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Who Has Been Busy Destroying Democracy? Democrats decry “destroying democracy” while dismantling long-standing institutions, weaponizing agencies, and undermining the very systems they claim to defend. By Victor Davis Hanson

Posted By on August 14th, 2025

https://amgreatness.com/2025/08/14/who-has-been-busy-destroying-democracy/

“Destroying democracy”—the latest theme of the left—can be defined in many different ways.

How about attempting to destroy constitutional, ancient, and hallowed institutions simply to suit short-term political gains?

So, who in 2020, and now once again, has boasted about packing the 156-year-old, nine-justice Supreme Court?

Who talks frequently about destroying the 187-year-old Senate filibuster—though only when they hold a Senate majority?

Who wants to bring in an insolvent left-wing Puerto Rico and redefine the 235-year-old District of Columbia—by altering the Constitution—as two new states solely to obtain four additional liberal senators?

Who is trying to destroy the constitutionally mandated 288-year Electoral College by circumventing it with the surrogate “The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact?”

Does destroying democracy also entail weaponizing federal bureaucracies, turning them into rogue partisan arms of a president?

So who ordered the CIA to concoct bogus charges of “collusion” to sabotage Trump’s 2016 campaign, the 2016-2017 transition, and the first 22 months of Trump’s first term?

Who prompted a cabal of “51 former intelligence officials” to lie to the American people on the eve of the last debate of the 2020 election that the FBI-authenticated Hunter Biden laptop was instead the work of a “Russian intelligence operation?”

Who ordered the FBI to connive and partner with social media conglomerates to censor accurate news deemed unhelpful to the 2020 Biden campaign?

Who pulled off the greatest presidential coup in history by using surrogates in the shadows to run the cognitively debilitated Biden presidency, then by fiat canceled his reelection effort, and finally anointed as his replacement the new nominee Kamala Harris, who had never won a single primary delegate?

Who ordered FBI SWAT teams to invade the home of a former president because of a classification dispute over 102 files out of some 13,000 stored there?

ISRAEL, OPINION Comments turned off

The futility of compassion for those who want to kill you Jonathan Tobin

Posted By on August 14th, 2025

https://www.jns.org/the-futility-of-compassion-for-those-who-want-to-kill-you/?utm_campaign=

Palestinians cheered the atrocities of Oct. 7, have been complicit in the fate of the hostages and support Israel’s destruction. Do Jews owe them aid?

As far as most American Jews are concerned, it’s probably the most Jewish thing any of the numerous organizations that represent them could do. UJA-Federation New York has announced the intended donation of $1 million to help Palestinian Arabs in the Gaza Strip. This humanitarian gesture was widely applauded by many of its donors and community members.

Eric Goldstein, the group’s CEO, was careful to note that blame for the suffering of Palestinian Arabs in Gaza belongs to the Hamas terrorists who led the attacks on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, which many Palestinian civilians joined. And he echoed the frustration that friends of Israel feel about the way mainstream media coverage of the conflict generally omits that fact while instead seeking to put the onus on the Jewish state for the suffering caused by the ensuing war. He also refuted the false claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

A moral compass

Still, Goldstein acknowledged that although much of the world has “lost its moral compass” when it comes to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Jews shouldn’t also lose theirs.

That’s why the umbrella organization of Jewish philanthropies in greater New York—home to the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel—felt itself obliged to come to the aid of the people of Gaza who have been caught in the crossfire. The money will go to IsraAID—Israel’s largest nongovernmental humanitarian aid organization—to provide food, medicine and the installation of filtration systems to enable safe drinking water for displaced families in Gaza.

Helping people in need is in keeping with Jewish traditions that treat tzedakah—acts of justice and charity—as among the most important obligations and virtues to which Jews should aspire. According to Goldstein, the imperative is: “We must hold tight to what has always anchored the Jewish people: the belief that all human life is sacred.”

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The media’s Ponzi scheme of lies Al Jazeera is the Islamists’ principal weapon in the war of information to destroy Israel and the west Melanie Phillips

Posted By on August 14th, 2025

http://melaniephillips.substack.com

In the Gaza war, journalism has become a veritable Ponzi scheme of lies. It uses terrorists posing as journalists to tell lies, it lies about the evidence that they were terrorists and it lies about those lying about the lies.

Israel said it had conducted a targeted killing of the al Jazeera ‘‘journalist” Anas al Sharif because he was also a Hamas commander. It produced screen shots identifying al Sharif as a leader in a Hamas rocket-launching squad and member of the Nukhba force, the stormtroopers who led the depraved attack on Israelis on October 7 2023. It showed that he had joined Hamas in 2013 and even revealed his military ID number.

It further emerged that al Sharif was named in a lawsuit by American victims of October 7 against al Jazeera for providing “substantial assistance” to Hamas. The lawsuit quotes messages al Sharif posted on Telegram on October 7 as the massacre of 1200 Israelis developed. He wrote in one message:

Nine hours later and the heroes are still roaming the country, killing and capturing… God, God, how great you are.

He wrote in another:

It is a jihad, a jihad of victory and martyrdom. Allahu akbar and thank God.

Before the attack, Sharif posted photos of himself smiling alongside Hamas leaders, including the eliminated October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar.

None of that cut any ice with Western media outlets that vilified Israel for targeting a journalist. Instead, the media dismissed all this evidence with declarations that Israel’s claims couldn’t be verified and that it had provided “no proof”.

In other words there is simply no evidence, however overwhelming, that is allowed to challenge the foundational lie pumped out by the media echo-chamber that the Israelis are brutal killers mowing down the innocent for daring to resist.

So the media went into mourning for their slain champion of “truth”, presenting that view of al Sharif as unchallengeably correct while ignoring or rubbishing as an Israeli cover-up the evidence that he was a senior Hamas operative.

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Bumbling Obama aides actually admit Russiagate was a smear campaign against Trump By Miranda Devine

Posted By on August 14th, 2025

https://nypost.com/2025/08/13/opinion/obama-aides-admit-russiagate-was-a-smear-campaign-against-trump/

“That’s our story, and we’re sticking to it.”

It’s hard to believe that the Russiagate plotters are so stupid, but the declassified documents tumbling out of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s files show that, while they had a lot of power and managed to hide their nefarious activities for almost a decade — President Barack Obama’s henchmen were none too bright.

The latest tranche of declassified emails has Obama’s DNI, James Clapper, telling then-Director of the National Security Agency Mike Rogers essentially to shut up and put his name to the intelligence community assessment (ICA) that Clapper and then-CIA Director John Brennan were cooking up, at Obama’s direction, to concoct a narrative that Russia had tilted the 2016 election to help Trump win.

“Understand your concern,” Clapper wrote to Rogers on Dec. 22, 2016, in the waning days of the Obama administration.

“It is essential that we (CIA/NSA/FBI/ODNI) be on the same page and are all supportive of the report — in the highest tradition of ‘that’s OUR story, and we’re sticking’ to it.’ ”

Compromised

Rogers had kicked off the conversation by laying out his concerns that normal tradecraft was being compromised and that his team had not had “sufficient access to the underlying intelligence and sufficient time to review that intelligence.”

“I’m concerned that, given the expedited nature of this activity, my folks aren’t fully comfortable saying that they have had enough time to review all of the intelligence to be absolutely confident in their assessments,” Rogers wrote.

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Kidnap, Rape, Convert to Islam, and Marry Underage Christian Girls Welcome to Pakistan. Faraz Pervaiz Roshan

Posted By on August 14th, 2025

https://www.frontpagemag.com/kidnap-rape-convert-to-islam-and-marry-underage-christian-girls/

The harrowing cases of Mahak Siddique and Alshaba Adnan expose a deeply disturbing pattern of violence, exploitation, and systemic failure in addressing crimes against underage girls from minority communities in Pakistan. Babar son of Mukhtar, operating under aliases such as Ghulam Rasool and Muhammad Babar Ali, emerges as a serial predator who manipulates religious institutions to perpetrate kidnapping, forced conversion, rape, and child marriage. These acts, committed with impunity and aided by accomplices including Muhammad Aftab, Shan Masih, and Khurram Masih, reveal a chilling disregard for human dignity and legal accountability.

The incidents underscore a broader societal and institutional crisis. The coercion of vulnerable girls like Mahak and Alshaba into forced conversions and marriages, under the guise of religious legitimacy, highlights the misuse of religious authority to justify heinous crimes. The failure of local law enforcement to act swiftly and decisively—evidenced by the delayed FIR in Alshaba’s case and the lack of immediate action in Mahak’s—points to systemic negligence, if not complicity, within the justice system. This is compounded by the absence of robust mechanisms to protect minority girls, who face intersecting vulnerabilities due to their age, gender, and religious identity.

From a legal perspective, the invocation of the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 and Pakistan Penal Code sections (365-B, 376, 498-B, 295-A) is a necessary step, but the enforcement of these laws remains inconsistent. The trauma inflicted on Mahak and Alshaba, coupled with the displacement of their families due to threats, demands urgent and comprehensive intervention. The call for a dedicated task force to safeguard minority girls is not just warranted but essential to prevent further atrocities.

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1,000 People Died While New York Attorney General Chased Trump It’s time for Attorney General Letitia James to pay the price for her crimes. by Daniel Greenfield

Posted By on August 14th, 2025

https://www.frontpagemag.com/1000-people-died-while-new-york-attorney-general-chased-trump/

“We have to stop believing or following the rules. Break the rules,” New York Attorney General Letitia James recently told a radical leftist magazine. And she’s been doing exactly that.

Since taking office, the state’s top prosecutor has promoted one politically motivated prosecution after another, targeting, among others, the NRA and the Trump family, even as crime in the state soared to horrifying new heights. An exclusive Freedom Center investigation showed that 1,000 people died while Attorney General Letitia James neglected her duties.

Now James and her media allies are crying because the Justice Department is investigating her.

And no one deserves it more than her.

The New York attorney general’s spokesperson claimed that the federal investigation of the worst attorney general in the country was a “weaponization of the justice system” and “any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American.”

That is true. It’s why James’ campaign to dissolve the National Rifle Association (NRA) and plunder its assets as part of her promise to eliminate the group for entirely political reasons was so disturbing. It’s why when she ran on promising to “take on President Donald Trump” and fulfilled that promise through politically motivated investigations of his organizations and businesses was equally disturbing. And it’s why the Justice Department has issued subpoenas and is looking into the misconduct of her office in both politically motivated prosecutions.

The so-called ‘fraud’ case against President Trump was illegitimately framed and prosecuted. It should never have existed and would never have existed except for purely political reasons.

Attorney General James now faces her own investigation for mortgage fraud for falsely listing a home for her niece as her ‘primary’ residents. Then there are the documents misstating details in a loan document about a house in New York and James’ father falsely claiming her as his wife on yet another loan document in what looks like a pattern of serial mortgage fraud.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Israel, Protector of the West, Treacherously Undermined by France, UK and Canada by Lawrence A. Franklin

Posted By on August 13th, 2025

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21826/israel-protector-of-the-west-treacherously

The Druze, who are Arabs descended from Shia Islam, do not consider themselves Muslim. Therefore the other Arabs in Syria do not consider them Muslim either. For months “government forces” have been slaughtering them. Islamic terrorists appear to believe that they are obligated to slaughter anyone not Muslim:

Something appears wrong with this picture. Al-Sharaa promised Trump that he would protect Syria’s minorities; so far, he does seems to be doing everything but that (here, here and here) . The situation sems increasingly reminiscent of an old Soviet KGB recommendation to just keep telling them what they want to hear, then do anything you want.

In the latest of these opposition demonstrations, on July 21, dozens of protestors shouted “Hamas Out.” There is still strong reason to doubt, however, however, if Gazans would be more favorably inclined toward Israel if Hamas were gone.

Israel is already over-extended in defending virtually every minority in the area – while receiving nothing but opprobrium from most of the insensate media and many in Europe. They seem not to realize that they are the beneficiaries of Israel’s actions, even as they keep on giving away their continent to newcomers who seem intent on replacing Europe’s values with their own.

The question remains, however, if Al-Sharaa in Syria is not still just a terrorist, but in a suit and tie.

Israel has not only been protecting virtually every persecuted minority in the Middle East; it has, with the help of US President Donald J. Trump, also been protecting the West itself. Has anyone heard a breath of gratitude? On the contrary, many leaders in the West — most prominently President Emmanuel Macron of France, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, followed closely by Prime Minister Micheal Martin of Ireland and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway — have doubled down on the side of terrorists, this time Hamas. Macron’s announcement to recognize a fantasy “Palestinian state” not only demolished the negotiations that were reportedly nearing completion for a ceasefire and the return of the 50 remaining hostages; it also might cause the death by starvation, shooting or explosives possibly strapped to them, of the 20 hostages believed to be alive. In so doing, they are betraying not only the sole tiny country that is sacrificing its own people to protect them, but their own increasingly abused citizens as well.

NATIONAL SECURITY AND DEFENSE Comments turned off

Can the U.S. Address Its Ammunition Crisis Before the Next War? Rick Moran

Posted By on August 13th, 2025

https://pjmedia.com/rick-moran/2025/08/12/can-the-us-address-its-ammunition-crisis-before-the-next-war-n4942631

While headlines focus on military modernization, a section of the Big Beautiful Bill allocates billions to ammunition production. It’s only the latest sign that defense officials have woken up to the crisis in ammunition production and are pouring money into production lines to close the gap between what’s needed and what is currently available.

It’s a readiness problem that was made worse in some respects by our massive support of ammunition to Ukraine in the early days of the war and to Israel. The U.S. was the only NATO nation with the stocks on hand to help Ukraine withstand the initial blows from Russia. 

The crisis, however, preceded Ukraine and has been part of a planned “managed decline” of military stocks that began in the early 2000s. 

Now, with China becoming more aggressive and North Korea a wild card, replenishing ammunition stocks, especially of 155mm shells, becomes a critical necessity. 

In congressional testimony, Army officials told Congress that they’ve “invested $4.9 billion to build new [munitions] production lines and add new capacity and resiliency to our supply chains across the country.” Also, the army is “expanding and modernizing existing facilities to increase speed, flexibility, and capacity.”

The end-goal is to create “21st-century production capabilities that can generate the ammunition stockpiles necessary to sustain our national defense” during a long war.

The Army reached its goal of quadrupling the production of 155mm shells this month by moving shell production to four separate sites. A new, fully automated 155mm artillery shell production factory called UNION Technologies opened in Texas a few weeks ago, and another new load, assembly, and pack factory opened in Arkansas last April.

In Indiana, a new explosive railcar holding yard is under construction, the first in decades.

Another deficiency related to the ammunition crisis is the lack of facilities and upgrades for munitions production. The U.S. has also failed to manufacture “abundant or novel energetics to power these explosives,” writes Mackenzie Eaglen of the American Enterprise Institute.

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Isaac Schorr My brush with death in DC The city has been a model of corrupt, complacent governance – a national embarrassment

Posted By on August 13th, 2025

https://thespectator.com/topic/brush-death-washington-dc-crime/

The last thing I heard before my ears started ringing was my left turn signal clicking.

I was stopped at a red light on a Saturday afternoon, waiting to glide into my parking lot near the Waterfront Metro stop in Washington, DC when a loud crack suddenly deafened me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bullet-sized wound in my windshield. 

It wasn’t a windy day, and no cars had been passing by to kick a loose stone up at my beloved Camry, so it only took me only a half-second to realize what had happened. When the fight or flight kicked in, I briefly (and foolishly) fled the vehicle before diving back in to take a left on red. 

The two Metropolitan Police Department officers my 911 call summoned didn’t show up until a half-hour later, even though the nearest station was only a two-minute walk away. Gesturing toward my broken windshield, I asked them for confirmation of what I already knew had happened. Yes, my car had probably been shot with me in it, they agreed before informing me that all they could do was record the incident. 

If I wanted, they said, I could ask nearby apartment buildings and businesses for security footage and report back to them. And then they were off; my ears were still ringing.

That was only the most notable of my many experiences with the post-Covid crime wave that made DC such an unsettling place to live during my two years in the district. There was also the time a man on a motorcycle swerved onto the sidewalk to stare me down as my fiancée hid behind me; the time her cousin was mugged; and the time my friend from college was killed in a hit-and-run.

EDUCATION Comments turned off

John D. Sailer The Justice Department’s Welcome Crackdown on Universities Higher education has long engaged in racial discrimination in hiring.

Posted By on August 13th, 2025

https://www.city-journal.org/article/justice-department-letter-racial-discrimination-university-hiring

On July 29, the Department of Justice sent a letter to all federal grant recipients reaffirming a longstanding principle of American civil rights law: discrimination is unlawful. The nine-page memo, signed by Attorney General Pamela Bondi, lists several hiring practices that constitute illegal discrimination—many of them ubiquitous in higher education.

For years, I’ve reported on race-based hiring in academia. I’ve repeatedly found that American universities act with impunity. As a professor once told me, “every day, the universities wake up and break the law.” It’s not surprising, then, that universities have embraced virtually every practice that the DOJ deems illegal. That could mean serious consequences. The DOJ’s announcement offers “best practices” that will help institutions avoid “the revocation of federal grant funding.” If the department enforces its guidance, America’s institutions of higher education face a massive reckoning.

One practice that the DOJ lists as unlawful is “[p]referential treatment.” This occurs when an employer gives benefits to “individuals or groups based on protected characteristics in a way that disadvantages other qualified persons.” Any institution that “prioritizes candidates from ‘underrepresented groups’” violates the law.