NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Turley: Democrats offering passion over proof in Trump impeachment By Jonathan Turley

Posted By on December 6th, 2019

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/473171-turley-democrats-offering-passion-over-proof-in-trump-impeachment

The most dangerous place for an academic is often between the House and the impeachment of an American president. I knew that going into the first hearing of the House Judiciary Committee on the impeachment of Donald Trump. After all, Alexander Hamilton that impeachment would often occur in an environment of “agitated passions.” Yet I remained a tad naive in hoping that an academic discussion on the history and standards of it might offer a brief hiatus from hateful rhetoric on both sides.

In my testimony Wednesday, I lamented that, as in the impeachment of President Clinton from 1998 to 1999, there is an intense “rancor and rage” and “stifling intolerance” that blinds people to opposing views. My call for greater civility and dialogue may have been the least successful argument I made to the committee. Before I finished my testimony, my home and office were inundated with threatening messages and demands that I be fired from George Washington University for arguing that, while a case for impeachment can be made, it has not been made on this record.

Some of the most heated attacks came from Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee. Representative Eric Swalwell of California attacked me for defending my client, Judge Thomas Porteous, in the last impeachment trial and noted that I lost that case. Swalwell pointed out that I said Porteous had not been charged with a crime for any conduct, which is an obviously material point for any impeachment defense.

EDUCATION Comments turned off

To take back America, we need to take back the schools By Cheryl K. Chumley

Posted By on December 6th, 2019

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/aug/31/take-back-america-take-back-s

The fact that socialists are openly running for public office in America — that socialists actually hold public office in Congress — should serve as enough wakeup call that the nation’s moral and political compasses are skewed, in dire need of correcting.

That it doesn’t only screams this: America’s public school systems have become utter failures.

So the one thing patriots in this country should throw all their efforts into right now is taking back the schools from the far-leftists who’ve been able to dominate the direction of administration and teaching in recent years.

Look at America’s schools in years past versus years present.

“As recently as 20 years ago, the United States was ranked No. 1 in high school and college education,” Jon Guttman, a research director for the World History Group wrote at History Net. “In 2009, the United States was ranked 18th out of 36 industrialized nations. Over that time, complacency and inefficiency, reflective of lower priorities in education, and inconsistencies among the various school systems contribute to a decline.”

That’s partly to blame.

So’s this: administrative bloat.

Between 1950 and 2009, the student population of America’s public schools grew by 96%. The growth in teachers during that same time was 252%. But the growth of administrators and other office staffers? That jumped 702%, American Enterprise Institute reported.

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

US should back Iran’s protesters by Lawrence Haas

Posted By on December 6th, 2019

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/473200-us-should-back-irans-protesters

More than half a century ago, President John F. Kennedy re-wrote U.S. policy for the developing world with one goal in mind: to put America on the side of revolutionary forces that were seeking progressive change.

His predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower, had subjected U.S. policy in the developing world to the wishes of America’s European allies that maintained colonies across the world and often ruled harshly.

JFK, however, knew that change was coming in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where hundreds of millions of people were growing increasingly frustrated over political oppression and stunted living standards. He also knew that the next generation of leaders on those continents would remember whether or not Washington had lent its support to their efforts. That would determine whether, in the aftermath of change, the United States found itself with new allies or new adversaries.

Washington faces that same question today in Iran, which is now home to what could be the most sustained protests since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. When the regime falls, as it surely will (whether in a month, a year, or a decade), will its successors look kindly on the support they received from Washington?

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Right from wrong: Politics and indictments aside Whether Netanyahu’s political acumen and personal ambition enable him to survive the current storm seems to be questionable at the moment. Ruthie Blum

Posted By on December 6th, 2019

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Right-from-wrong-Politics-and-indictments-aside-610

Something uncanny is happening in Israel. Though plagued by an unprecedented political deadlock that is almost certain to guarantee a third round of Knesset elections in less than a year, the so-called “interim” government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is engaging in crucial high-level diplomacy and meeting serious military challenges without skipping a beat.

This is no small feat due to a number of factors, chief among them Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit’s announcement that he intends to indict Netanyahu on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. As if this didn’t make the incumbent PM’s job any harder than it already was, it coincided with the failure of Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz to form a coalition – following weeks of negotiations – and a decision within Netanyahu’s Likud Party to hold new leadership primaries.

In other words, Netanyahu has been forced to focus, simultaneously, on interrogations, internal politics and international policy. It is a rare statesman who can pull all that off with such apparent aplomb. But then, Netanyahu is sui generis – as even his fiercest critics grudgingly admit – which is why he has been in power longer than any of his predecessors, including the country’s first and previously most legendary leader, David Ben-Gurion.

CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

OBAMA’S TREASON: EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT ROBERT SPENCER (2018)

Posted By on December 6th, 2019

https://www.israpundit.org/obamas-treason-even-worse-than-we-thought/

But Leftist Privilege will prevent him from ever being held accountable.

The Washington Free Beacon reported Wednesday that “the Obama administration skirted key U.S. sanctions to grant Iran access to billions in hard currency despite public assurances the administration was engaged in no such action, according to a new congressional investigation.”

And it gets even worse: “The investigation, published Wednesday by the House Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, further discloses secret efforts by top Obama administration officials to assure European countries they would receive a pass from U.S. sanctions if they engaged in business with Iran.”

This revelation comes after the news that came to light in February, that, according to Bill Gertz in the Washington Times, “the U.S. government has traced some of the $1.7 billion released to Iran by the Obama administration to Iranian-backed terrorists in the two years since the cash was transferred.”

There is a law that applies to this situation. U.S. Code 2381 says: “Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.”

In a sane political environment, Barack Obama would be tried for treason.

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

Inconvenient Murders By Bari Weiss — 

Posted By on December 6th, 2019

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/opinion/politics/antisemitism-europe-corbyn.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

DPS Note:

It has got to be pretty bad and likely to get a lot worse if the NY Times is willing to publish an acknowledgment that some Muslims and lots of left wing politicians (here and abroad) hate Jews and aren’t shy about saying so.

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Two years ago, a 27-year-old man named Kobili Traoré walked into the Paris apartment of a 65-year-old kindergarten teacher named Sarah Halimi. Mr. Traoré beat Ms. Halimi and stabbed her. According to witnesses, he called her a demon and a dirty Jew. He shouted, “Allahu akbar,” then threw Ms. Halimi’s battered body out of her third-story apartment window.

This is what Mr. Traoré told prosecutors: “I felt persecuted. When I saw the Torah and a chandelier in her home I felt oppressed. I saw her face transforming.”

One would think that this would be an open-and-shut hate crime. It was the coldblooded murder of a woman in her own home for the sin of being a Jew. But French prosecutors decided to drop murder charges against Mr. Traoré because he … had smoked cannabis.

If France’s betrayal of Sarah Halimi is shocking to you, perhaps you haven’t been paying much attention to what by now can be described as a moral calamity sweeping the West of which her story is only the clearest example. A crisis, I hasten to add, that’s perhaps less known because it has been largely overlooked by the mainstream press.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Quantum Trends And The Internet of Things Chuck Brooks

Posted By on December 6th, 2019

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2019/12/05/quantum-trends-and-the-internet-of-things/#69fd80483eb0

As a new decade approaches, we are in a state of technological flux across many spectrums. One area to take note of is quantum computing. We are starting to evolve beyond classical computing into a new data era called quantum computing. It is envisioned that quantum computing (still in a development stage) will accelerate us into the future by impacting the landscape of artificial intelligence and data analytics. The quantum computing power and speed will help us solve some of the biggest and most complex challenges we face as humans.

Gartner describes quantum computing as: “[T]he use of atomic quantum states to effect computation. Data is held in qubits (quantum bits), which have the ability to hold all possible states simultaneously. Data held in qubits is affected by data held in other qubits, even when physically separated. This effect is known as entanglement.” In a simplified description, quantum computers use quantum bits or qubits instead of using binary traditional bits of ones and zeros for digital communications.

There is an additional “entanglement” relating to quantum, and that is its intersection with the Internet of Things (IoT). Loosely defined, the Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the general idea of things that are readable, recognizable, locatable, addressable, and/or controllable via the Internet. It encompasses devices, sensors, people, data, and machines and the interactions between them. Business Insider Intelligence forecasted that “by 2023, consumers, companies and governments will install 40 billion IoT devices globally.”

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

More than 100 tombstones desecrated with antisemitic content in France

Posted By on December 6th, 2019

https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Antisemitism/More-than-100-tombstones-desecrated-with-antisemitic-content-in-France-609792

DPS Note: 

Comme toujours, the French do a lot of tut-tutting but they never do anything substantive – except to find that every Jew attacker and killer in France (which most often means Muslim) is not brought to justice. I wonder if they’re just scared of the Muslims or if it’s just the usual French anti-Semitism. A combination I think. More and more French Jews know how to say “Let’s get the hell out of Dodge.” And they are doing it. And come to think of it, Tlaib, Omar, Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez (and their innumerable fans) would probably be just fine if it was that way in America. The morning line in Vegas is 8 to 5 that they’re the new face of the Democrat Party. One more generation and Katie bar the door for Jews in America. Yeah. I sound like a slightly tipsy alarmist. I sure hope I am. I don’t drink so tipsy I am not. But try being an overt Jew on most college campuses today. If you don’t know what I mean by that then alarmed you should be.
More than 100 tombstones were daubed with antisemitic text and imagery at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France.
The desecration was discovered Tuesday at the Jewish cemetery of Westhoffen near Strasbourg, the AFP news agency reported, as French lawmakers were scheduled to vote on a resolution about fighting antisemitism.

A spokesperson for the town’s municipality did not specify the nature of the text and images painted on the cemetery.

“I condemn very firmly the despicable antisemitic acts that have once again occurred the region and express my unreserved support of the Jewish community,” Jean-Luc Marx, the prefect of the Bas-Rhin region where Westhoffen is situated, said in a statement.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Another Opportunity to Miss an Opportunity? Michael Galak

Posted By on December 5th, 2019

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2019/12/another-opportunity-to-miss-an-opportunity/

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has declared that Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria will, for the US, no longer be regarded as illegal. This reversal of long-standing policy is no less than a change of paradigm. This declaration, however, does not change the US position on Judea’s and Samaria’s jurisdiction – it is for the parties to determine. 

This seemingly unexpected announcement in mid-November triggered a firestorm of condemnation, denunciations and threats around the globe, including from morally upright, ‘woke’ Australians. The shock and ensuing venom with which anti-Israeli mobs reacted cannot be overestimated. It ranged from hysterical proclamations of ‘Death of the peace process, irresponsible behavior and the breach of international law’ by the Palestinian Authority ‘moderates’, to traditionally blunt Iranian threats to annihilate the Jewish State, and to further barrages of the Gaza Strip jihadis’ rockets.

The supposedly pro-Western Jordanian Government’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi,was ‘concerned’ about ‘dangerous consequences’ and warned that “Israeli colonies in occupied Palestine ignore international law and prevent the possibility of conflict resolution by the creation of two states for two people.”

He did not explain under which international law Jordan has occupied Judea and Samaria for 20 years and then settled these areas with then Jordanian citizens. The paradoxical aspect of this hypocrisy is that he will claim that Jordan did not break any international law by moving citizens to disputed areas. He will be correct, because no law prohibits settling in a territory under no-one’s jurisdiction.

Judea and Samaria have always been the historical heartland of the Jewish people. They have maintained an unbroken record of connection to this land since Biblical times, some three thousand years ago. They have never formed part of any Arab state, which could possibly have legitimately claimed them – because there were no Arab states. International law, often cited as being broken by Israel, does not apply to areas under nobody’s jurisdiction, the legal status of these territories when Israel re-conquered them. 

This situation has an historical precedent – the Reconquista of  Spain. The Christian armies, after their loss of the Iberian Peninsula and after centuries of Moorish rule, defeated the  occupiers and retrieved their native land by force of arms.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Germany: All EU Members Must Take in Migrants by Soeren Kern

Posted By on December 5th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15245/eu-migrants-relocation-quota

The continuing debate over migration is, at its core, about European federalism and the degree to which the European Union will be allowed to usurp decision-making powers from its 28 member states.

If everything goes according to plan, the draft legislation would be adopted by the European Parliament in the second half of 2020 when Germany holds the presidency of the EU. It would then be ratified by the European Council, made up of the leaders of the EU member states.

“We fundamentally reject illegal migration. We also reject allowing smuggling gangs to decide who will live in Europe.” — Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.

“The V4’s [Visegrád group: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia] position is clear. We are not willing to admit any illegal migrants into central Europe. The success and security of central Europe is thanks to our pursuit of a firm anti-migration policy, and this will endure…. Hungarians insist on our right to decide whom to allow into our country and with whom we wish to live.” — Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has unveiled a new plan to reform the European asylum system. A draft of the proposal leaked to the media shows that all member states of the European Union would be required to take in illegal migrants.

Countries in Central and Eastern Europe are opposed to mandatory relocations on the basis that decisions about the granting of residence permits should be kept at the national level. They have noted that by unilaterally imposing migrant quotas on EU member states, unelected bureaucrats in Brussels are seeking to force the democratically elected leaders of Europe to submit to their diktat.

Indeed, the continuing debate over migration is, at its core, about European federalism and the degree to which the European Union will be allowed to usurp decision-making powers from its 28 member states.