Pelosi Meets With Islamist Groups About Overturning ‘Muslim Ban,’ Impeaching Trump By Kyle Shideler

https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/13/pelosi-meets-with-islamist-groups-about-overturning-muslim-ban-impeaching-trump/

The meeting between Pelosi and the Muslim Advocates-led group represents yet more evidence of the alignment of Islamists as full members of the leftist political resistance to Trump.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took time out during the House’s ongoing impeachment effort to meet with a group of Muslim activists. The activists were seeking support for legislation to oppose the president’s executive order 13780, banning travel from countries of national security concern. Critics insist on identifying the executive order as a “Muslim ban” despite that it affects only seven countries, two of which—North Korea and Venezuela—are not Muslim. The executive order was upheld by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling.

Pelosi attended a meeting on December 10 organized by Muslim Advocates, which led lawsuits against the travel ban. The group is known for opposing even the most reasonable counter-terrorism efforts, and played a key role in undermining Customs and Border patrol efforts to screen for radical Islamists during the Obama administration.

Pelosi met with a number of Muslim organizers and politicians from around the country, with both Sunni and Shia groups represented. A representative of the Open Society Foundation was also present, according to pictures of the meeting provided by Muslim Advocates.

The meeting was organized to encourage Pelosi to support H.R. 2214, the so-called No Ban Act, introduced by Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif), which seeks to prevent the president from enforcing the travel ban and seeks to extend other limitations on the president’s authority to restrict immigration for national security reasons. Chu has a history of close ties to Islamist lobby groups. The bill currently has 205 co-sponsors, all Democrats.

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Appeals Over the Release of Trump’s Financial Records By Janita Kan

https://www.theepochtimes.com/supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-appeals-over-the-release-of-trumps-financial-records_3173732.html?utm_source=pushengage&utm_medium=pushnotification&utm_campaign=pushengage

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear President Donald Trump’s appeals in cases requesting the top court to block the House and a Manhattan investigation from having access to his financial records.

The top court justices met in a private conference on Friday to discuss whether to hear Trump’s appeals of lower court decisions that require his accounting firm Mazars USA and two banks to comply with the subpoenas issued by the House and a New York District attorney in a grand jury probe.

Three cases relating to Trump’s financial records have reached the Supreme Court in recent weeks after appellate judges upheld the subpoenas. Two of the cases stem from subpoenas that were issued earlier in the year by three House committees as part of their investigations into the president’s dealings. Meanwhile, the third case—the one where the private conference was scheduled—deals with a criminal investigation in Manhattan.

Trump has asked the Supreme Court to reverse the lower courts’ decisions in all three cases.

The justices on Friday afternoon granted Trump’s request to hear the appeals for all three cases and consolidated two of the cases so that they could be heard together (pdf). Oral arguments for all three cases will be scheduled for March 2020.

The subpoenas are unrelated to the two articles of impeachment that were approved by the House Judiciary Committee on Friday morning and could continue to cause concerns for the president into 2020 even if he is acquitted by the Senate.

Take Note, Democrats: The UK Election Was A Referendum On Progressivism By Erielle Davidson

https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/13/take-note-democrats-the-uk-election-was-a-referendum-on-progressivism/

Last night, in a historic election, the UK Conservative Party celebrated its most sweeping victory since Margaret Thatcher, the original “Euroskeptic,” won the election for Prime Minister in 1987. The election had been regarded as particularly momentous, given the UK’s recent struggles to bring the much-debated Brexit to fruition. The Conservative Party won 364 seats in UK Parliament, compared to Labour’s 204, catapulting Conservative leader Boris Johnson to the position of Prime Minister. It was the worst defeat for Labour since 1935.

But in addition to Brexit woes, the election was also saddled with the baggage of the UK Labour Party and its controversial leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Over the past several years, Labour has been mired in accusations of anti-semitism, which seemed to plague both its members and leaders. The accusations culminated in nearly a dozen members of the party opting to defect in protest of Corbyn’s incapacity to deal with what many felt to be a rising culture of toxicity within Labour.

Just last week, a leaked memo written by Jewish Labour members to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the UK’s official regulatory body devoted to issues of discrimination, revealed the depths to which both the party and Corbyn had minimized, dismissed, or simply ignored accusations of anti-semitism within Labour, often identifying such criticisms to be a “right-wing smear.” Several times in an interview with BBC’s Andrew Neil last month, Corbyn failed to offer any sort of substantive apology, even when confronted with the statistic that nearly a half of British Jews were “seriously considering” leaving the UK, should Corbyn win the election.

The Evidence Against Trump vs. the Evidence Against the FBI . By Peter J. Wallison

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/12/13/the_evidence_against_trump_vs_the_evidence_against_the_fbi_141950.html

The House of Representatives, if the pundits are right, is about to impeach Donald Trump for attempting to use his position as president of the United States for his personal political benefit. Everyone should agree that impeachment is a serious matter, simply — if not for any other reason — because it nullifies the votes that over 60 million people cast in 2016. Under these circumstances, what do we actually know about the conduct that has put the president in jeopardy of impeachment?

In a criminal trial — a trial that would send a person to prison, or worse — we insist on a proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. It’s highly unlikely that any of those who believe impeachment is justified would say that the evidence is sufficient to conclude that the charges against him are true beyond a reasonable doubt.

In a civil case, where a person is sued for doing wrong to another, the standard is a preponderance of the evidence. That means the evidence should be examined and weighed to determine liability. That standard — preponderance of the evidence — would appear to be the minimum requirement for the finding of any wrongdoing, particularly when the question is the impeachment, conviction and removal of the president.

The full House is about to debate the impeachment of President Trump on a charge of putting his personal political interests ahead of the interests of the United States. There are reasonable grounds to debate whether this is an impeachable offense, but at this point the real question is whether the House has the evidence to take such a fateful step for the country.

Iran’s Plan to Foil the Gaza Ceasefire by Khaled Abu Toameh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15268/iran-plan-gaza-ceasefire

The protesters are saying, in other words, that the Iranian people are fed up watching their country deliver hundreds of millions of dollars to Palestinian and Lebanese terrorist groups instead of improving the economic situation in Iran.

Iran is apparently determined to pursue its goal of exporting its “Islamic Revolution” to as many Arab countries as possible, including the Palestinian arena. Another Iranian goal: the elimination of Israel.

This is how Iran’s leaders see the situation: “We are not sending these groups and militias cash and guns so that they can strike ceasefire deals.”

That is why it is safe to assume that even if the Egyptians manage to secure any kind of a ceasefire between the Palestinian groups and Israel, the leaders of Tehran will do their utmost to obstruct such an agreement.

Iran seems concerned that its Palestinian allies in the Gaza Strip may reach a long-term ceasefire with Israel. That is probably why Iran summoned leaders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) to Tehran after reports in the Arab media suggested that the Egyptians have made significant progress in their efforts to achieve a long-term ceasefire between the Gaza-based Palestinian factions, including Hamas and PIJ.

According to the reports, the leaders of Hamas and PIJ who visited Cairo agreed to a long-term ceasefire with Israel. Both groups reportedly told the Egyptians that they would commit to the proposed ceasefire only if Israel halts targeted killings of Hamas and PIJ operatives.

Congressmen Want US Islamist Organizations Investigated for Terror Financing The State Department could start by looking into ICNA and its supporters in Tennessee. Cathy Hinners

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2019/12/congressmen-want-us-islamist-organizations-frontpagemagcom/

Kudos to a trio of Congressmen, including Tennessee Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, for requesting that the State Department investigate the “innocuous sounding organization Helping Hands for Relief and Development (HHRD) and their ‘sister organization,’ the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)” for “promoting extremist ideology and terror finance”:

While they sell themselves as innocuous Muslim civil society organizations, they are, in fact, arms of one of the most radical networks in the world.

Fleischmann has good reasons to pursue this inquiry since individuals intimately tied to both ICNA and HHRD are active in Tennessee.

House Resolution 160, which preceded the Congressmen’s letter, claims HHRD and ICNA are domestic affiliates of Jamaat-e-Islami.

Jamaat-e-Islami is a jihadi South Asian Sunni revivalist movement dedicated to Islamic revolution, extremist Sunni Muslim ideology, and the establishment of a global caliphate.

The House Resolution also states that ICNA is “openly affiliated with Jamaat-e-Islami,” and shares leadership with them, while HHRD collaborates with a Pakistani terrorist network.

Germany vs. Muslim Criminal Clans Welcome to the tearing apart of German social fabric. Stephen Brown

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2019/12/germany-vs-muslim-criminal-clans-stephen-brown/

It’s a story for which police have no solution.

Since the beginning of the year until last October there have been 237 police actions against mostly Muslim Arab and Kurdish criminal clans in Berlin alone. In the last one, 400 federal policemen searched clan members’ residences and business premises.

Clan criminality involves itself in Shisha-Bars, gambling offices and amusement arcades. But their more illegal activities concern protection money, bodily injury, extortion, drug dealing, money-laundering, control of the red-light scene, making false documents, murder and contract murders.

A senior state prosecutor stated that there are 20 to 25 clans in Berlin of whom seven to eight are criminal. All areas of Berlin are affected as well as all German states. Each clan also has hundreds of members with most living from welfare.

“Their male members play a considerable roll in drug dealing and red-light criminality,” stated a state prosecutor. “However, there are also family members who are quiet that support the criminal structure.

The High Crime of Nothing A sober look at Dems’ bogus — and surreal — articles of impeachment. Deborah Weiss

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2019/12/high-crime-nothing-deborah-weiss/

As most of you know, the House has announced that it will issue articles of impeachment this week. As of now, two have been determined, though there may be more to come. They are: 1) Trump’s “abuse of power” and 2) “obstruction of congress”.

ARTICLE 1: ABUSE OF POWER

1) This article of impeachment document uses the word “scheme” to describe Trump’s colloquy whereby he asked Ukraine President Zelensky to conduct investigations. This is consistent with the Democrat lawyer/witness Daniel Goldman’s “testimony” where he repeatedly referred to Trump’s request for investigations as a “scheme”. This word is a characterization of a fact, and not a fact in and of itself.

2) The article asserts that President Trump solicited an investigation that “would benefit his re-election, harm the political prospects of a political opponent and influence the 2020 elections to his advantage.” Note: here the Democrats are not attributing motive but simply stating that such investigations would benefit the President. So it appears that the Democrats believe anything which happens to benefit the president and harm an “opponent” is impeachable. If we accept the possibility that the proposed investigations were to root out corruption, as President Trump has indicated, then perhaps on some level, this article is acknowledges, in effect, that rooting out corruption is to Trump’s advantage and a Democrat opponent’s disadvantage in the 2020 election.

3) Subsequently, the article states that Trump did this for “corrupt purposes”. This language echoes Professor Feldman’s testimony as well as conclusions. Professor Feldman repeatedly, without any objective basis, used the adjective “corruptly” to describe President Trump’s neutral behavior, in order to attribute motive to him, despite the fact that he is not a mind-readers and has no direct evidence to support his conclusion.

Kosher Market Gunman Was Farrakhan Fan Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2019/12/kosher-market-gunman-was-farrakhan-fan-daniel-greenfield/

After Barack Obama was caught posing with Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the racist Nation of Islam hate group, after Keith Ellison, after Women’s March leaders Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour (currently with the Bernie Sanders campaign) were caught cheering Farrakhan, each time the media made the argument that Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism was inconsequential because even though he praised Hitler, it didn’t lead to violence.

Now it turns out that the Jersey City Kosher market gunman was a fan of Farrakhan and obsessively played recordings of his ravings.

 Mr. Anderson repeatedly played audio recordings of a man the neighbor believed to be Louis Farrakhan, and sounded like he himself was growing agitated. He shouted bible verses and then chanted out his interpretations of what they meant.

The neighbor said the most common theme was that Mr. Anderson’s religion was the only true faith while others — specifically Catholicism and Judaism — were false.

He soon heard Ms. Graham join in the chanting and said she sounded “coerced.”

A Nuclear Milestone for Climate Federal go-ahead for Florida reactors could start a chain reaction.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-nuclear-milestone-for-climate-11576196316?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

You probably haven’t heard about a recent regulatory decision that will reduce carbon emissions because it doesn’t follow the green template of controlling private industry and suppressing economic growth.

Last week the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for the first time extended a nuclear plant’s license so it can operate for 80 years. The decision for the Turkey Point reactors in south Florida could encourage other plant owners to apply for renewals and extend the viability of the leading carbon-free energy source.

A majority of the 58 nuclear plants now supplying power to U.S. homes and businesses were built in the 1970s and 1980s, when they were licensed for 40 years. Most plants have applied for and received 20-year extensions to bring their life spans to 60 years. Yet antinuclear activists use the license renewal periods to pressure plants to close, and until the Turkey Point decision it was an open question whether the NRC would approve second 20-year extensions.

The federal go-ahead for Turkey Point comes at an important time for America’s maturing nuclear fleet. The 2010s saw a wave of plant closures, and according to the Nuclear Energy Institute half of U.S. plants would shut down by 2040 without a second extension. Nine are seeking one so far.