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December 2018

Spain reels as far-Right Vox party storms into Andalucian parliament

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/02/spain-reels-far-right-vox-party-storms-andalucian-parliament/

The ultra-conservative and anti-immigration Vox has stormed into the Andalucian assembly in Sunday’s regional election, marking the first time a far-Right party has achieved parliamentary representation on any level in Spain’s recent history as a democracy.

The party that favours the end of autonomy in Catalonia and the expulsion of all immigrants who entered Spain illegally won 12 out of 109 seats in Andalucia’s parliament with 11 per cent of the vote.

“Vox was the party that led the political debate,” said the party’s secretary general, Javier Ortega.

“We put on the table the need to control our borders and end illegal immigration, end abusive levels of taxation and the need to put an end to ideological laws relating to gender.”

Despite running out narrow winner in the region it has ruled continuously for 36 years, the PSOE Socialist party of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez suffered a hugely disappointing result in Andalucia. The party’s all-time low of 28 per cent and 33 seats mean it will not be able to govern with a majority, even with the support of the Left-wing coalition Adelante Andalucia, which includes Podemos.

Spain’s main conservative opposition force, the Popular Party (PP), also lost ground, sliding six percentage points to just under 21 per cent, while the liberal Ciudadanos was the night’s only winner among the established parties, doubling its share to 18 per cent.

Ahead of European and possibly a general election in 2019, Spain’s political scene appears more fractured than ever after the dramatic emergence of Vox on the extreme right of the spectrum.

Despite having seen its number of seats in the Andalucian parliament shorn from 33 to 26, the PP appeared to welcome the arrival of Vox on the political scene.

For the PP’s candidate for the presidency of the region, Juan Manuel Moreno, it was a “historic day” on which “Andalucia had chosen change”, saying he wants to lead a right-of-centre coalition including Vox and Ciudadanos.

Vandals, or Militants? Observers of the Paris unrest should hope that it’s more of the former and less of the latter. Guy Sorman

https://www.city-journal.org/paris-riots

On July 14, 1789, in Paris, the price of bread had reached its highest point in a century. Parisians held the king responsible, which was in part justified. The royal administration’s meddlesome regulation had made grain commerce among the provinces difficult, leading to local famines. The result: a riot in the capital, and the taking of the Bastille—a mostly empty prison but a hated symbol of the absolute monarchy.

What then followed was a revolution—the French Revolution—taken over by an elite fired by the mad ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau: this generation of twentysomething men would invent the first modern dictatorship and shed much French blood before taking on Europe, all in the name of the Republic and according to a Virtue that it claimed to embody. Robespierre, one of the most wild-eyed of the revolutionaries, designated himself the Republic’s messiah, charged with the “purification” of the old world. This history is well known, but it is generally reconstituted in a positive light, baptized with the ideology of “the common good” or “the general will.”

One can’t help but recall this French taste for rebellion, idealized as progressive and ultimately positive, as rioters are currently setting fire to the Champs-Élysées. Might this symbol of consumer society be the equivalent, for contemporary protesters, of the Bastille two centuries ago?

The origin of the present protest is not the price of bread but an increase in gasoline taxes. Yet, with gasoline now occupying a central place in our way of life as bread once did, there is at least some link between the two eruptions. And Louis XVI was guilty by inattention, just as Emmanuel Macron the First, France’s president, seems strangely indifferent to public sentiment. To enact policies that raise gasoline prices—already the highest in Europe—on the eve of the year-end holidays and without offering a justification, was a major political error.

Macron’s mistake was made worse by the justification given after the uprising: the government explained to skeptical citizens that the new tax was actually an ecological measure, and therefore justified, since the goal was not to add to the state’s coffers but to help fight climate change. Obviously no one believes this excuse, including the government that issued it, or so we must hope.

ASSISTED SUICIDE OF EUROPE :EDWARD CLINE

https://edwardcline.blogspot.com/2018/12/assisted-suicide-of-europe.html

I devoted too little space in my last column, “The Blob and Fake News,”, to the master plan of the UN for world governance, “The “Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration,” which Canada will sign on to. Or, rather, the boy Wonder, JustinTrudeau, will sign on to it.

Trudeau, premier of Canada, opined that national borders are an anachronism and obsolete, and should be abolished. In “The Blob,” I wrote:

According to Gatestone, in 2015, he said,

“There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada. There are shared values –openness, respect, compassion, willingness to work hard, to be there for each other, to search for equality and justice. Those qualities are what make us the first postnational state.”

Two years later, Salim Mansur at Gatestone reported,

The Canadian government’s recent announcement that it will be providing more than CDN $600 million (USD $455 million) over the next five years to bail out the country’s financially strapped media outlets — as part of the fall fiscal update about the federal budget ahead of the 2019 federal election — is not as innocent as it may seem.

In response to the announcement, the heads of Canada’s media organizations promptly popped open the proverbial champagne and raised their glasses to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Unifor, a national union that represents Canadian journalists, was even more jubilant. It felt vindicated that its slogan of “Resistance” — which it touts as Conservative Party opposition leader Andrew Scheer’s “worst nightmare” — had so swiftly resulted in opening the government’s wallet, and handing out taxpayers’ money, to an industry that should actually be fighting to remain steadfastly independent of any form of government backing.

In effect, Canadian “journalists,” and journalists everywhere, will become the paid shills of the government and its policies of not saying critical things about Islam or Muslims. Furthermore, rolls of duct tape will be readied to silence any such criticism or to quash it before it even thought of:

The Global Compact requires the media outlets of member-states to adhere to the objectives and refrain from any critical discussions of these objectives that would be deemed as not “ethical” and against UN norms or standards consistent with the ideology of globalism.

Iran Tests Ballistic Missile in Violation of UN Resolution By Rick Moran

https://pjmedia.com/trending/iran-tests-ballistic-missile-in-violation-of-un-resolution/

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Iran had test-fired a medium range ballistic missile capable of carrying several warheads.

The test violated a Security Council resolution that calls on Iran not to pursue “any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.”

The missile has the ability to hit parts of Europe and any location in the Middle East, the secretary said.

NBC News:

“We condemn these activities,” Pompeo said, “and call upon Iran to cease immediately all activities relating to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”

On Sunday, a senior Iranian official said the country’s missile program was not in breach of U.N. resolutions.

“Iran’s missile program is defensive in nature… There is no Security Council resolution prohibiting the missile program and missile tests by Iran,” state news agency IRNA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying.

Qasemi did not confirm or deny that Iran had carried out a new missile test.

Iran has repeatedly said its missile program is purely defensive and denied its missiles are capable of being tipped with nuclear warheads.

The resolution makes no distinction between an “offensive” weapon and a “defensive” weapon. The idea that a nuclear-tipped missile would be “defensive” in nature is absurd, but there are Iranian apologists in the U.S. who back Tehran up.

The language of the U.N. Security Council Resolution “calls on” rather than “forbids” Iran from testing its missiles, according to Trita Parsi, the president of the National Iranian American Council. The very U.N. resolution that Pompeo cited is also the very nuclear deal the Trump administration withdrew from earlier this year, Parsi added.

“We had a functioning deal and you may not have agreed with all the contents of it but it actually contained this conflict,” he said. “Trump came in, ripped it up and now we are seeing more missile tests, we’re seeing escalation and we are seeing a drift towards war.”

Actually, that was one of the biggest deficiencies in the nuclear deal — that it didn’t cover Iran’s ballistic missile program. Parsi, a pro-regime hustler in Washington, is trying to distract from Iran’s violation by shifting the blame to Trump. It doesn’t pass the smell test. CONTINUE AT SITE

Comey Makes a Deal With House Republicans to Testify By Rick Moran

https://pjmedia.com/trending/comey-makes-a-deal-with-house-republicans-to-testify/

Former FBI director James Comey has come to an agreement with House Republicans to testify behind closed doors before the House Judiciary Committee about his actions during the Hillary Clinton email and Russian collusion investigations.

Comey had sued the committee, demanding he be allowed to testify in public about his actions. But the agreement states that he will give his deposition in private, although a transcript will be released to the public.

The Daily Caller reports:

Comey sought a public hearing, claiming in a court filing Thursday that he feared “selective leaks” from Republicans. But in an emergency court hearing Friday, Comey’s attorneys acknowledged that the request to quash the congressional subpoena was unorthodox, suggesting the motion had little chance of succeeding.

Comey wrote Sunday on Twitter that he was “grateful for a fair hearing from judge.”

He said that he will testify “in the dark” but that Republicans had agreed he is “free to talk when done and transcript released in 24 hours.”

“This is the closest I can get to public testimony,” he wrote.

The bid to squash the subpoena was more than “unorthodox.” It was arrogant. A witness before any committee cannot negotiate the manner of his appearance. Comey says he feared Republicans would selectively leak his testimony, trying to make him and the Democrats look bad. While that is entirely possible, it’s not up to Comey to protect a political party or his tattered reputation by avoiding a congressional committee.

Republicans argued against Comey’s motion to block the subpoena, noting that other current and former FBI officials have testified privately during the course of the committees’ investigation of the Clinton and Trump probes.

“Sixteen other people have testified under oath in the same setting that we’re asking him to do it and his claim that he needs to do it in public is, in my opinion, a farce,” Virginia GOP Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told Fox News on Friday.

Republicans have accused the FBI and Justice Department of going easy on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and of abusing the surveillance court process to obtain spy warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. CONTINUE AT SITE

Michael Cohen’s Lawyers Ask for No Prison Time After Plea The request came in a late-night memorandum ahead of his sentencing hearing and cited his cooperation with prosecutorsBy Rebecca Davis O’Brien and Rebecca Ballhaus

https://www.wsj.com/articles/michael-cohens-lawyers-ask-for-no-prison-time-after-plea-

Lawyers for Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, asked a federal judge in a memorandum filed late Friday night to impose no prison time for Mr. Cohen at his scheduled sentencing later this month, citing Mr. Cohen’s contrition and his cooperation with law enforcement.

In their plea for leniency, Mr. Cohen’s lawyers said Mr. Cohen’s decision to cooperate with investigators reflected his “personal resolve, notwithstanding past errors, to re-point his internal compass true north toward a productive, ethical and thoroughly law abiding life.”

The memo stressed the “weighty and fraught” decision by Mr. Cohen to break with his longtime former boss, who the filing noted has repeatedly attacked the special-counsel investigation into his associates as a “witch hunt” and a “hoax.” Mr. Cohen, the lawyers said, “could have fought the government and continued to hold to the party line, positioning himself perhaps for a pardon.”

“In the circumstances of this case, at this time, in this climate, Michael’s decision to cooperate required and requires singular determination and personal conviction,” the lawyers wrote.

The filing came a day after Mr. Cohen, now 52 years old, pleaded guilty to one count brought by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office, in which he admitted lying to Congress about efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 Presidential campaign.

In August, Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to eight counts, including five counts of tax fraud, one count of making false statements to a bank, and two campaign-finance violations related to hush-money payments to two women who said they had sexual encounters with Mr. Trump. Mr. Cohen told the court that Mr. Trump ordered him to arrange the payments, which the president has denied.
CONTINUE AT SITE

Don’t Let Mueller’s Report Go Unanswered Because it is a prosecutor’s product, it will inevitably be one-sided. Trump ought to be allowed to respond. By Alan M. Dershowitz

https://www.wsj.com/articles/dont-let-muellers-report-go-unanswered-1543786233?cx_testId=16&cx_testVariant=cx&cx_artPos=3&cx_tag=collabctx&cx_navSource=newsReel#cxrecs_s

Special counsel Robert Mueller is likely to wrap up his investigation soon and issue a confidential report to the attorney general. It is important to understand the legal status of such a report and how it should be released and evaluated under the Justice Department regulations governing special counsels.

First and foremost, because it is the report of a prosecutor, it will inevitably be one-sided. Prosecutors pick the witnesses they present to a grand jury. Defense lawyers are not allowed to appear with their clients, or to present witnesses who might contradict the prosecutor’s case. Prosecutors need not provide exculpatory evidence, even if they are aware of it. Nor need they interview witnesses who might contradict their narrative. That is why it is generally considered unfair for prosecutors to issue “reports.” Normally prosecutors announce only that the subject has been indicted or not, without further comment.

Special counsels are permitted, and sometimes required, to issue reports—but in doing so they are governed by rules. The title “special counsel” might seem to give their findings special weight—to which they are not legally, morally or logically entitled. That is why in a high-stakes case like this one, it is imperative that the target’s legal team be allowed to issue its own report, presenting its side of the case. Basic fairness requires this, and the American public is entitled to judge for itself which side is more persuasive.

There should never be a presumption in favor of crediting the one-sided reports prepared by prosecutors. Such reports have no higher status than an indictment, and an indictment handed up by a grand jury is not proof of guilt—only a charging instrument. Like an indictment, a special counsel’s report should not undercut the presumption of innocence.

Trump’s China Trade Truce The key to a larger deal will be enforcement of Chinese promises.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-china-trade-truce-1543790868

Donald Trump had one of the most productive foreign trips of his Presidency this weekend as he announced a tariff truce and new trade negotiations with China. Then he threatened to blow up his Presidency by terminating Nafta before Congress passes a replacement. More on the latter nearby, but at least his cease-fire with China is good news for the economy and American workers.

Mr. Trump and President Xi Jinping stepped back from the brink of total trade war while giving themselves room to strike a deal over new trading and investment rules. Mr. Trump agreed to hold off on raising tariffs to 25% from 10% on $200 billion of Chinese goods in January. This would be a huge tax on American consumers, as well as businesses that have Chinese suppliers.

The White House says China will start buying U.S. farm goods immediately, which will be a relief in farm states where incomes are down. China will also buy an unspecified “but very substantial” amount of farm, energy, industrial and other products to reduce the bilateral trade deficit. More customers are better, though the overall U.S. trade deficit won’t fall much. The U.S. will run a trade deficit with the world as long as it also runs a capital surplus.

Far more important, the two countries will begin talks this month on China’s predatory behavior including forced technology transfer, intellectual property and cyber theft, and regulatory abuses against foreign companies. The parties have 90 days to agree or Mr. Trump will apply the 25% tariff—and presumably more on top of that.

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Boost for prostate treatment. I reported previously (Feb 2012) on Israel’s Medi-Tate and its non-invasive treatment for benign prostate enlargement. Now Japan’s Olympus Corporation has invested $20 million in Medi-Tate and will market Medi-Tate’s iTind implant in several countries.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3749102,00.html

Israeli innovation saves lives. Hospitals all over the world use Israeli medical technology. But Israeli Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the next big item. This article highlights Israel’s MedAware (preventing prescription errors), MobiGuide’s Patient Guidance system, Zebra Medical, and AI systems at Israeli hospitals Sheba and Sourasky.
https://www.jpost.com/In-Jerusalem/Artificial-intelligence-shall-come-forth-from-Zion-572610

Toolbox for chemists. Researchers at Israel’s Technion have developed a “toolbox” technique to give organic chemists a cheap and quick method to design complex molecules and make safe medicines. They place smaller molecules in a ring, make them rigid, use a catalyst to break their bonds and re-assemble them like toy bricks.
https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/technion-scientists-develop-new-way-to-study-complex-molecules/

Recognition for pain monitor. I reported previously (Feb 2017) that the PMD200 pain measurement device from Israel’s Medasense had received European CE Approval. Now, the international Society of Critical Care Medicine has included the innovative technology in its Intensive Care Unit Clinical Practice Guidelines.
https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-pain-assessment-tool-cited-in-new-icu-guidelines/

Treatment to combat mustard gas. The US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has invested $43 million in Israel’s MediWound to develop its NexoBrid product for the treatment of mustard gas injuries. In 2015 BARDA invested $112 million to help MediWound develop NexoBrid for burns.
http://nocamels.com/2018/10/biomedical-firm-mediwound-mustard-gas/

Guidance system for visually-impaired goes global. I reported previously (Sep 2017) on Israel’s RightHear and its app that enables the visually impaired to navigate shopping malls, hospitals, universities etc. RightHear has since been installed in Israeli supermarket chain Shufersal, launched in the US and is heading for the UK.
https://m.thegrocer.co.uk/571341.article?mobilesite=enabled (TY Hazel)

Bio-ethics conference. We’ve just returned from Jerusalem. The hotel where we stayed was also hosting the UNESCO 13th World Conference on Bioethics, Medical Ethics and Health Law and many of the international delegates were pleased to hear about VeryGoodNewsIsrael.
https://ethics-2018.isas.co.il/ https://ethics-2018.isas.co.il/hotels/

MY SAY: GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH

He was a patriot, a patrician, a World War 2 hero, a capable diplomat, and a lucky man to whom too much is attributed. The Cold War ended because of President Reagan’s tough talk and policy on the “evil empire” and President Bush adroitly navigated the formalities.

While a candidate for the 1980 primaries he ridiculed Ronald Reagan’s economic policies by referring to them as “voodoo economics.” Inexplicably, Ronald Reagan chose his vitriolic and less than conservative opponent as his Vice President- thus paving the way for his election as President. When elected he appointed the odious James Baker as his Secretary of State. Baker was a harsh critic of Israel and an obsequious admirer of the Arabs, particularly the Saudis.

Furthermore the first President Bush broke his first campaign promise…”read my lips….no new taxes….” for which he lost re-election.

He was the second American President whose son also became President. However he was no John Adams and his son was no John Quincy Adams.