Andy McCarthy at Horowitz's Restoration Weekend

From the Clinton emails to the Mueller investigation, now what?
 

November 30, 2018 Frontpagemag.com 

It was actually after I prosecuted the Blind Sheikh after the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, and after that, they began to be afraid in the Clinton Justice Department of a hypothetical problem.  They worried that the government would take its counterintelligence powers and use them pretextually in order to conduct a criminal investigation when there was no evidence of a crime. 

When there was no rational basis to believe that a crime had occurred, a lot of us took great umbrage at that, and I was one of them.  I was one of the people there saying that would never happen, and the reason I was so confident that it would never happen was very simple.  The adults in the Justice Department and the FBI, that is, the high-ranking officials whose job it was to manage, to supervise, to impose order on the investigations that are done throughout the country would never allow it to happen.  If there were some rogue agent who tried to carry that out, who tried to use national security powers as a pretext to conduct a criminal investigation, there would be somebody in the upper ranks of the FBI and somebody even higher in the upper ranks of the Justice Department to tell them no.

There's one thing I didn't think about and that is what happens when the adults decide to take over the investigation themselves.  Who is it that can tell them no?  And I think what we're finding out is that the answer is no one, and the story of what has happened in this country in connection with 2016 elections, a continuum that goes from Hillary Clinton email Investigation all the way through what we're dealing with today, the Mueller Investigation, which is not only going on and on, but we hear may even have new indictments to file this week. 

That is a story of what happens when the FBI and the Justice Department, for our own good of course, decide that they know more than we do who should be running the country, and they decide that their take on that is so important that they need to do what they never otherwise do, which is take over investigations at the headquarters level.........To Read More.....

Cartoons of the Day!

 

 

There Is No 'Surge' in Right-Wing Violence

David Harsanyi | Nov 30, 2018

A Washington Post "analysis" of domestic terrorism argues that attacks from white supremacists and other "far-right attackers" have been on the rise since Barack Obama's presidency and "surged since President Trump took office." It's a familiar storyline meant to assure liberals that yes, Trump-motivated right-wing terrorists are running wild. There are, however, a few problems with this proposition.

For one thing, even if we accept the numbers the Post offers, the use of the word "surge" -- meaning a sudden, powerful forward or upward movement -- strains credibility. There's no evidence of a "surge," either in historical context or as a matter of ideological preference.

That is to say, we have good reason not to accept the numbers. According to The Washington Post, which relies on Global Terrorism Database data, there were zero acts of right-wing terrorism in the entire nation in 2002. Since then, we have seen a "surge," to 36 in a nation of 325-plus million people in 2017. Among those acts, there were 11 fatalities...........Of the 32 incidents I was able to find, 12 featured perpetrators who were merely "suspected" of being right-wing terrorists. ...............

Then there is the matter of inconsistently defining terrorism. If throwing a rock through the window of an Islamic center is an act of right-wing terrorism, why isn't it an act of left-wing terrorism for anti-capitalists to throw rocks through the window of a business in Oregon?...........To Read More.....

She's Just Like Herpes: Even Canadians Aren't Impressed With The Clintons And Their Roadshow Act

Beth Baumann  @eb454  Nov 30, 2018

Former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched their 13-day speaking tour in Canada on Tuesday. "An Evening With The Clintons" was billed by LiveNation as a "one-of-a-kind conversation" between the two American politicians. Unfortunately for the Clintons, Canadians were about as interested in the show as Americans. There were so many tickets available before the show started that they were going for the price of a fancy Starbucks frappuccino – a whopping $6.55.

According to The Daily Mail, there were  "banks of empty seats" throughout the hockey arena. Upper level and floor seats, which were pricier, were the areas that had the fewest seats filled...........To make matters even worse for the Clintons, Hillary ended up with a coughing fit. She had to guzzle water and chew on cough drops...........To Read More.....

My Take - "Anna Paulina, director of Hispanic engagement at Turning Points USA, said [about Hillary] that.........“She won’t go away. She’s like herpes,”, and Fox apologized for it.  Well, she was right, and no one needs to apologize for that.

Brent Bozell: Hollywood Seeks Revenge for Gary Hart

By L. Brent Bozell III and Tim Graham | November 30, 2018

Hollywood's a bit inconsistent when the topic is the press. It was a righteous guardian of the truth against the Catholic Church in "Spotlight" and against Richard Nixon in "The Post." But now, in the new movie "The Front Runner," it is painted as the villain — when its target was Gary Hart.

He was expected to be the Democratic nominee in 1988 before those photos surfaced of him on the yacht Monkey Business with Donna Rice sitting on his lap. They surfaced after he challenged reporters to tail him and see he wasn't cheating on his wife. No matter. They still shouldn't have blown the whistle on him.

The New York Times movie review explained that the film's director, Jason Reitman, "depicts his hero as a man struggling to protect his privacy and that of his family against the predatory prurience of the news media."

Was it "predatory prurience" when The Times and others pursued President Trump's accusers? Or is that just for accusers of Democrats?...........In Taylor's 1990 book "See How They Run," he quoted an anonymous "pen pal" who perfectly captured the Hollywood left's mindset: "To have destroyed Richard Nixon, I applauded you. ... For what you did to Gary Hart, I damn you all to hell."...........To Read More......

Constitutional Illiteracy Abounds – Especially on Separation of Powers

By Alan Nathan | November 29, 2018   In September of 2017, the Annual Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey found that about 74 percent of the country could not name our three branches of government.  This year, the oblivious-count mildly dropped to 68 percent – we’re all so proud! Of course, when you examine the constitutional disconnect exhibited by those populating our federal courts and Capitol Hill, it makes the above figures appear as if Annenberg was perhaps shaving some points.............. ...........incoming House Government Reform Committee Chair Elijah.....Cummings argued that ...........“They should be allowed to come in, seek asylum, that’s the law.”   He was also pressed about whether the Trump maneuver was constitutional to which he responded, “I don’t know.”............ Additionally, there’s existing legislative law that’s precisely on point in explaining the President’s authority to control those endeavoring to enter the U.S.  It’s in the form of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (U.S. Code › Title 8 › Chapter 12 › Subchapter II › Part II › § 1182 wherein it reads:

“Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or non-immigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.”.............

A court can legitimately bat down a president’s Executive Order on constitutional grounds; however, it can never force the continuance of that Executive Order upon a new administration.............To Read More.....

 

Who's to Blame? Weak Leaders, Weak Institutions, Weak Voters?

Michael Barone Nov 30, 2108

In the wake of the off-year elections, conservative analyst Yuval Levin saw no winners. "It is the weakness of all sides, and the strength of none, that shapes this moment."

You can see what he means. Donald Trump hasn't gotten everything he wanted -- not even the wall! -- from the Republican House of Representatives. And on one issue or another, he'll probably get something from Rep. Nancy Pelosi's Democrats he couldn't get from outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan's Republicans.

Now maybe House Democrats will overplay their hand and help Trump win re-election in 2020. And maybe Democrats, faced with a crowded field of presidential candidates, will choose an unelectable nominee.

But even though Republicans gained Senate seats and are in good shape to confirm conservative judges, Trump is weakened. Republicans lost just about every House seat he carried in 2016 by 5 percent or less. And he got only 46 percent of the popular vote.

Do the math. Forty-six minus five is 41. No way a 41 percent candidate gets 270 electoral votes in a two-way race...........To Read More.....

My Take - Michael Barone is highly respected for reasons I can't entirely understand.  He asks a question, cites a lot of circumstances, and then provides no answers?  I've followed him for years and although I think he's knowledgeable about the subjects he writes about, but nothing he's written has provided insights that are worth much....at least that's how I see it. 

So why do I post his work?  Because he cites circumstances that need to be looked at and need to be understood.  But that understanding isn't going to come from him. 

Racism -- It's Everywhere! It's Everywhere!

David Limbaugh  Nov 30, 2018

It's sobering how much race dominates the public discourse today. But as long as we're discussing stereotypes, we should note that leftists and elites are the ones obsessed with race, not the flyover Neanderthals to whom they impute this evil. Give it a rest, eggheads.

Leftists can scarcely discuss any issue without injecting this toxicity. They imagine it everywhere -- the ubiquitous boogeyman that validates their perpetual vilification of conservatives. (Note: I considered using "white men" instead of "conservatives" in the preceding sentence but realized it would be unwise because A) as a possessor and unwitting purveyor of white privilege, I'm not allowed to opine publicly on these matters and B) though race-baiting elites pretend white privilege is the culprit, neither women nor African-Americans are exempt from the taint if they are political conservatives.)  

Think about it. Liberals invoke race in discussions of immigration, voting, sports, education, taxes, health care, welfare and law enforcement. It is sick stuff. Consider a few examples........To Read More.....

CNN: It's Racist That Trump Said A Democrat Can't Win...In A Deep Red State

Matt Vespa | @mvespa1 | Nov 29, 2018

Donald Trump just infests the minds of the night hosts of CNN. Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon pretty much said it was racist that President Donald Trump suggested a liberal Democrat couldn’t fit in with deep red Mississippi’s electoral fabric. This wasn’t going to be Alabama-Roy Moore reloaded, liberal America. It just wasn’t. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MI), who beat Democrat Mike Espy in the runoff this week, isn’t the best candidate. In fact, she’s very much flawed, but she doesn’t have sexual misconduct allegations hanging around her neck in the way Moore did. Even when she made some dumb remarks about a public hanging, the race was still very much in the GOP’s court. She wasn’t going to lose. So, yeah—Donald Trump was right: a liberal Democrat can’t fit in with Mississippi’s red state identity. Cuomo looped in with Lemon later that night. The runoff was this past Tuesday (via Newsbusters):........To Read More......

California’s Latest Pension Hubris

State’s mini-Social-Security program is gearing up, but it’s real goal is to battle “pension envy” rather than to help Californians secure a retirement.

Steven Greenhut November 29, 2018
California officials have an incredible knack for proposing dubious, government solutions to problems that don’t actually exist, while ignoring the real problems that are under their purview. The best example, perhaps, is the $100-billion high-speed rail project that will be far slower and costlier for consumers than our existing means of statewide high-speed travel (i.e., Southwest Airlines). The state is moving forward with that boondoggle — undaunted by continuous delays, engineering conundrums, cost overruns, and an obvious lack of demand for a new rail line.

But a close runner up is an unnecessary retirement program for private-sector workers that state officials are now unveiling on pilot-project basis. “Any employer with at least five employees that doesn’t already offer a workplace retirement savings vehicle will be required to either begin offering one via the private market or provide their employees access to CalSavers,” according to the description from the state treasurer’s office.

Note the word “required,” despite its supporters’ claims that the program is totally voluntary. Employees can opt out, but employers cannot. That five-employee requirement captures the bulk of California’s small businesses, which means yet another regulatory and bookkeeping requirement, even if the state promises that the program is cost free. The $170 million in a taxpayer-provided startup loan might not be much by California budget standards, but this may be just the beginning. And for what?...........To Read More.....

Trump vs. Obama on GM and the private sector

November 29, 2018 By Jack Hellner

President Trump is getting some negative feedback for interfering with the private sector for his comments on General Motors. President Trump is essentially pressuring GM to keep plants open in the US by pointing out to them that they have been bailed out by U.S. taxpayers and wondering why they are closing plants here while they don’t seem to be closing plants in Mexico and China. He is absolutely not telling them what to produce.

I thought the best way to analyze this issue is by comparing and contrasting the way Trump treats the private sector to the way Obama and Democrats have treated the private sector. President Trump focuses continuously on bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. and creating new ones.

President Obama and others said manufacturing jobs were gone for good. President Obama was willing to relegate U.S. Trade policy to others through the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP). President Trump believes the U.S should control trade itself and pulled out of TPP.

President Obama bragged that his policies would bankrupt coal companies and destroy jobs while hurting the poor and middle class with much higher utility rates. President Trump is focusing on keeping coal mines open and miners employed while holding down utility rates............... Read more

Thought For the Day

Bongino’s Spygate: Exposing the Obama/Clinton Deep State Criminality

By Frank Hawkins November 28, 2018

Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino’s explosive new book (with D.C. McAllister), Spygate: The Attempted Sabotage of Donald J. Trump, spotlights the left’s broken trust with the American people and the blatant criminality of  the Obama/Clinton Deep State.  Since the moment Donald J. Trump and his wife Melania glided down the Trump Tower escalator into history, the Democrats and the allies in the Deep State have been committed to crushing him.

For Trump, it was obvious that draining the swamp was never going to be easy because everything possible would be done to disguise and protect the illegal activities of the Obama/Clinton administration. But who thought they would go this far?

Bongino has painted a highly detailed account of how the Obama administration criminalized our intelligence communities as well as other government agencies to  stop Trump, and when that didn’t work to try and bring down the president of the United States.

The book relies heavily on left-leaning news outlets CNN, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Reuters, CBS News, The Hill, London-based The Guardian and numerous others. All of this is carefully footnoted in the book. In a recent speech, Bongino said,

“The reason I wrote the book, is because of this whole spy scandal, this debacle, this atrocious disgrace of a scandal that happened to our president.   We deliberately did not use footnotes from right-leaning resources.  I used (the mainstream media) because anyone who tells you oh, this didn't happen, just go to the footnotes and say, did you read this article?  It happened, folks.  The President of the United States had the intelligence community and the law enforcement community of the United States, at the highest levels, weaponized against him.” [emphasis added]............To Read More....

 

Big property rights victory at the Supreme Court

November 28, 2018  By Rick Moran
 

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a landowner who challenged the government's designation of 1,500 acres of land as "critical habitat" for an endangered frog species.

Edward Poitevent sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who said the land in question – in his family's possession for decades – was critical to the survival of the dusky gopher frog, even though the species had not inhabited the land since 1965.

Daily Caller:

"I am really overjoyed that an eight to nothing court agreed with me that the service's decision was absurd and nightmarish for property rights in the United States," landowner Edward Poitevent told The Daily Caller News Foundation in a Tuesday interview. 

"We all actually thought something like this would happen, but what's really stunning is this is an eight to nothing decision," Poitevent said. 

The Fish and Wildlife Service told Poitevent in 2011 his land, which has been in his family for generations, would be listed as backup critical habitat for the dusky gopher frog, which hasn't been seen there since 1965.  The only known domain of the frogs was a single pond in southern Mississippi as of 2001, but the government said the Louisiana zone was the only other possible habitat it could identify.

One small problem with Fish and Wildlife's decision: The land where the frog hadn't lived in more than 45 years had changed..............To Read More......

Brazil's New Top Diplomat: Climate Change is a Marxist Hoax

By Michael W. Chapman | November 28, 2018   Brazil's newly appointed foreign minister, Ernesto Frago Araujo, who starts his new job in January under President Jair Bolsonaro, has stated that the climate change issue was invented by "cultural Marxists" to help push a globalist agenda that is anti-growth and anti-Christian, reported The Guardian and the Daily Mail.  

The Bolsonaro administration will take over Brazil's government on January 1, 2019. Bolsonaro selected Araujo to be minister of foreign affairs on Nov. 14. Araujo is a career diplomat who currently heads Brazil's department for U.S. and Canadian affairs. His blog, Metapolitica 17 -- Against Globalism, is here.  ...........To Read More.....

A Teachable Moment on Taxes and Deadweight Loss, Courtesy of D.C.’s Greedy Government

November 28, 2018 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty
 

The central argument against punitive taxation is that it leads to less economic activity.
Here’s a visual from an excellent video tutorial by Professor Alex Tabarrok. It shows that government grabs a share of private output when a tax is imposed, thus reducing the benefits to buyers (“consumer surplus”) and sellers (“producer surplus).

But it also shows that some economic activity never takes place (“deadweight loss”).

 

When discussing the economics of taxation, I always try to remind people that deadweight loss also represents foregone taxable activity, which is why the Laffer Curve is a very real thing (as even Paul Krugman admits).

To see these principles at work in the real world, let’s look at a report from the Washington Post. The story deals with cigarette taxation, but I’m not sharing this out of any sympathy for smokers. Instead, the goal is to understand and appreciate the broader point of how changes in tax policy can cause changes in behavior.

The sign on the window of a BP gas station in Southeast Washington advertises a pack of Newports for $10.75. Few customers were willing to pay that much. But several men in the gas station’s parking lot had better luck illegally hawking single cigarettes for 75 cents. The drop in legal sales and spike in black market “loosies” are the result of $2-a-pack increase in cigarette taxes that took effect last month… Anti-tobacco advocates hailed the higher legal age and the tax increase as ways to discourage smoking. But retailers say the city has instead encouraged the black market and sent customers outside the city.

Since I don’t want politicians to have more money, I’m glad smokers are engaging in tax avoidance.
And I feel sympathy for merchants who are hurt by the tax.

Shoukat Choudhry, the owner of the BP and four other gas stations in the city, says he does not see whom the higher taxes are helping. His customers can drive less than a mile to buy cheaper cigarettes in Maryland. He says the men in his parking lot are selling to teenagers. And the city is not getting as much tax revenue from his shops. Cigarette revenue at the BP store alone fell from $63,000 in September to $45,000 in October, when the tax increase took effect on the first of the month. …The amateur sellers say the higher cigarette tax has not been a bonanza for them. They upped their price a quarter for a single cigarette.

It’s also quite likely that the Laffer Curve will wreak havoc with the plans of the D.C. government.

Citywide figures for cigarette sales in October — as measured by tax revenue — will not be available until next month, city officials said. The District projected higher cigarette taxes would bring in $12 million over the next four years. Proceeds from the tax revenue are funding maternal and early childhood care programs. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids says the fear of declining tax revenue because of black market sales has not materialized elsewhere.

Actually, there is plenty of evidence – both in America and elsewhere – that higher cigarette taxes backfire.

I would be shocked if D.C. doesn’t create new evidence since avoidance is so easy.

…critics of the tax increase say the District is unique because of how easy it is to travel to neighboring Virginia, which has a 30-cent tax, and Maryland, with a $2 tax. “What person in their right mind is going to pay $9 or $10 for a pack of cigarettes when they can go to Virginia?” said Kirk McCauley of the WMDA Service Station and Automotive Repair Association, a regional association for gas stations. …Ronald Jackson, who declined to buy a loose cigarette from the BP parking lot, says he saves money with a quick drive to Maryland to buy five cartons of Newport 100s, the legal limit. “After they increased the price, I just go over the border,” said Jackson, a 56-year-old Southeast D.C. resident. “They are much cheaper.”

An under-appreciated aspect of this tax is how it encourages the underground economy.

Though I’m happy to see (especially remembering what happened to Eric Garner) that D.C. police have no interest in hindering black market sales.

The D.C. Council originally set aside money from the cigarette tax increase for two police officers to crack down on illegal sales outside of stores. But that funding was removed amid concerns about excessive enforcement and that it would strain police relations with the community. On a Tuesday morning, Choudhry, the owner of the Southeast BP, stopped a police officer who was filling up his motorcycle at the BP station to point out a group of men selling cigarettes in his parking lot. The officer drove off without action. …On a good day, he can pull about $70 in profit. “Would you rather that we rob or steal,” said Mike, who said he has spent 15 years in jail. “Or do you want us out here selling things?”

Kudos to Mike. I’m glad he’s engaging in voluntary exchange rather than robbing and stealing. Though maybe he got in trouble with the law in the first place because of voluntary exchange (a all-too-common problem for people in Washington).

But now let’s zoom out and return to our discussion about economics and taxation.

An under-appreciated point to consider is that deadweight loss grows geometrically larger as tax rates go up. In other words, you don’t just double damage when you double tax rates. The consequences are far more severe.

Here are two charts that were created for a chapter I co-authored in a book about demographics and capital taxation. This first chart shows how a $1 tax leads to 25-cents of deadweight loss.

But if the tax doubles to $2, the deadweight loss doesn’t just double.

In this hypothetical example, it rises to $1 from 25-cents.

 

For any given tax on any particular economic activity, the amount of deadweight loss will depend on both supply and demand sensitivities. Some taxes impose high costs. Others impose low costs.

But in all cases, the deadweight loss increases disproportionately fast as the tax rate is increased. And that has big implications for whether there should high tax rates on personal income and corporate income, as well as whether there should be heavy death taxes and harsh tax rates on capital gains, interest, and dividends.

Some of my left-wing friends shrug their shoulders because they assume that rich people bear the burden. But remember that the reduction of “consumer surplus” is a measure of the loss to taxpayers. The deadweight loss is the foregone output to society.

Eternal Darkness of the Leftist Mind

By Lloyd Marcus November 28, 2018

Folks, I continue asking myself, why do leftists think so differently from the rest of us?  Oprah Winfrey said she is an “open-minded” Christian who does not believe Jesus came to die for our sins. In other words, Oprah rejects the Gospel.............Oprah says Jesus is not the only way to heaven........ Oprah is free to believe whatever she wishes, but why call herself a Christian? 

Celine Dion believes it is wrong to perceive babies as male or female at birth. Celine believes children should be allowed to grow into the gender they prefer.   Eastern Michigan University canceled its production of “The Vagina Monologues” because not all women have vaginas. ..........Professed Christian Tyler Perry joined his Hollywood homeys in bashing Georgia for not allowing men to use women restrooms who claim to wake up feeling like a woman.

From kindergartners to adults, allowing men into women restrooms has led to numerous sexual assaults. Why do Perry and his fellow leftists ignore this commonsense reality? What kind of bizarre thinking causes leftists to conclude that accommodating a handful of disturbed men trumps protecting little girls and women? Meanwhile, leftists claim to be our superiors in regard to advocating for and protecting women.

Regular Americans are repulsed upon learning that abortionist Kermit Gosnell murdered thousands of babies after they were born by snipping the spine at the base of the neck. And yet, leftists covered for Gosnell. .............Leftists scold conservatives for supposedly not caring about women. And yet, leftists support the acceleration of Sharia law in America. Sharia advocates female genital mutilation which involves piercing, cutting, and removing or sewing closed a girl's or woman's genitals for no medical reason. ..............Trump has ended the U.S. being exploited by foreign countries. Why is all this good news for Americans deemed bad news in the warped minds of leftists?

Folks, leftists' thinking comes from a strange place alien to the rest of us. They cannot be reasoned with. Leftists must be defeated................   To Read More......

 

“Between 6,000 and 10,000 churches in the U.S. are dying each year” – and that means that over 100 will die this week

Any institution needs resources in order to survive, and churches are not any different

Michael Snyder | End Of The American Dream - November 28, 2018

“Between 6,000 and 10,000 churches in the U.S. are dying each year” – and that means that over 100 will die this week. America is littered with thousands upon thousands of church buildings that aren’t being used anymore.

As you will see below, between 6,000 and 10,000 churches are dying in the United States every single year, and that means that more than 100 will die this week alone. And of course thousands of others are on life support................At one time, America was widely considered to be “a Christian nation”, but that really isn’t true anymore. As an excellent article in The Atlantic has noted, even though most Americans still consider themselves to be “Christian”, the numbers are telling us a very different story…........ Today, less than 20 percent of all Americans attend church on a regular basis.  As a result, churches are dying in very large numbers, and this is a trend that appears to be accelerating.......To Read More

My Take - And this should surprise us?  These churches have abandoned any pretense of following Bible teachings.  They've been corrupted by leftist thinkers who promote the idea the Bible is a nice book with nice lessons but not to be taken too seriously.  If that's really true then the next question should be for these churches is - why do we need you then? 

They stand for nothing and will tolerate anything, including abortion.  Why wouldn't we think they're going down the tubes?  Here's what Oliver Chromwell said to the Rump Parliament when he dismissed them, and the thoughts presented to a political entity then fit perfectly with these "religious" entities now.

"It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice.  

Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government. Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.  

Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?  

Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defiled this sacred place, and turned the Lord's temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices?  

Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance.  

Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God's help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do.  

I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place.  

Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. In the name of God, go!

I think this fits well with Mathew Chapter Seven versus 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, which states:

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?..............."Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?  And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me,  you workers of lawlessness.'

USA Today's Reynolds: Africans Being Sold as Slaves in Libya Thanks to Hillary Clinton

By Michael W. Chapman | November 26, 2018

In a remarkable column that apparently received little media attention, USA Today Board of Contributors member Glenn Harlan Reynolds analyzed how Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's policy in the Obama administration forced the overthrow of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, which produced social and political chaos there, the flooding of refugees into Europe, and now the open sale of Africans at slave markets. "Black Africans are being sold in open-air slave markets, and it’s Hillary Clinton’s fault," wrote Reynolds in the Nov. 27, 2017 column. "But you won’t hear much about that from the news media or the foreign-policy pundits.".........To Read More....

Dodging a Very Long Vacation in Dubai

Another Westerner mistakes the UAE for a free country.
 

November 27, 2018  Bruce Bawer 

I've written here previously about a truly nauseating series of promos on which CNN hack Becky Anderson slathered Abu Dhabi – a place where real journalists are thrown in prison – with the kind of praise Donald Trump will never get on that network in a million years.

Thanks to that kind of shameless propaganda, Westerners have been fooled into thinking that the UAE is indeed, as the Times put it in that 2010 article, a “modern, multicultural” state, and thus a safe place to do business or go on vacation. As a result, every so often you read a story about some foolish couple from North America or Europe who, thinking they were in a civilized country, committed some innocuous act that landed them in the clink........To Read More.....

 

WWIII is a predominantly economic war, as of now

November 27, 2018 By Peter Olsson

China has been winning an economic war with America for decades. Unfair currency maneuvers, tariffs, stealing of technology and intellectual property, and tariff-like burdens have been China's war machine against America for a long time. Such economic victories over America have enabled the Chinese to build up their military might through their unfair accumulation of wealth.

Europe has taken advantage of America's generosity in funding too much of NATO expenses, too much of U.N. expenses, and our military nuclear power stick against Russia. Enough is enough!

France's own people finally are recognizing the folly of socialism's focus of economic power on the elite political leadership.Europe disrespects and won't fully support our bold hard line against Iran's overt hatred of America and Western values.   They also cheat about backing sanctions against N. Korea. They try to hide behind some vague anti- nationalist "globalist patriotism," which is really, at its core, their economic advantage-seeking.

European political leaders seem blind with denial about Iranian religious fascism; Chinese communist economic aggression; and the social, political, and economic dangers involved with immigration as an economic threat to Western democracies........To Read more

Caravans, Congress, and the Courts

Aiding and abetting a breakdown of law and order — will the incoming Mexican government save the day?

John C. Wohlstetter November 27, 2018

President Trump has threatened to permanently close the U.S.-Mexico border if he cannot strike a deal with the incoming Mexican government, under which migrants will await in Mexico the outcome of court fights in the U.S. If he succeeds, the immediate danger that the caravan would simply overrun the border as the courts paralyze the administration will be averted. Mexico’s new government comes to power December 1. The deal would double the U.S.’s migrant processing capacity and would alleviate applicant pressure at U.S. ports of entry. The failed effort of 500 massed migrants, some hurling rocks at U.S. border patrol agents, to force their way over the border, stopped by volleys of tear gas, signals dramatically the threat posed by such caravans. The Mexican government plans to deport the migrants who rushed the border. A Honduran migrant was quoted as saying that 20,000 migrants will assemble in Tijuana to march north on the highway and then cross the California border en masse. He called U.S. asylum applicant processing procedures “a waste of time.”..............

Growing use of this extraterritorial extension of jurisdiction by federal courts was criticized by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions in an October 2018 address. Sessions noted therein that in the first 175 years of the American constitutional republic no federal judge had asserted nationwide jurisdiction. In the ensuing 65 years that such rulings have been made, their use accelerated sharply during the first 21 months of the Trump administration, with 27 such rulings. This does not include rulings like Judge Tigar’s, made in the five weeks since mid-October.

Sessions also cited two other practices, what he termed “encroachments” by the judicial branch, on the powers assigned by the Framers to the legislative and executive branches: (a) ignoring traditional doctrines of “justiciability” (jurisdiction — the kinds of cases courts have power to decide), and “standing” (who may bring a given lawsuit); and (b) inquiring into the motives of executive branch officials, rather than whether actions taken by such officials were lawful. Of jurisdiction, Sessions stated:

Indeed, courts are even ignoring explicit congressional directives that strip them of jurisdiction to decide certain questions. For example, with respect to the designation of Temporary Protected Status, Congress has provided that “[t]here is no judicial review of any determination of the [Secretary of Homeland Security] with respect to the designation, or termination or extension of a designation, of a foreign state under this subsection.” Yet, after the Secretary justifiably decided to terminate the designation for individuals from four countries, a federal district court held it does have jurisdiction to review the decision..........To Read More.....

My Take - I think it's probably important at this point to state that the Constitution gives the Congress the right to determine the jurisdiction of the federal judiciary, and all federal courts are creations of the Congress with the exception of the Supreme Court, which was created by the Constitution.  Congress can, and has, eliminated a federal court when it got out control.  The reason why the federal judiciary seems to keep forgetting this is.....they probably don't care ............because most of these "judges" are nothing more than political hacks. 


 

Farage: Prime Minister May's Brexit Package is 'Worst Deal in History'

By Michael W. Chapman | November 27, 2018  Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party and a member of the European Parliament, harshly criticized the Brexit deal negotiated by British Prime Minister Theresa May, stating that it qualifies as "taxation without representation" and is "the worst deal in history," which Parliament should oppose.

The British people voted to leave -- Brexit -- the European Union (EU) in June 2016 with a 52% majority. Two-and-a-half years later, a Brexit deal still has not been finalized. The proposal being pushed by Prime Minister May must be voted on by Parliament, which likely will occur in December. ............"The downside is what she signed us up to gives us less sovereignty that we had as a European Union member," said Farage. "It’s a bad deal. It’s the worst deal in history. I very much hope the British Parliament votes it down.”..........To Read More....

My Take - When does the actions of these leftist leaders become treason?  They're already destroying their societies with their immigration policies and they've already put their economies in such debt it's clear bankruptcy is bound to happen.  When does this become treason? 

Why the “Good Guy with a Gun” Argument Doesn’t Work With Leftists

Karen Kataline Nov 27, 2018

As we are enjoying our Thanksgiving leftovers, some of us are thinking about the next set of issues over which the Left will spontaneously combust. Funny how it’s often timed perfectly for the next political fight and they are relatively quiet until people start paying attention after the New Year.

When Democrats gain control of the house in January, they will be fighting harder than ever to convince us that law-abiding citizens shouldn’t be trusted to have guns to defend themselves. Not long ago, they balked bitterly at the accusation that their real goal was to repeal the Second Amendment. Now, many have finally started to admit that this is precisely what they had in mind all along. Good for them. Better for us. They are easier to beat when they tell the truth. Unfortunately, that’s never very often...........To Read More.....

My Take - This is interesting as articles have come out about former Justice Stevens apparently about a book he's writing, and he tell the world about cases he considers to have been wrongly decided by the Court.  He considers the 5-4 decison in that case District of Columbia v. Heller "as bad as any in my tenure." In this case the Supreme Court decided the Second Amendment is what it is and nothing more.  They recognized the right of someone to own guns without being dismanted, or have trigger locks, both of which "the Court believed went against the entire purpose of having a firearm: for self-defense".   

He's the one who wrote the wrongly decided opinon in Kelo v. City of New London "holding that the “public use” requirement for a governmental taking of private property could be satisfied as long as polticians decided that there was a “public purpose” for the taking."  This allowed "developers [to] use the power of eminent domain to take private property away from lower and middle-class homeowners merely by convincing their poltical cronies that the developers could put it to a better use."

Well, in the world of the sane, most everything this partisan left wing judicial hack favored was a bad as everything in his tenure.  "His opinions weren’t worth much when he was on the Court. They are worth nothing now."

The left may drool over his writing, but in my opinion history will not be kind to he and his ilk.

 

 

Three Upcoming SCOTUS Cases to Watch

By Elizabeth Slattery | November 27, 2018

After a two-week break, the Supreme Court has returned to hear its final round of cases for 2018.
Among the issues that the court will address are whether half of Oklahoma is an Indian reservation, excessive fines, and double jeopardy.

The following are three cases to watch in the Supreme Court’s last sitting of the year:.........To Read More.....

Trump: 'The Now-$30M Witch Hunt Continues and They've Got Nothing But Ruined Lives'

By Susan Jones | November 27, 2018

 President Trump's first tweets on Tuesday blasted the Robert Mueller "witch hunt" for ruining lives, including that of his former campaign manager Paul Manafort.  Press reports on Tuesday said that Manafort has broken his agreement to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of a plea deal struck in September...............The Phony Witch Hunt continues, but Mueller and his gang of Angry Dems are only looking at one side, not the other. Wait until it comes out how horribly & viciously they are treating people, ruining lives for them refusing to lie. Mueller is a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue.

The Fake News Media builds Bob Mueller up as a Saint, when in actuality he is the exact opposite. He is doing TREMENDOUS damage to our Criminal Justice System, where he is only looking at one side and not the other. Heroes will come of this, and it won’t be Mueller and his terrible Gang of Angry Democrats. Look at their past, and look where they come from. The now $30,000,000 Witch Hunt continues and they’ve got nothing but ruined lives. Where is the Server? Let these terrible people go back to the Clinton Foundation and “Justice” Department!............To Read More.....

The Caravan Media Calvacade

Winning: Caravan migrants packing up and going home

November 27, 2018 By Monica Showalter

 

You often see it at the bottom of news stories or in less prominently placed news stories, from the more serious local news outlets near the scene of the Tijuana caravan encampment:

Migrants are taking a look at the lay of the land and deciding to pack up and go home.............But what we have here - and the media is never going to admit it - is something called winning, a victory for rule of law. Anyone who wants to enter the U.S. -- worldwide -- has gotten the message from this caravan charge and its big media buildup -- that the U.S. is holding firm in defending the integrity of its borders. Any entry to the U.S. must be legal entry.

The scruffy barbed border fencing, the double walls, the troops at hand, cobbled together as they were, along with the resolution and will of our leaders, really did do the job. Anyone wanting to bust a border is better off heading to western Europe. Trump -- and the voters who sent him to Washington to get this job done - stands victorious. Surprise, surprise, Congress has now gotten serious about border wall funding.................Read more

Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC wins the prize for the stupidest comment on the border assault

November 27, 2018 By Thomas Lifson

There is a lot of competition, but one Trump-hater stands out for utter, implausible, easily refuted inanity in attempting to demonize opposition to the organized attempt to force our southern border open to anyone who wants to come here and sign up for the rich subsidies and benefits offered to poor people.

Congratulations to Andrea Mitchell: You have now earned your place in broadcast history with the claim that calling the mob intent on violating our border a "caravan" demonizes them.  If you don't believe me, watch this video excerpt from her MSNBC show.  She makes the idiotic claim at 1:00 minute into the segment...........To Read More

Caravan migrants fake photos for gullible, biased US press

By Monica Showalter November 27, 2018

In the propaganda war, the organizers of the migrant caravan are intensely aware of what works for the U.S. press, and how to play its denizens to get the "narrative" going.  They've got the media's number.  And nowhere was it better played than with the recent series of photos seen during the migrant caravan surge that charged the Tijuana-San Ysidro border Sunday.

Start with the "iconic" photo of the migrant mom in the Disney t-shirt moving her two toddlers out of the path of tear gas sent in response to rocks.  NBC actually called this utterly staged photo "iconic," and rest assured: they are going to try to get themselves some news award for all that iconicity.  Here's the New York Times promoting the pic on Twitter:..........To Read More

Jim Acosta's lecturing of President Trump about harmlessness of caravan requires an apology

November 27, 2018 By Thomas Lifson

After the scornful laughter subsides, Jim Acosta of CNN really owes an apology to President Trump for his inaccurate contentions about the harmlessness of the caravan and his prediction that they wouldn't storm the border. He should have heeded Yogi Berra, who warned, "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."  Twitter is full of humor at Acosta's expense:..........To Read More.....

MSNBC reporter tells the truth about overwhelmingly young male caravan membership

By Thomas Lifson November 27, 2018

 

In the very next hour after Andrea Mitchell disgraced herself with the most ridiculous comment yet about the caravan of wannabe border jumpers, a lower-profile MSNBC reporter told the truth on camera.  As he toured a camp, Gadi Schwartz noted that the caravan is composed mostly of young males, not the women and children favored by MSM cameras.............. If MSNBC wants to be an actual news organization, as opposed to a propaganda outlet for the Democrats, it should fire Mitchell and give her time slot to an honest reporter, Gadi Schwartz, who delivered this factual report.

Don't hold your breath. Instead, pray that Schwartz does not get fired..........To Read More....

Poll: 70% of Mexicans have had it with the migrant caravan – and some are getting out the 'bats and sticks'

By Monica Showalter November 27, 2018

If you're wondering why the Mexican response to the caravaners' border riot Sunday was so swift – with Mexican-side border reinforcements, 500 arrests, 69 criminal charges filed, and 98 on-the-spot deportations – look no farther than this NBC News item,, dug up from the Mexican press:

A poll released Sunday by El Universal, one of Mexico's biggest newspapers, found seven in 10 Mexicans have a negative view about the arrival of the migrant families, with more than half – 52 percent – supporting blocking them from entering the country without legal documents and 55 percent supporting tougher measures on future caravans.

Support for the migrant families has also dropped in the last few months, the survey found.  This has implications for President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who takes office on Dec. 1: About half, 52 percent, of Mexicans opposed his announced measure to give work visas to Central American migrants, while 40 percent support the measure.

This, by the way, was what the Mexicans thought before the riot. One can only guess how high the number is now, given the costly border shutdown, which local news here in San Diego pegged at $5 million in lost sales for the few hours of shutdown, but another piece of buried news dug up by NBC is likely indicative.

Mexicans went after the rioting caravan migrants with "bats and sticks" on Sunday. According to NBC News: ..........To Read More....

Media hysterics over use of tear gas at the border ignored Obama admin frequent use

 

By Thomas Lifson November 27, 2018

The old joke that if it weren't for double standards, the MSM would have no standards at all certainly applies to the cascade of hysterical media coverage of the use of tear gas to repel rock-throwing invaders at the San Ysidro border crossing. When the Obama administration used tear gas at the border to repel invaders, there was no tidal wave of outrage.

Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times reminds us:

The same tear-gas agent that the Trump administration is taking heat for deploying against a border mob this weekend is actually used fairly frequently – including more than once a month during the later years of President Barack Obama's administration, according to Homeland Security data...............To Read More.....

Oops! The Media Got the Caravan Wrong

Jeffrey Lord November 27, 2018

Over there at Breitbart and also at the New York Post, John Nolte and Rich Lowry have nailed it exactly.  To wit: the media got the caravan thunderously, embarrassingly wrong.

Nolte points out the following.

Fox’s Shepard Smith assured: “There is no invasion,” he said. “There’s nothing at all to worry about.” Nolte links to this ITV report — and there are the migrants storming the U.S. border, as here.

 

Then there was, famously, CNN’s Jim Acosta at that showdown in the East Room with the President. Acosta lecturing the President that “As you know, Mr. President, the caravan was not an invasion…. Your campaign had an ad showing migrants climbing over walls and so on, but they’re not going to be doing that.” Nolte links to this video put together by the Daily Caller’s Benny Johnson, in which Benny overlays the tape of Acosta insisting on all of this while showing the caravan members — yes indeed — storming the U.S. border and throwing rocks.

Rich Lowry headlined the same story this way in the Post:

Trump’s critics were dead wrong about the caravan after all..............To Read More....

Giuliani: Mueller's 'zeal to get' Trump is prompting him to push witnesses to lie

by Kelly Cohen | November 27, 2018

Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump's personal lawyer, has accused special counsel Robert Mueller's team of being so driven by "their zeal to get the president" that they are plotting to push witnesses in the Russia investigation to lie.

Former New York City Mayor Giuliani told the Washington Examiner that allegations that former Trump campaign manager met Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in his refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London was “all part of a plan to pressure Manafort to lie.”

He linked the Manafort claims, outlined in a report in The Guardian, to comments by controversial right-wing author Jerome Corsi that he recently testified to a Mueller grand jury that Roger Stone — his friend and a longtime Trump ally — asked him to contact Assange about releasing emails stolen from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. .........To Read More....

‘Democratic Socialists’ Really Need to Learn More about Socialism

By Benjamin Powell (Washington Examiner 11/14/18)

With a growing number of politicians self-identifying as socialists, and two—New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Detroit’s Rashida Tlaib—newly elected to the House of Representatives, Americans need to ask themselves a question that didn’t appear on any ballot.

Are you ready for socialism?

It’s an especially interesting question because most Americans don’t really understand what socialism is—or the consequences of embracing it.

I attended the largest socialist conference in the United States, “Socialism 2018,” this past July while finishing research for a new book. Attendees’ opinions on how far down the spectrum toward full-blown socialism they wanted to move varied widely. Some favored small moves in specific sectors, such as energy or healthcare. But many, particularly members of the growing International Socialist Organization, favored moving all the way to abolishing private ownership of the means of production.

Technically, the abolition of private property in the production of goods and services and its replacement with collective ownership under government control is the very definition of socialism...............The report offers a sobering look at the countries closest to the socialist end of the spectrum: the former Soviet Union, Mao’s China, Castro’s Cuba, and Venezuela. The results of taking one’s country to that end of the spectrum were universally awful...............To Read More... 

'Appalling,' 'frightening' poll results on European anti-Semitism

November 27, 2018 By Rick Moran

"Never forget." You would think that less than 75 years after 6 million Jews were slaughtered by Nazi Germany that European attitudes toward Jews would have evolved beyond the crude, nauseating anti-Semitism that directly led to the Holocaust. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Results of a CNN survey on European attitudes toward Jews is incomprehensible considering that there are still many survivors of the death camps still alive.

But collective memory is a tricky thing, and those who believe that the Holocaust could never happen again should sit up and take notice.........The Muslim migration to Europe will not improve the situation, and given their lack of assimilation into western culture, the newcomers will carry their hate from the old country to the new. The future looks bleak for Jews in Europe if these present trends continue............We're certainly not immune to anti-Semitism in the US. But Jew-hate was ingrained in Europe for centuries before the Holocaust. It's a casual, matter-of-fact kind of anti-Semitism - a part of everyday life for hundreds of years. That's probably why it's so difficult to expunge........... To Read More

Trump Responds To Dire Predictions In The Latest US Climate Report

Michael Bastasch | Energy Editor 11/26/2018

President Donald Trump disagreed with the dire economic projections in the U.S. government’s latest climate report.  “I don’t believe it,” Trump said when asked by a reporter outside the White House on Monday if he agreed with the latest National Climate Assessment (NCA) report’s projections that global warming could hurt the U.S. economy.  “And here’s the other thing — you’re going to have to have China, and Japan, and all of Asia, and all of these other countries — you know, it — it addresses our country,” Trump said.........To Read More....

 

Muslim Rapes Teen Girl, Acquitted Due to ‘Cultural Norms’

WorldNetDaily, November 25, 2018

A French court acquitted a refugee from Bangladesh for the rape of a high-school girl after the defense argued the immigrant had “different cultural norms” that may have caused him to misinterpret his contact with the girl.

The refugee also was charged with sexually assaulting another young girl. Both incidents happened in 2015. He was given a suspended sentenced of two years in prison for the sexual-assault charge, reported Voice of Europe, citing the French news site La Manche Libre.

The report said experts who investigated the refugee, who was not named, pointed out that in the male culture of Muslim-majority Bangladesh, “women are relegated to the status of sexual object.”
Voice of Europe said the accused, age 18 at the time of rape, went for a walk with a 16-year-old girl who attended the same high school in Saint-Lô, France.

The teen kissed the woman and groped her genitals, according to the complaint, and she managed to leave the room. She reported the incident to the principal of her school who informed police.
Police closed the case after the refugee insisted the girl was consenting. She later attempted suicide and was hospitalized for a week.

Four months after the initial incident, the refugee was arrested again.

Whose ‘norms’ will be enforced?.............To Read More.....

My Take - Make no mistake about this.....at some point this is going to boil over into violence all over Europe.  Governments are going to fall, civil unrest will become out of control and there will be pitched battles between Muslims and ethnic Europeans.  What will be the final straw?  Economic collapse of the EU and a number of European countries, and it's coming sometime between 2020 and 2030, my guess is before or around 2025.  Is it any wonder they're frothing at the mouth over Trump's trade policy?  It's they who will suffer, not the U.S., and I expect much the same for Russia and China.  When these markets dry up they'll go belly up. 

Fake Orthodox Jews Against Trump

By Daniel Greenfield Sunday, November 25, 2018 2 Comments @ Sultan Knish Blog

You could find Rabbi Mike Moskowitz protesting for illegal aliens at “Moral Mincha” rallies organized by Torah Trumps Hate (TTH) and Hitoreri: An Orthodox Movement for Social Change.

Both lefty groups claim to be Orthodox Jewish organizations and with his black hat, dark suit and black beard, “Rabbi” Mike Moskowitz certainly looks the part of a real Orthodox Rabbi.

But he’s as real as Hitoreri and Torah Trumps Hate.

“Rabbi” Moskowitz is actually employed by Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, a gay non-Orthodox institution. Its clerical leader, “Rabbi” Sharon Kleinbaum, was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, a movement that rejects the idea of both God and the Torah. While Beit Simchat Torah’s views aren’t unusual within its movement, its anti-Israel politics have made it controversial.

During a previous war with Hamas, an exodus of pro-Israel members occurred at Beit Simchat Torah after it was caught praying for Hamas terrorists and hosting BDS bigots.

“Recent events have demonstrated that CBST is far more committed to a progressive political agenda than to the Jewish people,” Bryan Bridges, a former board member, wrote. “I couldn’t imagine raising a child in this congregation, and have that child hear, just before we recite Kaddish, the names of people who are trying to kill her grandparents.”

Bridges has higher standards than “Rabbi” Mike Moskowitz who collaborates with the institution as its “scholar-in-residence for Trans and Queer Jewish Studies”. Pro-Israel gay leaders have condemned Beit Simchat Torah’s collusion with Islamic homophobia and anti-Semitism.

Joining CBST’s clergy isn’t just an endorsement of gay rights, but of radical leftist and anti-Israel politics.

Mike Moskowitz is often wrongly described as an Orthodox Rabbi, his own site states that, “Rabbi Moskowitz was assigned secular, then identified as ultra-orthodox for but twenty years, and now embraces a religiously non-conforming identity.”

A Jewish Week article photo shows him with a clean shave and no black hat. A note in the article mentions that, “his old black hat” makes its appearance “when necessary”.

That apparently includes Hitoreri and Torah Trumps Hate rallies where the costume gives people the impression that they brought an Orthodox Rabbi out to protest Trump and Republicans.

Like Moskowitz, Hitoreri and Torah Trumps Hate are inauthentic and collaborate with anti-Israel hate groups.

Torah Trumps Hate is described as “a community of orthodox and orthodox-friendly Jews” who are part of the “resistance” to the results of the 2016 election. “Orthodox-friendly” is not Orthodox.

Elad Nehorai, a leading Torah Trumps Hate figure, admitted that the group was run by “Victoria Cook, a woman who doesn’t consider herself Orthodox anymore.” Cook has said that she doesn’t believe in G-d and had co-produced Screwed, a documentary “about pornographer Al Goldstein”.

Cook, an entertainment lawyer, is still described as Torah Trumps Hate’s “founder and leader” on its site while “leading Torah Trumps Hate into a future of activism and public-facing political actions.”

An organization claiming to represent Orthodox Jews is being led by someone who isn’t Orthodox.

It’s calling itself Torah Trumps Hate even though its leader and founder doesn’t believe in Torah.

Nehorai, TTH’s other key figure, is a lefty hipster who drifted around Chabad for a few years before breaking with the movement and getting a “quick”, “simple” rabbinic ordination that “mostly happened over email”. Nehorai has admitted, "I wasn’t an expert in Shabbat or Kashrut (laws of kosher food) or Niddah (marriage laws)," but, "I was an authority of my own Torah."

At an event in support of the March for Racial Justice, Cook claimed, “We are diverse”. Including, "those who are observant in other ways, to those like me who are OTD [off the derech, or lapsed Jews]."

Torah Trumps Hate appeared at the pro-black nationalist event along with Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Israel and pro-terrorist BDS hate group that has flirted with outright anti-Semitism.

Also, there was Farrakhan supporter, Linda Sarsour, who had urged Muslims to dehumanize Jews. At the rally, Sarsour warned, "we will not be intimidated by right-wing Zionists, by white supremacists, by racists."

On Twitter, Elad Nehorai claimed that "Calling out Farrakhan after Pittsburgh” is “also a sickening attempt to create racial division.”

Hitoreri was co-founded by Rebecca Krevat, a lefty feminist activist who called Birthright Israel, "rape culture".

Krevat has repeatedly retweeted attacks on Israel by anti-Israel activists. She also retweeted Linda Sarsour. Like Moskowitz, she worked with Uri L’Tzedek, a pseudo-orthodox group that serves as an incubator of lefty activists. And she co-authored at least one piece with Moskowitz.

Despite occasionally claiming to be Orthodox, Krevat largely retweets non-Orthodox clergy. There is nothing “Orthodox” in the lifestyle that she displays on her social media accounts. Over the summer, she tweeted about “feeling so inspired” at visiting the hateful premises of Beit Simchat Torah.

“This gorgeous shul embodies hospitality&inclusivity,” she tweeted about a place that its pro-Israel members are fleeing because it embodies support for terrorism and the murder of Jews.

Torah Trumps Hate and Hitoreri, which often appear to be interchangeable, recently attacked the National Council of Young Israel for praising President Trump’s condemnation of anti-Semitism. Its Moral Mincha attacked the Orthodox Union for honoring Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Its activism borrows the style of anti-Israel hate groups such as If Not Now which targets legitimate Jewish organizations in support of radical lefty causes. The protests are invariably deserted. On one video, Mike Moskowitz can be seen lecturing about the suffering of illegal aliens to what appears to be an audience of two women. Torah Trumps Hate and Hitoreri’s petitions struggle to reach 200 signatures.

These “Orthodox” Jewish protests suffer from a distinct shortage of Orthodox Jews. Their key figures are processed through the same pipeline of professional social justice groups. Their rants about white people and recitation of party line causes are equally interchangeable. But they are meeting a demand.

The demand does not come within the largely conservative Orthodox Jewish community. Instead it comes from lefty groups which have seen the rising Orthodox demographics and seek to hijack its voice for their causes. They are backing and promoting fake Orthodox social justice movements that do not represent and do not speak to the conservative values of a religious and traditional Jewish community.

“While we need the outside world to see that observant Jews have not lost their moral compass, we also want the bullying voices within the Jewish community to no longer be so sure that they have a majority of support,” Victoria Cook declared.

Victoria Cook, by her own admission, is not an observant Jew and does not believe in God.

Her activists are the ones trying to bully Orthodox Jews into remaining silent. They are targeting Orthodox Jewish organizations that represent hundreds of thousands of religious Jews. And they are doing it while collaborating with lefty anti-Semites in a profoundly anti-Semitic movement.

Fake Orthodox Jews campaigning against Trump would not have a fraction of the attention without a fake news media that gives them millions of dollars worth of unearned publicity.

The truth was always easy to find.

Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine at the above link.

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