BOOKS Comments turned off

Oberlin Trustees Denounce Crackpot Prof as ‘Anti-Semitic and Abhorrent’ By Debra Heine….see note please

Posted By on March 9th, 2016

Why do people use the expression “as of yet?”e.g. “A school spokesman told FoxNews.com that no action has been taken as of yet.” While it is not grammatically incorrect, it jars….especially when writing of education. “As of yet” is a windy and pretentious substitute for plain old English “yet” or “as yet.” rsk
Trustees and alumni of a liberal arts college in Ohio are calling on the school administration to conduct a review and report back to them after a professor posted a series of “anti-Semitic and abhorrent” commentary on social media. The Board of Trustees at ultra-liberal Oberlin College demanded answers in a statement posted on the school’s own website, blasting Professor Joy Karega’s bizarre posts and demanding that immediate action be taken.

“These postings are anti-Semitic and abhorrent,” Chairman Clyde McGregor said in the statement. “We deplore anti-Semitism and all other forms of bigotry. They have no place at Oberlin. These grave issues must be considered expeditiously,” he continued, adding that the school and faculty must “challenge the assertion that there is any justification for these repugnant postings and to report back to the Board.”

Marvin Krislov, the president of Oberlin, has stood by Karega and defended her freedom of speech since the controversy erupted late last month. The professor, who teaches rhetoric and composition, has been publishing offensive commentary since January 2015, when she posted “an image of an ISIS terrorist pulling off and Mask with the face of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with the caption, ‘FRANCE WANTS TO FREE PALESTINE? TIME FOR A FALSE FLAG…’”

On Monday, Oberlin officials released a joint statement with the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, AJC Cleveland, the Anti-Defamation League Cleveland Region and the Cleveland Hillel Foundation, which met with Oberlin College President Marvin Krislov and his senior staff.

“In a welcoming atmosphere, we discussed, openly and candidly, the potential implications of a professor’s personal views on classroom activity and student intimidation,” the statement reads. “We also discussed our shared respect for academic freedom.”

The groups also announced that college is following procedures already in place to deal with the matter.

A school spokesman told FoxNews.com that no action has been taken as of yet.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Remembering the Brave By Eileen F. Toplansky

Posted By on March 9th, 2016

I am disgusted by constantly seeing pictures of the San Bernardino murderers continually splashed across newspapers and on the internet. They represent the worst of humankind and deserve no visual recognition. They are the dregs of mankind and deserving of nothing but our revulsion and determination to stop their kind from promoting the murderous rampage seen everywhere in the world.

They stand in stark contrast to a woman who would be 53 years old today had she not been gunned down by the same perverted and murderous motives as the jihadist terrorists. Her name is Neerja Bhanot and here is her picture.

Neerja Bhanot

Bhanot was the senior flight purser on Pan Am Flight 73 flying from Mumbai to the United States when it was hijacked by armed men on September 5, 1986 at the Karachi airport in Pakistan. There were 361 passengers and 19 crew members. Because of her quick thinking, Bhanot alerted the cockpit crew who escaped from an overhead hatch in the cockpit so that the aircraft could not be forcibly flown. The three-member American pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer were following protocol procedures.

The Palestinian hijackers were part of the terrorist Abu Nidal Organization that was backed by Libya. Conflicting reports indicate that the terrorists “were planning to use the hijacked plane to pick up Palestinian prisoners in both Cyprus and Israel. However, in 2006, surviving hostage Michael Thexton published a book in which he claimed he had heard the hijackers intended to crash the plane into a target in Israel (in the manner of 9/11).

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Al-Shabaab’s Terror Attacks Escalate The Islamist group in recent years has stepped up its assaults in its native Somalia and neighboring Kenya.

Posted By on March 9th, 2016

NAIROBI, Kenya—The scope of U.S. airstrikes that destroyed an al-Shabaab training camp underscores Washington’s mounting concerns over the resilience of a jihadist group increasingly attacking the Somali government and neighboring states.

The Pentagon said the warplanes and drones used in Saturday’s airstrike killed more than 150 al-Shabaab fighters gathered at a training base ahead of a planned attack against U.S. and African Union forces inside Somalia. It was a surprisingly large-scale attack for the U.S. military in Somalia, which has previously focused on targeted strikes against specific leaders of the Islamist group—most commonly with unmanned drones.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

North Korea Claims Advancements in Nuclear Warheads Pyongyang says it has successfully made nuclear warheads for ballistic missiles By Alastair Gale

Posted By on March 9th, 2016

SEOUL—North Korea said it has successfully made nuclear warheads for ballistic missiles, a claim which, if true, would represent a clear threat to the U.S.

Military officials and analysts outside North Korea have debated for years the isolated nation’s ability to make nuclear explosives small enough to mount on missiles. The opacity of its nuclear program makes it difficult to determine progress in its stated objective.

In a report from Pyongyang’s state news agency on Wednesday, North Korea said leader Kim Jong Un was briefed by scientists about advances in nuclear missile technology.

“The nuclear warheads have been standardized to be fit for ballistic missiles by miniaturizing them, he noted, adding this can be called true nuclear deterrent,” the Korean Central News Agency paraphrased Mr. Kim as saying.

The report also said the warheads were able to generate a thermonuclear reaction, making a more powerful form of explosion if a hydrogen-based weapon is used. North Korea said its latest nuclear bomb on Jan. 6 was a hydrogen-based explosive, although outside experts said the relatively small size of the explosion made it unlikely that it was caused by a typical hydrogen bomb.

Photos released by North Korea’s state media showed Mr. Kim talking with officials while standing close to a large metal sphere. Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California, said it was possible the device was a nuclear explosive, either a stand-alone fusion bomb or a trigger for a more powerful thermonuclear device. CONTINUE AT SITE

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Iran Continues Ballistic-Missiles Tests Move extends launches this week following vows by officials to press ahead with program By Asa Fitch

Posted By on March 9th, 2016

DUBAI—Iran test fired two types of medium-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday, extending a barrage of tests this week following vows by officials to press ahead with its missile program despite U.S. pressure to curtail it.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired off “Qadr-H” and “Qadr-F” missiles from mountainous sites in northern Iran, according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency. The missiles traveled 870 miles to the country’s sparsely populated southeastern coast, it said.

The tests followed the previous day’s tests of several ballistic missiles from silos in central Iran, the country’s first since the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned 11 Iranian entities in January over alleged links to the missile program.

A senior U.S. official said on Tuesday that while the tests were “inconsistent” with a United Nations Security Council Resolution calling on Iran not to pursue missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads, they didn’t constitute a violation of last year’s historic nuclear deal.

The U.S. sees Iranian missiles as a threat to Israel, its key Middle Eastern ally, and to Arab allies in the Persian Gulf. There are also substantial U.S. military assets in the region, including a large naval base in Bahrain.

Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said on Tuesday that most of Iran’s arsenal of missiles was capable of reaching Israel, according to Tasnim. Iranian enemies in the region “should be in panic about the roar of the IRGC missiles,” he said. CONTINUE AT SITE

POLITICS Comments turned off

Donald Trump’s Mexican Imports The businessman favors the importation of foreign-made drugs.

Posted By on March 9th, 2016

“Mr. Trump is a business nationalist without a core philosophy of government, so his policy arc is going to be an adventure. But some of his voters might be surprised to learn that he wants to flood the U.S. with cheap Mexican goods and other dangerous foreign imports.”

Donald Trump is going to build a wall, and it’s going to be a beautiful wall, and everyone will love it—but it’s also going to have one notable side entrance. To wit, the GOP frontrunner won’t let Mexicans into America but he’ll make an exception for Mexican drugs.

Mr. Trump released a 10-paragraph health plan last week, perhaps in response to the criticism that he has no policy details. We’ll discuss the complete outline at a later date, but one detail that leapt out for comment is his endorsement of foreign pharmaceutical importation—an idea even liberals left for dead a decade ago. His campaign promises to “remove barriers to entry into free markets,” because “allowing consumers access to imported, safe and dependable drugs from overseas will bring more options to consumers.”

Sorry, it won’t. The U.S. maintains a “closed” drug distribution network of manufacturers, suppliers and pharmacies—precisely because overseas drugs often aren’t safe and dependable. Recent years have seen a proliferation of pill mills and forgery rings that slip counterfeit or adulterated products into global supply chains. The World Health Organization estimates 10% of drugs world-wide are bogus.

In the case of Mexico, the U.S. State Department warns travellers that as many as 25% of the medications available south of the border are fake. The Los Zetas, Sinaloa and Juárez cartels have diversified their portfolios into deceptive pharmaceuticals. The modern “closed” U.S. system was created in 1999 because Southern California was awash with fraudulent black-market compounds smuggled from Mexico. CONTINUE AT SITE

BOOKS Comments turned off

Why are Palestinian Christians Fleeing? Robert Nicholson

Posted By on March 9th, 2016

The Jesuit magazine America recently reported that Arab Christians are fleeing in droves from Bethlehem, the hallowed city of Jesus Christ’s birth. In 1990, Christians made up a majority of the city’s residents; today they make up only about 15%. “With thousands more fleeing the city every year,” reports America’s correspondent Jeremy Zipple, “you can’t help but wonder, will there be any Christians left here…in the not too distant future?”

Zipple’s question is rhetorical. He clearly believes that Christianity in Bethlehem may be nearing its end.

But why? Why are Christians fleeing?

At first Zipple says “it’s complicated.” But he goes on to list one reason, and one reason only: “Since 2003 Bethlehem has been circumscribed by a 26-foot military grade wall.”

Zipple is, of course, referring to the separation barrier that was constructed by Israel during the Second Intifada to keep out suicide bombers who tried to cross from the West Bank into Israel. Although the vast majority of the barrier is a chain link fence, in Bethlehem and a few other metropolitan areas it becomes a tremendous gray wall. Since its construction, the barrier has become the international symbol of Palestinian resistance against Israel.

“[T]he separation wall…cuts family from each other. People get humiliated at checkpoints. People do not have many opportunities to improve their living standards. So, therefore, Christians who can afford to, are trying to leave this country,” says interviewee Hanan Nasrallah, a Palestinian employee of Catholic Relief Services.

Nasrallah’s calculation is simple: Israel built a wall; the wall makes life difficult; therefore, Palestinian Christians are leaving.

According to Nasrallah, both Palestinian Christians and Muslims face the same challenges. It is only the Jewish occupation that is causing them both misery.

And yet the Muslim population of Bethlehem is growing. Muslims, in fact, are not fleeing. They are arriving—in large numbers.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Nancy Reagan R.I.P-The lady vanishes, an era too

Posted By on March 9th, 2016

Mark the passing of a lady — and another link with an era fading rapidly into memory and history’s unlearned lessons. The Gipper’s consort, she was at his side as he restored American pride, prosperity and, most of all, purpose. Once, the Free World had a leader prepared to stand on principle. Today, his former desk is occupied by a man who stands for nothing. Nancy Reagan, dead at 96.

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

Obama’s Cuba Trip Up By Lawrence J. Haas

Posted By on March 9th, 2016

President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Cuba in two weeks in an oddly timed excursion that, in many ways, encapsulates all that’s wrong with the philosophy, goals, and priorities of his administration’s foreign policy.

Simply put, it’s the wrong trip, to the wrong place, at the wrong time, and under the wrong circumstances.

Admittedly, the longstanding U.S. policy of isolating Havana was due for review. Washington engages with authoritarian regimes of all kinds. Some, like Beijing and Moscow, are simply too big to ignore; others, like Cairo and Riyadh, are key to protecting U.S. regional interests. That tiny Cuba was a lonely exception largely reflected the political power of its emigre population.

Moreover, hopes that U.S. isolation would help topple the Castro regime proved illusory, as the ailing revolutionary founder Fidel transferred power to his brother, Raul, in 2008, leaving the half-century family business in place.

Still, Obama’s trip is troubling. It will cap off more than a year of efforts through which the president deployed his usual array of questionable global strategies – appeasing the regime in question, downplaying its human rights record and ignoring its growing ties to America’s adversaries – in hopes of changing Cuba’s behavior.

POLITICS Comments turned off

Hillary’s ‘No Classified Markings’ Canard Actually Makes Things Worse By Andrew C. McCarthy

Posted By on March 9th, 2016

As our friend Guy Benson tallies things up in the Clinton email scandal, there were not only a whopping 2,079 emails containing classified information that were stored and transmitted on Hillary Clinton’s non-secure private server system. It turns out that she personally wrote 104 such emails – which, the Washington Post gingerly observes, “could complicate her efforts to argue that she never put government secrets at risk.” I’ll say. In fact, I have said: see my February 6 column describing the damage the former secretary of state has done to national security by exposing intelligence secrets, collection methods, and sources of information to hostile foreign intelligence services.

Let’s also keep in mind a fact that’s easy to forget since what’s before our eyes is so outrageous: For now, we are only talking about the Clinton emails that she deigned to turn over to the government. As Guy reminds us, there are another 32,000 emails that she attempted to delete. There have been reports indicating that the FBI has been able to recover at least some of these from the server. It is a shoe that has yet to drop.

Recall the state of play: Mrs. Clinton originally insisted no classified information was ever transmitted on her servers. When this became untenable, she changed her story to claim that she never personally sent or received classified emails – a claim that, even if true, would be of little legal relevance since she caused the creation of the private server system via which, because of the way she ran her office, the transmission of classified emails by her underlings was inevitable. But of course, we now know for sure that the claim is not true: Wholly apart from what she may have received, Clinton personally wrote and sent those aforementioned 104 emails containing classified information.

So the final evolution in this bogus defense is that there were “no classified markings” on emails stored or sent via the private server. Obviously, this is offered to intimate that she had no way of knowing she and her subordinates were handling classified information with criminal recklessness.