WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

David Goldman: Europe, Japan, China and Russia line up against US Investment patterns are shifting in response to America’s new assertiveness

Posted By on August 22nd, 2018

http://www.atimes.com/writer/david-p-goldman/

The United States starts a tariff war with China. Japan and Germany jump at the chance to gain market share in China’s booming auto industry and boost their capacity in China, the world’s fastest-growing passenger car market.

The United States imposes sanctions on Turkey. Germany announces that it will offer economic aid to Turkey, Qatar pledges $15 billion in new investment and a $3 billion foreign exchange swap line, and Chinese banks provide billions of dollars in new loans to the cash-strapped Turks. Chinese commentators declare that crisis is a great opportunity to integrate Turkey into China’s “One Belt, One Road” strategy.

US President Donald Trump chides German Chancellor Angela Merkel for buying Russian natural gas through the Nord Stream II pipeline. Merkel summits with Russian President Vladimir Putin and confirms the pipeline arrangement, and also strikes a deal to aid the reconstruction of Syria in cooperation with Russia.

The United States imposes economic sanctions on Iran, and Western insurance companies stop insuring Iranian oil cargoes. China responds by accepting Iranian insurance on oil imports, increasing oil imports from Iran, and shipping the oil in Iranian tankers, Reuters reported August 20. India was offered Iranian insurance on oil shipments as well, but Indian refiners reportedly will reject the offer. Western insurance companies have told them that if they import Iranian oil, they will cancel insurance on refinery operations.

And German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas proposes a new international payments system independent of the dollar sphere, a new interbank transfer system, and a European Monetary Fund, to “protect European businesses from [American] sanctions. He also proposed a digital tax on American Internet firms. Writing in the German daily Handelsblatt on August 21, Maas declared, “We will not let the United States go over our heads.” No representative of a major Western European government has suggested anything remotely like this in public before.

EDUCATION Comments turned off

An Open Letter to the College Board on AP: World History

Posted By on August 22nd, 2018

https://www.nas.org/articles/an_open_letter_to_the_college_board_on_ap_world_histor

The College Board revised two of its Advanced Placement history exams in recent years—United States History and European History. The National Association of Scholars (NAS) formulated analyses of how progressive bias affected these revised exams. NAS also spearheaded two national campaigns to have the College Board eliminate this political skew. In both cases the College Board changed the exam for the better, although the NAS judges that significant bias remains.

The College Board recently announced, apparently as a result of pressure by activist teachers, that it will extend the coverage of its revised Advanced Placement World History exam from ca. 1450 AD to the present to ca. 1200 AD to the present. The College Board also announced that it will add a second World History examination, covering the period before ca. 1200 AD.

We now publish this open letter from NAS President Peter Wood to David Coleman, President of the College Board.

***

August 1, 2018

David Coleman, President

College Board

250 Vesey Street

New York, NY 10281

Dear Mr. Coleman,

The College Board recently announced that it will add a second World History examination, covering the period before 1200 AD.

We are committed to offering a second AP world history course—AP World History: Ancient. To develop an AP World History: Ancient course, exam, and accompanying resources, we first must confirm the willingness of colleges to award credit for an additional AP world history exam and the interest among high schools to offer two full, separate AP world history courses.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Peter Smith Dead Wood. It’s Best for Burning

Posted By on August 22nd, 2018

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2018/08/dead-wood-best-burning/

Trump is good because he has good policies, as did Thatcher and Reagan. Big deal if the Liberals get a new leader! Dutton or Hastie, whoever it might be, will inherit a dearth of good policies, bad ones aplenty, shifty colleagues and a party withered in root, branch and wallet. We need a new one.

How times change. Dow plummets as Trump beats Clinton. Dow futures edged down when news just broke that Trump’s ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, has pleaded guilty to making hush payments to Trump’s putative casual squeeze before the election. Why the change? Well it isn’t because Trump has proved himself to be a sophisticate after all. It is because his policies are working and the market likes that and is nervous about him being undermined.

Trump has good policies. Here are just some of them. Lowering corporate taxes and red-tape regulations to get the private sector investing. Lowering regulatory burdens on the energy sector in order to produce more coal, oil and gas. Tightening immigration to fight terrorism and crime, to protect America’s social services, and to prevent cheap labour from undercutting wages for those at the bottom of the rung. Putting North Korea and Iran on notice of America’s resolve to prevent them ever using nuclear weapons. Moving the American embassy to Jerusalem to show solidarity with the only beacon of hope in the Middle East. Renegotiating trade deals to prevent America being ripped off by unfair tariffs. Putting the hard word on NATO allies to pay a fairer share of their own defence. Ensuring that the Supreme Court is not dominated by left-wing activists by appointing originalists to the court.

These are the policies that had Deplorables coming out to vote. I would have been lining up from the early hours to vote for these policies. And, totally unsurprisingly, they are working.

IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

Illegal Alien from Mexico Charged With Killing Ex-Girlfriend Daniel Greenfield

Posted By on August 22nd, 2018

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/271113/illegal-alien-mexico-charged-killing-ex-girlfriend-daniel-greenfield

This is not the Mollie Tibbets story. But it does show the ubiquity of illegal alien crime. Especially the murder of women.

On Tuesday evening, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it placed an immigration detainer with the Scott County Jail on Fraider Diaz-Carbajal, “an illegal alien from Mexico, for suspected immigration violations following his local arrest for second-degree murder.”

According to ICE, Diaz-Carbajal has a criminal history that includes “numerous misdemeanor convictions, including three DUIs and one for domestic assault. On Dec. 17, 2012, a federal immigration judge ordered Diaz-Carbajal removed (deported) to Mexico; ICE officers removed him two days later. Since then he illegally re-entered the United States, which is a felony. He remains in local custody pending adjudication of his criminal charges.”

Fraider Diaz-Carbajal is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 27-year-old Enedelia Perez Garcia.

Shortly after 4 p.m. on Aug. 12, officers were called to an apartment on the 1200 block of Taylor Street on a report of an assault. According to the criminal complaint, when officers arrived, they found Diaz-Carbajal lying face down on top of the victim. The victim was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall and did not appear to be breathing. The suspect was laying on her with his head resting on her stomach and chest. Officers observed a lot of blood around the pair and in the area, as well as a large knife covered in blood next to the suspect.

IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

Elizabeth Warren To Mollie Tibbetts’ Family: You Need To Focus On ‘Real Problems’ Like Immigrant Family Separations Warren said she’s ‘sorry’ Mollie Tibbetts is dead, but we must focus on the ‘real problems’ of lawbreaking parents at the border who are being temporarily separated from their kids. Bre Peyton

Posted By on August 22nd, 2018

http://thefederalist.com/2018/08/22/warren-on-mollie-tibbetts-family-separation-policy-is-the-real-problem/

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Wednesday she’s “sorry” Mollie Tibbetts is dead, but urged her family and friends to remember to focus on the “real problems” at the border, where parents are being temporarily separated from their children.

An illegal immigrant has been charged with murdering Tibbetts, a 20-year-old University of Iowa student recently found dead in a cornfield. Republicans have called for a stronger immigration system that might have prevented this crime.

After offering her condolences to the Tibbetts family, who will never be reunited with their daughter again, Warren immediately pivoted to how said it is that moms at the border who have willfully broken the law are being temporarily separated from their babies.

“I’m so sorry for the family here and I know this is hard not only for her family but for the people in her community, the people throughout Iowa,” she said. “But one of the things we have to remember is we need an immigration system that is effective, that focuses on where the real problems are.”

MEDIA Comments turned off

By Madeline Osburn New York Times ‘Seizes’ On Murder Of Mollie Tibbetts To Attack Donald Trump The paper stealth edited a report on an illegal immigrant murdering Mollie Tibbetts in order to criticize President Trump.

Posted By on August 22nd, 2018

http://thefederalist.com/2018/08/22/nyt-stealth-edits-report-on-mollie-tibbetts-murder-to-attack-trump/

An illegal immigrant was arrested for seizing 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts and murdering her in cold blood, but the latest New York Times article on the subject blasts Trump for “seizing” on the story of the young woman’s murder.

According to records from NewsDiffs, the story’s original headline, “Body Believed to Be That of Mollie Tibbetts, Iowa College Student, Is Found,” was changed to, “After an Immigrant’s Arrest, Trump Seizes on Killing of Mollie Tibbetts, Iowa Student.”

Quotes from President Trump at a rally in West Virgina on Tuesday night were also quietly moved from the bottom of the story to the top, following the lede.

President Trump, who has repeatedly linked crime to illegal immigration, alluded to the case at a rally Tuesday evening in West Virginia.

“You heard about today with the illegal alien coming in, very sadly from Mexico, and you saw what happened to that incredible, beautiful young woman,” Mr. Trump said. “It should’ve never happened. Illegally in our country. We’ve had a huge impact, but the laws are so bad, the immigration laws are such a disgrace.”

The contents of the story’s abstract have also been drastically changed.

Reporter Alex Griswold pointed out that The New York Times has alternative, less violent verbs for headlines about President Obama politicizing tragedies.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Cohen Joins the Resistance Trump’s former lawyer engages a Clinton associate to criticize the President.

Posted By on August 22nd, 2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cohen-joins-the-resistance-1534962801

Michael Cohen’s lawyer is on the talk-show circuit teasing the possibility that his client might have the long-sought evidence of Russian collusion for special counsel Robert Mueller. Mr. Mueller for his part must be wondering why Team Cohen seems to be doing everything it can to present the former Trump attorney as an unserious partisan axe-grinder rather than a credible witness.

The website Mediaite asks:

So why, exactly, has Lanny Davis been all over television and radio Wednesday morning — hours after his client, Michael Cohen, accepted a deal to plead guilty on eight counts of various violations?

The answer came into focus a bit on Megyn Kelly Today, as the lawyer made a direct appeal to viewers to give money to Cohen so that he can “continue to tell the truth.”

Mr. Davis expressed the hope that Americans would visit a website, michaelcohentruth.com, to donate money. Mr. Davis may have been confused about the name of the site. As of this afternoon the address brings web visitors to a Trump campaign website. It seems unlikely that those attending the Kelly show were aware that Mr. Davis was inadvertently sending potential donors to Team Trump, but they seemed amused anyway. According to Mediaite:

The audience straight up laughed at Davis’s plea for cash.

“I don’t know if they’re ready to donate, Lanny,” host Megyn Kelly said.

But that didn’t stop the attorney from trying to get in the pockets of those watching at home.

“I would say the reaction of your audience may be they are not as interested in getting the truth out about Donald Trump as many other people in the country,” Davis said. “Approximately 60 percent of the country would not have the reaction of your audience.”

This last comment brought murmurs and boos from a clearly skeptical crowd.

More skepticism may result as people ponder the unique representation that Mr. Davis is providing to Mr. Cohen. The Washington Post notes:

Asked on NPR whether Cohen would accep

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Goodbye, Clean Power Plan By The Editors

Posted By on August 22nd, 2018

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/08/clean-power-plan-repeal/

The Clean Power Plan is headed for the crematorium. Good riddance.

CPP was the textbook example of the Obama administration’s attempt to supplant Congress by interpreting the administrative state’s regulatory scope as effectively unlimited. Prior to CPP, the Environmental Protection Agency had regulated the emissions of electricity-generating plants individually to ensure that they did not exceed pollution limits. The Obama administration ran wild with its regulatory ambitions, using CPP to impose renewable-energy quotas on the states and adopting through administrative fiat limits on carbon dioxide emissions that Congress has repeatedly declined to impose. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant as traditionally understood — it is what human beings exhale — but it is a greenhouse gas, and global warming is an obsession of contemporary progressives.

The Supreme Court, understanding the radical expansion of executive power embodied in CPP, took the unusual step of delaying its implementation so legal issues could be worked out (a process that Trump’s intervention of course will end). Donald Trump ran for president promising to lighten the regulatory load on the coal industry, and once he was elected, his administration set about doing so. President Barack Obama was fond of justifying his expansive interpretation of presidential powers with two words: “I won.” Well, guess who else won.

MEDIA, P.C.-CULTURE Comments turned off

JULIE KELLY ON MOTHERHOOD AND THE WORKING MOTHER

Posted By on August 22nd, 2018

https://amgreatness.com/2018/08/22/as-long
‘As Long as I’m Living, My Baby You’ll Be’
By Julie Kelly

Eighteen years ago, I was decorating the world’s most perfect nursery. We knew our first baby would be a girl, so the room was awash in pink. Each item—from the cribside lamp to the diaper caddy—was an agonizing decision. I spent months stitching a homemade quilt with matching bumper pads. (Who was that person!?)

Over her crib, I stenciled this phrase from a famous children’s book:

I’ll love you forever,I’ll like you for alwaysAs long as I’m living,My baby you’ll be.

I can’t count how many times I read that book to my daughter before bed. There were nights she would ask me to read it and I would cringe—particularly after a long day—hoping she would choose something shorter and less repetitive. Then one evening I read it to her for the last time and I didn’t even know it. That’s the fleeting, cruel thing about parenthood: You focus so much on the firsts that the lasts quietly slip past you and you don’t realize those precious moments will never return.

Eighteen years after I painted those words on her wall, I sat in her very teenaged room in a different house watching her pack for college. We blasted old Hannah Montana tunes (her childhood idol) and argued about how there was no way in hell she would fit 16 pairs of shoes in her dorm closet. As we taped up each box, the reality of her leaving began to sink in. And the hole in my heart started to burn.

There is nothing unique or special about my preparing to send off my firstborn to college. Thousands of moms are doing it right now and feeling the same emotions that I am. But for stay-at-home moms like me, who gave up careers instead to raise children in a culture that devalued and demeaned that choice, it is an opportunity for reflection. Did I make the right choice? Would she have turned out any differently had I worked full-time? Did my choice teach her to subjugate her own future dreams and independence for her husband and children? Where would I be now professionally and financially had I continued working?

MEDIA Comments turned off

Press mocks the murder of Mollie Tibbetts soon as it turns into an illegal alien story By Monica Showalter

Posted By on August 22nd, 2018

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/08/press_mocks_the_murder_of_mollie_tibbetts_once_it_became_an_illegal_alien_story.html

See also: MSNBC panelist labels Mollie Tibbetts a ‘girl in Iowa’ ‘Fox News is talking about’

After whipping up such a brouhaha about illegal immigrants being separated from their children as a result of their lawbreaking, the press was confronted with new story about illegals to report and comment upon, and it didn’t quite tug on the heartstrings the way the crying toddlers narrative did.

According to the New York Times:

A body believed to be that of Mollie Tibbetts, a 20-year-old student at the University of Iowa who vanished a month ago after going for a jog, was found on Tuesday morning, investigators announced. A 24-year-old undocumented immigrant has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing.

The body was found in a field southeast of Brooklyn, Iowa. Ms. Tibbetts was last seen nearby on July 18, Rick Rahn, a special agent of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, said at a news conference.

“The identity has not been confirmed, however, we believe it to be the body of Mollie Tibbetts,” Mr. Rahn said. The authorities did not say what the specific cause of death was; an autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.