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IHR News & Views

Historian Mark Weber and host Fróði Midjord provide informed “big picture” perspective on current events, highlighting the broader trends and crucial factors behind the headlines.
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The Past Marches On
George Morgenstern (1953)
… Add to these the operations of an organized propaganda capable, apparently, of doping Americans into belief in any myth, and there is formidable reason why public opinion should be so stupefied and stultified that the nation can be led from war to war in pursuit of ever retreating goals. Yet, despite the general numbness, Americans, surveying the results of half a century of intermeddling, dimly perceive that all is not well.
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Abraham Lincoln and the Issue of Race
Robert Morgan
Many Americans think of Abraham Lincoln, above all, as the president who freed the slaves. Immortalized as the “Great Emancipator,” he is widely regarded as a champion of black freedom who supported social equality of the races, and who fought the American Civil War to free the slaves. While it is true that Lincoln regarded slavery as an evil and harmful institution, it also true, as this paper will show, that he shared the conviction of most Americans of his time, and of many prominent statesmen before and after him, that blacks could not be assimilated into white society. He rejected the notion of social equality of the races, and held to the view that blacks should be resettled abroad.
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The Origins of the Second World War: A Review
Murray N. Rothbard
It is not often that one is privileged to review a book of monumental import, a truly significant “breakthrough” from obscurantism to historical knowledge and insight. But such a book is the magnificent work by A.J .P. Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War … The central theme of Taylor is simply this: Germany and Hitler were not uniquely guilty of launching World War II (indeed they were scarcely guilty at all) … Basically, Hitler has no “master plan”; he was a German intent, like all Germans, on revising the intolerable and stupid Versailles-diktat, and on doing so by peaceful means, and in collaboration with the British and French … Not only did Hitler do this with insight, he did it with patience, as Taylor excellently shows …
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Over the centuries, rage and hostility against Jews has repeatedly erupted in terrible violence. Again and again, Jews have been driven out of countries where they’d been living. Why does anti-Semitism exist? And why has furious hostility toward Jews broken out, again and again, in the most varied nations, eras and cultures? … Anti-Semitism is not a mysterious “disease.” As Herzl and Weizmann suggested, and as history shows, what is often called anti-Semitism is the natural and understandable attitude of people toward a minority with particularist loyalties that wields greatly disproportionate power for its own interests, rather than for the common good.
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Stalin's War Against His Own Troops
Yuri Teplyakov
… In August 1941 Hitler permitted a Red Cross delegation to visit the camp for Soviet POWs in Hammerstadt. It is these contacts that resulted in an appeal to the Soviet government, requesting that it should send food parcels for our officers and men. We are prepared to fulfill and comply with the norms of the Geneva convention, Moscow said in its reply, but sending food in the given situation and under fascist control is the same as making presents to the enemy … How great was Stalin’s hatred for those who had found themselves behind enemy lines. It made no difference: who, where, how and why? Even the dead were considered to be criminals.
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Straight Talk About Zionism
Mark Weber
… A Zionist Jew, by definition, owes his primary loyalty to the Jewish community and to Israel. Zionism is not compatible with patriotism to any country or entity other than Israel and the world Jewish community … Zionist Jews and their non-Jewish supporters embrace a blatant double standard. Jewish-Zionist organizations, along with their non-Jewish allies, support one social-political ideology for Israel and the world Jewish community, and a completely different one for the United States and other non-Jewish countries. They insist that ethnic nationalism is evil and bad for non-Jews, while at the same time they vigorously support ethnic nationalism — that is, Zionism — for Jews.
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In a remarkable but under-reported address, one of America’s most prominent and influential political figures has acknowledged the “immense” and “outsized” Jewish role in the US mass media and cultural life. Joe Biden – now President of the U.S. – said that this has been the single most important factor in shaping American attitudes over the past century, and in driving major cultural-political changes. “Jewish heritage has shaped who we are – all of us – as much or more than any other factor in the last 223 years. And that’s a fact,” Joe Biden told a gathering of Jewish leaders in Washington, DC … “Behind of all that, I bet you 85 percent of those [major social-political] changes, whether it’s in Hollywood or social media, are a consequence of Jewish leaders in the industry. The influence is immense … And, I might add, it is all to the good,” he went on.
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… With the aid of the civilian population, mass graves had been discovered, in which thousands of corpses had been buried. These graves were to be opened and the commission was to establish whom the [Soviet] NKVD had murdered … The exhumations in Vinnytsia began on May 25, 1943, and were carried on in three places. The [local] population was of the opinion that there were around 20,000 victims in the war years … I had been a soldier in the Ukrainian army during the First World War and had seen many men killed in battle, but what I had then seen can in no way be compared with what I witnessed in that park … The horror of Vinnytsia I shall never forget, and it is doubtful whether ever a Dante would be able to portray the agony that had taken place.
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How accurate is this hallowed portrayal of America’s role in World War II? As we shall see, it does not hold up under close examination … The three Allied leaders accomplished what they accused the Axis leaders of Germany, Italy and Japan of conspiring to achieve: world domination … Presidential deception to justify war did not start with George W. Bush. Americans who express admiration for the US role in World War II, and for Franklin Roosevelt’s presidential leadership, have little moral right to complain when presidents follow his example and lead the country into war by breaking the law, subverting the Constitution, and lying to the people.
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Why I Survived the A-Bomb
Akira Kohchi
Hiroshima native Kohchi was a 16-year-old schoolboy when his city was devastated by the first nuclear attack in history. He tells the dramatic, personal story of how he experienced and survived the bombing, and provides a moving account of his search for his family through the burning rubble of the doomed city. Then Kohchi recalls how, years later, he forced himself to come to grips with his past and uncover the facts about the bombing and the history the led up to it. The author’s frankness and humane spirit make this a first-hand Japanese account of a war crime that dwarfs almost all others. A unique revisionist classic. Praised by the Japan Times newspaper as a “noteworthy” and “authentic” personal account, and by Bookwatch newsletter as a “moving, gripping account.” With full color dust jacket, photos and notes
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Tactics of Organized Jewry in Suppressing Free Speech
Prof. Tony Martin – Institute for Historical Review
… I’m going to try to extract from my experience certain basic sort of tactics that I think the Jewish lobby has used over the years pertaining to my particular situation … The first and major tactic that I discovered in their attack on me was their reliance on lies — just straight-up lies. There’s no other way to describe it, just telling lies. Many of the categories that I will enumerate overlap, and many of them could also come under this general rubric of telling lies. But I think that if one had to isolate a single tactic, it was a tactic of telling lies. I think they’ve elevated telling lies to a very high artistic form.
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Machinations of the Anti-Defamation League
Paul N. (Pete) McCloskey, Jr.
I was in politics for fifteen years, and I think you should start with the assumption: never trust a politician … When people finally learn the truth, they turn against those who have been lying to them. And I think that if the movement of which you people are the cutting edge can retain dispassion in the face of outrages, setbacks and humiliations, the truth can ultimately prevail. You are doing something worse than criticizing the government of the United States; you’re threatening the security of the state of Israel. And the Jewish community is dedicated to preserve that state, and to destroy those who speak against it. Good luck!
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… Judaism is not just “another religion.” It’s unique among the world’s major religions. The core values and ethos of Judaism are markedly unlike those of Christianity, Islam, and the other great faiths … A core message of the Hebrew scriptures is that Jews are a divinely “chosen” people — a unique community distinct from the rest of humanity … The seemingly intractable Middle East conflict is more than just a problem of Zionism or politics, or a dispute over land. Israel’s often arrogant policies, and especially its inhumane treatment of non-Jews, have roots in centuries-old attitudes that are laid out in ancient Jewish religious writings.
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In years when so many politicians and foreign policy experts waxed poetically about their vision of a “rules-based international order” of enduring global harmony, John Mearsheimer persistently warned against the delusions and dangers of this outlook. For years he has been a leading voice for a realist foreign policy, an outlook impressively laid out in his most important work, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics … a hard-nosed examination of international politics rooted not in sentiment or presumed idealism, but in the immutable realities of power politics … While liberals speak of economic interdependence and international norms, and neoconservatives push regime change in the name of “democracy,” Mearsheimer contends that material power, not ideology, drives the foreign policy decision-making of government leaders.
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Liberating America From Israel
Paul Findley
Nine-Eleven would not have occurred if the U.S. government had refused to help Israel humiliate and destroy Palestinian society. Few express this conclusion publicly, but many believe it is the truth. I believe the 9/11 catastrophe could have been prevented if any U.S. president in recent decades had had the courage and wisdom to suspend all U.S. aid until Israel withdrew from the Arab land seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The U.S. lobby for Israel is powerful and intimidating, but any determined president could prevail and win overwhelming public support for the suspension of aid by laying these facts before the American people.
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Suggested Reading: A Study Guide
Mark Weber
In an age when vast amounts of information from a wide range of sources are instantly available online, it can be difficult to sort out what’s reliable, useful, and trustworthy. In response to many inquiries over the years, here are recommended books on five important historical topics: The Second World War, American History, International Relations, Communism, Marxism and the Soviet Union, and, Zionism, US-Israel Relations, and the ‘Jewish Question.’ This listing is neither exhaustive nor final. Additional subject categories and titles are planned, and descriptions may be revised or updated.
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Zionism’s Violent Legacy
Donald Neff
… The Irgun was not the only Jewish terrorist group but it was the most active in causing indiscriminate terror in pre-Israel Palestine. Up to the time of the Jaffa attack, its most spectacular feat had been the July 22, 1946, blowing up of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, with the killing of 91 people – 41 Arabs, 28 Britons and 17 Jews. The other major Jewish terrorist group operating in Palestine in the 1940s was the Lohamei Herut Israel – “Fighters for the Freedom of Israel,” Lehi in the Hebrew acronym – also known as the Stern Gang after its fanatical founder Avraham Stern.
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The Spanish Inquisition and the Jewish Question
Brian Chalmers
It is nearly impossible to dig into any chapter of Jewish history without uncovering lessons for our own age. Spain during the 15th and 16th centuries is a particularly striking example. Even today, our view of this period, and particularly of the Spanish Inquisition, colors our attitudes regarding relations between Jews and non-Jews. The Inquisition is considered one of Jewish history’s darkest chapters — and one of Christian history’s most shameful.
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Several months before Japan’s Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt secretly authorized devastating American bombing raids against Japanese cities. A top-secret document declassified in 1970 shows that in July 1941 Roosevelt and his top military advisers approved a daring plan to use American pilots and U.S. war planes – deceitfully flying under the Chinese flag – to bomb Japan’s major cities … An air strike force of 500 Lockheed Hudson bombers was to be organized as “The Second American Volunteer Group” under Chennault’s command. Its mission would be the “pre-emptive” bombing of Japan. The strategic objective of JB 355 was the “destruction of Japanese factories in order to cripple munitions and essential articles for maintenance of economic structure in Japan.”
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How Hitler Tackled Unemployment
Mark Weber
To deal with the massive unemployment and economic paralysis of the Great Depression, both the US and German governments launched innovative and ambitious programs. Although President Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal” measures helped only marginally, the Third Reich’s much more focused and comprehensive policies proved remarkably effective. Within three years unemployment was banished and Germany’s economy was flourishing. And while Roosevelt’s record in dealing with the Depression is pretty well known, the remarkable story of how Hitler tackled the crisis is not widely understood or appreciated.
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What Christians Don’t Know About Israel
Grace Halsell
American Jews sympathetic to Israel dominate key positions in all areas of our government where decisions are made regarding the Middle East. This being the case, is there any hope of ever changing U.S. policy? … The answer to achieving an even-handed Middle East policy might lie elsewhere — among those who support Israel but don’t really know why. This group is the vast majority of Americans. They are well-meaning, fair-minded Christians who feel bonded to Israel – and Zionism – often from atavistic feelings, in some cases dating from childhood.
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No figure of modern French history is as honored as Charles de Gaulle … In 1940 he refused to accept his country’s defeat by Germany, and from London he founded and led the pro-Allied “Free French” force during World War II. From 1944 to 1946 he headed the provisional government of France. In 1958 he was called from retirement by popular acclaim to resolve the seemingly unsolvable crisis over Algeria … During the years that he dominated his country’s political life – 1958-1969 – he charted an independent foreign policy, tied neither to the US nor the USSR, and strove to make France the preeminent nation in Europe … It’s impossible to read any lengthy biography of this man without admiration for his audacious self-confidence, courage, determination, and cunning.
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The Civil War Concentration Camps
Mark Weber
No aspect of the American Civil War left behind a greater legacy of bitterness and acrimony than the treatment of prisoners of war. “Andersonville” still conjures up images of horror unmatched in American History. And although Northern partisans still invoke the infamous Southern camp to defame the Confederacy, the Union had its share of equally horrific camps. Prison camps on both sides produced scenes of wretched, disease-ridden and emaciated prisoners as repulsive as any to come out of the Second World War … In addition to camps for captured soldiers, the North also established concentration camps for civilian populations considered hostile to the Federal government.
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… While it’s an artistic achievement and grand entertainment, “Darkest Hour” is badly flawed history … “Darkest Hour” reinforces the widespread belief that Churchill’s speeches played a crucial role in sustaining British morale. A scholar who has carefully looked into the matter has found that this view is largely a myth … “Darkest Hour” reinforces the widely held impression, which Churchill himself encouraged, that an honorable or lasting peace with Hitler was simply not possible. But as he himself later acknowledged, that’s simply not true … The British leader’s famous “We shall never surrender” speech was little more than “sublime nonsense,” says British historian John Charmley.
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YouTube Censors 'Restrict' IHR Videos
Institute for Historical Review
In line with a recent crackdown policy, YouTube has “restricted” a number of independently produced videos of IHR talks and presentations. To watch a “restricted” video, the viewer must first click through a warning screen. Also, comments on the video are not allowed, and the number of views is not given. Even worse, YouTube will never “suggest” a “restricted” video to viewers, which is how many people find our videos. While YouTube claims that its “restriction” policy is aimed at videos with “inflammatory religious or supremacist content,” applying it to IHR videos is absurd. YouTube restricts our voice not because we have violated any objective standards, or because we have done anything wrong or illegal — but because it doesn’t like what we say.
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On the Importance of Revisionism For Our Time
Murray Rothbard
Revisionism as applied to World War II and its origins (as also for previous wars) has the general function of bringing historical truth to an American and a world public that had been drugged by wartime lies and propaganda … Revisionism brings to the artificial frenzy of daily events and day-to-day propaganda, the cool but in the last analysis glorious light of historical truth. Such truth is almost desperately needed in today’s world.
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The Forced War: When Peaceful Revision Failed
David L. Hoggan
Completely reset, expanded and reformatted new IHR edition! In this important, detailed study of the origins of the Second World War, Dr. Hoggan explains why Hitler decided to attack Poland in 1939, and examines the short-sighted policies that made war all but inevitable. The author dismantles the often-repeated charge of sole German responsibility for the war, which for many years has been a centerpiece of the prevailing narrative of twentieth century history. The eminent American historian Harry E. Barnes called this “the first thorough study of the responsibility for the causes of the Second World War in any language … likely to remain the definitive revisionist work on this subject for many years.” With an introduction by Mark Weber, dust jacket, detailed index, source notes, extensive bibliography, map, and 30 photographs. Also available in softcover edition.
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The Boer War Remembered
Mark Weber
The Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 was more than the first major military clash of the 20th century. Pitting as it did the might of the globe-girdling British Empire, backed by international finance, against a small pioneering nation of independent-minded farmers, ranchers and merchants in southern Africa who lived by the Bible and the rifle, its legacy continues to resonate today. The Boers’ recourse to irregular warfare, and Britain’s response in herding a hundred thousand women and children into concentration camps foreshadowed the horrors of guerilla warfare and mass detention of innocents that have become emblematic of the 20th century.
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Why Germany Attacked the Soviet Union
Institute for Historical Review
As dawn was breaking on Sunday morning, June 22, 1941, military forces of Germany, Finland and Romania suddenly struck against the Soviet Union. The stunning news of this attack was announced to the world by German radio at 5:30 that Sunday morning, when Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels broadcast the text of a proclamation by Adolf Hitler to the German people that laid out his reasons for the historic offensive. Following that was the broadcast of Germany’s declaration of war against the Soviet Union. This was in the form of a diplomatic note to the Soviet government. Because Hitler’s proclamation and the German Foreign Office declaration explain at some length the reasons and motives for the fateful decision to strike against the USSR, these are documents of historic importance. With a foreword by Mark Weber.
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More than once I have come across the view that if British lads of the 1940s could have foreseen the state of their country today, they would never have bothered to fight the Second World War. Few of those who have heard that view may realize that there is empirical evidence to support it … The prevailing tone of their letters is one of bitterness over what had become of the county they once cherished. Of the four or five most often voiced complaints, the most common is over mass migration from other countries and continents, and how that has drastically changed British life, culture and society … “The men who offered their lives have been betrayed and gave their lives in vain. Most of the older people say thank goodness we are ending our lives. It is no longer the Britain that we fought for.”
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Our Job in a Time of Crisis
Institute for Historical Review
Mark Weber explains why the work of the IHR in countering the forces of historical deceit, bigotry and cultural distortion is vitally important. An awareness of factual history is essential to an understanding of ourselves and the great issues of our age, says the IHR director in this five-minute video presentation. Unless and until the interests that have gripped our nation are clearly identified and discredited, he says, there will be no change in basic policies or direction.
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Was Hiroshima Necessary?
Mark Weber
America’s leaders understood Japan’s desperate position: the Japanese were willing to end the war on any terms, as long as the Emperor was not molested. If the US leadership had not insisted on unconditional surrender — that is, if they had made clear a willingness to permit the Emperor to remain in place — the Japanese very likely would have surrendered immediately, thus saving many thousands of lives … General Curtis LeMay, who had pioneered precision bombing of Germany and Japan (and who later headed the Strategic Air Command and served as Air Force chief of staff), put it most succinctly: “The atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war.”
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The Ethics of War: Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Gregory P. Pavlik
Since the last “good war,” a debate has ensued over the moral legitimacy of the use of nuclear weapons, particularly against civilians. The critics hold that it is a crime to incinerate civilians en masse; defenders commonly claim that the bombing was necessary to bring the war to a close, thereby saving countless American lives. Most of those who make this claim do so in earnest. The problem is that this defense is both historically false, and taken to its logical conclusion, extremely dangerous … The U.S. War Department and related agencies that specialized in producing hate propaganda and lies developed specifically racialist attacks on the Japanese.
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Zionism and the Third Reich
Mark Weber
A little-known chapter of history is the wide-ranging collaboration between Zionism and Hitler’s Third Reich. During the 1930s, Jewish Zionists and German National Socialists shared similar views on how to deal with the “Jewish Question.” They agreed that Jews and Germans were distinctly different nationalities, and that Jews did not belong in Germany. During the 1930s no nation did more to substantively further Jewish-Zionist goals than Hitler’s Germany.
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Collusion: Franklin Roosevelt, British Intelligence, and the Secret Campaign to Push the US Into War
Mark Weber
Secretive and unlawful collusion by an American leader with a foreign power that subverts the US political process is not new. The most far-reaching and flagrant case was by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1940-41. In the months before the US formally entered the war in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt did everything he could to get America into the global conflict without actually declaring war. The cooperation with British intelligence by the President and other high-ranking US officials during that period was quite illegal. Such collusion by the nominally neutral US to further the war aims of a foreign government was contrary to both US law and universally accepted international norms.
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A Straight Look at the Jewish Lobby
Mark Weber
… Jews wield immense power and influence in the United States. The “Jewish lobby” is a decisive factor in US support for Israel. Jewish-Zionist interests are not identical to American interests. In fact, they often conflict. As long as the “very powerful” Jewish lobby remains entrenched, there will be no end to the Jewish-Zionist grip on the US political system and the American media, the Zionist oppression of Palestinians, and the Israeli threat to peace.
News & Comment
Is Israel Forcing Trump to be the Capitulator in Chief?
Trita Parsi – Responsible Statecraft
… Whether Washington knew of Israel’s war plans, colluded in them, or whether Trump is truthful in claiming ignorance, the outcome is the same: Israel has dealt a severe blow to American credibility. What value does an American security umbrella — or even the hosting of a U.S. base — hold if the United States either conspires in an attack against you, or proves unwilling or unable to prevent one? That is the question now confronting every U.S. partner in the Persian Gulf, all of whom have staked their survival on American protection … Since late May, Trump has capitulated to Netanyahu on virtually every front — from Iran to Gaza to Lebanon — consistently at America’s expense. This humiliating deference has only emboldened Netanyahu, making him ever more dismissive of Trump and U.S. priorities, culminating in the brazen strike on Doha.
‘Nation’s Report Card’ Shows Alarming Decline in Science, Math, and Reading Scores
Fox News
The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly called the “Nation’s Report Card,” revealed that 12th-graders’ scores in math and reading have hit record lows, continuing a yearslong decline. The updated testing data was released Tuesday and reflected results from tests administered between January and March 2024 … The NAEP showed that nearly 45% of high school seniors scored “below basic” in math, the highest share since the current version of the test was introduced. Reading scores also fell, with nearly one-third of seniors testing below basic — another record. The lowest-performing students recorded an average score of 224, 25 points lower than their peers in 1992.
US Test Scores Hit Damning New Lows in Math, Reading Since COVID School Closures, ‘Nation’s Report Card’ Shows
New York Post
… Sobering national test results show more high school seniors are struggling with math and reading than at any point in recent decades, with Education Secretary Linda McMahon calling out a “devastating trend” Tuesday. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) – commonly referred to as the Nation’s Report Card – showed just 35% of high school seniors were proficient in reading, the lowest score since the assessment began in 1992. The math score for 12th-graders was even worse, with just 22% achieving proficiency, the lowest point since the current test began in 2005.
Charlie Kirk Once Said Jewish Money Was Ruining US Culture
Snopes – A. Rascouët-Paz
… Following the fatal shooting of Turning Point USA founder and conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, social media users began to share the claim that he had said Jewish money had ruined U.S. culture … The first clip, published Oct. 26, 2023, showed Kirk saying “Jewish donors, they have a lot of explaining to do”: … “Jewish donors have been the No. 1 funding mechanism of radical open-border, neoliberal, quasi-Marxist policies, cultural institutions and nonprofits … And it’s not just the colleges. It’s the nonprofits, it’s the movies, it’s Hollywood, it’s all of it.” Later, on Nov. 7, 2023, Kirk repeated the same idea on his show: “… Jews have been some of the largest funders of cultural Marxist ideas and supporters of those ideas over the last 30 or 40 years …”
Who Was Horst Wessel, and Why are People Comparing Charlie Kirk to Him?
B. Cohen, H. Feuer – Forward
When Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old conservative founder of the nation’s top right-wing youth activist group, was assassinated Wednesday during a speaking engagement at a Utah university, the reaction was swift … But in some corners of the internet, a different name surfaced: Horst Wessel. Within hours of Kirk’s death, people were comparing him to the young Nazi activist whose 1930 murder turned him into a martyr for Adolf Hitler’s movement. These comparisons came from opposite ends of the political spectrum … After his murder, Wessel was held up as a martyr of the Nazi cause. The “Horst Wessel Song” became the official anthem of the Nazi Party and later the German co-national anthem.
How America Got an Antiracist Constitution
F. Roger Devlin
… The “canonization” of the Supreme Court’s 1954 desegregation ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Canonization … The Court was unable to find any evidence that the framers of the 14th Amendment had meant to outlaw segregation. It therefore decided that segregated schools produced “feelings of inferiority” in black children. This gave such “feelings” Constitutional status, and claimed for the federal judiciary the power to overrule any law or government action that might cause them. Thus, the Court required desegregation as the remedy. Even the reasoning is faulty: It is far more likely that segregation protected black children from comparisons with whites, but the Court’s idea has gone largely unchallenged.
In Germany, 55% of Berlin New Police Recruits Do Not Know Sufficient German
Remix
A new report indicates that 55 percent of Berlin police recruits who began training in spring 2025 require extra German language lessons. The new report from German news outlet Nius indicates that out of 240 police recruits, 132 required extra German-language training, as confirmed by the Berlin police department. The police also provided a number of reasons for the language struggles of police recruits, including “declining written language skills.” However, the police point to a broader decline across society, including in schools. The police note a “shortage of skilled workers,” and increasing “heterogeneity in classes.” Notably, Berlin has a very high proportion of recruits from migrant communities, up to 42 percent.
America’s Department of War – Mere Symbolism or Bad Omen of Things to Come?
Drago Bosnic - InfoBrics
On Sept. 5, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to rename the Department of Defense (DoD) to the Department of War (DoW). … He also claimed that the US supposedly “won the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II”. These highly controversial claims can easily be challenged by simple historical facts. The Anglo-American War of 1812 ended in a status quo ante bellum, at best. Namely, the British military took and burned Washington DC, including the White House, Capitol Hill and other government buildings. As for WWI and WWII, the very idea that the US military “won” the two bloodiest conflicts in human history is beyond ridiculous. If anything, Russia contributed far more, particularly during WWII, when approximately 80% of all Axis forces were destroyed on the Eastern Front.
Department of War?
Ron Paul
Last week President Trump took steps to re-name the Department of Defense the “Department of War.” The President explained his rationale for the name change: “It used to be called the Department of War and it had a stronger sound. We want defense, but we want offense too … As Department of War we won everything … and I think we … have to go back to that.” … Dropping the notion that we have a “Defense Department” would free us from the charade that our massive military spending budget was anything but a war budget … Let the American people understand what so much of their hard-earned money is being taken to support. It’s not “defense.” It’s “war.” … Let’s also stop pretending that maintaining the global US military empire is “defense.” It’s not.
Trump: Israel is Losing the War of Public Relations, Congressional Support Shrinking,”
The Jerusalem Post (Israel)
US President Donald Trump said that he was surprised that Israel lost its control over Congress in a Monday [Sept. 1] interview with the Daily Caller. When asked by journalist Reagan Reese if he was concerned over declining Republican support for Israel in Congress, Trump said that he was amazed at the way the Jewish State’s reputation had changed. “Israel had the strongest lobby in Congress of anything or body, or of any company or corporation or state that I’ve ever seen. Today, it doesn’t have that strong a lobby. It’s amazing,” Trump told the Daily Caller. “Israel was the strongest lobby I’ve ever seen. They had total control over Congress, and now they don’t, you know, I’m a little surprised to see that.”
Trump Says He’s Done a Lot for Israel, Including Bombing Iran
D. DeCamp – Antiwar
President Trump said in an interview published on Tuesday [Sept. 2] that no one has done more for the state of Israel than himself and cited his recent airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities as an example. “So, Israel is amazing, because, you know, I have good support from Israel,” the president told the Daily Caller. “Look, nobody has done more for Israel than I have, including the recent attacks with Iran, wiping that thing out. We, that plane, wiped them out like nobody ever saw before.” … There was a time where you couldn’t speak bad [about Isael], if you wanted to be a politician, you couldn’t speak badly …”, he added … “Israel, you would understand this very much, Israel was the strongest lobby I’ve ever seen. They had total control over Congress, and now they don’t, you know, I’m a little surprised to see that,” Trump said.
Jewish Journalist Exposes Israel’s Darkest Secret: WW2 Holocaust Compared With Israel’s Treatment of Gaza Palestinians Today
Video - Katie Halper – Double Down News
Katie Halper compares how Israeli soldiers treat Palestinians in Gaza today with how German soldiers and officials treated Jews in eastern Europe during World War II. There are striking similarities, says this Jewish journalist and political commentator, but there is also an important difference. Whereas Germans dealt with Jews during the Holocaust with detachment, and sought to hide the brutality of what they were doing, Zionist soldiers today kill Palestinians “with glee,” says Halper, “and unlike the Nazis, they are not hiding it.” Israel soldiers themselves document both their crimes and their glee, she says. A former commander of Israel’s armed forces (IDF), she points out, says that Israeli policy today is an expression of a worldview based on Jewish supremacy, or “Mein Kampf in reverse.” Runtime: 10:30 mins.
How US-Israeli Regime Change in Iran Failed
Kit Klarenberg
On July 29, the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, a think tank that is enormously influential on Zionist entity ‘defence’ and security policy, published a document advocating for regime change in Iran, setting out potential methods by which Israel could achieve that malign end. In a bitter irony, much of the report’s contents not only attest to the implausibility of achieving such a goal, but lay bare how Benjamin Netanyahu’s calamitous ‘12 Day War’ has made this objective all the more unfeasible … The Institute observes how Iranians “exhibited a notable degree” of “rallying around the flag” during the 12 Day War – “a willingness to defend their homeland at a critical moment against an external enemy.” … Today, there is no “organized, structured opposition” within or without the country capable of mobilising protesters …
Remembering the Fallen: Lies and Deceit in America’s Wars
Mark Weber - Podcast
On Memorial Day we remember all those who have suffered, sacrificed and died while serving in our country’s armed forces. But time and again, American political leaders, supported by much of the media, have sent young people to their deaths, and have ruined the lives of many more, in foreign wars that were promoted and justified on the basis of deceit and lies. A good example is the US invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, which cost more than four thousand American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars, and brought death to many tens of thousands of Iraqis. Runtime: 55 mins.
Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza, World’s Top Scholars on the Crime Say
The Guardian
The world’s leading genocide scholars’ association has backed a resolution stating that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of the crime. Out of the International Association of Genocide Scholars’ (IAGS) 500 members … 86% supported the resolution. The resolution states that “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in article II of the United Nations convention for the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide” … The resolution said … “the government of Israel had engaged in systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, including indiscriminate and deliberate attacks against the civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, homes and commercial buildings, of Gaza.
Almost Half of Brits Believe Israel Treats Palestinians the Way Nazis Treated Jews, New Poll Shows
The Times of Israel
More than one in five British adults now hold entrenched antisemitic views, according to a survey published Sunday, while almost half think Israel treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews. The poll, conducted by YouGov in collaboration with Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), found that 21 percent of the British public agrees with at least four antisemitic statements. That was nearly double the level recorded in 2021, and the highest figure since the survey was first taken a decade ago. Results are based on an online survey conducted on September 1-2 … Nearly half of respondents (45%) said they believe Israel treats Palestinians like Nazis treated Jews, a sharp rise from 33% last year. Among 18- to 24-year-olds, that figure reached as high as 60%.
One in Five Britons Now Anti-Semitic, Study Finds
The Telegraph
More than one in five Britons now hold or agree with anti-Semitic views, a study has found. The study found that 21 per cent of the public affirmed four or more anti-Semitic statements, compared to 16 per cent last year. In 2021, the figure was just 11 per cent. Researchers said the findings showed that the number of people holding what would be considered entrenched anti-Semitic views has doubled in less than five years to more than a fifth of the population … The YouGov survey, commissioned by the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), found that 45 per cent of the British public – almost half of the population – believes that Israel treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews … 58 per cent of young people believe that Israel and its supporters are a bad influence on our democracy, compared to 29 per cent of the overall population.
Stunning Aerial Footage Reveals Gaza in Ruins
CNN – News 18
Aerial footage reveals the full scale of destruction across Gaza, where entire neighborhoods lie reduced to rubble, infrastructure is decimated, and mass displacement has become the only constant. These images, captured from aid or media flights over the territory, expose the devastating human and structural toll of prolonged conflict. British-born journalist Matthew Chance describes the devastation as reports from a Jordanian military cargo plan as flies over Gaza to drop much-needed food to the people below. Runtime: 3:28 mins.
The 47-Year-Old Nuclear Elephant in the Room
Douglas Birch, R. Jeffrey Smith – Center for Public Integrity
Israel has a substantial arsenal of nuclear weapons … But due to a quirk of federal secrecy rules, such remarks generally cannot be made even now by those who work for the U.S. government and hold active security clearances. In fact, U.S. officials, even those on Capitol Hill, are routinely admonished not to mention the existence of an Israeli nuclear arsenal and occasionally punished when they do so. The policy of never publicly confirming what a scholar once called one of the world’s “worst-kept secrets” dates from a political deal between the United States and Israel in the late 1960s. Its consequence has been to help Israel maintain a distinctive military posture in the Middle East while avoiding the scrutiny — and occasional disapprobation — directed at the world’s eight acknowledged nuclear powers.
The US Silence on Israeli Nuclear Weapons and the Right-Wing Israeli Government
V. Glinsky - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
… American diplomats — in fact all US government employees — are forced to pretend they know nothing about Israeli nuclear weapons. Since everyone knows it’s not true, the pretense hobbles America’s policy on restraining the spread of nuclear weapons in the Middle East … A change won’t come easily. A realistic US government assessment of Israel’s nuclear weapons will have to overcome not only Israeli intervention for its own reasons, but also State Department and White House resistance, in part because of the embarrassment of such an admission after years of denial, but also because such an admission could lead to complications under US law.
Is Israel Forcing Trump to be the Capitulator in Chief?
Trita Parsi – Responsible Statecraft
… Whether Washington knew of Israel’s war plans, colluded in them, or whether Trump is truthful in claiming ignorance, the outcome is the same: Israel has dealt a severe blow to American credibility. What value does an American security umbrella — or even the hosting of a U.S. base — hold if the United States either conspires in an attack against you, or proves unwilling or unable to prevent one? That is the question now confronting every U.S. partner in the Persian Gulf, all of whom have staked their survival on American protection … Since late May, Trump has capitulated to Netanyahu on virtually every front — from Iran to Gaza to Lebanon — consistently at America’s expense. This humiliating deference has only emboldened Netanyahu, making him ever more dismissive of Trump and U.S. priorities, culminating in the brazen strike on Doha.
‘Nation’s Report Card’ Shows Alarming Decline in Science, Math, and Reading Scores
Fox News
The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly called the “Nation’s Report Card,” revealed that 12th-graders’ scores in math and reading have hit record lows, continuing a yearslong decline. The updated testing data was released Tuesday and reflected results from tests administered between January and March 2024 … The NAEP showed that nearly 45% of high school seniors scored “below basic” in math, the highest share since the current version of the test was introduced. Reading scores also fell, with nearly one-third of seniors testing below basic — another record. The lowest-performing students recorded an average score of 224, 25 points lower than their peers in 1992.
US Test Scores Hit Damning New Lows in Math, Reading Since COVID School Closures, ‘Nation’s Report Card’ Shows
New York Post
… Sobering national test results show more high school seniors are struggling with math and reading than at any point in recent decades, with Education Secretary Linda McMahon calling out a “devastating trend” Tuesday. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) – commonly referred to as the Nation’s Report Card – showed just 35% of high school seniors were proficient in reading, the lowest score since the assessment began in 1992. The math score for 12th-graders was even worse, with just 22% achieving proficiency, the lowest point since the current test began in 2005.
Charlie Kirk Once Said Jewish Money Was Ruining US Culture
Snopes – A. Rascouët-Paz
… Following the fatal shooting of Turning Point USA founder and conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, social media users began to share the claim that he had said Jewish money had ruined U.S. culture … The first clip, published Oct. 26, 2023, showed Kirk saying “Jewish donors, they have a lot of explaining to do”: … “Jewish donors have been the No. 1 funding mechanism of radical open-border, neoliberal, quasi-Marxist policies, cultural institutions and nonprofits … And it’s not just the colleges. It’s the nonprofits, it’s the movies, it’s Hollywood, it’s all of it.” Later, on Nov. 7, 2023, Kirk repeated the same idea on his show: “… Jews have been some of the largest funders of cultural Marxist ideas and supporters of those ideas over the last 30 or 40 years …”