IMMIGRATION, POLITICS Comments turned off

Byron York: Can moderate Dems talk Pelosi out of her extreme position in the border negotiations? by Byron York

Posted By on February 4th, 2019

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/byron-york-key-border-question-can-moderate-dems-talk-pelosi-out-of-extreme-position

As things stand now, a House and Senate conference committee is the only hope that Democrats and Republicans can reach agreement on border security and avoid another government shutdown. The negotiations — such as they are, for a committee that has met briefly only once in more than a week — are ostensibly between Republicans and Democrats. But well-informed Republicans believe it is another set of talks — internal talks among Democrats — that will determine whether the committee succeeds and a shutdown is averted.

“This is not a negotiation between Republicans and Democrats,” said one GOP lawmaker who is keeping close tabs on the process. “This is a negotiation between rank-and-file Democrats and Nancy Pelosi.”

“That is unmistakably true,” added a Republican who is taking part in the talks. “There are many reasonable voices within the Democratic conference who want to see a positive resolution here.” The speaker of the House’s “emboldened stance” — her decision to refuse to consider any funds for a border barrier — has been “very hurtful to the process,” the lawmaker added.

Why are the intra-Democratic talks so critical? Because Republicans already agree on the key components of a border security package. They are united behind the need for a border barrier, and they are united behind the other provisions — drug detection technology for ports of entry, more immigration judges, humanitarian aid for detained migrants — that many members of both parties support as part of a comprehensive border security policy. Republicans are already there.

The question is whether the California Democrat can be talked down from her my-way-or-the-highway position

POLITICS Comments turned off

A Republic, Not a Giant H.R. Department By Ben Boychuk

Posted By on February 4th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/02/03/a-republic-not-a-

How dumb is the 2020 presidential election campaign going to be? Unfathomably dumb. Breathtakingly dumb. Seriously; pretty dumb.

And that’s just among the mainstream candidates. Just wait and see what happens if an independent billionaire jumps in the race.

Exhibit A this week: Howard Schultz, the former chief executive officer of Starbucks, is reportedly mulling a third-party or independent run for president. Schultz, a longtime Democrat, says both parties are hopelessly dysfunctional. (Which is undeniably true.) Neither political party, for example, is lifting a finger to address the $21.9 trillion national debt.

Exhibit A-1: Schultz appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on Wednesday, where he was interrogated about, wait for it, the price of a box of Cheerios.

Schultz was shocked to learn that Cheerios cost around four bucks — or less than a triple grande mocha. (But not nearly as delicious.) It also has nothing to do with the national debt, or immigration, or foreign policy, or anything else worth discussing.

Does it matter that a billionaire ex-CEO doesn’t know how much a box of cereal costs? Only if you’re in the business of asking stupid gotcha questions on television. I don’t know how much Cheerios cost, either. I don’t even eat cereal. Do you?

POLITICS Comments turned off

The Nazification of the Democrats By Robert Miller See Note Please

Posted By on February 4th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/02/03/the

This column makes excellent points but I am opposed to Nazi metaphors….The Nazis exterminated millions including one of every three Jews in the world….It is wrong when the Democrats do it and equally wrong when conservatives do it….rsk

In America’s current political climate, Democrats are making frequent use of terms they understand poorly at best. To silence debate and criticism, Democrats routinely employ labels such as “Fascist,” “Nazi,” or “racist” to shut down and intimidate their political targets. Ironically, however, as Democrats engage this way they are quickly adopting the very characteristics of those groups they supposedly despise.

Most notably, the Democrats increasingly display anti-Semitism along with their hostility to Christianity, traditional American values, and individual liberty. The recent revelation that Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted in 2012 that Israel had “hypnotized the world” is a clear indication of where the Democratic Party is headed—and why Americans should worry.

Beginning with Omar’s tweet about Israel “hypnotizing” the world, the congresswoman’s sentiment is a common theme in Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. In the 1925 screed that became the centerpiece of Nazi thought, Hitler routinely accuses Jews of undertaking a “campaign of lies” while lamenting the supposed “ignorance of the broad masses” and “narrow-mindedness of the upper classes” about Jews . While Democrats and the Left routinely attempt to distance their hatred of Israel from anti-Semitism, their opprobrium of the Jewish state similarly parallels that of the late Nazi führer. In Mein Kampf, Hitler accuses Zionists of wanting a Jewish state in order to have a “central organization for their international world swindle.” Omar sounds exactly like a real Nazi.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

How to Make It Home in California: Rules for the Modern Odysseus By Victor Davis Hanson

Posted By on February 4th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/02/03/how-to-make

I drove back from San Francisco not long ago to the rural San Joaquin Valley. It is only 200 miles. But in fact, it can feel like Odysseus trying to get back home to Ithaca from Troy.

Walking to the car in San Francisco was an early morning obstacle course dotted with the occasional human feces and lots of trash. The streets looked like Troy after its sacking. Verbal and physical altercations among the homeless offered background. The sidewalks were sort of like the flotsam and jetsam in the caves of the Cyclopes, with who knows what the ingredients really were. Outbreaks of hepatitis and typhus are now common among the refuse of California’s major cities.

The rules of the road in downtown San Francisco can seem pre-civilizational: the more law-abiding driver is considered timid and someone to be taken advantage of—while the more reckless earns respect and right of way. Pedestrians have achieved the weird deterrent effect of so pouring out onto the street in such numbers that drivers not walkers seemed the more terrified.

The 101 freeway southbound was entirely blocked by traffic—sort of like the ancient doldrums where ships don’t move. About 20 percent of the cars in the carpool lane seemed to be cheating—and were determined not to let in any more of like kind. The problem with talking on the phone and texting while driving is not just cars, but also semi-trucks, whose drivers go over the white line and weave as they please on the theory that no one argues with 20 tons of freight.

The trip can take over three hours in theory and often longer than six hours in practice. The rub is not just traffic. Road repair and expansion shuts down lanes (ironically replete with large signs bragging that the construction is proof of your tax dollars at work), often without little warning or guidance. Service stations along the way are usually overcrowded. Some of their restrooms also are premodern. I once stopped in one that had no toilet seat, one handle remaining on the water fixtures, no toilet paper, but plenty of unmentionables on the floor. In California, you sometimes request a key to enjoy the privilege of using such hospitality.

HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Chinese Aggression Against the U.S.A. Far more than trade is involved. Michael Cutler

Posted By on February 4th, 2019

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272763/chinese-aggression-against-usa-michael-cutler

My previous article for FrontPage Magazine focused on specific threats to the United States that were linked to border security issues raised in the January 29, 2019 Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Worldwide Threats that was itself predicated on the Intelligence Community’s just-released World-Wide Threat Assessment.

I used the information disclosed at the hearing and contained in that threat assessment report about the dangers to America created by transnational criminal organizations and translational gangs such as MS-13 and the drug cartels in Mexico, as well as the crimes and activities of human traffickers that support the Trump administration’s demands for a border wall, a wall that unbelievably, the leaders of the Democratic Party adamantly oppose.

However, the report included much more material about other global threats that confront the United States and its interests. Simply stated, the world is a dangerous place.

Among the other threats addressed in the report were those posed by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.

Today we will take a hard look at China and how its aggressive and relentless pursuit of global dominance threatens America.

Before we go any further, we must remember that China is led by a totalitarian Communist regime that is not an ally but rather a serious adversary of the United States.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Clock ticking quickly for Maduro By Silvio Canto, Jr.

Posted By on February 4th, 2019

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/02/clock_ticking_quickly_for_maduro.html

Down in Venezuela, the people are in the streets and Sr. Maduro got some very bad news. He lost a key military man, as we see in this report:

An active Venezuelan general called on the armed forces to rebel against President Nicolas Maduro and to recognize the opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim chief as pressure at home and abroad grows on the head of state to step down.

In a video circulating on Twitter on Saturday, General Francisco Yanez of the air force’s high command, said most of the armed forces already disavowed Maduro, who claims he is victim of a coup directed by the United States.

“People of Venezuela, 90 percent of the armed forces of Venezuela are not with the dictator, they are with the people of Venezuela,” Yanez said in the video.

“Given the happenings of the last few hours, already the transition to democracy is imminent.”

The high command’s web page lists Yanez, along with a photo, as the air force’s head of strategic planning.

Wonder what other general is next?

There are three possible scenarios for Maduro:

First, the Batista exit, filling up a plane with your belongings and leave in the middle of the night. I should add that my parents did not support Fulgencio Batista but he did leave a very prosperous nation behind. You can’t say that about Maduro.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Israel’s Red Lines in Lebanon and Syria By Yaakov Lappin

Posted By on February 4th, 2019

https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/israel-red-lines-lebanon-syria/

Israel’s low-profile military campaign against the Iranian-Shiite axis in Syria is continuing despite changes in the geo-strategic environment. But the use of Israeli air power to disrupt enemy force build-up has yet to cross into Lebanon. It is possible that this could represent one of the most significant regional escalation scenarios in the near future.

The “War Between Wars” is an ongoing Israeli military and intelligence effort to disrupt the force build-up of the Iranian-Shiite axis throughout the Middle East. This campaign, which has evolved into an entire force activation doctrine, has seen the Israeli defense establishment employ an approach that differentiates between Syria and Lebanon.

In Syria, Israel launches frequent intelligence-fueled air strikes that target Iranian military build-up sites. The strikes also destroy Iranian weapon transfers that use Syria as a transit zone on their way to Hezbollah bases in Lebanon.

The scope of Israel’s preventative air strike campaign in Syria is enormous, as recently outlined by former IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot. Eisenkot told the New York Times that Israeli jets had fired 2,000 air-to-ground munitions at targets in Syria in 2018 alone.

This has clearly disrupted Iran’s plans to build a Shiite army in Syria under its command, made up of 100,000 militia members. Iran was also planning to build missile factories, launch sites, weapons storage facilities, and a network of cross-border attack positions along Syria’s border with Israel.

HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Missile Defense Alert As global threats grow, the U.S. needs space-based sensors.

Posted By on February 4th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/missile-defense-alert-11549233033

There is nothing inevitable about the U.S. winning wars, and on that point the Pentagon’s new missile defense review is alarming. Russia and China are ramping up investments in sophisticated technologies while America is spending less on defending itself. One urgent priority: A constellation of space sensors that could shore up U.S. missile defenses.

More than 20 nations have offensive missile technology, the Defense Department notes in its review released last month. China can already threaten the U.S. with some 125 nuclear missiles. Iran’s medium-range missiles threaten Israel and Europe, and the report notes that Iran “has transferred missile systems to terrorist organizations,” which use them on U.S. allies. Russia is violating the 1987 INF nuclear-missile treaty.

China has been increasing its medium- and intermediate-range missile stocks. “This includes sophisticated anti-ship missiles that pose a direct threat to U.S. aircraft carriers,” the report says. The U.S. has dominated the seas for decades with aircraft carriers, yet Chinese missiles could keep carrier strike groups from operating in the Western Pacific.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

A Month of Multiculturalism in Britain: January 2019 by Soeren Kern

Posted By on February 4th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13667/multiculturalism-britain-january

More than 5,000 people signed a petition to boycott Marks and Spencer toilet paper: they alleged it was embossed with the Arabic word for God. Marks and Spencer, in a statement on Twitter, denied the claims: “The motif on the aloe vera toilet tissue, which we have been selling for over five years, is categorically of an aloe vera leaf and we have investigated and confirmed this with our suppliers.”

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe urged Britain to make it a legal requirement for Muslim couples to register their marriages civilly before or at the same time as their religious ceremony, because Sharia marriages alone “clearly discriminate against women in divorce and inheritance cases.”

The Guardian reported that hundreds, and possibly thousands, of young girls in Britain are being subjected to so-called breast-ironing, an African practice whereby mothers or grandmothers use a hot stone to massage across the breast repeatedly in order to “break the tissue” and slow its growth. The objective is to stop unwanted male attention.

January 1. A 25-year-old Somali man stabbed three people — including a police officer — at Victoria Station in Manchester. BBC producer Sam Clack, who was waiting for a tram when the attack took place, reported: “The guy, his exact words were, he said: ‘As long as you keep bombing other countries, this sort of sh*t is going to keep happening.’ The suspect also screamed “Allahu Akbar!” (“Allah is the greatest!”) as he was bundled into a police van. Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson nevertheless said that officers were “retaining an open mind in relation to the motivation for this attack.” The suspect was eventually detained under the Mental Health Act.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

London Diary of a Brexiteer by James Allen

Posted By on February 3rd, 2019

To visit Greenwich is to grasp in an afternoon’s stroll the Britain that was once and is now no more. General Wolfe, whose addition of Canada to the Empire is celebrated here, was brought down by a French musket ball. Today, prostration before the EU is Theresa May’s instinctive first position.

Stepping back and forth between the world’s two longitudinal hemispheres is fun in a quirky sort of way. Of course it requires you to be positioned right above the Prime Meridian. And that, in turn, means you must have decided to spend a London afternoon over in Greenwich, a few miles down-river along a now much cleaned-up Thames and more or less across from Canary Wharf. If you’d somehow been asleep for a quarter of a millennium, and were wholly unaware of Britain’s Empire years, you’d soon be set straight when you visited Greenwich. It’s magnificent!

My wife and I spent a day this past weekend re-acquainting ourselves with this London borough where you’ll find the National Maritime Museum (magnificent!), the Old Naval College (which in its original incarnation had been a retirement home for Royal Navy sailors and is partly a Christopher Wren creation with a splendid chapel), the seventeenth-century Queen’s House, a Greenwich Market first established over three centuries ago and, of course, the Royal Observatory. It’s at the last of those listed attractions where one can hop between hemispheres.

Remember, the east-west division of the world is wholly arbitrary in a way that the north-south split is not. The equator is a fact imposed on the world. Where to draw the up-down line to split the world’s west from its east is a function of nothing more than who happened to be drawing the line and what they prefered. At the height of the British Empire, the world’s largest-ever, the people doing the preferring were in London. And so the Prime Meridian runs right through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. That is why, before political correctness infected everything from banning temporal reference to the shorthand of ‘Before Christ’ to toilets and ‘renewable energy is cheaper if you just ignore the $3 billion in subsidies it gets each year’, we used to talk in terms of Greenwich Mean Time. Everything was based on that, and the arbitrary line drawn there to separate east from west.