How to Start a War

Joe Biden, and those around him, seem determined to upset the peace they inherited.

Arab rockets intercepted by Israeli defenses

Victor Davis Hanson   "Wars often arise from uncertainty. When strong countries appear weak, truly weaker ones take risks they otherwise would not.

"Sloppy braggadocio and serial promises of restraint can trigger wars, too. Empty tough talk can needlessly egg on aggressors. But mouthing utopian bromides convinces bullies that their targets are too sophisticated to counter aggression.

"Sometimes announcing “a new peace process” without any ability to bring either novel concessions or pressures only raises false hopes — and furor.

"Every new American president is tested to determine whether the United States can still protect friends such as Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Israel. And will the new commander in chief deter U.S. enemies Iran and North Korea — and keep China and Russia from absorbing their neighbors?

"Joe Biden, and those around him, seem determined to upset the peace they inherited.

"Soon after Donald Trump left office, Vladimir Putin began massing troops on the Ukrainian border and threatening to attack.

"Putin earlier had concluded that Trump was dangerously unpredictable, and perhaps best not provoked. After all, the Trump administration took out Russian mercenaries in Syria. It beefed up defense spending and upped sanctions.

"The Trump administration flooded the world with cheap oil to Russia’s chagrin. It pulled out from asymmetrical missile treaties with Russia. It sold sophisticated arms to the Ukrainians. The Russians concluded that Trump might do anything, and so waited for another president before again testing America.

"In contrast, Biden often talks provocatively — while carrying a twig. He has gratuitously called Putin “a killer.” And he warned that the Russian dictator “will pay a price” for supposedly interfering in the 2020 election." . . .

Israel still waits for Messiah to come. Meanwhile...

Ann Coulter: I Will Not Be Scienced!

 Ann Coulter

Whether the virus that destroyed the world economy and has already killed more than 3 million people came from a Chinese lab or a Chinese wet market, or a Chinese restaurant on the Upper West Side (unlikely), it’s China’s fault. What is mind-boggling about Wade’s article is the overweening and baseless pomposity of our high priests of SCIENCE.

"After a year of being browbeaten by THE SCIENTISTS not to wear a mask, to wear a mask, to wear double masks, to get vaccinated and still wear a mask, our analytic overlords are still no closer to determining the tiny little issue of where this virus came from.

"Recently, the widely respected science writer Nicholas Wade published an article 

in Medium pushing the idea that — contrary to what “the scientists” assured us — COVID-19 might have come from the Wuhan virology lab, not the wet markets.

"According to Wade, the virologists attacking the lab theory were claiming scientific certainty for something unknowable, and at least one of them has a gigantic conflict of interest. Even at a time when “TRUST THE SCIENCE!” has become a liberal mating call, I’m shocked at the deceptions of these guys.

"Wade cites two groups as leading the attack on the lab theory.

"Kristian G. Andersen, a professor of immunology and microbiology at the Scripps Research Institute in California, was the lead author of a paper published in Nature Medicine on March 17, 2020, claiming: “Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus.”

"Talk about influential — not only did The New York Times cite Andersen, but I did!" . . .

The Nation of the Dry Bones

 

Jewish Commentary by Meir Y. Soloveichik  "In April, 1945, Jewish prayer services in the history of Judaism. It took place on a Friday afternoon, on the eve of the Sabbath in Bergen-Belsen, only days after the concentration camp had been liberated. The worshippers, survivors all, had not participated in a minyan in years. The prayers concluded with words Walker assumed were standard Sabbath liturgy but were actually the words of “Hatikvah,” the anthem of the Zionist movement, and later of the State of Israel. As their voices faded, one of the chaplains leading the service declaimed three Hebrew words, a clarion call that can still be heard on the recording of the broadcast: Am Yisrael chai, the people of Israel liveth! 

"Walker was witness to what would become the perfect embodiment of the current period of the Jewish calendar, when Israel and world Jewry mark, one week apart, the worst and then the most miraculous moments in Jewish Diaspora history: first Yom Ha’shoah, the commemoration of the Holocaust, and then Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day. In order to understand why this is so, we can begin with the Jewish chaplain whose final words defined the service, and whose later recollections and obituaries allow us to see the moment through his eyes. Leslie Hardman, staffed to Britain’s second army, had not been with the troops when the camp was liberated but was told two days later, “Keep a stiff upper lip. We’ve just been into Belsen concentration camp and it’s horrible; but you have got to go there—you’ll find a lot of your people.” He first encountered a Jewish woman whose decrepit appearance was so horrifying that he instinctively backed away, provoking her to cry out in Yiddish, “Farloz mir nit!! Geh nit avek fun mir!” Do not leave me! Do not go away from me!

Hardman walked with her and then saw the others: “Towards me came what seemed to be the remnants of a holocaust—a staggering mass of blackened skin and bones, held together somehow with filthy rags,” he recalled. “‘My God, the dead walk,’ I cried aloud, but I did not recognize my voice.” 

"All too soon he would learn that the “walking dead” were the lucky ones. The British had created mass graves for the dead. Hardman protested at the lack of respect but was told, “Padre, we’ve got to get them under the ground. Otherwise, we’ll all suffer from typhus.” Thus were Jews buried by the thousands, denied everything in death as they were in life. One haunting photograph captures Hardman standing all alone at a mass grave, reciting Kaddish. Among the bodies over whom he prayed was very possibly Anne Frank, who had died of typhoid at Belsen months before. The experience would remain with Hardman, a dedicated Zionist, his entire life." . . . More at the link...

Palestinians and Democrats Spread Misinformation on Israel’s Actions in Jerusalem

Basically a "real estate dispute".

The American Spectator  "Palestinian terror is raining upon Israel once again. Since Monday, approximately 1,000 rockets from Gaza have claimed the lives of seven Israelis, the most recent an IDF soldier who was killed as a missile hit his Jeep. An Israeli man driving near the Temple Mount was pelted with stones and nearly lynched by a mob. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a state of emergency in Lod, a mixed Arab–Jewish city in Israel. This follows intense Arab rioting, including arson of synagogues, shops, and cars, which Lod’s mayor has called “too big for the police” and “an Intifada of Arab Israelis.”

. . . Democrats and Palestinians alike are slandering Israel through false narratives surrounding the pending Sheikh Jarrah evictions and Temple Mount riots. The Biden administration should respond to the increase in Palestinian violence by threatening to withhold additional funding to the Palestinians and by walking away from the Vienna negotiations with Iran. But given that nine Senate Democrats have signed a letter calling the Biden administration to reopen the PLO office in D.C. as well as the U.S. consulate to the Palestinians in eastern Jerusalem, appeasement abounds in the Democratic camp. Unless the U.S. pivots away from seeking a diplomatic breakthrough with Iran and the Palestinian Authority at all costs, it will continue to stoke the violence plaguing Israel.

Blackouts, Increasing Crime, Rampant Homelessness, And Man-Made Drought: Is This California Or A Third World Nation?

California is arguably the most politically “progressive” state in the country. So why can’t it make progress in eradicating problems that don’t fit its image as an innovative, forward-looking, ever-advancing state? The answer starts with a lesson: Never confuse “progressive” politics with human and civilizational progress.

 

https://www.terrellaftermath.com/

"While still trying to process the unwelcome news that we’re going to have to grind through yet another year of drought, California energy officials told us to also be ready for the power to go out when the days grow long and warm.

“ 'The managers of California’s electricity system,” the Sacramento Bee reported May 5, “can’t promise they’ll be able to keep the lights on this summer.”

"Though officials insist “they’ve fortified the power grid against more outages,” they at the same time concede “that another extraordinary surge in temperatures could spell trouble.”

"Sounds more like an implicit warning than a mere observation of what might be possible in the extreme.

"This is only one of several contemporary California afflictions. A drought “watch” began in early April with reports the state had arrived on the “edge of another protracted drought.” Then we were told the Bay Area had landed “in the ‘extreme’ drought category,” and that conditions across the state “have gone from bad to worse in scarcely a month.” By the second Monday of May, Gov. Gavin Newsom had included an additional 39 counties in his drought emergency declaration, only days after the U.S. Drought Monitor indicated that nearly 93% of the state was experiencing either severe, extreme, or exceptional dry conditions.

"But there has to be some good news, right? Somewhere there is. But a quick look at the headlines beyond blackouts and drought tell us deadly crimes in the state’s largest cities are on the rise, homelessness continues to grow, and the wildfire season, which is “already off to a fast start,” “could quickly become the worst on record.”

"This is progress?

"California is arguably the most politically “progressive” state in the country. So why can’t it make progress in eradicating problems that don’t fit its image as an innovative, forward-looking, ever-advancing state?

"The answer starts with a lesson: Never confuse “progressive” politics with human and civilizational progress." . . .

California’s Progressive Betrayal   "California’s left-wing policies hurt working-class and middle-class residents."

How long can working- and middle-class Californians endure such conditions while being hectored by billionaires and celebrities? An alternative may exist: the development of a pragmatic, solutions-oriented new party, as proposed by former GOP congressman Tom Campbell. This would constitute what the late historian Kevin Starr called “the party of California”—one that doesn’t adhere to a green religion or do the bidding of tech mavens but instead seeks to restore the promise that attracted so many to this peculiarly blessed state.

MSNBC's Joy Reid is more incendiary than anything on Fox News and sometimes flat-out nutty

Washington Examiner  "For all the media’s talk these past few years about dangerous rhetoric, disinformation, and so-called hate speech, it’s amazing MSNBC’s Joy Reid is given a free pass by her peers and colleagues.

"She is probably the meanest, most venomous person on television. She is also a font of misinformation (and sometimes disinformation). But Reid’s bomb-throwing and conspiracy theory-mongering serve the “correct” causes, so our otherwise extremism-obsessed media don't consider her a threat to our core democracy. (Unlike, say, conservative satire group the Babylon Bee.)

"On Tuesday, the MSNBC host accused Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who is of Cuban descent, of being a race traitor for his efforts to amend the authoritarian monstrosity known as the For the People Act.

"Reid also accused Republicans of trying to enact new-age Jim Crow laws to ban minorities from voting." . . .

A Black Lives Matter Activist Pulling A Gun On Bystanders Should Be The Last Straw For This Destructive Group

 To see real change, Americans must stop listening to leftist demagogues and corrupt organizations like Black Lives Matter.

The Federalist  . . . "Whatever the answers to these questions might be, it should be clear by now that the involvement of Black Lives Matter activists will only exacerbate the problem. After a year of protests and so much media coverage, the official organization Black Lives Matter has mostly succeeded in enriching its highest-ranking members while spreading division and hate in the communities where they organize. The residents of Plano and other communities should take heed and stop enabling them in any way.

"Some will object, saying that Black Lives Matter has brought much-needed awareness to the problem of racist law enforcement policies. If it wasn’t for the Black Lives Matter movement, the story goes, most Americans wouldn’t know how so many police departments and other public institutions systematically target and murder poor black Americans, routinely depriving them of justice. Except this isn’t true.

"As writers like Heather Mac Donald have repeatedly demonstrated, “This charge of systemic police bias was wrong during the Obama years and remains so today.” While there might be individual instances of racism in law enforcement, it cannot justifiably be classified as “systemic” or even “widespread.”

"This is why organizations like Black Lives Matter and its supportive activists and writers have to rely on specific, individual examples of what they can construe as racism instead of real statistics. Even in these cases, the charges of wrongdoing and bigotry are often debatable. Nevertheless, media outlets will do their utmost to present one side and not the other, turning each tragedy into the next political controversy

"Thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds took to the streets last year in Frisco, Texas — the most suburban of suburbs — to march in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter slogan. Although some people worried the protests would transform into rioting, thankfully, the march remained peaceful. Unfortunately, it also proved to be rather pointless.

"Less than a year later, Black Lives Matter activists took to the streets in a neighboring suburb of Plano, Texas to protest the death of Marvin David Scott III, a black man in his mid-20s who recently died in police custody. This time, however, there wasn’t nearly the same level of support from the community. Instead, Plano police were thrust into a tense scene of protesters blocking traffic at a busy intersection." . . .

National Review: Cornell Professor Warns ‘Anti-Racism’ Training Mandate Will Exacerbate ‘Toxic’ Campus Environment  . . . “There is so much critical race theory and anti-racism, activism, programs, administrative personnel,” he added. “The campus is awash in this stuff. If students want to go and participate in that voluntarily, fine. But I don’t think that should be forced on people. I think when you are forcing it on people, you’re now engaging in coercion, not education.'” . . .

The Texan Who Confronted BLM Who Were Illegally Shutting Down Traffic Has Received Charges, While The BLM Mob Who Pulled A Gun On Him Did Not And Now We Know Why

Texas Residents At Breaking Point: Citizens angry with BLM protesters blocking traffic. pic.twitter.com/MvITK943UW

— New Granada (@NewGranada1979) May 7, 2021

The three faces of the Republican Party

  Patricia McCarthy  "The 1957 film, The Three Faces of Eve, was about dissociative personality disorder, then known as multiple personality syndrome.  It was a hard film based on an actual case of a woman who suffered from the condition.

"It is not much of a leap to describe the Republican Party as currently constituted as suffering from the same malady.  There are the true small-government, liberty-loving constitutionalists like Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan, Tom Cotton, Matt Gaetz, Ron Johnson, Josh Hawley, Elise Stefanik, Steve Scalise, Rand Paul, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ted Cruz, Louie Gohmert, and John Kennedy.

Then there are the squishes, who are afraid of their own shadows when it comes to fighting the Democrats — the elected officials who are there only to hold power, not to exercise it for their constituents. Those would be Kevin McCarthy and his go-along to get-along bunch, the Pelosi-ites like Rob Portman, Lindsey Graham who bends with the prevailing winds of the day.  Most of the Republicans fall into this category.

"Then there are the never-Trumpers: Mitch McConnell, Romney, Ben Sasse, Adam Kinzinger, Pat Toomey, John Katko, Jamie Beutler, Dan Newhouse, David Valadao, Peter Meijer, Tom Rice, Fred Upton, Anthony Gonzalez, Richard Burr, Susan Collins (of course), Bill Cassidy, and Lisa Murkowski, along with the execrable Liz Cheney, the left's new favorite congressperson.

"No doubt about it, the Republican Party is suffering from multiple personality disorder. " . . .

America under Joe Biden

 

https://www.terrellaftermath.com/

Trump Jr.: We’re embarrassed, our enemies are laughing

Even Following Fuel Shortages, Psaki Says Biden Still Considering Canceling Existing Pipelines…   Video

Trump Blasts Biden For Middle East Violence   . . . "“When I was in office we were known as the Peace Presidency,” Trump said in a statement. “Because Israel’s adversaries knew that the United States stood strongly with Israel and there would be swift retribution if Israel was attacked. Under Biden, the world is getting more violent and more unstable because Biden’s weakness and lack of support for Israel is leading to new attacks on our allies. America must always stand with Israel and make clear that the Palestinians must end the violence, terror, and rocket attacks, and make clear that the U.S. will always strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself." . . .

"Trump also blasted the Democratic Party’s solidarity with Ilhan Omar, who called Israel’s defending itself from Hamas’s attacks as “terrorism.” . . .

It's True, Joe Biden Was the First President to Cut God Out of the National Day of Prayer   . . . "Even Barack Obama — who famously omitted any mention of Jesus Christ from his message about the 50th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas — didn’t do this." . . .

Welcome Back, Carter?  "But, as the Gipper said:

Freedom is a fragile thing and it's never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.

Trumpism vs. Bidenism "Madison pointed out that membership in the House of Representatives is not to be a matter of  wealth, class, or society status.  He wrote that the rich no more than the poor will be members, and then, after stating "not the learned more than the ignorant," added: "not the haughty heirs of distinguished names, more than the humble sons of obscure and unpropitious fortune."  In current context, it is, arguably, fair to infer that Madison would say that Liz Cheney, as a daughter of a vice president, has no more right to chair of the House Republican conference than, say, Elise Stefanik, whose name 'til now could not have been considered a household word.  Indeed, it is fair to ask: would Liz have reached the House of Representatives, much less the third rank, if her name were Haney instead of Cheney?" . . .

Biden’s Administration Choices Are A Disgrace – Including Rachel Levine

“Honestly, there were some days where in a 12-hour shift there would be 10 to 15 people that would die. That was just hard as a nurse to watch day in and day out.”

 Charles "Sam" Faddis  "In the Biden administration everything is driven by identity politics. The nominee for Interior Secretary is someone who supports an anti-American North Korean front group and is supported by the Communist Party of the USA (CPUSA). All that matters, though, is that she is Native American.

"The new Treasury Secretary is completely compromised by the same financiers and Wall Street firms she is now expected to control and regulate. Never mind. She is female.

"So, it is with Rachel Levine, Biden’s choice for Assistant Health Secretary. Levine, as Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Health, presided over a COVID-19 nursing home debacle in Pennsylvania perhaps only second to that in New York State. Levine has very problematic views about gender transition related surgery and hormone treatment for minors. No big deal. Levine is transgender. That is all that counts.

"Let’s pretend, though, for a moment that we actually consider a person’s qualifications for a job to be of interest. Let’s assume, just for the sake of argument, that maybe we want to know something about the character of a nominee before accepting them for a senior position in the federal government. How does Levine stack up then?" . . .

President Trump Issues Statement Supporting Israel Against Palestinian Terrorism…

 Weasel Zippers

Remember when Newt Gingrich's Soros remarks got him shut down by Fox's Harris Faulkner?

100%FedUp  "The last time we reported about Newt Gingrich being on Fox News, he was being silenced by the leadership and hosts at Fox News." . . ."Why?"

"Because he truthfully mentioned the “Verboten” name of George Soros, whos sole mission in life seems to be the destruction of The West:

"Fox News grotesquely censored the former speaker of The House, as though any criticism of the anti-American Soros was somehow anti-[Semitic].

"Now, in an interview, today, he is once again throwing political truth bombs at the Fox News audience."

"Gingrich joined Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.  Among other topics during the conversation, Gingrich made some stunning statements about the 2020 election that most establishment politicians refuse to say or even acknowledge in 2021."