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Is another war in the making? (See 1 and 1a below.)
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Biden's mental issues are legitimate and therefore, discuss-able. (See 2 below.)
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Next month various reports should finally become public pertaining to the genesis of The Russian Collusion matter and those involved. (See 3 below.)
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I constantly receive op ed's from my liberal friends:
https://www.washingtonpost.https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/27/fact- checking-president-trumps-g- news-conference/
story.htm
That was a rant not an article about new Jewish leadership. An uncritical conspiracy-oriented description that lumps
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sixty-eight- minutes-in-biarritz-a-glimpse- in-to-trumps-unorthodox-mind/ 2019/08/26/25a26f60-c823-11e9- 8067-196d9f17af68_story.html
Finally:
That was a rant not an article about new Jewish leadership. An uncritical conspiracy-oriented description that lumps
anti-Israel organizations and anti-ICE organizations.
I oppose the anti-Jewish tropes of the squad. Yet Israel has chosen to leave itself exposed to a valid critique for its
ongoing occupation policies. Israel highlighted these tendencies by refusing Congress people entry at the suggestion
of Trump. It shows itself as a country that can’t handle critique and Bibi’s inability to act independently of Trump. In
, Israeli foreign policy is a disaster. I don’t care if the President or some ranting blogpost calls me disloyal or
.
I will stand up with my values-based Jewish-Zionist perspective which includes a critique of Israel.
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Talk about sick::
Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin says U.S. must ‘burn down the Republican Party’
Meanwhile AOC seems to have done a little burning of the bridges herself:
It fails to see that it is a Jewish value to stand up for the image of God in every person, even if they enter the country
illegally.
Yes, there is a problem with the watering down of Judaism by those who use it for their political gains, but that is
exactly what that ranting is all about. Of course he thinks he has the truth since he speaks in the name of Judaism
and against those with different values than his.
While I appreciate you focusing on spinning Trump as a sound politician, just make sure you don’t whitewash home
so much that you overlook the stains.
Trump didn’t say that Jews were disloyal for opposing Bibi. He said that Jews who support democrats are disloyal.
What he is really saying is that Jews who don’t support his nativist ideology are disloyal to King Trump.
ongoing occupation policies. Israel highlighted these tendencies by refusing Congress people entry at the suggestion
of Trump. It shows itself as a country that can’t handle critique and Bibi’s inability to act independently of Trump. In
, Israeli foreign policy is a disaster. I don’t care if the President or some ranting blogpost calls me disloyal or
.
I will stand up with my values-based Jewish-Zionist perspective which includes a critique of Israel.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Talk about sick::
Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin says U.S. must ‘burn down the Republican Party’
Meanwhile AOC seems to have done a little burning of the bridges herself:
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Dick
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1)
Tensions are running high in the Gaza Strip and in Judea and Samaria and the slightest incident could cause things to spiral out of control. If Hamas, despite signals to the contrary, is fanning the flames, it will give Israel little choice but to mount a forceful response.
The manhunt for the terrorists who murdered Lod resident Rina Shnerb, 17, on Friday at Danny Spring near the settlement of Dolev in Samaria's Binyamin Regional Council is in full swing and is currently focused on intelligence gathering. Past experience has taught us that the terrorists are on borrowed time and won't be able to stay in hiding for much longer.
The investigation into Friday's attack has been placed under a gag order, but according to available details, the explosive device used by the terrorist was planted ahead of time on a path known to draw many Israelis as well as Palestinians. This means that the cell was probably watching the area, to make sure they target Israelis.
The IDF secures Danny Spring every Friday, to ensure the safety of those who bathe in it, and the terrorists were probably aware of that. The terrorists may have triggered the device when they did to allow themselves enough time to escape the scene before security forces arrived.
That investigation aside, the defense establishment must also look at the bigger picture and the rise in terrorism in Judea and Samaria, which cannot be ignored.
The fact that four terrorist attacks have taken place in Judea and Samaria in just two weeks indicates that motivation is high and is only getting higher, and defense officials have warned that copycat attacks may soon become more prevalent.
It is currently unknown whether the terrorists who murdered Shnerb mounted the attack independently or on orders from one of the Gaza Strip-based terrorist groups. This is a key issue that must be clarified because if they were doing an organization's bidding – particularly Hamas – Israel will not be able to look the other way.
Hamas has never made it a secret that it seeks to create terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank, but to actually have West Bank-operatives carry out a terrorist attack against Israelis – certainly a high-profile one – will leave Israel little choice on whether to retaliate.
Hamas is playing with fire and the flames could surge out of control at any moment, despite the fact that its leaders are trying to avoid an outright war.
Desperate to lift the blockade imposed on Gaza, Hamas' efforts with this respect are directly linked to the mitigation that Israel affords the Strip and, of course, the flow of Qatari money into the coastal enclave.
But the situation in Gaza is racing toward the point of no return, as is evident by the growing number of attempts to breach the border fence. Hamas security forces are trying to prevent such incidents, but much like in Judea and Samaria, this spells a gradual escalation: the situation on the ground is simmering, emotions are running high, mediation attempts are only partially successful and it seems that the slightest provocation – certainly in the form of a terrorist attack that claims civilian lives – could set the entire sector off.
Tensions are bubbling in Judea and Samaria, as well. The Palestinians see election season as a time of weakness on Israel's part, and this time, the election will be followed by the High Holidays. The IDF will need to do more than just reinforce its deployment on the ground, as will Israeli civilians, who must exercise extra caution.
1a) Hezbollah and Lebanese allies are building a case for war – analysis
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN
Hezbollah and its allies are building a case for war and Lebanon’s media and other officials are fueling the tensions with assertions that drones that crashed in Beirut carried bombs. Whether or not the drones carried C4 explosives or that their aim was to carry out a bombing or target an individual is not particularly important because what matters is the calculations going on beneath the surface in Lebanon.
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun by inferring that the incident marks a kind of “declaration of war” ups the rhetoric and the chances that a green light has been given to Hezbollah to retaliate. The main issue Hezbollah has faced in the past, since Israel’s withdrawal in 2000, is to try to create a legitimate reason for maintaining a massive armed group within a functioning state. It has been able to keep its arsenal, not only because no one can disarm it, but also through claiming it is part of a “resistance” that “defends” Lebanon. As such it claimed after 2000 that it must recover the “Sheba farms” or “Mount Dov” area on the border, a disputed territory with Israel and Syria. Suddenly, a tiny area became the reason for Hezbollah’s existence. This was all a veneer for the real reason of Hezbollah’s existence, which is that as an Iranian proxy and ally which wants the group to continue stockpiling its weapons and building up its infrastructure along Israel’s border to threaten Israel.
Hezbollah doesn’t keep secret its regional ambitions. It fought in the Syrian civil war, it has contact with Shi’ite militias in Iraq, it talks about the Houthis in Yemen as if they are a part of its strategy. It shows images of Al-Aqsa as if it is the main champion of the Palestinian case against US President Donald Trump’s Deal of the Century. At every juncture its role is regional and global. Two small drones, one of which apparently caught on video was far from clandestine, sounding more like a flying washing machine on spin cycle, are merely Hezbollah’s icing on the cake justifying its “right” to respond. This is lip service because Israel uncovered Hezbollah tunnels in December 2018 which showed Hezbollah as having violated the 2006 UN Resolution 1701. So, Aoun says that the drone incident also violates the resolution. This is to create a legal pretext and cover should hostilities begin. Hezbollah and its allies in Lebanon, including President Aoun, are thus already creating the context for the post-war scenario.
Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, whose father Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was murdered in an assassination likely carried out with Hezbollah’s aid, has seemingly forgotten about the 2005 tragedy. He, too, has condemned Israel but hedged his bets by arguing that it is not in the interest of Lebanon to spiral into a dangerous escalation. He hopes that friends in Washington, or Riyadh, can calm things down. The Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, has also spoken with the Kuwaitis and condemned the “Israeli aggression.” Berri is a Shi’ite from the Amal movement.
Is this just a lot of posturing designed by Hezbollah to test the Israeli alertness? Hassan Nasralla recalls the last war and he knows what Hezbollah will face. He also knows his forces lost many casualties in Syria but, they also gained experience there. Unsurprisingly, rhetoric leads the way with talk of “opening the gates of hell” now that the “investigation” has found that the drones were allegedly armed.
Nasrallah has a problematic calculation to make. His allies in Iran are not entirely clear on what the best response is and Hassan Rouhani is discussing a possible meeting with the US under some conditions. Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Qasem Soleimani and Iran’s allies in Iraq have also appeared to green light a kind of “declaration of war.” Yet none of them seem to want to fight the war they have declared, despite their assertions that Israel and the US are behind attacks across the region. Nasrallah’s movement is not the movement of 2006, it is more closely linked to issues in Syria and Iraq today than in the past. It understands this linkage and has to weigh it against its desire to react with a response in the wake of the drone incident.
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Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun by inferring that the incident marks a kind of “declaration of war” ups the rhetoric and the chances that a green light has been given to Hezbollah to retaliate. The main issue Hezbollah has faced in the past, since Israel’s withdrawal in 2000, is to try to create a legitimate reason for maintaining a massive armed group within a functioning state. It has been able to keep its arsenal, not only because no one can disarm it, but also through claiming it is part of a “resistance” that “defends” Lebanon. As such it claimed after 2000 that it must recover the “Sheba farms” or “Mount Dov” area on the border, a disputed territory with Israel and Syria. Suddenly, a tiny area became the reason for Hezbollah’s existence. This was all a veneer for the real reason of Hezbollah’s existence, which is that as an Iranian proxy and ally which wants the group to continue stockpiling its weapons and building up its infrastructure along Israel’s border to threaten Israel.
Hezbollah doesn’t keep secret its regional ambitions. It fought in the Syrian civil war, it has contact with Shi’ite militias in Iraq, it talks about the Houthis in Yemen as if they are a part of its strategy. It shows images of Al-Aqsa as if it is the main champion of the Palestinian case against US President Donald Trump’s Deal of the Century. At every juncture its role is regional and global. Two small drones, one of which apparently caught on video was far from clandestine, sounding more like a flying washing machine on spin cycle, are merely Hezbollah’s icing on the cake justifying its “right” to respond. This is lip service because Israel uncovered Hezbollah tunnels in December 2018 which showed Hezbollah as having violated the 2006 UN Resolution 1701. So, Aoun says that the drone incident also violates the resolution. This is to create a legal pretext and cover should hostilities begin. Hezbollah and its allies in Lebanon, including President Aoun, are thus already creating the context for the post-war scenario.
Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, whose father Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was murdered in an assassination likely carried out with Hezbollah’s aid, has seemingly forgotten about the 2005 tragedy. He, too, has condemned Israel but hedged his bets by arguing that it is not in the interest of Lebanon to spiral into a dangerous escalation. He hopes that friends in Washington, or Riyadh, can calm things down. The Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, has also spoken with the Kuwaitis and condemned the “Israeli aggression.” Berri is a Shi’ite from the Amal movement.
Is this just a lot of posturing designed by Hezbollah to test the Israeli alertness? Hassan Nasralla recalls the last war and he knows what Hezbollah will face. He also knows his forces lost many casualties in Syria but, they also gained experience there. Unsurprisingly, rhetoric leads the way with talk of “opening the gates of hell” now that the “investigation” has found that the drones were allegedly armed.
Nasrallah has a problematic calculation to make. His allies in Iran are not entirely clear on what the best response is and Hassan Rouhani is discussing a possible meeting with the US under some conditions. Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Qasem Soleimani and Iran’s allies in Iraq have also appeared to green light a kind of “declaration of war.” Yet none of them seem to want to fight the war they have declared, despite their assertions that Israel and the US are behind attacks across the region. Nasrallah’s movement is not the movement of 2006, it is more closely linked to issues in Syria and Iraq today than in the past. It understands this linkage and has to weigh it against its desire to react with a response in the wake of the drone incident.
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2)
Biden’s Mental Condition Isn’t a Joke
By Erick Erickson
Like many on the political right, I’ve spent years laughing at Joe Biden’s hapless and, let’s be honest, cartoonish political life. I don’t particularly dislike the man at all. He seems genial, friendly, and someone who tries his best to do the right thing, even if his political ideology is batty. But you can’t compile […]
The post Biden’s Mental Condition Isn’t a Joke appeared first on The Resurgent.
Read in browser »
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3) Column: Andrew McCarthy’s book ‘Ball of Collusion’ thoughtfully connects the dots on Clinton and Obama
By John Kass - Chicago Tribune
I interviewed Andrew McCarthy about his new book, “Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency,” because it is a critically important read for thoughtful people.
“This is a story about hubris,” is how it begins.
Thoughtful people know that for all our grand monuments carved of granite and marble, a republic is an extremely fragile thing. Especially now, as a cynical establishment seeks restoration, as establishment Kemalist bureaucrats run for cover, and as the divisions in our nation widen and public discourse sounds like rival packs of angry barking dogs.
And in a few weeks, sooner perhaps, the dogs will begin barking even louder upon release of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on his investigation of possible Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses by the Justice Department and the FBI as they looked into Donald Trump and Russia.It all starts with hubris.
“This is why people who start out with the best of intentions to protect the country get to the point where they forget what the country is about,” McCarthy said on my podcast, “The Chicago Way.”
And what America is about, in part, he said, is this:
“A self-determining people that has a government that is supposed to serve the people,” he said.
“The turnaround here is that high officials think they are a government that happens to have people associated with it, but they are the ones who know what’s best for the country.”
Certainly, Citizen Barack Obama understood how federal power could be abused as he lectured on the Constitution at the University of Chicago, not too far from where Chicago plans to build him a great temple.
But did President Obama worry about this when he convened that secret White House meeting on Jan. 5, 2017, just as Trump was about to take control?John Brennan of Obama’s CIA was at that meeting. And Vice President Joe Biden. James Comey, then of the FBI, was there, as were national security adviser Susan Rice (who lied for the Obama White House about the Benghazi disaster) and other intelligence bosses.
Weeks later, on Jan. 20, some 20 minutes after Trump was sworn in as president, Rice was still in the White House, about to leave. But first she wrote a curious email memorializing that Jan. 5 meeting.
She said Obama insisted that everything they were doing was done “by the book.”Who talks like that, unless it’s someone covering their behinds?
“You certainly don’t need to say that someone reminded us all that we have to do everything by the book if you’ve been doing things by the book for the past eight years,” McCarthy told me. “You don’t have to tell people who are ‘by the book’ people to do things by the book.”
The real collusion was that the Obama administration put the awesome powers of the federal government — law enforcement and intelligence — at the service of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign."Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency," by Andrew C. McCarthy, is a detailed, connect-the-dots read. (Encounter Books)The scheme to get Clinton elected had two parts, McCarthy argues. The first was to shield former Secretary of State Clinton from disqualifying and potentially criminal allegations that she violated federal law by having a private unsecured email server and later destroyed the evidence.
And, as an insurance policy, the other part of the scheme was to portray Trump as an agent of Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
“Ball of Collusion” is a detailed, connect-the-dots read. McCarthy, a former top federal prosecutor in New York, knows the workings of the CIA and the Department of Justice.
It looks to me like a Chicago Way take down. In the old days, boss mayors would call in trusted detectives — even those on the payroll of the Chicago mob — and ask for dirt on opponents, which would be leaked to friendly local scribes.Just as the Steele dossier, paid for by Clinton, was leaked to CNN and BuzzFeed.“They (FBI, DOJ, CIA bosses) did not believe that Donald Trump was fit to be president,” McCarthy told me. “Now there are a lot of things you can say about Donald Trump, good and bad. But ultimately, the way this system works, is that we have elections. We don’t have the FBI and CIA as a check on the public.“What happened here is that they decided their judgment about who was fit to be president was superior to the public’s, and they weren’t going to take the public’s determination for an answer,” McCarthy said.
And when Trump won, and they were going to be found out, they panicked.Some readers, who’d like nothing better than to jeer at my sightless head on a pike, keep making a mistake in thinking that I’m a Trump guy because I’m not of the left.But I was for Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky in 2016. Why? I loathed the Clintons. And I thought Paul, unlike Trump, had the temperament to be president. And Paul talked constantly and in glowing terms about the Constitution.
The republic is what I care about. And the only way to keep it is through the Constitution.
The framers truly understood human nature, the temptations that come with holding awesome federal power, and the problems with factions and blind partisanship.They understood what would happen if a people lost faith in their institutions, if those institutions were shaped, in grotesque partisan fashion, to serve only the elite, now often called the best and the brightest.
Benjamin Franklin was walking outside the Constitutional Convention of 1787 when he was asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got — a republic or a monarchy?”“A republic,” replied Franklin, “if you can keep it.”
Listen to “The Chicago Way” podcast with John Kass and Jeff Carlin — at www.wgnradio.com/category/wgn-plus/thechicagoway.
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