NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Don’t blame America for Brittney Griner’s fate Bringing her home is on Biden’s State Department Stephen L. Miller

Posted By on July 10th, 2022

https://spectatorworld.com/topic/america-brittney-griner-russia-cannabis-biden/

I sympathize with Brittney Griner. The WNBA star currently detained in Russia is arguably the face of her sport. This week Griner pleaded guilty in court to possession of hash oil upon her entry to Russia. She has been detained for several weeks now; her and her family have made several pleas to the Biden administration to step in and free her, which they should — without giving up notorious Russian arms dealers or criminals. (President Biden, meanwhile, has been remarkably lenient towards the Russian nationals who use illicit substances with his son — but that’s a tale for another time.)

The conflict in Ukraine and the Biden administration’s proxy war against Russia complicates this matter further — once again, Biden and his State Department find themselves in a jam.

The sensitive diplomatic work of bringing Griner home is vital. But alone it is not important enough for the national media, who would prefer to view the Griner case through the same narrow scope of racial grievances. It’s not enough to suggest the Biden administration appears to be once again dragging its feet and acting without a sense of urgency. For some members of the media, the very country, the United States and the people who reside in it, is also responsible for Griner’s detainment. The reason, they say, is because we are a racist institution, and to a minor degree, a sexist one as well. Apparently Griner’s ongoing detention in Russia for her own actions is the fault of white male privilege, just like everything else.

According to Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times, “If Brittney Griner were Tom Brady, America would be losing its mind…Where is the outrage over the hostage superstar? I think I know…” This Tom Brady analogy grossly oversimplifies the Griner case and the geopolitical tectonics it involves.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

It’s Not Just About Taiwan By Janet Levy

Posted By on July 10th, 2022

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/07/its_not_just_about_taiwan.html

“China’s goal is not just to dominate the world, but to reduce the rest of us to subservience.” With that terrifying projection, China expert Steven Mosher has been trying to rouse America from its complacency and caution the Biden administration over its appeasement of the Red Dragon. He reads clear and present danger in a leaked video showing Chinese military commanders discussing a 90-day countdown to a Taiwan invasion. Mosher says the video is authentic, and that the Biden administration’s mixed signals on Taiwan smack of a fecklessness that will only embolden China.

Other experts, too, warn of the government’s “strategic ambiguity” toward China as the “reunification” rhetoric with Taiwan has become more aggressive.  There is a growing fear that Chinese President Xi Jinping, having suffered few consequences for his forays into the South China Sea and his crackdown in Hong Kong, will be emboldened to take on U.S. allies and attack American assets.  On July 6th, it was announced that China would join Russia and Iran in war drills in our hemisphere, a clear threat to the security of the United States.

Mosher is no armchair theorizer. He’s fluent in Chinese and was the first American social scientist to visit China, as early as 1979. He is the author of Bully of Asia:  Why China’s Dream is the New Threat to World Order, an overview of China’s ambitions in South Asia. He has served in the Navy, and is a member of the Committee on the Present Danger China (CPDC), an independent task-force based in Washington, D.C.  Mosher’s assessment on Taiwan was presented recently on the Securing America podcast, anchored by Center for Security Policy (CSP) founder Frank Gaffney.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Why is the Flawed Palestinian Cause So Prominent on the Hard Left? by Alan M. Dershowitz

Posted By on July 10th, 2022

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18696/palestinian-cause-hard-left

Why does the Palestinian cause get so much attention, when there are much more compelling causes around the world such as those of the Kurds, Uyghurs, and other stateless and oppressed people? There are more demonstrations on university campuses against Israel than against Russia, China, Belarus and Iran. Why?

The answer has little to do with the Palestinians, and everything to do with Israel, as the nation state of the Jewish people. It is a political manifestation of international antisemitism. It is only because the nation accused of oppressing Palestinians is Israel.

It has little to do with the merits and everything to do with antisemitism. It calls itself anti-Zionism, but it is only a cover for anti-Jewish bigotry.

A recent example is the decision of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream to boycott parts of Israel, while continuing to sell to countries in which far greater abuses occur. When asked why Ben and Jerry’s limits their boycott only to Israel, its founders admitted they had no idea.

Who is leading the crowd of antisemitic bigots? The movement to single out the nation state of Israel for boycott, known as BDS, was originated by a Palestinian radical named Omar Barghouti, who does not hide the fact that his goal is the destruction of Israel….

Do the Palestinians deserve a state? Yes, but no more so than the Kurds and other stateless people. Why no more so? Because the Palestinians have been offered statehood numerous times and have rejected it.

Palestinians were offered a state on the vast majority of arable land, as part of a United Nations proposed two state solution; the Jews were offered a state on a far smaller area of arable land. The Jews accepted the compromise two state solution. The Arabs rejected it and went to war against the new Jewish state seeking to destroy it. It was this act of unlawful military aggression that resulted in the Palestinian refugee situation, which they call the “Nakba” (“catastrophe”). But it was a self-induced catastrophe. And many current Palestinian leaders and followers fault their predecessors for not accepting the two-state solution offered by the United Nations 75 years ago.

The Palestinians could have had a state in 1948, 1967, 2000-2001, 2005 and 2008. They still preferred no Jewish state to a Palestinian state living in peace with Israel. They can have a state now, if they would negotiate a compromise instead of fomenting terrorism.

I wonder how many of those who demonstrate against Israel have any idea of this history.

The anti-Israel claims of the Palestinians, though deeply flawed, have become a central part of hard left ideology, especially among those who adhere to so-called intersectionality.

EDUCATION, ISRAEL Comments turned off

BDS at Harvard The university’s treatment of Israel raises questions about the quality of its education. eye on the news BDS at Harvard The university’s treatment of Israel raises questions about the quality of its education. J. J. Kimche Angelique Talmor

Posted By on July 10th, 2022

https://www.city-journal.org/bds-at-harvard

Harvard University provides its students with unparalleled knowledge, skills, and experiences. Yet, as we Jewish students have witnessed, the routine vilification of the State of Israel—both inside and outside the classroom—indicates that something in the contemporary Harvard education has gone seriously awry. In the latest example of this trend, the editorial board of the Harvard Crimson endorsed the movement to boycott, divest, and sanction (BDS) the Jewish state in an April 29 editorial. BDS represents the economic arm of a global effort—spearheaded militarily by Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran—to destroy the Jewish state.

That a majority of the Crimson’s 87-member editorial board believes this movement to be part of the global struggle for social justice has significance both for Harvard and American society more broadly. The hostility toward Israel that has permeated our campus—which often involves the endorsement of anti-Semitic attitudes, assumptions, and activities—is symptomatic of larger trends: a retreat from robust critical thinking and a surrender to the most hysterical, least rigorous elements of campus activism. Such trends at Harvard are regrettable not merely because BDS is fundamentally anti-Semitic but also because its advocacy rests upon several falsehoods. The most pernicious is the idea that Jews don’t belong in Israel, that their presence constitutes an act of colonialism against the native Palestinian population. Such a position betrays an often-contrived ignorance of the millennia-long connection between the land of Israel and the Jewish people. It is also a denial of the right of self-defense for history’s most persecuted minority.

Yet this view has become de rigueur in a contemporary Harvard education. The Chan School of Public Health hosts courses such as “The Settler Colonial Determinants of Health,” which focuses on demonstrating how Israel’s “settler colonial” society undermines the health of “indigenous people.” Harvard Divinity School’s program of Religion and Public Life has hosted a year-long series of anti-Israel seminars, platforming numerous speakers who advocate for the “decolonization” and even the “de-Judaisation” of Israel. It is hard to imagine that any other national entity would be subject to seminar after seminar informing them that their own national aspirations are uniquely illegitimate.

This makes Harvard less welcoming for Jewish students. Those who wish to enter the classes of Amos Yadlin, a retired Israeli general and politician, at Harvard Kennedy School have had to walk through a gauntlet of protesters accusing them of complicity in genocide. Jewish students have had to walk next to the “apartheid wall” constructed in Harvard Yard during Passover, which employs Holocaust imagery to depict Israel’s behavior toward Palestinians and declares that “Zionism = Racism.” Inside many classrooms, Jewish students are too intimidated to speak out against the new intellectual and social orthodoxy that deems Israel to be the world’s worst human-rights violator. Having witnessed this process repeat itself across the university, we can’t avoid the suspicion that such hatred of the world’s largest Jewish collective is a smokescreen for something darker.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

VIDEO: 73-Year-Old Man Dies After Group Of 7 Teens Brutally Attack Him In North Philadelphia

Posted By on July 9th, 2022

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2022/07/09/teens-attack-kill-man-cecil-b-moore-avenue-north-philadelphia/

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Police are searching for a group of seven teenage suspects who brutally beat a 73-year-old man with a cone and other objects in North Philadelphia last month, knocking the man to the ground and causing head injuries.

Police identified the victim Friday as James Lambert, who died from injuries the following day.

The incident happened June 24 around 2:45 a.m. on the 2100 block of Cecil B. Moore Avenue.

Lambert was by himself only a few blocks away from his home when he was surrounded by seven teenagers and attacked from behind. Police say they believe the man did nothing to provoke the assault.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

A WEEK IN REVIEW: TRANSPARENCY CHANGES EVERYTHING!

Posted By on July 9th, 2022

Here’s the full rundown of OpenTheBooks’ impact in Washington, D.C. and across the country this week:

OUR OVERSIGHT ON BIDEN’S WHITE HOUSE PAYROLL GENERATED BIG MEDIA… 

WATCH: THE NATIONAL DESK (SINCLAIR BROADCAST) (interview): Despite ‘Great Resignation,’ Biden White House Spending Historic Amounts On Staff, Watchdog Says

READ (digital piece): Biden White House Losing Staffers At Significantly Higher Rates Than Trump, Obama

DAILY MAIL: Biden Staffers Left White House At Nearly FOUR TIMES The Rate Of Trump, Obama In His First Year, New Report Reveals

EPOCH TIMES: Former NIH Chief Now Highest Paid Member Of The Most Expensive White House Staff Ever

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Biden Staffers Left White House In One Year At A Higher Rate Than Trump, Obama

OPENTHEBOOKS SUBSTACK: Biden’s White House Spent $100+ Million Since 2021 While 220 Staffers Quit Last Year

Our auditors quantified and were first to break the news that the Biden White House had nearly 40-percent staff turnover last year. Can you image running a business with that kind of chaos?

MEDICINE AND HEALTH Comments turned off

The CDC Is Breaking Trust in Childhood Vaccination With its unscientific push to vaccinate all infants and toddlers against COVID, the agency will harm vaccine uptake for more significant diseases: by Leslie Bienen and Tracy Beth Høeg

Posted By on July 9th, 2022

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/science/articles/cdc-is-endangering-childhood-vaccination-progress

On June 18, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officially recommended Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for all children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the agency responsible for authorizing emergency use of vaccines, it’s the CDC that crafts subsequent messaging, makes specific recommendations, and prioritizes who can, should, or should not get vaccinated. In her briefing, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky strongly urged all parents of the nearly 20 million American children in this age group to vaccinate them as soon as possible.

For some parents, Walensky’s briefing came as a huge relief. But if polling from May is anything to go by, a larger number of parents likely greeted the recommendation with skepticism. Even before the underwhelming trial results came out, only 18% of surveyed parents reported that they planned to vaccinate their babies and toddlers. Nationally, uptake in minors between the ages of 5 and 11 as of June 22, 2022, was 29% receiving two doses, and 36% receiving one, but vaccine requirements for sports, camps, and other activities likely drove an unknown percentage of vaccination in this age group.

There remains, moreover, no solid consensus among physicians about the importance of vaccinating healthy children against COVID-19. A survey from December 2021 indicates that as many as 30%-40% may not be recommending COVID vaccination for children ages 5 to 17, to say nothing of infants. A recent editorial in The Lancet expressed uncertainty about whether the benefits of vaccinating healthy 5- to 11-year-olds outweigh the risks, especially in those with a history of infection.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Wisconsin Supreme Court Drops Hammer On 2020 Election Shenanigans: ‘Ballot Drop Boxes Are Illegal’ Under Wisconsin Law By: Shawn Fleetwood

Posted By on July 9th, 2022

https://thefederalist.com/2022/07/08/wisconsin-supreme-court-drops-hammer-on-2020-election-shenanigans-ballot-drop-boxes-are-illegal-under-wisconsin-law/

The Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a ruling on Friday that deems unmanned absentee ballot drop boxes illegal under Wisconsin election law.

“An absentee ballot must be returned by mail or the voter must personally deliver it to the municipal clerk at the clerk’s office or a designated alternate site,” the high court said in the 4-3 decision. “The record evidence [the Wisconsin Elections Commission] cited does not support its argument that ballot drop boxes have been in common and longstanding use in this state.”

The Friday ruling from Wisconsin’s highest court came as a result of a lawsuit filed in May by the Thomas More Society on behalf of state voters, who took legal action against the cities of Green Bay, Kenosha, Madison, Milwaukee, and Racine for their illegal use of unmanned drop boxes during the 2020 election cycle.

As The Federalist previously reported, the lawsuits came “after the Wisconsin Elections Commission refused … to launch investigations into the five cities for their use of unmanned drop boxes, despite a January ruling from a Waukesha County Circuit Court judge saying that such drop boxes and ballot harvesting ‘violate state law and cannot be used in the upcoming midterm elections.’”

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Liz Peek: Twitter vs. Musk — who is lying in battle over social media company’s future?

Posted By on July 9th, 2022

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/twitter-musk-lying-battle-social-media-company-future

Elon Musk wants out of his deal to buy Twitter. The world’s richest man claims that Twitter’s management is in “material breach” of various provisions in the purchase agreement and that the company has made “false and misleading representations” about its business. Management denies Musk’s complaints.

Musk wants to know how many active daily users on Twitter are actually “bots” – or fake accounts. He says management refuses to turn over information that could accurately determine the number. Since 90% of the firm’s revenues come from advertising, the information is critical to advertisers, and to valuing the company.

Management says only 5% of its ADU (average daily users)  are spam, and claims it kicks one million bots off the site each day; as recently as May, CEO Parag Agrawal claimed the number of fake accounts ejected was half a million. The lack of consistency is not reassuring.

Who is telling the truth? My bet is on Musk.

After all, who has more to lose? If Twitter’s management is found to have fudged its numbers, heads will roll and the stock will collapse. If Musk’s charges turns out to be a phony excuse to bow out of an overpriced deal, the billionaire’s reputation will take a hit, for sure. But the brilliant Tesla and SpaceX founder is already considered erratic; few will be surprised by his about-face. Yes, there is that pesky billion-dollar fee that either side may owe for torching the transaction; Musk can afford it.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

The Administrative State Moves To Show Who’s Boss On Energy Policy  Francis Menton

Posted By on July 9th, 2022

https://us7.campaign-archive.com/?e=a9fdc67db9&u=9d011a88d8fe324cae8c084c5&id=879099a3d6

Last Thursday, June 30, the Supreme Court issued its decision in West Virginia v. EPA, holding that, absent a further explicit statute from the Congress, the EPA did not have the authority to orchestrate its planned fundamental restructuring of the electric power generation sector of the economy. More generally, the Supreme Court stated that in cases involving “major questions,” including regulations that affect large portions of the economy, the government must demonstrate “clear congressional authorization” to support a sweeping effort to regulate.

Do you think that such a Supreme Court decision might cause the various regulatory bureaucracies to slow down and reconsider a little before plowing ahead with other dubious plans for fundamental economic restructurings? That’s not how these bureaucracies work. And such is most particularly the case with regard to regulators of the energy sector, sometimes known as “climate change” arena, where the bureaucrats are burning with a righteous religious fervor that they believe entitles them to cast the evil sinners into the fires of hell.

And thus, contemporaneous with the Supreme Court’s decision, several agencies promptly doubled down on efforts to strangle the oil and gas industries with regulatory restrictions, essentially daring the courts or anyone else to stop them. Thousands of pages of statutes give them thousands of arguments to claim they have the “clear congressional authorization,” any one of which arguments might stick. They are now out to show who’s boss.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan wasted no time in getting a statement out on the afternoon of June 30. Excerpt:

[W]e are committed to using the full scope of EPA’s authorities to protect communities and reduce the pollution that is driving climate change. . . . EPA will move forward with lawfully setting and implementing environmental standards that meet our obligation to protect all people and all communities from environmental harm.