With two you get egg rolls, with three you get insanity. (See 1 and 1a below.)
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Two interest articles forwarded to me by one of my oldest and dearest friends and fellow memo reader. He also is a fine tennis player. (See 2, 2a and 2b below.)
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This was forwarded to me by a dear friend and fellow memo reader. His own amazing service career takes pages. He said I could post.
This was sent to him by a fellow West Point Classmate and what it says to me is that the pitiful Democrats and their even more pitiful twins in the mass media still do not get it. They have become obsessed with "impeaching." Where's the beef? The wheels have gone off Pelosi's House and impeachment train.
I put on my legal glasses and read the Ukraine Transcript. I find no collusion, no quid pro quo.
The impeachment obsessed Democrats apparently know they need more than the Transcript.
Trump is fighting mad and has every right to defend himself and the Constitutional responsibilities of the Oval Office.
I see a rising tide of angry Americans of which I am one. (See 3 below.)
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A little humor at this time is probably a good idea. (See 4 and 4a below.)
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About the creep:
GOP Rep. Gaetz Digs Up Audio of Schiff Telling 'Ukrainian Politician' He'll Accept Dirt on Trump -
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Dick
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22nd Knesset to be sworn in Thursday amid third election talk
The 22nd Knesset will be inaugurated on Thursday, despite persistent threats from all political sides that it will soon be dissolved ahead of a third election in less than a year.
There are only eight new MKs this time, and another nine are returning from past stints as legislators, which means that 103 members of the 22nd Knesset will be sworn in for the second time in 2019.
Starting at 8 a.m. on Thursday, MKs can arrive at the Knesset, walk down a red carpet and receive a boutonniere and have a souvenir photo taken. In the afternoon, there will be a celebratory reception in the Chagall Hall.
President Reuven Rivlin is set to arrive in the Knesset at 3 p.m. on Thursday, where he will be met by an honor guard and an IDF band. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein and other top Knesset officials will meet Rivlin outside the Knesset, where the IDF band will play “Hatikvah.” Rivlin will put a wreath on the memorial for Israel’s fallen soldiers before entering the Knesset.
Once inside, Rivlin will sign a special guest book for Israeli presidents on the occasion of a Knesset being sworn in.
After that, the 120 MKs will find their seats in the plenum. Edelstein will read the following: “I pledge allegiance to the State of Israel and faithfully fulfill my mission in the Knesset.” The new lawmakers will respond: “I pledge.”
The celebration will end with a toast and the traditional photo of the Knesset’s faction leaders.
In the months of the Knesset’s election recess, a larger hall for security checks was built, which are meant to shorten lines at the entrance to the legislature.
In addition, the Knesset Speaker’s platform was made handicap accessible and the microphone will be adjustable to the height of a wheelchair by pushing a button. This will allow MKs with physical disabilities to be deputy speakers or speakers. Foreign leaders also address the Knesset from that platform.
1a)Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's
defense team arrives at office of Attorney
General Avichai Mendelblit for first day of
four-day pre-indictment hearing. Attorney
Ram Caspi: We have material that will change
how things are seen.
The pre-indictment hearing for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began on Wednesday and is schedule to take place over four days. Netanyahu's representatives, attorneys Amit Hadad, Ram Caspi, and Yossi Ashkenazi, arrived at the office Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit to present their arguments.
The first mission for Netanyahu's defense team is to try and convince Mendelblit and his staff to avoid indicting the prime minister in three different cases of alleged corruption in which he is a suspect, or at least reduce the charges.
As the meeting began, Caspi said, "There is material that can change the way things seem. The issue of clemency or a plea bargain is not on the table."
Hadad added, "We will present the evidence we are all familiar with, as well as new evidence. We are certain that when we are finished presenting our side, there will be no option other than to close the case. We believe in the hearing process. We are not talking about a deal. We believe that in the end, all three cases must be closed."
A brief overview of the cases:
In Case 1,000, Netanyahu is suspected of fraud and breach of trust for allegedly accepting bribes in the form of presents worth some 700,000 shekels ($200,000) from two wealthy businessmen. The hearing is scheduled to review the charges in Case 1,000 on Monday.
In Case 2,000, Netanyahu is suspected of fraud and breach of trust for allegedly conspiring with the publisher of the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Arnon "Noni" Mozes, to limit the circulation of Israel Hayom in exchange for favorable coverage in the former publication. The charges are scheduled to be reviewed on Sunday.
The most serious charge against Netanyahu is bribery, of which he has been accused in Case 4,000, which involves allegations that Netanyahu traded financial benefits for the Bezeq telecommunications corporation for positive coverage of him and his family when he held the communications portfolio. The charges in Case 4,000 will be reviewed on Wednesday and Thursday.
Netanyahu's defense team has already scored a small victory. Shortly before Rosh Hashanah, Mendelblit announced that he had agreed to their request to extend the hearing from two days to four, which would allow his attorneys time to present all their arguments.
After the hearing, all the officials involved in all the cases will meet to examine the merits of the defense and determine how they affect the overall legal picture. When the hearing process is complete, Mendelblit will have to decide whether or not to indict Netanyahu, in which cases and on what counts. He is expected to make his decision before State Attorney Shai Nitzan resigns from office in December.
In the prime minister's inner circle, tensions were running high ahead of the start of the hearing. Close associates were saying that Netanyahu believes that if he is given due process, he can demonstrate that the most serious allegations against him are baseless. Netanyahu is expected to argue that the decisions he made regarding the Bezeq corporation were supported by expert advisers and that they had nothing to do with his family's ties to the primary shareholder, Shaul Elovitch.
Netanyahu is not expected to attend the hearings.
If Mendelblit does decide to indict the prime minister, it could take many months before the trial begins. Netanyahu could also seek a plea deal.
If he is still in office as prime minister, Netanyahu would be under no strict legal obligation to quit. According to Israeli law, a prime minister must step down if ultimately convicted, but can stay in office throughout legal proceedings including appeals.
Netanyahu's supporters in the legislature have said they would support granting him parliamentary immunity from prosecution, but it is unclear whether there are enough lawmakers who would back such a move.
Bribery charges carry a sentence of up to 10 years in jail and/or a fine. Fraud and breach of trust carry a prison sentence of up to three years.
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2)
Talking Points
- We continue to sleepwalk deeper into a policy that is pushing Russia and China together. Unless it is essential for national survival, it is fundamentally unwise to take on two great powers at once.
- We have no choice but to confront an aggressive China. But we have more options with Russia, and Trump's administration should support his wise instinct to get on better terms with Moscow. Let's start with talks about energy, North Korean economic engagement, and arms control.
- Knee-jerk hostility toward Russia is driven in part by the Europe mafia of our foreign policy elite who have clientitis for obsolete NATO and Old Europe. It is also driven by the fantasy that Moscow's picayune and feckless interference made a difference in the 2016 election, and rage at unrequited love after naive Obama-Hillary attempts to charm Moscow. How dare they not be enchanted?
- If Ukraine remains such a pressing problem, why don't nearby Germany or the broader EU shoulder the burden of aid? Germany has an economy that is 2.5 times the size of Russia's; can it not handle a threat? The EU's economy is 13 times the size of Russia's.
- Contrary to the fiction from Brussels that NATO has increased spending by $100 billion, Old Europe spends a pittance on defense and screws us on trade. It is time for a fundamental readjustment of U.S. policy that exits NATO, raises tariffs (offset by payroll tax cuts), embraces New Europe and Britain, and seeks a new look at Russia.
- It's fine to sell weapons to whomever, but what has become of the $1.5 billion in aid we have given to Ukraine since 2014? Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe--transparency ranks it 120th globally. Curbing corruption requires cultural change and takes decades.
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2a) WALL STREET JOURNAL
There’s Hope for Freedom, Even in China
By Jimmy Lai
Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China from a podium overlooking Tiananmen Square 70 years ago. This year’s celebrations, including in Hong Kong, were meant to pay tribute to Mao’s successor Xi Jinping.
But the people of Hong Kong have stood up. Millions have marched in protest of Beijing’s undemocratic control. As a media man I understand that the coverage of events will disproportionately focus on acts of violence. Please don’t let the acts of a desperate few blind the world to the violence and oppression that sustains the regime in Beijing—and the fundamentally peaceable nature of the Hong Kong people. All we see from our government is a coldblooded campaign of arrests, greater control of private companies such as Cathay Pacific and HSBC, and interference in the teaching at our high schools.
We are fighting for what was promised us. Universal suffrage is a right to which we’re entitled in our Basic Law, the miniconstitution that took effect when the U.K. handed over the territory in 1997. Mr. Xi abrogated it in 2014 by imposing limits on elections for Hong Kong’s chief executive and members of the Legislative Council, and our rights have been denied to us.
Some find it inconceivable that Beijing would ever give us universal suffrage, but we must persist. We’re prepared to make short-term sacrifice to pursue long-term freedom. We believe that if we persist, we may win. China is not as strong as it pretends. What the Communist Party calls its “socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics” has run its course. For the past 40 years, China’s high-growth economy has been fueled by exports based on cheap labor and Western technology, some borrowed and transferred, in sync with the manipulation of its currency to gain an export advantage. All the while, the West appeased China for the sake of doing more business. The hope was that open trade would encourage an open society. Under Mr. Xi’s rule that hope has died.
Individual liberty is what distinguishes both Hong Kong and the West from China. The hustle and bustle of the free market is built on liberty and the rule of law. Without those values, how can China be a trusted member of the world community or a reliable partner of the global business community?
That’s why we insist on our values and the importance of basic human rights when we do business with China. We mustn’t appease. Failure to confront China on its abuses means we will forever have an unstable, conflict-based global market. If only because of its sheer size—1.4 billion people, and what we have to admit is an impressive economic engine—the world can’t expect peace and prosperity if China doesn’t change its ways of the past 40 years.
As Hong Kong highlights the moral failings of China, the markets may be seeing the failings of China’s economic model. China’s labor is no longer cheap, nor can it forcibly transfer technology or steal it as easily as in the past. It can still subsidize state enterprises and manipulate its currency, but with greater difficulties. An added challenge and cost is China’s environment. So polluted is the water and so unwelcome the trash incinerators that even in the tightly controlled tyranny that is Mr. Xi’s China they fear riots.
Moving into a modern economy is not possible under China’s current legal structure, which lacks the rule of law that is a vital feature of Hong Kong life. That lawlessness has always left businesses unprotected. Companies paid bribes as a form of insurance, so that they could complete projects and transactions. Mr. Xi has rooted out much corruption but offered no alternative means for getting things done.
On this 70th anniversary of communism’s ascendance in China, the irony is that the only legitimacy the Party has left comes from a growing economy. If China’s economy implodes, so does the regime’s legitimacy. Even if communist China doesn’t fall, Xi Jinping’s empire will. When dictatorship competes with democracy, it always comes up short, because it has to divert a great part of its resources to controlling its people. That suffocates society’s energy and creativity by impeding the flow of information and ideas.
In 2019, Mr. Xi is arguably the most absolute dictator in human history. Certainly more absolute than Mao, because of his artificial-intelligence-enabled electronic controlling devices, such as facial recognition and “social credit.”
The trouble is that while Mr. Xi has been happy to use this new innovation of AI-enabled electronic control, he is doing so with Mao’s old security apparatus. That requires a vast police force. Outside North Korea, almost no population is under such absolute control. Does anyone imagine an economy can grow in North Korea?
All this control is fueling unprecedented resentment and resistance—and not only in Hong Kong. Though it is now suppressed in China, there is every chance it will explode when triggered by a serious economic downturn.
The China-U.S. trade war is an epochal event that can push China to the brink of collapse, especially if the U.S. links its values and human rights to its dealings with China. If China agrees to the structural changes America demands in this trade war, it will greatly increase China’s cost of doing business. And if Mr. Xi doesn’t agree to these structural changes and a deal with America is killed, the flow of foreign currency into China will slow, delivering a potentially fatal blow to an already weakened economy.
The costs and hardships of the trade war to America are real, but they are also short-term. If the U.S. reverts to appeasement, in 20 years China will be not only the biggest economy in the world but the most belligerent. In such a world constant conflict with the U.S. and the West would be inevitable, and likely to be decided on terms favorable to China. The question is whether America is willing to endure short-term sacrifice for long-term peace.
My American friends, we are realists. We are not asking you to send the Seventh Fleet to take on China. The American flags you can see at our rallies are our way of saying that we share your values and we look to you for hope. We in Hong Kong are few in number. But we know that the world will never know genuine peace until the people of China are free. On this National Day of the People’s Republic of China, all we ask is that in all your dealings with China, you remember we are fighting your battle.
Mr. Lai is founder and chairman of Next Digital, owner of Apple Daily.
2b) |
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GOOD MORNING
,
WELCOME TO THE UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA,land
of the free and BECAUSE of
the brave.
How may I help you
Press '1' for English.
Press '2' to disconnect until
you learn to speak English.
Have a blessed day and if in
the south, bless your heart.
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