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January 2019

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Neomi Rao Gets Kavanaughed The left dredges up college writing to defeat a judicial nominee.

By on January 28th, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/neomi-rao-gets-kavanaughed-11548722089

Remember Brett Kavanaugh’s high-school yearbook? Democrats pored over every word to try to disqualify him for the Supreme Court. Democrats are now employing a similar tactic, albeit advanced a couple of years to college, as they try to defeat Neomi Rao’s nomination for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

BuzzFeed News recently published a story about the writings of Ms. Rao, who is President Trump’s nominee for the seat vacated by Justice Kavanaugh. Since 2017 Ms. Rao has run the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, where she’s managed Mr. Trump’s deregulation effort with distinction and to America’s great benefit.

Ms. Rao cleared the Senate for that post with bipartisan support—unusual in the Trump era—after an uneventful confirmation process. She’s certainly qualified for a judgeship. Ms. Rao clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas, taught for a decade at George Mason University’s law school, and worked in George W. Bush’s White House counsel’s office. She’s an expert on administrative law, which is valuable for a court that hears many challenges to federal regulation.

But here comes BuzzFeed with the scoop of the year that Ms. Rao “wrote inflammatory op-eds in college.” Yes, apparently this is why some people get into journalism. The story is clearly an oppo-research dump, probably from the left-wing Alliance for Justice, which is trying to torpedo Ms. Rao.

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P.C.-CULTURE Comments turned off

HARD TO SWALLOW : ON FOODIE FADS ROGER FRANKLIN FROM AUSTRALIA

By on January 28th, 2019

https://quadrant.org.au/hard-to-swallow/

In his Road to Wigan Pier, which touches often on the miserable diets of the poor in that unfortunate town, George Orwell reserved a special contempt “the food crank” who is

…by definition a person willing to cut himself off from human society in the hopes of adding five years onto the life of his carcase; that is, a person out of touch with common humanity.

Such sorts were attracted, he said, by

… the mere words ‘Socialism’ and ‘Communism’ [which] draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, ‘Nature Cure’ quack, pacifist, and feminist in England.

Those words were published in 1937, when the Left’s ratbag fringe was the chief sanctuary of those given to lecturing a population recently reminded of what they were missing by the empty bellies of the Great Depression and, according to the food fanatics, shouldn’t be eating anyway. In one word: meat to build bones and bodies.

That was then. Today the commissars of cuisine no longer need hector and lecture from the outer edges of rational discourse. Indeed, the local variety now get to deliver their sermons from the pulpit of Their ABC’s news pages, where authors Rosemary Stanton and Kris Barnden today prescribe the diet we must embrace to stymie “the ongoing devastation of our planet.”

Blessed with the authoritative tag line “analysis”, rather than the more appropriate “opinion”, they detail a menu that, while it might not help you live longer, will certainly make it seem that way (emphasis added).

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

Duke Prof. Resigns after Urging Students to Only Speak English on Campus By Jack Crowe see note please

By on January 28th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/duke-professor-resigns-after-urging-students-to-only-speak-english-on-campus/
I happen to disagree with Professor Nealy….students should not speak too loudly in any language, but why should she have to resign any position over a well meant letter??????rsk
An assistant professor at Duke University has resigned amid backlash after sending an email Friday that urged students to speak “English 100% of the time” while on campus and in professional settings.

Megan Lee Nealy resigned from her position as director of graduate studies for biostatistics after university administrators learned of the email she sent to first- and second-year students, in which she warned that their academic careers might suffer if they used their native languages around professors.

“To international students, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep these unintended consequences in mind when you choose to speak in Chinese in the building,” Neely wrote, according to screenshots of the message obtained by the New York Post. “I have no idea how hard it has been and still is for you to come to the US and have to learn in a non-native language. As such, I have the upmost [sic] respect for what you are doing.”

“That being said, I encourage you to commit to using English 100% of the time when you are in Hock or any other professional building. Copying the second-year students as a reminder given they are currently applying for jobs,” she added.

Neely, who will remain on as an assistant professor despite resigning from her administrative post, subsequently explained that she felt compelled to address the language issue after two professors complained to her that a group of Chinese students were speaking their native tongue “VERY LOUDLY” in a student lounge.

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ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

The Real Lesson of the Shutdown By Stephen Moore

By on January 28th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/01/government-shutdown-reveals-much-of-federal-government-irrelevant/

So much of government in Washington is nonessential.

One of the lessons of the Trump–Pelosi standoff on border security is that government shutdowns are a foolish way to resolve partisan disputes.

But the other lesson may be far more important. The partial shutdown, with agencies such as the Transportation, Agriculture, and State Departments, as well as other independent agencies, closed for business, demonstrated how irrelevant so much of our $4 trillion government is to the everyday lives of Americans.

As I traveled over the last several weeks to Florida, California, and many states in between, and asked people what they thought of the shutdown, many said they didn’t even know the government was shut down for more than a month. Their everyday lives were disrupted or inconvenienced only, if at all, in a trivial way. It turns out there are countless Americans who don’t watch CNN or MSNBC and so didn’t learn about the supposed horrors of agency closures.

This was a particularly painless shutdown for the average taxpayer because the essential activities of government were mostly unaffected. Seniors got their social-security checks. The military was protecting us. We got through the airports with minimal delays — until the last week when some TSA officials and air-traffic controllers weren’t on the job.

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ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

35 Days Without The EEOC Illustrate Why It Should Be Shut Down Forever Employees can allege discrimination and receive money as a result, without ever having to prove that discrimination actually took place. This encourages more frivolous complaints. Laura Baxter

By on January 28th, 2019

http://thefederalist.com/2019/01/28/35-days-without-eeoc-illustrate-shut-forever/

On a quiet evening in 2016, Jose the night supervisor was tickled by a funny animal meme. He printed the picture and taped it to the office fridge. The next morning, when Jackie the day supervisor arrived, she took one look and proclaimed the picture “racist.”

Coworkers from a variety of ethnic backgrounds argued over whether the meme had some hidden racial meaning. Certainly, Jose was horrified to discover that he had offended anyone. After a quick consultation with Human Resources, the picture was tossed, and everyone went back to work.

Just kidding! Jackie decided to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Her claim: unlawful, hostile work environment and harassment, based on an ambiguous picture posted for less than 24 hours. Meanwhile, the ordeal for my client—the company employing Jose, Jackie, and their co-workers—continues to this day.
The Mission of the EEOC

More than half a century ago, as part of his Great Society speech President Lyndon Johnson pledged to end racial injustice. Shortly afterwards, Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, creating the EEOC. The EEOC is tasked with enforcing federal laws prohibiting workplace discrimination. Officially protected categories include race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, arguably gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, and genetic information. The EEOC also protects employees who make complaints about unlawful discrimination.

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MEDIA Comments turned off

The New York Times’ Roger Cohen Declares Himself a ‘European Patriot’ By Bruce Bawer

By on January 28th, 2019

https://pjmedia.com/trending/the-new-york-times-roger-cohen-declares-himself-a-european-patriot/

In larger and larger numbers, Western Europeans are repudiating their subordination to Brussels. In Italy, this reaction has led to the installment of a government that is distinctly antagonistic to the European Union and, in particular, to its migrant-settlement directives. The United Kingdom, in accordance with the results of its 2016 plebiscite, is struggling to extricate itself from the EU. Elsewhere in Western Europe, politicians who reject the EU’s immigration tyranny are gaining support; in several nations of Eastern Europe, the heads of state, with strong public backing, are resisting EU demands that they take in armies of so-called migrants of the sort that are overrunning Western Europe. In May, elections for the European Parliament will take place across the continent. And at least some of the EU’s champions are unsettled.

I wrote the other day about one consequence of their concern: an open letter written by France’s most famous philosopher, Bernard-Henri Lévy, and signed by a glittering roster of celebrity “intellectuals” who fretted that anti-EU forces will win big at the ballot box in May. “Europe as an idea,” warned Lévy, “is falling apart before our eyes.” Highbrows like himself, he maintained, are fighting “a new battle for civilization” — a concept that, in his mind, is more or less synonymous with the European Union.

As if by design, Lévy’s open letter — which was signed by the likes of Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwen, and Milan Kundera, and was published prominently in several European newspapers — appeared on the very same day, January 25, as a piece by New York Times columnist Roger Cohen that made the same point. Entitled “Why I Am a European Patriot,” Cohen’s piece was more personal and passionate than usual. Here’s the key passage:

I am a European patriot because I have lived in Germany and seen how the idea of Europe provided salvation to postwar Germans; because I have lived in Italy and seen how the European Union anchored the country in the West when the communist temptation was strong; because I have lived in Belgium and seen what painstaking steps NATO and the European Union took to forge a Europe that is whole and free; because I have lived in France and seen how Europe gave the French a new avenue for expressing their universal message of human dignity; because I have lived in Britain and seen how Europe broadened the post-imperial British psyche and, more recently, to what impasse little-England insularity leads …

What to say about this? Well, it’s a perfect summary of elite opinion on the topic. But it’s sheer nonsense. CONTINUE AT SITE

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POLITICS Comments turned off

From ‘illegal’ to ‘abolish ICE’: Gillibrand grapples with past conservative immigration views A decade ago, the New York politician’s stance on the issue sounded more akin to President Donald Trump than the modern Democratic party.By Jane C. Timm

By on January 28th, 2019

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/illegal-abolish-ice-gillibrand-grapples-past-conservative-immigration-views-n961806

After announcing a White House bid amid a historic government shutdown over President Donald Trump’s demands for a border wall, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., spent her first week on the 2020 stump explaining and expressing regret over her own hard-line immigration views a decade ago.

“I did not think about suffering in other people’s lives,” she said last Sunday in an interview on CNN. “I realized that things I had said were wrong. I was not caring about others.”

In an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow days earlier, she said her past views were not “driven from my heart. I was callous to the suffering of families that want to be together.”

It’s perhaps an unavoidable reckoning for a seasoned politician in a party that’s moved rapidly to the left during the last decade. But as electability emerges as a central issue on the campaign trail, Democrats are increasingly willing to say they were wrong.

Gillibrand isn’t the only one reconciling past views. Ahead of a potential bid, former Vice President Joe Biden said that his past criminal justice stances haven’t always “been right.” Not long after announcing that she was exploring her own 2020 campaign, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, apologized for her past views on LGBT rights.

And it’s no surprise Gillibrand’s once-conservative stance on immigration is raising eyebrows a decade later: They sound nothing like her current views, like her recent call to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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POLITICS Comments turned off

Kamala Harris’ big challenge David Axelrod see note please

By on January 28th, 2019

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/28/opinions/kamala-harris-big-challenge-axelrod/index.html

This is major, because David Axelrod is the man who groomed Barack Obama from obscurity to the White House in four years….rsk

Kamala Harris has a theory of the case about the Democratic presidential nominating process. If she’s right, she could well be standing on a debate platform with Donald Trump in 2020.
Plainly, her announcement and effective rollout on Martin Luther King Jr. Day wasn’t a casual scheduling decision. Nor was her decision to visit South Carolina even before her highly produced kickoff rally Sunday in Oakland, California.
While not explicitly capitalizing on her status as the only woman of color in the race, the symbolic timing of her declaration and the nature of these events were impossible to ignore.
Too little attention has been paid to the way the nominating process unfolds, first in mostly white Iowa and New Hampshire but then moving quickly to more diverse states where African-Americans play a much larger role.

Hillary Clinton was able to shake off Bernie Sanders in 2016 primarily because of her advantage among black voters. That same edge helped Barack Obama prevail over Clinton in 2008.

African-American voters are a strong part of the Democratic base. And under party rules, congressional districts with overwhelming Democratic performance receive additional delegates, multiplying the value of black support.
Harris’ challenge is to be a top finisher in the early states that traditionally narrow the field, to get to those contests that start with the crucial South Carolina primary, where she may have a decided advantage. She’ll be in Iowa tonight for a CNN Town Hall hosted by Jake Tapper. (It airs at 10 pm on CNN.)
There are many reasons to believe Harris could break through.

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IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

There’s Still a Path to the Wall . By Steve Cortes

By on January 28th, 2019

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/01/28/theres_still_a_path_to_the_wall_139298.html

Those of us who care deeply about the 2016 movement led by Donald Trump should not equivocate about the near-term damage inflicted by last week’s political events. Though Speaker Nancy Pelosi controls only one-half of one-third of our federal government, her tactics, plus the unanimity of her caucus, imperil the central animating objective of the America First electoral ascent: The Wall.

In her Machiavellian disregard for the personal, economic, and national security of Americans, she correctly ascertains that allowing large-scale construction of Trump’s wall all but assures his re-election in 2020. After all, Trump’s leadership on the economy, judicial appointments, and a restrained foreign policy already more than justify another term. However, the unfinished business of border security remains a cornerstone of that goal.

Pelosi and her allies, therefore, have suddenly determined that physical barriers are “immoral” even though, for decades, Democrats gladly supported hundreds of miles of barricades. To paraphrase the words of their former Capitol Hill colleague John Kerry, they were for walls before they were against them. What Pelosi’s party actually stands against is … allowing a major victory for the president, regardless of the harm their obstinacy inflicts on American citizens.

Despite these significant obstacles, a path exists for the administration to both secure our country’s border and advance the 2020 re-election cause. But the coming days and weeks will be mission critical.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Anti-Semitism Is Deeply Woven into the European Fabric By Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld

By on January 28th, 2019

https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/anti-semitism

The anti-Semitism that is so integral to European culture developed in a dominating hostile Christian environment over more than a millennium. This provided much of the cultural infrastructure of the Holocaust, which was executed by Germans with the help of many allies. During the Enlightenment and thereafter, many leading European thinkers expressed hatred towards Jews. In recent decades, the hatred towards Jews found in European societies mutated partly into anti-Israelism, which targets the Jewish state.

Saying that anti-Semitism is integral to European culture does not make one popular in Europe. This does not change even if one clarifies that this is not the same as saying that most Europeans are anti-Semites.

Yet the claim is not difficult to prove. European culture developed in a dominating, hostile Christian environment over more than a millennium. Major incitement against Jews initially stemmed from the Catholic Church. Later, several Protestant churches, including Lutherans, promoted Jew-hatred.

If powerful institutions and elites promote hatred over a very long period, that hatred comes to permeate the culture. In the 1960s, Christian historian and clergyman James Parkes analyzed the conflict between Christians and Jews during the first eight centuries of the Christian era. Concerning that period he concluded, “There was far more reason for the Jew to hate the Christian than for the Christian to hate the Jew – and this on the evidence of Christian sources alone.”

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