Several times each week we distribute by e-mail a timely “IHR News and Comment” roundup of news, analysis and commentary items. To subscribe, enter your email below:
Timely and Relevant: More Than Ever
This year’s election cycle is the most bizarre and ominous in history. Never before have the presidential candidates of the major parties been so unpopular or so elderly. As public opinion polls show, Americans have also never been so distrustful of the US Congress and the mainstream news media.
More than ever, it’s important to raise awareness about the powerful forces that promote war, injustice and oppression, and which put self-serving, partisan interests ahead of what’s best for America and humanity.
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.”
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
… 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.
-
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.
-
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.”
-
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 …
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
News & Comment
Kamala Harris’s Speech Killed Any Hope She Would End the Gaza Genocide
J. Gill - Middle East Eye
Any hope that Kamala Harris would condition or suspend arms and funding for Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza was killed by her speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Thursday … She described what has happened in Gaza over the past 11 months as “devastating”, “desperate” and “heartbreaking”. In the lexicon of pro-war liberal politicians, these words are an empty, meaningless facsimile of empathy. The words that peace campaigners were looking for were wholly absent: nothing about Israel’s vast catalogue of war crimes – not even a swipe at war-criminal-in-chief Benjamin Netanyahu, who, after all, wants Donald Trump back in the White House. Whichever pro-war candidate is victorious in November, the Israeli leader wins.
Poll: Majority Favors Deportations as More Democrats Oppose Migration
Breitbart
Fifty-six percent of registered voters favor a policy of “arresting and deporting thousands of illegal immigrants,” according to a poll conducted in August by YouGov. Just 35 percent of voters oppose the repatriation policy, according to the August 25-27 poll of 1,555 adult citizens and voters. When counting only “strongly” opinions, the split was almost two-to-one, at 37 percent to 21 percent. The YouGov results match other polls that show majorities favor large-scale deportations. The rising opposition to migration reflects the gradual shift of Democratic voters from acceptance of migration towards rejection during President Joe Biden’s chaotic mass migration into American communities. That migration has inflated the nation’s population by roughly 10 million people who arrived via legal, illegal, and quasi-legal routes.
Walz Says `There’s No Guarantee to Free Speech’ for Misinformation, Hate Speech
Washington Free Beacon
A resurfaced clip that has gone viral shows Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’s newly announced running mate, saying that free speech should not always be guaranteed in a democracy. “There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy,” Walz said in December 2022 on MSNBC when asked about penalties for spreading election misinformation. Walz’s controversial remark resurfaced amid growing scrutiny over his far-left policy record and its effect on Harris’s Democratic ticket.
Tim Walz Wrote a Master’s Thesis on Holocaust Education
JTA
… A progressive favorite in Minnesota, where he is now governor, Walz is also heralded for his background as a public school educator. Lesser known is the fact that, while teaching in rural, largely white Midwestern school districts, Walz developed a particular interest in Holocaust and genocide education … How to teach the Holocaust well has occupied Walz for decades. In 1993, while teaching in Nebraska, he was part of an inaugural conference of U.S. educators convened by the soon-to-open U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C … And as governor, he backed a push to mandate teaching about the Holocaust in Minnesota schools … His 27-page thesis, which JTA obtained, is titled “Improving Human Rights and Genocide Studies in the American High School Classroom.”
German Far Right Hails ‘Historic’ Election Victory
BBC
Germany’s anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) is celebrating a “historic success”, with a big victory for the far-right party in the eastern state of Thuringia. The AfD won almost a third of the vote, nine points ahead of the conservative CDU, and far in front of Germany’s three governing parties. The result gives the far right its first win in a state parliament election since World War Two, although it has little hope of forming a government in Thuringia because other parties are unlikely to work with it. The AfD came a close second in Sunday’s other big state election, in the more populous neighbouring state of Saxony. Results there gave the CDU 31.9% of the vote, just ahead of the AfD, again far ahead of the three parties running the national government – the Social Democrats, Greens and liberal FDP.
Teachers in Britain Will be Trained to Challenge ‘Whiteness’ in Schools
The Telegraph
Teachers [in Britain] will be taught to challenge “whiteness” in lessons. Guidance has been created for teacher-training courses, to ensure future educators are “anti-racist” and prepared to implement this in the classroom. Teachers will be instructed in how to “disrupt the centrality of whiteness” in schools, according to a best-practice document. The term “whiteness” in critical race theory refers to social attitudes considered normal by white people, and guidance suggests that concepts including “meritocracy”, “objectivity” and “individualism” should be questioned … Documents claim that encouraging “anti-racist” teacher training will help to maintain a diverse teaching workforce, and will help to close the attainment gap between white and non-white pupils.
Kamala & Gaza: All Words and No Deeds Make a Divided Party
James Carden - Responsible Statecraft
… As antiwar activist and author Norman Solomon has noted, [Kamala] Harris “has toed President Biden’s war line, while at times voicing sympathy for the victims of the Gaza war that’s made possible by policies that she supports. Her words of compassion have yet to translate into opposing the pipeline of weapons and ammunition to the Israeli military as it keeps slaughtering Palestinian civilians.” Despite their best efforts, the [pro-Palestine] protestors didn’t get much traction this week … They couldn’t even get a Palestinian-American speaker on stage because, as the Washington Post reported, “many Democratic leaders were concerned that such a speech from the podium would threaten the unity that has been on vivid display at the convention.”
Neocons Celebrate Kamala’s Foreign Policy Speech
Video - Glenn Greenwald
Greenwald takes a close look at the foreign policy record of Kamala Harris. He shows that for years she has supported the Democratic Party’s policies of military intervention around the world, the “neocon” pro-war agenda, and the internationalist establishment. Although Harris repeats familiar reassurances about upholding American “values” around the world, her record shows that such words are mere rhetoric. For years she has been an emphatic supporter of continued US military and economic aid to Israel. She expresses not a word of criticism of the Zionist state’s entrenched policy of institutionalized discrimination based on ancestry, and “apartheid” oppression of non-Jews. Runtime: 25 mins.
Trump Really Doesn’t Want to Talk About Israel
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos - Responsible Statecraft
Billed as a national security speech, former President Donald Trump nonetheless took to the stage in North Carolina on Wednesday and offered few specifics about what he would do about the major conflicts roiling the planet under his successor Joe Biden.
This was no more apparent than in his comments about Israel, which were pretty much non-existent … On Israel’s war in Gaza … he declared, “I will give Israel the support that it needs to win, but I do want them to win fast, wouldn’t it be nice if they could win fast?” he said. “And we have to let them win fast. We will restore civility and peace to the Middle East.” If people were looking for a blueprint, a doctrine, or even some guideposts on what Trump would do in a second term on foreign policy and national security, Wednesday’s speech was certainly not it.
Nothing’s Changed Since 1948 – Except Now Israel’s Excuses Don’t Work
Jonathan Cook
… Israel continues the ethnic cleansing and slaughter of the Palestinian people more than 75 years on … Every Israeli knows exactly what is going on in Gaza – after all, their children-soldiers keep posting videos online showing the latest crimes they have committed, from blowing up mosques and hospitals to shooting randomly into homes. Polls show all but a small minority of Israelis approve of the savagery that has killed many tens of thousands of Palestinians, including children. A third of them think Israel needs to go further in its barbarity … No serious case can be made today that Israel is carrying out any of its crimes in Gaza – from bombing civilians to starving them – with regret, or that its leaders seek the best for the Palestinian population.
Israel is Falling Apart, and American Leaders Are in Denial
Philip Weiss – Mondoweiss
“Israeli soldiers set fire to Aqsa University library in Gaza City and took pictures of themselves in front of the flames,” journalist Younis Tirawi reported on X on May 23. Tirawi showed evidence that photo was shared on social media by Israeli soldier Tair Glisko. 424th Battalion, Givati Brigade, who later made his account private. Several left-wing voices have said lately that Israel is falling apart. The society is torn over the war, the government is dominated by brutal racists, and the country’s only answer to the fundamental question – half the population is Palestinian – is apartheid and rolling massacres … There is a sense that Israel has no way out. No wonder there are reports that hundreds of thousands of Israelis have fled the country since last October.
The Founding Myths of Modern Israel
Roger Garaudy – Book available from IHR
In this headline-making work, a prominent French scholar delivers one powerful blow after another to the pernicious historical myths cited for decades to justify Zionist aggression and repression, including the Israeli legend of a “land without people for a people without land,” and the most sacred of Jewish-Zionist icons, the Holocaust extermination story. For financial gain, as an alibi for indefensible policies, and for other reasons, Jews have used what the author calls “theological myths” to arrogate for themselves a “right of theological divine chosenness.” The wartime suffering of Europe’s Jews, he contends, has been elevated to the status of a secular religion, and is now treated with sacrosanct historical uniqueness.
In Britain, Police Reveal More Notting Hill Carnival Carnage With More Than 330 People Now Arrested, and Eight Stabbings
Daily Mail
Police have arrested at least 330 people in connection with incidents at the Notting Hill Carnival, the Met said tonight – with three people including a 32-year-old mother left fighting for their lives. Five people were stabbed today, taking the total across the two days to eight, while three people sustained slash wounds and one incident was said to have involved a corrosive substance. The violence came despite pleas from the Metropolitan Police for an end to attacks, as a senior officer begged: ‘We are tired of saying the same words every year’. Officers recovered firearms at the festival and during a traffic stop in Harrow involving individuals believed to be on their way to Notting Hill. And 35 officers were injured today … Local businesses board up windows in anticipation of the chaos that
accompanies it every year.
The Major Political Transformation Flying Under the Radar at the DNC
Vox
On the third night of the Democratic National Convention four years ago, immigration was front and center. Americans heard a series of personal stories about how Trump-era policies had scrambled immigrants’ and their families’ lives … Four years later, the DNC sounds a lot different … Gone are the heartfelt testimonies from undocumented immigrants, the repudiation of Trump-era policies, and the calls for better treatment of migrants and expansion of asylum protections. Instead, Wednesday [Aug. 21] evening’s speakers embraced tougher policies for asylum seekers, praised President Joe Biden’s attempts to negotiate a bipartisan border security bill, and conceded the changed reality of immigration politics since the pandemic’s dawn.
From Millionaires to Muslims, Small Subgroups of the Population Seem Much Larger to Many Americans
YouGov
When it comes to estimating the size of demographic groups, Americans rarely get it right. In two recent YouGov polls … Americans tend to vastly overestimate the size of minority groups. This holds for sexual minorities, including the proportion of gays and lesbians (estimate: 30%, true: 3%), bisexuals (estimate: 29%, true: 4%), and people who are transgender (estimate: 21%, true: 0.6%). It also applies to religious minorities, such as Muslim Americans (estimate: 27%, true: 1%) and Jewish Americans (estimate: 30%, true: 2%). And we find the same sorts of overestimates for racial and ethnic minorities, such as Native Americans (estimate: 27%, true: 1%), Asian Americans (estimate: 29%, true: 6%), and Black Americans (estimate: 41%, true: 12%).
Immigration Seen as Most Pressing Issue for Britons, New Poll Shows
Breitbart
Britons see immigration as the most important issue facing their country for the first time since 2016 when the public voted to leave the European Union, a survey from Ipsos found. According to the Ipsos Issues Index, 34 per cent of people in Britain see immigration as the top issue facing the country, marking the first time that the influx of foreigners has topped the list since October 2016 in the wake of the Brexit referendum. Immigration beat out concerns about healthcare and the NHS at 30 per cent, the economy at 29 per cent, and inflation at 20 per cent, the poll found. Some 75 per cent of supporters of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party listed immigration as their top priority, followed by 62 per cent of Conservative Party voters, 45 per cent for those who work in manual labour jobs, and 43 per cent of people aged 65 or above.
Israel Feared Legal Trouble Over US Advocacy Efforts, Leaked Files Suggest
The Guardian
The Israeli government sought legal advice on a US federal law requiring the disclosure of foreign-backed lobbying campaigns, out of concern that mounting enforcement of the law could ensnare American groups working in coordination with the Israeli government, leaked documents reviewed by the Guardian suggest. Emails and legal memos originating from a hack of the Israeli justice ministry show that officials feared that the country’s advocacy efforts in the US could trigger the US law governing foreign agents. The documents show that officials proposed creating a new American nonprofit in order to continue Israel’s activities in the US while avoiding scrutiny under the law.
Santa Monica: What Happened?
Video – Graham Stephan
A man who grew up in Santa Monica returns to report on how the famed southern California city has changed in recent years. He shows that homelessness is rampant, retail businesses are leaving, and the police seem unable to cope with the plague of shoplifting, home robberies, and many other crimes. The bizarre antics of drugged up, crazy people, he explains, frightens away tourists and shoppers. Local residents relate their own experiences, and describe how conditions have worsened in recent years. Runtime: 19 mins.
Israel’s UN Envoy Ends Tenure Serving ‘Most Moral Country in the World’
JNS
Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan concluded his four-year tenure at the world body in a ceremony in Manhattan on Monday organized by Israel’s U.N. delegation and the UJA-Federation of New York. Hundreds attended to honor Erdan, including many ambassadors, heads of Jewish organizations, New York Mayor Eric Adams and Rep. Richie Torres (D-N.Y.). “Many times I have been asked how I can come to work every day in a place where there is so much hatred and hypocrisy against Israel,” Erdan said. “My answer is simple: It is easy to defend Israel because if you know the truth and believe in it, you hold your head up proudly even in the face of continuous criticism and attacks.” Added Erdan: “I know the good that I represent—the most moral country in the world, Israel.”
German Court Upholds Conviction of Former Secretary at Wartime Camp, Age 99
Associated Press
A German court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by a 99-year-old woman who was convicted of being an accessory to more than 10,000 murders for her role as a secretary to the SS commander of the Nazis’ Stutthof concentration camp during World War II. The Federal Court of Justice upheld the conviction of Irmgard Furchner, who was given a two-year suspended sentence in December 2022 by a state court in Itzehoe in northern Germany. She was accused of being part of the apparatus that helped the camp near Danzig, now the Polish city of Gdansk, function. She was convicted of being an accessory to murder in 10,505 cases and an accessory to attempted murder in five cases.
Kamala Harris’s Speech Killed Any Hope She Would End the Gaza Genocide
J. Gill - Middle East Eye
Any hope that Kamala Harris would condition or suspend arms and funding for Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza was killed by her speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Thursday … She described what has happened in Gaza over the past 11 months as “devastating”, “desperate” and “heartbreaking”. In the lexicon of pro-war liberal politicians, these words are an empty, meaningless facsimile of empathy. The words that peace campaigners were looking for were wholly absent: nothing about Israel’s vast catalogue of war crimes – not even a swipe at war-criminal-in-chief Benjamin Netanyahu, who, after all, wants Donald Trump back in the White House. Whichever pro-war candidate is victorious in November, the Israeli leader wins.
Poll: Majority Favors Deportations as More Democrats Oppose Migration
Breitbart
Fifty-six percent of registered voters favor a policy of “arresting and deporting thousands of illegal immigrants,” according to a poll conducted in August by YouGov. Just 35 percent of voters oppose the repatriation policy, according to the August 25-27 poll of 1,555 adult citizens and voters. When counting only “strongly” opinions, the split was almost two-to-one, at 37 percent to 21 percent. The YouGov results match other polls that show majorities favor large-scale deportations. The rising opposition to migration reflects the gradual shift of Democratic voters from acceptance of migration towards rejection during President Joe Biden’s chaotic mass migration into American communities. That migration has inflated the nation’s population by roughly 10 million people who arrived via legal, illegal, and quasi-legal routes.
Walz Says `There’s No Guarantee to Free Speech’ for Misinformation, Hate Speech
Washington Free Beacon
A resurfaced clip that has gone viral shows Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’s newly announced running mate, saying that free speech should not always be guaranteed in a democracy. “There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy,” Walz said in December 2022 on MSNBC when asked about penalties for spreading election misinformation. Walz’s controversial remark resurfaced amid growing scrutiny over his far-left policy record and its effect on Harris’s Democratic ticket.
Tim Walz Wrote a Master’s Thesis on Holocaust Education
JTA
… A progressive favorite in Minnesota, where he is now governor, Walz is also heralded for his background as a public school educator. Lesser known is the fact that, while teaching in rural, largely white Midwestern school districts, Walz developed a particular interest in Holocaust and genocide education … How to teach the Holocaust well has occupied Walz for decades. In 1993, while teaching in Nebraska, he was part of an inaugural conference of U.S. educators convened by the soon-to-open U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C … And as governor, he backed a push to mandate teaching about the Holocaust in Minnesota schools … His 27-page thesis, which JTA obtained, is titled “Improving Human Rights and Genocide Studies in the American High School Classroom.”