Another Measles Case in Pennsylvania Because of Vaccine Hesitancy

A measles case was reported last week in southeastern Pennsylvania in an unvaccinated child. As I have posted the last several years, there have been outbreaks of measles, which is highly contagious, in Western Europe and America, as well as other diseases that had nearly been eradicated in the West, with the increase in vaccine hesitancy because of false beliefs about the safety of vaccines and exaggerated confidence in natural immunity. False conspiracy theories, advanced by the far left, the far right and libertarians, and amplified by Russian Federation disinformation to weaken the West, have increased vaccine hesitancy and spread deadly diseases, as has been especially noticeable during the Coronavirus 2019 Pandemic. Vaccines are safe and effective weapons against disease. Although there are some side-effects to vaccines, as there are from any medical intervention, the risks are far less than the diseases they protect against. It is necessary that a sufficient number of people be vaccinated to achieve “herd immunity” to protect those who cannot be for certain valid health reasons. Therefore, it is a matter of civic responsibility for people to get their recommended vaccines, just as it is that they minimize the spread of contagion through better hygiene (hand-washing, covering coughs and sneezes), staying home when sick, and avoiding people who are ill with a contagious disease. Because protecting others is also a moral matter, it is consistent with conservative beliefs to promote public health measures against contagion, including vaccination.

Foreign Digest: Spain, Cambodia and Niger

Spain: The results of the parliamentary elections in Spain a week ago were not decisive, as the conservatives won the most votes and seats in the Spanish Parliament, but fell short of a majority necessary to form a government in place of the ruling Socialists. The center-right conservative Spanish party suffered a blow to its hopes of gaining the majority through a coalition government because of its alliance with a far-right party that lost seats. As I have been posting the last several years, these far-right parties, which generally tend to be nationalistic to a bigoted degree, anti-migrant, anti-European integration, and are often pro-Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, have sometimes cost the center-right election victories, although sometimes conservatives have been able to win without an alliance with the far-right. At other times, the center-right has formed a coalition government with the far-right, only to result in a collapse of the government, such as in Austria, when the Russian support of the far-right party was revealed. The new government coalition in Finland has already suffered from controversy from the resignation of one cabinet minister with another under fire because of fascists statements. Both the Socialists and the conservatives will try to form a government, but another round of elections may be necessary. Cambodia: The elections last week in Cambodia, in which the son of the longtime dictator from the Communist era was elected President, were internationally recognized as a farce, as the opposition was persecuted and precluded from contesting the election. Niger: There was a military coup d-etat in Niger last week against the elected government of the African State. The motivation was ostensibly the same as I posted about a few years ago in Mali, which was dissatisfaction with the effectiveness of the Nigerien Government’s anti-terrorism policy. Niger, like other States in the Sahel, has come under attack by militant Islamists. The United States and others have been aiding Niger and other African States against the violent jihadists. The U.S., the Economic Community of West African States, of which Niger is a member, and France, Niger’s former colonial ruler, are among those in the international community calling for a restoration to power of the elected government.

Debunking the “Tatarian Empire” Conspiracy Theory

One of the many recent baseless conspiracy theories spread through the Internet lately that has become particularly popular is the easily debunked theory about a supposed Tatarian Empire. This fantastic theory posits that this mythical Eurasian empire, whose people were a technologically advanced race of giants, extended well into North America and was responsible for the buildings of the architectural styles in America before the late Nineteenth Century, but was destroyed by a “mud flood” of a few feet, leaving only these buildings behind, and that the existence of the Tartarians has been covered up ever since as Americans claimed credit for the Tartarians’ accomplishments. As with any false conspiracy theory, its adherents make false connections between events and assert speculation as fact. They then dismiss all evidence to the contrary as proof of the coverup that is always an essential element of the theory, thereby rendering themselves unable to engage in a rational analysis of their theory. The foundation of beliefs in false conspiracy theories is not rational skepticism of what is generally accepted as reality, but cynicism based on the psychological need to believe in an alternate explanation that they are always certain must exist, which leads vulnerable people to believe in false conspiracies to try to make sense of a lack of control over geopolitical developments and as an arrogant coping mechanism of believing that only they know the truth while they dismiss non-believers as sheep-like followers. The Tartarian Empire theory, which has been disproven in every aspect, is based on a conflation of the Tatars with a European pun used to describe them as “Tartars,” and a lack of understanding that the vast lands west of the European part of what is now the Russian Federation attributed centuries ago by Europeans to the Tatars were not ruled by Tatars, but simply unknown to Westerners and grouped by them under the European name for their lands until they were later conquered by the Russians from their various Siberian inhabitants. Indeed, there was no Tatarian Empire, the existence of which is disproven by the documented evidence of Eurasia. Although Eurasian peoples did migrate to North America millennia ago, they were not the Tatars of a much later time. The Tartarian Empire theory is based also on a misunderstanding of the well documented history of architecture and of building techniques that are traceable from the Classical era to the Neo-Classical styles of the Renaissance and the quintessential American style known as the “Federal style.” The conspiracy theory’s proponents cannot understand how more quickly and inexpensively buildings could be built of such styles in the past because of the availability of cheap skilled labor and less building regulations than today, or that government would spend money to build elaborate ornate structures even for small cities, even though we have the legislative records to substantiate it, which it did to promote public art. They also do not seem to realize that each of the skills for building such ornate buildings that are documented to have developed in the West have been conserved and are still used. It is also well documented why there was a trend toward the modern architectural style, which was because of the availability of cheaper building materials, increased labor costs and regulations, and changes in taste, and which not everyone agreed with, not a supposed catastrophic destruction of the Tartarian Empire. The Tartarian Empire theory also fails to explain why architectural styles developed in the West so differently from those in Russia. Moreover, it is absurd that a race of giants, which they theorize existed because the public first floors of public buildings had high ceilings, inexplicably in contrast to the scale of the rest of the buildings, who left no remains of their bodies, either as giants or of regular stature, were supposedly destroyed by a flood of mud of only a few feet, despite being taller and more technologically advanced. Furthermore, the mud flood theory, which left no geological evidence and which geologists doubt is even plausible over such an extensive area, is based on the misunderstanding by the proponents of the conspiracy theory of basements with windows that are below today’s often higher street levels, which have been raised for known documented reasons. The part of the Tartarian Empire theory that claims the Tatarians’ existence has been covered up by lies also strains credulity by failing to provide a convincing motive, let alone requiring a vast participation in the conspiracy. The coverup allegation is the part of the conspiracy theory that most reveals the anti-Western and anti-American dishonest heart of this theory that Western European Civilization’s accomplishments are really those of inhabitants of Russia that Westerners have claimed credit for. The Tartarian Empire theory is thus an example of Russian nationalism that claims credit for Western European accomplishments and is intended to undermine Americans and Western Europeans’ faith in Western European culture and thus to weaken America and Western Europe while the Russian Federation is trying to restore the Russian Empire through restoration of the Soviet Union, and possibly even to lay claim to North American territory. As I have posted repeatedly, Russia has successfully been spreading propaganda and disinformation in such ways, which is why it is necessary to debunk this baseless conspiracy theory.

Some Christian Leaders Again Abandon Moral Character to Support Donald Trump

A public gathering a few weeks ago of Christian leaders affirmed their support once again for Donald Trump’s candidacy for President of the United States, despite the presence of acceptable candidates for the Republican nomination in the field and the opportunity to encourage others to seek the GOP nomination. Instead of pretending that Trump is a person of good character, as some Trump supporters have done since his first candidacy, these Christian pastors and other church leaders justified their support of the draft-dodger, serial adulterer, misogynist and admitted sexual harasser, crooked businessman and well-documented liar who was twice impeached, twice-indicted and under multiple criminal investigations put their political preferences above morals by repeating the excuse that nominations or elections for public office are not the equivalent of elections of pastors. In other words, they are promoting the heretical beliefs that character only matters for church officials, not public officials, and that it is morally acceptable for voters to elect to public office those of manifestly poor character as not to be trustworthy with such a charge. Both these ideas are contrary to the principled conservative argument in defense of character made in 1999 after the revelations about Bill Clinton committing perjury as a defendant in a sexual harassment civil suit against about sexual acts committed with a subordinate while in office. Most liberals expressly excused Clinton’s misbehavior because they agreed with his policies. Trump’s supporters similarly deny, minimize or excuse Trump’s misbehavior or focus only on the policies or character of his opponents. They thus had to overlook how his poor character continued into office, with his promotion of falsehoods and baseless conspiracy theories, his abuse of office to promote his businesses, his acceptance of foreign influence through patronage of his businesses, and his cruelty and increasing authoritarianism that undermined American leadership on human rights and thus made the world less secure by enabling tyrants. In the name of being in favor of the protection of innocent life, they overlooked Trump’s hostility to it, such as his barring of refugees seeking asylum from persecution, his pardoning of war criminals who murdered innocent people, and his support for the Filipino President’s policy of encouraging murder. Furthermore, they overlook his callous disregard for innocent human life, such as his Muslim travel ban that killed an American whose organ donor was barred entry, his deportation of migrants that led to fatal results because it put their health or security at risk, and his placement of the economy above protecting public health in the face of a deadly pandemic he repeatedly minimized after he had eliminated both federal pandemic response agencies. The support of “Christian” leaders for Trump, therefore, shows clearly that their priorities are partisan or ideological, not moral. It is Christian to vote for those of good moral character over those of bad moral character because it is reasonable to expect that the latter are unlikely to be faithful to their charge, which provides them an opportunity to betray the trust to engage in corruption, which harms the public and undermines public confidence. Instead, Christians should elect people of good reputation and hold public officials accountable, instead of vilifying those public officials who are faithful and who do try to hold corrupt officials accountable, as many Trump supporters do. There are plenty of qualified people to support over Trump.

Conservative Think Tank Calls for American Support of the Anti-Taliban Afghan Resistance

The Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, has issued a paper calling for the United States to support the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan against the Islamist terrorist Taliban militia that took over Afghanistan in 2021: US Has an Opportunity to Support the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan | Hudson (https://www.hudson.org/node/45119). The paper calls for outreach to the only organized resistance to the Taliban that favors an ethnically inclusive representative form of government for Afghanistan and possible military support. There is other ethnic and religious resistance in Afghanistan, as well as attacks by the terrorist Islamist Islamic State, a rival offshoot of the al-Qaeda terrorists allied with the Taliban, but the National Resistance Front (NRF) is led by the son of the greatest mujhadeen commander against the Soviets during their 1979-1988 invasion and the vice president of the internationally recognized Afghan government. Although mostly Tajik, who are one of the largest ethnic groups in Afghanistan, the NRF attracted Afghan security forces from around the Central Asian State and has recruited from surrounding areas as it continues to harass Taliban forces from its base in the Panjshir Valley. Late last fall, the U.S. did conduct some official meetings with the NRF, which at least confers some legitimacy, even though the Biden Administration opposes violent resistance to the Taliban, which it has refused to recognize as the legitimate Afghan government. The Taliban had ruled Afghanistan before the U.S. led an international force to overthrow them after al-Qaeda’s September 11, 2001 Attacks on America that killed nearly 3,000 people, but the disastrous Trump-Biden withdrawal from Afghanistan allowed the terrorists sponsors and allies to return to power, as I have posted about. The Taliban have returned to their oppressive ways. The U.S. should consider steps beyond meetings to support the principles of liberty and representative government that the NRF shares with Americans and Westerners, to provide the NRF and their supporters with the solidarity they deserve, instead of abandoning them to our shared enemies, and to keep pressure on the Taliban not to allow Afghanistan to become again a safe harbor for al-Qaeda and other affiliated terrorists.

The Conservative Dutch Government Fell Because it Abandoned Conservative Principles

Center-right Dutch coalition Government collapsed recently because the more moderate coalition parties of the long-time conservative Prime Minister objected to his policies against refugees seeking asylum who are fleeing oppression and war. The Premier of the Netherlands, like all-too-many on the right in Europe and America today, was trying to act harshly against migrants to compete with populist anti-migrant far-right nationalist parties, instead of defending human rights as a conservative principle and welcoming people seeking liberty, as well as to make up for the problems of the population shortfall afflicting developed countries. Not only will his executive fall, but he will withdraw from politics. The Dutch will now have to go to the polls early for parliamentary elections on November 22, instead of at the end of the current term in 2025. The Netherlands is an ally of the United States as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Foreign Digest: NATO and the United States versus Russian Aggression against Ukraine

NATO Accepts Swedish Membership and Ukrainian Application: The annual summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the most successful defense pact in history, was highly fruitful, especially because of the continued American leadership of the alliance. Sweden’s membership was finally accepted by Turkey and Hungary’s leaders, pending their parliament’s approvals. As I have posted, Sweden, like Finland, abandoned its longstanding neutrality because of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Turkey had blocked Swedish membership over the Kurds, who are a significant ethnic minority in Turkey who aspire for more autonomy, who have settled there. As part of the deal, the United States would sell fighter jets and parts to Turkey and support Turkish membership in the European Union, but Turkey’s membership in the EU is not a condition of Sweden’s NATO adhesion. For Ukraine, NATO decided not to require the usual Membership Action Plan, but instead formed a joint NATO-Ukrainian council. The U.S. and NATO assure Ukrainian membership in the transatlantic alliance after the Russian invasion. Ukraine, which has been taking the required steps to strengthen its representative government and liberty and against corruption, is engaged in a counteroffensive to wrest control of its sovereign territory back from the Russian Federation that had recognized it as Ukrainian territory. NATO has been aiding Ukraine because Russian aggression is a direct threat against its members. United States Aid to Ukraine: Most Republicans in the United States House of Representatives voted against isolationist pro-Russian Trumpist amendments to the defense authorization bill from GOP members that would have reduced or eliminated security aid to Ukraine against aggression by the Russian Federation. Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer who is trying to restore the Soviet Union, invaded the former Soviet Republic in 2014 to seize part of Ukrainian territory and launched a full-scale invasion last year. The amendment to eliminate all aid received 70 votes out of the 219-vote Republican majority and the one to reduce it 89. All Democrats voted against both amendments. There were other amendments from the pro-Putin wing to undermine the defense against aggression that were also defeated. The House Republican Caucus thus salvaged the Grand Old Party’s pro-security reputation, as they framed the military aid to Ukraine as a battle of the free world versus the authoritarian aggressor States, but the relatively high vote totals against defending independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity by the self-described “nationalists” and was nevertheless disturbing and reflects the continued influence, not only of Russian propaganda over “conservatives,” but of the pro-Putin Donald Trump over his party.

Italian News Digest

Human Rights Violations against Migrants: The Council of Europe’s Commission on Human Rights last month criticized Italy’s policy toward migrants that forces non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating rescue ships to dock at ports far from their rescue operations, leaving them unavailable for more rescues on the deadly seas. The policy by Italy’s current rightwing Government is meant to discourage arrivals by migrants, including refugees seeking asylum, by putting their lives at risk by the absence of rescue ships. The Government has been trying to reduce migration of North African States and human trafficking while opening up legal pathways for migration. Italian forces have rescued thousands of migrants in distress in the Mediterranean and provided care for them ashore, but the docking policy for NGOs undermines Italy’s humanitarian record. Coalition Rift over Europe: A rift has opened within the right-wing governing coalition as the Trumpist anti-migrant League Party proposes that it and its center-right allies, the Forza Italia party, join together in a group within the European Parliament with far-right anti-migrant nationalist French and German parties that are known for being more pro-Russian than pro-European or pro-Transatlantic Alliance, in order to create a united front against the ruling left. The pro-European and pro-American conservative Forza Italia has declined its coalition partners’ invitation to join with the nationalists, as nationalism is contrary to center-right principles. Pro-Family Policies: Meanwhile, the Italian Government banned the practice of naming two mothers on birth certificates while proposing a law against accepting surrogate births, which are already illegal in Italy, even from abroad, a practice usually of same-sex couples. The policies are intended to encourage children to be raised with both mothers and fathers and to avoid using women’s bodies as commodities. The Government has been promoting births to married couples to counter Italy’s population decline that would be even more pronounced and thus problematic in various ways without net migration and relatively higher fertility amongst immigrants and their descendants.

Foreign Digest: Mali, India, Belarus and Syria

Mali: Malians overwhelmingly approved a new constitution recently by referendum recently that transitions back toward civilian rule, albeit with increased presidential powers, and a representative assembly and elections. A military junta had seized power last year amidst and Islamist terrorist insurgency. France had led an international force to support its former colony against the al-Qaeda affiliates, with some success, but the Junta then turned instead toward Kremlin-associated Russian mercenaries. Al-Qaeda was responsible for the deadliest terrorist attacks ever, the September 11, 2001 Attacks on America that killed nearly 3,000 people. The terrorists have been conducting attacks also on multiple neighboring States in the Sahel. India: The opposition in India, across the political, religious and ethnic spectrum, has agreed to work together to oppose the ruling Hindu Nationalist Prime Minister in the next parliamentary elections in 2024. The Premier is popular among the majority Hindus but who is feared for increased authoritarianism and for a history of religious persecution. Similar efforts against authoritarian leaders who had usurped representative government based on separation of powers and the rule of law in Hungary and Turkey succeeded in forcing run-off elections, but the control of state media and other factors was decisive for those strongmen, a factor that would not be present in India. Belarus: The Belarusian dictator recently claimed he told Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin that he could kill a rebellious mercenary leader given exile from Russia in Belarus, thereby admitting he holds such tyrannical power, despite his claims to the contrary and the pretense of having won elections that were rigged. He also claimed to have persuaded Putin, the ex-Soviet intelligence officer trying to restore the Soviet Union, not to kill the exiled mercenary leader who had been close to Putin, but led a rebellion against the failing Russian war effort in its aggression against Ukraine. The claim by Putin’s ally validates the obvious attribution to the Russian strongman of the many killings of Russian political opponents, journalists, and other critics, including those in exile in the West, for which Putin denies responsibility. Syria: The United States killed an “Islamic State” Islamist terrorist leader in Syria last week in a drone strike, after Russian aircraft had harassed the unmanned aircraft, as they have repeatedly been doing lately. A small American force has been fighting the al-Qaeda offshoot in Syria, while the Russians are backing the terrorist-sponsoring Baathist regime of Syrian tyrant Bashar Assad, who is also supported by Iran and its terrorist proxies against various rebels in a civil war that has killed over half a million people in eleven years and caused millions to flee. The Russians have stopped abiding by deconfliction protocols that had been agreed to between the U.S. and the Russian Federation.

Clearing up the Meaning of Independence Day

As we Americans celebrate our independence today, it is appropriate to clear up the current confusion on the meaning of the Independence Day holiday. As I have posted before, the Continental Congress, which was an assembly of Delegates sent by each of the Thirteen American Colonies which had united against the tyranny of their British mother country, approved a resolution on July 2, 1776 declaring the Colonies to be independent States. Some of the colonies had already declared their own independence from the United Kingdom. The Congress then approved a statement explaining the reasons for the adoption of the resolution, called the Declaration of Independence, which was approved on July 4 and began to be signed by the Delegates. The approval of the document thus did not effectuate independence, only make an explanatory statement for the prior declaration of independence. Although some of the Founding Fathers expected to celebrate July 2 as the true anniversary of American independence, the prominent date of July 4 on the heading of the printed official edition of the Declaration and the brilliance of the document led to celebrations on that date instead. But the distinction is important that the approval of the Declaration of Independence did not make the Colonies independent, it only explained why they had declared their independence. It is also necessary to clear up another distinction, between the “birthday” of American independence and of the United States of America, with which some erroneously conflate the significance of the holiday. Through their declaration of independence, the Colonies became 13 independent States (sovereign political entities), united only loosely through Continental Congress, not through any confederation or federal union. The Union of States, known as the “United States of America,” was only later created by the Constitution, which went into effect in 1789. Independence Day is also not the celebration of the independence or birthday of any “nation,” but of the States. Moreover, even the United States of America is not a nation (a people related by birth) or a nation-state, but a federal Union of States. And neither are any of its member States. Americans should gratefully honor those who sacrificed to win their independence and to appreciate their independence from any foreign power and remain vigilant against threats to it, both directly to our own, and indirectly to the principles of independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity wherever they are threatened around the world in order to defend our own independence and self-determination.

The Pennsylvania Senate Advances the Nomination of a Republican Elections Watchdog as Secretary of the Commonwealth

Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt’s nomination to be Pennsylvania’s Secretary of the Commonwealth, an office which oversees elections, among other roles, has been approved by the Republican-led Senate State Government Committee. Schmidt, a Republican who oversaw elections as the City Commissioner of Philadelphia for a decade, was nominated by the new liberal Democratic Governor. The elections watchdog, who had issued a report against voter registration fraud in overwhelmingly Democratic Philadelphia, resisted the false claims of Donald Trump about the 2020 General Election, in which the Democratic presidential ticket earned more votes for their slate of Electors in the Keystone State than did Trump’s, despite criticism from Trumpist Republicans and death threats to him and his family. Schmidt later chaired Philadelphia’s Committee of Seventy, an organization that promotes free and fair elections in the City of Brotherly Love. The only vote against Schmidt came from Trumpist Republican Doug Mastriano, a conspiracy theorist who believed Trump’s lies about the 2020 General Election in Pennsylvania, which the Trump-Pence slate of Presidential Electors lost, and who baselessly questioned his own electoral trouncing in his campaign for Governor last year. Schmidt, like Republican election officials in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and other States, as well as Republican-appointed federal judges and members of Congress, all rejected Trump’s false claims to have won the 2020 elections. In his hearing before the GOP-led Committee, Schmidt expressed support for the Electronic Information Registration Center, a multi-state compact the Commonwealth belongs to cross-checks the voter rolls of member States to eliminate from the voter rolls those voters who have moved to other States and registered to vote there. Some Trumpists have criticized this essential tool for election integrity and a few States have withdrawn from the compact, despite its success against the type of voter fraud that Trumpists claim to oppose. The nomination for Secretary of the Commonwealth could advance further through the Senate for confirmation, but if the Senate does not act within 30 days, the nominee becomes constitutionally confirmed.