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November 2021

Germany’s Coalition Agreement: A “Lowest Common Denominator” Deal by Soeren Kern

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17985/germany-coalition-agreement

It remains to be seen how long the new government — to be formed by a fractious three-way coalition consisting of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the environmentalist Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) — will last.

Olaf Scholz has said that the new government will not seek “the lowest common denominator” but its coalition agreement appears to be just that. Far from ending the Merkel era, the next government may end up being a continuation of it.

“When it comes to money, the coalition agreement lacks specifics. It is completely unknown how the coalition will finance all of its plans.” — Michael Hüther, Director, German Economic Institute.

“In future, the task of the police is no longer to prosecute and prevent criminal offenses, but to give politically correct preference to certain groups of offenders…. Reality is a foreign word. Inflation? Crisis on the Polish border? Energy shortages? Unemployment? Budget deficits? Not an issue. The main thing is that grazing animals and humans make room for the wolf.” — Roland Tichy, German commentator.

“In reality, none of them really agrees on anything very much except that they think it is about time they had a go at running a ministry or two.” — Michael Lynn, The Spectator.

“If this all sounds lacking in ambition, that’s because it is…. Germans voted as if they want a government that would sit out major arguments about the country’s economic or strategic direction.” — Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal.

“Perhaps the biggest worry about the new coalition is that it may spend too much of its time arguing.” — The Economist.

The three parties planning to form a new federal government in Germany have presented a coalition agreement that is to serve as a pre-agreed policy roadmap for the next four years.

The platform for the new government indicates there will be little substantive change from the policies pursued by outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Peter W. Wood :One Angry Nation, Two Wildly Divergent Explanations

https://amgreatness.com/2021/11/29/one-angry-nation-two-wildly-divergent-explanations/

A review of Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury , by Evan Osnos

Osnos provides no insight at all into what is really happening among those of us who see ourselves as opposing a tide of illegitimate cultural authority backed by unfounded state power.

We Americans have become an angry bunch. On that Evan Osnos and I agree. Osnos is a staff writer for the New Yorker whose new book, Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury, surveys some of the same territory as my new book, Wrath: America Enraged. But on why we are angry and what it all means, Osnos and I diverge. Osnos sees in contemporary America “the failure of that mythology” that bound us together in “moral commitment, including the rule of law, the force of truth, and the right to pursue a better life.” I see in contemporary America not a failure of myth, but a change in character in which an older culture of self-restraint has given way to forceful expression. 

Osnos, whose other works include a flattering campaign biography of Joe Biden, blames ordinary Americans for indulging in a prolonged temper tantrum that has no real justification. My view to the contrary is that ordinary Americans are responding to the emergence of a ruling class whose contempt for them and for American civilization is nearly comprehensive. It is not that faith in “the rule of law, the force of truth, and the right to pursue a better life” has faltered. It is that faithful Americans now face the lawless use of state power, a duplicitous media, and rent-seeking by global elites. 

Osnos’ book is woven together of vivid tales of individuals in Greenwich, Connecticut (Osmos’ hometown); Clarksburg, West Virginia (where he had once worked for the local newspaper); and Chicago. He injects into almost all these stories his own disdain for the kinds of people who supported the Tea Party and eventually Donald Trump. The historical arc of Wildland is from the shock of 9/11 to the “insurrection” of January 6. He pauses at one point mid-book to observe:

Trump, the Tea Party, the NRA—they all made use of that rising unease of Americans who could not quite put a name to the anxieties they felt about the disordering of their world, about the puncturing of American invincibility, the browning of America, the vanishing of jobs to automation, the stagnation of their incomes. The language of force gained ground, Sarah Palin, in her appearances at Tea Party rallies and online, made frequent use of metaphors from the Revolutionary War and the world of guns. ‘Don’t retreat, reload,’ she liked to say.

Iran’s military gears up for Vienna talks by vowing to annihilate Israel By Ruthie Blum

https://www.jns.org/opinion/irans-military-gears-up-for-vienna-talks-by-vowing-to-annihilate-israel/

 Renewed negotiations over a return to or revision of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers from which former President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018—kicked off in Vienna on Monday with feigned fanfare.

The Islamic Republic has made it clear that no agreement can be discussed, let alone reached, unless all sanctions hindering the regime’s operations are removed. It has also been engaging in double-speak, bragging about its strides in uranium-enrichment, on the one hand, while insisting that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, on the other.

Nobody buys the latter assertion, but the other parties to the JCPOA have convinced themselves that the interests of all concerned are best served through diplomacy. Never mind that Tehran refuses to allow American representatives anywhere near the room where the talks are being held. Washington is willing to have the mullahs dictate the terms of the entire arrangement, and let European, Russian and Chinese envoys enjoy face-to-face contact with their Iranian counterparts.

The Madness of Anthony Fauci Rather than own up to his disastrous policy and medical advice, Fauci instead is accelerating his messianic impulses.  By Julie Kelly

https://amgreatness.com/2021/11/29/the-madness-of-anthony-fauci/

It’s nearly impossible to select the most maniacal comment made by Dr. Anthony Fauci in his nearly 70-minute interview with “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan that aired over the weekend. Joe Biden’s chief coronavirus advisor and miniature global menace spent more than an hour denying responsibility for his documented mistakes, bragging about his self-appointed role as the world’s doctor, hogging credit for the vaccines, and attacking anyone who has challenged his unrivaled ego and track record of failure.

Portraying himself as a victim rather than the cruel, megalomaniacal tyrant he is, Fauci took aim at Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Congressional co-sponsors of the “Fire Fauci Act,” which would zero-out the salary of the federal government’s highest-paid bureaucrat and audit Fauci’s correspondence and financial transactions during the pandemic.

While declaring, “I represent science,” Fauci humbly graded the scientific approach to the pandemic an “A+” while incongruently  warning about a “fifth wave” of the virus and explaining away one scientific stumble after another, from useless temperature checks to the need for bi-annual booster shots and randomly claiming the virus spread is “40 to 50 to 60 percent . . . asymptomatic.” 

Science!

Of all his alarming remarks, however, Fauci’s push to get experimental vaccines for babies and young children to market as quickly as possible is the most depraved. When asked by Brennan, who has spent the better part of two years asking Fauci how to run her life and the lives of 330 million Americans, when he expects vaccines for children between the age of six months and five years to be available, Fauci said he hopes the shots are ready by the beginning of next year. “I would hope it would be in the first quarter because the studies are being done right now on children from two to five and then from six months to two years,” Fauci told Brennan. “I don’t think there’s going to be an issue with efficacy. But when you’re dealing with children, it’s a very sensitive area. And that’s the reason why [it] may take a little bit longer.”

German Suicide Factory Says It Will Only Help You Kill Yourself If You’re Vaxxed By Haley Strack

https://thefederalist.com/2021/11/29/german-suicide-factory-says-it-will-only-help-you-kill-yourself-if-youre-vaxxed/

Verein Sterbehilfe — the German Euthanasia Association — recently announced it will not help unvaccinated patients kill themselves. Now anyone seeking assisted suicide must submit proof of COVID-19 vaccination first.

“Euthanasia and the preparatory examination of the voluntary responsibility of our members willing to die require human closeness. Human closeness, however, is a prerequisite and breeding ground for coronavirus transmission,” the association said in a statement. “As of today, the 2G rule applies in our association, supplemented by situation-related measures, such as quick tests before encounters in closed rooms.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently announced “2G” restrictions that allow leisure activities only for individuals who are vaccinated or who have recovered from COVID-19. The rule applies in every area where more than three per 100,000 inhabitants are hospitalized with the virus.

“Some would say this is cynical, but probably by the end of this winter, pretty much everyone in Germany will be vaccinated, recovered, or dead. That’s the reality,” Health Minister Jens Spahn said at a press conference in Berlin last week.

The ban on physician-assisted suicide in Germany was lifted over a year ago, and Free Democratic Member of Parliament Katrin Helling-Plahr introduced a law in January that would regulate physician-assisted suicide.

“We want to set the record straight — everyone has a right to self-determined death,” she said at the time.

Take a Bow, DeSantis: Florida Reports Nation’s Lowest Daily COVID Cases Per Capita By A.J. Kaufman

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/ari-j-kaufman/2021/11/29/take-a-bow-desantis-florida-reports-nations-lowest-daily-covid-cases-per-capita-n1537354

Florida currently has the lowest number of COVID-19 cases per capita in the United States.

The Sunshine State reported a daily average of 1,393 cases as of Friday, which is only six per 100,000, and a 2% decrease in the last two weeks.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has been slammed by partisan media critics since the pandemic began due to his opposition to government-imposed mask and vaccine mandates. Yet facts favor his decisions.

A buffoon named Chris King, who finished fifth in the 2018 Florida Democratic gubernatorial primary and is laughably running again in 2022, accused DeSantis of going on a “killing spree” for opposing mask mandates. Earlier this fall, the far-left rag Vanity Fair chose a huge “angel of death” headline to describe the successful governor.

They’ve yet again been proven irresponsible and wrong.

While Florida has the lowest amount of new cases in the country per capita, in states where draconian lockdown orders were issued by Democrat governors, coronavirus cases are surging.

Michigan, with two Democrat senators, and where progressive Gov. Gretchen Whitmer imposed some of the most controversial restrictions in America during the pandemic’s zenith, leads the nation in daily coronavirus cases per capita.

The Great Vaccine Mandate Scam The Trojan Horse that killed the economy. Wayne Allyn Root

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/11/great-vaccine-mandate-scam-wayne-allyn-root/

This is the Great Vaccine Mandate Scam. President Joe Biden is using the vaccine mandate (and vaccine passport to come) as a Trojan horse. In other words, it looks like he’s trying to protect America and save lives, when in reality he’s using this vaccine mandate as a cover story to destroy the U.S. economy, capitalism and the great American middle class, all at once.

This is a communist takeover of the U.S. by a small minority at the top who have rigged elections and are now busy hijacking the country, as if they have some powerful mandate.

They don’t. As a matter of fact, everyone hates Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. They have no popular support as they dismantle the country.

Have you seen the polls lately? Biden is at 36% approval in the latest Quinnipiac poll. 36%. It just can’t get much lower than that. Anything lower than that and your support is pretty much friends, relatives and paid campaign staff. Ask Harris. She’s at 28%.

How low can Joe go? Remember, when any Democrat politician gets up in the morning, they automatically have about 45% of the vote locked up. That represents everyone in America who lives on government handouts — welfare checks, food stamps, Medicaid, Obamacare and the 1,000 other government giveaways.

So, 36% support for Biden means that pretty much every working Joe and Jane in America has now turned against Biden. The entire middle class hates Biden’s guts. That’s why they chant “F—- Joe Biden” and “Let’s Go Brandon” at sporting events.

But Biden and his communist cabal don’t care. They are using a secret weapon to wipe out their middle-class opposition: the vaccine mandates.

Is ‘Justice Kamala Harris’ in the Supreme Court’s future? By Andrea Widburg

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/11/is_justice_kamala_harris_in_the_supreme_courts_future.html

The Democrat party desperately wanted the White House and engaged in all sorts of election chicanery to get it. They’re now saddled with an increasingly senile man whose decades of corruption (most of it involving using his son to sell out American interests) are catching up with him and a woman who is so gauche, unpleasant, and ineffective that just about everyone despises her. Because it’s a given, no matter what he says, that Biden cannot run in 2024 and probably won’t last that long, the Democrat party pooh-bahs are trying to dispose of Harris. A British outlet reports that the Supreme Court is one option the Democrats are considering.

Because the mainstream media are nothing more than propagandists for the Democrat party, it’s often difficult to get honestly reported insights into what’s going on in American politics. That’s where the foreign press comes in handy. The Telegraph, which is Britain’s more right-leaning paper (although it’s hardly conservative by American conservative standards), reported yesterday that the Democrats, in their desperation to rid themselves of Harris are looking to the possibility that they can park her on the Supreme Court:

Democrats desperately scrambling to find a potential successor to Joe Biden in 2024 are whispering about a potential nuclear option that could see Kamala Harris, the current Vice President, nominated to the Supreme Court.

While the scenario is highly improbable, and perhaps a reflection of a Washington rumour mill in overdrive, the fact it has come up at all shows the depths of the predicament the Biden administration currently finds itself in, amid rising inflation, a stalled domestic agenda, and foreign policy disasters.

Polls are now regularly showing Mr Biden’s approval rating below 40 per cent, and panic set in at the White House after a recent poll put Kamala Harris at an unelectable 28 per cent.

The left-field Supreme Court theory would mean Mr Biden nominating Ms Harris, a former high-flying prosecutor, if a seat on the court became available over the next three years, which it may well. Mr Biden could then use Section 2 of the 25th Amendment to nominate a more popular vice president.

That person would be the presumptive Democrat nominee should Mr Biden not run for re-election at the age of 82.

If Mr Biden stepped down before Nov 2024, the new vice president, under Section 1 of the 25th Amendment, would assume the presidency, and be able to run as an incumbent.

Capitol Punishment – The film every American must see By Patricia McCarthy

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/11/emcapitol_punishmentem__the_film_every_american_must_see_.html

The inimitable actor Nick Searcy was present in DC on January 6.  He has just released a film about what he saw that day, Capitol Punishment.  For all Americans who find it hard to believe that our FBI and DOJ are now very dangerous enemies of the people, this film will be a shock.  Those two law enforcement institutions are most assuredly now enemies of all law-abiding citizens.  The phenomenon of January 6th was no insurrection; it was a carefully calculated set-up.  

The powers that be, some cabal of Trump haters within our government, successfully manipulated those present to escalate the situation with the help of an unknown number of FBI operatives and some Antifa and BLM activists.  The so-called members of alleged militia groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers were very likely FBI operatives as well.  

How can that be?  Because they were there, have been identified and can be seen inciting people to breach the Capitol but have never been arrested or charged.  In the meantime, hundreds of thoroughly innocent people have been literally assaulted by the FBI, without warning, without warrants.  They’ve been thrown in jails, denied attorneys and due process. 

Darren Beattie of Revolver News and Julie Kelly at American Greatness have done yeomen’s work on the mis-reporting and judicial abuses that took place that day and in the almost year since.   It is a grim and very frightening tale of governmental abuse of power.  Searcy’s film shows just how far toward totalitarianism America has gone since Obama had his way with our federal institutions and just how perverse they have become since Donald Trump threatened to drain their swamp.   Despite everything the left threw at Trump from the moment announced his candidacy to the 2020 election failing to derail his 2016 election, they planned and plotted his political demise:  the Russia hoax, now traced directly to Hillary Clinton, two phony impeachment trials, and a host of other schemes in between.  

Those Ugly Climate Models

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/11/30/those-ugly-climate-models/

The narrative that man is cooking his planet like an overdone Thanksgiving turkey has survived only because the media have propped it up. But we’re confident that eventually the story will collapse. The evidence does not favor the climate alarmists.

A most-recent example that should help tilt the scales back toward sanity: Researchers have found that warming in the Arctic Ocean is not a recent event that coincides with post-war industrial acceleration and the growth of automobile ownership. It began at the outset of the previous century.

According to a University of Cambridge study, the warming arrived “decades earlier than records suggest,” and is “due to warmer water flowing into the delicate polar ecosystem from the Atlantic Ocean,” says Science Daily

“The results, reported in the journal Science Advances, provide the first historical perspective on Atlantification of the Arctic Ocean and reveal a connection with the North Atlantic that is much stronger than previously thought.”

In other words, there are climate and environmental influences that still aren’t fully understood.

Yet all we hear is that we have to trust the scientists, who have reached a consensus that man’s fossil-fuel burning habit is bringing planetary disaster. No dissent from this declaration is permitted. Those who refuse to pledge allegiance to the accepted story are branded as undesirables.

This is where we are in 2021, and where we’ve been for a couple of decades – in the world of climate studies, junk science has overtaken honest and open inquiry.