Archive for 2024

RABBI MICHAEL BARCLAY: A Big Victory Against Grooming in Public Schools. “The fight for religious freedoms in the United States has become progressively more intense in the last three years, as the government has been chipping away at the Establishment Clause by catering to special interest groups that champion causes like child gender mutilation, sexual grooming of children, prohibition of public prayer, and more that are antithetical to many mainstream religious doctrines.”

“I’M DONE WITH GOOGLE.”

Plus: “To revise history, to obfuscate the present, and to outright hide information that doesn’t align with the company’s (staff’s) impression of what is ‘good’. I don’t care if some of that ideology may or may not align with your or my thinking about what would make the world a better place: for anyone with a shred of awareness of human history it should be clear how unbelievably irresponsible it is to build a system that aims to become an authoritative compendium of human knowledge (remember Google’s mission statement?), but which actually prioritizes ideology over facts. History is littered with many who have tried this sort of moral flexibility ‘for the greater good’; rather than helping, they typically resulted in decades of setbacks (and tens of millions of victims).”

Read the whole thing.

LAUGHABLY BAD/MOTIVATED ‘JOURNALISM’: Several Arab American and an Iranian American groups have been lobbying for decades to get the US government to recognize a “Middle Eastern and North African” racial classification; currently, the US government classified Americans of MENA origin as “white.” The Biden administration has endorsed the change, and is currently reviewing comments on it (my comment opposing the change can be found here).

The Times apparently decided to join the campaign by conducting a survey of MENA Americans and how they identify. A methodologically sound survey would have found a randomly selected group of Americans with MENA descent, and surveyed them. Instead, the Times solicited responses on the Internet, and then contacted “community groups” (which likely did not include Israeli American or Mizrahi Jewish groups, both of which would be included in the new MENA classification) to find additional respondents. Some of these community groups are the same folks lobbying for a MENA classification, further distorting the results.

What would a methodologically sound survey have found? I don’t know. But here’s one data point from my book Classified: “In 2010, a coalition of Arab American groups sponsored an ad campaign urging their constituents to write in Arab on the census form, rather than checking the White box. The goal was to pressure the Census Bureau to add a MENA category on the next census. The tag line for the campaign was, “Check it Right! You Ain’t White.” Well over eighty percent of Arab Americans nevertheless checked the White box.”

SUCK-UP: Gavin Newsom: Biden’s age is an asset. “As a top Biden-Harris campaign surrogate, the 56-year-old Newsom often faces questions from the media about Biden’s fitness, as well as his own White House ambitions. He has gushed excessively about the president’s devotion to the country and capacity for empathy and declared himself ‘mesmerized’ by the ‘masterclass’ Biden has put on in Washington.”

AARON BUSHNELL DIED FOR WHAT HE BELIEVED IN: Namely, Hating Jews.

You might think you’re an antisemite in good standing. You might belong to a neo-Nazi group, or a “pro-Palestine” group, or some other group that’s obsessed with the eradication of the Jews. You might march around and scream and yell and block traffic. You might even attack people for being Jews or sympathizing with Jews.

But have you ever set yourself on fire? I mean literally. Have you ever doused yourself in an accelerant, lit a match, and set yourself ablaze because you just hate Jews that much?

A brave martyr named Aaron Bushnell just did. . . .

I didn’t know who Aaron Bushnell was yesterday, and I’ll probably forget him by tomorrow. But for today, I live in hope that this young man’s sacrifice will inspire the rest of these “pro-Palestinian” Nazis to do us all a favor.

In a world where “12-hour hunger strike” isn’t considered an oxymoron, where hashtag activism is as far as most of these miserable bigots go, at least Bushnell had the courage of his convictions.

He was willing to die for what he believed in: hating Jews.

Think of it as evolution in action. But more troubling is that he was active-duty Air Force.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: Department of Incorrections.  Rather than inform its readers about the potential pitfalls of New York City’s proposed open-ended debit-card program for migrants, the New York Times prefers to attack Nicole Gelinas’ reporting in the New York Post on this boondoggle.

GROWTH: Sweden clears final hurdle in bid to join NATO after Hungary approves accession.

Getting approval from the Hungarian parliament was the final hurdle for Stockholm joining NATO. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited Budapest on Friday to discuss defense and security cooperation with his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orban. The two sides appeared to reconcile, agreeing on a deal that would see Hungary acquire four new Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets.

Of the 194 members of parliament who voted, just six rejected Sweden’s accession.

“Today is a historic day,” Kristersson said on X shortly after the vote. “Sweden stands ready to shoulder its responsibility for Euro-Atlantic security.”

Sweden will formally join the alliance after it submits its instrument of accession with the United States government, which is the depository of the North Atlantic Treaty. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that Sweden will join the alliance now that all allies have approved Sweden’s bid to join.

Last week: B-1 Lancers Make Rare Landing in Sweden to Kick Off Bomber Task Force.

Plus: NATO Members Suddenly Poised To Meet Military Spending Targets Days After Trump Railed Against Alliance.

If Putin is unhappy with his neighbors joining defensive alliances, maybe he should try not invading his neighbors.