Newspaper Page Text
The ADVANCE, December 15, 2021/Page 6A
(51?e Ahumtce
A free press is not a privilege but
organic necessity in a great society.
—Walter Lippmann
COMMENTARY
out of
CONTEXT
A compilation of quotations on a variety of
issues by national, state and regional writers,
well-known personalities, just plain everyday
people and from various publications
collected by the editors of THE ADVANCE.
Quotes for our Times:
Terence P. Jeffrey, editor-in-chief of
CNSnews.com: Congressman who disbe
lieves in God speaks at Christmas Tree Light
ing.
The tree itself was covered with orna
ments made by Californians. A number
showed images of Smokey Bear. Some oth
ers showed images of Bigfoot, the mythical
creature some imagine inhabits northern
California.
But when I visited the tree this week,
I could see no ornament that made any
clear reference to the birth of Christ.
A Forest Service webpage that had re
quested Californians make the ornaments
for this tree laid down a rule: "U.S. Capitol
Christmas Tree ornaments and tree skirts
may not include logos, political, or religious
affiliation or symbols, drug or alcohol refer
ences, be divisive or offensive."
But they did call it a "Christmas" tree.
Raymond Ibrahim, author, a Shillman Fel
low at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a
Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle
East Forum, and a Distinguished Senior Fel
low at the Gatestone Institute: Christianity:
The #1 recipient of hate crimes.
Of course, just as most hate crimes
against Christians are not recorded as such,
so too are the identities of those most com
mitting these crimes often left out. Moreover,
in a climate where the media do everything
possible to conceal the identities of Muslim
criminals caught red-handed, surely there
will not be a peep to suggest that Muslims
might be responsible when the evidence is
not concrete.
After all, the "news" is all about maintain
ing the narrative, one that paints Christians
as aggressors and anyone and everyone
else as victims — Muslims chief among them.
Greg Gutfeld, host of Gutfeld! and co
host of The Five: The Media has neither a
soul, nor the will to search for one.
The media's realized they married a
corpse, and it's starting to rot. But it's not just
Joe who's rotting. It's the media. No one is
buying their BS anymore. Not even the left.
So, like newlyweds returning from Barba
dos, Milbank (Dana Milbank, some old crank
from The Washington Post] realizes the fun
part is done and reality's set in. So he creates
new BS to paper over the old BS. But hey,
maybe we need more soul-searching.
James Jay Carafano, vice president
of foreign and defense policy studies The
Heritage Foundation: Whether he attacks
Ukraine or not, Putin has already won.
Biden has a double risk. Having disas
trously failed in Afghanistan, one more mas
sive foreign policy reversal on his watch
could prove politically fatal for the president.
The lack of strong leadership now also risks
letting NATO solidarity break up under Putin's
pressure.
Europe is a vital partner in today's world.
We can't defend ourselves or the free world
alone. We need a strong NATO. Putin looks
to the current crisis as the next step in unrav
eling NATO. If Biden allows him to succeed,
he will put all of us at risk.
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The IOC Is a Craven
Handmaid of Beijing
RICH 1
LOWRY
COLUMN |
It should be a rule of thumb
that the Olympic Games
shouldn’t be held in countries
that operate concentration
camps.
If this strikes you as a
reasonable demand, you aren’t
suited to serve on the
International Olympic
Committee. The IOC has
doggedly defended Beijing as
the host of the 2022 Winter
Olympics even as the Chinese
Communist Party pursues its
campaign of unrelenting
barbarity against the Uyghurs.
The Biden administration
just announced a so-called
diplomatic boycott of the
games, a gesture of disapproval
that won’t dent the propaganda
coup the IOC is handing the
most dangerous regime in the
world.
The IOC is the World
Health Organization of sports.
When China disappeared
female tennis star Peng Shuai
for the offense of making an
accusation of sexual assault
against a former high
government official, the IOC
happily assisted in the regime’s
crisis PR, lest the shocking
incident derail the games.
The president of the IOC,
Thomas Bach, had a video call
with Peng where she said all
was well, and Bach pretended
to take her assurances at face
value. Of course, Peng wasn’t
free to speak her mind, but part
of Bach’s job now is to look the
other way at China’s blatant
abuses.
China has the great fortune
to deal with international
organizations — except the
Women’s Tennis Association,
which is suspending
tournaments in China — that
lack all self-respect.
The IOC is following in
the well-trod footsteps of
corporations, financiers and
sports leagues that start out
wanting to do business with
China and end up complicit in
the regime’s crimes by staying
silent or explaining them away.
The difference is that the
IOC claims to be acting in
support of high ideals. Bach
likes to quote the Olympic
charter that says Olympism
exists “to place sport at the
service of the harmonious
development of humankind,
with a view to promoting a
peaceful society concerned
with the preservation of human
dignity.”
Placing sport at the service
of China does the opposite on
all counts. China’s autocrat, Xi
Jinping, has been open about
the political importance of the
Olympics, “Hosting an
excellent 2022 Games is a
major task of the Party and the
country, and it is a solemn
commitment to the
international community.”
Here, the interests of the CCP
and the IOC — as well as the
corporate sponsors of the
games — coincide.
The last time China hosted
the Olympics, the Summer
Games in 2008, it used the
opening ceremony to stage a
gigantic and memorable
regime-enhancing spectacle.
Beijing promised reforms to get
awarded the games and then,
true to form, engaged in yet
more heavy-handed repression.
If the 2008 Beijing Games
were ill-advised, next year’s
Winter Olympics are a
complete travesty. The
atrocities in Xinjiang province
are a matter of public record
and the quashing of Hong Kong
proceeds apace. No one who
crosses the regime is safe from
imprisonment or worse. China
openly menaces Taiwan with an
invasion. Indeed, China could
conceivably be in a shooting
war with the United States
within a year or two of using
the presence of our athletes,
among others, to enhance the
rule of its dictator-for-life.
Bach insists that the IOC
must always be politically
neutral. As Michael Mazza of
the American Enterprise
Institute points out, though,
the IOC banned apartheid-era
South Africa from the games.
There is no such thing as
neutrality when dealing with an
all-encompassing police state
for which politics is a life-or-
death matter. The games aren’t
being hosted by Switzerland or
Please see Lowry page 8A
GRITTY
America Should
Be Shining the
Light of Liberty,
Not Government
The Biden ad
ministration is host
ing, in upcoming
days, a “Summit for
Democracy,” in
which 110 nations
worldwide have been
invited to participate
in this global virtual
event.
The U.S. State
Department notes that the purpose is “set
ting forth an affirmative agenda for demo
cratic renewal and to tackle the greatest
threats faced by democracies through col
lective action.”
The Biden administration lists on the
White House website as among its priori
ties “Restoring America’s Global Stand
ing.”
This summit will accomplish exactly
the opposite.
The nations of the world will see on
display that those at the helm of leadership
in America have barely a clue what their
own country is about. And then want to
impose their fractured understanding of
America’s mission on the rest of the world.
The State Department brings the
phrase from the preamble to the U.S. Con
stitution, “to form a more perfect union,”
in noting the aims of the summit.
But the nations of the world are not
part of a union, as are our states, bound by
a constitution.
They are autonomous nations, each
marching to its own drummer, trying to
live and, hopefully, thrive together on one
planet.
The State Department could have
picked a much more relevant phrase from
the constitution’s preamble, to “secure the
blessings of liberty.”
Liberty is the point. And I am sure it is
no accident that the Biden administration
chooses to focus on democracy and not
liberty.
To appreciate the basic difference, we
can turn to our Declaration of Indepen-
Please see Parker page 8A
By Star Parker
COMMENTARY
Dr. Fauci's
plan to steal
Christmas
By Pandra Selivanov
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
is one of Dr. Seuss’s most beloved
books. Boris Karloff delightfully nar
rated it in an animated television
special that has become a holiday
classic. It’s been produced on the
stage. It was made into a live action
movie starring Jim Carey. The story
has been enthralling generations of
children. No matter how old you get,
there’s always that warm glow when
the Grinch’s heart grows three sizes
and he brings Christmas back to
Whoville.
Alas, in the real world, we have a
Grinch who is far more malevolent
in the person of Dr. Fauci, who seems
determined to steal Christmas this
year. He is calling for families to re
quire that guests be vaccinated be
fore participating in holiday cheer.
He hasn’t gone so far as to suggest
that Mom and Dad should demand
to see Grandma’s vaccination card
before letting her in out of the snow.
He’s just citing facts and figures with
solemn pomposity, trying to con
vince Americans that without vacci
nations, we are all in for another
round of infection after the holidays.
Covid has a death rate just over
1%. Covid does not generally cause
serious illness in people without co
morbidities such as lung problems,
heart disease, cancer, or weakened
immune systems. Such people could
also become seriously ill and die if
they caught the flu, but Dr. Fauci has
never suggested that people demon
strate compliance with flu shots be
fore being allowed into holiday gath
erings.
In short, Dr. Fauci wants to see
families and friends gather for the
holidays only after they have proven
they have submitted to covid shots.
Individuals who cannot, or will not,
get a covid shot are to be shut out of
the celebrations.
No Christmas tree, no exchange
of gifts, not even a slice of roast beast.
Just the smug satisfaction ofknowing
that loved ones have been turned
away from the door at the time of
year when we should be most open
and caring to all mankind. Perhaps
the gift we need this year is to grow
our hearts three sizes and embrace
friends and family even if they don’t
have their vaccine card.
Pandra Selivanov is the author of
Future Slave, a story about a 21 st-century
black teenager who goes back in time
and becomes a slave in the old south.