Liberals are selective in their hatred and attacks.
Rivlin revives Bibi and my fiend, Isi Liebler might prove to be premature. (See 1 and 1a below)
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Welcome to the liberal's "la la land." Sent to me by a friend and fellow memo reader who once lived there. (See 2 below.)
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Pelosi's circular firing squad.
The Trump haters are so anxious to" impeach"they picked before the "peach" was ripe. (See 3 below.)
And:
Larry Elder: Trump vs. Iran: How Did Trump Become the Villain?
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Is American citizenship dead? (See 4 below.)+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Off to Athens for Board Meeting of State Museum of Art (GMOA. Then returning Friday and Jewish Holidays begin.
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Dick
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1)
Rivlin gives Netanyahu mandate to form government
By GIL HOFFMAN
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been given the chance to form a government for the sixth time on Wednesday, after succeeding in his five terms in office but not having the opportunity to do so following the April election.
President Reuven Rivlin formally gave Netanyahu four weeks to form the government, after a meeting at the President’s Residence with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz failed to bring about a breakthrough. The deadline will be October 24.
“Netanyahu had the best chance to form a government,” Rivlin said in a speech alongside the prime minister.
A Channel 12 poll broadcast Wednesday night found that the public prefers Netanyahu go first in a rotation with Gantz. But to avoid another election, a majority of respondents would like to see Likud replace Netanyahu with another candidate.
The survey of 700 respondents representing a statistical sample of the population was taken by pollster Camille Fuchs. The margin of error was 4%.
Rivlin said he gave the mandate to Netanyahu, because he received 55 recommendations from MKs, compared to Gantz’s 54. He called upon parties to stop disqualifying each other and lamented that a unity government was not formed.
In his speech, Rivlin revealed that he had offered the possibility of passing a law enabling a prime minister to suspend himself while under indictment and have a vice prime minister take over until the prime minister is cleared. Such a bill could have enabled Gantz to run the country following a potential Netanyahu indictment. But Gantz rejected the idea.
Netanyahu already has a bloc of 55 MKs from his Likud Party and his allies in Yamina, Shas and United Torah Judaism. He would need Yisrael Beytenu, Labor-Gesher or Blue and White to join in order to form a government. All have repeatedly refused to do so.
“My inability to form a government is slightly less than that of Gantz,” Netanyahu said in accepting the mandate.
Netanyahu called on Gantz to form a government led by him, citing security, diplomatic and economic reasons and raising the prospects of both war with Iran and a peace process with the Palestinians led by US President Donald Trump.
If Netanyahu fails, Rivlin could give the mandate to Gantz or to another candidate in Likud. He could also tell Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein that there is no candidate. If that were to happen, there would be 21 days in which any candidate could try to get 61 MKs together and form a government.
In his address, Rivlin noted that by law, after the candidate with a mandate fails to form a government, instead of giving the mandate to another candidate, the Knesset can choose a candidate with the support of 61 MKs.
“The people do not want additional elections,” Rivlin said.
Gantz reiterated after Netanyahu was given the mandate that his party would not enter a government led by the premier while possible indictments are waiting in the wings. He blamed Likud for the failure to form a unity government, because Netanyahu’s party refused to give up the other parties in its political bloc.
“Blue and White is committed to the idea of unity, but this requires negotiations among the two largest parties alone in order to reach agreement on the content and essence of the next government,” Gantz said.
Sources close to Rivlin had said on Tuesday that he would likely only appoint a candidate to form a government next Wednesday after the Rosh Hashana holiday. But after no progress was made in initial talks between Likud and Blue and White, Rivlin changed his mind.
President Reuven Rivlin formally gave Netanyahu four weeks to form the government, after a meeting at the President’s Residence with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz failed to bring about a breakthrough. The deadline will be October 24.
“Netanyahu had the best chance to form a government,” Rivlin said in a speech alongside the prime minister.
A Channel 12 poll broadcast Wednesday night found that the public prefers Netanyahu go first in a rotation with Gantz. But to avoid another election, a majority of respondents would like to see Likud replace Netanyahu with another candidate.
The survey of 700 respondents representing a statistical sample of the population was taken by pollster Camille Fuchs. The margin of error was 4%.
Rivlin said he gave the mandate to Netanyahu, because he received 55 recommendations from MKs, compared to Gantz’s 54. He called upon parties to stop disqualifying each other and lamented that a unity government was not formed.
In his speech, Rivlin revealed that he had offered the possibility of passing a law enabling a prime minister to suspend himself while under indictment and have a vice prime minister take over until the prime minister is cleared. Such a bill could have enabled Gantz to run the country following a potential Netanyahu indictment. But Gantz rejected the idea.
Netanyahu already has a bloc of 55 MKs from his Likud Party and his allies in Yamina, Shas and United Torah Judaism. He would need Yisrael Beytenu, Labor-Gesher or Blue and White to join in order to form a government. All have repeatedly refused to do so.
“My inability to form a government is slightly less than that of Gantz,” Netanyahu said in accepting the mandate.
Netanyahu called on Gantz to form a government led by him, citing security, diplomatic and economic reasons and raising the prospects of both war with Iran and a peace process with the Palestinians led by US President Donald Trump.
If Netanyahu fails, Rivlin could give the mandate to Gantz or to another candidate in Likud. He could also tell Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein that there is no candidate. If that were to happen, there would be 21 days in which any candidate could try to get 61 MKs together and form a government.
In his address, Rivlin noted that by law, after the candidate with a mandate fails to form a government, instead of giving the mandate to another candidate, the Knesset can choose a candidate with the support of 61 MKs.
“The people do not want additional elections,” Rivlin said.
Gantz reiterated after Netanyahu was given the mandate that his party would not enter a government led by the premier while possible indictments are waiting in the wings. He blamed Likud for the failure to form a unity government, because Netanyahu’s party refused to give up the other parties in its political bloc.
“Blue and White is committed to the idea of unity, but this requires negotiations among the two largest parties alone in order to reach agreement on the content and essence of the next government,” Gantz said.
Sources close to Rivlin had said on Tuesday that he would likely only appoint a candidate to form a government next Wednesday after the Rosh Hashana holiday. But after no progress was made in initial talks between Likud and Blue and White, Rivlin changed his mind.
Just in case there would be a breakthrough that would lead to coalition talks, Likud’s coalition negotiating team came to the President’s Residence. The Blue and White team did not come. They said that they were prepared to come quickly if there was a breakthrough, but that they had low expectations from Netanyahu.
Rivlin left Netanyahu and Gantz to talk alone for half an hour, but their talks did not succeed.
1a)
Liberman: Ready to negotiate without preconditions
By GIL HOFFMAN
In a stunning turnaround, Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman said on Thursday morning that he was ready for his Yisrael Beytenu party to negotiate with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud "without preconditions."
Speaking on KAN Radio Reka to Ma'ariv diplomatic correspondent Anna Ravya-Barsky, Liberman said: "There are no preconditions. If the Likud will make an official overture to us, we are prepared to negotiate with them."
Liberman's associates were quick to downplay his statement, noting that in the same interview, he said he would negotiate only with Likud and not the other members of its 55-member right-wing and religious bloc. His spokeswoman said the party's refusal to sit in a coalition with United Torah Judaism, Shas and most of Yamina had not changed.
Yisrael Beytenu MKs added in other radio interviews that a narrow right-wing government was unacceptable and that only a secular coalition of Likud, Blue and White and Yisrael Beytenu would work.
But Liberman's statement still gave hope to Likud officials, who said Yisrael Beyteynu would be formally invited to negotiate soon. They noted that the party's eight MKs along with the right bloc's 55 could form a very stable government.
Pressure also increased on Labor-Gesher leader Amir Peretz to negotiate with Likud. The head of Labor in the Histadrut Labor Federation Pini Kabalo, who is on Labor's executive Committee, called on Peretz to be more flexible.
"Amir should negotiate so we can get a hand on the wheel," Kabalo said. "I know I could anger some of our members but it's permitted to disagree. That is why we have political institutions that authorize entering a government.
But Peretz, whose party has six MKs, reiterated on Twitter on Thursday morning that he would not negotiate with Likud. He said Netanyahu needed to internalize that the message of the election was that the public wants Netanyahu replaced.
Yamina MK Naftali Bennett accused Blue and White MK Yair Lapid of preventing a unity government from being formed. Bennett referred to a proposal by President Reuven Rivlin to allow Netanyahu to suspend himself from the premiership if he is indicted and let Gantz to take over until Netanyahu would be cleared of charges.
"Yair Lapid is forcing Benny Gantz to jump off a cliff into a National chasm of a third election in a year," Bennett tweeted. "President Rivlin's unity compromise was surprisingly creative. Good sense has come back. Netanyahu agreed to it. Gantz wants it. The public prays for it. Lapid screamed no. Gantz, take charge."
Speaking on KAN Radio Reka to Ma'ariv diplomatic correspondent Anna Ravya-Barsky, Liberman said: "There are no preconditions. If the Likud will make an official overture to us, we are prepared to negotiate with them."
Liberman's associates were quick to downplay his statement, noting that in the same interview, he said he would negotiate only with Likud and not the other members of its 55-member right-wing and religious bloc. His spokeswoman said the party's refusal to sit in a coalition with United Torah Judaism, Shas and most of Yamina had not changed.
Yisrael Beytenu MKs added in other radio interviews that a narrow right-wing government was unacceptable and that only a secular coalition of Likud, Blue and White and Yisrael Beytenu would work.
But Liberman's statement still gave hope to Likud officials, who said Yisrael Beyteynu would be formally invited to negotiate soon. They noted that the party's eight MKs along with the right bloc's 55 could form a very stable government.
Pressure also increased on Labor-Gesher leader Amir Peretz to negotiate with Likud. The head of Labor in the Histadrut Labor Federation Pini Kabalo, who is on Labor's executive Committee, called on Peretz to be more flexible.
"Amir should negotiate so we can get a hand on the wheel," Kabalo said. "I know I could anger some of our members but it's permitted to disagree. That is why we have political institutions that authorize entering a government.
But Peretz, whose party has six MKs, reiterated on Twitter on Thursday morning that he would not negotiate with Likud. He said Netanyahu needed to internalize that the message of the election was that the public wants Netanyahu replaced.
Yamina MK Naftali Bennett accused Blue and White MK Yair Lapid of preventing a unity government from being formed. Bennett referred to a proposal by President Reuven Rivlin to allow Netanyahu to suspend himself from the premiership if he is indicted and let Gantz to take over until Netanyahu would be cleared of charges.
"Yair Lapid is forcing Benny Gantz to jump off a cliff into a National chasm of a third election in a year," Bennett tweeted. "President Rivlin's unity compromise was surprisingly creative. Good sense has come back. Netanyahu agreed to it. Gantz wants it. The public prays for it. Lapid screamed no. Gantz, take charge."
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2)Subject: The Golden State: What Govt. Failure Looks Like
The American founders institutionalized the best of a long Western tradition of representative government with the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. These contracts outlined the rare privileges and responsibilities of new American citizens.
2)Subject: The Golden State: What Govt. Failure Looks Like
“State of Emergency:” L.A. City Council Paralyzed by Homeless Crisis
By Joel Pollack BREITBART 25 September, 2019
Nearly Half of the U.S.’s Homeless People Live in One State: California
Four of the five American cities with the greatest incidences of unsheltered homelessness are in the Golden State
By Jacob Passy *MarketWatch* 25 September, 2019
.....At the city level, four of the five cities with the highest rate of unsheltered homelessness are in California: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Rosa and San Jose. Seattle joins the California municipalities in the top five. .....
N. Y. University Doctor Marc Siegel: Leprosy Could Hit L.A.'s Homeless Population, “Only a Matter of Time”
By Michael W. Chapman *cnsnews* 20 September, 2019
Diseases are re-emerging in some parts of America, including Los Angeles County, that we haven’t commonly seen since the Middle Ages. One of those is typhus, a disease carried by fleas that feed on rats, which in turn feed on the garbage and sewage that is prominent in people-packed “typhus zones.” Although typhus can be treated with antibiotics, the challenge is to identify and treat the disease in resistant, hard-to-access populations, such as the homeless or the extremely poor in developing countries. .....
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3)
The Ukraine Transcript Fizzle
The phone call evidence isn’t enough to annul a presidential election.
Opinion: President Trump Says Ukraine Complaint ‘A Big Hoax’
The White House on Wednesday released the transcript of President Trump’s July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the news is that Mr. Trump was telling the truth about it. The conversation was largely routine diplomacy, and even the reference to Joe Biden was less than promoted by the press. Good luck persuading Americans that this is an impeachable offense.
The five-page transcript shows that Mr. Trump called to congratulate Mr. Zelensky on his party’s victory in Parliament. After niceties, Mr. Trump waxes on as he often does that the U.S. “spend[s] a lot of effort and a lot of time” on Ukraine, while complaining that European countries don’t do their share. At no point does Mr. Trump threaten a withdrawal of U.S. aid to Ukraine.
The Hype of Trump's Ukraine Call
Mr. Trump does ask for a “favor”—that Ukraine look at 2016 election meddling. “I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike,” he says, referring to the company that investigated the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee.
He also disparages former Special Counsel Robert Mueller—no surprise there—and notes that “they say a lot of it started with Ukraine.” Mr. Trump is clearly still sore about the attempt by the Hillary Clinton campaign to dig up foreign dirt on him, but there is nothing wrong with asking a foreign head of state to investigate meddling in U.S. elections.
Only after that does Mr. Zelensky mention Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who has been publicly urging the Ukrainians to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s activities in Ukraine. Mr. Zelensky says he is “hoping very much” that the former New York mayor comes to Ukraine. He promises that all “investigations will be done openly and candidly.”
Mr. Trump responds, “Good because I heard you had a prosecutor who was very good and he was shut down and that’s really unfair.” After some praise for Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Trump adds that “there’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution” of corruption in Ukraine. Mr. Trump also says that he intends to get Mr. Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr to call, and he asks that Mr. Zelensky work with them.
That’s it. No quid pro quo. The references to the Bidens are in the context of fighting corruption, not as a prerequisite of U.S. aid. Mr. Trump was unwise to mention Mr. Biden, but the tenor of the conversation is congenial. It’s amusing to hear the same critics who call Mr. Trump an oafish thug on a daily basis now say this was all a subtle masterpiece of extortion. When is Mr. Trump ever subtle?
Democrats are making much of Mr. Trump’s references to Attorney General Barr, which were also imprudent in the Biden context. But the Justice Department says nothing came of it, that Mr. Trump never asked Mr. Barr to make that call, and Mr. Barr has never communicated with Ukraine, or with Mr. Giuliani about Ukraine.
Mr. Trump certainly was reckless to use the former New York mayor as an anti-corruption envoy, or for anything else. Rudy is an unguided missile on TV and can’t be much better in private. The Justice and State Departments have plenty of people who can work with Ukraine on corruption.
Keep in mind that all of this came to public attention because of a leak about a whistle blower complaint from the intelligence bureaucracy. The accusation is that Mr. Trump somehow attempted to cover this up, but it looks on the evidence released Wednesday that the Administration acted by the book.
The complaint went to the intelligence community inspector general, who found it credible and deserving of submission to Congress under the whistle blower statute. But the director of national intelligence general counsel rightly sought legal guidance from the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel, which is the authority on executive branch legal obligations.
The White House on Wednesday released OLC’s legal opinion that the inspector general was wrong because Mr. Trump is not a member of the intelligence community and that a “routine diplomatic call” does not count as “intelligence activity.”
Meanwhile, Justice says its Criminal Division evaluated the IG’s August referral that the phone conversation could be a violation of federal campaign finance law. A Justice Department statement said the Criminal Division determined there was no “violation” and that “all relevant components of the Department agreed with this legal conclusion.” In other words, no laws were broken. The IG will testify to Congress, so we can compare his case to the Justice Department’s.
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If Democrats want to pursue impeachment on this thin gruel, then Americans should also consider the process by which this became a national political crisis. First a whistle blower who is still unidentified brings a complaint based on what he heard about a President’s phone call. By the way, the OLC memo says in passing that the IG’s review acknowledges “some indicia of an arguable political bias on the part of the Complainant in favor of a rival political candidate.”
Then the IG makes a flawed legal judgment that Congress must see the complaint. When his argument is rebutted, word leaks to the press, Congress cries cover up, and suddenly we are putting the country through another impeachment upheaval.
Is anyone else troubled that this is all it takes to impeach a President? If a bureaucrat who dislikes a President can trigger a complaint based on hearsay that forces the disclosure of presidential diplomacy, the conduct of foreign policy will be severely hampered. Democratic Presidents won’t be spared once Republicans figure out how this works.
Mr. Trump’s refusal to abide by the normal guardrails of presidential decorum is often offensive. It can also be risky—for himself and U.S. interests. We have often criticized him for it. But impeaching a President is voting to annul an election, and that should require far more evidence than we have from this Ukraine phone call.
Democrats may not be able to stop themselves now that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has joined the impeachment parade. But the voters should ask if impeachment on these terms will do far more harm to American democracy than Mr. Trump’s bad judgment.
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4)
The death of American citizenship
By Victor Davis Hanson
Yet the concept of citizenship is being assaulted on the premodern side by the legal blending of mere residency with citizenship.
Estimates of the number of undocumented American residents range from 11 million to more than 20 million. The undocumented are becoming legally indistinguishable from citizens and enjoy exemption from federal immigration law in some 500 sanctuary jurisdictions. An illegal resident of California will pay substantially less tuition at a California public university than a U.S. citizen of another state.
Multiculturalism has reduced the idea of e pluribus unum to a regressive tribalism. Americans often seem to owe their first allegiance to those who look like they do. Citizens cannot even agree over once-hallowed and shared national holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July .
It is eerie how such current American retribalization resembles the collapse of Rome , as Goths, Huns and Vandals all squabbled among one another for what was left of 1,200 years of Roman citizenship -- eager to destroy what they could neither create nor emulate.
Citizenship has always been protected by the middle classes -- on the idea that they are more independent and self-reliant than the poor, but can stand up to the influence and power of the elite.
Yet until recently, we had seen a decade of stagnant wages and entire regions ossified by outsourcing, offshoring and unfair global trade. Historically, with the demise of the middle class so follows the end of constitutional government.
But citizenship also faces a quite different and even greater postmodern threat.
Brett Kavanaugh was nominated, audited and confirmed by the Senate as a Supreme Court justice. But if the New York Times and cable news can relentlessly charge without proof that nearly 40 years ago he was a teenage sexual pervert, then a distinguished judge can be rendered impotent without legal impeachment.
Many of our coastal elites see nothing much exceptional in America, past and present. They prefer the culture and values of the European Union without worrying that the EU's progressive utopian promises have been wrecked by open borders, economically stultifying regulations, and unapologetic and anti-democratic efforts to curb free expression and local autonomy.
Often, such "citizen of the world" mentalities fuel shame over the origins and traditions of America. Transnational organizations and accords on climate, criminal justice and human rights are seen as superior to their American counterparts.
A new progressive iconoclasm seeks to destroy statues, rename streets and buildings, and wipe away art that does not reflect more global values.
Does voting -- the bedrock right of the democratic citizen -- matter that much anymore? In California , tens of thousands of votes were "harvested" by paid campaign operatives. There was also abuse in state agencies in sending out voter registration forms to those who were not legally entitled to vote.
Lone activist federal judges frequently overturn legislation and referenda they find contrary to their own political take on legal theory -- without worry that the votes of millions are canceled in a nanosecond.
Meanwhile, the proverbial "swamp" of the bureaucratic, administrative and regulatory state is so vast and unaccountable that a few clerks can harass entrepreneurs, issue edicts with the force of legislation that ruins lives, or indict, regulate or audit a targeted individual into legal bankruptcy.
In recent years, we have seen a cake maker, a video maker, and a national security adviser so hounded by federal bureaucrats that they either were nearly bankrupted, ended up in jail or were reduced to penury through legal costs.
We still have a Bill of Rights, but many of our constitutional protections are being rendered impotent. If a rural family cannot find ammunition at the local Walmart or gun store due to organized boycotts and threats to such establishments, then the constitutional right to bear arms is not always exercisable in a practical sense.
If a student cannot safely express opposition to abortion on demand, question the global warming narrative, or object to safe spaces, trigger warnings and race-based theme houses on campuses, does it matter that there is in theory still a First Amendment?
We are unwinding at both ends. Tribalism, the erosion of the middle class and de facto open borders are turning Americans into mere residents of a particular North American region between Mexico and Canada .
Yet even more dangerously, thanks to the fiats of unelected bureaucrats and officials, along with the social media lynch mobs who boycott, harass and shame us, our constitutional rights are now increasingly optional. They mostly hinge on whether we are judged worthy by an unelected, politically correct and morally righteous elite.
In theory, American citizenship remains the same; in reality, it is disappearing fast.
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