Saturday, August 20, 2022

Biden continues push for nuclear deal as Iran escalates plots on U.S. soil - Aaron Kliegman

 

by Aaron Kliegman

The Biden administration's approach to Iran is not a "rational policy but the pursuit of a Holy Grail of getting back into" nuclear deal, said John Bolton.

The Biden administration appears as intent as ever on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, despite the Iranian government escalating its alleged efforts to assassinate American citizens on U.S. soil.

President Biden continues to believe "diplomacy is the best path" to ensuring "Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon," a National Security Council spokesperson told Just the News. "As long as he believes pursuing [nuclear] talks is in U.S. national security interests, we will continue to do so.

"At the same time, the Biden administration has not and will not waiver [sic] in protecting and defending all Americans against threats of violence and terrorism. We will continue to bring to bear the full resources of the U.S. government to protect Americans."

That same message is being echoed across the Biden administration.

At a press briefing Wednesday, State Department spokesman Ned Price also reaffirmed that the administration is fully committed to restoring the nuclear deal.

"We have been sincere, we have been steadfast in our commitment to seeking a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA," said Price, using the initialism for Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the official name of the nuclear deal. "We are confident that a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA remains the best and really the most effective means by which to once again verifiably and permanently constrain Iran's nuclear program."

The JCPOA, from which former President Trump withdrew the U.S. in 2018, places temporary curbs on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for large-scale sanctions relief.

The administration's comments came amid an ongoing wave of alleged Iranian plots inside the U.S.

Last week, the Justice Department charged a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an Iranian military force and U.S.-designated terrorist organization, with plotting to murder former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton, who served in the Trump administration.

The announcement came as a man was indicted in a separate case on charges he was armed with a loaded AK-47 and tried to enter the Brooklyn home of journalist Masih Alinejad, a U.S. citizen and outspoken Iranian dissident. Last July, the Justice Department announced charges against Iranian intelligence agents for plotting to kidnap Alinejad and forcibly return her to Iran.

At the same time, author Salman Rushdie, a U.S. citizen whom the Iranian government had for years sought to kill over writings it deemed blasphemous, was stabbed multiple times before a speech in Chautauqua, N.Y. on Friday. Rushdie, 75, is alive and reportedly on the mend but being treated for serious injuries.

A New Jersey man with an image of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the avatar on his email account was accused of attacking Rushdie. He pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault after a grand jury indicted him.

Following the attack, Iranian state media castigated Rushdie as an "apostate" responsible for "blasphemous" writings.

Still, Iran has denied involvement in attempts to harm Bolton, Alinejad, or Rushdie. However, most observers aren't believing Tehran.

Meanwhile, the Dispatch reported Thursday that people working on behalf of the Iranian government have targeted prominent American members of the group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) through in-person surveillance and cyber operations.

According to the report, targets of the Iranian campaign include Bolton, former Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman, billionaire Thomas Kaplan, and former George W. Bush administration official Mark Wallace.

"I'm not aware of any time in our history that a hostile foreign government is systematically and pervasively targeting attacks on American soil against Americans," Wallace told the Dispatch. "This is a state actor pursuing these activities against Americans. That sure looks to me like an act of war."

The recent wave of plots has spurred critics of the nuclear deal and Iranian dissidents to call on the Biden administration to halt ongoing nuclear talks with Iran.

Rather than give the administration pause, however, the plots seem to have led U.S. officials to double down on pushing to rescue the nuclear deal, arguing Iran's malign activities prove the merits of the controversial accord.

"The JCPOA would not resolve every problem we have with Iran, but an unconstrained Iranian nuclear program makes every other problem we have with Iran worse," said the State Department spokesperson, who added the U.S. would "retain and aggressively use our powerful tools to address these problems" under a return to the deal.

An anonymous U.S. official made a similar point to Politico last week.

"We have been seeking a nuclear deal precisely because an unconstrained Iranian nuclear program would make all the other very serious problems we have with them — and we have many — far worse," said the official.

Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) have similarly suggested a revived nuclear deal would curb Iran's aggression.

In other words, the more Iran plots against Americans, the more proof there is that the U.S. shouldn't leave the negotiating table, according to the administration.

Neither the State Department nor the National Security Council directly addressed questions from Just the News asking if there's a red line of aggression, beyond plotting to kill U.S. citizens, at which point Iran would go too far and the administration would say it's time to walk away from the JCPOA talks.

According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the deal's sanctions relief would provide Iran with hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of financial benefits.

In the time between reaching the initial deal in 2015 and Trump exiting it in 2018, Iran used the infusion of billions of dollars it received to increase its military budget and provide a windfall to terrorist groups and its network of proxies and allies.

Critics have argued that staying on the same diplomatic track will embolden Iran to lash out and take more risks unless the regime sees there's a cost for its actions.

"What we've seen in the past months of the Biden administration is the pursuit not of a rational policy but the pursuit of a Holy Grail of getting back into this [deal]," Bolton said Thursday at a conference in Washington, D.C. organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). "It's not based on evidence; it's based on faith."

Bolton wasn't the only former U.S. official at the conference reportedly being targeted by Iran.

"We ought to walk away from the negotiations," said Lieberman. "How can you trust a regime that has just tried to kill your former national security adviser, secretary of state, secretary of the Army, Salman Rushdie, [Masih Alinejad]? How can you trust them?"

Several panelists at the conference argued the U.S. needs to change its posture because Iran is intentionally dragging out the process.

"Time is always on the side of the proliferator," said Bolton. "Time spent in fruitless negotiations is time that allows the proliferator to overcome the enormous scientific and technological difficulties to perfect nuclear weapons."

Bolton referenced Iran this week sending a response to what the European Union, which chairs the nuclear talks, described as the "final text" of a possible nuclear deal, demanding certain guarantees from the U.S. rather than accepting or rejecting the EU's draft proposal.

The consequence of Biden's approach has been the U.S. making "further concessions that take a bad deal and make it worse," said Bolton.

Ambassador Robert Joseph, former undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, added that Iran is already a "virtual nuclear weapon state" just days away from breaking out to get a bomb.

"Both on [uranium] enrichment and on weaponization, if you put those together ... I would measure it in days," he said. "In fact, Iranian officials are now saying there are no technical barriers to having a bomb, to building a bomb — all they need to do is make the political decision to do that."

Thursday's panel marked the 20th anniversary of the NCRI revealing publicly for the first time the existence of secret nuclear sites inside Iran — an event that launched the ongoing nuclear saga between the West and Iran.

Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the NCRI's Washington office, was the man who made those revelations at a press conference that had global reverberations.

"Tehran's goal is to dash toward building the bomb by dragging out the nuclear talks," Jafarzadeh told Just the News. "Any concessions by the West would play into the hands of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and [Iranian President] Ebrahim Raisi to proceed with their nuclear, regional, and internal agenda. Dragging the nuclear talks have only benefitted Tehran."

Jafarzadeh and other panelists at the NCRI conference argued the only way to end the nuclear and terrorist threats posed by Iran is to support the Iranian people overthrowing the current regime in power.

"As long as this regime remains in power, the nuclear program will continue to advance forward," said Joseph.

 

Aaron Kliegman

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/security/biden-continues-push-nuclear-deal-iran-escalates-plots-us-soil

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

DeSantis: Democrats’ plan to hire 87,000 IRS agents a 'middle finger to the American public' - The Center Square Staff

 

by The Center Square Staff

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis announces plan designed to protect Floridians from IRS auditors.

When discussing Florida’s new plan to hire more teachers this week, Gov. Ron DeSantis described the Biden administration’s plan to hire 87,000 IRS agents as giving “a middle finger to the American public.”

Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis also announced a new plan this week that he said is designed to protect Floridians from IRS auditors.

Congressional Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act allocates $80 billion to the IRS, with $45.6 billion to hire new agents. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects the new law will lead to tax increases for nearly every American, including those in the lowest income bracket. This comes after the IRS purchased $750,000 worth of ammunition this year and advertised to hire new agents stating they must be willing to use deadly force. Democrats who voted for the bill maintain no one who earns under $400,000 will see their taxes go up.

“Why would they do that?” DeSantis asked, referring to the need to hire so many agents. “Because you’re not going to be able to contend with the audit. So they’re going to crush a lot of people by doing that.

“I think of all the things that have come out of Washington that have been outrageous, this has got to be pretty close to the top. I think it was basically just a middle finger to the American public that this is what they think of you. All these problems we have to deal with, and they think the way is to do 87,000 IRS agents. There’s going to be more people in the IRS than in a lot of these other agencies combined now.”

He added, “They’re not putting very much money down at the border; I can tell you that right now,” referring to a surge in illegal immigration at the southern border since President Joe Biden took office. Others, like Congressman Ted Budd, R-NC, have proposed hiring more Border Patrol and Immigration enforcement agents instead of IRS auditors, but were ignored by the Democratic majority.

DeSantis pointed to Florida not having a personal income tax as one way to protect Floridians from increased audits.

“Fortunately, that’s one of the reasons we don’t have an income tax, because if you don’t have an income tax, you don’t empower revenue agents,” he said. “Once you do that income tax, that gives them the ability to really go in and potentially target … And it’s going to be targeted at the people that the government doesn’t like.”

The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that between 78% and 90% of an additional $200 billion the IRS will collect will come from small businesses that earn less than $200,000 in profit annually. Only between 4% and 9% would come from small businesses that earn more than $500,000 a year, it adds.

“The IRS will have to target small and medium businesses because they won’t fight back,” Joe Hinchman, executive vice president at National Taxpayers Union Foundation, told The New York Post. “We’ve seen this play out before … the IRS says ‘We’re going after the rich’ but when you’re trying to raise that much money, the rich can only get you so far.”

Even though IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in an Aug. 4 letter that the billions in increased revenue won’t increase “audit scrutiny on small businesses or middle-income Americans,” Florida’s CFO Patronis thinks it will and has already proposed a plan to protect Floridians against such audits.

Patronis recommended four legislative proposals for the state legislature to consider next year that he said would protect Floridians from IRS audits.

“I know they’re going to target Florida, so I’ve put forward four proposals to throw their red tape right back in their faces,” he said.

The first part of the plan includes requiring state-chartered banks to generate a regular report on IRS engagement that would be used by the state to identify IRS targets. The state would then “identify any potential patterns of discrimination and highlight how the new auditors are targeting conservatives.”

The second part of the plan would establish a Civil Liability Trust Fund “to help Florida's small businesses defend themselves, or even sue the IRS in cases of politically motivated audits or federal overreach.” The trust fund could help small businesses acquire legal representation, he said.

The third initiative includes creating a new state license to require new IRS agents to register with the state in order to access any Floridian’s information. The licensure process “would further scrutinize IRS operatives and examine their backgrounds and motives to protect Florida consumer information.”

The fourth would establish criminal penalties for agents targeting Floridians based on their viewpoints or what could be construed as political discrimination. “There is documented evidence that the IRS targeted Tea Party groups in 2013,” he said, and “no doubt the IRS under the Biden Administration would do the same to Florida.

“This IRS Protection Plan is a way for Florida to fight back. Florida has attracted $24 billion of income; largely from Blue States. Biden’s IRS wants to shakedown small businesses and the middle class in Florida. We won’t let him!”

 

The Center Square Staff

Source: https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/desantis-democrats-plan-hire-87000-irs-agents-middle-finger-american

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Manchin deal with Schumer to spur oil and gas drilling jeopardized by far-left Democrats - Haris Alic

 

by Haris Alic

Schumer agreed to press for legislation allowing more drilling permits to get Manchin's vote for a mega-spending bill

 

Sen. Joe Manchin's deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for an oil and gas permitting bill in exchange for the West Virginia senator's support for the White House's $739 billion climate change spending and tax hike, signed into law last week by President Biden, is in jeopardy, as progressives say they are not bound by any agreement and vow to oppose the legislation.

Critics say that Manchin gave up leverage to get the permitting bill through the House by helping Democrats first pass the Inflation Reduction Act through a party-line process known as budget reconciliation.

"Manchin was so eager to side with President Biden that he shoved spending down America’s throat based on the falsehood that liberals would allow more domestic oil pipelines," Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., told Fox News Digital. "They won't."

Mooney has been pegged as a likely challenger to Manchin's re-election in 2024.

VULNERABLE DEMOCRATS THRUST INTO SPOTLIGHT AFTER VOTING IN FAVOR OF MANCHIN-SCHUMER INFLATION BILL

President Biden, right, moves to give Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., left, the pen he used to sign the Inflation Reduction Act with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at the White House on Aug. 16, 2022.

President Biden, right, moves to give Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., left, the pen he used to sign the Inflation Reduction Act with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at the White House on Aug. 16, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Manchin's office expressed confidence that the permitting bill would pass.

"Senator Manchin has always had West Virginia’s best interest in mind and the Inflation Reduction Act delivers for West Virginians and Americans by lowering prescription drug and healthcare costs, addressing high energy prices by increasing domestic energy production and permanently securing black lung benefits," they said. "Senator Manchin looks forward to following this momentum by passing comprehensive permitting reform next month."

Democrats began working on the reconciliation bill shortly after Biden took office. Initially named Build Back Better, the legislation was proposed as an ambitious overhaul of the nation's economy and climate infrastructure.

That iteration of the bill died within the 50-50 Senate amid Manchin's fears it would exacerbate inflation. The West Virginia Democrat reversed course this year after getting sufficient concessions from Schumer and whittling the bill down from its initial $3.5 trillion price tag.

As part of the deal, Manchin also received a commitment from Schumer to pass legislation by the end of September streamlining the permit approval process to drill for oil and gas.

ANALYSIS SUGGESTS INFLATION REDUCTION ACT WILL REDUCE ANNUAL INFLATION BY ONLY 0.1 PERCENTAGE POINTS

The permitting bill, which has yet to be made public, would set timelines by which environmental agencies must conduct reviews for proposed projects. It would also require the federal government to hold more leasing auctions for the right to drill on federal land.

Manchin's biggest prize in the deal, however, is provisions of the expected bill that would catalyze approval of a natural gas pipeline running for more than 300 miles through Virginia and West Virginia. The $6.6 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline was started in 2014 and is nearly 90% complete, but has stalled in recent months among environmental lawsuits.

Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., is shown outside the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 3, 2020. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., is shown outside the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 3, 2020. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

"The Mountain Valley Pipeline is the only project in the entire country that can bring 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day onto the market in just six months," Manchin said earlier this month when news of the deal first broke. "Completing this pipeline will increase supply, strengthen American energy security and bring down gas prices."

Progressive House Democrats disagree, however. They say the permitting bill desired by Manchin threatens to undercut any climate benefit derived from the Inflation Reduction Act.

"We will be united in defeating the separate Manchin ‘permitting reforms’ that will accelerate climate change and pollute Black, brown, Indigenous and low-income communities," said Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. "Manchin went back on his word to get [Build Back Better] done, and we owe him nothing now."

Tlaib and others from the 98-member Congressional Progressive Caucus are pledging to vote against the permitting bill if it comes up for a vote in the House. The opposition could be costly given that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., can only lose four Democrats on any bill before having to rely on the GOP.

Progressives are also warning House Democratic leaders against trying to slip the permitting bill into a bigger legislative package. They say if the measure comes to the House floor it should be standalone.

From left, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; and Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., take questions during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 30, 2021.

From left, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; and Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., take questions during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 30, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Far-left lawmakers are not the only ones taking issue with the permitting bill. Some Senate Republicans say their votes are not guaranteed, especially after Manchin sided with fellow Democrats to advance Biden's tax and climate agenda.

"If you think you're going to get 60 votes to get the sweeteners that can't be done in reconciliation, you need to think long and hard about what you're doing," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Late last month, the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) revealed in an analysis that the Inflation Reduction Act would increase taxes by billions of dollars, including on middle-class earners.

Since the permitting bill was left out of the larger reconciliation package, it will need at least 60 votes to pass the Senate. The tenuous position Manchin finds himself in has GOP critics questioning his image as a skilled dealmaker.

"Joe Manchin sold out West Virginia for a signing pen from President Biden," said Mooney. "He single-handedly restarted the Biden administration’s inflation-causing spending binge."

 

Haris Alic covers Congress and politics for Fox News Digital. You can contact him at haris.alic@fox.com or follow him on Twitter at @realharisalic.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/joe-manchins-dealmaking-prowess-questioned-after-house-democrats-snub-oil-permitting-bill

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Biden Admin's Appeasement of Iran Mullahs Risking American Lives - Majid Rafizadeh

 

by Majid Rafizadeh

The Biden administration remains silent and evidently continues to see "diplomacy" -- read: appeasement -- as the only path to deal with the Iranian regime.

  • Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was reportedly the second target of the Iranian regime. The IRGC member reportedly offered $1 million for his murder.

  • The Biden administration remains silent and evidently continues to see "diplomacy" -- read: appeasement -- as the only path to deal with the Iranian regime. "I continue to believe, Biden said on July 14, "that diplomacy is the best way to achieve this outcome."

  • If the White House does not send a strong message to the Islamic Republic-- specifically, halting the nuclear talks and imposing sanctions on top Iranian officials -- Iran's rulers will be further empowered and emboldened to carry out extraterritorial assassinations on US soil, and if the Americans are starry-eyed enough to sign a "nuclear deal" with the mullahs -- a deal that only one side will honor -- the mullahs will also be immensely enriched.

  • As seen from the previous windfall provided to them by the Obama administration, Iran's mullahs did not use the money for food banks or battered women's shelters; they used it to have the Houthis terrorize Yemen, an American ally and attack Saudi Arabia; seize ships in international waters, build at least 12 bases in Syria; send funds and arms to Hamas and Islamic Jihad to obliterate Israel. Ever since Israel turned over all of Gaza to the Arabs in 2005, more than 22,5000 rockets have been fired at it from there. In 2021, Israel was bombarded by 4,340 rockets; this month, Islamic Jihad, in only two days, launched 400 rockets toward Israel. Suppose just one rocket was fired into London, Paris, New York or Berlin....?

  • Iran, called by the US Department of State a "top sponsor of state terrorism," recently inked a 20-year "cooperation deal" with Venezuela, after long history of "sending arms and troops" there.

  • A deal, besides soon allowing the mullahs as many nuclear bombs -- legitimately -- as they would like, would also lead to the removal of major economic sanctions, enhance the regime's global legitimacy, unfreeze Tehran's assets, and give the ruling clerics access to the global financial system. If the Europeans and Americans imagine that at some point the Iranians will not use their gentle persuasions on them, they are in for a sobering surprise. The Iranian regime's highest priority, apart from staying in power, is to "export the revolution." Europe and America will not be overlooked.

Apparently thanks to the hapless appearance of the Biden's administration's appeasement policy with the ruling mullahs of Iran, the regime is escalating its attempts to murder US officials and citizens on American soil. (Image source: iStock)

Apparently thanks to the hapless appearance of the Biden's administration's appeasement policy with the ruling mullahs of Iran, the regime is escalating its attempts to murder US officials and citizens on American soil.

A member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Shahram Poursafi, aka Mehdi Rezayi, 45, of Tehran, was charged on August 11, 2022 with a terrorist plot to pay an individual in the United States $300,000 to murder a former US government official, Ambassador John Bolton.

Bolton previously served as the 25th US Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006 under the Bush administration, and as the 26th US National Security Advisor from 2018 to 2019 under the Trump administration. According to the US Department of Justice:

"An Iranian national and member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was charged by complaint, unsealed today in the District of Columbia, with use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire and with providing and attempting to provide material support to a transnational murder plot."

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was reportedly the second target of the Iranian regime. The IRGC member reportedly offered $1 million for him murder. In addition, a man armed with an AK-47 assault rifle showed up at the Brooklyn, NY home of Iranian-American author and human rights activist Masih Alinejad. Last year, she was the target of a kidnapping plot in which she says she would have been killed. There are more likely other US citizens on the regime's murder list as well.

"An attempted assassination of a former U.S. Government official on U.S. soil is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated," said Steven M. D'Antuono, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office. The Biden administration remains silent and evidently continues to see "diplomacy" -- read: appeasement -- as the only path to deal with the Iranian regime. "I continue to believe, Biden said on July 14, "that diplomacy is the best way to achieve this outcome."

These attempts to kill US citizens on American soil by the Tehran regime are unprecedented. The Iranian regime is not just targeting former US officials on the American soil; it is also targeting activists and journalists who criticize the theocratic establishment.

By attempting to assassinate American citizens on American soil, Iran is deliberately violating US sovereignty. In case of the attempted kidnapping of Alinejad, prosecutors charged four Iranians, Alireza Shavaroghi Farahani, aka Vezerat Salimi/Haj Ali, 50; Mahmoud Khazein, 42; Kiya Sadeghi, 35; and Omid Noori, 45, who are believed to be intelligence operatives for the Iranian regime. A fifth person, Niloufar Bahadorifar, a California resident, also originally from Iran, was charged with allegedly providing financial assistance for the plot, sanctions violations conspiracy, bank and wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy.

The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Audrey Strauss, said:

"As alleged, four of the defendants monitored and planned to kidnap a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin who has been critical of the regime's autocracy, and to forcibly take their intended victim to Iran, where the victim's fate would have been uncertain at best."

These types of orders to carry out extraterritorial assassinations most likely come from the top of the political ladder in the Islamic Republic. But the Biden administration is not taking the security of all the American people seriously. Even The Washington Post pointed out that the attempted kidnapping should be a serious warning to the Biden administration:

"The message for the Biden administration, which has frequently proclaimed its intention to defend pro-democracy dissidents, is that Iran and other foreign dictatorships won't shrink from launching attacks inside the United States unless deterred..."

If the White House does not send a strong message to the Islamic Republic-- specifically, halting the nuclear talks and imposing sanctions on top Iranian officials -- Iran's rulers will be further empowered and emboldened to carry out extraterritorial assassinations on US soil, and if the Americans are starry-eyed enough to sign a "nuclear deal" with the mullahs -- a deal that only one side will honor -- the mullahs will also be immensely enriched.

As seen from the previous windfall provided to them by the Obama administration, Iran's mullahs did not use the money for food banks or battered women's shelters; they used it to have the Houthis terrorize Yemen, an American ally and attack Saudi Arabia; seize ships in international waters, build at least 12 bases in Syria; send funds and arms to Hamas and Islamic Jihad to obliterate Israel. Ever since Israel turned over all of Gaza to the Arabs in 2005, more than 22,5000 rockets have been fired at it from there. In 2021, Israel was bombarded by 4,340 rockets; this month, Islamic Jihad, in only two days, launched 400 rockets toward Israel. Suppose just one rocket was fired into London, Paris, New York or Berlin....?

The Biden administration seems focused on reviving the lethal nuclear deal which will doubtless lead to nuclear weapons, missiles to deliver them, and attempts to take over still more countries.

Iran, called by the US Department of State a "top sponsor of state terrorism," recently inked a 20-year "cooperation deal" with Venezuela, after long history of "sending arms and troops" there.

A deal, besides soon allowing the mullahs as many nuclear bombs -- legitimately -- as they would like, would also lead to the removal of major economic sanctions, enhance the regime's global legitimacy, unfreeze Tehran's assets, and give the ruling clerics access to the global financial system. If the Europeans and Americans imagine that at some point the Iranians will not use their gentle persuasions on them, they are in for a sobering surprise. The Iranian regime's highest priority, apart from staying in power, is to "export the revolution." Europe and America will not be overlooked.

 

Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18813/iran-appeasement-risking-lives

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Israel urges US to reject nuclear deal as Tehran signals willingness to sign - Tovah Lazaroff

 

by Tovah Lazaroff

Iran reportedly drops the insistence that the US remove Iranian Revolutionary Guard from State Department terror.

 

 Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian meets with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Tehran, Iran, September 9, 2021. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian meets with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Tehran, Iran, September 9, 2021.
(photo credit: REUTERS)

National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata is expected to head to Washington this week as Israel attempts to sway the United States to walk away from the Iran deal just as Tehran hinted it may be willing to finalize the agreement.

CNN reported on Saturday that the Islamic Republic dropped one of its key demands for the revival of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, known as the Iran deal, designed to prevent it from producing a nuclear bomb.

The Trump administration had exited the deal in 2018, warning it emboldened rather than contained Iran. US President Joe Biden has sought to revive the deal, but until recently, negotiations had appeared to hit a standstill.

One of the sticking points had been Tehran’s insistence that the US remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps from the State Department’s list of Foreign Terror Organizations.

Washington had refused to compromise on the issue, which made the deal’s revival seem unlikely.

According to CNN, Tehran has now dropped that demand.

A senior Israeli official told KAN news that the US has not made any final decision with respect to the deal, which was also signed with Russia, China, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Still, the official said, the dynamic appears to be one that is leading to a conclusion of the indirect negotiations that the European Union has been holding between the US and Iran to revive the deal.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid spoke against the deal on Thursday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides and chairman of the Congressional Subcommittee on the Middle East, Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Florida).

Nides tweeted after the conversation with Lapid and Deutch that “we reiterated the US government’s ironclad commitment to Israel’s security in the face of Iranian aggression.”

Israeli concerns

Israel had always opposed the deal, but now it fears that America will make dangerous concessions in an attempt to finalize the matter.

A senior Israeli official told Ynet that it still seems possible to change the direction in which the US appears to be going.

There have been other moments when it appeared that the negotiations were in an advanced stage, the official said. The difference here is that there appears to be an Iranian willingness to finalize the talks, he said.

Iran earlier this week had sent the European Union a response to what it had called its “final” proposal to save a 2015 nuclear deal after Tehran called on Washington to show flexibility.

After 16 months of fitful, indirect US-Iranian talks, with the EU shuttling between the parties, a senior EU official said on August 8 that the bloc had laid down a “final” offer and expected a response within a “very, very few weeks.”

Iran responds to deal proposal

Iran responded to the proposal late on Monday but none of the parties provided any details.

Washington has said it is ready to quickly seal a deal to restore the 2015 accord on the basis of the EU proposals.

Diplomats and officials have told Reuters that whether or not Tehran and Washington accept the EU’s “final” offer, neither is likely to declare the pact dead because keeping it alive serves the interests of both sides.

The stakes are high, since failure in the nuclear negotiations would carry the risk of a fresh regional war, with Israel threatening military action against Iran if diplomacy fails to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons capability.

Iran, which has long denied having such ambitions, has warned of a “crushing” response to any Israeli attack.

Reuters contributed to this report. 

 

Tovah Lazaroff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-715154

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Citizens United Sues Biden Administration Over Election-Takeover Documents - Victoria Marshall

 

by Victoria Marshall

Hat tip: Dr. Jean-Charles Bensoussan 

“The Biden Administration may have violated the Hatch Act and these records should provide the answer,” Citizens United President David N. Bossie told The Federalist.

 

Image CreditMatthew Bisanz/Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY-SA 2.0

Citizens United filed two lawsuits this week against the Department of Interior and Department of State for failing to comply with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records requests regarding the White House’s attempt to federalize elections.

The nonprofit submitted FOIA requests in June, but both agencies failed to respond (federal law requires FOIA requests to be responded to within 20 working days). The requests sought email and text messages from both agencies that mentioned President Biden’s Promoting Access to Voting executive order and the Hatch Act, a law that prohibits executive branch employees from engaging in election activities. 

“The Biden Administration may have violated the Hatch Act and these records should provide the answer,” Citizens United President David N. Bossie told The Federalist.

As previously reported by The Federalist, Biden’s executive order directs all 600 federal agencies to become voter registration agencies and organize voter outreach efforts. It allows such agencies — including ones that dole out federal benefits —to work with leftwing get-out-the-vote groups. 

Government watchdogs and Congressional Republicans are worried Biden’s EO is a scheme to mobilize the federal bureaucracy to drive Democratic voter registration and turnout, swinging elections in favor of Democrats — particularly as the 2022 midterms loom.

“Citizens United filed these FOIA lawsuits against the Interior & State Departments because Joe Biden’s executive order on voting amounts to a Democrat turnout effort that politicizes the federal workforce and is a blatant abuse of power,” Bossie said. “This issue deserves far more transparency and that’s why we’re demanding these records be released to the American people.”

In addition to Citizens United, the Foundation for Government Accountability, the American Accountability Foundation, and the Center for Renewing America have all filed lawsuits against the Biden administration for failing to comply with FOIA requests surrounding the executive order. A federal judge ruled in July that the Biden DOJ must comply with the Foundation for Government Accountability’s FOIA request before the 2022 midterms

Citizens United’s lawsuits come after 15 secretaries of state wrote a letter to Biden urging him to rescind the executive order on grounds of unconstitutionality.

 

Victoria Marshall is a staff writer at The Federalist. Her writing has been featured in the New York Post, National Review, and Townhall. She graduated from Hillsdale College in May 2021 with a major in politics and a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @vemrshll.

Source: https://thefederalist.com/2022/08/20/citizens-united-sues-biden-administration-over-election-takeover-documents/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

18 states join Missouri in probe of Morningstar’s alleged biased anti-Israel ratings - Mike Wagenheim

 

by Mike Wagenheim

The Missouri attorney general’s announcement follows a JNS report of meetings between multiple state officials and pro-Israel groups on the subject.

 

Morningstar financial-services building in downtown Chicago. Credit: Adriana.Macias/Shutterstock.
Morningstar financial-services building in downtown Chicago. Credit: Adriana.Macias/Shutterstock.

Following a JNS report on a growing list of state agencies investigating the investment firm Morningstar for potential anti-Israel practices, Reuters reported this week that 18 U.S. states have joined a Missouri probe into the company.

A spokesperson for Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said on Wednesday that attorneys general in 18 U.S. states have joined Missouri’s investigation into whether Morningstar violated consumer-protection law with its evaluations of companies’ performance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

In addition to Missouri, the other 15 are Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia. Three states aren’t allowed to disclose their participation due to confidentiality laws or other state policies.

JNS reported on Aug. 9 that pro-Israel groups had been holding discussions with representatives from various agencies across a number of states to bring their attention to Morningstar’s practices, specifically with regard to its subsidiary, Sustainalytics, and the anti-Israel bias in its investment ratings.

“There have been meetings with all kinds of state officials: governors’ representatives, attorney general representatives, treasurers’ representatives,” Elan Carr, a member of the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement’s advisory council, told JNS. “States need to know that this is nothing other than BDS dressed up as social-justice investing.”

Carr participated in the briefings on behalf of a BDS task force convened and organized by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

Schmitt sent questions to Morningstar in late July, asking what sources the firm uses for its analysis of companies’ investment risks. He also requested documents and communications related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and BDS that Morningstar may have. Missouri is among more than 30 U.S. states which have anti-BDS laws, penalizing entities that try to harm Israel economically through boycotts and other measures.

“We believe that BDS through the guise of ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) investing is extremely dangerous for Israel. The Morningstar/Sustainalytics model is especially egregious, replete with biased sources and fundamentally anti-Israel assumptions. They lead to terribly biased reviews of Israel and anyone conducting business in Judea, Samaria or Jerusalem,” said Carr. “We regard this as nothing other than a manifestation of the BDS movement.”

Morningstar has said repeatedly through statements that it “does not support the anti-Israel BDS campaign.” It said it has not been asked by other states for information on its practices.

An independent review commissioned by Morningstar “found neither pervasive nor systemic bias against Israel” by Sustainalytics, though it did lead to 40 recommendations to eliminate the potential for anti-Israel bias at the company. Critics argue the changes would be superficial.

Christians United For Israel Action Fund Chairwoman Sandra Parker told JNS that “Morningstar’s repeated efforts to deploy prototypical crisis communications strategies, in hopes this issue will go away, have failed,” she said. “We hope that Morningstar will now earnestly and seriously address the anti-Israel biases plaguing Sustainalytics.”

 

Mike Wagenheim

Source: https://www.jns.org/18-states-join-missouri-in-probe-of-morningstars-alleged-biased-anti-israel-ratings/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Why are teachers walking away? - Ned Cosby

 

by Ned Cosby

The good news behind the student and teacher shortage is that many are walking away from Obama's dream.

Since Obama became president in 2009 with his stated goal of transforming America, the growing message to teachers at government schools across the fruited plains of America is this: be woke or be gone!

Now, to the utter dismay and disbelief of the educrats, their message has crashed home.  Lots of students are missing, and so are lots of teachers from their institutions of mass indoctrination.  Hushed questions are asked in academia.  Where are they going?  Why are they leaving?  Since their funding is based on student population, the educrats are freaking.

Why are students and teachers walking away from government schools?  Modesty forbids me to call myself an expert, but I do have some experience in this arena.  As a student, I spent 12 years in government schools.  I spent three years in a government university earning my B.A.  My parents both taught, my wife is a teacher, and I am a retired teacher.

Obama and millions like him do not like the America that raised them.  They cannot be open and honest about what they want, but the clues tell us they want a blend of socialism and communism to replace our democratic republic.  Government schools are one of many outlets where they compel us in the direction of their idea of the promised land.

The good news behind the student and teacher shortage is that many are walking away from Obama's dream.  Many of us still love and prefer the land of the free and the home of the brave.

We do not pretend America is perfect, but we are encouraged that we are making progress on that "all people are created equal" notion expressed in our Declaration of Independence.

Meanwhile, every day, the superstructure of Obama's Transformed America becomes clearer.  From the FBI, the IRS, the unguarded borders, the woke military, and the government schools, we see Obama's leftist dream materialize.  Many of us do not like what we see and where we are being led.

We cannot criticize Obama and his dreams because that would be labeled racist.  Many of the teachers in our government schools want to teach their subjects.  Many do not want to indoctrinate.  Many want to be part of an education system that is second to none in the world.  The educrats they work for, however, want them to convince students who are compelled to listen that the America they love is fatally flawed and to genuflect, instead, to the Great Community Organizer.

When I see teachers and students walking away from government schools, I am not

Image: RawPixel.com.

 

Ned Cosby, a regular contributor to American Thinker, is a pastor, veteran Coast Guard officer, and a retired career public high school teacher.  His newest novel OUTCRY is a love story exposing the refusal of Christian leaders to report and discipline clergy who sexually abuse our young people.  This work of fiction addresses crimes that are all too real.  Cosby has also written RECOLLECTIONS FROM MY FATHER'S HOUSE, tracing his own odyssey from 1954 to the present. For more info, visit Ned Cosby.

ource: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/08/why_are_teachers_walking_away.html

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Parent Sues School Over Transgender Brainwashing - Matthew Vadum

 

by Matthew Vadum

Proselytizing California groomers are running wild.

 


[Donate to help stop the child groomers now: CLICK HERE.]

California parent Jessica Konen is suing her local school district for secretly indoctrinating her 6th grade daughter into the cult of transgenderism, convincing her to change her gender identity, all while urging her not to discuss the situation with her mother because she could not be “trusted.”

The behavior of these woke teachers matters not only because parents - as opposed to the government - are supposed to be in charge of raising their own children, but also because transgenderism is a treacherous ideology that threatens the very underpinnings of both our society and Western civilization as a whole.

It is not about homosexuality or bisexuality, which Americans have become increasingly tolerant of in recent years. Many Americans are even supportive of transgender people when they are consenting adults, but they do not support groomers’ efforts to force impressionable children to renounce their birth sex and pretend to be something they are not. The rise of groups such as Gays Against Groomers, whose members are aghast at reports of little kids being forced to attend drag queen performances, shows that plenty of gays recognize it is wrong to push transgender ideology onto children.

It is about totalitarian thought control. The advocates of transgenderism, backed by the Biden-Harris regime, would force Americans to recognize an individual’s professed gender identity even if it doesn’t match the person’s birth sex. Forcing people to say things they know aren’t true is the essence of totalitarianism.

As I have written before, just about no one cared about the previously minuscule number of consenting adults having sex-reassignment surgery or hormone therapy until the Left started to demand that people think of these things as normal and forced these beliefs on children.

The Left doesn’t care about how many victims it creates, even as it breaks the fragile bodies of young people who lack the maturity to make informed decisions – decisions that will come back to haunt them in their later years.

Advocated by these radicals, puberty blockers, which can harm young people, are being prescribed for children who are now, because of incessant propaganda, reporting discomfort with their sex in record numbers. Long-term use of these drugs adversely affects brain development, bone density, and fertility but more and more medical doctors are violating the Hippocratic Oath by supporting their use on gender-confused young people.

Which brings us to the case of Jessica Konen, whose young daughter was pressured to join the destructive cult.

Konen is suing with the assistance of the Center For American Liberty, a nonprofit that, according to its website, is “fighting against growing anti-free speech and anti-civil liberties trends.” The legal complaint (pdf) in the case was filed June 14 in the Monterey County office of the Superior Court of California.

San Francisco-based attorney Harmeet K. Dhillon is spearheading the legal effort. Dhillon is CEO of the Center For American Liberty.

Parents have “the right to know what is going on in their child’s school,” Dhillon told Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle,” as she explained how teachers pushed the young girl to join an “Equality Club” aimed at convincing students to embrace new gender identities.

“They invited kids, including Jessica’s daughter, to be in this club, and they told these kids, do not tell your parents, and specifically Jessica’s mom, do not tell them, they cannot be trusted,” she said.

“They gave them reading materials about transgenderism. They secretly changed the pronouns, but when in front of the parents, referred to their children by their birth pronouns. Behind the parents’ back, in the school, [they] used their new identity. All this was done secretly.”

According to the legal complaint, the Spreckels Union School District near San Jose adopted a “parental secrecy policy” that “authorizes minor children to make mature, consequential, and potentially life-altering decisions—such as what gender to identify as; how to express their gender identity, including, but not limited to, females binding their breasts so they look more like males; what name to be called; what pronouns to use; and what privacy facilities to use—with no notification to or input from parents.”

Teachers at Buena Vista Middle School in the school district took Konen’s daughter, A.G., 11 at the time, and recruited her into an “Equality Club” in which she was advised that she may be transgender and bisexual, two concepts that were not familiar to her. At one point teachers changed the name of the club to UBU, or “You Be You,” to avoid detection by parents. A.G. attended Buena Vista from fall 2018 to spring 2021 for the 6th through 8th grades.

A.G. attended a club meeting at the suggestion of a friend after 6th grade instruction began. The girl was not interested in the discussion and decided not to attend future club meetings. But two weeks later a teacher asked her to return to the club, telling her she “fit in perfectly.” A.G. began attending the meetings again. Teachers told her at first that she was bisexual even though she did not understand the concept of bisexuality. Not long after, teachers told the girl she was transgender even though she did not grasp the concept, the legal complaint stated.

Teachers were persistent as they encouraged the child to change her name to a masculine name and present as male in order to express the new identity. Despite the emotional trauma they inflicted on the young girl, the teachers told her not to let her mother know about this because her mother supposedly could not be “trusted.”

They also forced A.G. to read articles about how to conceal her newly discovered transgender status from her mother. The teachers created a “Gender Support Plan” that directed faculty to call the daughter by a new name, male pronouns, and to allow her to use the unisex teachers’ restroom.

The California Department of Education officially encourages young children to embrace transgender identities. Even though the U.S. Supreme Court had held that parents have the right to direct the upbringing and education of their children, it is the department’s position that schools ought to keep secrets from parents; its recommended reading list promotes books for kindergartners about students undergoing gender identity transition.

During the brainwashing process, A.G. took on a new gender identity different from her female sex at birth, as well as a boy’s name and masculine pronouns, according to the legal complaint.

A.G.’s original identity went down the memory hole as teachers began referring to her by her new name and pronouns. Her name was changed in educational records and she was allowed to use the teachers’ unisex bathroom, all without informing her mother.

The school deliberately deceived Konen about her child’s assumed gender identity by using the girl’s birth name and feminine pronouns when the mother was present. When Konen was not present, the teachers resumed calling the girl by a boy’s name and using masculine pronouns.

Teachers told A.G. not to tell “her mother about her new gender identity, and by otherwise concealing facts regarding A.G.’s new gender identity from Ms. Konen.”

Konen had said she “supports her daughter, regardless of the decisions she makes. Ms. Konen simply wants to be a part of her daughter’s life and exercise her rights as a parent to direct the upbringing of her child.”

But the teachers deprived Konen of her parental rights during a crucial phase of her daughter’s development by “choosing for themselves how to direct A.G.’s upbringing regarding the major life decision of A.G.’s gender identity, and concealing critical facts from Ms. Konen, her parent.”

The teachers’ actions “also violated Ms. Konen’s and A.G.’s rights under federal and state law and inflicted serious emotional and mental harm upon them.”

This case is not an outlier.

As California and federal officials continue to advocate for transgenderism, more such lawsuits are coming.

Count on it.

[Donate to help stop the child groomers now: CLICK HERE.]

 

Matthew Vadum

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/08/parent-sues-school-over-transgender-brainwashing-matthew-vadum/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

A Conversation With Islamic Reformer Dr. Tawfik Hamid - Joseph Puder

 

by Joseph Puder

The future of "moderate" Islam within the Muslim World.

 


The assassination of al-Qaeda second-in-command Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri reminded this reporter of his friend Dr. Tawfik Hamid who was recruited by al-Zawahiri while being a medical student at Cairo University. Few people share as an incredible biography as Dr. Hamid. His father, an orthopedic surgeon was a secular Muslim, and Tawfik grew up in a cultured environment where tolerance and openness were major features. Dr. Hamid soon discovered the evil nature of Egypt’s al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya and their closed-mindedness. He subsequently moved far away to New Zealand. He recognized the threat posed by radical Islam, and started to teach peaceful interpretations of classical Islamic core texts. Dr. Hamid earned two higher degrees, one in Internal Medicine, which includes psychiatry, and the second in Cognitive Psychology. Dr. Tawfik Hamid is a physician, educator, Islamic thinker and reformer.

Dr. Hamid’s studies, along with his experience as a former Islamic radical, enabled him to become a leading scholar on the mindset and psychology of the Jihadist phenomenon. Dr. Hamid was a consultant to the FBI on dealing with Islamic radicalism. He is the author of Inside Jihad: How Radical Islam Works and Why It Should Terrify Us. The book was praised by the late US Senator John McCain, former directors of the CIA James Woolsey and Porter Goss, as well as author Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Dr. Hamid has testified before the US Congress, and was invited by Israel’s President Shimon Peres to address the Future Summit. He has spoken before Pentagon officials, CIA, NSA, and the European Parliament.

Joseph Puder (JP): What significance has the demise of Ayman al-Zawahiri had on the future of Salafism?

Dr. Tawfik Hamid (TH): It will have some effect on their (Salafists) psychology as the more they are defeated the less likely people will join them. However, since Ayman al-Zawahiri was not a major player in the September 11 attack on America, the effect of his death will be less than if the US killed him immediately after the September 11.

JP: Has Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi been able to thwart the influence of radical Islamism, and what kind of a relationship does he have with Al Azhar Islamic University?

TH: Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has significantly diminished the power of the Islamic militants. He is trying to encourage religious reform and acceptance of the others (including Coptic-Christians) as equal human beings; however, the scholars of Al-Azhar are reluctant to do the needed reform. The situation is rather sensitive, since if he interferes too much in religious issues the radicals can use this to create instability. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has to balance all of this…

JP: The “Abraham Accords” have provided an example of a people-to-people peace between Arabs and Israelis. Do you foresee the Egyptian people following the Emiratis in embracing Israel, or is it a matter of generations, if at all?

TH: The level of hatred of the Jews and Israel is certainly much higher in Egypt than the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The issue is much more complicated due to several factors including past wars between Egypt and Israel. I see the acceptance of Israel at the people’s level moving very slowly. The issue is not related to time factor. It is more related to the effectiveness of education and media in countering antisemitism. So, if no change occurred, if the educational systems and the messaging via media do not improve, even after 100 generations there won’t be peace. It all depends on how we are going to solve the problem and what tactics we are going to use to deal with it. This is like as if we expected that a non-working car will work only after giving it more time without fixing it correctly.

JP: What is the current relationship between the El-Sisi government and Hamas in Gaza?

TH: I can say that it is a balanced relationship. Egypt keeps relationship with Hamas as it gives the Egyptian government leverage in solving problems and mediating between Hamas, other radical groups and Israel. In general, Egypt is against Hamas but the geographical situation and the weight of Egypt and its history in the Arab world makes it necessary sometimes to deal with Hamas. That is why some level of relationship, even a tense one, needs to exist.

JPCan moderate Islam prevail within the Muslim World?

TH: Certainly, YES! However, it all depends on what we are going to do to achieve this. If we utilized the already rising momentum against radicalism on the internet in the Arab world, provided effective educational content, and created effective strategies to deal with the problem, we can certainly defeat Radical Islamic ideology and allow true moderate Islam to dominate the Muslim’s mind. The secret recipe for success in defeating radical Islam is simply effective use of the internet to change the masses! Other approaches and strategies can also help make the desired change faster. We are at ideological war with radical Islam, and we must win it on the mind stage, which I have called in my latest Op-Ed in the WSJ on the 20th anniversary of September 11: “Fighting Terrorism in Brainistan!”

JPPlease tell our readers about your Educational program to combat Islamic radicalism?

TH: My educational program is called “One Humanity Education.” The idea is that in addition to the ideological component of the phenomenon of Radical Islam, there is a cognitive component in the process of radicalism as well. Such a cognitive component includes ‘thinking traits’ that contributes to the development of radicalism which breeds terrorism. Such ‘thinking traits’ include Absolutism, Judgmentalism, and Literalism. One Humanity Education is a program that I developed to deal with these cognitive or ‘thinking traits.’ The program set metrics to measure radical Islam, define the ‘thinking traits’ that aggravate radicalism, and provide effective educational content via the internet to make a change in the hearts and minds of the Muslim world to combat radicalism successfully. The program uses illustrations, questions, videos, facts, and info-graphics in a unique manner that utilizes effective memory and cognitive psychology tactics to improve the educational outcome. These cognitive psychology tactics include the Generation effect (when you let the audience generate the answers instead of telling it to them), the spreading and rehearsal within the critical 30 seconds to shift the educational content to the Long-Term Memory stores. This approach ensures that the information embedded in the program becomes consolidated in the brain and minds.

One Humanity Education can be used in different ways such as online programs to defeat the ideology of Radical Islam, activity books for children’s education, TV, and ads. I started a small pilot study online, and the results are very promising. I am currently looking to take this program further to change the Muslim and Arab world’s minds, toward more Human Rights, and more acceptance of the other. I use One Humanity Education to counter what I call the ABCs of Radical Islam: Apostate killing; Barbaric treatment of women: Violence - Stoning - FGM; Calling Jews Pigs and Monkeys; Declaring war on Non Muslims; Enslavement of female war prisoners and raping them; Fighting Jews before end of days and killing all of them; Gay killing and discrimination.

 

Joseph Puder

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/08/conversation-dr-tawfik-hamid-joseph-puder/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Thursday, August 18, 2022

Old case over audio tapes in Bill Clinton's sock drawer could impact Mar-a-Lago search dispute - John Solomon

 

by John Solomon

Judge ruled in 2012 that a president's discretion to declare records "personal" is far-reaching and mostly unchallengeable.

 

When it comes to the National Archives, history has a funny way of repeating itself. And legal experts say a decade-old case over audio tapes that Bill Clinton once kept in his sock drawer may have significant impact over the FBI search of Melania Trump's closet and Donald Trump's personal office.

The case in question is titled Judicial Watch v. National Archives and Records Administration and it involved an effort by the conservative watchdog to compel the Archives to forcibly seize hours of audio recordings that Clinton made during his presidency with historian Taylor Branch.

For pop culture, the case is most memorable for the revelation that the 42nd president for a time stored the audio tapes in his sock drawer at the White House. The tapes became the focal point of a 2009 book that Branch wrote.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington D.C. ultimately rejected Judicial Watch's suit by concluding there was no provision in the Presidential Records Act to force the National Archives to seize records from a former president.

But Jackson's ruling — along with the Justice Department's arguments that preceded it — made some other sweeping declarations that have more direct relevance to the FBI's decision to seize handwritten notes and files Trump took with him to Mar-a-Lago. The most relevant is that a president's discretion on what are personal vs. official records is far-reaching and solely his, as is his ability to declassify or destroy records at will.

"Under the statutory scheme established by the PRA, the decision to segregate personal materials from Presidential records is made by the President, during the President's term and in his sole discretion," Jackson wrote in her March 2012 decision, which was never appealed.

"Since the President is completely entrusted with the management and even the disposal of Presidential records during his time in office, it would be difficult for this Court to conclude that Congress intended that he would have less authority to do what he pleases with what he considers to be his personal records," she added.

You can read the full ruling here:

The judge noted a president could destroy any record he wanted during his tenure and his only responsibility was to inform the Archives.

As to whether records a president concluded were personal can be forcibly seized after he leaves office, the court concluded it was unreasonable to force NARA to go get the tapes

"Because the audiotapes are not physically in the government's possession, defendant submits that it would be required to seize them directly from President Clinton in order to assume custody and control over them," Jackson noted. "Defendant considers this to be an 'extraordinary request' that is unfounded, contrary to the PRA's express terms, and contrary to traditional principles of administrative law. The Court agrees."

That defendant was the same Justice Department that authorized the raid on Trump's estate. You can read their arguments a decade earlier here:

 

Jackson also concluded that a decision to challenge a president's decision lies solely with the National Archives and can't be reviewed by a court. If the Archives wants to challenge a decision, that agency and the attorney general can initiate an enforcement mechanism under the law, but it is a civil procedure and has no criminal penalty, she noted.

The search warrant the FBI enforced sought two types of records: classified materials and records created during the Trump presidency. Trump has been adamant the records he took to Mar-a-Lago were both declassified and deemed personal by him.

Some government lawyers reached out privately to Just the News in recent days questioning the use of the FBI to collect presidential records, citing Jackson's ruling and suggesting it was a civil and not criminal matter where deference to Trump is required by law.

On the classification issue, both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama signed executive orders — which remain in force to this day — declaring that presidents have sweeping authority to declassify secrets and do not have to follow the mandatory declassification procedures all other government officials do.

The Jackson ruling and the declassification powers have left some experts worried the FBI raid was heavy-handed under the current laws.

Kevin Brock, former assistant FBI director for intelligence, told Just the News the bureau's search warrant was overly broad and went beyond what the FBI manual for agents recommended. "Specificity is important in order to protect fourth amendment rights from exuberant government overreach designed to find whatever they can," he told Just the News.

Brock added he did not believe DOJ and FBI had authority to criminalize the retention of presidential records.

The warrant "apparently makes a novel legal assertion that any presidential record kept by a former president is against the law," Brock said. "You have to wonder what the other living former presidents think about that. They have the right and, apparently, clear desire to remain silent."

Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch who was on the losing end of the Clinton sock drawer case, said he believes Jackson's ruling could have a profound impact on the coming legal battles over the Trump search.

"The government, the lawyer for the Archives, said, 'You know what? If documents are in the former President's hands, where they're presumptively personal, we just, you know, we presume they're personal,'" Fitton said.

"The Justice Department previously had told us in response to a question about Bill Clinton: 'Tough luck, it's his.' But they changed their mind for Donald Trump?" he asked. "… The law and court decision suggests that Trump is right. And frankly, based on this analysis, Trump should get every single document they took from him back. It's all personal records."

 

John Solomon

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/all-things-trump/old-case-over-audio-tapes-bill-clintons-sock-drawer-could-impact

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter