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What Rick Perlstein’s Embarrassing New York Times Essay Gets Wrong Perlstein’s essay offers a really good insight into how the Times has jettisoned so much credibility in the age of Trump. By Jonah Goldberg

Posted By on April 12th, 2017

If you’ll forgive the self-indulgence, let me start by sharing a few things about my professional life since Donald Trump won the Republican presidential nomination, in no particular order. Every day, on social media, I am attacked, dismissed, or otherwise declared an illegitimate analyst or fake conservative because of my criticisms of President Trump, even if I include praise or beneficial context.

During the election season, I lost large sums of money — large to me, anyway — because I had to turn down speeches in which I was expected to be a de facto surrogate for the Republican point of view. My appearances on Fox News have dropped precipitously. It’s not a ban or anything like that. It’s just an unavoidable fact that the way a lot of cable news works is you have a person defending the incumbent administration and a person criticizing it. I’m ill-suited for many of these debates, because I don’t fit in the obvious grooves. Some friends of National Review complain about me, including donors. Just a couple weeks ago, a prominent Republican politician chewed me out for the better part of an hour because of my criticisms of President Trump.

I could go on like this for pages, but you get the point. Or maybe you don’t. So let me explain. I offer this seeming tale of woe not out of self-pity or a desire for yours. This is the life I’ve chosen, to paraphrase Hyman Roth in The Godfather II. Indeed, I should add that I’ve also heard from hundreds of readers, peers, friends, colleagues, and more than a few politicians thanking me for my efforts to combat the attempt to redefine conservatism as mere nationalism or Trumpism.

I have written literally tens of thousands of words explaining that I will criticize Trump when I think it warranted and praise him when warranted as well. I won’t let him make me a hack or a liar. I think I’ve done a pretty good job sticking to that policy (and so has National Review).

Which brings me to the left-wing polemicist Rick Perlstein. He has a big essay in the latest New York Times Magazine. It begins with some typical bragging about his role as a historian of conservatism and some table setting about how conservatives tried to stop Trump. He then quotes me:

Then the nation’s pre-eminent birther ran for president. Trump’s campaign was surreal and an intellectual embarrassment, and political experts of all stripes told us he could never become president. That wasn’t how the story was supposed to end. National Review devoted an issue to writing Trump out of the conservative movement; an editor there, Jonah Goldberg, even became a leader of the “Never Trump” crusade. But Trump won — and conservative intellectuals quickly embraced a man who exploited the same brutish energies that [William F.] Buckley had supposedly banished, with Goldberg explaining simply that Never Trump “was about the G.O.P. primary and the general election, not the presidency.”

Perlstein doesn’t explicitly say that I (or National Review) “quickly embraced” Trump, but the insinuation is (Perlstein has a gift for snotty insinuations) that I am emblematic of this sudden, hypocritical transformation. For the reasons stated above, this came as news to me.

Now I’ve never taken Perlstein very seriously and I see little reason to start now. I’ve long known he dislikes me (he recently whined on Facebook about the outrage of NPR having me on), but he’s known for disliking conservatives generally and letting that tribal partisanship infect almost everything he writes (which is why he’s so popular with the Left). In short, who cares?

But Perlstein is writing this for the New York Times, and I think it offers a really good insight into the way the Times — and much of the mainstream media — has jettisoned so much credibility in the age of Trump.

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Spicer Is Criticized for Stating a Fact About Hitler By Rick Moran see note please

Posted By on April 12th, 2017

I have listened over and over to exactly what Spicer said and I agree 100% with Rick Moran on this one……rsk

I’m not quite feeling the furious reaction to White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s comment about Hitler and poison gas. To be sure, much of the over-the-top criticism is politically motivated. But this is one of those instances where people have to dig pretty deep in that manure pile to find the pony.

Spicer made the following observation which is absolutely true.

Politico:

“We didn’t use chemical weapons in World War II,” Spicer told reporters, as he criticized the Russian government for its support of Assad. “Someone who is despicable as Hitler who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons. You have to, if you’re Russia, ask yourself, is this a country that you, and a regime that you want to align yourself with?”

Correct Fact #1: We did not use chemical weapons in World War II.

Correct Fact #2: Hitler did not use chemical weapons during World War II.

That should have been the end of the story. But the ignoramuses in the press and Twitter immediately sprang into action.

In fact, Hitler’s Nazi Germany did use chemical weapons, most notably through the Holocaust, the genocidal program intended to murder Europe’s entire Jewish population. Many of the Jews who died in the Holocaust were killed in gas chambers using Zyklon B and other poisons.

Sarin gas, the weapon believed to have been used by Assad’s regime, was first created and weaponized by Nazi scientists in 1938.

Earth to Politco: Zyklon B was not a chemical weapon. It was a fumigator/ pesticide and was never weaponized. It was sold in the form of pellets or crystals that, when exposed to the air, turned into a gas. It was a horrific product used for evil purposes. But to say it was a “chemical weapon” which was the point that Spicer was making, is ludicrous.

The Nazis also created special trucks where they would stuff dozens of Jews into the back of the closed vehicle and route carbon monoxide into the closed space. Carbon monoxide is a gas. Should we call it a weapon too?

And the Nazis may have, indeed, created sarin gas and weaponized it. But Spicer didn’t say the Nazis didn’t make chemical weapons. He said they never used them. Why did Politico even allow that idiotic point to be published?

Spicer tried to clarify:

“In no way was I trying to lessen the horrendous nature of the Holocaust,” Spicer said in the statement. “I was trying to draw a distinction of the tactic of using airplanes to drop chemical weapons on population centers. Any attack on innocent people is reprehensible and inexcusable.”

Everyone understood what he was originally talking about except those trying to score political points.

The press secretary’s statement was quickly derided and fact-checked, including by MSNBC, which followed the press briefing with a chyron summarizing what Spicer had said and adding parenthetically that “Hitler gassed millions.” Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, wrote on Twitter that she hopes Spicer “takes time to visit @HolocaustMuseum. It’s a few blocks away.”

Sen. Ben Cardin, Democrat of Maryland, tweeted that Spicer needed a “refresher history course on Hitler stat.” “#Icantbelievehereallysaidthat,” Cardin added.

IMMIGRATION, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

AG Sessions Unveils New ‘Get Tough’ Approach to Immigration Enforcement By Debra Heine

Posted By on April 12th, 2017

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday unveiled what he called a new “get tough” approach to immigration enforcement during his first visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in Nogales, Ariz., Tuesday. The nation’s top law enforcement officer vowed to confront the gangs and cartels plaguing the region and said the administration will bring more felony prosecutions against immigrants entering the country illegally.

“Where an alien has entered the country — which is a misdemeanor — that alien will now be charged with a felony if they unlawfully enter, or attempt to enter a second time, and certain aggravating circumstances are present,” Sessions said.

The attorney general credited Trump for a steep decline of border apprehensions this year, and declared that “the lawlessness, the abdication of the duty to enforce our immigration laws, and the catch and release practices of old are over.” The attorney general proclaimed that we are living in a new era — “the Trump era.”

Via Fox News:

Sessions met with law enforcement, members of the military and border agents in Nogales, Ariz., urging their confidence in the administration as they push to implement policies boosting agents working to secure the southern border. The tone of his comments at times echoed the explicit rhetoric President Trump himself used when discussing illegal immigration and cartels during the campaign.

He said, “when we talk about MS-13 and the cartels, what do we mean? We mean international criminal organizations that turn cities and suburbs into war zones, that rape and kill innocent civilians, and who profit by smuggling poison and other human beings across our borders. Depravity and violence are their calling cards, including brutal machete attacks and beheadings. It is here on this very sliver of land—on this border—that we take our stand. It is a direct threat to our legal system, peace, and prosperity.”

The Wall Street Journal’s transcript of the speech included a slightly different version of the above line, saying: “it is here on this very sliver of land where we take our stand against this filth.” That gave the mainstream media an opening to grossly misinterpret what he said.

Via the Washington Free Beacon:

Politico reporter Josh Dawsey took a partial quote from a Wall Street Journal story on Sessions’ speech out of context, tweeting that Sessions described illegal immigrants as filth. From there, it caught the eye of Tufts professor and writer of the Washington Post‘s Spoiler Alerts blog Daniel Drezner, and the misinterpretation spread throughout Twitter.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION, POLITICS Comments turned off

Lindsey Graham: The crazy man of the Senate By Monica Showalter see note please

Posted By on April 12th, 2017

I agree that McCain and Graham are idiots, but I would not say that about Mitch McConnell who did usher through the nomination of Neil Gorsuch…and does not make ludicrous policy statements….rsk
When will this jackass get the hook from the voters?

Every time Senator Lindsay Graham opens his mouth, crazy things fly out. Is there something wrong with this guy?

It’s not for nothing that a MorningConsult poll released Tuesday pegged him at the third-most unpopular senator, trailed by only John McCain and Mitch McConnell.

But there are methods to the madnesses of McCain and McConnell. In Graham’s case, the loathing is justified, given his out of control statements, signalling an unserious mind, unmoored from reality.

His latest was a call for 5,000 to 6,000 U.S. ground troops in Syria, backseat-driving the Trump administration, which seems to already have a handle on the situation. He told Meet the Press:

“We’re relying too much on the Kurds. More armed forces, 5,000 or 6,000, would attract more regional fighters to destroy ISIL.

“You need a safe haven quickly, so people can regroup inside of Syria. Then you train the opposition to go after Assad. That’s how he’s taken out by his own people with our efforts. And you tell the Russians if you continue to bomb the people we train, we’ll shoot you down.”

and

“I want more American troops, 5,000 or 6,000, like we have in Iraq, to help destroy ISIL.”

It’s like the Bush years never happened with this guy. All of those things have been tried. They’ve all been found wanting. The Syrian charmers we trained as freedom fighters back then took their shiny new weapons and joined Isis. Now this armchair general wants to risk 6,000 more American lives for this scheme? Why 6,000? Why not 20,000? Why not 1,000? Does he know what he’s talking abou? And a war with Russia? Like it’s some trivial afterthought? How blithely he puts American lives on the line for his been-there-done-that ‘prescriptions.’

UPDATE: Oh wait, I erred – Graham’s latest verbal diarrheaic was his new recommendation that barrel bombs be President Trump’s new red line with Assad, not chemical weapons. Keep on micromanaging, fool.

Less than a week earlier, he was calling for 7,000 troops. He was an easy target for Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

China moves 150,000 troops to border with North Korea By Rick Moran

Posted By on April 12th, 2017

The ripple effect from President Trump’s missile attack on Syria has reached the Korean peninsula with China reportedly deploying 150,000 troops to their border with North Korea.

The reason for the troop movement, according to South Korean news sources, is to handle the flood of refugees if the U.S. attacks North Korea.

The U.S. strike on Syria has unsettled America’s enemies, who have come to the conclusion that President Trump is no President Obama and will not hesitate to take action to defend what he perceives as American security.

Daily Mail:

The troops have been dispatched to handle North Korean refugees and ‘unforeseen circumstances’, such as the prospect of preemptive attacks on North Korea, the news agency said.

Meanwhile, the US Navy has moved the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group from Singapore to North Korea after the country conducted more missile testing.

It is not likely that the troop movement is in response to the decision to send the carrier strike group toward the Korean peninsula, which was just announced yesterday. The troop movements are a contingency in case tens of thousands of North Korean refugees look to escape a military action by the U.S.

Speculation of an imminent nuclear test is brewing as the North marks major anniversaries including the 105th birthday of its founding leader on Saturday – sometimes celebrated with a demonstration of military might.

Wu Dawei, China’s Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs, met with his South Korean counterpart on Monday to discuss the nuclear issue.

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Extreme vetting: The Passover lesson By Rachel Ehrenfeld

Posted By on April 12th, 2017

Anti-Trump, anti-American, anti-Israeli, and anti-Semitic propaganda or “fake news” relies on the general public’s vague familiarity with details.

Take for example the left’s reaction to Jared Kushner’s and Ivanka Trump’s celebration of the Jewish “Holiday of Freedom,” or Passover (Pesach in Hebrew), beginning at the Seder table, to celebrate the Jews’ miraculous exodus from Egyptian slavery back to freedom in their homeland, Israel.

Here is what Fusion.net published:

Perhaps during her family’s seder, Ivanka (or, better yet, one of the little Trumplets!) could add a fifth question to the proceedings just for her father: Would the exodus-era Israelites – a group seeking refuge from unimaginable hardships in the Middle East – need some sort of “extreme vetting” to enter the U.S., or would they simply be banned altogether?

This is a new addition to the nine-centuries-old “blood libel” against Jews celebrating Pesach. The first known incident happened in the twelfth century in Norwich, England, where Jews were falsely accused of torturing to death a 12-year-old and using his blood as part of the holiday ritual. By 1171, the blood libel of Passover ritual murder resulted in burning to death the whole Jewish community of Blois, France. Since then, similar false accusations have been used against the Jews throughout the world, not only around Passover time, and not only by European Christians. Nazi and Muslim regimes used staged blood libel cases to solidify the masses against the Jewish bogeyman. And the Muslims, including the peace-loving “enlightened” Palestinian leadership, use it to this day.

In March 2013, Hanan Ashrawi, a Christian Palestinian politician and Muslim Brotherhood sympathizer, who was a close confidant of the late Yasser Arafat and is very popular in the West, published an article criticizing President Obama for hosting the Jewish Seder in the White House.

“Does Obama, in fact, know the relationship, for example, between ‘Passover’ and ‘Christian blood’?!” Ashrawi asked. “Or ‘Passover’ and ‘Jewish blood rituals?!'” To add credibility to her rant, Ashrawi noted: “[M]uch of the chatter and gossip about historical Jewish blood rituals in Europe are real and not fake as they claim; the Jews used the blood of Christians in the Jewish Passover.”

The article was published on the website of the NGO Ashrawi founded in 1998, Miftah, which, according to its website, is “the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy, an initiative which works towards respect for Palestinian human rights, democracy and peace.” Miftah is generously funded by United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the British Oxfam, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and others. With much fanfare, Ashrawi received the 2003 Sydney Peace Prize and was endorsed by former former United Nations high commissioner for human rights and former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, as well as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who said, “She [Ashrawi] is a brilliant spokeswoman for her cause.”

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Peter Smith :Trumpophobia

Posted By on April 12th, 2017

There’s a whole world of woe out there, a world of persecuted Christians and ISIS, al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra, Al-Shabaab, plus Putin, Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping. But that’s where the rest of us reside. The chattering classes are different. In their world there is only one peril, Donald J. Trump.
I hadn’t tuned-in before. Dateline London is a weekly BBC news program. There is a presenter and four panellists drawn from foreign correspondents based in the UK. They discuss issues of the day. In the latest program President Trump’s Syrian attack bulked large understandably, with North Korea and China also part of the discussion.

I’m mentioning this program because the panel was evenly balanced between progressive and conservatives, Trump supporters and Trump ridiculers. Just kidding! Of course, the panel comprised one hundred (and ten) per cent progressives and Trump ridiculers. One woman panellist put herself in the position of the Chinese wondering how to deal “with the lunatic in the White House.”

It was business as usual, in other words. I am sorry I didn’t catch any of their names. Does it matter? Pick any four or five appearing on the BBC or from the mainstream media generally and you would likely get the same supercilious pap.

The presenter and panellists to a woman and man (three to two or was it four to one? It hardly matters and was hard to tell) were concerned about Trump acting erratically and plunging the world into turmoil. They alarmingly confessed to having no idea what he would do next. Surprisingly, he hadn’t brought them into his confidence.

Trump’s supposed erratic disposition is a figment. In fact he is doggedly pursing the agenda that he laid out in his campaign. Let’s face it; Trump isn’t the right sort of chap – not like, say, that nice, politically correct, Mr Trudeau. The talking heads want him to fail so badly they can taste it. It is nauseating to watch. One woman panellist revealingly expressed particular concern that some progressives had applauded Trump’s actions in bombing the Syrian airbase. That simply wouldn’t do.

But look, I get it, they don’t like Trump. I wouldn’t mind this so much if the panellists had just occasionally, just occasionally, left off their preoccupation with Trump’s disposition and discussed the unholy alliance between Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and Assad in Syria and what it means; or the risks of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons, or of North Korea fitting IBCMs with nuclear tips. Oh that’s too hard. Let’s concentrate on Trump’s latest tweet or on an purported dust-up between Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon.

Trump Derangement Syndrome means that the media has become besotted with psychoanalysing Trump, and also his family. Or sensationalising disagreements among his advisers; which, for the information of those who have not worked at senior levels in organisations, is both par for the course and often healthy. A lot healthier than groupthink.

The media have to be dragged into covering real issues. Look, I’m a Trump supporter. This biases my view. I appreciate that. So help me. Where exactly has the man stuffed up since becoming president?

Having an executive order on refugees stayed by hopelessly compromised activist judges does not count for much. Healthcare is notoriously difficult to handle. Trump’s first go failed. It will be time to dance on the grave of this campaign promise if he fails to repeal and replace Obamacare in the next year or two.

In the meantime, Neil Gorsuch is on the Supreme Court. What an outstanding achievement for a Republican president. He may get a chance to pick another one or two from his list of twenty-one conservative judges before his time is up. That would do more to preserve Western civilisation than anything else he could possibly do.

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France’s War to Delegitimize Israel by Yves Mamou

Posted By on April 12th, 2017

France’s financial support goes beyond the French government’s November 2016 decision to support labeling products produced in the settlements and instead supports the boycott of such products.

Officially, France prohibits any form of boycott against Israel. In 2015, the Court of Cassation confirmed a 2013 decision regarding the illegality of boycotts and the call for boycotts in France. Under the law, in 2013, BDS France was fined €28,000 (USD $30,000) by a local French court, after a call made in 2010 by 14 activists to boycott Israeli products in a supermarket. In addition, each of the 14 activists was fined €1,000.

However, according to a report recently released by NGO Monitor, the French government continues to fund NGOs openly hostile to Israel and to fund NGOs that support and promote boycott campaigns against Israel.

The French government’s financial support for boycott campaigns embraces:

The Made in Illegality campaign — which includes The Platform of French NGOs for Palestine, International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), as well as the French Union La CGT. France’s financial support goes beyond the French government’s November 2016 decision to support labeling products produced in the settlements and instead supports the boycott of such products.

The campaign’s goals include “prohibiting the import of settlement products,” “excluding the settlements from their bilateral agreements and cooperation with Israel,” and “excluding companies which are active or located in the settlements from public markets and public procurement procedures…”

The French government (Agence Française de Développement, AFD) provided the Platform of French NGOs for Palestine with €46,560 in 2009, €199,000 from 2011-2014, and €225,000 from 2014-2017. The Council of Île de France Region provided the Platform with €62,000 in 2013, €22,000 in 2014, and €20,000 in 2015. Claude Léostic, President of The Platform, was denied entry to Israel, and compared Israel to Nazi Germany: “…The people of France resisted the Nazi barbarians… But you have been suffering for more than 40 years, as incredible as it seems in this modern world, and that came after the Nakba…”

According to NGO Monitor, “40% (€225,000) of The Platform’s 2014 project “Mieux agir pour le respect du droit en Palestine” (Improved Action for the Respect of Rights in Palestine) was funded by the French government (AFD). This project was partnered with Ittijah. In 2010, the head of Ittijah, Amir Makhoul, was sentenced to nine years in prison for spying for Hezbollah during the 2006 Lebanon war. The Platform of French NGOs for Palestine and Ittijah were also partners on a project supported by the French government (€43,560 from AFD) in 2009, while Makhoul was still the head of the organization.

Catholic organizations are also extremely active members of the Platform of French NGOs for Palestine and open supporters of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS). Among these Catholic organizations are: Secours Catholique-Caritas France (SCCF); La Cimade; Pax Christi France; Comité Catholique contre la Faim et pour le Développement–Terre Solidaire (CCFD).

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Soccer Player Injured in Explosions at Team Bus in German City of Dortmund Player Marc Bartra in hospital after suffering injuries; police describe ‘serious attack’ that could have cost lives By Anton Troianovski and Joshua Robinson

Posted By on April 12th, 2017

BERLIN—Three explosions hit a soccer team’s bus just ahead of a major game in the German city of Dortmund on Tuesday, seriously injuring one player in what authorities described as a targeted attack on one of Europe’s most prominent sports clubs.

Officials said that that three bombs hidden in a hedge went off as the bus pulled out of the Borussia Dortmund team’s hotel in a suburban neighborhood to carry the players 6 miles to their stadium for a quarterfinal game in the most prestigious tournament in club soccer.

Marc Bartra, a Spanish defender on the team’s roster, had surgery after injuries to a hand and arm as a result of the blast that shattered the bus’s windows, officials said.

“It’s not anything that is life-threatening in any way,” Borussia Dortmund Chief Executive Hans-Joachim Watzke said. “The team is, of course, completely in shock.”

As the police combed the crime scene Tuesday night, they found a letter claiming responsibility for the attack, Dortmund prosecutor Sandra Lücke said. She declined to provide more details about the letter or to comment about possible motives.

“We must assume that this was a targeted attack on the BVB team,” Dortmund Police Chief Gregor Lange said, using Borussia Dortmund’s acronym.

Borussia Dortmund’s scheduled quarterfinal game against AS Monaco in the UEFA Champions League later Tuesday evening was postponed to Wednesday.

A police spokesman said later in the evening that while authorities were still analyzing what exactly caused the blasts, their initial analysis showed it was a “serious attack” that could have cost lives.

FOREIGN POLICY, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Trump’s Putin Pushback He invites Montenegro to join NATO and keeps up the Syria pressure.

Posted By on April 12th, 2017

The theory, popular with the media, that President Trump is a political prisoner of Vladimir Putin is looking less credible by the day. The latest evidence arrived Tuesday as White House officials accused Russia of trying to cover up Bashar Assad’s chemical-weapons assault in Syria, and Mr. Trump formally invited Montenegro to join NATO.

As Mr. Putin was refusing to meet Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Moscow, White House officials said Russia is conducting a “disinformation campaign” to shield Mr. Assad from accountability for last week’s sarin attack that killed at least 85 people. The officials also said they suspect Russia knew about the attack in advance given how closely the two militaries work together in Syria—though there isn’t definitive evidence. This public truth-telling is welcome and helps to keep diplomatic pressure on Mr. Assad and Russia as his accomplice.

Meanwhile, the White House announced that Mr. Trump signed the U.S. “instrument of ratification” for Montenegro to become the 29th member of NATO. The decision paves the way for the tiny Eastern Europe nation to join at the NATO summit in May if other nations agree.

Montenegro won’t count for much militarily, but its entry is important as a rebuke to Mr. Putin, who opposes any expansion of the Western alliance close to Russia’s borders. Last year Russian agents tried but failed to orchestrate a coup to overthrow Montenegro’s pro-Western government. “President Trump congratulates the Montenegrin people for their resilience and their demonstrated commitment to NATO’s democratic values,” said the White House statement, in a clear reference to the coup attempt.

The investigations into ties between Russia and the Trump presidential campaign have a long way to go, but Mr. Trump isn’t acting like someone who is making foreign-policy judgments out of fear of Russia’s response. This is reassuring and will strengthen his leverage with the Russian strongman.