RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/01/texas-synagogue-hostage-crisis-a-case-study-in-downplaying-antisemitism/

“And, in the historic harmony of American life, there are more anti-Jewish crimes perpetrated than all the other religiously motivated crimes combined — often at the hands of other minority groups. And the habit of downplaying this kind of antisemitism, or appropriating it for partisanship, is a dangerous game.”

Being cautious about assigning motive seems to apply only to certain politically inconvenient acts.

W atching the Congregation Beth Israel hostage situation unfold this weekend, one might have been under the impression that a 44-year-old British Islamist named Malik Faisal Akram had traveled 5,000 miles and then merely wandered into a temple in a Dallas suburb by happenstance, before taking four hostages and demanding the release of a notorious terrorist.

Akram — or as the Telegraph described him, a man “with an English accent” — allegedly demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, known by the moniker “Lady al-Qaeda,” from the nearby Carswell Air Force Base. Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist who spent years in North America, is serving an 86-year sentence for the attempted murder of a U.S. soldier in 2010. The Justice Department alleges that she was picked up carrying notes on how to manufacture a “dirty bomb” and held plans for potential attacks on the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge.

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/01/17/ii-tipp-poll-is-religion-under-attack-a-majority-say-yes/

Both sides of the political debate agree that there’s a schism of sorts in America, a cultural battle that transcends ordinary politicking and goes to the heart of how we see ourselves and our fellow Americans. And one of the elements of that cultural battle, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll suggests, is religion.

The monthly I&I/TIPP sounding of public opinion asked: “Do you agree or disagree with the statement “religion is under attack in the U.S.?”

Among those responding, 52% said they agree, while 40% said they disagree. About 9% said they weren’t sure (numbers don’t add to 100% due to rounding).

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/01/18/the-murdering-of-free-speech-in-america/

In Cato’s 15th letter, the writers who compiled the series of essays under a pen name inspired by the Roman senator who stood against the tyranny of Julius Caesar argued that “freedom of speech is the great bulwark of liberty; they prosper and die together.” Today, we are watching that death play out before us.

President Joe Biden, whose growing unpopularity is well-deserved, continued to carry on last week what has become a Democratic tradition: He asked the private sector to become partners in censorship with the federal government.

“I make a special appeal to social media companies and media outlets, please deal with disinformation and misinformation that’s on your shows,” he said during a virtual meeting from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. “It has to stop.”

Of course, Big Tech and the legacy media have been happy to oblige.

“​​When the leader of the majority party in Washington, D.C., issues a demand, the largest corporations listen,” journalist Glenn Greenwald tweeted in response to Biden’s “will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?” proposition.

“Again: so much of the censorship from Google and other tech monopolies is done not on their own accord but under pressure and threats from Democratic Party leaders.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-politicized-fed-endangers-economy-monetary-federal-reserve-powell-balance-sheet-climate-stress-test-social-justice-11642448983?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

During Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s reconfirmation hearing last week, there was an understandable focus on inflation. Led by Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, several senators expressed concerns that politicization of the Fed is hampering its effectiveness in dealing with inflation and could lead to an erosion of monetary-policy independence. If such concerns are left unaddressed, the American economy will suffer.

Congress should resist the temptation to use the Fed to advance social policy or fund its favorite programs off-budget. In turn, the Fed should halt its mission creep into fiscal policy and stay out of unrelated partisan congressional debate.

Out of the hundreds of federal agencies, commissions and bureaus, arguably none are more independent of congressional checks, balances and accountability than the Fed. But this historic grant of independence from Congress was designed only for the narrow purpose of conducting monetary policy, which today is defined by Congress’s dual mandate to achieve stable prices and maximum employment. Ever since the 2008 financial crisis, the Fed has been engaged in much more, and the lines between monetary policy and fiscal policy have become blurred.

During the 2008 financial crisis the Fed, using its so-called 13(3) exigent-circumstances powers, propped up a single sector of the economy—the housing market—not to mention nondepository financial institutions like investment bank Bear Stearns. In 2010 Congress broke precedent and used the Fed’s balance sheet to fund in perpetuity the newly created and unrelated Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In 2015 it used the Fed’s capital surplus account to help fund a highway bill.

Since the advent of Covid, the Fed has become thoroughly ensconced in fiscal policy, specifically credit policy, by backstopping practically every credit market in the U.S. Extraordinary times require extraordinary actions. The nation should be grateful for many emergency measures the Fed took during two historic crises. But these steps went way beyond the Fed’s monetary-policy remit. Continuing them in ordinary times is fraught with peril. To use a dramatic parallel, Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War. Few thought that was wise or constitutional after Appomattox.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/anti-semitism-and-double-standards-hostage-synagogue-colleyville-islamist-islamophobia-white-supremacist-trump-11642432003?mod=opinion_lead_pos7

I spent Friday night like millions of other Jews, at the Shabbat table with my family, and then spent Saturday night like millions of other Jews, watching the phone for updates on the hostage situation at the Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas. I went to bed thankful for the bravery and professionalism of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, puzzled as to how and why the hostage-taker, a British Muslim, ended up in a synagogue in Texas—and somehow not surprised.

I wasn’t surprised that it happened. This sort of crime isn’t yet normal, but it is starting to feel familiar. Familiar enough for Jewish parents to calculate the chances of getting caught in the statistical crossfire every time we take our children to synagogues, schools and Jewish-themed events. This is part of the reality of Jewish life in America today.

When you’re perpetually calculating these odds, the question of whether the person who might shoot up the place is a deranged Islamist or a deranged white nationalist is secondary. Yet it’s of primary importance to the media and political parties. Terrorism, like everything else in this balkanized society, has become a team sport, for both its protagonists and their cheerleaders. Perception, the battle of images, has become more important than reality to our politicians.

Political ideologies exist in a continuum, from the small number of true believers to the larger number of those who sympathize in some degree with the terrorist’s grievance but not his actions, and the largest number—those who, embarrassed by association, want to minimize or look the other way. The swing vote in presidential elections gets smaller every four years, making it more necessary to get out the vote in key sectors, and more tempting to exploit the full range of the ideological continuum, including the extremist fringe.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2022/01/15/disclosures-released-dr-fauci-household-profits-exceeded-17-million-in-2020–included-income-royalties-travel-perks-and-investment-gains/?sh=281794d07d5f

Last night, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall received Dr. Anthony Fauci’s unredacted FY2020 financial disclosures. The release following a heated Senate exchange between Fauci and Marshall which concluded with Fauci called the senator a “moron.”

The financial disclosures contain a wealth of previously unknown information. For example, the Fauci household’s net worth exceeds $10.4 million.

During the pandemic year of 2020, their household income, perks and benefits, and unrealized gains totaled $1,776,479 — including federal income and benefits of $868,812; outside royalties and travel perks totaling $113,298; and investment accounts increasing by $794,369.

Here are the numbers as compiled by the auditors at OpenTheBooks.com, an organization I lead. This analysis used previously known information plus the newly released disclosures.

Investment Income: $794,369

http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com

President Biden’s two immediate predecessors fractured the nation with divisive talk. In his campaign, Mr. Biden promised unification. Instead, he has increased dissension, focusing on identity politics, federalizing voting laws and diminishing the role of the traditional family, all the while calling his political opponents misogynists, racists, xenophobes, bigots and domestic terrorists who want to destroy democracy. Such intemperate language does little to bridge legitimate differences between Democrats and Republicans – progressives and conservatives. He has wasted political capital, personally denigrating those with whom he disagrees, which has meant less time on issues that affect all Americans, regardless of Party – from the economy, inflation, education and illegal immigration at home to the consequences for the United States as to what is happening in the Middle East, Central Asia, China and Russia.

The calamitous withdrawal from Afghanistan sent a message to its allies that the United States’ commitment means little, and to its enemies that America need not be feared. The Abraham Accords, one of the Trump Administration’s finest achievements, has been stalled by the anti-Israel stand of the Biden Administration, and by a desire to reinstitute the Iranian nuclear deal. While Western imperialism of an earlier time is, perhaps justifiably, denigrated, its reincarnation in the East – in China and Russia – is ignored by the same pundits who criticize the West. Recent riots in Kazakhstan and the plight of the Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang Province are examples of unrest that are being dealt with harshly by Russia and China, while the West turns a blind eye.