Displaying posts published in

June 2018

What Morocco’s Break with Iran Means By Irina Tsukerman

https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/morocco-iran-relations/

Iran’s recent moves against Morocco’s national sovereignty reflect its intention to continue on its path towards global domination by destabilizing pro-Western countries. Tehran is shifting its attention towards Africa, which is less on the Western radar following the American withdrawal from the JCPOA.

Morocco’s decision to sever relations with Iran a week before President Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the JCPOA may not have been a complete coincidence. Iran’s presence in North Africa has been increasing over time and grew yet more pronounced as the deadline approached for the expected American withdrawal from the JCPOA.

Iran, which is concerned about the future of its interests – global influence, access to natural resources, recruitment of new proxies, the training of existing proxies, and the relocation of illegal conventional and nuclear weapons research – has shifted its attention towards areas that have until recently attracted little scrutiny from the international community, particularly the US. Likewise, in the past few years, Iran has pushed for stronger relations with African countries, including South Africa and Algeria – working to counter Sunni influence through mosques and ideological overtures, but also funding infrastructure, concluding mutually beneficial deals, and arming Shiite militias in West Africa.

Rabat’s break with Tehran came as a shock to much of the international community. Not many have followed events in North Africa and are aware of recent illegal maneuvers by the separatist group Polisario, which claims to represent the Western Sahrawi tribes. Polisario has long been known as a smuggler of small arms to Mauritania and other countries in the region, and in the last decade has been implicated in drug smuggling.

GLAZOV MOMENT: AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION CELEBRATES HIJAB

http://jamieglazov.com/2018/06/22/glazov-moment-australian-broadcasting-corporation-celebrates-hijab/

Jamie discusses Australian Broadcasting Corporation Celebrates Hijab and asks: Is the Hijab really just so “sensuous” and such an incredible “source of empowerment”?

Don’t miss it!

And watch Jamie focus on No Honor Killings in America? — where he unveils the Left’s callous lies . . . and heart of darkness:

Germany’s Migrant Policy: Why Trump was Right by Vijeta Uniyal

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12570/germany-crime-trump

According to the narrative peddled by the mainstream media, after a series of horrendous migrant crimes and string of deadly terrorist attacks perpetrated by newly-arrived Muslim migrants, towns and cities across Germany were reverting to some sort of idyllic harmony.

According to Germany’s 2017 crime statistics, more than 1,100 foreigners were charged with murder or manslaughter, as opposed to around 1,500 suspects holding German passports. Given that Germany was home to roughly 10 million foreigners as opposed to 70 million German nationals, these are staggering numbers.

“The number of homicides rose by 3.2%” and “the number of sexual assaults had risen as well,” the Süddeutsche Zeitung disclosed, while correctly maintaining that the crime report showed an overall drop of 9.6%.

US President Donald Trump attacked German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s migrant policy this week. The people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition,” he tweeted on June 18. “Crime in Germany is way up. Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!” he added.

President Trump’s comments come at a time when Merkel is facing the biggest crisis of her career. She is struggling to hold her government together, with the Bavarian Catholic party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), threatening to leave the governing coalition over immigration. The CSU wants the police to have the authority to turn away illegal migrants at the border, a move bitterly opposed by Merkel.

Haley to Sanders: UN Report Decrying Poverty in America Is ‘Ridiculous’ and ‘Misleading’ By Bridget Johnson

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/haley-to-sanders-un-report-decrying-poverty-in-america-is-ridiculous-and-misleading/

WASHINGTON — UN Ambassador Nikki Haley told Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that a UN report declaring that “contempt for the poor” is growing in America along with wealth inequality was “politically motivated” and “misleading.”

After the initial report from United Nations’ special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Philip Alston was issued earlier this month, Sanders and 19 other Democrats sent a letter to Haley urging that the administration take heed of the report and present an action plan to combat poverty.

“We believe the massive levels of deprivation outlined in the report – as well as the immense suffering this deprivation causes – are an affront to any notion of the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” the lawmakers wrote. “Given the breadth of poverty outlined in the report, these rights are simply illusory for millions in this country.”

Alston, an Australian law professor who has served in the role since 2014, went on a fact-finding mission for the UN Human Rights Council across the U.S. in the first two weeks of December. He visited California (Los Angeles and San Francisco), Alabama (Lowndes County and Montgomery), Georgia (Atlanta), Puerto Rico (San Juan, Guayama and Salinas), West Virginia (Charleston) and Washington, D.C., for his study.

The United States’ “immense wealth and expertise stand in shocking contrast with the conditions in which vast numbers of its citizens live,” the report stated. “About 40 million live in poverty, 18.5 million in extreme poverty, and 5.3 million live in Third World conditions of absolute poverty. It has the highest youth poverty rate in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the highest infant mortality rates among comparable OECD States. Its citizens live shorter and sicker lives compared to those living in all other rich democracies, eradicable tropical diseases are increasingly prevalent, and it has the world’s highest incarceration rate, one of the lowest levels of voter registrations among OECD countries and the highest obesity levels in the developed world.”

Alston called those stats and policies behind them “cruel and inhuman” and said Trump administration policies seem “driven primarily by contempt, and sometimes even by hatred for the poor, along with a ‘winner takes all’ mentality… contempt for the poor has intensified under the Trump Administration.”

In a letter to Sanders dated today, Haley told the senator that “poverty is an issue the Trump administration takes very seriously,” and “being able to provide for one’s self and family is empowering, both economically and spiritually.”

Haley said she was “deeply disappointed” in Alston’s report and branded it a waste of UN funds. “There is no question that poverty in America remains a serious concern, but it does no one any good to inaccurately describe its prevalence or its causes,” she wrote. “It is patently ridiculous for the United Nations to examine poverty in America.” CONTINUE AT SITE

Why Socialism Is Doomed To Fail By David Solway

https://pjmedia.com/trending/why-socialism-is-doomed-to-fail/

In The Consolation of Philosophy, the 5th Century Greek scholar and Roman Consul Boethius wrote: “Compare the length of a moment with the period of ten thousand years; the first, however miniscule, does exist as a fraction of a second. But that number of years, or any multiple of it that you may name, cannot even be compared with a limitless extent of time, the reason being that comparisons can be drawn between finite things, but not between finite and infinite.”

Boethius’ insight into the nature of asymmetrical comparison is perennially valid, whether with respect to philosophical and theological speculation, mathematical equations involving infinities, or ideological aspects of political thought. It explains why communist, anarchist or socialist experiments in the life of peoples and nations are bound to fail, for as Boethius might have said, they do not treat of corresponding finite entities. In other words, these adventures in social perfectibility flow from the refusal to ground a vision of the future in historical and political reality.

In order to achieve the possible, it is necessary to acknowledge the real, that is, the limits set by the actual parameters of historical existence and the constraints of human nature. Otherwise we are on the way to creating a dystopian nightmare. One cannot validly compare the imperfect social and political structures of the past and present with a utopian construction that has never come to pass and which exists only in myth, dream and mere desire. No sound conclusion can emerge from such dissonant correlations. To strive, for example, to build an ideal society in which “equality of results” or “outcomes” — what is called “social justice” — is guaranteed can only produce a levelled-down caricature of human struggle and accomplishment. We have seen it happen time and again, and the consequences are never pretty.

The infatuation with “outcomes” in the sense of compelled equality persists wherever we may look, significantly in education, where equality of result is enforced under the tired mantra of “diversity and inclusion” — standards are lowered, everyone is admitted, everyone graduates, everyone gets a trophy or a degree regardless of input, so that no one gets left behind. Mastering the curriculum, however, is a highly competitive venture, meant to sieve winners from losers; we recall the word derives from the Latin for “race course.” The “equality” compulsion is especially paramount in “social justice” legislation which ensures that unmotivated non-contributors to civil order, prosperity and disciplined excellence in any field of endeavor are treated as at least equal to and often favored over successful practitioners and genuine achievers.

Philly Schools Add Muslim Holidays by Cutting Jewish One By Johanna Markind

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/06/philly_schools_add_muslim_holidays_by_cutting_jewish_one.html

Back when public schools were overwhelmingly Christian, scheduling religious holidays meant closing for Christmas and, in some places, for Jewish high holidays. As American school populations change, deciding for which religious holidays schools should close and on what basis becomes more complex.

According to Anti-Defamation League religious freedom counsel David Barkey, consistently with the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, “[p]ublic schools can’t close to observe a holiday, but can if there’s an appropriate secular reason. The reason usually is the level of absenteeism” that would hamper schooling.

Philadelphia’s Mayor Jim Kenney suggested a different standard in announcing the city’s decision to close public schools for Muslim holidays. Rather than focusing on practical need, Kenney explained: “Our city was built on the idea that … the city welcomes all to worship and practice the faiths of our culture or our choosing[.] … We have to take into account how society sometimes ostracizes and eliminates people from the mainstream[.]” In other words, schools should close on minorities’ religious holidays so their adherents feel accepted.

Sadly, Philadelphia’s approach to holiday closures fails both standards. Its public schools closed June 12, 2018, in time for Muslim students to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, beginning June 15. Without determining whether the numbers of practitioners necessitated the change, Philadelphia added Muslim holidays to its calendar to make Muslims feel welcome – and paid for it partly by reducing Jewish holiday observances, school district documents show. What’s more, the school district underhandedly failed to identify the reasons for the change.

Philadelphia Changes Its School Calendar

On May 31, 2016, Philadelphia school district superintendent Dr. William Hite announced: “I’m honored and proud to announce that the school district fully intends to honor the eid celebrations for the many Muslim students and staff that celebrate these holidays.” The 2016-17 academic calendar had already been finalized, Hite explained, so the holidays would be added in future years.

Tommy Robinson’s Last Stand By Anne-Christine Hoff

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/06/tommy_robinsons_last_stand.html

Tommy Robinson’s imprisonment and the events that followed show just how swiftly Britain has become Sharia-compliant. The country has already submitted to its dhimmi status within Islam even though their Muslim population makes up just 5% of the country’s total population.

According to The Dhimmi: Jews & Christians Under Islam by Bat Yeor, dhimmi is an Arabic term used to describe the second-class status of non-Muslims in Islamic-conquered lands. Sharia deemed dhimmis to be subjugated individuals with fewer legal and human rights than Muslims. Laws in these lands denied due process to dhimmis. Strict rules of behavior r vis-à-vis the conquering Muslims were enforced by law. Dhimmis by law had to treat Muslims with deference, meaning they had to control their natural resentments against their subjugation or else face severe punishments. They had to, for example, not wear certain colors. Their dress had to be distinctive and identify them as dhimmis so as to prevent non-Muslims from walking in Muslim areas or mixing with Muslims.

The tragedy of Britain’s appeasement is that its dhimmitude is being enforced for the most part by the non-Muslim British majority — by the British police, the British elites, the British media, and the British government — while there is a campaign of terror being waged against the sensible majority who rightly resist being made into dhimmi subjects while they still constitute the demographic majority.

What You Missed from Michael Horowitz’s Testimony By Julie Kelly

https://amgreatness.com/2018/06/22/trumps-message-full-transparency

In the media’s rush to exploit the plight of migrant children this week, the public testimony of Michael Horowitz has been buried or, more likely, ignored by the news media.

Horowitz, the Justice Department’s inspector general, testified for more than 10 hours on Capitol Hill, taking questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday and from a joint congressional committee on Tuesday.

Since the June 14 release of his 568-page report on the department’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, Horowitz has been criticized for concluding that the agency’s decision to forego charges against Clinton was unrelated to the political views of those in charge.

“We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that improper considerations,” Horowitz said, “including political bias, directly affected the specific investigative decisions we reviewed, or that the justifications offered for these decisions were pretextual.”

That finding seems to runs afoul of much of the report’s content, which included a trove of text messages showing top FBI brass favored Hillary Clinton and despised Donald Trump. (The report did suggest that the decision by lead investigator Peter Strzok to prioritize the Trump-Russia counterintelligence probe over the Weiner laptop investigation in September-October 2016 was not “free from bias.”)

German Immigration Policy : The wrinkle in the German immigration story is Muslim migrant attacks on Jews. Joseph Puder

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/270518/german-immigration-policy-

Germany’s immigration policy under Chancellor Angela Merkel is under attack again, this time from within her own government. There is however another wrinkle to the immigration story, it is the case of Muslim migrant attacks against Jews in Germany. The recent rape and murder of a Jewish girl named Susanna Maria Feldman, 14, from the city of Mainz, in Western Germany, by a 19-year Muslim migrant, that Merkel enthusiastically admitted into Germany, stirred the country, and raised further questions about the open-door immigration policy of Merkel’s government.

Angela Merkel’s coalition government may be torn apart on the issue of immigration. Horst Seehofer, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian conservative party, has pledged to reverse Chancellor Merkel’s open-door policy toward migrants. Germany has absorbed 1.4 million migrants since 2015, the vast majority of them being Muslims from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Seehofer, the Interior Minister in Merkel’s coalition government is concerned by the rise of the anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany (AfD) whose success in the polls, and its surprise showing in the 2017 election (capturing 12.6% of the votes) may now threaten the supremacy of his party in Bavaria. State elections in Bavaria are scheduled for October this year. For now, Merkel and Seehofer have agreed to wait for a resolution to the immigrant issue at next week’s European Union (EU) summit in Brussels.

THE PERIL OF POLITICIZED ANTISEMITISM Jewish Democrats’ libels against Trump mask a dire problem in their ranks. Caroline Glick

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Column-One-The-peril-of-politicized-antisemitism-560599
Trump shows his friendship and respect for Israel every single day.

A Google search of the terms “Trump Nazi,” brings up 70,900,000 results.

There are a number of distressing aspects to this state of affairs.First and foremost, it is pure libel to call US President Donald Trump a Nazi.

His daughter Ivanka is Jewish. His daughter-in-law is Jewish. Half his grandchildren are Jewish and his non-Jewish ex-daughter-in-law is half Jewish.

How many Nazis have Hanukka celebrations in their homes starring their Jewish grandchildren?

Beyond his Jewish immediate family, Trump has shown extraordinary friendship to the Jewish state. It isn’t simply that Trump kept the promise none if his predecessors kept and moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem, although that would have sufficed to prove his friendship.