Trump should have included coal in his response about developing resources because killing coal on specious pollution arguments is killing jobs, making us more energy dependent and when measured against clean scrubbed coal usage it is simply more politically correct crap that substitutes heat for light.
Rand, Cruz, Bush, and Christie in discussing Medicare funding , or lack thereof, is, in part, because Obama took $700 billion from Medicare to fund Obamacare. Yes, Medicare needs some overhauling and the candidates addressed some of the deficiencies but they should have noted Obama's theft.
The 'only candidate' comment is wearing a bit thin and should not be used. Bury it. Also JEB had no business attacking Rubio on such a weak item. What was he thinking?
Every time I hear a candidate tell me what they will do for the middle class I get nauseous. We are The United States of America and every citizen deserves to be considered part of the mix so proposed policies should be offered to lift all boats - private yacht owners to canoe owners.
Yes, the responders attacked big government, pointed out everything it touches it ruins and Fiorina went into some detail on why big government forces big business to consolidate, get stronger and bigger. Then after this has happened the Hillarious of the world say it is time to break up large banks etc. Government fears anyone and/or any entity that can measure up to government .
The key to economic growth is smaller government, power returned to locals and allowing the free markets to sort out the competitive forces. Does this result in a perfect solution? Of course not but there is none better devised by man as long as rational restraints are imposed and those who violate these restraints must be prosecuted regardless of their position.
Finally, when it came to the question about The Federal Reserve and the problems it has caused , every one who responded failed to bring out the fact that Congress established the Federal Reserve so it would not be responsible for the consequences of unbridled spending and the impact that has on a stable currency and inflation etc.
The Federal Reserve was a creature of Congress so those in Congress could avoid irresponsibility.
So Congress invented a dog to kick and yes Fed policies have been awful at times but The Fed has no control over spending yet, are charged to cope with insanity but have no control over the insane.
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The time has come for Israel to be dumped on so Obama can claim another legacy victory which will unravel as fast as it is crafted and forced upon a divided Israel while Obama seeks the unification of Syria!
Obama bring Iran into Syrian negotiations!
This is why I say the greatest danger lies ahead between now and when Obama leaves office. (See 1, 1a and 1b below.)
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More of Obama's dangerous strategy.
I just received my Autumn "Naval War College Review " which I hope to read over the weekend and it has articles on Israeli Targeting, new U.S Maritime strategy and China's aircraft carrier program. The latter has consistently been reported on in previous articles. (See 2 below.)
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Israel has no choice but does not seek to implement this choice. (See 3 below.)
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The speech by Ryan today was masterful in that he set the tone of comity. Though I regret his having
to give up Chairmanship of The House Ways and Means Committee, if the Members embrace his
message The House may begin to function again.
Meanwhile, In my humble opinion we are now entering the most dangerous period in Obama's reign. Why? Because he wants to assure his legacy of America's retreat, allowing Iran to rise, our relationship with Israel to be permanently downgraded, the deficit's unabated rise to continue, Obama Care implemented in ways that will not reveal it has failed to accomplish its stated goal and at a huge over-cost and that is not all.
As our adversaries take measure of Obama's confused and weak persona they are emboldened. China continues to illegally expand and militarize China Sea Islands, Russia attacks those we support in Syria, and ISIS spreads its wings seemingly wherever it so chooses.
Sending a destroyer and keeping it within 12 miles of a China Sea Island, in my opinion, did more to validate China's illegality than to signal how serious we are. As for Putin, Obama basically allowed Russia to pre-empt our position in The Middle East. Obama caved partly because he has no co-ordinated strategy but mostly because he is an impotent president.
Domestically, Obamacare has proven to be the cost over-run program detractors said it would be and millions still remain outside its coverage scope. Meanwhile, Obama's "theft transfer" of $700 billion from Medicare to fund Obamcare has further jeopardized a program that was, at least, working for one that is mostly failing.
Furthermore, The Attorney General's department continues to operate without regard to the fact that our
nation was founded on the principle of adherence to law.
Finally, spending remains out of control, our military ability continues on a path of being castrated and Obama knows time is running out on his ability to operate outside Constitutional constraints.
Suffice it to say, Obama is interested in his legacy at the risk of carrying out his primal pledge that all presidents take, ie. to protect and defend our nation thereby, placing any successor's job almost beyond achievement and reach.
Obama guts one more high level officer by a lawyer. (See 4 below.)
===Dick
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1)Time for a new American understanding of the conflict - It is 1947 not 1968!
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| “The historical denial about the right of Jewish people to have their own homeland” and the Palestinian “refusal to acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state, that is a critical issue that needs to be addressed.” – Democratic California Congressman Alan Lowenthal This week the United Nations Security Council debated the causes of the current violence in Israel. It wasn’t much of a debate. The ambassadors were in perfect agreement about who caused the violence, and were sure of the remedy. Facts were chosen, and context was conveniently ignored. That evening I was asked to speak to young Jewish professionals in New York City about the current situation. During the Q&A and afterwards, one question was repeatedly asked: How do we respond to people who disproportionately blame Israel? How do we interact with people especially on the Internet who barely acknowledge the unprovoked Palestinian attacks, or show any discomfort with the blatant Jew hatred pervasive on the Internet? The UN ambassadors were unanimous in agreement that the source of the violence was the settlements, and Israel’s change in the status quo on the Temple Mount. They agreed that it is the Palestinians who need protection from Israelis. The obvious fact that if Palestinian attacks ended, the violence would cease is never mentioned. Israel’s legitimate security requirements, and its rejected offers of land for peace were ignored, as they do not fit the anti-Israel narrative of the United Nations. As a reminder, having a standard for Israel that is not expected of any other nation is considered anti-Semitism according to the US State Department’s definition. Further confusing the situation were the American mixed messages on the violence, which seemed absolutely schizophrenic. Inauspiciously, it began with Secretary of State John Kerry’s moral equivalence, saying, “I am not going to point fingers from afar... this is a revolving cycle,” and blaming the settlements for the violence. He then backtracked a bit, defending Israel’s right to self-defense and attributing some blame to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for incitement. Processing these contradictory messages for many pro-Israel advocates is difficult enough, especially when the anti-Israel crowd cherry-picks statements to put Israel in the worst possible light. The ad hominem attacks from peers on the Internet who repeat anti-Israel talking points with certainty frustrate and discourage young adults who want to defend Israel. If you are alone with someone with a closed mind, just keep walking. But with social media, your response to a person who is prejudiced against Israel is monitored and followed by other people whose opinions may not be completely formed, or who are impressionable. In the 21st century, the goal of pro-Israel advocates is to educate. Ignorance is a major enemy in the war of words against those who want to delegitimize Israel, and concoct rationales for violence and ostracism against Jews everywhere. Respond and respectfully correct inaccuracies on Facebook and twitter from those who slander Israel. During times of quiet in the conflict, return to basic education to lay the groundwork to combat the next round of falsehoods that will inevitably be hurled at Israel. Share videos and photos from social media, like the one that shows Palestinians teaching the best ways to insert a knife into a Jew. When you are charged with stereotyping all Palestinians, share with them polls revealing that 93 percent of Palestinians hold anti-Jewish beliefs. Offer polls of Palestinians by Palestinians, like the one from the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion in June 2015 showing 81% of West Bank Palestinian Arabs say all of historic Palestine “is Palestinian land and Jews have no rights to the land.” This conflict will not move in a positive and less violent direction until an American administration throws out the failed playbooks for resolving the conflict. The conflict will have a chance for resolution when Palestinian dreams of slaughter and expulsion of Jews are confronted and rejected, not justified by cultural relativism. A future administration must renounce the disingenuous moral equivalence meant to placate Muslim and Arab states. This has been a failed strategy, playing into the hands of Arab dictators, who have used Israel as the scapegoat to cover up their own incompetence and corruption. In February 2015 I wrote an article, “ Does Mahmoud Abbas want his legacy to be the third intifada?’ Six months later, we seem on the precipice of another more dangerous uprising that emanates not only from Palestinians of the West Bank, but potentially from Palestinian Arabs with Israeli citizenship. Unless future American administrations can readjust their tired and failed diplomatic strategies, and realize that this conflict is about 1948 and Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish State, not 1967 when Israel in a defensive war pushed back its assailants from being a stone’s throw from its major population centers and conquered the West Bank, Israel and the Palestinians Arabs will continue to pay the price. America must finally challenge the Muslim worldview that Judaism is not a nationality if progress is ever to be made in resolving the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. The author is the director of MEPIN™ (Middle East Political and Information Network™), and a regular contributor to The Jerusalem Post. MEPIN™ is a Middle East research analysis read by members of Congress, their foreign policy advisers, members of the Knesset, journalists and organizational leaders. He regularly briefs members of Congress on issues related to the Middle East. 1a) ‘Unify Syria, Divide Israel’ Says Kerry in Major Middle East Policy AddressU.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke about U.S. Policy Towards the Middle East on Wednesday, Oct. 28 at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Kerry touched on many topics during his hour-long talk, including the Nuclear Iran Deal, ISIS, the war in Syria and, of course, the Arab-Israeli conflict. GENESIS OF ISIS Kerry claimed that ISIS - which is apparently now to be known in U.S. Diplo-talk as Daesh - arose out of the chaos during the early days of the Syrian Revolution, when poor, disillusioned Syrians were protesting in the streets because they just wanted jobs and a future. But Bassar al-Assad's thugs, Kerry explained, beat up those young people. Then the parents of the young people went out in the streets to clash with Assad's thugs, who in turn used bullets and bombs on the protesting parents. "Having made peaceful change impossible, Assad made war inevitable," Kerry said. And then Assad turned to Hezbollah for help, and then to Iran and Russia, and this exacerbated tensions between Sunni and Shiite communities, and this paved the way for Daesh. Kerry made clear the U.S. is not pleased with Russia's role so far in the conflict, because instead of fighting ISIS, Russian airstrikes have been targeting Assad's enemies. But Kerry is committed to a political solution to the crisis - he apparently sees ISIS and the Syrian conflict as the same battle - and believes there must and will be a political transition that sidelines Assad. Kerry claims that all the participants in the conflict agree that "the status quo is untenable." Sound familiar? We all agree that we need to find a way to have a political solution, we all agree that a victory by Daesh or any other terrorist group absolutely has to be prevented. We all agree that it's imperative to save the state of Syria, and the institutions on which it is built and to preserve a united and secular Syria.Kerry called on the Russians to get with the program and allow a transition "that will unite the country and will enable this beleaguered country to rehabilitate itself, bring back its citizens, and live in peace." That's all. Not asking much. Just stop the fighting, unite the country, have free and fair elections, and all will be good. SYRIA MUST BE UNITED; ISRAEL MUST BE DIVIDED In contrast to Kerry's insistence that Syria - a factionalized country with various warring ethnic groups none of which want to be controlled by the other - be united, Kerry's diktat for Israel is the opposite. Although Israel has gained territory repeatedly as the result of wars waged against it by belligerent outsiders, and which since the fall of the Ottoman Empire has never been ruled by any other nations, the U.S. demands that Israel must be divided. STATUS QUO ON TEMPLE MOUNT GOOD; STATUS QUO IN ISRAEL BAD And Kerry continued to insist that the status quo must be maintained on the Temple Mount - a status quo which prevents Jews from moving their lips lest they be deemed praying - but the status quo in which Israel does its best to defend its citizens must be terminated. When not pointedly referring to Har Habayit, Kerry insisted that "the current situation is simply not sustainable. President Obama has said it publicly many times, I've said it publicly and it is absolutely vital for Israel to take steps that empower Palestinian leaders to improve economic opportunities and the quality of life for their people on a day to day basis." Really? Israel has to empower the leaders of the terrorists so that economic opportunities and their quality of life is improved? The PA, one of the single largest recipients of international aid ever? And, of course, there was the inevitable call for the Two State Holy Grail. "A two state solution with strong security protection remains the only viable alternative. And for anybody who thinks otherwise, you can measure what unitary looks like by just looking at what's been going on in the last weeks." Sounds like a threat, doesn't it? You'll just be getting more terrorism unless you hand over territory - not just any territory - but parts of Jersualem, including the Old City - to the Arabs. That's what you'll get and that's what you'll deserve. Kerry also called on both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leader of the PA Mahmoud Abbas to display "firm and creative leadership." He specifically called on the Palestinian Arab leaders to "cease the incitement of violence and to offer something more than rhetoric." Abbas, apparently, was not listening. ABBAS DEMANDS UNSC PROTECTION FROM ISRAEL Meanwhile, just as Kerry continued repeating his mantra that Netanyahu and Abbas must do everything possible to cease the incitement, Abbas also gave a major policy address. The leader of the Palestinian Authority, currently in the 11th year of his four year term, spoke before the United Nations Human Rights Council. In his speech, Abbas claimed that the PA needs the U.N.'s protection from Israel. No joke. After a month of grotesquely brutal attacks by Palestinian Arabs on innocent Israeli Jews, the leader of the PA was asking for protection from Israel. And no one laughed. Abbas had sought the special session from the United Nations Human Rights Council. The UNSC convened specifically in response to that request, "a courtesy never previously shown to a United Nations observer state," according to the New York Times. Abbas urged the UNSC to establish “a special regime of international protection” for his people. Protection from themselves? Protection from their enduring propensity to destroy any opportunity for a good life for themselves and their progeny? Protection while they stab Jews, so they can continue stabbing without interference from Jewish policemen or Jewish bystanders trying to prevent the slaughter? Abbas wasn't saying. What he did say is that his people need protection, and they look to the U.N. to provide it. Abbas was strongly condemned by Eviatar Manor, Israel's ambassador to the U.N. Manor said the address by Abbas was yet another example of incitement, and he also rebuked the UNSC for convening the "scandalous special meeting" which was used as a prop to further fan "the flames of conflict." But over at the State Department Daily Press Briefing, the spokesperson absolutely refused to condemn the speech by Abbas. Brad Klapper of the Associated Press asked State Dept. Spokesperson John Kirby whether he felt the "tenor of the speech was consistent with the kind of the approach you're looking for from him right now:"
AP'S KLAPPER: Are you happy with the message? That would be the basic question.
MR KIRBY: I think what I would say, what we want to continue to see – what we want to see is words and deeds that do not do anything to escalate the tensions and actually can contribute to calm, and I think I’d leave it at that.
Two states or two standards?
About the Author: Lori Lowenthal Marcus is the U.S. correspondent for The Jewish Press. A graduate of Harvard Law School, she previously practiced First Amendment law and taught in Philadelphia-area graduate and law schools. You can reach her by email: Lori@JewishPressOnline.com
1b
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