuss whether there was a quid pro quo, but none were called to give evidence on whether the “quos” Mr. Trump sought from Ukraine were unfounded or illegal.

Don’t underestimate this sign of Mr. Schiff’s disingenuousness. However much the media lies about it now, a Ukrainian official allied with the then-Poroshenko government spoke openly to the Financial Times in 2016 of his work to ensure Mr. Trump’s defeat.   CONTINUE AT SITE

HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Deja Vu: Pensacola Shooter Was Saudi National in U.S. for ‘Flight School’ By Tyler O’Neil

Posted By on December 7th, 2019

https://pjmedia.com/trending/deja-vu-pensacola-shooter-was-saudi-national-in-u-s-for-flight-school/

Four people are dead, including the assailant, after a shooting at a U.S. Navy base in Pensacola, Fla., on Friday. According to anonymous officials and Gov. Ron DeSantis, the suspect was a Saudi Arabian national in the U.S. for flight school.

That sounds familiar… Nineteen of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi Arabian nationals, and most came to the U.S. for flight training. Three hijacker-pilots, Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, and Ziad Jarrah flew to south Florida for fight training about a year before the horrific September 11, 2001 attacks.

Sean Davis, co-founder of the Federalist, noted the eerie similarity. “Just spitballing here, but maybe it’s time to take a closer look at Saudi nationals hanging out in Florida for ‘flight school.’ Kinda maybe figured we would’ve done that 18 years ago, but apparently not,” he tweeted.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Rep Tlaib Was Featured Headliner At Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Fest David Krayden

Posted By on December 6th, 2019

https://dailycaller.com/2019/12/05/rep-rashida-tlaib-headlined-anti-semitic-fest/

Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib was the featured attraction at a Chicago conference last Friday that was congested with anti-Semitic voices and organized by American Muslims for Palestine (AMP).

Tlaib, a member of the Democratic “squad,” known for her inflammatory statements about Israel, was the keynote speaker at the American Muslims for Palestine  summit that focused on her ability to influence the 2020 elections. Anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour, a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate and Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, was also in an attendance, the Washington Free Beacon reported Thursday.

The AMP views Israel as an enemy and its work is well-documented by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization  that documents groups and individuals who foster and disseminate anti-Semitic propaganda. The ADL describes the AMP as promoting “extreme anti-Israel views” and creating “a platform for anti-Semitism.”

Tlaib is well-acquainted with fringe groups that market an anti-Israel or anti-Semitic agenda. The congresswoman supports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement that seeks to undermine Israel. Because of her support for the movement, Israel refused Tlaib entry to the country.

The representative was also an editorial contributor to a Nation of Islam publication run by the notoriously anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan. Maher Abdel-qader, who peddles conspiracy theories about Jews and Israel, vigorously fundraiser for Tlaib’s congressional campaign and acted as her scheduler in the 2018 midterm elections.

MEDIA Comments turned off

Red Yellow Journalism When it comes to covering Jeremy Corbyn and anti-Semitism, mainstream outlets are having a hard time telling the truth By James Kirchick

Posted By on December 6th, 2019

https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/295247/red-yellow-journalism

According to a report published earlier this month, 84% of British Jews feel that Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is a “threat specifically to Jews.” Two-thirds of Labour supporters hold at least one anti-Semitic view, the frequent, public expression of which since Corbyn’s ascension four years ago has caused the party to come under investigation by Britain’s Equalities and Human Rights Commission (making Labour the only political party, after the avowedly racist British National Party, to face such an inquiry). Most chilling is a pollcommissioned by the Jewish News finding that half of British Jews would “seriously consider” leaving the country if Corbyn becomes prime minister after next week’s general election. In the words of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism’s Gideon Falter, “British Jews are considering leaving the country on a scale unprecedented since medieval times.” This is a very disturbing moment for British Jewry, but it is also, I might argue, an even more threatening moment for Britain itself.

Which is why I am baffled that The New York Times, which prides itself on fearlessly reporting the truth, would in this case overtly and obviously obfuscate it.

Last month, in a piece titled, “At Odds With Labour, Britain’s Jews Are Feeling Politically Homeless,” Times London correspondent Benjamin Mueller portrayed a community torn equally between the party that has long been its traditional political home (Labour) and one that represents a “little England” nationalism historically inimical to progressive Jewish values (the Conservatives). “Online and over Shabbat dinners, arguments about the election have grown bitter,” Mueller reports. “Those grudgingly planning to vote for Labour have been called traitors to the community and self-hating Jews. Anti-Corbyn die-hards, on the other hand, have been branded the handmaidens of a hard Brexit.”

There is no such division within the Jewish community: 94% of British Jews will vote for any party but Labour next Thursday. For those Jews who cannot stomach a vote for Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s pro-Brexit Tories, the Liberal Democrats offer the option of unambiguous support for continued European Union membership without the rank stench of anti-Semitism. Last year, the country’s three Jewish newspapers—each representing different political and communal traditions and constituencies—all published the same, front-page editorial warning that a Corbyn-led government would present an “existential” threat to British Jewry. The old joke about two Jews, three synagogues really does not have any pertinence when it comes to the matter of how the British Jewish community sees Jeremy Corbyn.

POLITICS Comments turned off

Academia dies on the Hill By Dennis Weisman

Posted By on December 6th, 2019

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/12/academia_dies_on_the_hill.html

The Democratic-controlled Congress convened a panel of legal experts on Wednesday to inform the debate on the case for impeachment of President Donald J. Trump.  Opinions will differ as to the value of this testimony insofar as the impeachment debate is concerned, but there can be no real question that this is a microcosm of what is wrong with academia today.  Four academics showed up on the Hill, but only one scholar was present: Jonathan Turley of the George Washington University School of Law.  The other three, Karlan, Feldman, and Gerhardt, were merely Democratic activists masquerading as objective academics.  Unfortunately, what the country observed on Capitol Hill Wednesday is precisely what goes on every day on university campuses across America: liberal academics grooming converts for the cause, all the while claiming to be a voice for true scholarship.

Professor Turley informed the panel that he was not a supporter of Mr. Trump, that, in fact, he had “voted against Mr. Trump.”  His word choice is important because it attests to something far more than the fact that he was not a supporter of Trump; he was against Trump.  And yet, Professor Turley went on to admonish the Congress that just as his personal views of Trump do not inform his views on the merits of impeachment, neither should their personal views regarding Trump inform their votes.

Trump’s call to Ukrainian president Zelensky was not “perfect,” according to Professor Turley, but neither was it impeachable.  To state Professor Turley’s views regarding impeachment succinctly, the standard for what constitutes “high crimes and misdemeanors” should not be party-specific.  Does anyone really believe that impeachment proceedings would be underway if Mr. Obama had made a similar call to Zelensky?  

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

U.S. Jobs Report Breaks Expectations, Unemployment at 50-Year Low By Zachary Evans

Posted By on December 6th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/u-s-jobs-report-breaks-expectations-unemployment-at-50-year-low/

The U.S. Labor Department’s jobs report released on Friday showed accelerated hiring and unemployment at a 50-year low.

Employers added 266,000 jobs for the month of November, surging past expected gains and continuing growth from October, which saw 156,000 new hires.

 

The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, the same as in September of this year and matching the lowest rate since 1969, according to the Labor Department’s report.

“It’s a significant surprise because economists were ready to go with the idea that payroll growth was slowing down because the job market had gotten tight,” Stephen Stanley, chief economist for broker-dealer Amherst Pierpont, told Bloomberg. “The whole tenor has changed in terms of job growth. We’re back at steady-as-she-goes at a robust pace.”

November was the first full month after the United Auto Workers union called a 40-day strike at General Motors factories. The end of the strike saw over 41,000 workers added to auto manufacturing jobs.

BOOKS Comments turned off

Newt Gingrich’s Essential Primer On The Challenges Of Communist China Ben Weingarten

Posted By on December 6th, 2019

https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/06/newt-gingrichs-essential-primer-on-the-challenges-of-communist-china/

The former speaker of the House’s latest book, ‘Trump Vs. China,’ is an indispensable guide for understanding our greatest foreign policy challenge.

While the media frequently reduces U.S.-China relations under the Trump administration to a so-called “trade war,” the U.S. federal government has, after decades of willful blindness and neglect, embarked on a multifaceted mission to reorient the relationship towards America’s national interest.

This underappreciated, revolutionary effort was borne of an almost intuitive understanding by President Trump, increasingly accepted across the national security and foreign policy establishment, that China itself is engaged in a multifaceted—and malign—struggle to achieve global superpower status, at the cost of our people, and ultimately our freedom.

Seemingly with each passing week, a new story emerges illustrating the magnitude of China’s ambitions, and the litany of issues such ambitions present for the free world. Recently, many recoiled at the ghastlyrevelations of the Uighur concentration camps of Xinjiang, which, on top of the chaotic and bloody scenes from the streets of Hong Kong, have underscored the totalitarian nature of a Communist regime that the rest of the world has effectively been underwriting. If this is how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) treats its own citizens, and those in its orbit, how will it treat the rest of us should it achieve global dominance?

China’s Illicit Efforts

With respect to China’s efforts abroad, consider just a few recent stories in the areas of espionage and foreign influence:

A purported Chinese spy defected to Australia, revealing to authorities remarkable details regarding alleged political and societal influence operations, evincing widespread infiltration of civil society institutions in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Australia. Whether the specific allegations are proven, it is undeniable that China has sought to influence nearby foreign countries, and beyond. (With respect to China’s efforts in Australia in particular, which implicate the entire Anglosphere, see Clive Hamilton’s Silent Invasion).
Northwestern University faced a major backlash from Chinese nationalists over student support for Taiwan, and Columbia University cancelled a panel discussion on “Panopticism with Chinese Characteristics: The Human Rights Violations by the Chinese Communist Party and how they affect the world,” according to organizers “because a Chinese student group threatened to stage a protest outside the venue on campus.”
The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a reportdemonstrating that “American taxpayer funded research [of upwards of $150 billion per year in the sciences] has contributed to China’s global rise over the last 20 years…[with] China openly recruit[ing] U.S.-based researchers, scientists, and experts in the public and private sector to provide China with knowledge and intellectual capital in exchange for monetary gain and other benefits…undermin[ing] the integrity of the American research enterprise and endanger[ing] our national security.”