Hamas locates tunnel under U.N. Relief School so, were Israel forced to attack, the mass media could accuse Israel of bombing Palestinian school children. More fake news reporting. (See 1 below.)
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I happened to watch a documentary about the Rock and Roll, Jimi Hendrix Concert, held at Byron, Ga. in the '70's, last night. It was the last of its kind.
As I watched the debauchery, the discordant music, I was reminded, once again, what a devastating impact the '60's had and is having on our culture and nation.
This period was marked by total disregard for the law, defiance of authority and lowered standards of propriety because youth were fed up with the Viet Nam War and the manner in which it was conducted, ie. from The White House, so there was no way we were ever going to win. America's youth were being drafted to kill "innocents" and the mass media did everything in their power to undercut our military. Even the trusted Cronkite said we could not win several weeks before we actually were. Thus the prolonged unpopular nature of the war simply allowed the disgust to grow and force Johnson's hand.
What happened in Viet Nam framed the ensuing years and, in my opinion, laid the foundation for disdain that is currently leveled at our political system, the establishment and everything about America, its culture, its economic system, its treatment of minorities etc. Obama took this bubbling volcanic undercurrent and brought it to the surface with his transformation message. In the process, Obama created greater racial divide increased the,contempt and distrust of law enforcement and helped bring about the downsizing and decimation of our military posture. While doing this, he also allowed Russia to gain a foothold in The Middle East and Islamist terrorism to spread its tentacles.
Part of the reason Trump was elected was a reaction to Obama's eight years of corrupt, mismanagement and lying, part of Trump's election is due to the Democrat's deplorable candidate and part of Trump's election is because of Trump's style and not being your typical politician. We were willing to ignore his warts and lack of presidential manner and, after his upset election, Democrats have spent their every waking hour trying to unseat him by spurious charges and, failing to accomplish that, throw sand in the gears of his administration.
I suspect if everyone human underwent a microscope examination some blemish or many such would be revealed. What we are now learning and were unwilling to admit previously is that Obama's blemishes were, not only, many but also paralleled those Democrats are using to impugn Trump.
Even Comey has acknowledged he was manipulated by AG Lynch who, no doubt, received her instructions from Obama.
We know AG Holder lied about guns supplied to Mexican Warlords, we know Powers and Rice llied about Benghazi, we know the IRS was hijacked and we now know corporation fines were directed by Obama/Holder/Lynch to fill directed liberal coffers.
We also had confirmed by Comey's testimony, what we already knew, the mass media cannot be trusted and report fake news as if it were the gospel.
The fact that many decks are stacked is unsettling and not the way Americans play ball but after the '60's the entire political game has changed and we no longer expect the field to be level. We are more accepting of allowing radical voices to dictate our nation's direction and the agenda. What is happening on college campuses with respect to "safe zones" and suspension of free dialogue and speakers with different views is symptomatic of a nation that is infused with dry rot, is disintegrating from within its very core.
The spurious attacks on Trump, the disgusting way in which he is being portrayed along with the characterization of his family are beneath America. We have allowed an ugliness to seep into political discourse that is not informing and/or enlightening. It plays upon our ignorance, our passion and our abysmal lack of understanding what is at stake. No doubt, Russia manipulated our election but, from all evidence, did not change the outcome. That is encouraging but what has transpired subsequently would suggest Russia was effective because distrust has spread, and baseless calls for impeachment are surfacing.
While all of this is occurring, Trump's efforts to enact his agenda is being sidetracked and our economy continues to limp along at an historically low rate. Yes, consumer confidence is building and the market is rising but unless expectations are met by positive results what is happening is not sustainable.
Democrats have every reason to object to what Trump is proposing because he is about undoing the remnants of Obama's legacy, such as it is/was but, at some point, they will be morally obligated to explain their actions and offer their own proposals and if not, and they continue along the Schumer-Pelosi dictates, I believe they will suffer at the polls and our nation will be irreparably harmed.
The deficit is enormous and any rise in interest rates simply sucks more air out of an economy whose breathing is already labored.
Stay tuned.
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Sanders and Soros, two peas/pees in a pod? (See 2 below.)
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Dick
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1) Hamas Tunnel Found Under UNRWA School
The UN Relief and Works Agency, which provides assistance to Palestinian refugees, discovered a Hamas tunnel under two Gaza schools sharing the same premises. The Jerusalem Post writes:
In a statement, UNRWA spokesperson Christopher Gunness said that the tunnels were discovered during construction of an extension of one of the buildings during summer vacation, when the schools were empty. The tunnel had no entry or exit points within the school.
In a sign of the times, a Saudi newspaper harshly condemned Hamas, saying the terror group endangers Gaza’s civilians:
“Hamas allocates millions of Saudi and UAE dollars in order to support Iranian-orchestrated terror.”The leading Saudi newspaper drew parallels between the Islamic State and those of Hamas, stating that “there is no difference between them.”The newspaper called for immediate Arab intervention in order to prevent Hamas’ exploitation of Gaza’s citizens and even “to save their lives.”
Hamas denied digging the tunnel, but did announce that its new politburo chief, Ismail Haniyeh, will lead a delegation of senior Hamas leaders to Iran.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the UNRWA to be dismantled.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++“Since World War II, there have been tens of millions of refugees the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has taken care of. The Palestinians have their own separate commission, UNRWA, which has a lot of incitement against Israelis among its ranks,” the prime minister said.
2) Bernie Sanders: Knave or Fool?
Shame on Bernie Sanders. He campaigned for the British anti-Semite Jeremy Corbyn, who received millions of votes from British citizens who care more about their pocketbooks than about combatting anti-Semitism. As exit polls trickled in, Sanders tweeted: "I am delighted to see Labour do so well. I congratulate @jeremycorbyn for running a very effective campaign." There is no doubt that Corbyn and his Labour Party are at the very least tolerant of anti-Semitic rhetoric, if not peddlers of it. (See my recent op-ed on the British Labour Party and Corbyn's association with some of the most rancid anti-Semites.)Sanders's support for this anti-Jewish bigot reminds me of the Jews who supported Stalin despite his overt anti-Semitism because they supported his communist agenda. Those who tolerate anti-Semitism argue that it is a question of priorities but even so, history proves that Sanders has his priorities wrong. No decent person should ever, under any circumstances, campaign for an anti-Semite.There are two reasons why Sanders would campaign for an anti-Semite: 1) he has allowed Corbyn's socialism to blind him to his anti-Semitism; 2) he doesn't care about Corbyn's anti-Semitism because it is not important enough to him. This means that he is either a fool or a knave.
It is clear that if Corbyn were anti-black, anti-women, anti-Muslim or anti-gay, Sanders would not have campaigned for him. Does this make him a self-hating Jew? Or does he just not care about anti-Semitism? The answer to that question requires us to look broadly to trends among the hard left of which Sanders is a leader.
Increasingly, the "progressive wing" of the Democratic Party and other self-identifying "progressives," subscribe to the pseudo-academic theory of intersectionality, which holds that all forms of social oppression are inexorably linked. This type of "ideological packaging" has become code for anti-American, anti-Western, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bigotry. Indeed, those who consider themselves "progressives" – but who are actually repressives – tolerate anti-Semitism as long as it comes from those who espouse other views they approve of. This form of "identity politics" has forced artificial coalitions between causes that have nothing to do with each other except a hatred for those who are "privileged" because they are white, heterosexual, male and especially Jewish.It is against this backdrop that Sanders's cozying up to bigots such as Corbyn can be understood. Throughout the presidential campaign and in its aftermath, Sanders has given a free pass to those who are anti-Israel – which is often a euphemism for anti-Jewish. Consider, for example Sanders's appointments to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Platform Committee last summer. Seeking to satisfy his radical "Bernie or Bust" support base, Sanders appointed James Zogby and Cornell West -- both of whom have peddled anti-Semitic conspiracy theories throughout their careers. Professor Cornell West -- who was a Sanders surrogate on the campaign trail -- has said that the crimes of the genocidal terrorist group Hamas "pale in the face of the US-supported Israeli slaughters of innocent civilians," and is a strong advocate of trying to eradicate Israel through the vehicle a campaign of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions.
He has also repeatedly accused Israel of killing Palestinian babies -- an allegation that echoes historic attacks on Jews for "blood libel."
Moreover, Sanders's endorsement for DNC Chair of Keith Ellison -- who himself has a sordid history with anti-Semitism, stemming from his association with Louis Farrakhan, who publicly boasted about his own Jew-hatred -- is yet another reflection of Sanders's complicity in, and encouragement of, the oldest form of bigotry.Finally, consider Sanders's ardent support for Black Lives Matter, an organization that, while worthily "working for the validity of Black life" also, unfortunately, that has promoted anti-Semitism by singling out one country for condemnation in its "platform": calling the Nation State of the Jewish People an "apartheid" and "genocidal" regime.
It is clear that Bernie Sanders does not care about anti-Semitism. Whatever his motivation may be – political, ideological or otherwise – it is never acceptable to support or campaign for an anti-Semite.Sanders has also shown himself to be an ignoramus when it comes to understanding the Middle East, and has displayed his strong bias against Israel. This may be because he has surrounded himself with foreign policy "experts" who often (incorrectly) describe Israel as an apartheid state, and have (also incorrectly) repeatedly accused the IDF of committing war crimes. Sanders has clearly absorbed some of this rhetoric, as demonstrated in a series of infamous interviews during the campaign, in which he grossly overstated the number of Palestinian civilian deaths in Operation Protective Edge, and (again, incorrectly) accused Israel of using "disproportionate" force in response to Hamas' rocket attacks.
Meanwhile, in a recent video marking the anniversary of the Six-Day War, Sanders said: "We are now in the 50th year of Israel's occupation, an occupation which denies basic Palestinian rights while failing to deliver Israel real security."
He then went on to decry the rise of worldwide political movements, which he described as "racist, intolerant and authoritarian in nature." The irony is staggering. Sanders wandered into the morass of Mideast politics only to satisfy his hard-left supporters who think in absurdly counterfactual packages. He then had the "chutzpah" to condemn political groups on the right for being "intolerant" and "authoritarian," without condemning the equally intolerant, authoritarian and often anti-Semitic, tendencies of the hard left. Sanders's hypocrisy in this instance reflects a dangerous trend in our politics: a willingness to tolerate anti-Semitism and bigotry when it comes from one's preferred side of the political spectrum.
This type of radical "intersectional" thinking was on full display in a bizarre column written by Roger Cohen for the New York Times:"Elections take place in the real world; they often involve unpleasant choices. I dislike Corbyn's anti-Americanism, his long flirtation with Hamas, his coterie's clueless leftover Marxism and anti-Zionism, his NATO bashing, his unworkable tax-and-spend promises. He's of that awful Cold War left that actually believed Soviet Moscow was probably not as bad as Washington.
Still, Corbyn would not do May's shameful Trump-love thing. He would not succumb to the jingoistic anti-immigration talk of the Tories. After the terrorist attacks, he said 'difficult conversations' were needed with Saudi Arabia: Hallelujah! He would tackle rising inequality. He would seek a soft departure from the European Union keeping Britain as close to Europe as possible. His victory — still improbable — would constitute punishment of the Tories for the disaster of Brexit. Seldom would a political comeuppance be so merited.
That's enough for me, just."Clearly this reasoning of "that's enough for me" resonates with Bernie Sanders as well. Sanders was willing to campaign in the UK for the ostensibly unelectable Corbyn – who has called Hamas and Hezbollah "my friends" and has associated with Holocaust deniers and peddlers of blood libels against Jews – because he shares Corbyn's socialist agenda.
Addressing Corbyn supporters at a campaign event, Sanders drew on parallels between their similar political agendas:"What has impressed me – and there is a real similarity between what he has done and what I have done – he has taken on the establishment of the Labour party and gone to the grassroots. And he has tried to transform that party and take on a lot of establishment opposition. That is exactly what's taking place in the United States and what I'm trying to do with the Democratic Party.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++"So I applaud Corbyn for raising those issues, which I think are important for my country, for the UK and for every major country on earth."Like Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders positions himself as the socialist, anti-establishment warrior. It is difficult to imagine Bernie Sanders, however, campaigning for a socialist who did not like black people or who was against gay marriage. Yet he is comfortable campaigning for Jeremy Corbyn who has made a career out of condemning Zionists by which he means Jews.Let's be clear: Sanders's attempt to downplay, ignore or deny that many of his supporters or associates are really anti-Semites should be disqualifying. Going forward, he will have to explain why a Jew is helping to elect a bigot with the views Corbyn holds about the Jewish people and their nation state. It can be assumed that either Sanders shares some of these views, or is indifferent to them. Shame on Bernie Sanders!Alan Dershowitz, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus, at Harvard Law School and author of "Taking the Stand: My Life in the Law" and "Electile Dysfunction: A Guide for the Unaroused Voter."
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