Avi. Can They Do This To You? More Iran Rocket Attack And Biden's Weak Response. Resignation. Melanie Responds.

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Socialism is eventually the race to the bottom but students are not smart enough to realize this fact.

America is now winning this race. 

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Columnists

If They Can Do This to Trump, What Will They Do to You?

By Townhall Staff

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Iranian Rocket Attacks Injure More U.S. Service Members

By Sarah Arnold

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I hope the emails finds you in great health and spirits.

It has been too long since we last spoke. Since our email exchange in December, I was promoted to Manager of Programs and Community Development at World Trade Center Savannah, with a reasonable increase in salary. In addition, I will enroll in the Washington International Diplomatic Academy. Also, I will help lead a business trip to Accra, Ghana for the World Trade Centers Association General Assembly (annual flagship event) from April 22-28.

Busy times, but I hope to chat soon and hear how you are doing. All the best to Lynn and the family.

Antwone 

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The future is better than you think: 10 graphs that will change your thinking on humanity’s destiny By Avi Jorisch https://avijorisch.com/article/10-reasons-why-the-earths-future-is-better-than-you-think/ In 2020, the Paris-based research organization Future Earth released a report on climate change that combined the insights of more than 200 leading scientists from more than 50 countries. They concluded that the challenges confronting humanity – extreme weather events, the decline of life-sustaining ecosystems, food insecurity and dwindling stores of fresh water – compound one another. On their own, they’re devastating enough, but taken together, they may wind up destroying our cities, our countries, our planet and ultimately us. But does it need to be this way?  The 10 graphs featured below – in the fields of economic progress, health, social services and technology – show that, perhaps for the first time in history, human beings can exert significant control over what happens to our species and our planet, and that our future is better than most of us think.

1. Extreme poverty is declining The last three decades have seen a huge decline in the number of people living on $1.90 a day. In 1990, two billion of the 5.28 billion people in the world, or nearly 38%, were below the extreme poverty line. By 2019, that number had shrunk to 648 million out of 7.68 billion, approximately 8.4% of the world’s population. This is all the more remarkable given that, as recently as 1820, according to economist Michail Moatsos, three-quarters of the world lived in extreme poverty, meaning that they “could not afford a tiny space to live, some minimum heating capacity, and food that would not induce malnutrition.” Humanity clearly has the ability to leverage economic growth and significantly reduce extreme poverty.  This positive trend will likely continue, given the microfinance programs in place, such as the one launched by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who pioneered the use of small loans at affordable interest rates in an effort to transform the lives of the impoverished. 2. Hunger is falling Currently, 663 million people – 8.9% of the world’s population – are undernourished. In 2001, that number was 13.2%. Unfortunately, we lack long-term historical data on hunger and malnourishment. The most concrete measurements began in 1990, and some go back as far as 1970. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says that in 1970, nearly 35% of the developing world was undernourished. Today’s figures show a clear downward trend.  As the population increases to 10 billion people in 2050, the demand for meat will double. Our increased appetite presents four key challenges: human health, climate change, natural resources and animal welfare.  Humans will not need to make a decision on whether to eat or abandon meat, but we will need to consider the origin of our “meat.” If we choose poultry, pigs and cows, then our choices are limited. If, on the other hand, we define meat by its composition and chemical structure, then we have unlimited solutions. Through science, technology and innovation, we can make use of plants and transform their basic architecture to provide meat substitutes. 3. Life expectancy is rising In 1800, worldwide life expectancy was 28.5 years. By 2021, that number had risen to 72.6 years, and in the world’s richest countries, to well over 80 years. The gap between the lifespans of the richest and poorest countries continues to be closed, including, notably, in Africa and Asia.  4. Child mortality is down We are now experiencing the world’s lowest child mortality rate – defined as the share of newborns who die before the age of five – in the history of humanity. In the last three decades alone, the number has been halved, from 12.5 million in 1990, to 5.2 million in 2019. In two of the world’s most populous countries, the decline is even more staggering: in 1969, China’s child mortality rate was 11.84%, and in 2020, 0.73%, while in India the rate in 1960 was 24.26%, compared to 3.26% in 2020. To place this in historical context, in 18th-century Sweden every third child died, and in 19th-century Germany every second child died. In 1960, the global child mortality rate was 19%. 5. Death in childbirth is declining For almost all of human history, pregnancy and childbirth were dangerous, and mothers and children faced a significant chance of death. But that number has come down precipitously in the last few centuries and significantly in the last 20 years. In 2000, there were 450,800 maternal deaths worldwide (with a population of just over six billion), versus 293,760 in 2020 (with a population of nearly eight billion). To put this in perspective, in 1800 in Sweden and Finland, around 900 of every 100,000 mothers died in childbirth; in today’s numbers, that would be 1.26 million of the eight billion people on the planet. 6. Students are staying in school longer The trend in average years of schooling across 111 countries is impressive. In 1870, the average for the vast majority of countries was less than a year. Today, it is over 12 years of schooling for the wealthy industrialized countries, and in places like Kenya and India, 6.5 years. There is clearly more work to do, but the increase is impressive – and will likely continue, with free online education programs like the Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org), a platform that provides a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. The platform offers math, science, computing, history, art history, economics and more, including K-14 and test preparation content (SAT, Praxis, LSAT). The content focuses on skill mastery to help learners establish strong foundations, so there’s no limit to what they can learn. Khan Academy has already translated its videos into over 30 languages. 7. Literacy is increasing In 1800, the global literacy rate for people 15 years and older was 12.05%, while in 2016, 86% of those in this age bracket were literate. There are still inequalities, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, specifically Burkina Faso, Niger and South Sudan, where literary rates are below 30%. But this historic change should not be underestimated.  8. Moore’s law has so far proven true More than half a century ago, Gordon Moore proposed a theory that would radically change our conception of technology. The power of microchips running our computers, he predicted, would double every two years, while their cost would remain about the same. He predicted the invention of home computers, cellphones, self-driving cars, and smartwatches – all of which would become cheaper over time. Moore’s law has since proven to be true. Some claim that this trend cannot continue, given limitations on how many transistors can fit on a chip. Others, however, believe that computer power can continue to grow exponentially. 9. Internet access is increasing The share of the population that is accessing the Internet is increasing, including in the developing world. More than two-thirds of the population of wealthier countries is online. Around half of the world’s population is not yet online, which means the collective power of the Internet will likely increase in the years ahead.  10. Use of renewable energy is increasing Fossil fuels, which have a major impact on the Earth’s climate, have dominated the energy mix of most countries for decades. They are responsible for the vast majority of greenhouse emissions and cause significant air pollution, affecting human health. To reduce the world’s carbon footprint, a significant turn toward renewable energy will be necessary. In 2019, nearly 8,000 terawatt-hours, or roughly 11% of global energy use, came from renewable technology, which includes hydropower, solar power, wind power, geothermal wave power, tidal power and modern biofuel. In 1965, in contrast, global production of renewable energy was only 941 terawatt-hours.  IF WE’RE going to meet the challenges of this century – from climate change to food scarcity – governments, companies and entrepreneurs from around the world will need to work together and use the type of bold, creative thinking that got us to the moon. As explained by Eric “Astro” Teller, the director of Google X, a research and development facility that creates radical new technologies, “Moonshots live in the gray area between audacious projects and pure science fiction.” A moonshot, he asserts, is “almost more an exercise in creativity than it is in technology.” Governments are no longer the only entities that can play a meaningful role in tackling these seemingly intractable challenges. Corporations, research institutions, and do-it-yourself innovators with few resources and little manpower, alongside techno-philanthropists like Bill Gates, who are spending billions of dollars of their own wealth, can now achieve moonshots on their own. The transformation the world is currently undergoing is profound and will far supersede the impact of the Industrial Revolution. What’s next? The future belongs to those who choose hope – and those who leverage technology to positively affect humanity. The writer (www.avijorisch.com) is the author of NEXT: A Brief History of the Future (Gefen Publishing) and a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Biden, the consummate liar but then he is a Democrat and they love spending money because it leads to government growth, more control and less freedoms: +++ Opinion: The Real Cost of the Inflation Reduction Act Subsidies: $1.2 Trillion Goldman Sachs says the uncapped tax credits will cost three times what Democrats claimed. The Editorial Board The Inflation Reduction Act may go down as one of the greatest confidence tricks on taxpayers in history. Democrats used accounting gimmicks to claim the partisan law would reduce the budget deficit. But now a Goldman Sachs report projects its myriad green subsidies will cost $1.2 trillion—more than three times what the law’s supporters claimed. By Goldman’s estimate, the IRA tax credits will cost tens to hundreds of billions more than CBO estimated over 10 years. The forecast misses include electric vehicles (difference: $379 billion), green energy manufacturing ($156 billion), renewable electricity production ($82 billion), energy efficiency ($42 billion), hydrogen ($36 billion), biofuels ($34 billion) and carbon capture ($31 billion). Goldman says the difference in the EV credit estimates owes to its projection that more vehicles will meet the law’s “self-sufficiency” mineral and battery material conditions for the partial $3,750 consumer credit and full $7,500 credit. But even Goldman’s estimate for the EV credit could be low if Treasury loosely interprets the credit conditions, which is what auto makers are lobbying for. Auto makers are also racing to take advantage of a tax credit for locally manufactured battery cells and modules by setting up plants in the U.S. Similar to Goldman’s estimate, an analysis last month by Mercatus Center fellow Christine McDaniel projected that the tax credit for battery production could cost up to $196.5 billion. Ford’s Michigan plant with Chinese battery maker CATL alone could cost $1.5 billion annually in credits. Goldman estimates the tax credit could shave the cost of battery production by 35% to 42%, though EVs would still cost 17% more than vehicles with internal combustion engines. While tax credits will improve auto maker EV margins, it’s not clear whether they will make EVs profitable. Goldman predicts the IRA will “drive” $3 trillion in climate investments—that is, reallocate $3 trillion in capital across the economy. Oil and gas companies will spend less on increasing production and more on developing carbon capture technologies, hydrogen and biofuels that are profitable only with the IRA’s rich tax credits. Expect energy prices to rise. Goldman says green subsidies will benefit companies across the economy—from aluminum manufacturers to agriculture producers. This will make it politically more difficult for Republicans to roll back the subsidies if they gain control of the White House and Congress. Subsidies will also be “deployed meaningfully” in states like Texas with large GOP Congressional caucuses, Goldman notes. Eliminating the tax credits, Goldman adds, would constitute an “effective tax increase,” which Republicans may be loath to vote for. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last year vetoed a bill that would have scaled back rooftop solar subsidies after the solar lobby denounced it as a “tax.” Will Republicans have the courage to claw back the green handouts going to their business friends? Democrats have created an enormous new corporate entitlement whose costs will increase on autopilot and blow up the deficit while raising energy prices for average Americans. Congratulations, Sen. Manchin. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++

John Rich: How Wokeness Killed Country Music

“Wokeism in the entertainment industry has made its way to Nashville.” Freedom and creating art go hand-in-hand, and wokeism is destroying both. Country singer-songwriter John Rich shares his moving story of how he got his start in music, dealing with failure, and never bending a knee to the woke mob. He also talks about patriotism, being a dad, and the American values his family instilled in him from an early age that led to his success.

Watch Now +++++++++++++++++++++++++ Connecticut College head quits over planned event at golf club with antisemitic past Katherine Bergeron had faced mounting protests and school faculty passed a vote of no confidence in her leadership By Andrew Lapin Connecticut College students protesting against their school's president, Katherine Bergeron, who had been scheduled to speak at a venue with an antisemitic and racist history. (Courtesy of Hannah Foley/The College Voice) JTA — The president of Connecticut College has announced she will step down at the end of the semester, following weeks of student protests stemming from a fundraiser she had planned to attend at a golf club with a reportedly racist and antisemitic history. Katherine Bergeron’s announcement Friday capped a saga that saw mounting backlash spread across the small liberal arts campus in New London. For roughly a month, ad-hoc student groups occupied a central administrative building on campus to demand Bergeron’s resignation, and in early March, school faculty passed an overwhelming vote of no confidence in her leadership. The key student activist organization that led the protests held its initial meeting in the campus Hillel building, and its organizers sought out and encouraged Jewish representation. During the weeks when the occupation of the administrative building was taking place, Hillel canceled a planned Shabbat dinner with Bergeron and issued a statement in solidarity with the activists. “It has been an honor to serve this College for the past nine and a half years,” Bergeron wrote in her resignation letter. While not explicitly mentioning the student protests or the inciting incident, Bergeron wrote, “The past several weeks have proven particularly challenging, and as president, I fully accept my share of responsibility for the circumstances that have led us to this moment.” The controversy at Connecticut College began in February when the school’s dean of institutional equity and inclusion resigned following a disagreement with Bergeron over a planned fundraiser at the Everglades Club, an exclusive golf club in Palm Beach, Florida. The club has reportedly excluded Jewish and Black people in the past. While the fundraiser was canceled, campus uproar surrounding it soon snowballed into a larger movement to push the college to direct more funding toward diversity and inclusion-related causes. Those include campus education around antisemitism and more funding for Jewish studies. Debo Adegbile, chair of the college’s board of trustees, said in a statement that the board would commit itself to “providing additional resources” to advance the campus office of institutional equity and inclusion. A spokesperson for the college declined further comment. “We are so proud that our consistent protests paid off and made such a big impact,” Davi Schulman, a Jewish sophomore at the college and member of its Hillel leadership team, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “We can now really look forward to the College’s future.” ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Biden response shows weakness. China watching and unimpressed. +++ US airstrikes kill 19 fighters in Syria after fatal Iranian drone attack By Mary Kay Linge The two-day exchange was one of the deadliest between American and Iran-aligned forces in years. Iranian proxies have carried out at least 78 drone or rocket attacks against US troops in the Middle East since the beginning of 2021, when President Joe Biden took office. “The United States does not — does not, I emphasize — seek conflict with Iran,” Biden said Friday during a press conference in Ottawa as he made a state visit to Canada. “But be prepared for us to act forcefully to protect our people.” But Republicans slammed Biden’s response to Iran-backed aggression as weak. “The Biden admin’s continued doctrine of appeasement has cost American lives and emboldened our adversaries,” Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst argued in a tweet. American airstrikes killed a total of 19 fighters in eastern Syria this week, a UK-based war monitor said Saturday, in the wake of an Iranian drone attack that left a US contractor dead and wounded five American troops. The retaliatory strikes, conducted Thursday on targets that the Pentagon said were affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, killed three Syrian troops, 11 pro-government militia members, and five non-Syrian fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported The “precision airstrikes” by American F-15 fighter jets sparked a tit-for-tat response by Iran-backed militants Friday, who fired 10 missiles that narrowly missed a US base in northeast Syria — but hit a civilian house, injuring two women and two children, according to US Central Command. The president late Saturday sent a letter to the House and Senate defending the strikes, stating that he was providing the information to keep Congress “fully informed.” “The precision strikes were directed at facilities used by groups affiliated with the IRGC for command and control, munitions storage, and other purposes,” Biden’s letter said. “They were conducted in a manner intended to establish deterrence, limit the risk of escalation, and avoid civilian casualties.” ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Unelected judges should rule… Seriously? Israel's democracy in Israel is in danger. But this threat isn’t coming from the government By MELANIE PHILLIPS Many appear to believe that the Israelis demonstrating en masse against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu are trying to save Israel’s democracy from destruction. Nothing could be further from the truth. While there are legitimate concerns about aspects of the government’s programme and certain members of the coalition, a dangerous and anti-democratic hysteria has taken hold. This has been incited by people such as opposition leader Yair Lapid, with his battle cry of “bring the government down”. Or the mayor of Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai, who said democracy leads to dictatorship and “countries don’t become democratic again except through bloodshed”. This crisis is the outcome of a perfect storm. There’s the extreme loathing of Netanyahu by people for whom his every move is axiomatically corrupt, mendacious and self-serving. There’s the fear of an extremist government, fuelled by anxiety about three nationalist and religious ultras in the coalition along with the religious parties. And there’s the anxiety on the left, whose political marginalisation in the face of the Palestinian Arabs’ murderous intransigence is being cemented by the increase in Orthodox and Mizrahi communities who have no patience for liberal pieties. The left are now aghast that the judiciary, upon whom they rely to hold the progressive line against those they collectively demonise as “the right”, may lose their power as the left’s political surrogates. Democracy involves the rule of law anchored in the consent of the people, expressed through electing the politicians who make those laws. This is safeguarded by independent judges, police and prosecutors and a free press. In Israel, however, ever since the 1990s when Supreme Court President Aharon Barak began to blur the boundary between law and political activism, the court has increasingly undermined democracy through behaviour that owes more to the judges’ political and ideological views than to law. It allows anyone to petition the court even if they have no legal standing. It justifies its rulings on a vague and subjective term of “reasonableness” which has no basis in law. It controls legal advisers who instruct every minister on what to do even if this runs contrary to government policy. The attorney-general may argue against the government in court, while banning it from seeking independent counsel to defend its policies. The court routinely employs double standards by favouring left-wing over right-wing projects or the rights of Arabs over Israeli Jews. People say there’s no longer any point in voting since the judges run the country. Under the reforms, the courts will still be able to hold ministers to account. They will be unable, however, to overturn laws passed by the Knesset unless they “clearly” violate an order “entrenched” in a Basic Law. And politicians rather than judges will dominate the committee appointing new justices. In the US, judges are political appointments. And Britain prohibits its own courts from striking down laws passed by parliament. Yet America and Britain are not fascist dictatorships. True, Israel lacks the checks and balances of the British and American systems. This is because Israel’s political structure is deeply dysfunctional and needs radical reform. But while politicians at least must be elected every four years, the judiciary has no checks at all. What makes the uproar so absurd is that the reforms will broadly return Israel to the situation before Barak’s judicial revolution. As law professor Avi Bell has written, for decades after Israel’s Declaration of Independence, only the Knesset could legislate and no court could overturn legislation. The first Israeli government appointed its judges directly, subject to Knesset ratification. Attorneys-general and all other legal advisers could be dismissed and their legal opinions bound no-one. This was all similar to the current reform package. The objectors’ inescapable logic is that they’d rather have rule by judges than by elected politicians. This is all of a piece with the west’s post-democracy moment in which people prioritise universal laws over national ones, elevate the legitimacy of street protests and regard politically activist judges as the shock troops of the progressive assault on traditional values. This mindset now unites most of the progressive classes in Israel, Britain and America. For them, ordinary people who don’t share their views are the “deplorables”. By contrast the judges — educated, liberal, cosmopolitan — are people like themselves. They justify their position by pointing in horror at the three ultras in Netanyahu’s coalition. But such figures have only gained traction because mainstream politicians have failed to deal with public concern over the rising toll of terrorist violence and the failure to preserve the integrity of the nation by ignoring illegal Arab land grabs. And the court is viewed as having legitimised such lethal neglect. Democracy in Israel is indeed in danger. But this peril isn’t coming from the government. Jewish Chronicle +++++++++++++++++++++++