ISRAEL, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

A UN Vote That Will Live in Infamy Peter O’Brien

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/israel/2024/05/a-un-vote-that-will-live-in-infamy/

On the 7th of October last year, the terrorist group Hamas, which rules in Gaza and purports to represent the state of “Palestine”, committed the most foul attack upon Jewish people since the Holocaust.  Within days, that atrocity was celebrated all over the world, including in Australia.  Polls have shown the majority of Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank supported that action by Hamas, which is still the nominal government in Gaza. Hamas has vowed to repeat the actions of October 7 as often as is necessary to achieve their aim of eliminating Israel. Does anyone believe that if an election were held in Gaza today, even under, say, UN supervision, Hamas would not win?

Israel is in the middle of defending itself against this future. Australia has now voted in favour of granting Palestine, that non-existent nation, UN membership. In God’s name, what could have convinced the Albanese government that this is the right time to muddy the waters on this vexed question and signal that our support for Israel’s right to exist is less than 100 per cent?  To signal to Hamas that they are winning the propaganda war? To signal Hamas to hang in there, we’ve got your back?

Oh wait, I’m guessing Jason Clare and Tony Burke, inter alia, might have something to do with this appalling decision. The mealy-mouthed defence of this move, i.e., that it is in furtherance of a two-state solution, totally ignores the fact that Israel has offered a two-state solution, on generous terms, on at least three occasions and been rebuffed. From The Weekend Australian:

Australia’s ambassador to the United Nations James Larsen said Canberra had been “frustrated” by a “lack of progress” and wanted to signal “unwavering support for the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security within recognised borders”.

So, in order to boost the chance of a two-state solution, our government has supported granting full UN membership to a non-existent state – an entity that does not possess the pre-requisites for nation status – that, under its current governance, repudiates that very same two-state solution.  Regardless of the status of Palestine, I would have thought a non-negotiable pre-condition would be that all its neighbours unconditionally support Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself to the maximum extent required.  

BOOKS Comments turned off

New book by Chuck Brooks for Amazon Pre-order: Inside Cyber: How AI, 5G, and Quantum Computing Will Transform Privacy and Our Security

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Cyber-Computing-Transform-Security/dp/1394254946

In an era where technological innovation evolves at an exponential rate, Inside Cyber: How AI, 5G, and Quantum Computing Will Transform Privacy and Our Security by Chuck Brooks emerges as a critical roadmap for understanding and leveraging the next wave of tech advancements. Brooks, a renowned executive and consultant, breaks down complex technological trends into digestible insights, offering a deep dive into how emerging technologies will shape the future of industry and society. 

In the book, you’ll: 

Gain clear, accessible explanations of cutting-edge technologies such as AI, blockchain, and quantum computing, and their impact on the business world 
Learn how to navigate the cybersecurity landscape, safeguarding your business against the vulnerabilities introduced by rapid technological progress 
Uncover the opportunities that technological advancements present for disrupting traditional industries and creating new value 

Perfect for entrepreneurs, executives, technology professionals, and anyone interested in the intersection of tech and business, Inside Cyber equips you with the knowledge to lead in the digital age. Embrace the future confidently with this indispensable guide. 

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

This may be the week Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump falls apart Jonathan Turley

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://nypost.com/2024/05/12/opinion/this-may-be-the-week-alvin-braggs-case-against-trump-falls-apart/

Even for those of us who have long been critics of the “hush money” case against Donald Trump and its dubious legal theory, it has been surprising to see that the prosecutors had no more evidence than we previously knew about.

The assumption was that no rational prosecutor would base a major criminal case almost entirely on the testimony of Michael Cohen, who was recently denounced by a judge as a serial perjurer peddling “perverse” theories in court.

The calculus of Alvin Bragg is now obvious. He is counting on the jury convicting Trump regardless of the evidence.

Which is also why Bragg likely fears that the judge, not the jury, will decide the case. After the government closes its evidence this week, the defense will move for a direct verdict by the judge on the basis that the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction.

Many of us agree with that assessment. After three weeks of testimony, there is still confusion on what crime Trump allegedly committed.

Bragg has vaguely referred to the labelling of payments to Stormy Daniels as “legal expenses” as a fraud committed to steal the election.

However, the election was over when those denotations were made.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Fall of the House of Presidential Persecutions What will be the endgame of all these attacks on the American legal system and the warping of it for blatant political purposes? By Victor Davis Hanson

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://amgreatness.com/2024/05/13/the-fall-of-the-house-of-presidential-persecutions/

None of the five civil and criminal cases currently lodged against former President Donald Trump have ever had merit. They were all predicated on using the law to injure his re-election candidacy—given a widespread derangement syndrome among the left and a fear they cannot entrust a Trump/Biden election to the people.

These criminal and civil trials are merely the continuation of extra-legal efforts of the last eight years to destroy a presidential candidate in lieu of opposing him in transparent elections.

As such, the current lawfare joins the Mueller investigation of the Russian-collusion hoax. It is a continuation of the laptop disinformation caper and the “51 intelligence authorities” who lied about its Russian origins. It logically follows from the two impeachments, the Senate trial of Trump as a private citizen, and states’ efforts to remove him from their ballots.

The E. Jean Carroll case, the Alvin Bragg, Letitia James, and Fani Willis local and state trials, and the Smith federal indictment share various embarrassments.

Suspension of statutes of limitations: Carroll and Bragg could only go to court through the legal gymnastics of enlisting sympathetic judges and legislators to change or amend the law to suspend the statute of limitations as a veritable bill of attainder to go after Trump.

Violations of the Bill of Rights: In the Bragg case, Judge Merchan’s selective and asymmetrical gag order likely violates the First Amendment (prohibiting “abridging the freedom of speech”). Bragg violated the Sixth Amendment by denying Trump the right “to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation”. Judge Engoron, in the juryless James case, violated the Eighth Amendment (“nor excessive fines imposed”) in assessing Donald Trump an unheard of $354 million fine for supposedly overstating the value of real estate collateral for loans, while violating the Sixth Amendment as well (“the accused shall enjoy the right … to trial by an impartial jury”). The FBI likely violated the Fourth Amendment (“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures”) by raiding Trump’s private residence, seizing his papers and effects (many of them private), and then lying about its own shenanigans of rearranging the seized classified files to incriminate Trump.

The invention of crimes: The indictments of Bragg, James, Willis, and Smith had no prior precedents. These cases will likely never be seen again. Bragg bootstrapped a federal campaign violation allegation onto a state crime. Yet still, he has never explained exactly how Trump violated any particular law.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

UN Halves Its Estimate of Women and Children Killed in Gaza

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2024/05/11/un-halves-its-estimate-of-women-and-children-killed-in-gaza/

The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) revised its child fatality figure from the Gaza war sharply downward, reporting more than 14,500 deaths on May 6 but then 7,797 on May 8. OCHA also revised downward its figure for women fatalities from more than 9,500 deaths to 4,959 deaths. The Jerusalem Post first reported the changes on May 11.

The UN attributed its original, higher figures to the Hamas-controlled Government Media Office (GMO) in Gaza, whose figures OCHA has cited continually for the past two months. The UN gave no source for the lower figures in its May 8 update, but the figures precisely match those in a May 2 report from a different Hamas-controlled organization, the Gaza Ministry of Health.

“This change may signal that the UN has finally recognized the lack of evidence behind Hamas’s original claims that more than 14,000 children and 9,000 women have been killed in Gaza. If so, the UN should state clearly that it has lost confidence in sources whose credibility it has affirmed for months. While this change may only reflect the conclusion of one UN office out of the many operating in Gaza, it is a clear step forward.” — David Adesnik, FDD Senior Fellow and Director of Research

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Chamberlain and Biden: Appeasement Then and Now Are we going to stand with the heirs of the Nazis, or with an embattled democratic ally? by Shmuel Klatzkin

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://spectator.org/chamberlain-and-biden-appeasement-then-and-now/

Holocaust Day was marked by solemn remembrances in Israel and in Jewish communities around the world. It was marked in the U.S., as has been customary, by a presidential address, where Biden said nothing that would garner more than perfunctory notice.

Turns out that that was by design. For Biden had already approved a decision that gives cheer to the shade of Hitler and all his modern wanna-be-s — embargoing any arms to Israel that would allow them to keep Hamas from surviving intact and reasserting its plan for death to Israel.

What is different between now and 1938 is just this — Israel is not going to slink away to its dismemberment.

Old Joe’s cowardice extends even to speaking plainly to his own people.

Let’s put his cowardice in perspective by looking at what is often held up as the gold standard for foolishness and fecklessness, the betrayal of the cause of freedom in the leadup to World War II by the appeasers.

By 1938, Hitler had already consolidated his control over Germany. This included freeing himself from the bonds of the treaty which had ended the First World War, with all its limitations on German rearmament and it prohibition of militarizing the German territory west of the Rhine River. As the year progressed, his plans progressed further as he raped an Austria whose people seemed — in a huge demonstration in Vienna — to be stimulated to ecstasy by Hitler’s attentions.

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

Hey Google, Antisemitism Is A Feature, Not A Bug, Of The Left

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://issuesinsights.com/2024/05/13/hey-google-antisemitism-is-a-feature-not-a-bug-of-the-left/

Google has come in for some well-deserved criticism after its “artificial intelligence” wouldn’t answer a simple question: How many Jews did the Nazis kill? That’s bad enough. But then a not-so-intelligent Google employee compounded the problem with a lie about why it happened.

The story goes that Michael Apfel asked a Google “virtual assistant” this question: “Hey Google, how many Jews were killed by the Nazis?”

Google’s answer: “Sorry, I don’t understand.”

Then he asked: “How many Jews were killed during World War II?”

Google: “I don’t understand.”

“How many Jews were killed in the concentration camps?”

“Sorry, I don’t understand.”

“What was the Holocaust?”

“I don’t understand.”

After that series of questions, Apfel asks, “Hey Google, what was the Nakba?”

Don’t be embarrassed if you don’t know the answer, because it’s an Arabic word meaning “catastrophe,” referring to the displacement of Palestinians by Israel in 1948.

While pleading ignorance about the Holocaust, Google’s bot gave a long and detailed answer about the Nakba.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The George Costanza Presidency With each expedient act, from climate policy to the Mideast, Joe Biden digs a deeper hole for himself. By Allysia Finley

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-george-costanza-presidency-2024-election-bidenomics-israeli-weapons-embargo-bf4ae687?mod=opinion_lead_pos7

In a classic “Seinfeld” episode, George Costanza bemoans that every decision he’s made has been wrong. His life, as a result, has turned out the opposite of what he intended.

Joe Biden might relate. His presidency probably hasn’t gone as he’d hoped. Two wars, a border crisis and near-record inflation have erupted. A Gallup poll last week found that confidence in his economic stewardship is lower than for any president this century other than George W. Bush during the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

But like George Costanza, Mr. Biden has only himself to blame. Both men create more trouble for themselves, as each poor decision leads to another. George’s schemes to woo women—say, by enlisting Elaine to take an IQ test for him—boomerang. So do the president’s ploys to win voters. Mr. Biden, like George, now risks getting dumped.

Consider the chain of expedient acts that led to the president’s threat last week to withhold weapons from Israel to appease his party’s leftists. Mr. Biden worries he’ll lose re-election if young progressives don’t turn out in November—or if they cast ballots for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Jill Stein. It isn’t an unreasonable concern. Young’uns never fell in love with Mr. Biden, and they increasingly resent being forced by party elders into a political marriage of convenience.

Yet Mr. Biden’s bigger problem is that the pandemic handouts that Democrats hoped would win them votes have backfired. Excessive spending has fueled inflation and led to the highest interest rates in a generation. Young people have been especially harmed because those who don’t own homes now can’t afford them. Mr. Biden boasted a 33% approval rating among voters under 30 in an Economist/YouGov poll last week. Only 24% of them said the economy was excellent or good. A mere 13% thought it is improving and 15% believed it will get better if Mr. Biden is re-elected.

By comparison, 36% believed it would improve if Donald Trump won in November. Young voters aren’t fond of the former president; they simply find Mr. Biden as attractive as George Costanza.

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

Campus Protesters, Unmasked Anti-KKK laws are relevant against today’s antisemites.

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://www.wsj.com/articles/campus-protesters-unmasked-ohio-a0197b89?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

Campus protesters may be enjoying the spring weather in their encampments, but in some states they will need to wave their Palestinian flags with masks off. In a letter to university presidents last week, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost reminded them that the state has a law against those who use masks to disguise their identity.

Under the 1953 state law, “no person shall unite with two or more others to commit a misdemeanor while wearing white caps, masks, or other disguise.” Doing so can result in felony charges and six to 18 months in prison. Mr. Yost explained that “The First Amendment is a shield against the government, not a sword against fellow students.”

The Ohio statute was written to go after the Ku Klux Klan, which used white hoods in the last century to intimidate blacks, and to avoid discovery and legal consequences. In 1923 some 75,000 Klan members gathered at a rally near Buckeye Lake in Ohio, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. Fifteen other states have similar anti-masking laws, including Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Florida and Georgia.

The Georgia Supreme Court upheld the Peach State’s law in 1990 and its survival was seen as a bulwark against hate. The Rev. C.T. Vivian, a civil-rights organizer and compatriot of the Rev. Martin Luther King, said at the time that the court’s decision “helped insure that Georgians will be free of the threat of anonymous terrorism motivated by the bigotry of the Ku Klux Klan.”

Masks worn today to harass Jews are no different than those that were once worn to intimidate blacks or the Catholics who were also a Klan target. Masks have been a disturbing element of the campus protests because they add a menacing element to antisemetic slogans and chants.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Even Stupider Than The Stupidest Litigation In The Country Francis Menton

Posted By on May 13th, 2024

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2024-5-11-even-stupider-than-the-stupidest-litigation-in-the-country

I have had several posts on a collection of related cases that I have called “The Stupidest Litigations In The Country.” These are cases where climate hysterics have sued oil and gas producing companies, or the federal government, or both, seeking various extreme punishments ranging from massive damages up to and including an order to end all production of fossil fuels. The asserted grounds vary somewhat from case to case, but a central theme is a claimed constitutional right to a “clean and healthy environment.”

My last update on these cases was a post on April 9. A main subject there was the lawsuit of Juliana v. United States, which is one of the cases where the federal government is the defendant and the goal is to require it to force an end to the production of fossil fuels. The occasion for the post was that, nine years into the litigation, the federal defendant had just launched its third effort to get the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to end the case on the ground of “non-justiciability” — that is, to get the court to rule that such an issue of society-wide energy policy is not a proper subject to be decided by a court. Instead, the Department of Justice was arguing, this sort of question must be left to the political branches of government, that is, legislatures and executives. (On May 1, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit in fact ordered that the Juliana case be dismissed. We’ll see if that sticks. The plaintiffs still have a few litigation options left, including seeking “en banc” review from the full Ninth Circuit, and seeking review from the Supreme Court.)

Meanwhile, be careful what you wish for. If the decision to blame energy-producing companies for everything wrong with the environment is to be left to the political branches, what’s to stop those political branches from jumping into this act?

In the last few days, the legislature in the state of Vermont has done just that. NBC News has the story on May 7, with the headline “Vermont passes bill to charge fossil fuel companies for damage from climate change.”

It looks like little Vermont (population about 650,000) is going to step up to save the planet where all the big players like the federal government and California have failed. The idea here is that the state will force the fossil fuel producers to pay damages to compensate for any losses attributable to “climate change.” If you believe that all extreme weather is the fault of “climate change” (and it appears that they do believe that), then this could add up to some enormous sums. From NBC:

Vermont lawmakers passed a bill this week that is designed to make big fossil fuel companies pay for damage from weather disasters fueled by climate change.