text:
« SOAP to explore strategic alternatives
CRGN to evaluate strategic options »
Neurobiological Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:NTII)
February 23, 2009 by Tobias Carlisle
Neurobiological Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:NTII) is a particularly interesting play. Prima facie, it appears to be a cash-burning biotechnology stock trading at a premium to its liquidating value. In other words, a stock we wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. On closer inspection, however, it becomes clear that NTII is trading at its net cash value, has other readily valuable assets and offers the possibility of substantial additional upside. At its $0.53 close on Friday, NTII has a market capitalization of just $14.3M, which is right on our $14.5M estimate for its net cash value. Our estimate for its liquidating value is around 50% higher at $21.9M or $0.81 per share with the possibility that it is significantly higher again. Three activist investors, Biotechnology Value Fund (BVF), Millennium Technology Value Partners and Highland Capital Management, hold approximately 45% of NTII's outstanding stock and have called for its liquidation. We're adding it to the Greenbackd Portfolio.
About NTII
NTII is a biopharmaceutical company historically focused on developing treatments for central nervous system conditions and other serious unmet medical needs. The company recently terminated development of its most advanced product candidate, ViprinexTM. The company has the right to receive royalty payments from the sales of Namenda (memantine HCL), an approved drug marketed for Alzheimer's disease, and potential milestone and royalty payments from the development of XERECEPT, an investigational drug which has completed a Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of swelling associated with cerebral tumors. Additionally, NTII's earlier stage pipeline includes rights to a protein in preclinical development for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The company's investor relations website is here.
The value proposition
NTII has no material ongoing operations as of December 2008. It continued to burn cash through the last quarter. According to the most recent 10Q, however, its cash burn rate should now be "significantly curtailed since the Viprinex program for acute ischemic stroke was terminated in December 2008." The summary of our estimate for the company's liquidation value is set out below (the "Book Value" column shows the assets as they are carried in the financial statements, and the "Liquidating Value" column shows our estimate of the value of the assets in a liquidation):
There are two unusual elements in our summary balance sheet:
Total Liabilities, carried in the balance sheet at $24.6M, have been adjusted down to 35% to remove $16M attributable to deferred revenue and warrant liability. We would not normally adjust the Total Liabilities at all. We have excluded these amounts from the Total Liabilities in this instance because the company "[does] not believe these items will ever require cash payments from us" (see Liquidity and Capital Resources in the most recent 10Q).
Long Term Investments, carried in the balance sheet at $9M, have only been discounted by 20%, rather than our usual 80%. The Long Term Investments are predominantly AAA-rated auction rate securities (ARS) that continue to pay interest. The figure for the ARS in the balance sheet reflects the ARS's purchase price less impairment charges of $1.6M at December 31, 2008. From the most recent 10Q:
Beginning in February 2008, failed auctions occurred throughout the ARS market, and since then all auctions for NTI's ARS have been unsuccessful. While the credit rating of these securities remains high and the ARS are paying interest according to their terms, as a result of the potentially long maturity and lack of liquidity for ARS, the Company believes the value of the ARS in NTI's portfolio has been impaired. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008, the Company recorded an impairment charge to reduce the carrying value of the ARS. The impairment charge was based on a model of discounted future cash flows and assumptions regarding interest rates. The Company has also recorded an unrealized loss of $1,360,000 on its ARS at December 31, 2008 based on a decrease in the estimated fair value since the impairment charge was initially recorded. Due to recent wide and rapid fluctuations in the credit markets, combined with the Company's low forecasted operating expenses in comparison to its cash and investments balances, the Company believes the current fiscal year decline in estimated market price for the ARS to be temporary. The Company believes it has the ability to hold its ARS until recovery of the temporary decline in value. All other unrealized gains and losses were immaterial. The Company has classified its ARS as long-term at December 31, 2008, and all other investments are classified as short-term.
Accordingly, we believe that a 20% discount to the value of the ARS carried in the Long Term Investments is sufficient, if overly cautious.
XERECEPT®
NTII sold the rights to XERECEPT to Celtic Pharmaceuticals in 2005. Celtic Pharmaceuticals has continued to develop XERECEPT and recently announced that it has retained an investment bank to assist with the sale of XERECEPT. NTII is entitled to receive between 13% and 22% of the net proceeds received by Celtic Pharmaceuticals upon the sale of XERECEPT. We don't know if the sale process will be successful or if NTII will receive any payment, but it does present the possibility of additional value to stockholders of NTII.
According to the 10Q, NTII has "no off-balance sheet arrangements that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on our consolidated financial condition, changes in our consolidated financial condition, revenues or expenses, consolidated results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources."
NTII's noncancelable contractual obligations set out in its 10Q are as follows:
Active ingredient production/purification and operation of a snake farm. Raw venom of the Malayan pit viper was the starting material for the active ingredient in Viprinex, and was produced by Nordmark in Germany where Nordmark maintained a colony of snakes in a manufacturing facility. We agreed to make monthly payments to Nordmark for our supply of the active ingredient and for the fully burdened costs of operating the snake farm until such time as either 1) the agreement is terminated pursuant to specified terms or 2) commercial production commences. If the agreement is terminated by us prior to commercialization, we are required to make a termination payment of up to €2.8 million (or approximately $3.7 million at the December 31, 2008 exchange rate) to Nordmark. We have notified Nordmark of our intent to terminate the agreement and remove the snakes located at the facility. Under the terms of the agreement, we are responsible for specified operating costs of the facility as long as the snakes are at the facility. We have identified several reptile zoos willing to take snakes, and are in process of completing the arrangements for the transfer of the snakes. We cannot estimate the costs for this process, but we currently expect it to be completed by March 31, 2009.
Clinical Research Organizations. We had agreements in place with several Clinical Research Organizations for work needed on the clinical trials in various foreign countries. We generally paid the CROs on a monthly or quarterly basis for work as it was performed, and the terms of most of the agreements allow them to be cancelled with no obligations beyond the costs incurred by the CROs to the time of termination. Our CROs have closed down the clinical trial and are in the process of reconciling pass-through costs for the clinical trial and amounts we have paid compared to actual costs incurred. We have accrued expenses as of December 31, 2008 which we believe are appropriate under the agreements, and are holding further payments to the CROs until we are satisfied that all costs are justified under the agreements. We expect resolution with all CROs in the third or fourth quarter of our fiscal year ending June 30, 2009.
Medical facilities conducting the clinical trials. We generally pay medical facilities for each patient enrolled into our trials, and withhold a portion of total site compensation until all data required in the clinical trial protocol is received. The portion withheld is recorded as a liability in our consolidated financial statements. As we receive the final data from each site we authorize the release of the final payments called for under the agreements. We expect this process to be completed by March 31, 2009.
Data management. We pay outside service organizations on a monthly or quarterly basis for services related to managing the data collected from the clinical trial. We have recorded an accrued liability for the charges we expect to incur, and the service organizations are in process of reconciling the payments from NTI to the actual charges incurred. We expect this process to be completed by June 30, 2009.
License agreement for Viprinex. We have an exclusive worldwide license for all human therapeutic indications for Viprinex from Abbott. Under this license, we have an obligation to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop Viprinex for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke. If we do not use commercially reasonable efforts to develop Viprinex for stroke Abbott may reclaim rights to develop the product. While no license maintenance payments are required to Abbott, milestone payments of up to $2 million would be due upon various regulatory approvals of Viprinex, along with royalty payments based on worldwide Viprinex sales. In the event we sublicense the rights to Viprinex, additional payments may be due to Abbott based on the terms of the sublicense. We have the right to terminate the agreement upon providing 90 days notice to Abbott, and Abbott has the right to terminate the agreement only in the event of our breach. We presently do not intend to develop Viprinex further under the license from Abbott and expect rights will ultimately be returned under the terms of the agreement. Upon returning the rights to Abbott, we are also required to return all drug material, data and intellectual property to Abbott.
Employees. All of our employees are employed on an "at-will" basis.
Buck Institute for Age Research. We have entered into agreements with Buck for rights to preclinical proteins for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease. The research programs under these agreements may be extended annually and we have the right to terminate the agreements upon 60 days notice if we determine the research program objectives cannot be substantially met. In addition, we have certain milestone obligations to Buck in the event that specified research goals are met. We have notified Buck that we do not intend to extend the research program for Huntington's disease, and are currently reviewing the Buck proposal for the second year of the Alzheimer's disease research program.
While these contractual obligations are significant relative to NTII's net assets, we believe that NTII's interest income and the royalty revenue ($2m in the last quarter) should wash these obligations for the next 12 months, or at least reduce the cash burn rate to between $1M and $2M. The royalty ends in 2009.
Three large shareholders, BVF, Millennium Technology Value Partners and Highland Capital, hold 45% of NTII's outstanding stock. BVF initiated its position in June last year, disclosing a 19.7% holding. According to a later 13D amendment, BVF sent a letter on December 23, 2008 calling on NTII's board:
…to exercise its fiduciary duty to shareholders by winding up NTII in order to return cash to shareholders as quickly and efficiently as possible. The letter explains that costs associated with a liquidation could be limited by immediate, decisive action because [NTII]'s remaining assets are financial and passive in nature requiring negligible activity to manage. The letter calls on [NTII] to take immediate action to maximize shareholder value by returning capital to shareholders, consistent with its fiduciary duties, and to refrain from engaging investment bankers or other advisors (except for the sole purpose of winding up the company), whose self-interests would likely lead to a further drain of capital.
Samuel L. Schwerin (Managing Partner of Millennium Technology Value Partners) filed a 13D amendment on January 6, 2009 disclosing a 7.7% holding (which includes the Millennium Technology Value Partners' holdings disclosed below). Schwerin's purpose for the filing is as follows:
On January 6, 2009, in the context of the failure of the clinical trial for Viprinex, [NTII]'s primary asset, Millennium Technology Value Partners delivered a letter urging [NTII] to take immediate and decisive action to monetize the remaining value of [NTII]'s assets for the benefit of its shareholders. The letter details Millennium's belief that the only remaining course of action for [NTII]'s management and board to pursue is the immediate dissolution and liquidation of the company. Millennium has communicated to management that such dissolution should take the form of an immediate distribution of cash to shareholders, followed by an efficient and timely monetization of remaining assets in a manner designed to maximize proceeds to shareholders. Millennium's letter further suggests that during nearly a dozen conversations between management of [NTII] and Millennium over the past year, management made assurances to Millennium that contingency liquidation plans had been developed in the event of failed Viprinex trials. Millennium expressed its strong belief that these plans should be implemented immediately and that there is no need, nor reason, to waste time or shareholder resources on advisors or to delay the liquidation process in order to explore risky alternative strategies, courses that Millennium believes are likely to result in further diminution of value for all shareholders.
Highland Capital disclosed a 17.6% holding in its original 13D notice filed January 9, 2009. According to the notice:
Highland Capital delivered a letter to NTII requesting the expeditious wind down of [NTII]'s business. In the letter, Highland Capital expressed its belief that, due to the failure of the Viprinex program, [NTII] has no incremental value as an ongoing concern. Highland Capital expressed a strong belief that the only way to return value to the shareholders is through liquidation of [NTII]'s assets. The letter notes that [NTII] is seeking to hire a new CEO and President, and that such action shows an intention to continue operations. Highland Capital believes that the Board should immediately decide to liquidate [NTII], and that hiring a new CEO and President is unnecessary if such action is to be taken.. Highland Capital expressly lists various assets, including cash, currently held by [NTII] which are all capable of near-term liquidation. Highland Capital asserts that it is [NTII]'s Board of Directors' fiduciary duty to the public shareholders to liquidate these assets, wind down business, and return all proceeds to the public shareholders. Highland Capital expressed concern that the Board was considering "strategic options" to continue business which would result in the immediate degradation and eventual loss of all shareholder value.
Millennium Technology Value Partners disclosed a 3.7% holding in its original 13D filing dated January 23, 2009. Annexed to the filing was the following letter:
The Board of Directors of Neurobiological Technologies, Inc.
c/o Abraham E. Cohen, Chairman of the Board
2000 Powell Street, Suite 800
Dear Members of the Board:
As you know, on January 6, 2009 Millennium Technology Value Partners L.P. ("Millennium") delivered a letter to the Board of Neurobiological Technologies, Inc. ("NTI" or the "Company") urging it to take immediate and decisive action to monetize and distribute the Company's remaining assets for the benefit of shareholders. We have since learned through a review of public filings and discussions with you that the Company has received correspondence from stockholders representing 65% of NTI shares expressing a similar point of view. This would appear to constitute a clear mandate from the stockholders of the Company for you to take immediate action to commence an orderly liquidation. We are disappointed that in the face of such an overwhelming directive from your stockholders, you are able to act other than with absolute immediacy to carry out the will of your constituency.
Over the past 14 months, management and members of the Board repeatedly assured Millennium that contingency plans involving liquidation had been developed and would be implemented immediately should Viprinex fail. Now that Viprinex has failed, we can't help but wonder, where is the contingency plan and why hasn't it been implemented? While we appreciate the Company's January 13 announcement regarding the reduction of staff and the trimming of costs, the ultimate inaction on the Board's behalf is alarming. Trimming costs merely lowers the cash burn and slows the rate of decline in shareholder value. It does not stop the decline, and more importantly, it does not seek to return maximum value to shareholders.
We are further concerned by discussions involving the potential engagement of financial advisors. As you know, financial and strategic advisors often require a considerable period of time to "evaluate strategic alternatives" and are compensated in such a way as to place an inherent bias against recommending liquidation, which in NTI's case, is the best, and most immediate, course of action. There is no need, nor reason, to waste time or shareholder resources on advisors or to delay the liquidation process in order to explore risky alternative strategies, courses certain to result in further diminution of value for all shareholders, when the majority of the stockholders of the Company appear to have already made their views perfectly clear. The Board should understand that any action that it takes that would require the approval of its stockholders — other than the prompt liquidation of the Company — will not receive sufficient votes to pass. Accordingly, and by definition, any such attempts would clearly constitute a waste of corporate assets.
Recent discussions with management and members of the Board have further confirmed that "the process of exploring alternatives is ultimately most likely to conclude that liquidation is the best course of action for the shareholders of NTI." Yet 37 days have passed since the failure of Viprinex, "the sole major asset of the Company," without the Board communicating or enacting a plan designed to maximize shareholder value through the dissolution and liquidation of NTI assets. We have even gone so far as to outline a plan of liquidation to the Company that we believe could be approved by a substantial majority of the Company's stockholders. In that plan, excess cash would be immediately distributed to shareholders, with the remaining assets to be liquidated in a timely and orderly manner over the coming months by a shareholder appointed fiduciary, with all proceeds being distributed directly to shareholders immediately upon receipt.
Should the Board have any question that the plan outlined above is in the best interests of shareholders, and that any attempts to pursue an alternative course of action would be over the objection of your stockholders, then we urge you to call a Special Meeting to allow the shareholders to reinforce our own conclusions and those suggested in correspondence from shareholders representing 65% of NTI stock.
To reiterate what we said in our January 6, 2009 letter and have repeated numerous times during our discussions with management, we believe that any action other than the immediate dissolution and liquidation of the Company is an irresponsible waste of corporate assets and will result in a severe impairment of shareholder value. We trust that the best interests of NTI shareholders continue to be of utmost importance to you, the members of the Board, and look forward to your prompt response. If either the Board or management has any questions about the appropriate liquidation plan and how best to implement it, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss it further.
With every day that you fail to take action, the value of the Company declines. We urge you to consider very carefully your primary obligations to your stockholders, and the consequences of your failure to honor these obligations.
Samuel L. Schwerin
At its $0.53 close on Friday, NTII is trading at its net cash value and around two-thirds of our estimate of its $0.81 per share liquidating value. The difference between our estimates for NTII's net cash value and its liquidation value is the $9M in ARS, which we've discounted by 20% to $7.2M, and which the company believes will eventually yield full value. The possibility exists that the upside might be even greater if NTII receives a portion of the net proceeds paid to Celtic Pharmaceuticals upon a sale of XERECEPT. With stockholders representing 45% (note that Samuel L. Schwerin estimates 65%) of the outstanding stock of NTII calling for its liquidation, we feel the company will be under some pressure to accede and that should lead to a reasonably quick resolution. NTII is reminiscent of our position in Avigen Inc (NASDAQ:AVGN), which seems to be working out well. We're adding it to the Greenbackd Portfolio.
NTII closed yesterday at $0.53.
The S&P500 Index closed yesterday at 770.05.
[Full Disclosure: We do not have a holding in NTII. This is neither a recommendation to buy or sell any securities. All information provided believed to be reliable and presented for information purposes only. Do your own research before investing in any security.]
Posted in Activist Investors, Biotechnology Value Fund, Highland Capital Management, Millennium Technology Value Partners, Net Cash Stocks, Neurobiological Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:NTII), Stocks | Tagged Activist investment, Biotechnology Value Fund, Highland Capital Management, Liquidating Value, Millennium Technology Value Partners, Net Cash Stock, Neurobiological Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:NTII) | 5 Comments
on March 31, 2009 at 12:08 am | Reply NTII on the block; engages financial adviser « Greenbackd
[…] Thanks JM. […]
on March 30, 2009 at 10:16 pm | Reply JM
To clarify earlier comment, NTII MIGHT be liquidating, hired RBC to try to sell the company first if that brought greater value to shareholders…
on March 30, 2009 at 10:25 pm | Reply greenbackd
Thanks, JM.
I see NTII is liquidating, but their holding in ARS will be an important determinate of the success of an investment at current prices. If the ARS cannot be sold, (i.e., an Alliance Semiconductor situation) .27 should be backed out as you indicate in your liquidation analysis, to yield a liquidation of .54, with the stock now at .65. If the ARS are redeemed, however, this would be at par, 11.85mm, which would ADD .44 per share rather than the posted .27, so liquidation estimate would be .98 per share.
The ARS held are of the highest quality, unlike the Alliance Semi bonds, and backed by federally guaranteed student loans. There is currently a very limited secondary market in these securities however.
So a limited downside, but cloudy upside, if it becomes clear the Feds Tarp etc. will monetize these bonds then NTII becomes a strong buy, but worst case you would have to wait 30 years to cash out the ARS…
on February 27, 2009 at 12:08 am | Reply OrthoLogic Corporation (NASDAQ:CAPS) « Greenbackd
[…] Given that BVF has filed a 13G notice, which indicates a passive investment, we're not entirely sure what BVF has planned for CAPS. Its possible that it is simply a passive holding. We're reasonably comfortable following BVF into CAPS because of their efforts with Avigen Inc (NASDAQ:AVGN) and Neurobiological Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:NTII). […]


1 April 2019: Thanks to the NUJ, Owen Holdaway's fee for a video shot of an Isis sniper's bullet hitting his friend's chest went from the initial offer for £50 to £6,500. Hear other tales of why it pays to be a member of the NUJ.
6 February 2019: Accountancy firm HW Fisher & Company is running another of its successful seminars on tax for the self-employed and staffers who have recently become freelance.


text:
London, England WC1N 3AX
Submissions should be sent to Rebecca Bynum - [email protected]
Guidelines here.
Media requests: Epic Quest Media
Andre Traversa
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our thirty-second book,The Ladies' Secret Society: History of the Courageous Women of Iran by Manda Zand Ervin.
Trying to make sense of current events in Iran? Think you know the history of the people of Iran? This book — The Ladies' Secret Society — is the book you must read. And its author, Manda Zand Ervin, is the best guide you could find. Ms. Ervin's perspective as a pre-revolution child of Iran and a successful young professional who fled the 1979 Iranian Revolution, at her father's behest—to save her life—gives her credibility as the book's narrator and serves as a powerful vehicle for telling the story of the courageous women of Iran's long history and current events. You will fall in love with these brave women of Iran, and your heart will cry for a future in which their daughters can know freedom and joy.
—Asra Q. Nomani, former Wall Street Journal reporter, Georgetown University professor, and author of Standing Alone: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam
Manda Ervin's new book is a cry of the heart on behalf of Iranian women who were among the first victims of the Islamic Revolution and are now in the forefront of the struggle to take their country back and resume its historic path to freedom and democracy. Manda was a star in the first generation of Iranian woman journalists, trail-blazers who defied centuries-old socio-cultural hang-ups to push gender equality to the top of national priorities in the 1960s and 1970s. As both historic testimony and a good read, Ms. Ervin's book is certain to help with a greater understanding of what many, including some Iranians, regards as the Persian puzzle.
—Amir Taheri, author of The Persian Night: Iran under the Khomeinist Revolution
During the Iranian Islamic revolution, Manda witnessed the execution of many innocent people, including her high school principal who was murdered because she was a woman and the Secretary of Education. She bore witness as her homeland pushed backward to crude 7th century Arabian standards. And she witnessed the effect. Having been educated in the United States, in 1979, she was the managing director of department of statistics and international affairs at the Customs Administration in Iran. She came to United States as a political refugee in 1980, became a citizen three years later, and began her fight for human rights in Iran. She is the founder and president of the Alliance of Iranian Women, a group which has deep connections within the Iranian diaspora and within Iran. Ms. Ervin is frequently consulted by Members of Congress and has testified in Congressional briefings, the Helsinki Commission, and the United Nations. In February of 2008, Ervin was appointed as the United States' Delegate to the United Nations' Commission on the Status of Women. Ervin was the featured speaker at the G8 Summit on Violence against Women in 2009. She received the EMET Speaker of the Truth award in 2012. Ervin has been published by the Hudson Institute, American Thinker, Washington Times and many others. She frequently speaks on human rights and Middle East history.
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our thirty-first book, The Truth is No Defense by Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff:
Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff is a woman caught up in extraordinary times. She has been hectored, vilified, persecuted and prosecuted for the grave offense of telling the truth about Mohammed and his "marriage" to a very young child as related in Islamic sacred literature. Her case has exposed the grave danger to freedom of speech (and thus, freedom of thought itself) in Europe. She fought bravely in the legal arena through the Austrian courts and on to the European Court of Human Rights to defend her freedom (and by extension the rights of all Europeans), to freely voice her opinion. She lost.
In Europe, human rights are no longer thought to be intrinsic to the individual as a gift given by God, but are rather thought to be a gift of the state, which can be limited or revoked at will.
This is a dangerous development and it could be coming to America.
Her book serves as a warning call.
"The persecution and prosecution of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff is an indication of the deep crisis Europe faces today, thanks to its own leaders. This is what totalitarianism looks like."
— Robert Spencer, author of the bestsellers The History of Jihad and The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran.
"A brave champion of liberty in Europe, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff has felt the full weight State prosecution for the "crime" of telling the truth."
— Clare M. Lopez, Vice President for Research and Analysis at the Center for Security Policy, a Washington, D.C. think tank focused on national security issues.
"Sabaditsch-Wolff's loss [at the ECtHR] is Europe's defeat."
— Stephen C. Coughlin, attorney, decorated intelligence officer and noted specialist on Islamic law, ideology and associated issues as they relate to terrorism and subversion.
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our thirtieth book, Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom by Michael Rectenwwald.
Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom begins with familiar cultural politics as points of entry to the book's theme regarding the reach, penetration, and soon the ubiquity of the digital world. In a book about enormous sea changes brought about by digital technology, Google Archipelago begins and ends with the political, in particular with the objectives of the Big Digital conglomerates as global corporate monopoly capitalists or would-be-monopolies.
Google Archipelago argues that Big Digital technologies and their principals represent not only economic powerhouses but also new forms of governmental power. The technologies of Big Digital not only amplify, extend, and lend precision to the powers of the state, they may represent elements of a new corporate state power.
When I read Springtime for Snowflakes and interviewed Michael Rectenwald, I recognized an extremely well-versed insider, a vital source confirming long-standing suspicions while deepening our understanding regarding the hijacking of American higher education by leftist indoctrination. An accomplishment in itself, Michael's analysis has taken a quantum leap in Google Archipelago, tracing leftist ideology to almost all quarters of society, including corporate America and particularly Big Tech, the leading edge of wokeness. With meticulous sourcing and literary eloquence, Rectenwald makes a compelling case that Big Digital represents a leftist authoritarianism, providing appendages for state control of populations, if not representing the makings of a new corporate state itself. Here, Rectenwald establishes himself as an innovative and important public intellectual whose original insights we would ignore at our peril.
—Glenn Beck, political commentator, radio host and television producer
Professor Rectenwald's insightful and illuminating book shows how and why Big Digital monopolies becomes ever more dictatorial as they select and control information and thus shape our thoughts and culture. "The Google Archipelago exhibits blatant double standards, egregious bias, politically motivated designations of 'fake news, ' and tilted search engine algorithms," all manifestations of ingrained authoritarian leftism. While totalitarian Marxism failed as state organization, it has succeeded as the Google Archipelago which systematically imposes "globalist, identity-politics, gender-pluralist, transgender, anti-toxic-masculinist, anti-cisgender, anti-family, anti-nativist, anti-conventionalist, and anti-traditionalist leftism," blocking people and ideas that do not conform, making non-persons and non-facts of them. The ever expanding Big Digital acts governmentally, but its subjects have no rights, and no alternatives. Rectenwald shows how we are being carried along to our fate as prisoners of Google Marxism, or totalitarian corporate socialism, which is arriving as a fait accompli with no votes from us and no means to dissent. Don't say you haven't been warned.
-- Philip Carl Salzman, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, McGill University
This book lives up to its provocative title, illustrating how "Google Marxism" not only tyrannizes over what we can say but even controls how we think and what we can know. In a theoretically-informed and meticulously-documented analysis, Rectenwald offers an unsettling vision of a totalitarian digital future.
-- Janice Fiamengo, Professor of English, University of Ottawa, author of Sons of Feminism: Men Have Their Say
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our twenty ninth book, No One Likes Us, We Don't Care: a UKIP Brexit Memoir by Paul Oakley.
The hilarious tale of the UK Independence Party's journey from rags to riches and back again from a front-line activist.
Paul Oakley had five minutes of fame at a Young Conservative conference when he ripped up a copy of the Maastricht Treaty at the end of his speech attacking John Major s European policy. He stood for the Tories in the 2005 general election but failed to lie convincingly enough to be added to the A list of candidates when David Cameron became party leader. So in 2011 he renounced his Tory membership in a fit of pique and joined UKIP.
Although second-placed candidate on the UKIP London MEP list in 2014, his Brussels posting was thwarted. If the two counterfeit UKIP parties and backfolded ballot papers weren't enough there was a killer blow. A false allegation of sexual assault by a homeless Bulgarian was made against his right-hand man which hit a tabloid front page on polling day.
Commiserated by the party with the post of London regional enforcer, he then had to deal with all sorts of members' escapades, not least those of loose cannons Winston McKenzie and Islamosceptic Anne Marie Waters.
Paul Oakley plotted with Nigel Farage and Arron Banks to knit a net for UKIP MP Douglas Carswell but that spoilsport left the party just before this net was cast and so cheated the hangman. Having cleverly wangled his way to take over as candidate for Carswell's Clacton seat, Oakley performed abysmally there in the 2017 general election and failed to be elected. Again.
Consoled once more with the post of General Secretary which dealt with a higher calibre of misdemeanours, Oakley took on the solemn task of knifing then-leader Henry Bolton and forcing him from office.
Paul Oakley is a firm supporter of new leader Gerard Batten who saved UKIP from bankruptcy in the face of a repugnant legal case and has increased membership by 50%. Yet he remains unconvinced of two things. Firstly, that Gerard's advisor Tommy Robinson is the pantomime villain he is portrayed to be by the mainstream media. Secondly, that Banging On About Islam is wise at a time when all the forces of the establishment are conspiring to betray Brexit.
And if Brexit is betrayed both Oakley and UKIP itself pledge that British politics will thereafter become Emotional .
This personal history from a populist insider also covers the adventures of David Kurten, Peter Whittle, Steve Woolfe, Suzanne Evans, Paul Nuttall and all the others you've forgotten about.
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our twenty eighth book, The Terror of Existence: From Ecclesiastes to Theatre of the Absurd by Theodore Dalrymple and Kenneth Francis.
The cultural death of God has created a conundrum for intellectuals. How could a life stripped of ultimate meaning be anything but absurd? How was man to live? How could he find direction in a world of no direction? What would he tell his children that could make their lives worthwhile? What is the ground of morality?
Existentialism is the literary cri de coeur resulting from the realization that without God, everything good, true and beautiful in human life is destined to be destroyed in a pitiless material cosmos. Theodore Dalrymple and Kenneth Francis examine the main existentialist works, from Ecclesiastes to the Theatre of the Absurd, each man coming from a different perspective. Francis is a believer, Dalrymple is not, but both empathize with the struggle to find meaning in a seemingly meaningless universe.
Part literary criticism, part philosophical exploration, this book holds many surprising gems of insight from two of the most interesting minds of our time.
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our twenty eighth book, Jews Make the Best Demons:'Palestine' and the Jewish Question by Eric Rozenman.
Is it time for Jews to leave Europe? Cover stories in Atlantic and Commentary magazines have asked this question.
At the University of Texas, a visiting Israeli professor had to go about campus in disguise. At Oberlin College, progressive students dismissed the Holocaust as "white-on-white" crime. Such examples proliferate.
Israel is the only Western-style democracy in the greater Middle East, a world leader in medicine, science and technology, a first responder in international humanitarian relief efforts. Yet public opinion surveys find it ranked as a chief threat to world peace.
The post-1945 world of "Never again!" is gone. In Jews Make the Best Demons: "Palestine" and the Jewish Question, published October 22 by New English Review Press, Eric Rozenman examines the post-modern propagation of pre-modern beliefs and the danger not only for the Jewish state and Jews everywhere, but the entire liberal West.
Theodore Herzl expected Zionism's Altneuland, the old-new Jewish state, to at long last normalize the status of the Jewish people. Instead, Rozenman shows antisemitism resurrected through anti-Zionism has made Israel the Neualtjude, the new-old Jew. In the process, today's Israelis, today's Jews have been indicted not as demonic Christ-killers but rather as demonic nation-killers of the Palestinian Arabs.
Jews Make the Best Demons illuminates how:
· "The Jewish question" has troubled Western intellectuals from the Enlightenment on;
· The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, despite early exposure as a forgery, became the mother of all anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, widely distributed by Henry Ford, Adolf Hitler and today across the Middle East;
· Kaiser Wilhelm II in World War I and Hitler in World War II successfully sponsored anti-British, anti-French and anti-Zionist Muslim extremists who would lead directly to today's Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and Iranian leadership;
· The Soviet Union continued what the Kaiser and der Fuhrer had begun, ultimately recruiting the Arab League in support of Moscow's infamous 1975 U.N. Zionism-is-racism resolution;
· As a result, the medieval blood libel against the Jews has been revived in "water-theft" and "organ-stealing" guises and repeatedly in its original form as part of the "Palestine narrative"; and
· Twentieth century Palestinian terrorism, tolerated when largely targeting Israelis and Jews, became the gateway drug for 21st century Islamist terrorism.
Western academics, in deconstructed hostility to objectivity and factual history, have enabled the return of Jew-hatred from the fringe to the mainstream. As French President Emmanuelle Macron, among others, has declared, anti-Zionism is antisemitism.
Rozenman, a former editor of Washington Jewish Week and B'nai B'rith's International Jewish Monthly, argues that the anti-Zionism/antisemitism merger seeks to make of the Jewish state and people what the medieval Church, Marx and Hitler ultimately made of the stateless, oppressed "wandering Jew"—the Devil incarnate, humanity's perpetual enemy. That it does so with early Bolshevik categories like "racist, imperialist and colonialist" amounts to newer bottles for a 2,000-year-old wine.
The renewed blood libel, cloaked in the "Palestinian narrative," is as false as the original and no more likely to be defeated only with facts. Jews Makes the Best Demons concludes that what also is required is a psychological transformation, the one pointed to by psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl. It is a rejection of George Orwell's "streamlined men who think in slogans and talk in bullets" coupled with an embrace of Frankl's "race" of the decent, shunning the indecent who still seek an answer to "the question of Palestine," in reality the question of Israel, the age-old Jewish question.
Of Jews Make the Best Demons, historian Daniel Pipes, publisher of Middle East Quarterly, has written: "Rozenman's cry from the heart establishes the clear connection between the old antisemitism and the new anti-Zionism. Only the blind or the wicked can deny his truth, proven by exemplary research: everyone else will learn from him."
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our twenty seventh book, Springtime for Snowflakes: 'Social Justice' and Its Postmodern Parentage by Michael Rectenwald.
This fiercely honest memoir will piss many people off. Those who just attack its author over it (whether or not they've actually read it) will thereby reconfirm his point: that 'social justice,' as now preached and practiced on most campuses (and not just there) in the United States, is not a legacy of earlier mass movements for (real) social justice, but a religious creed with an effectively totalitarian agenda, birthed in the vast hothouse of postmodern theory. Here's hoping that this book will start real arguments, whether they elaborate its thesis, or modify it, or whatever else it takes to drive the counter-movement that all of us so very badly need.
Mark Crispin Miller, NYU Professor of Media, Culture & Communication. Author of Boxed In: The Culture of TV, The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder, and Fooled Again: The Real Case for Electoral Reform.
This book may be the first of its kind--an academic's 'tell all' of the politicization and collapse of the American Academy. Once an Allen Ginsberg acolyte and leftist fellow traveler, Rectenwald exposes the intellectual origins and fundamental flaws of postmodernism, social justice, identity politics, and many other theories and ideologies of the modern left. Springtime for Snowflakes is the first direct challenge to the world of leftist deconstructionism in which safe spaces are everywhere and intellectualism and learning are slaves to rigid ideology, partisanship, and intolerance to alternative views.
Daniel L. Mallock, Author of Agony and Eloquence: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and a World of Revolution
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our twenty sixth book, Grief and Other Stories by Theodore Dalrymple.
In this, Theodore Dalrymple's second collection of short stories, he begins to let his imagination run. The absurdity of modern life is fully laid bare when taken to extremes. You will laugh through your tears.
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our twenty fifth book, A Family Conspiracy: Honor Killing by Phyllis Chesler.
Phyllis Chesler brings an eloquent and righteous anger to bear against Western feminists for their dual habit of overlooking the plight of Muslim women and blaming Israel, by far the Middle East s most feminist country, for the woes of that region. Daniel Pipes
Phyllis Chesler is by far the bravest and most outspoken American feminist to address the plight of Muslim women. I recommend (that her work) be put on the reading list of every American school. Ayaan Hirsi Ali
To read Phyllis Chesler is to encounter one of the most challenging and original minds in the world today. Alan Dershowitz
Chesler's work is a mark of her strength of character, her enduring warrior spirit, and her fierce, abiding devotion to freedom and equality for all women. Bruce Bawer
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our twenty fourth book, Islamic Gender Apartheid: Exposing a Veiled War Against Women by Phyllis Chesler.
To read Phyllis Chesler is to encounter one of the most challenging and original minds in the world today.—Alan Dershowitz
Phyllis Chesler unveils one of the most dramatic domestic and international problem of our times; that of Islamic gender apartheid, analyzed by a daring and politically incorrect lover of truth.—Bat Ye'or
Phyllis Chesler brings an eloquent and righteous anger to bear against Western feminists for their dual habit of overlooking the plight of Muslim women and blaming Israel, by far the Middle East's most feminist country, for the woes of that region.—Daniel Pipes
Phyllis Chesler, Ph.D, is an Emerita Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies. She is the author of seventeen books, including the 20th century landmark feminist classics Women and Madness (1972); Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody (1986); and Sacred Bond: The Legacy of Baby M (1988). Her 21st century work includes The New Anti-Semitism (2003), The Death of Feminism (2005) and An American Bride in Kabul (2013), which won a National Jewish Book Award, and, in 2016, Living History: On the Front Lines for Israel and the Jews 2003-2015. Her work has been translated into many European languages and into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Hebrew.
Since the Intifada of 2000, Dr. Chesler has focused on anti-Semitism and the demonization of Israel; the psychology of terrorism; the nature of propaganda and the importance of the cognitive war against fact and reason; honor-based violence and the rights of women, dissidents, and gays in the Islamic world. Dr. Chesler has published four studies about honor killings, and penned a position paper on why the West should ban the burqa; these studies have all appeared in Middle East Quarterly. She has submitted affidavits on behalf of Muslim and ex-Muslim women who are seeking asylum or citizenship based on their credible belief that their families will honor kill them. She has archived most of her articles at her website: www.phyllis-chesler.com
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our twenty-third book, The Proper Procedure and Other Stories by Theodore Dalrymple.
Theodore Dalrymple, almost singlehandedly, revived the languishing Essay and in so doing became Britain s answer to Montaigne. In this, his first foray into the Short Story form, he proves himself a rival of Anton Chekhov. His many devoted fans will be delighted.
Once encountered, Theodore Dalrymple has become for many of us a shared treasure the cultured, often mordantly funny social commentator who was for many years a psychiatrist at a British prison. No one else writes so engagingly and so candidly about the world as it is, not as the politically correct would have it be.
—Charles Murray, author of The Bell Curve and Coming Apart
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our twenty-second book, The Islam in Islamic Terrorism: The Importance of Beliefs, Ideas, and Ideology by Ibn Warraq.
Ibn Warraq addresses several misconceptions regarding the cause of Islamic terrorism. Many scholars refuse to take into account the beliefs of the terrorists, and many seem to think that "Islamic terrorism" has emerged only in the last forty years or so. Many analysts believe that the United States was targeted because of its foreign policy, while others opine that we have to dig out the root causes which are essentially socioeconomic, with poverty as the favorite explanation. Ibn Warraq, on the other hand, argues that we must take the beliefs of the jihadists seriously. The acts of ISIS or the Taliban or any other jihadist group are not random acts of violence by a mob of psychopathic, sexually frustrated, impoverished vandals, but carefully and strategically planned operations that are a part of a long campaign by educated, affluent Muslims who wish to bring about the establishment of an Islamic state based on the Shari'a, the Islamic Holy Law derived from the Koran, the Sunna and the Hadith. Nor did Islamic terrorism emerge, ex nihilo, in the past forty years or so. From its foundation in the seventh century, violent movements have arisen seeking to revive true Islam, which its members felt had been neglected in Muslim societies, who were not living up to the ideals of the earliest Muslims. Thus, the answer to the cause of Islamic terrorism, according to Ibn Warraq, lies in Islamic theology (especially the concepts of jihad and Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong), and Islamic history, both of which he examines closely. This is borne out by what the Islamists themselves tell us, hence Ibn Warraq's detailed examination of the writings of key Islamic thinkers of the past, such as Ibn Taymiyya, and modern activists, from Mawdudi to Khomeini.
"Ibn Warraq exemplifies the rarely combined qualities of courage, integrity, and intelligence."
-- BERNARD LEWIS, Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University.
"Ibn Warraq, one of the great heroes of our time"
-- DOUGLAS MURRAY, The Spectator.
"Ibn Warraq is a hero of mine, and it is shameful that he and his writings have not been recognized for their scholarship, courage, and relevance. Ever since Leon de Winter gave me Ibn Warraq's book Why I am Not a Muslim I have cherished it. It has had a profound influence on me, and gave me courage in my own work and activities. His subsequent books have defended Western civilization and have reminded us what we are fighting for. Ibn Warraq deserves our attention and thanks."
-- AYAAN HIRSI ALI, Activist and Author of Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations (2010) and Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now (2015).
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our twenty-first book, Easy Meat: Inside Britain's Grooming Gang Scandal, by Peter McLoughlin.
Those who think that political correctness is only a harmless absurdity perpetrated by intellectuals will soon be laughing on the other side of their face when they read this book.
-- Theodore Dalrymple, author of Threats of Pain and Ruin and Out Into the Beautiful World.
How does a nation commit suicide? Peter McLoughlin's Easy Meat is a harrowing step-by-step chronicle of how Britain is doing just that, by sacrificing its girls to the idols of multiculturalism and political correctness. McLoughlin lays out in heart-wrenching detail how British officials abandoned thousands of unfortunate girls to the depredations of Muslim rape gangs who were inspired and motivated by Islamic teachings on the treatment of infidel women, and did nothing to save them for fear of being called "racist" and "Islamophobic." Young girls and women are the future of any nation; what Britain has done to its own has condemned it to a future of chaos, civil war, and slavery. Peter McLoughlin has done an invaluable service in laying out exactly how it all happened. May this important book serve as a cautionary tale for nations that are still free.
-- Robert Spencer, author of the bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad.
A non-Islamic society which allows its young women and girls to be raped, beaten and treated as literal war-booty by Muslim males is a society teetering on the brink of irrelevance. A non-Islamic society which goes out of its way to suppress the truth behind the Islamic gang-rape scandal and which actively sides against the non-Muslim victims is a society on the brink of extinction. Peter McLoughlin's forensic research details how evils once considered unthinkable and impossible have now became a routine part of everyday life in towns and cities across Great Britain. Mr McLoughlin's majestic investigative work joins all the dots from the life and teachings of the Muslim Prophet Muhammed through to the suicidal moral and cultural relativism of the Politically Correct West. He skewers all who need to be skewered; the politicians, the social workers, the journalists, the police and the media – all who contrived to cover up the most wicked crime of the century lest it give credence to the "political right" who had been warning of just such terrible crimes for the last two decades. Although this book concentrates primarily on the grooming/rape issues, it serves an equally important role in reminding us that we are in a cultural battle for the continuation of Western civilisation and that time is rapidly running out if we wish to overturn the PC establishment before it takes us all down with it. Bravo Mr McLoughlin!
-- Paul Weston, chairman of Liberty GB and leader of Pegida UK.
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our twentieth book, The Tongue is Also a Fire by James Como.
The term rhetoric is much abused these days ( Oh, that s just rhetoric! ), and the art it denotes doesn t fare much better. James Como has worked all his professional life to change that, one CUNY class at a time, and he carries on the good work in this book. He tells of his adventures in the classroom (some of them moving, some hilarious, some hair-raising), and then applies the tools of rhetoric to a variety of writers (Shakespeare, C. S. Lewis, Thornton Wilder), two politicians (Obama, LBJ), and our everyday conversations. Bonus: a loving, though not uncritical, tribute to Mickey Mantle.
— Linda Bridges, National Review editor-at-large, co-author of The Art of Persuasion: A National Review Rhetoric for Writers.
Rhetoric suffers now two unjust popular reputations, one bad, one banal. The bad: empty speech, as in It s nothing but a bunch of rhetoric. The banal: freshman comp. James Como knows it is neither meaningless speechifying toned up with stylistic flourishes nor the methodology for teaching barely literate undergraduates to write the language most of them have been speaking for most of their lives. Rhetoric, properly conceived, is a noble intellectual discipline reaching at least as far back as Aristotle and forward through the medieval Trivium and other stops to modern masters such as Richard Weaver, an ethical imperative for honesty and clarity in argument, explication and conversation. Professor Como belongs to, as he contributes to, that tradition. These essays are instructive and elegant. . . and entertaining: not many writers can arrange the cohabitation in the same book of St. John (the Logos man) and Mickey Mantle perhaps easy work for someone I once saw get Rudolf Otto (The Idea of the Holy) and Branch Rickey into one paragraph.
— Samuel Hux, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, York College of The City University of New York, is a widely published essayist.
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our nineteenth book, Out Into The Beautiful World by Theodore Dalrymple.
In the little essays that follow, I have no grand theory to prove, no single message to convey. Small things and slight occurrences have caught my attention and caused me to reflect a little. I hope only to please the reader.
— Theodore Dalrymple
In his modest claim to have no grand theory or single message, Theodore Dalrymple echoes the great essayist Michel de Montaigne—whom he resembles in wisdom, wit, felicity of prose, and insatiable curiosity, as well.
— Myron Magnet, author of The Founders at Home and editor-at-large of City Journal
This is a constantly engaging and humorous collection of the always informative and original observations of one of the most elegant and erudite contemporary writers in the English language.
— Conrad Black, author of Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom, Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full, A Matter of Principle, Flight of the Eagle: The Grand Strategies That Brought America from Colonial Dependence to World Leadership and Rise To Greatness: A History of Canada from the Vikings to the Present
Theodore Dalrymple has done something that all the severe literary critics had decreed impossible. He has revived the essay. In the course of chasing his hat where it listeth, Dalrymple discovers the extraordinary multifariousness of human life from tender book inscriptions to "healthcare serial killers" and reveals all of it to us in language that is sometimes witty, sometimes tender, sometimes sharp, and always exactly right.
— John O'Sullivan, author of The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World and editor of Quadrant
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our eighteenth book, Unreading Shakespeare by David P. Gontar.
An outstanding Classic in the great tradition of A.C. Bradley, H.C. Goddard, G. Wilson Knight, and Harold Bloom. Together with the groundbreaking Hamlet Made Simple and Other Essays, UNREADING SHAKESPEARE shakes the foundations of Renaissance studies, breathing new life into Othello, Hamlet, Falstaff, Rosalind, and many other characters. Here is the definitive exposition of Shakespeare in the 21st century.
UNREADING SHAKESPEARE
Teaches us how to find the real wisdom of Shakespeare
Shows the major philosophical influence on Shakespeare is not Montaigne but Plato
Introduces Katherine of Aragon as Feminist Hero
Uncovers the comic dimension of Shakespeare s Tragedies
Presents the Socratic Apology of Falstaff
Rescues King Lear from modern oblivion
Writing an essay recently about an important character in Shakespeare, I turned to Mr. Gontar for guidance. He is illuminating, erudite and wise. I couldn't have done better.
—Theodore Dalrymple, author of numerous books, including Anything Goes, Farewell Fear and Threats of Pain and Ruin.
David Gontar's books on Shakespeare contain some of the most impressive writings on the works of the Bard that I have ever read. Gontar's Shakespearean essays fill us with triumphant illumination.
—Ricardo Mena, author of Ver, begin
Surely the best book of writing on Shakespeare in a very long time, UNREADING SHAKESPEARE and its companion, HAMLET MADE SIMPLE, are a revelation at once delightful and amazing.
—Richard Cameron, Co-founder, Institute of Classical Architecture and Art, Atelier and Co.
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our seventeenth book, Islam Through the Looking Glass: The Collected Essays and Reviews of J.B. Kelly, Vol. 3, edited by S.B. Kelly.
The resurgence of Islam is a constant theme in the writings of J.B. Kelly from the 1980s to his death in 2009, and it is appropriate, therefore, that it should be reflected in the title of this third, and final, volume of his collected essays and reviews. The title was, in fact, originally a phrase which he gave to a lecture he delivered to the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C. in 1980. It captures the surreal, Alice in Wonderland, nature of Middle Eastern politics. He intended that the lecture, given to promote his new book on Arabia, the Gulf and the West (Weidenfeld & Nicolson/Basic Books,1980), should enable his American audience to peer through the looking glass of the Middle East and to understand how to navigate the political labyrinth of the Persian Gulf and the wider region. His subsequent essays and reviews written while he was in Washington D.C. were intended to serve the same purpose. The introduction by the editor gives readers a guide to the political context of his writings, especially his involvement in the struggle over the sale of F-15 enhancements and AWACS to Saudi Arabia. The later writings in this volume are the fruits of his retirement in France, from whence he tried to counter the received wisdom about Western policy towards Iraq and other matters.
Reading the essays in this volume one is struck by their relevance to our understanding of the causes of the revolts in the Middle East in 2011 and after against the last generation of oriental despots, and the resurgence of militant Islam. This volume, like the earlier ones, should be required reading for policy-makers in the West.
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our sixteenth book, The Real Nature of Religion by Rebecca Bynum.
In a short book of the most lucid prose, Rebecca Bynum is not afraid to take on the largest questions of human existence and equally unafraid to give them deeply unfashionable answers.
Theodore Dalrymple, author of Life at the Bottom and Threats of Pain and Ruin
This is a riveting, well-paced and lively debunking of moral relativism, atheism, appeasement of militant Islam, and the general drive to dilute spirituality and religion, while perversely amplifying societal and national guilt and shame. The atheist will only enjoy it if wobbling already in those convictions. The concerned, religiously undecided will find it stimulating and persuasive, and the intelligent Judeo-Christian will be uplifted. It is a rigorous argument and for any person interested in these questions, a very good read.
Conrad Black, biographer of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Richard M. Nixon and author of A Matter of Principle, Flight of the Eagle and Rise to Greatness
Every thinking person knows that, for all our capacity to reason, we are enmeshed in mysteries beyond our comprehension. Rebecca Bynum's fine new book, The Real Nature of Religion, undertakes to explain the inexplicable with an admirable mix of clarity, lucidity, learning, and wisdom.
Myron Magnet, author of The Founders at Home and The Dream and the Nightmare
Rebecca Bynum is one of the few religious thinkers raising what is undoubtedly one of the most important, perhaps the most important question, of our time: Can the United States survive if its First Amendment liberties continue to shield an Islam whose objective is to become religiously and politically dominant in every sphere of human endeavor. Unlike too many of our political leaders, Ms. Bynum is widely read and sophisticated about both Islam and Christianity. She understands that Islam is a complex phenomenon that is too different from other religions to be simplistically classified. Islam requires, she argues, a category of its own that excludes First Amendment protection when it seeks a privileged place in the American religious landscape. If we continue on our present path, America as we know it will not long survive. It will go the way of countless other societies whose civilizations have succumbed to Islam.
Richard L. Rubenstein, Distinguished Research Professor of Religion, University of Bridgeport and author of After Auschwitz
Rebecca Bynum's work is a quietly philosophical meditation on the nature of religion, on the soul, faith and morality, and much much more. She clears away the superstitions that have grown up, like weeds, around the core beliefs, and which threaten to choke true religion. Religion must change, and cannot remain mired in the past. Bynum's elegant essay is a courageous look at what she clearly believes in passionately, and an equally fervent plea for the continuous relevance of Christianity in these uncertain times.
Ibn Warraq, author of Why I am Not a Muslim, Sir Walter Scott's Crusades and Other Fantasies and Christmas in the Koran
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our fifteenth book, As Far As The Eye Can See by Moshe Dann.
Moshe Dann's stories are examinations of life as it is really lived, with its share of anxieties and tragedies, its moments of illumination and intimacy. These tender, often sad assessments of our mortal toils do what art is supposed to do: make the reader feel and reflect.
—Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi
Moshe Dann picks with a small chisel at majestic themes. In the most delicate, unassuming and accessible language (George Orwell would very much approve), his characters go about their quotidian tasks (sorry, George!) while underneath large questions roil and bubble to the surface—questions of history, memory, identity, mortality, spirituality, family, despair, desire—even—dare one say it?—love. His characters—vain, unprepossessing, nervous, smart, but underneath filled with doubt, pain, apprehension and a certain obduracy of spirit, even courage—populate a world that Chekhov might recognize, were he to return as a contemporary Jew, hovering between Israel and the United States. Come to think of it, both George and Anton would have cause to utter a resounding, "Mazel tov!"
—Robin Hirsch, author of Last Dance at the Hotel Kempinski
Moshe Dann writes stories of longing and loneliness, of men and women hungry to be loved but unable to offer love. His characters want to make something of their lives, but their inner failures, especially their sense of being victims, stop them. Yet we see, we feel, the potential love they have to offer. This is a beautiful book full of intense feeling; the stories recognize the limitations of Dann's sad protagonists but invite us to see their yearning for life. We re with them though we certainly don't want to be them. They are figures of possibility, people who cry out to live.
—John J. Clayton, author of Many Seconds into the Future
New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our fourteenth book, Threats of Pain and Ruin by Theodore Dalrymple.
Sparklingly funny, unflinchingly realistic, and profoundly wise, these brilliant meditations on our postmodern predicament by the Montaigne of our age impart urbane pleasure and enlightenment on every page.
—Myron Magnet, author of The Founders at Home: The Building of America, 1735-1817
No one else writes so engagingly and so candidly about the world as it is, not as the politically correct would have it be.
— Dr. Charles Murray author of Coming Apart and The Bell Curve
Dr. Dalrymple's eye alights on a topic; his mind dissects it; his imagination embroiders it; his judgment delivers an appropriate verdict, usually condemnation; and his sensibility ensures that all these activities are conceived, argued, and expressed wittily or sadly but always beautifully.
— John O'Sullivan author of The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister
Another brilliant collection from our age's answer to Dr. Johnson and George Orwell. A feast of wit, insight, admonition, and plain old common sense.
— Roger Kimball, author of The Rape of the Masters: How Political Correctness Sabotages Art

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/rootLayout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:visibility="gone">

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="@color/white"
        android:paddingBottom="@dimen/dp_20"
        android:paddingLeft="@dimen/dp_15"
        android:paddingRight="@dimen/dp_15"
        android:paddingTop="@dimen/dp_20">

        <LinearLayout
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="3">

            <TextView
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:text="五日盈亏数"
                android:textColor="@color/font_333"
                android:textSize="@dimen/fontSize_15sp" />
        </LinearLayout>

        <LinearLayout
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="7"
            android:orientation="vertical">

            <LinearLayout
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:gravity="center_vertical">

                <TextView
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:text="买涨"
                    android:textColor="@color/font_333"
                    android:textSize="@dimen/fontSize_13sp" />

                <TextView
                    android:id="@+id/buyUp"
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_marginLeft="@dimen/dp_10"
                    android:text="1999.00"
                    android:textColor="@color/font_333"
                    android:textSize="@dimen/fontSize_13sp" />

                <TextView
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_marginLeft="@dimen/dp_40"
                    android:text="买跌"
                    android:textColor="@color/font_333"
                    android:textSize="@dimen/fontSize_13sp" />

                <TextView
                    android:id="@+id/buyDown"
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_marginLeft="@dimen/dp_10"
                    android:text="1999.00"
                    android:textColor="@color/font_333"
                    android:textSize="@dimen/fontSize_13sp" />
            </LinearLayout>

            <LinearLayout
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_marginTop="@dimen/dp_15"
                android:gravity="center_vertical">

                <TextView
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:text="建仓"
                    android:textColor="@color/font_333"
                    android:textSize="@dimen/fontSize_13sp" />

                <TextView
                    android:id="@+id/createDepot"
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_marginLeft="@dimen/dp_10"
                    android:text="1999.00"
                    android:textColor="@color/font_333"
                    android:textSize="@dimen/fontSize_13sp" />

                <TextView
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_marginLeft="@dimen/dp_40"
                    android:text="平仓"
                    android:textColor="@color/font_333"
                    android:textSize="@dimen/fontSize_13sp" />

                <TextView
                    android:id="@+id/flatDepot"
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_marginLeft="@dimen/dp_10"
                    android:text="1999.00"
                    android:textColor="@color/font_333"
                    android:textSize="@dimen/fontSize_13sp" />
            </LinearLayout>
        </LinearLayout>
    </LinearLayout>

    <include layout="@layout/ly_space" />

</LinearLayout>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Bodog WSOP Winner Jamie Gold Just Can't Win: Barcelona Poker Raid
C Costigan
2006 World Series of Poker winner and one time Bodog representative, Jamie Gold, was scheduled to be the key speaker at this week's Casino Affiliate Poker conference and Affiliate Poker World Series. That event was raided over the weekend, Gambling911.com is learning. Gold was not believed to have been detained.
Barcelona police raided the Hotel Princesa in Barcelona Spain on Sunday where the Casino Affiliate Programs (CAP) poker tournament was taking place.
All gambling equipment was confiscated. Gambling911.com was also being told that the organizers were detained.
The biggest WSOP winner ever was slated to be running an exclusive poker coaching session for the Affiliate Series of Poker (ASOP) qualifiers and an autograph signing session.
Jamie Gold was embroiled in a much ballyhooed controversy following his big WSOP win.
A lawsuit between Gold and Los Angeles based television producer Bruce Crispin Leyser was settled out of court.
The lawsuit filed by Leyser asserted that Gold had promised him 50% of his proceeds from the WSOP for securing celebrity talent in the name of Bodog. Bodog sponsored Gold's seat in exchange for delivery of the celebs to play in the event, and Leyser's lawsuit claimed the men had agreed to 'split the seat' when Leyser was the one who came up with the celebrity talent.
Bodog cut ties with Mr. Gold shortly after his win. That beleaguered online gambling company was also a sponsor at CAP.
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
Gambling Companies


text:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Delivers Scathing Condemnation of Trump After His Immigration Speech
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addresses the crowd gathered at La Boom night club in Queens on November 6, 2018 in New York City. Photo by Rick Loomis/Getty Images
By Remezcla Estaff | 6 months ago
As expected, President Donald Trump addressed the nation Tuesday night and spewed racist insults and lies. With the federal government partially shut down because Congress won't fund his border wall, Trump used the opportunity to malign undocumented immigrants. To combat his words, outlets fact checked his claims and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer delivered a response. But one of the most important messages from the night came from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show.
Alexandria – who has received criticism from both those on the right and the left – spoke about coming into her new role in the midst of the government shutdown. She criticized Trump for holding people's paychecks hostage to fund the border wall and for stating "falsehood after falsehood."
"Every day immigrants commit crimes at a far lower rate than native-born Americans," she said. "And not only that, but the women and children on the border seeking refuge and opportunity in the US with nothing but the shirt on their backs are acting more American than any person who seeks to keep them out ever will be."
While reminding us that Trump has a history of discrimination, she explained how New York – particularly in Queens and the Bronx – has seen growth because of immigrant communities. But that unfortunately, Trump has made more immigrants feel unsafe. Alexandria, who worked as a bartender before being elected to office, added that one of the cooks at the restaurant she worked at decided to return to Mexico because of Trump's rhetoric.
"No one should feel unsafe in the United States of America and that includes our amazing and beautiful and productive immigrant community," she said. "And moreover, the one thing that the president has not talked about is the fact that he has systematically engaged in the violation of international human rights on our border."
She went on to explain how Immigration and Custom Enforcement violate human rights regularly and that no one deserves the treatment undocumented immigrants are subjected to when in ICE custody. AOC also condemned Trump for saying he is for "legal immigration," but for limiting the ways that people can enter the country.
"He's fighting against almost every way that people can actually legally enter this country, forcing them to become undocumented and then he's trying to attack their undocumented status," she said. "This is systematic. It is wrong, and it is anti-American. And again, those women and children trying to come here with nothing but the shirts on their back to create an opportunity and to provide for this nation are acting more in an American tradition than this president is right now."
Check out her comments below.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, immigration. Wednesday, January 9, 2019 at 11:03 AM EDT by Remezcla Estaff
Trump's Harmful Family Separation Policy Kept a Toddler From His Mom for 85 Days
Watch the Emotional Reunion of a Guatemalan Mom & Daughter Affected by Trump's Family Separation Policy
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Critics Can't Keep Up With Her Snappy Clap Backs
Therese Patricia Okoumou Isn't Sorry She Scaled the Statue of Liberty to Fight for Immigrant Children
5 Young Activists on What Abolishing ICE Actually Means
5 Necessary Resources for Undocumented Immigrants Trying to Renew DACA
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Using Instagram to Give Everyday People a Look at Congress Behind the Scenes
What You Can Do to Demand Justice for Jakelin, the 7-Year-Old Girl Who Died in CBP Custody
UP NEXT: Trump's Harmful Family Separation Policy Kept a Toddler From His Mom for 8...


text:
De Hoop is een in 1843 gebouwde korenmolen in het Nederlandse dorp Abbenbroek (provincie Zuid-Holland). De ronde stenen molen is flesvormig gebouwd: de romp heeft een uitgesproken insnoering. De molen is tot 1947 als zodanig in gebruik geweest, daarna werd in de molen elektrisch gemalen. In 1974 heeft de toenmalige gemeente Abbenbroek de molen gekocht. In 1979 is de molen gerestaureerd en maalvaardig gemaakt. Sinds 1980 is de gemeente Nissewaard eigenaar van de molen. De Hoop is, evenals de bijbehorende graanschuur en molenaarswoning, een Rijksmonument en valt tegenwoordig onder het beheer van de stichting Molenbehoud Nissewaard. De molen is op afspraak en wanneer de molen draait, te bezichtigen.

Externe link
 Korenmolen De Hoop Abbenbroek
 Stichting Molenbehoud Nissewaard

Molen in Nissewaard
Rijksmonument in Nissewaard
Korenmolen
Grondzeiler
Maalvaardige molen

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Pre-Owned, Lux Limited PZEV 4dr Sedan, Black interior, Gas, 22(city)/31(highway) mpg, Auto 6 speed, I4, 2.00L, Front wheel drive. ***CC***LUX***TURBO MURDOCK NO REGRETS CERTIFIED!! NO REGRETS MEANS 150 POINT INSPECTION, NO QUESTIONS ASKED 5 DAY 500 MILE EXCHANGE POLICY AND A WORRY FREE WARRANTY!! Recent ... 4/1/2019 ~ Lindon, Utah ~ 7.7 mi.
Pre-Owned, TDI S 4dr Wagon 6A, Titan Black interior, Diesel, 31(city)/42(highway) mpg, Auto 6 speed, I4, 2.00L, Front wheel drive. ***TDI***DEISEL***WAGON MURDOCK NO REGRETS CERTIFIED!! NO REGRETS MEANS 150 POINT INSPECTION, NO QUESTIONS ASKED 5 DAY 500 MILE EXCHANGE POLICY AND A WORRY FREE WARRANTY!! ... 4/1/2019 ~ Lindon, Utah ~ 7.7 mi.
Pre-Owned, 2.0T R-Line 4dr Sedan, Moonrock Gray interior, Gas, 25(city)/36(highway) mpg, Auto 6 speed, I4, 2.00L, Front wheel drive. MURDOCK NO REGRETS CERTIFIED!! NO REGRETS MEANS 150 POINT INSPECTION, NO QUESTIONS ASKED 5 DAY 500 MILE EXCHANGE POLICY AND A WORRY FREE WARRANTY!! Recent Arrival! ... 4/1/2019 ~ Lindon, Utah ~ 7.7 mi.


You are so deserving of self-love, overall health, and internal balance. Part of maintaining a life like this is remembering to check in even when beautiful momentum hits. Because as important as it is to enjoy the ride of beautiful momentum we sometimes end up exhausted from it. We wonder why, only to look down and realize we are riding with both hands holding on, too tightly clenched.
This is the point where we need to figure out how to stay on the ride while letting go just enough to relax our grip on things, in order to stay fully connected with the beauty.
For myself, beautiful momentum is hitting me through my work as a Reiki practitioner.
I could not be more grateful! As I sit here writing this to you, I am filled with loving thoughts of the people I have been able to support thus far.
I am also filled with a fiery type feeling with thoughts of the work that is still to come.
I have been thinking about what would be the best way to continue this work, and to grow it, while loosening my grip just enough to stay present with the momentum. How can I support others 100% if I am not continuously supporting myself, doing this work?
So here I am, sharing my thoughts with you, and with great excitement presenting an updated version of my services!
Thank you so much for your support! I look forward to this updated chapter!
Please forward this post to anyone you feel might benefit from support through Reiki.


text:
Mori to make world debut in Pacific talks
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori makes his debut on the world stage today by hosting a summit involving Japan and South Pacific island nations and territories in the city of Miyazaki.
For Mori, the second Japan-South Pacific Forum Summit is the first international conference he has hosted since he took office earlier this month after his predecessor, Keizo Obuchi, suffered a massive stroke.
The one-day summit — the Pacific Island Leaders Meeting (PALM) 2000 — was an idea Obuchi had proposed in a meeting in December in Tokyo with SPF Chairman and Palau President Kunio Nakamura.
The city is also scheduled to host a meeting of Group of Eight foreign ministers on July 12 and July 13.
Okinawa will then host the G8 summit from July 21 to July 23.
When they get together today, the island leaders are expected to address issues such as sustainable development, common objectives and enhanced partnership between Japan and the SPF, Japanese officials said.
The officials also said the PALM gathering will allow Mori to hear opinions from around the region so he can reflect them at the G8 summit.
The 16-member SPF consists of Australia, New Zealand, Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, as well as Niue and the Cook Islands under New Zealand's administration.
Australia and New Zealand are represented by their foreign ministers, while non-SPF New Caledonia, which is a French territory, will take part as an observer.
On Friday, Mori met with Nakamura and the two leaders reaffirmed that they plan to ensure the Japan-SPF summit is a success.
On the eve of the second Japan-SPF summit, Mori told Nakamura at his Official Residence in Tokyo that Japan wants to issue a "bright message aimed at the common future of Japan and the SPF" at the talks, a Japanese official said.
Expressing his appreciation for Japan's efforts to prepare for the summit, Nakamura expressed his confidence in Mori's chairmanship for the talks, the official said.
Foreign Minister Yohei Kono held a series of meetings with his counterparts from Papua New Guinea and New Zealand the same day.
During talks with PNG Foreign Minister John Kaptin, Kono conveyed Japan's intention to consider new yen-denominated loans to the country to support its structural economic reforms, a separate Japanese official said.
Kono then exchanged views with his New Zealand counterpart, Phil Goff, on bilateral relations, the situation in East Timor, reform of the United Nations Security Council and preservation of whales and tuna in the South Pacific, the official said.
Kono and Goff clashed over long-standing disputes on Japan's whaling, tuna catches and shipments of nuclear fuel.
But they agreed not to allow their differing opinions to overshadow the otherwise sound relations between the two nations, the official added.
"We should be able to resolve disputes through dialogue, given our good relations," Kono was quoted as saying.
Goff stressed that countries with sound ties do not necessarily agree on all issues, the official said.