'Sleepy Joe' was no exaggeration from Trump... - Monica Showalter

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by Monica Showalter

Gramps Biden seems to be falling asleep at his own campaign events.

After telling us he was tanned, rested, and ready for 2020, so to speak, Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden seems to have rolled back over and gone back to sleep.

Seriously, he's showing up to campaign events in a state of somnolence.

Patriot Retort observed this:

Well, now I think I understand why No-Show Joe Biden didn't turn up in Iowa for all the Gay Pride events this past weekend. It's really difficult to march in a Pride Parade when your primary ambulatory mode is sleepwalking.
But the Somnambulant Kid-Toucher finally made his way to the Hawkeye State yesterday where apparently he was so bored by his own speech, he put himself to sleep.
So while the other Democrat candidates are insulting their way to the nomination, the lumbering, droning Joe is sleepwalking there.
Honestly, is it his advancing years or is Sleepwalking Joe just not interested in running for President?

So not only is Biden not up to the rigors of campaigning. He's also reading from prepared scripts. He's getting the attention of tweeters based on his lack of energy at campaign events. And he doesn't go to many of those anyway.

As PatriotRetort notes: "Joe Biden isn't bringing his A-game. Though I'm fairly certain we're seeing his Zzzzz-Game."

It's not just that, though. As Thomas Lifson noted here, he's unwittingly insulting voters, too, almost as if he finds it an inconvenience that he has to campaign to win their votes. He's also making strange grandiose gaffes he can't possibly be serious about, as I argued here.

Now he's practically falling asleep at his own events, right at the critical early stage of the game when a candidate ought to be at the top of his game. Sure, he's got a clown car of other Democrats selling retrograde socialism as his competition, which ought to make his journey easier. But is he really that motivated if he can't so much as stay awake for his own events?

It makes his age seem to be a factor. Hillary Clinton, who had a variety of medical issues, was brought down in 2016 at least in part by her lack of energy, and that ought to make Democrats worry. Clinton couldn't even make herself go to Wisconsin despite her husband Bill Clinton's pleading that she needed to.

Biden, who if he gets the nomination and then takes the presidency in 2020 will be 79, seems to have the same problem. He makes the man Trump belittled as "low energy Jeb" Bush look like a fireball. Reality is reality, and he must be banking on Trump-hate to carry him over the finish line.

It raises another reality that's got to make Democrats uncomfortable as time goes on and Joe fades for his speechside nap: that Trump was right when he called Joe Biden "Sleepy Joe." Trump has always had a lightning-fast way of reading people, and now it's obvious that the president remains at the top of his game. And Joe? One wonders if he knows why he's running.

One can almost pity what happens to this doddering Democrat when Trump cranks his campaign game to 11. It won't be pretty. 


Monica Showalter

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/06/sleepy_joe_was_no_exaggeration_from_trump.html

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WebMD Misleads on Agriculture and Climate Change - H. Sterling Burnett

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by H. Sterling Burnett

The reasons increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and a modest warming are good for plants are myriad and not hard to find if only WebMD had tried.

Some readers of a recent article published by WebMD titled “Will Climate Change Cause Food Sources to Dwindle?” might be fooled into thinking the author intends to carefully weigh the evidence about this important topic. But a closer look clearly reveals the purpose of the story is to promote a one-sided, sloppy, alarmist view of the purported threat posed to agriculture from climate change.

Feeding the world’s hungry ranks among the greatest difficulties humankind has experienced throughout its history, and with the world’s population expected to top nine billion around 2100, this challenge could grow in the coming decades. Unfortunately, the WebMD article ignored the overwhelming amount of data and evidence that increased carbon dioxide levels and the modest warming Earth has experienced is helping feed the world, not leading to starvation or malnutrition.
Below are just several of the facts WebMD ignored in its effort to scare its readers into believing their use of fossil fuels is contributing to a food apocalypse.

For starters, most plant life arose when carbon dioxide levels were much higher than they are today. During the most recent ice age, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels fell to dangerously low levels -- just 180 parts per million (ppm). Plants begin to die when carbon dioxide reaches 150 ppm, because they are unable to use sunlight to photosynthesize food from carbon dioxide and water. After Earth emerged from the most recent ice age, carbon dioxide levels rebounded, to approximately 280 ppm, still far below the levels existing when plant life began to colonize the land.

The addition of approximately 135 ppm of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by humans -- through the burning of fossil fuels, slash-and-burn agriculture, and various other actions -- has helped reduce hunger immeasurably.

Since the widespread development and use of fossil fuels, world poverty and hunger have declined rapidly. Despite the addition of 3.2 billion people to the planet since 1968, poverty and hunger have plummeted at a faster rate than at any time in human history.

Forty-four percent of the world’s population lived in absolute poverty in 1981. Since then, the share of people living in extreme poverty fell below 10 percent in 2015. And although 815 million people worldwide are still undernourished, according to the United Nations, the number of hungry people has declined by two billion since 1990. Additionally, research shows there is now 17 percent more food available per person than there was 30 years ago -- all during the period of purportedly dangerous climate change.

A study cited by NASA recently confirms the Earth is greening significantly, with forests, grasslands, gardens, and areas of flowering plants expanding as carbon dioxide increases the rate of photosynthesis and improves plants’ water-use efficiency and pest resistance. The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, found, “From a quarter to half of Earth’s vegetated lands has shown significant greening over the last 35 years largely due to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide.”

This study confirms what several reports from the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) have concluded over the years: Human carbon dioxide emissions have greened the earth, transforming some former desert regions into verdant oases of greenery, and contributed to record crop yields.

World-Grain.com reported in 2016 world cereal production broke records for the third straight year, exceeding the previous record yield, recorded in 2015, by 1.2 percent and topping the record yield recorded in 2014 by 1.5 percent. In September 2018, FarmWeekNow reported the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated the United States corn yield would top 181.3 bushels per acre, a new record, up 4.7 bushels per acre from 2017. USDA estimated nationwide corn production at 14.827 billion bushels, the second-largest amount on record, behind only the 15.1 billion bushels produced in 2016. USDA’s soybean estimates also reached record levels of 4.69 billion bushels of production nationwide, with a record yield of 52.8 bushels per acre, up 3.7 bushels from last year.

My Heartland Institute colleague James Taylor detailed in a recent American Thinker article, crop yields are setting records abroad as well, most importantly in developing countries, where food supplies are typically scarcest. Government data from India (2017 through 2018) and Bangladesh (2016), show rice and coarse cereal production set new record highs. The subcontinent’s growth in food production is part of a long-term trend as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have increased. Honduras set new records in recent years for its production of staple and commercial crops, such as coffee, maize, rice, and wheat.

As a May 2018 report by The Heartland Institute, “The Social Benefits of Fossil Fuels,” summed up, the “increase in atmospheric [carbon dioxide] concentration … caused by the historical burning of fossil fuels has likely increased agricultural production per unit [of] land area by 70 percent for C3 cereals [which include rice, wheat, oats, cotton, and evergreen trees], 28 percent for C4 cereals [which include sorghum, maize, and various grasses], 33 percent for fruits and melons, 62 percent for legumes, 67 percent for root and tuber crops, and 51 percent for vegetables.”

The reasons increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and a modest warming are good for plants are myriad and not hard to find if only WebMD had tried. As NIPCC explains in Climate Change Reconsidered II, Biological Impacts, carbon dioxide increases plant fitness and flower pollination, helps plants develop more extensive root systems to extract greater amounts of nutrients from even poor quality soil, helps plants use water more efficiently by reducing the number and openness of stomata through which plants lose moisture during transpiration, and helps plants fight off pests by increasing production of natural substances that repel insects.

WebMD also parroted the popular but false claim that warming-induced crop failure was a reason for the Syrian civil war. Syria is part of an arid, desert region of the world where, for thousands of years, droughts have been the norm, not the exception. In fact, the entire region experienced the same drought as Syria, yet war did not break out in Iran, Israel, Jordan, or Saudi Arabia.

The battle for freedom against continued tyranny, not food shortages, was responsible for the “Arab Spring” revolutions in Syria and other countries around the same time. Indeed, as Taylor’s article points out, “United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization data show an approximately 50-percent increase in Syrian crop production since 1995. Moreover, the Arab Spring democracy uprisings in Syria and elsewhere, which climate alarmists blame on global warming, occurred in 2011, a year in which Syria produced its eighth highest crop yields in history.”

Surely WebMD should have considered at least some of these facts relevant to any accurate, balanced discussion of the effects of climate change on food production. Instead, the article betrayed its founders’ vision for the medical website as a trusted resource people can turn for accurate information on health-related matters.


H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D. (hburnett@heartland.org) is a senior fellow on energy and the environment at The Heartland Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research center headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/06/webmd_misleads_on_agriculture_and_climate_change.html

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African-American Republican Forced Out of Cybersecurity Conference for Pro-Life Views - Daniel Greenfield

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by Daniel Greenfield

The perverse irony is that the screeches were backed by the usual talking points about how minorities aren't getting enough of a place in tech.

The media keeps squealing that Republicans aren't taking cybersecurity seriously enough because of all the Russian bots. And then Republicans get purged from cybersecurity because they don't believe in killing babies.

Rep. Will Hurd, a somewhat liberal African-American Republican and former CIA officer, is widely recognized as the leading congressional voice on cybersecurity. He's had a plethora of bills dealing with cybersecurity and had been a senior advisor on cybersecurity before getting into politics.

So he was all set to keynote Black Hat, a cybersecurity conference, before the usual social justice trolls began screeching that he had voted against abortion funding. The screeches were amplified by the media echo chamber, in this case its tech subsection.

The perverse irony is that the screeches were backed by the usual talking points about how minorities aren't getting enough of a place in tech.

Rep. Hurd is black.

Much of the push to force out the black Republican for opposing the murder of babies came via Tech Crunch, a spammy site that only got worse when it was hijacked by the Huffington Post, and is currently owned by Verizon.

Added whines came from he Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Eva Galperin who falsely claimed that the African-American elected official would not "make women feel welcome.”

Maddie Stone, a Google "engineer" whined that Hurd “believes that I don’t deserve the basic human right of bodily autonomy.”

As usual, social justice won and science lost.

Black Hat organizers claimed, "We misjudged the separation of technology and politics.

Technology can be separate from politics. Or it can be held hostage by politics. This year, politics hacked Black Hat.


Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/274023/african-american-republican-forced-out-daniel-greenfield

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Denmark's Elections - Judith Bergman

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by Judith Bergman

"Many citizens wrongly think that the immigration issue is under control and that it can therefore safely be left to the Left. It is not under control--" - Kasper Støvring, author and commentator, Debatten-DR, June 6, 2019.

• A significant development in this election was that anti-immigration parties generally fared poorly.
• "Many citizens wrongly think that the immigration issue is under control and that it can therefore safely be left to the Left. It is not under control... [B]y the year 2050, we will see a doubling of the Muslim population in Denmark... that would not be a problem if we had a solution for how to integrate them, but nowhere in Western Europe has a solution been found". — Kasper Støvring, author and commentator, Debatten-DR, June 6, 2019.
• Another new development was that for the first time, according to a report in Jyllands Posten, Muslim voters were organized, in certain urban areas.... [A]n electoral group was set up, which, in co-operation with a mosque and various other associations, recommended that people vote for the two parties: the center-left Det Radikale Venstre and the far left Enhedslisten... Both parties have a pro-immigration stance. Det Radikale Venstre, for instance, wants to make it easier for refugees to gain permanent residence in Denmark.
• Immigration policy will be one of the main challenges for the Social Democratic Party, as it attempts to form a government with the seats of Det Radikale Venstre and Enhedslisten, in addition to the Socialist People's Party.... the Social Democrats [wanted] the bulk of their policy focusing on how to reduce and control the influx of refugees and migrants, including the use of reception centers outside of Europe. In addition, their policy included making all stays for refugees in Denmark temporary, and extending border controls and reforming the Schengen cooperation so that individual countries decide when and how long they can control their own borders. Their policy also backs sending rejected asylum seekers home and tightening the laws in order to stop illegal migrants from working in Denmark.

In Denmark's general election on June 5, the Danes gave the center-left and far left parties on the political spectrum 91 seats in parliament, a majority out of the 179 available seats. Pictured: Christiansborg Castle, seat of Denmark's parliament. (Image source: Jebulon/Wikimedia Commons)

In Denmark's general election on June 5, the Danes gave the center-left and far left parties on the political spectrum -- the Social Democratic Party, Det Radikale Venstre (the Danish Social Liberal Party), Socialistisk Folkeparti (the Socialist People's Party), and Enhedslisten (the Red-Green Alliance) -- 91 seats in parliament, a majority out of the 179 available seats. In doing so, the Danes waved goodbye to the current liberal-conservative government. The largest party on the left, the Social Democratic Party with 48 seats, and led by Mette Frederiksen, is currently trying to form a government.

A significant development in this election was that anti-immigration parties generally fared poorly. Dansk Folkeparti, (the Danish People's Party), which had become the second-largest party in the 2015 elections, when it was the only party running on a strict anti-immigration platform and where it received 21% of the votes and 37 seats, was reduced to less than half, receiving only 8.7% of the votes and 16 seats. The new anti-Islamic, anti-immigration party, Stram Kurs, which campaigned on a platform of prohibiting Islam and deporting Muslims from Denmark, did not manage to cross the election threshold of 2%. It received only 1.8 % of the votes. Led by Rasmus Paludan, who became famous for demonstrating across Denmark -- where he frequently featured a "Koran stunt" in which he would either throw a Koran around, burn it or put bacon on it -- the party only managed to qualify to run in the elections a month before they took place. Finally, a new party on the right, Nye Borgerlige (the New Right) won four seats, with 2.4 % of the vote. The party ran on a platform that demanded that no more asylum seekers be allowed into the country, that foreigners must support themselves financially and that foreign criminals be deported after their first sentencing in court. The current Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said he would not cooperate politically with either Rasmus Paludan or the New Right should they be elected to parliament.

Some Danish analysts, such as the author and commentator Kasper Støvring, estimated that Danes did not vote for the anti-immigration parties this time because, "Many citizens wrongly think that the immigration issue is under control and that it can therefore safely be left to the Left. It is not under control".

"Five years in a row," he added, "The crime rates have gone up among non-Western descendants; we have areas where the rule of law has de facto been suspended; we saw in the election campaign, that there are areas where you cannot gather and speak freely; when you go for a walk you nearly stumble on the concrete blocks [meant to protect terrorist targets] that remind us of the intrusive terror threat. These are very serious problems that do not go away... they will keep popping back because they have not been resolved... and by the year 2050 we will see a doubling of the Muslim population in Denmark... that would not be a problem if we had a solution for how to integrate them, but nowhere in Western Europe has a solution been found".

Another new development was that for the first time, according to a report in Jyllands Posten, Muslim voters were organized, in certain urban areas listed by the government as ghettos. In Gellerup, in western Aarhus, an electoral group was set up, which, in co-operation with a mosque and various other associations, recommended that people vote for the two parties: the center-left Det Radikale Venstre and the far left Enhedslisten. As a result, in Gellerup, Det Radikale Venstre went from receiving 5.1% of the vote in 2015, to 34.2% in 2019. The same trend could be seen in other ghetto-areas, such as Vollsmose, Tingbjerg and in Nørrebro, where Enhedslisten was also popular. Both parties have a pro-immigration stance. Det Radikale Venstre, for instance, wants to make it easier for refugees to gain permanent residence in Denmark. The parties gained 8.6% and 6.9% of the votes respectively, corresponding to 16 and 13 seats.

Immigration policy will be one of the main challenges for the Social Democratic Party, as it attempts to form a government with the seats of Det Radikale Venstre and Enhedslisten, in addition to the Socialist People's Party. In their election campaign, the Social Democrats made it clear that they wanted what they call a 'fair and realistic' immigration policy, with the bulk of their policy focusing on how to reduce and control the influx of refugees and migrants, including the use of reception centers outside of Europe. In addition, their policy included making all stays for refugees in Denmark temporary, and extending border controls and reforming the Schengen cooperation so that individual countries decide when and how long they can control their own borders. Their policy also backs sending rejected asylum seekers home and tightening the laws in order to stop illegal migrants from working in Denmark. Earlier this year, the Social Democrats voted for the liberal-conservative government's stricter immigration policies.

That stance might make it difficult for the Social Democrats to form a government with Det Radikale Venstre, which has said that it wants to ease Denmark's current policies on immigration. Instead of focusing on sending migrants and refugees home, Det Radikale Venstre wishes to focus on better integration. Before the elections, the leader of the Social Democrats, Mette Frederiksen, said that if she won, "The tight immigration policy, which is set by a broad majority in the Folketing [the Danish parliament], is fixed... there will be no easing of the immigration policy and there is no party or party that can make an ultimatum on this".

It now remains to be seen whether Frederiksen will be able to keep her word and still form a government. 


Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14375/denmark-elections

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Hiding behind 'Islamophobia' - Eileen F. Toplansky

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by Eileen F. Toplansky

The term "Islamophobia" is a potent weapon used by jihadists and their supporters.

Jihadists are masters at putting people on the defensive and the term “Islamophobia” is a potent weapon constantly used by them. Essentially, it shuts down any comment about Islam that is not favorable. Initially it is the back door to censorship. Ultimately, it is to establish the Islamic takeover of the West because it obfuscates factual evidence of many of the heinous aspects of sharia law and societies under Islamic rule.

It was "[a]t the end of the 1970s, [when] Iranian fundamentalists invented the term 'Islamophobia [.]' The aim of this word was to declare Islam inviolate." The term, which is "worthy of totalitarian propaganda, is deliberately unspecific about whether it refers to a religion, a belief system or its faithful adherents around the world."

The lack of specific definition, of course, leaves the door wide open to multiple interpretations, all to the benefit of the jihadists who would use the word to suit their vile purposes. Thus, "the term 'Islamophobia' denies the reality of an Islamic offensive in Europe all the better to justify it [and] it attacks secularism by equating it with fundamentalism." It silences all those Muslims who question the Koran, who demand equality of the sexes, who claim the right to renounce religion, and who want to practice their faith freely [.]"

Repeatedly, freedom lovers have demonstrated how the term Islamophobia has served its purpose spectacularly well. It allows Islamic apologists to "silence any criticism of Islam." The term has infiltrated Middle East and Islamic Studies and anyone who would monitor mosques for threats to the public order will be denounced. Consequently "child marriages, forced marriages, female seclusion, honor killings, gang rapes of infidel women, or the enslavement and sale of females for sex slavery" cannot be publicized for fear of being accused of racism.

Are these irrational fears? In fact "[i]slamists use diversity politics and ecumenical dreams to move the holy struggle forward. Invoking Islamophobia, they seek to ruin any critics. With the enthusiastic support of America's multiculturalists and cultural left, they are succeeding."

If the following terrify you, then you are practicing Islamophobia:

• beheadings for alleged offences against the Koran
• being stoned to death for showing a body part
• being murdered for being gay
• being raped
• being murdered for religious conversion
• violent jihad against people of other faiths.

The term Islamophobia has become common parlance despite the fact that Christianophobia is rampant in the world and Judeophobia dates back to the ancient world. But these latter terms are not meant to suppress free speech whereas that is precisely what Islamophobia is meant to do. Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world today, and genocide of Christians is on the rise, though one would barely read about this in most of the mainstream media.

Christophobia is not used because as Stephen Crawford explains "Christians don’t riot when someone portrays Jesus on a cross upside-down, or in a glass of piss. Christians don’t kill over a mis-handled Bible. Christians don’t issue death threats at every perceived insult. Christians don’t perceive everything as an insult in the first place."

In 2015, Jonathan S. Tobin documented how Islamophobia fears hampered the war against ISIS. The word created a national security risk because of the purging of relevant and factual training that is directly related to Islamic terror. It is why in 2013 Berkeley professors claimed that Islamophobia was a greater threat than Islamic terrorism. Moreover, the campaign to counter terrorist propaganda on university campuses is derided as Islamophobic. Hurling an accusation of Islamophobia is why no one can be horrified when a Muslim Imam claims women who don't wear hijabs are asking to be raped.

In fact, FBI hate crime statistics show that claims about Islamophobia are false yet such assertions are repeatedly whipped out.

In 2005, Daniel Pipes gave an overview of how the term was coined in 1996 by a self-proclaimed Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia.

The word literally means 'undue fear of Islam' but it is used to mean 'prejudice against Muslims[.]…

The term presents several problems, however. What exactly constitutes an 'undue fear of Islam' when Muslims acting in the name of Islam today make up the premier source of worldwide aggression, both verbal and physical, versus non-Muslims and Muslims alike? What, one wonders, is the proper amount of fear?

Promoters of the 'Islamophobia' concept habitually exaggerate the problem:

• Law enforcement: British Muslims are said to suffer from persistent police discrimination but an actual review of the statistics by Kenan Malik makes mincemeat of this 'Islamophobia myth.'
• Cultural: Muslims 'are faced with an extreme flow of anti-Islamic literature that preaches hatred against Islam [.]'
• Linguistic: A professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, falsely reported... at a U.N. event, 'Confronting Islamophobia,' reports Alexander Joffe) attempts to hide the Arabic origins of English words such as adobe -- which derives in fact from ancient Egyptian, not from Arabic.
• Historical: The term anti-Semitism was originally used to describe sentiment against Arabs living in Spain, Mr. Nasr also stated in his speech, and was not linked to Jews until after World War II. Nonsense: anti-Semitism dates back only to 1879, when it was coined by Wilhelm Marr, and has always referred specifically to hatred of Jews.

More recently, Soeren Kern describes how the deliberate manipulation of the definition of this term is actually establishing a back-door blasphemy law. In fact, "[t]he proposed definition has been opposed by many Britons, including British Muslims, who warn that it would effectively shield Islam from scrutiny and valid criticism." Furthermore, "[s]enior British police officials have cautioned that the proposed definition of Islamophobia could cause confusion among police officers and hamper the fight against Islamic terrorism."

From a legal standpoint, "no one would be sure which forms of words could land them in court. It is precisely such uncertainty that makes the difference between a police state and a free society."

In essence, "Britain is fatally infected by Islam." Bill Warner, says of Islamophobia, "It is whatever the Muslims say it is."

Islamophobia is an ideological fabrication. It is continually used as a thought crime to create a totalitarian future. As Andrew C. McCarthy has stated, "it is a neologism coined by the Muslim Brotherhood, which is as practiced in the art of deception as any organization on Earth."

It is well overdue to stop catering and bowing to those who would invoke the term. We should all be Islamophobes or Naziphobes or Communistphobes given the evil they perpetuate.

Eileen F. Toplansky can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/06/hiding_behind_islamophobia.html

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Iran responsible for 'blatant assault' on oil tankers in Gulf of Oman, Mike Pompeo says - Lukas Mikelionis

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by Lukas Mikelionis

Whether it be a torpedo or mines, Jakob P. Larsen, head of maritime security for the international shipping association BIMCO, told the Associated Press that the incident brings the region closer to an armed conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blamed Iran for the "blatant assault" on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman earlier Thursday.

In a press conference Thursday afternoon, Pompeo said: “This assessment is based on intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to execute the operation, recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping, and the fact that no proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to act with such a high degree of sophistication.”

He charged that Iran is working to disrupt the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz and this is a deliberate part of a campaign to escalate tension, adding that the U.S. will defend its forces and interests in the region, although he did not elaborate.

His comments came shortly after a senior U.S. defense official told Fox News that the U.S. Navy saw an unexploded mine attached to the hull of the Panama-listed, Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous ship, one of the two ships attacked. It is the same type of mine used to damage four oil tankers last month in the same area - an attack senior Pentagon officials blamed on Iran.

A spokesman for Taiwan's CPC Corp oil refiner, which chartered the other boat attacked on Thursday morning, the Front Altair, said it was "suspected of being hit by a torpedo", although this not been confirmed.

Video

Whether it be a torpedo or mines, Jakob P. Larsen, head of maritime security for the international shipping association BIMCO, told the Associated Press that the incident brings the region closer to an armed conflict.

“The shipping industry views this as an escalation of the situation, and we are just about as close to a conflict without there being an actual armed conflict, so the tensions are very high,” he said.

“The shipping industry views this as an escalation of the situation, and we are just about as close to a conflict without there being an actual armed conflict, so the tensions are very high.”

— Jakob P. Larsen

Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif said of the latest incident: "Suspicious doesn't begin to describe what likely transpired this morning."

But U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that the Iranian regime is posing a credible threat in the Middle East, prompting the Trump administration to beef up security in the region in the form of additional bombers and troops.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of American forces in the Middle East, warned during a recent trip to the region of an unspecified “imminent” threat from Iran.


Back in May, the U.S. military was put on alert after reports that Iranian forces loaded missiles into launchers on two Iranian commercial boats sailing around the Persian Gulf, according to the Wall Street Journal. For two weeks, the U.S. shadowed the ships as tensions continued to rise, according to the report. The ships eventually came back to a harbor and unloaded the rockets, Iranian officials said

“The best way to describe them is a covert, deniable first-strike weapon. The conversion of a merchant ship for an attack in and of itself is a very provocative act.”

— U.S. official familiar with the intelligence

“The best way to describe them is a covert, deniable first-strike weapon,” a U.S. official familiar with the intelligence told the newspaper. “The conversion of a merchant ship for an attack in and of itself is a very provocative act.”

Zarif fired back against criticism at the time, saying that the regime had the right to self-defense. “We have a right to defend ourselves, so if we put missiles on our boats, it is our right,” he told ABC News on Sunday.

Video

The MT Front Altair, a Marshall Islands-flagged but Norwegian-owned crude oil tanker was carrying naphtha, a flammable petrochemical product, to Japan. The Front Altair came from Ruwais in the UAE, a loading point for the state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.

International Tanker Management, which operates the MT Front Altair, said an explosion had caused a fire onboard. The firm told the Associated Press the incident is still being investigated and it was unclear what caused the explosion. Its 23 crew members were evacuated by the nearby South Korean-based Hyundai Dubai Vessel and are now safe, the firm said.

The other tanker, the Kokuka Courageous, said it sustained hull damage and 21 sailors had been evacuated, with one suffering minor injuries.

The vessel came from Mesaieed, Qatar, and Jubail, Saudi Arabia, carrying methanol, a chemical compound used in a variety of products.

Video

The tensions between the U.S. and Iran have reached a fever pitch and the diplomatic efforts to defuse the situation tend to hit a wall. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is visiting Iran this week and is expected to try to de-escalate tensions between Tehran and Washington, though any significant breakthrough is unlikely.

Yet Abe’s visit coincided with the Iran-backed Houthi rebel attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abha regional airport that reportedly wounded 26 people.

An oil tanker is on fire in the sea of Oman, Thursday, June 13, 2019. Two oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz were reportedly attacked on Thursday, an assault that left one ablaze and adrift as sailors were evacuated from both vessels and the U.S. Navy rushed to assist amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran. (AP Photo/ISNA)

The U.S. was put on alert amid intelligence reports that indicated that Iran-backed militias in Iraq are moving the missiles close to American bases. This prompted the U.S. to order all non-essential personnel to leave the U.S. Embassy and consulate in Iraq.

President Trump, meanwhile, sent an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the region, along with hundreds more troops to back up the tens of thousands already deployed in the region.


In the midst of this, Iran is also threatening to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear accord and resume enriching uranium closer to weapons-grade level on July 7 if European allies fail to offer new terms for the nuclear deal.

Ilan Goldenberg, Middle East Security Director at CNAS (Center for a New American Security), a defense and national security think tank, tweeted Thursday: "I’ve been saying for the past month that threat of war with Iran is overhyped. Not after today. We should be concerned."

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin, Lucas Tomlinson, Bradford Betz and the Associated Press contributed to this report.


Lukas Mikelionis

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/world/highly-likely-iran-responsible-oil-tanker-attack-gulf-oman-defense

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Horowitz on Beck: The Democrats’ Muslim Brotherhood Romance - Frontpagemag.com

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by Frontpagemag.com

Freedom Center founder unveils the Unholy Alliance’s ‘Dark Agenda’.

[Order David Horowitz's new book, Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America.] 

In his recent appearance on Glenn Beck's show, David Horowitz discusses The Democrats’ Muslim Brotherhood Romance, the Left's anti-Semitic and anti-American agenda, and much more. Don't miss it!




Frontpagemag.com

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273990/horowitz-beck-democrats-muslim-brotherhood-romance-frontpagemagcom

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Beating China: The New Cold War - Elijah G. Pardo

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by Elijah G. Pardo

By adhering to realist principles and replicating Ronald Reagan's pressure, the United States can stop China's erosion of the international order and prevent the growth of anti-Western influence.

Far too often, pundits and politicians alike make the case that America should avoid another cold war, this time with China. There is a problem with this argument. America doesn’t get to choose whether or not to start another cold war. Just as it was not America that initiated a coup in Czechoslovakia in 1948 and it was not America that brutally put down a rebellion in Hungary in 1956, it is not America that is stealing intellectual property and obstructing international waters in 2019. China chose to start this cold war; we are already in the middle of it. America doesn’t get a say unless it wants to lie down and lose. It isn’t the same type of cold war, and each side has different objectives, but it is contentious no less.

If America wants to win the Second Cold War, it has to do several broad things, but for one it has first to acknowledge that it is already ongoing. The Trump administration took an excellent first step. The administration’s national security strategy admits that we are moving back into a period of great power competition and seeks to develop a plan to succeed in that environment. China is run by an expansionist totalitarian regime that aims, for the first time, to extend its influence to shift the global balance of power and international order into its favor and away from the West’s. America has to again come to the understanding that the world is competitive and to remain the global superpower; it will have to face challengers. There are many countries that would love to challenge America; China happens to be the one that has the best chance. 

The western structure of the international order which America has led has created an incredible global economy that has pulled endless numbers of people and even entire nations out of poverty. For instance, Poland in 1990 had a GDP per capita of $5,509 (World Bank, constant 2010 US$), in 2017 it had a GDP per capita of $15,822. That's an increase of nearly 300%. A similar pattern repeats within other former communist or authoritarian states. According to the World Bank, in 1990 36% of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty, 25 years later less than 10% do. The West’s emphasis on economic liberalization is working.

Amongst all this, the United States has prospered too, as the international order since WWII has been structured to its benefit. U.S. GDP per capita has increased by over 300% from $17,550 (World Bank, constant 2010 US$) in 1960 to $53,128 in 2017. For this progress to happen, a massive security umbrella was needed. Following WWII, the United States created that structure and has kept international markets open and shipping lanes protected. In recent years, however, amongst political strain in the United States, that umbrella has begun to show cracks. 

The uncertainty of U.S. commitments has emboldened China, which has begun to project its power into one of the most critical regions in the world, the South China Sea. The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has grown significantly in the 21st century while also shrinking the technology gap between it and the U.S. Navy. China has begun to again ratchet up tensions over its claims on the South China Sea as if it were land. These claims are well within international waters and have no basis in international law. A UN tribunal recently ruled as much. The PLAN has constructed artificial islands throughout the South China Sea to establish a Chinese military presence. Chinese vessels have also swarmed foreign ships in international waters and physically obstructed their movement. Over half of the world’s merchant fleet tonnage proceeds through various straits around Indonesia with most then venturing into the South China Sea. Claims and obstructions on key shipping routes, unopposed, could give the Chinese a massive amount of leverage over the world’s economics.

America must face these challenges if it wishes to continue to prosper, aid other economies, and be the global leader. China is positioning itself as a direct challenger to Western order and prosperity. If America wants to stop China, it must adhere to a few principles. First, stay out of conflicts that are of limited strategic importance and that risk precious American blood and treasure. 

Secondly, the United States needs to strengthen its alliances with willing partners. Even amongst the turmoil and perils of trade war with allies, the Trump administration has somewhat moved in the right direction, calling on allies to reject the development of Chinese corporations that could be involved in cyber espionage. The United States has also pleaded with allies to pick up more of the load when it comes to their defense, thereby relieving a thinly stretched U.S. military. 

Third, the United States needs to rebuild and increase the size of its Navy. The United States must continue to keep shipping lanes open and patrol waters in the Pacific. It is no secret the Navy’s advantage has eroded. Underfunding and reductions in fleet size have left the Navy starving for more warships and the budget to build them. 

Lastly, the U.S. government must put diplomatic pressure on the Chinese much the way Reagan did to the Soviet Union. Reagan correctly recognized holes in the Soviet bloc; economic instability, social unrest, and military entanglements. Reagan’s diplomatic pressure, economic pressure, and military buildup pushed the Soviets over the edge. China has its issues; an aging workforce, evidence of lying about their economic statistics, and an estimated debt to GDP ratio of 300%. 

By adhering to realist principles and replicating Reagan’s pressure, the United States can stop China’s erosion of the international order and prevent the growth of anti-western influence. It is clear that China seeks to disrupt the global order that has been immensely successful. The United States must begin to accept the reality of a competitive international arena and prepare to deal with the impending Chinese threat. America’s goals should be the prevention of expansion of Chinese influence and the preservation of the Western international order. The Trump administration has the United States on the right path, but there is much more work that will be required. 

Elijah G. Pardo

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/06/beating_china_the_new_cold_war.html

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Rocket strikes yeshiva in Sderot - Gary Willig

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by Gary Willig

Red alert in southern Israel as rocket scores direct hit on Hesder yeshiva building.

A rocket fired from Gaza struck the Hesder yeshiva in Sderot Thursday night.
The rocket caused the Red Alert siren to activate in Sderot.

The building suffered damage. There were no reported casualties.

Police responded to scene, including bomb disposal experts. The police sappers secured the remains of the rocket.

The rocket was fired from the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, Channel 13 News reported.

Asher Pizam, a witness to the rocket strike, told Channel 13: "We were in a weekly lesson when we heard the Red Alert and then a huge explosion. We went out and saw a lot of damage was done to the place. It's incredibly scary. Things cannot go on like this."

Yisrael Beiteinu chairman and former defense minister Avigdor Liberman responded to the rocket attack: "Dear residents of the south, allow me to express my deep sorrow for the untimely passing of your sense of security. This is precisely why I resigned as Defense Minister. We must bury the policy of 'managing the conflict' and revive Israel's deterrence."

Jewish Home chairman Rabbi Raffi Peretz said that "tonight, the leaders of Hamas must be held accountable. This is our ethical obligation to all the residents of the area and to all citizens of Israel."

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פגיעה ישירה במבנה ציבורי בשדרות: אין נפגעים@Itsik_zuarets

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ההסלמה בדרום: תיעוד מהפגיעה בשדרות@Itsik_zuarets (צילום: מנדי ריזל) pic.twitter.com/0mnAE7FJwg

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21:08 - 13 ביוני 2019

מידע ופרטיות בנוגע למודעות טוויטר

Gary Willig

Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/264565

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The Suppressed Plight of Palestinian Christians - Raymond Ibrahim

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by Raymond Ibrahim

"Far more important to the Palestinian Authority than arresting those who assault Christian sites is keeping such incidents out of the mainstream media. And they are very successful in this regard".

• "Fatah regularly exerts heavy pressure on Christians not to report the acts of violence and vandalism from which they frequently suffer, as such publicity could damage the PA's image as an actor capable of protecting the lives and property of the Christian minority under its rule.... That image could have negative repercussions for the massive international, and particularly European, aid the PA receives." — Dr. Edy Cohen, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.
• Considered another way, the bread and butter of the PA and its supporters, media and others, seems to be to portray the Palestinians as victims of unjust aggression and discrimination from Israel. This narrative could be jeopardized if the international community learned that Palestinians themselves were persecuting fellow Palestinians — solely on account of religion.
• "Far more important to the Palestinian Authority than arresting those who assault Christian sites is keeping such incidents out of the mainstream media. And they are very successful in this regard. Indeed, only a handful of smaller local outlets bothered to report on these latest break-ins. The mainstream international media ignored them altogether." — Dr. Edy Cohen, Israel Today.
• As Justus Reid Weiner, a lawyer and scholar well-acquainted with the region explains, "The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs... In a society where Arab Christians have no voice and no protection it is no surprise that they are leaving."

Christianity is on the verge of disappearing in the place of its birth, including Bethlehem (pictured). According to lawyer and scholar Justus Reid Weiner, "The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs... In a society where Arab Christians have no voice and no protection it is no surprise that they are leaving." (Image source: Daniel Case/Wikimedia Commons)

At a time when Christians throughout the Muslim world are suffering from a variety of persecution, the plight of Palestinian Christians is seldom heard.

It exists. Open Doors, a human rights group that follows the persecution of Christians, notes that Palestinian Christians suffer from a "high" level of persecution, the source of which is, in its words, "Islamic Oppression":

"Those who convert to Christianity from Islam, however, face the worst Christian persecution and it is difficult for them to safely participate in existing churches. In the West Bank they are threatened and put under great pressure, in Gaza their situation is so dangerous that they live their Christian faith in utmost secrecy....The influence of radical Islamic ideology is rising, and historical churches have to be diplomatic in their approach towards Muslims."

That said, while reports of the persecution of Christians emanate regularly from other Muslim majority regions around the world — Pakistan, Egypt, and Nigeria as three examples — little is mentioned of those Christians living under the Palestinian Authority.

Why is that? Is it because they experience significantly less persecution than their coreligionists around the Muslim world? Or is it because of their unique situation — living in a hotly contested arena with much political and media wrangling in the balance?

"The Persecution of Christians in the Palestinian Authority," a new report by Dr. Edy Cohen, published by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies on May 27, goes a long way in answering these questions.

First, it documents three recent anecdotes of persecution of Christians, none of which was reported by the so-called "mainstream media":

"On April 25, the terrified residents of the Christian village of Jifna near Ramallah ... were attacked by Muslim gunmen ... after a woman from the village submitted a complaint to the police that the son of a prominent, Fatah-affiliated leader had attacked her family. In response, dozens of Fatah gunmen came to the village, fired hundreds of bullets in the air, threw petrol bombs while shouting curses, and caused severe damage to public property. It was a miracle that there were no dead or wounded...

"The second incident occurred during the night of May 13. Vandals broke into a church of the Maronite community in the center of Bethlehem, desecrated it, and stole expensive equipment belonging to the church, including the security cameras.

"Three days later it was the turn of the Anglican church in the village of Aboud, west of Ramallah. Vandals cut through the fence, broke the windows of the church, and broke in. They desecrated it, looked for valuable items, and stole a great deal of equipment.

"According to its Facebook page, this is the sixth time the Maronite church in Bethlehem has been subjected to acts of vandalism and theft, including an arson attack in 2015 that caused considerable damage and forced the church to close for a lengthy period."

These three attacks, which occurred in the span of three weeks, fit the same pattern of abuse that Christians in other Muslim majority regions habitually experience. While the desecration and plundering of churches is prevalent, so too are Muslim mobs rising against Christian minorities, whenever the latter — perceived as dhimmis, or third-class, tolerated "citizens" who are often expected to be grateful they are tolerated at all — dare speak up for their rights, as occurred the Christian village of Jifna on April 25:

"[T]he rioters called on the [Christian] residents to pay jizya—a head tax that was levied throughout history on non-Muslim minorities under Islamic rule. The most recent victims of the jizya were the Christian communities of Iraq and Syria under ISIS rule."

Moreover, as often happens when Muslims attack Christians in Islamic nations, "Despite the [Christian] residents' cries for help" in Jifna, "the PA police did not intervene during the hours of mayhem. They have not arrested any suspects." Similarly, "no suspects were arrested" in the two church attacks.

Palestinian Christians, in short, are suffering from the same patterns of persecution — including church attacks, kidnappings and forced conversion — as their co-religionists in dozens of Muslim nations. The difference, however, is that the persecution of Palestinian Christians has "received no coverage in the Palestinian media." In fact, Cohen explains, "a full gag order was imposed in many cases":

"The only thing that interests the PA is that events of this kind not be leaked to the media. Fatah regularly exerts heavy pressure on Christians not to report the acts of violence and vandalism from which they frequently suffer, as such publicity could damage the PA's image as an actor capable of protecting the lives and property of the Christian minority under its rule. Even less does the PA want to be depicted as a radical entity that persecutes religious minorities. That image could have negative repercussions for the massive international, and particularly European, aid the PA receives."

Considered another way, the bread and butter of the PA and its supporters, media and others, seems to be to portray the Palestinians as victims of unjust aggression and discrimination from Israel. This narrative could be jeopardized if the international community learned that Palestinians themselves were persecuting fellow Palestinians — solely on account of religion. It might be hard to muster sympathy for a supposedly oppressed people when one realizes that they themselves are doing the oppressing of the minorities in their midst.

So sensitive to this potential difficulty, "PA officials exert pressure on local Christian to not report such incidents, which threaten to unmask the Palestinian Authority as yet another Middle East regime beholden to a radical Islamic ideology," Cohen writes in another report.

"Far more important to the Palestinian Authority than arresting those who assault Christian sites is keeping such incidents out of the mainstream media. And they are very successful in this regard. Indeed, only a handful of smaller local outlets bothered to report on these latest break-ins. The mainstream international media ignored them altogether."

Notably, a similar dynamic sometimes exists concerning Muslim refugees. Although West European politicians and media present them as persecuted and oppressed, in need of a welcoming hand, Muslim migrants themselves sometimes persecute and oppress Christian minorities among them — whether by terrorizing them in refugee camps, or drowning them in the Mediterranean.

The sad and simple fact, by all counts, is that Christianity is on the verge of disappearing in the place of its birth, including Bethlehem. As Justus Reid Weiner, a lawyer and scholar well-acquainted with the region, explains:

"The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs... In a society where Arab Christians have no voice and no protection it is no surprise that they are leaving."

• Follow Raymond Ibrahim on Twitter and Facebook

Raymond Ibrahim, author of the new book, Sword and Scimitar, Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14358/palestinian-christians-persecution

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