Kissinger. De Santis/Newsom Debate. Zito. Retched Blinken. More.

OLD FOLKS T SHIRTs

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Henry Kissinger Was A Complex Man For A Complex Century

by Niall Ferguson featuring Henry A. Kissinger via Bloomberg I personally had issues with Kissinger. He was brilliant but he was also a German and Germans are used to losing wars not Americans until recently. +++ The late secretary of state knew that diplomacy inevitably boiled down to a choice between evils.

The De Santis/Newsom debate tonight (Nov 30) was a  bust of sorts Both were asked not to interrupt and they both did not restrain themselves. It was a perfect opportunity for De Santis to rise above the gutter fray but he chose not to hold himself back.  Hannity also lost total control as well so more accusations, more batting down lies etc. 

In the department of facts DeSantis won hands down.  Newson, the typical liberal, said whatever came first to his mind and felt absolutely no compunction to deal n facts but then liberals when they say anything  it is so.

.They should have held it on the school yard playground for 3 year old's.

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One year after Winter Storm Elliot, our grid problem remains dire

By Salena Zito

Last year on the morning before Christmas, just as much of the country was preparing food for a holiday dinner that night or prepping for the next day as they welcomed family and guests to stay for the holiday weekend, Duke Energy in the Carolinas issued a jarring announcement to their hundreds of thousands customers that they would begin imposing rolling power outages immediately.

The outages were desperately needed because of the strain on the electric grid caused by the extreme weather that had crippled much of the country in the previous days. By noon, 340,000 Duke Energy customers were without power, and by Christmas morning, that number hit 500,000 at one point, with most of the outages lasting anywhere from a half-hour to several hours as the temperatures dipped into the low teens both days.

It could have been worse.

Two weeks ago, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the regulator that monitors the nation's electrical grid, warned in their staff report on Winter Storm Elliot that this winter, a large swath of the country that extends from Texas up to the Canadian border could pass that “worse” stage. The group said the U.S. power grid is not prepared to handle extreme winter conditions such as prolonged arctic blasts or major snow storms.

In NERP’s report, the regulators assessed that despite promises from our politicians, our power grid is fraying under the stress of underinvestment.

 “Much of North America is at an elevated risk of insufficient energy supplies this winter and is highly exposed to risks of energy emergencies in extreme winter conditions,” said the report. 

NERC officials said several factors have contributed to this dire situation that all come to the same conclusion: We are not bringing sufficient new power online to meet demand.

In short, we have too much power scheduled to go offline and not enough coming online. 

The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America said the Staff Report on Winter Storm Elliottillustrates that members of INGAA took decisive, real-time actions to maintain system integrity in the face of the significant challenges presented during the storm.

The authors of the NERC report warn that if there is a winter storm in the magnitude of Elliot last winter, then at best, we are looking at a repeat of outages that we saw last Christmas, not just in the Carolinas but all around the country.

And it's not just Christmas people should be worried about; NERC warned that half of the country and part of Canada could fall short of electricity throughout the winter because of the lack of infrastructure built for natural gas.

 Why aren’t there enough natural gas lines in our infrastructure? Politics definitely plays a part in that, specifically climate change or climate-justice politics.

Last month, a sweeping report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine said for the United States to reach its ambitious climate goals outlined by the Biden administration, states and municipalities should adopt bans on new gas lines in places where they have not been previously built.

There is a consequence to that suggestion that could once again contribute to the same disruption or worse if we experience a prolonged, wide-range cold snap. NERC said that extreme cold weather events that have occurred recently have shown that energy delivery disruptions can have devastating consequences for electric and gas consumers in impacted areas.

The NERC report included recommendations to improve coordination among the entire gas supply chain and with electric utilities, including a North American Energy Standards Board effort to enhance situational awareness of production losses and when pipelines’ efforts to address those losses become unsustainable.

INGAA said its members look forward to working with stakeholders to identify potential improvements in this area.

“But more communication will not solve the problems created by extreme weather like Winter Storm Elliott,” said INGAA in a statement, adding, “The United States needs more natural gas pipeline capacity to maintain a resilient system that affords homes and the power grid access to multiple sources of this critical fuel.”

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 Cannot come soon enough.

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Jewish High Schoolers Abandon Ivy League Aspirations in Response to Campus Antisemitism

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From a dear friend and fellow memo reader.  I totally agree. Only a matter of time before Biden wobbles and allows Hamas to win.

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Rather than standing strong along side our ally Israel, the Biden PR effort is typical of this forked tongue Administration. From one side their mouth they support Israel. From the other side they support an approach to the war that aids Hamas.

The timid response to the attacks by Iran’s proxies on our troops simply reflects their continued quest to allow Iran to produce nuclear weapons.
John Kerry’s limp fingers are all over this.

We damn well better win in  2024.

L....

And:

‘Iran-Loving, Hamas-Appeasing Buffoon’: Blinken Blasted For Reportedly Threatening Israel It’s Running Out Of Time To Destroy Hamas.

Blinken is a disgrace.  If he is doing Biden's bidding and had any decency he would resign and tell Biden to get another Sec. of State.

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Finally:

THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF ISRAEL

As Israel is involved in an ongoing battle with forces that seek to wipe it from the map, and as an ideological war rages to undermine the Jewish state’s very existence, it is an opportune moment to examine the ancient origin and founding mission of the Jewish nation.

In this week's parsha, Vayishlach, the Jewish people is given the name by which it will come to be known throughout the ages: Israel. The patriarch Jacob is renamed Yisroel as he returns to the land of his birth after two decades abroad, and ever since then the twelve tribes that he fathered have been known as Bnei Yisroel, the children of Israel. What is the significance of this name, and why has it become the eternal moniker by which both the Jewish people and the Jewish homeland have been known?

The name Israel has many explanations. The most common is the way it is expounded by the angel who changes Jacob’s name after the two have wrestled. “It shall no longer be said that your name is Jacob, but rather Yisrael, for you have nobly contended with God and men and you have prevailed” (Genesis 32:29). This name Yisrael can be broken down into two words, “שׂר/sar,” which connotes nobility and victory, and “א-ל/E-l,”” which is one of the names of God. Because Jacob struggled against the angel of God and was victorious, his name was changed to Yisrael, meaning “one who has wrestled victoriously with God."

The 16th century commentary Kli Yakar provides another stunning interpretation of the name Yisrael which helps us to understand Israel’s ultimate mission and purpose. Explaining the two component parts of the name slightly differently, the Kli Yakar identifies the first part of the word as “שׁר/shar” (rather than “sar”) which means “to see.” He thus translates the name to mean “One who sees God."

The Kli Yakar further teaches that the name of the angel that fought with Jacob was “סַמׇאֵל/Samael,” which, according to Jewish mysticism, is the name of an angel otherwise known as “the satan." Torah does not believe in a devil that works against God’s will, but the concept of “satan” is a force created by God to provide an alternative option so that one can choose to do the divine will rather than being forced to accede to it by compulsion. As such, the satan is as much a part of God as everything else, and its ultimate will is that one should be strengthened by the challenges that it presents. How does the satan challenge us? We see this through understanding its name. Samael is a compound of the Hebrew word “suma,” which means “blind,” and “E-l,” God. As opposed to Yisrael, which means “one who sees God,” Samael means “one who is blind to God." Satan/Samael is the force that tries to blind us to God’s existence and presence.

From here we learn that the mission of the nation of Israel is to see God in everything and to reveal His omnipresence to all of His creations. There are potent and persistent forces in the universe that will constantly battle us in order to keep us from fulfilling this mission. Yet with all this, we must remain cognizant of the fact that it is God is One, and that it is therefore He Himself who created the darkness and our blindness. It is God who creates the environment in which it is difficult for us to see Him. It is He who sends His servant Samael to kick dust in our eyes. And yet He creates the nation of Israel as a force of vision and light in the darkness. He provides Israel the Torah, and instructs us to teach its wisdom to the other nations. In so doing, He provides us all the potential to be victorious over Samael, and to manifest His infinite presence wherever it was previously unseen.

— Excerpted from Pnei Hashem, an introduction to the deepest depths of the human experience based on the esoteric teachings of Torah.  www.pneihashem.com

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Star's Column: Restore Power to Parents to Fix Broken Culture "Recently published projections for the U.S. population from the U.S. Census Bureau present a picture that should concern every American. It's a snapshot of a dying society. It's surprising and shocking that it's not getting more attention. The Census Bureau projects that the U.S. population will stop growing toward the end of the century. After peaking at 370 million in 2080, it will drop to 366 million in 2100, less than 10% higher than where it stood in 2022."

Read Star's Column

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 NYT reviewed "Southern/Modern" show at GMOA! 

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The NYT's Is Sick. My View On America's Anti-Semitism. Kissinger's Century. Hamas Advantaged? More.

Our daughter Amy and me and Lynn and friend

in our home at Thanksgiving.

Our great granddaughter Collins:

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The New York Times Sanitizes Palestinian Provocateur Ahed Tamimi

“We will slaughter you and you will say that what Hitler did to you was a joke. We will drink your blood and eat your skull. Come on, we are waiting for you.” These are the words of Palestinian provocateur and convicted criminal Ahed Tamimi. But apparently threatening to cannibalize Israelis isn’t so much of a problem over at The New York Times, which instead ludicrously described Tamimi as a “Palestinian author,” presumably on account of her 2022 memoir that Tamimi needed the help of Al Jazeera journalist Dena Takruri to write. Read More ➝ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For whatever it is worth, these are my views on the rise of anti-Semitism, particularly in America.

1) As I have said, I always believed anti-Semitism lurched below the surface in America and would eventually rise from the sewers.  I did not know when it would happen nor what event would be the trigger .

2) When a nation's education system collapses ignorance will rise and the embrace of anti-Semitism is a forgone conclusion because  alleged victims always need to deflect and project.

3)  The decline in education has allowed CRT to creep in and for cultural Marxists to take hold. Why?  Because CRT is a tool used by cultural Marxists before very young children have been exposed to alternative views. Empty minds are susceptible to indoctrination.

4) These same cultural Marxists hate and fear America because our freedoms threaten their goals and fascistic concepts regarding government's control of citizens. Here again, the ability to pin the tail on America as a racist nation and the ability to make our youth ashamed of their country is an effective weapon of choice.

Furthermore,  as discord/frustration spreads among our populace, discord combined with an economic decline and rise in inflation also stokes the flames of a need to find a scapegoat .

5) The wars in Ukraine and Gaza also provide discontents convenient reasons to associate them with a cause and effect status.

6) At this point in  our history we have a president who is compromised physically and mentally and is being threatened by a large segment of his own party. Biden has a history of having made poor decisions throughout his over 50 years in politics.  He is currently/increasingly conflicted by his professed desire to be a friend of Israel and the declining prospect of being re-elected.

7) After the Holocaust was revealed the world was pro Jewish because the world is amenable to embracing victimhood. After Israel was legally birthed and constantly became a victor it was no longer worthy of retaining that status.

8)  Notwithstanding the fact that, over 75 years Israel's relocated millions of refugees while Palestinians rejected opportunity after opportunity to accept even  half a loaf yet, they were able to replace Israel as the new victim.

9) There are generally  two sides  to every issue and I suspect, in time, there will even be a positive aspect to the anti-Semitism that has arisen even in America. I am speculating but I believe it has shaken up liberal Jews and perhaps brought them back to the fold for a while. 

Second, as America takes stock it might also shakeup the  "deplorables" and they will become more active in helping our nation return to its roots and reject the socialist trends American's have been pursing out of ignorance, due to intimidation, because of lethargy.

10) Once anti-Semitism has escaped been allowed to roam the land it might also be difficult to re-cage. If allowed to fester and expand I can think of few things, beyond the run down of our military, more dangerous because this would suggest a level of indifference that could result in the total demise of our nation and with it our freedoms.

11) Finally, the mass media must right it's ship and return to being legitimately America's ombudsman.

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Yes time to get tough:

Rabbinic Group Welcomes Challenge to "Tax Exemptions for Terror"

Baltimore, MD, November 29, 2023—Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), representing over 2,500 traditional, Orthodox rabbis in American public policy, today welcomed news that the House Ways and Means Committee will consider bipartisan legislation to revoke the tax-exempt status of organizations providing financial support or resources to designated terrorist groups. The bill, sponsored by Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN) and Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), comes after National Students for Justice in Palestine and Black Lives Matter groups celebrated the atrocities committed by the Hamas terror organization in Israel on October 7, while others, like American Muslims for Palestine and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, claimed Israel was responsible and are alleged to have direct ties to Hamas. 

CJV President Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld issued the following statement:

It is unconscionable that American taxpayers are forced to provide indirect support for terrorist groups, giving allied organizations and their donors generous tax breaks intended for charitable activities. There is nothing charitable about supporting atrocities, and there should be no tax exemptions for terror.

Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV) represents over 2,500 traditional, Orthodox rabbis as the largest rabbinic public policy organization in America. A 501(c)3 non-profit, CJV promotes religious liberty, human rights, and classical Jewish ideas in American public policy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW_RvmWdhKg&ab_channel=JNSTV

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Hoover Daily:

Henry Kissinger’s Centuryby Niall Ferguson via The Wall Street Journal As national security adviser and secretary of state, he combined grand strategy with indefatigable ‘shuttle diplomacy’ and an ability to read his foreign counterparts.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hamas Seizes the Advantage After the massacres of Oct. 7, the burden is now on Israel to end the war in Gaza. By Daniel Henninger As predicted, events since the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7 have unfolded in a way that puts Israel, the victim of the mass slaughter, at a significant political disadvantage. News reports say Egypt and Qatar, the two nations involved in hostage-release negotiations, are pushing for a long-term cease-fire. The Biden administration, we may assume, will support this goal. In short, Hamas’s planners and fighters look likely to survive without personal accountability for the 1,200 killed on Oct. 7. Instead, the burden will fall on Israel to assent to talks with Hamas, whose goal remains removing the rest of Israel’s more than nine million people. Credit is due Hamas—and its partner Palestinian Islamic Jihad—for figuring out the utility of modern sensibilities, especially in the U.S. Initially the world was shocked that Hamas kidnapped young children and pregnant or elderly women. This week’s dramatic release of 4-year-old American Abigail Idan is exemplary. Hamas murdered her parents, then took the child to Gaza. Hamas understood that the unprecedented horror of its Oct. 7 attack would melt away amid daily media attention to the unbearable horror of these vulnerable hostages and the realities of war inside Gaza. Responding to the second horror has forced Israel’s army to stand down, possibly putting other Israelis at mortal peril from attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah. Professional terrorism has come a long way. One of the earliest acts of Palestinian terror, by a Hamas precursor called Black September, was the kidnapping of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, televised to the world. It ended with the deaths of athletes and terrorists. In 1985, Hezbollah and Abu Nidal terrorists hijacked two separate airliners and attacked airports in Rome and Vienna. Ultimately the world took precautions, internalized these terrorist attacks, and in some sense learned to live with them. The post-9/11 airport-security lines have become an accepted annoyance. But by kidnapping babies, children and grandmothers, terrorism had finally hit on a tactic the world could not absorb. For the record, the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in 2014, which led for a while to the global social-media campaign #BringBackOurGirls. It accomplished little. Some 100 girls remain missing, and those terrorists, now affiliated with Islamic State, continue their assaults. No one can be unmoved by the reunions of the Israeli hostages with their families. But it is impossible not to miss a second dilemma. Israel said Tuesday its goal remains to dismantle Hamas. But how, when the current standoff gives Hamas an incentive to hold some hostages indefinitely? Meanwhile, running alongside are anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian demonstrations like those in New York City the past week. Protesters glued themselves to Sixth Avenue, blocking the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Hours later, they vandalized the facade of the New York Public Library’s main building, doing an estimated $75,000 of damage. On Saturday, they moved on the Museum of Natural History—closed in anticipation—demanding to be let inside to see exhibits of the “colonizers,” burning an Israeli flag and shouting that the police officers protecting the museum were equal to the “KKK.” As we went to press, these activist groups planned to wreck the Wednesday evening lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. A social-media post said, “Bring your flags, signs & keffiyehs, mobilization, not celebration!” Apparently baby Jesus is also complicit. Add the campus demonstrations, and this constitutes Joe Biden’s Democratic youth base, which is pushing the president and his party toward equivocal support for the state of Israel. The intensity of these demonstrations calls to mind the early 1970s, when some members of the left-wing group Students for a Democratic Society tipped over to become a domestic terror group called the Weather Underground. They blew themselves up while making bombs in a Greenwich Village townhouse. In the U.S., we have arrived at a familiar crossroads. Amid a growing atmosphere of civil disorder, much of it organized, we can either stand back and live with it or push back, deciding that the potential price to our own security eventually could be too high. New York again illustrates the challenge. The police detained some of the rampaging pro-Palestine protesters, but there’s little prospect of Manhattan’s progressive District Attorney Alvin Bragg prosecuting them. After the city’s George Floyd protests (including store lootings), which ran almost daily for weeks, state Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit—against the New York City Police Department for mishandling activists. Right now cops and demonstrators, not to mention store-smashing thieves, know the previous structure for maintaining order is dormant. A word returning to fashion in national-security circles is “deterrence.” Deterrence is a bow to the dangers of accommodating disorder. The Netanyahu government’s accommodation of Hamas in Gaza was a deterrence failure. Communist China’s military expansiveness is a deterrence failure, as are the attacks by Iran’s proxies on U.S. forces and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Virulent antisemitism on U.S. campuses is a deterrence failure. The border is a deterrence failure. So is urban crime. It adds up. As an entry point for discussion on how to avoid calamity, a simple proposal: Start doing the opposite. Relearn deterrence. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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Oklahoma Superintendent, Former Teacher, Applauds Freedom Foundation Conference

 

In July of 2023 the Freedom Foundation recruited teachers from across the country to join the teacher freedom summit. These courageous teachers want to fight back against the unions woke Political agenda in our schools. During the conference dozens of teachers were interviewed. Here are their stories

 

Episode 3 features Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters. Teacher Freedom Summit Testimonials will be released every Wednesday.

WATCH VIDEO

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Brilliant Speech By Lovely Cornell Student. Bibi, Blinken Meet, Pressure Mounts. Hamas Kills Again. "Unwoke" Reviews. More.

A beautiful, bright young lady testifies in a brilliant manner.

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“Parchment Barriers” Won’t Keep Israel Safe

by Bruce Thornton via FrontPage Mag Last week during a pause in hostilities Israel started exchanging Palestinian Arab prisoners for Hamas’s Israeli hostages. Obviously, the “international community” has been pressuring Israel to make this concession, one that most Israelis know is dangerous, given the moral hazard of rewarding Hamas’ war-crimes, the certainty that any stop in the fighting will allow Hamas to regroup and rearm, and the Palestinian Arabs’ sorry track-record of serially violating every “agreement” it’s made with Israel, as well as transnational covenants like the Geneva Conventions ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  Pro-Palestinian Students FORCE Counterterrorism Investigation A shocking incident last week at Hillcrest High School in Queens prompted an investigation by the New York City Police... Read More +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Does Biden surround himself with Jews he appoints to critical positions but who lack a true Jewish heart? +++ Netanyahu meets with Blinken in Jerusalem The Israeli prime minister thanked the top U.S. diplomat for his support "in the war of eliminating Hamas and securing the release of our hostages." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at his office in Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon. It is the fourth time the top U.S. diplomat has visited the Jewish state since the war against Hamas began on Oct. 7. In a video published following the sit-down, Netanyahu noted that the meeting with Biden took place “shortly after Hamas murderers murdered Israelis here in Jerusalem. “This is the same Hamas that carried out the horrible massacre on Oct. 7, the same Hamas that tries to murder us everywhere. I told him: We swore, and I swore, to eliminate Hamas. Nothing will stop us,” said Netanyahu. “We will continue this war until we achieve the three goals—to release all our abductees, to eliminate Hamas completely and to ensure that Gaza will never again face such a threat,” the prime minister added. Blinken joined Netanyahu and the other War Cabinet members for a meeting. “I want to express our appreciation for your support from the beginning: the president, you personally, the delegation, in the war of eliminating Hamas and securing the release of our hostages. You’ve been very helpful. We appreciate it deeply,” Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting. “And of course, I’d like to talk to you about the next phase.” On the American agenda was discussion about a further extension of the ceasefire and ways to free more hostages from the Gaza Strip. The current 24-hour extension expires on Friday morning. In addition to the War Cabinet members Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister-without-Portfolio Benny Gantz, the meeting also included Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Minister-without-Portfolio Gadi Eizenkot, MK Aryeh Deri, the prime minister’s chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the prime minister’s military secretary, Maj. Gen. Avi Gil, National Security Council Deputy Director Gil Reich and Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs. Representing the American side were Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, State Department Counselor Derek Chollet and Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues David Satterfield. The secretary of state also met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv on Thursday. At the start of their meeting, Herzog commented on the terrorist attack in Jerusalem earlier in the day, saying “it is another example of the situation we’re in, the endless war that we are fighting against terror organizations, especially Hamas, in these very complicated and challenging times.” Blinken began his remarks by talking about the Jerusalem attack. “And, as you said, we’re reminded yet again by the events in Jerusalem today of the threat from terrorism that Israel and Israelis face every single day. Like you, my heart goes out to the victims of this attack.” Blinken noted the “positive developments” in freeing Israeli hostages from Gaza and how the ceasefire has allowed more humanitarian aid into the Strip. “I look forward to detailed conversations with the Government of Israel about the way ahead in Gaza. The United States firmly supports Israel and its right to defend itself and to try to ensure that October 7 never happens again,” he said. Both leaders acknowledged the death of former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger at the age of 100. Blinken is also scheduled to visit Ramallah and then attend the U.N.’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai. He arrived in the region after attending meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels and Skopje, North Macedonia, where NATO foreign ministers and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) discussed the situation in Ukraine. While in Brussels, Blinken dodged a question from a New York Times reporter about the possibility of Israel’s offensive against Hamas not resuming at all. “We’d like to see the pause extended because what it has enabled first and foremost is hostages being released, coming home, being reunited with their families. It’s also enabled us to surge humanitarian assistance into the people of Gaza, who so desperately need it,” said Blinken. “So its continuation, by definition, means that more hostages would be coming home, more assistance would be getting in.” The American diplomat then turned to the idea of a two-state solution, which he noted the Biden administration has characterized from the start as “the only path to enduring peace; to enduring security; to the preservation of Israel as a strong, secure, democratic and Jewish state; and Palestinians having their legitimate aspirations for a state and self-determination met. “The events of Oct. 7 only further confirm that commitment,” he said. Also on Wednesday, Netanyahu said that Israel would resume attacking Hamas terrorists in Gaza. “There is no way we are not going back to fight to the end,” the prime minister said. “This is my policy, the entire Cabinet stands behind it, the entire government stands behind it, the soldiers stand behind it, the people stand behind it—this is exactly what we will do.” And: Hamas Gunmen Kill Three, Injure Eight In Jerusalem Terror Shooting. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This from a dear friend and fellow memo reader: The threat to Israel is truly existential, and every day more articles are being written against the country.  Why the Israelis are even trying to negotiate is beyond me, particularly since Hamas killed three more Israelis this morning at a bus stop.  But one of the main questions being raised is what to do after Israel takes over Gaza.  The WSJ had a story about it this morning, that touches on some important points:  https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-considers-how-to-remove-threat-of-hamas-fighters-in-gaza-062f01b4?st=nb29webg62ba9ze&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink   Dan Henninger also wrote a piece about how Hamas has seized the advantage, which is incredibly disturbing, but shows how Hamas makes life miserable: https://www.wsj.com/articles/hamas-masters-the-blame-game-pro-palestinian-protests-america-26e94f42?st=tp6281r0x3ux70h&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink    We all hate that this war happened, but it is a war. People are dying and a lot more are going to die. The best piece I read this morning was by Douglas Murray, who has been on the ground there almost since the beginning. In it he says, "The jihadists say they will win because they love death more than we love life. I think they are wrong. Israel will win precisely because they—we—love life."   https://www.thefp.com/p/douglas-murray-diary-israel-hamas-hostages-war?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=260347&post_id=139284915&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=4i6k3&utm_medium=email    My hope remains for the complete elimination of Hamas, and that's not only going to take a while, it will require Israel to stand firm in the face of tremendous adversity.   ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Incoherent Biden in Colorado If Trump had made that comment about being able to launch nuclear weapons, the media would have lost their minds. https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2023/11/29/biden-my-marine-has-a-code-to-blow-up-the-world-n2631802 +++ Bernie speaks. +++ High Stakes and a Simple Choice COMMENTARY By Bernie Marcus I am 94 years old and like many of you, I am exhausted by politics and saddened by what I see happening to America. I had hoped it was time for me to move to the sidelines and let younger generations continue the fight to preserve America’s founding freedoms and values. But, like so many of us, I realized that I could not let myself walk away; the stakes are just too high. We cannot let the America we see today be what we leave to our children and grandchildren. Many of our once-great cities have devolved into lawlessness with random violent attacks on innocent people, rampant looting, and large-scale homeless encampments. There are rarely consequences for the wrongdoers because George Soros-elected prosecutors across America refuse to prosecute them. Moreover, our southern border is unprotected, and millions of people we know nothing about pour into our nation to receive care and benefits that we cannot afford to provide to our struggling military veterans. Worse, many of the border crossers may be gang members who commit violent crimes here. Schoolchildren across America cannot read, write, or do basic math, while our educational leaders tell us that they know better than parents how to raise our children. Working men and women are struggling to provide for their families and must raid their retirement funds just to feed, clothe, and take care of their children. These are just a few of the problems America is facing after three years of bad government policies. They cannot be our legacy. This should not be a partisan issue. This should be an issue for all Americans – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – that I hope to reach with this op-ed. You enjoy the freedoms and values on which the nation was founded. Sadly, I see these freedoms and values being eroded today as government gets bigger and weaponized against its political opponents. I wrote this op-ed because of my love for America, not for any financial gain or advantage. I have been retired for 30 years and spend my time engaged in philanthropic causes, with which I have committed to share 90% of my net worth. I was born here and can give testimony about The American Dream. I lost my job and was broke when I was 48 years old. A dear friend of mine suggested that my misfortune presented a great opportunity to build a small business based upon an idea I had shared with him. Only in America, the land of opportunity, could being without a job and broke be a great opportunity. In 1978, my partners and I built four hardware stores, and this small business grew and is known as The Home Depot. We could only have done this in America because of America’s system of free enterprise and pro-jobs growth government policies. The state of America today, especially record inflation, government over-regulation, and the problems of the last three years, would prevent my partners and I from succeeding as we have. Part of our legacy must be passing on to future generations of Americans our founding freedoms and values, including The American Dream. We must change the current trajectory of the nation and solve the problems created in the last three years. We must also reject calls from some politicians to replace our free market system with big government socialism. Most of them seem to have never had a job outside of government. All they know is making government bigger and more intrusive in the lives of its citizens.        I wrote above that I wanted to sit on the sidelines of politics, but the stakes were too high for me just to walk away. The stakes are America’s path forward. Do we want to continue the perilous trajectory we are now on? I do not because it would be disastrous for all Americans except the political elite. For Democrats, the choice is simple. If you feel that you are better off now than you were three years ago, you should vote for Joe Biden or whoever is the Democrat candidate. For Republicans, the choice is also simple.  Let’s face it: Donald Trump is going to win the nomination. You should be doing all you can to ensure his winning the general election. I understand the frustration of some of my Republican friends who do not like or are offended by things Donald Trump does and says. I, too, have been frustrated at times, but we cannot let his brash style be the reason we walk away from his otherwise excellent stewardship of the United States during his first term in office. Now is the time for unity to save The American Dream for future generations.  For these reasons, I endorse Donald J. Trump as the nominee of the Republican Party and as our next President. I endorse him not only because he has the best chance of winning the general election but because he is the best person to take on and dismantle the administrative state that is strangling America. The new war in the Middle East will present great challenges for the free world for some time, especially in keeping other terrorist groups or nations out of the conflict. This will require a president with the judgment, strength, decisiveness, and courage that Donald Trump displayed in his first term when he ordered the strike that killed the Iranian terrorist Gen. Qasem Soleimani and dissuaded Russia from invading Ukraine. Many, including myself, believe that Hamas would not have unleashed its barbarism and cruelty on Israel if Donald Trump was our president today. The reason is America’s enemies respect and, more importantly, fear Donald Trump’s judgment, strength, decisiveness, and courage. It is critical that America’s next leader have these attributes in the face of Hamas murdering innocent babies, old people, including Holocaust survivors, entire families; burning alive innocent people; raping women and young girls; and other unspeakable acts. I urge my fellow Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to put their love for America above all else. I urge the Republican National Committee to end the Republican debates that only benefit ad makers and political consultants. They are unproductive and embarrassing. Bernie Marcus is the co-founder of Job Creators Network, a philanthropist, and the retired co-founder of The Home Depot. And: White House quietly walks back Biden's comment on adding conditions for sending assistance to Israel Sullivan’s clarification is the second time this week that the White House has appeared to walk back Biden’s comment By Lawrence Richard Fox News +++++++++++++++++++++++ Hamas son has falling out with father who is Hamas founder. +++ Hamas founder's son calls for Israel to kill his father if hostages not released. "I made a mistake, 10 or 15 years ago when I saved his life many times," stressed the son of the Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef.   Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, called for Israel to set a time limit for the terrorist group to release the remaining hostages it is holding and to kill its leaders – including his own father – if they fail to do so, in a video posted on X Tuesday. After the successful release of the most vulnerable group of hostages, Israel must give Hamas a timeframe to release the remaining hostages. If they, fail Israel must execute Hamas mass murderers in Israeli prisons. No exception, Sheik Hassan Yousef is included.  — Mosab Hassan Yousef (@MosabHasanYOSEF) November 28, 2023 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Israel’s 55th Day of War – The 7th Day of the “Pause” By Sherwin Pomerantz Now 55 days into the war and the pause has been extended for another day with 10 more hostages expected to be released tonight.  To date 120 hostages have been released, 97 Israelis (96 women and children and 1 adult male) as well as 23 foreign workers.  There remain 143 hostages in Hamas captivity as this is being written. 210 Palestinian prisoners previously held in Israeli jails have been released as part of the agreement with Hamas. While the casualties from the war have been virtually eliminated during the seven days of the pause, the IDF advised this morning that 2,005 Israeli troops have been injured since October 7th and the start of hostilities.  There continues to be some back-and-forth military activity between Israel and Hezbollah on the northern border with Lebanon as well. Three people were killed and six were wounded, two of them seriously, in a terror shooting attack at the entrance to Jerusalem on Thursday morning.  According to police, at around 7:40 AM local time, two Palestinian gunmen emerged from a vehicle on Weizman Street at the main entrance to the capital and opened fire at people waiting at a bus stop.  Police said two off-duty soldiers and an armed civilian in the area returned fire, killing the two terrorists.  According to the Shin Bet security agency, the pair were Hamas members and had been previously jailed for terror activity.  One was jailed between 2010 and 2020 for planning terror attacks under directions of terror elements in the Gaza Strip and the other was jailed in 2014 for undisclosed terror activity, the agency said. Footage showed that the terrorists were armed with an M-16 assault rifle and a handgun. Thursday’s attack came as a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip was holding for the sixth day.  Tensions in Israel and the West Bank have been high since October 7th, when some 3,000 terrorists burst through the border into Israel in a Hamas-led attack, killing at least 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seizing some 240 hostages In an unrelated incident, two Israel Defense Forces reservists were lightly wounded on Thursday afternoon in a car-ramming attack near Moshav Beka’ot in the Jordan Valley.  The troops were evacuated to the hospital and their families were notified, according to the military.  Israeli forces killed the Palestinian terrorist. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken at his office in Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon.  It is the fourth time the top U.S. diplomat has visited the Jewish state since the war against Hamas began on Oct. 7.  Blinken then joined Netanyahu and the other War Cabinet members for a meeting.  On the American agenda was discussion about a further extension of the pause in hostilities, and ways to free more hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. The current 24-hour extension expires on Friday morning.  The secretary of state also met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv.  Blinken is also scheduled to visit Ramallah and then attend the U.N.’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai. In what can only be viewed as strange timing, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger passed away last night at the age of 100.  He will be remembered here for his urging former US President, during the 1973 war, not to supply Israel with its request for much needed military support.   Then Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir leaned on Kissinger to provide a critical resupply of ammunition for the IDF but could not move him to agree.  Fortunately for us, Nixon saw assisting Israel as being in the US’ best interests and did not accept the recommendation of this Secretary of State.  Instead, he ordered the US Army’s logistical command to provide the ammunition requested.  If one speaks to people who were front line combat troops in that war, they will tell you that the crates of ammunition were flown to Israel and brought directly to the field with the US Army markings clearly visible on each container as there was no time to repack the supplies into Israeli labelled crates which had been the previous custom. As of this writing it is not clear what will happen after the current pause in fighting expires but discussions are ongoing between the parties. This is the longest period of fighting that Israel has been involved in since its founding in 1948.  Let’s hope that as November passes in December, that the new Georgian month will signal some clear path to victory and the elimination of Hamas as a threat to our existence here in our homeland. Sherwin Pomerantz has lived in Israel for 40 years, is CEO of Atid EDI Ltd., a international business development consultancy.  He is also the Founder and Chair of the American State Offices Association, former National President of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel and a past Chairperson of the Board of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Review of Sen. Cruz's  "Unwoke" from Chapter 51/2 to 8. The current White House is all caught up in "equity" and antiracism." The Civil Rights Act of 1964 has now been replaced by the promotion of equity or outcomes the government seeks.  Equity and equality sound alike but the former means individuals have different circumstances whereas equality means all persons have the same resources or opportunities. Equity is inherently Marxist whereas equality is more capitalistic/democratic in nature. The Biden Administration's objective is to create victim groups  because it supports the thesis America is an oppressive society. Specific to this concept Biden has created an entire medical sector catering to children confused, at some point, in their development, as well as a very profitable source of income for hospitals and  pediatric surgeons. Anyone who offer reasonable objections is labelled a bigot or a transphobe. Guess. After posting the cartoon above, I am  a certified transphobe. Chapter 6 focuses on how the "long march" has reached the Boardroom. Cruz also covers biased bank financing of small gun retailers etc. The question for Democrats, is will Marxism be worth  abandoning the democratic process? The next topis Cruz discusses is ESG (environmental,social  and  governance), begun by Larry Fink , CEO of Black Rock.  This activist thought investing should go beyond simple profit and loss. I personallly am oposed to this proressive nonsense for three   primary reasons as follows: 1) Byeliminating sectors it causes underperformance. the elimiation of energy, one of the best performing,sectors in '23.caused ESG run portfolios to underperform. 2) We saw what happened to Disney, Anheuser when their boards allowed politics to drive advertising. Billions of market value was wiped out. 3) Nothing remains static and eventually everything moves away from the donor's intent.  John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford would turnover in their graves if they saw how their foundations have been invested. Also,as a stockholder management and directors have a fiduciary responsibility to do their best for stockholders and not play politics with stockholder funds. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++