ISRAEL Comments turned off

Who Is Preventing Palestinians From Voting? by Khaled Abu Toameh

Posted By on March 3rd, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15671/palestinians-voting

The absence of parliamentary life for the Palestinians has, in fact, been highly convenient for Abbas, who continues to demonstrate zero tolerance towards his political rivals and critics.

While Palestinian members of parliament have been deprived of salaries and stripped of parliamentary immunity, as well as denied freedom of expression and the opportunity to exercise their parliamentary work, Arab members of the Knesset in Israel are free to say whatever they wish about the Israeli government and its policies without giving a single thought to possible repercussions.

For now, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip will have to continue accepting the reality of living under the unelected and totalitarian leaders of the PA and Hamas. For the Palestinians, each Israeli election serves as a sad reminder of the catastrophic failure of Palestinian leaders and the complete absence of democracy under the PA and Hamas.

The international community, meanwhile, continues to ignore that the Palestinians are being denied the chance to hold elections. Denouncing Israel can be a full-time job, one that leaves little room for remembering that, for 14 years, Palestinians have been deprived of their right to touch a ballot.

Yesterday, March 2, Israeli voters headed to the ballot boxes for the tenth time since the signing of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians in 1993. The Palestinians, by contrast, have since had only four elections — two for the Palestinian Authority (PA) presidency and two for the Palestinian parliament, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).

The last Palestinian election took place in 2006, when Palestinians voted for the PLC. Hamas, the Islamist movement ruling the Gaza Strip, won 44.4% of the vote (74 seats), while PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s rival Fatah faction won 41.4% of the vote (45 seats). The PLC has 132 seats.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Beyond Netanyahu’s Triumph

Posted By on March 3rd, 2020

https://www.nysun.com/editorials/beyond-netanyahus-on-the-brink-of-triumph/91034/

The way The New York Sun looks at what appears to be a dramatic victory by Prime Minister Netanyahu in today’s election is as part of a broader story. It involves not only Israel but all of the freedom countries. It echoes Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s triumph in the campaign for Brexit. The dynamic at work in the two elections may turn out to presage a victory by President Trump in the election that is gathering in America.

Results in Israel’s vote — it’s third in the past year, after two earlier contests failed to produce a government — appear, finally, to have put Mr. Netanyahu within reach of a mandate. It’s all the more astonishing because it comes as the incumbent premier is about to stand trial on criminal charges of bribery. Yet early returns show that Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud Party appears to be within a seat or three of a majority in the Knesset.

If confirmed, that would put Mr. Netanyahu in the pole position to seek to put together a government by trying to win over from other parties one or more Knesset members. He could even seek coalition partners from the main opposition bloc, known as Blue and White. The betting is that Mr. Netanyahu will be able to do that. No newspapermen are predicting otherwise, though final results are due only Wednesday.

POLITICS Comments turned off

Pro-Trump Group Pushes Back After Obama Tries to Get Advertisement Pulled Off the Air By Zachary Stieber

Posted By on March 2nd, 2020

https://www.theepochtimes.com/pro-trump-group-pushes-back-after-obama-tries-to-get-advertisement-pulled-off-the-air_3257751.html

A group that is working on getting President Donald Trump re-elected refused to pull an advertisement that features former President Barack Obama talking about his vice president, Joe Biden.

Obama asked television stations in South Carolina to should stop running the ad, which features Obama reading some of his words in a way that maligns Biden.

“Joe Biden promised to help our community. It was a lie. Here’s President Obama,” a narrator says before Obama is heard reading from one of his books. An Obama spokeswoman said the video “is clearly designed to suppress turnout among minority voters in South Carolina by taking President Obama’s voice out of context and twisting his words to mislead viewers.”

The Perkins Coie law firm sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Committee to Defend the President, the group behind the ad, claiming that the video featured an “unauthorized use of President Obama’s name, image, likeness, voice, and book passage.”

The use violated Obama’s right of publicity and the U.S. Copyright Act, the firm alleged.

In a response letter, the group behind the ad declined to stop running it, asserting the use of the content “is a lawful expression of political speech” and that it “has complied with all applicable laws and regulations governing its advocacy activity.”

The use of third-party content is either directly licensed or falls within the principles of fair use of copyrighted material, Dan Becker, counsel to the group, wrote in the response.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

A masterful post explains why coronavirus in China and America may differ By Andrea Widburg

Posted By on March 2nd, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/03/a_masterful_post_explains_why_coronavirus_in_china_and_america_may_differ.html

In San Francisco in the 1970s and 1980s, it was routine to see men from China spit in the streets, blow their noses in their fingers and then wipe their hands on anything nearby, and generally violate American hygienic norms.  Outside the tourist zones, Chinatown’s restaurants and grocery stores also suggested resistance to American hygiene.

The Chinese who came to America to escape communism were amazing people and model immigrants.  They worked hard and were so family-focused and education-oriented that, usually within one generation, they made the leap from Chinatown squalor to lovely suburbs.  However, unlike the Japanese, the Chinese did not bring with them a culture of cleanliness.

When it comes to epidemic diseases, these cultural norms matter — and political systems may matter even more.

One of the things noted here last week is that the coronavirus, unlike ordinary respiratory viruses, may also be transmitted through fecal matter (emphasis added):

Speaking of filthy, one of the problems with coronavirus is that, even though it’s an upper respiratory disease, it’s also spread by fecal matter.  It will be a disaster in places that don’t have good fecal matter control: China (primitive toilets and no culture of hand-washing); India (which is working hard to bring toilets to people, but it’s slow going); Africa (a world drowning in fecal matter); and San Francisco (also drowning in fecal matter).  

That reference to hygiene in China gained new meaning from reading a viral post from Regie Hamilton, who was in China eighteen years ago to adopt his daughter.  He vividly remembers the cultural comfort with fecal matter and other disease vectors:

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

WHO WILL REPLACE IRREPLACEABLE MARK MEADOWS IN NORTH CAROLINA’S DISTRICT 11?

Posted By on March 2nd, 2020

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/03/dan-driscoll-north-carolina-11th-congressional-district-race-young-veteran-braves-11-way-gop-primary/

A young veteran makes his case in an eleven-way primary. By John McCormack

With all eyes on the Democratic presidential race, it’s difficult for candidates running in down-ballot primaries on Super Tuesday to get much attention. It’s even more challenging when there are eleven candidates running for their party’s nomination in one congressional race, as is the case in the Republican campaign to succeed retiring North Carolina representative Mark Meadows.

“Basically, what the local papers have all said is there’s too many people running and they want to try to give people equal coverage,” said Dan Driscoll, a young Republican Iraq War veteran running to replace Meadows, in a phone interview on Sunday. With the local media not particularly interested in the race, Driscoll has instead relied on grassroots campaigning: “We have 25 guys who deployed with me to Iraq . . . making calls to voters.”

The good news for Driscoll, as he tours VFW halls and those who served with him call voters across the district, is that he has a winning story to tell: After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill, the North Carolina native attended Army Ranger school and was then deployed to Iraq. When he got home, he attended Yale Law School on the G.I. bill. He graduated from Yale in 2014 and has worked for the last several years investing in businesses across his home state.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Greta Thunberg and the Case of the Muddy Carbon Footprints Eco-activists descend upon a treasured local environment. James Freeman

Posted By on March 2nd, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/greta-thunberg-and-the-case-of-the-muddy-carbon-footprints-11583173445?mod=opinion_lead_pos8

Teen climate celebrity Greta Thunberg inspired thousands of British children to skip school on Friday and protest global warming. Unfortunately the young activists damaged the treasured green space where they chose to rally. Residents are hopeful that their resilient local environment will stage a robust ecological recovery.

The BBC reports:

Around 15,000 people are believed to have attended Friday’s Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate rally, churning up College Green and angering many…
The combination of thousands of people and heavy rain turned much of the grass into mud, angering some.

Ms. Thunberg has been presented as a sort of expert on the environment by alleged adults in the international press. The 17-year-old Swede has been urging young people around the world to temporarily abandon their classrooms to attend public demonstrations like the one in Bristol. In an otherwise favorable report on Friday’s event, the New Zealand Herald noted the impact of all those little feet as well as the energy-consuming devices in all those little hands:

As the rain poured down, transforming parts of the ground into a mudbath and lending the event a soggy festival vibe, chants of “Greta! Greta!” filled the air.
Thousands of mobile phones were raised above heads, like a salute, to honour the moment.

John Varga writes in the Express that when the BBC “posted pictures of a brown, muddy trampled College Green lawn after the crowds had dispersed, furious locals took to Twitter to accuse Ms Thunberg of hypocrisy and having scant regard for the environment.” Adds Mr. Varga:

One wrote: “College Green is a popular place, it has been totally trashed, but do not put all the blame on the rain.
“It will cost thousands to lay more grass and make it beautiful again.
“Hope you are happy Greta and enjoyed the chaos you and your followers caused.”
Another fumed: “Destroyed the grass which absorbs greenhouse gases in the centre of Bristol.”

In the Mail on Sunday, Holly Bancroft describes Bristol’s College Green as “a sacred site throughout the Middle Ages”. Ms. Bancroft credits Ms. Thunberg for “a rousing speech about the need to reduce the world’s carbon footprint” but adds that “her supporters’ footprints did little to preserve the city’s famous lawn – in fact, they turned it into a muddy eyesore.”

***

Meanwhile across the Atlantic, students on one U.S. college campus were staging their own somber gathering. But this event focused on a local rather than a global concern. Michael Sneff writes for the Daily Collegian, the student newspaper at Penn State:

A crowd of Penn State students and State College community members gathered Sunday night to collectively mourn the closing of the Taco Bell, located at 310 E. College Ave.
“Taco Bell is not gone, it is not forgotten, but it lives here, in our sauce packets,” student Kevin Victor (junior-computer science) said.

Mr. Sneff reports that the vigil was organized by Penn State student Prajesh Patel, who appeared in a taco costume. Adds Mr. Sneff:

“We were all shooketh after hearing about the closing of this beautiful, beautiful State College establishment,” Patel (senior-computer science) said to the crowd. “Taco Bell was our home away from home, and added spice to our life.”
He said he will miss the food during late nights, but will miss the conversations he had at the establishment more, saying he met many of his current friends there.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Federal Judge Orders Hillary Clinton Deposition Over Private Emails; ‘Still More to Learn’ By Matt Margolis

Posted By on March 2nd, 2020

https://pjmedia.com/trending/breaking-federal-judge-orders-hillary-clinton-deposition-over-private-emails-says-still-more-to-learn/

A federal judge has ordered former Secretary of State and failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to sit for a sworn deposition in order to answer more questions regarding her use of a private email server during her tenure at the State Department. D.C. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth granted a request from conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, arguing that her past statements on the matter were insufficient, Fox News reports.

“As extensive as the existing record is, it does not sufficiently explain Secretary Clinton’s state of mind when she decided it would be an acceptable practice to set up and use a private server to conduct State Department business,” Lamberth said. According to Lamberth, Clinton’s previous written responses to questions “were either incomplete, unhelpful, or cursory at best. Simply put her responses left many more questions than answers.”

Judge Lamberth specifically ordered an in-person deposition because using written questions now “will only muddle any understanding of Secretary Clinton’s state of mind and fail to capture the full picture, thus delaying the final disposition of this case even further.”

CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, POLITICS Comments turned off

Neither Bernie, Nor Biden, Nor Bloomberg Will Stop Trump’s Winning Roger Kimball

Posted By on March 2nd, 2020

www.theepochtimes.com/neither-bernie-nor-biden-nor-bloomberg-will-stop-trumps-continued-winning_3256666.html

I’m glad Joe Biden won the South Carolina primary so decisively. Judging by the vacant but enthusiastic smile on his face at his victory celebration, I suspect he believes he just won the presidency.

I hope no one will disabuse him of that fantasy.

He should now gracefully retire to private life and entertain himself with memories of his glory days and his incredibly—I use the word advisedly—long list of accomplishments.

Poor Biden. His victory in South Carolina won’t, as some pundits are claiming, “resuscitate” or “breathe life” into the ailing former vice president’s asphyxiating campaign. That ship has sailed, as we’ll all see on March 3, when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg divide up most of the delegate cake.

I have no doubt that Bloomberg’s wall-to-wall advertising blitz will win him a lot of votes. As I’ve noted previously, money doesn’t have a large vocabulary, but it does know how to say “Yes.” “Mini Mike” has spent some $500 million dollars so far, and his campaign is barely underway.

Still, I doubt he’ll be able to effectively impersonate Autolycus, that amiable rogue in “The Winter’s Tale,” who bragged that he, like the chap who stole Odysseus’s helmet, was a “snapper-up of unconsidered trifles.”

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Benjamin Netanyahu defeats Benny Gantz with striking 60-seat bloc It is expected that after the third election in one year, this time the prime minister will succeed in forming a government.

Posted By on March 2nd, 2020

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/Benjamin-Netanyahus-Right-bloc-wins-majority-exit-polls-619513

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu succeeded in winning 60 seats for his bloc of right-wing and religious parties in Monday’s election, one less than he needed for a majority in the Knesset, according to exit polls on the three television networks.

The exit polls indicated that Netanyahu’s Likud won 36-37 seats. Its allies in Shas, UTJ and Yamina won 9, 7-8 and 6-7 respectively. The polls gave Blue and White 33 seats, its ally Labor-Gesher-Meretz 6-7, the Joint List 14-15 and Yisrael Beytenu 6-8.The numbers are expected to change overnight. The votes of IDF soldiers, who tend to lean to the Right, have not yet been counted and the Joint List tends to go down a seat when the soldiers’ votes are added. But if the Right does not obtain its 61st seat, it could end up being because the far Right Otzma Yehudit party refused Netanyahu’s repeated requests to quit the race.

POLITICS Comments turned off

Why Did Amy Klobuchar Drop Out? Does It Matter? Charles Lipson

Posted By on March 2nd, 2020

https://spectator.us/amy-klobuchar-drop-out/
Party Insiders Would Rather Go to a Meet-and-Greet in Wuhan than See an Avowed Socialist at the Top of the Ticket

Minnesota Nice Wasn’t Enough. Neither were Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s center-left positions and bland presentations. And so, today, she left the race for president. Why?

The immediate reason is that her chances of winning anything on Super Tuesday were grim. The only exception was her home state, and it was far from certain. Klobuchar’s failures at the ballot box meant she had no plausible path forward. Her donors would stop giving and her backers would begin blaming her (and other also-rans) for blocking Joe Biden, who they now see as the only center-left candidate with a shot at the nomination. Biden’s huge victory in South Carolina and Bloomberg’s disastrous debates cemented that position. 

Party insiders are desperate for an alternative to Bernie Sanders. They would rather go to a meet-and-greet in Wuhan than see an avowed socialist at the top of the ticket. Those pros have solid reasons for their fear. First, they think Sanders would devastate their down-ballot candidates, jeopardizing their chances to keep the House and retake the Senate. They could be wrong, just as Republican insiders were in 2016, but they are convinced Bernie would pose impossible obstacles for centrist Democrats across the country. Second, Bernie would assault the insiders hold on lucrative lobbying contracts and policy influence, just as Trump’s victory smacked down the K Street Republicans, the US Chamber of Commerce, and traditional Republican think tanks.