Assorted Commentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9vBJCMD69w
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Something even I find hard to believe. (See 1 below.)
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Status of American preparedness. (See 2 below.)
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A response from a friend and fellow memo reader regarding kneeling.  "
                                                                    

TO KNEEL OR NOT TO KNEEL

The issue of racial divide in America is as complex as a Rubik cube. Those who ignore it AND those who believe that it is the modern root cause of poverty, drugs, inadequate education, the decline of religion and the family unit, etc. are equally WRONG. If I had to point to one central cause, I would say that it is our politicians. Not our political system. God only knows what will happen with the Trump presidency. But at least we have a chance to cast off the charlatans and replace them with people who believe in this country.

But as far as the left's attempting to take control of professional sports through left-wing athletes, as they have media, education, and the Democrat party, we can respond more effectively because it's a small number of individuals, even considering every single player in the league, who show up for work in Ferraris, Maseratis, and Teslas and designer clothes.

So that makes them very vulnerable to a simple question. After the game, after taking a shower, and putting on your designer clothes, and getting into your luxury car, what ELSE are YOU doing to fix the problem? You have a right to disrespect the flag and national anthem of this country, but it's not right. This WILL be your legacy. Not your rings. Not your stats. But that you loved your country so little that ALL you were willing to do was to kneel during the national anthem. 

R--"

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Dear Dick,

As always, I enjoy your emails. 

As one of your recent topics, I note you are writing or including articles on our nation's unfunded liabilities.  Those of us who understand economics and have had some experience in such matters well understand the deceit politicians practice of securing power through gifting generous current benefits with debt to be paid long after their term in office.  Such Ponzi schemes work well as long as the public extends its full faith and credit to the

And:

"Dick, here is a copy of a Facebook post by my Grandson. He just completed 11 1/2 yrs. as a Captain in the Marines, including 2 Iraq deployments.

He can serve as my spokesman on the issue.

J---"

"Raymond K-----

I have thought long and hard about all of this kneeling by professional athletes in an effort to make a statement for their cause. Some folks agree and praise them for their "courage" while others go to the other end of the spectrum. Here's the thing to me, as someone who volunteered to fight for his country and did so alongside real likeminded patriots all at their own will... if you have the celebrity platform and want to make a point and change a narrative, then by all means, take your overpaid and privileged butt to the tv cameras and speak, but do it OFF the field. Sports should show the best in everyone and not have any political undertones and should CELEBRATE what makes us great, our amazing social experiment we call a democracy, or to be correct a constitutional republic. My point is this, do your job as we did ours. Kneeling is NOT an expression of your view it's Disrespectful. We should all just be grateful enough to live in a place where we can talk freely about issues and people can make millions to chase a ball. Put it all into perspective. And if not, none of us have to live here, so feel free to leave and see if you can live the same way somewhere else."

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Does Israel discriminate against Arabs and is BDS justified?

Left Click above or here to watch this video
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Dick
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1)

Lawrence Solomon: Why Israel might take out North Korea's nukes

North Korea, in league with Iran, poses an existential threat to Israel — with its tiny land mass, Israel could not withstand a successful nuclear attack  

North Korea’s rhetoric, like its promise earlier this year to unleash a “merciless, thousand-fold punishment” on its enemy, is familiar to us. But the target of the invective may surprise some. That particular threat was levied against Israel, and understandably so. Kim Jong-Un has reason to fear and loathe Israel.

The United States, South Korea and Japan—the three Pacific countries the Western press focuses on—haven’t been willing to kill North Koreans. Israel has. The U.S., South Korea and Japan haven’t blown up North Korean facilities. Israel has, many believe, and for good measure it also exercises control over North Korean shipping. Kim knows that Israel acts militarily and covertly to thwart his plans at home and abroad and that Israel is far likelier to take pre-emptive actions than his appeaser-neighbours. Unlike Trump, who issues loud threats of his own but is restrained in action, Israel acts and remains silent.

One of the highest profile, if initially unpublicized, military attacks in the undeclared war between North Korea and Israel occurred a decade ago, when Israeli jets destroyed a nuclear reactor that the North Koreans were building in Syria, and with it 10 North Korean officials. Three years earlier, shortly after a Mossad agent surreptitiously entered North Korea using a stolen Canadian passport, a massive explosion in a North Korean freight train carrying nuclear material killed at least a dozen Syrian nuclear scientists, and many more North Koreans. Israeli intelligence, which is thought to have played a role in the attack, reported that there was so much radioactive material onboard that the scientists were flown back to Syria in lead caskets.

Kim Jong Un has reason to fear and loathe Israel

Israel, sometimes in co-operation with the U.S., is also believed to have intercepted shipments from North Korea to Middle Eastern nations involving technology for missiles, conventional arms and chemical weapons as well as nuclear weaponry. In 2017 alone, according to a UN report leaked last month to Reuters, two North Korean arms shipments bound for the Syrian agency responsible for chemical weapons were intercepted by two unnamed governments.

North Korea’s hatred of Israel is ideological, dating back to the West vs. Communist Cold War era. It is the only non-Muslim country to have never recognized the state of Israel and the only one to have taken Israel on militarily. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israeli air force’s first and last dogfights in the skies over Egypt involved North Korean pilots flying Soviet MIG fighters. North Korea has trained and armed the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hamas and Hezbollah. One North Korean specialty—tunnel technology—is valued by Iran, which needs to protect its nuclear facilities against attack, and by Hamas and Hezbollah, who use it to infiltrate Israel. Iranian scientists have been special guests at North Korean nuclear bomb tests.

Israel has more than North Korea’s ideology to worry about, however. North Korea’s chief source of revenue is arms and its chief customer is Iran. It was Iran that financed the Syrian nuclear reactor—price tag estimated at U.S.$1 billion to $2 billion—and it is Iran that has been importing North Korean missile technology as well as nuclear technology. Now that North Korea has miniaturized nuclear bombs, it is able to sell Iran ready-made bombs as well.

Iran has missile technology and lacks only the nuclear warhead. Now it has in North Korea a willing seller, one that will be in increasing need of funds if the economic sanctions imposed by the UN take hold. Israel thus faces a nightmare scenario in which the U.S. refrains from disarming North Korea, leaving North Korea free to ship unlimited numbers of nuclear bombs to Iran, whose mullahs are bent on destroying the state of Israel.

North Korea poses a major threat to the U.S. but not an existential threat, and if U.S. intelligence agencies are correct, not an imminent one. North Korea, in league with Iran, poses an existential threat to Israel—with its tiny land mass, Israel could not withstand a successful nuclear attack.  

Israel has a history of taking pre-emptive action against mortal threats, even when opposed by the U.S. and world opinion. It will do so again if it must. If it does take out North Korea’s nuclear capability, especially if Israel is perceived to have acted alone, North Korea would have no reason to retaliate against the U.S., South Korea or Japan. A tragic carnage in the Korean peninsula would be averted.

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2)

The Status of the American Military and Readiness Concerns

FROM JANET LEVY

The Status of the American Military and Readiness Concerns 

In its latest report, The New York Analysis of Policy and Government describes the attenuated strength of the American military as well as present day challenges to U.S. national security. 

Editor-in-chief, attorney and radio host, Frank Vernuccio, details the impact of an underfunded  military that has suffered from extensive budget cuts over the past eight years and how this has created a crisis of significant proportions, vastly underreported by the American media.

Here are a list of critical problems/issues that could hamper America’s ability to fight the multifarious threats it currently faces:

1. America is no longer a technological leader.  Russia and China have equivalent military technology and, in some cases, more leading-edge technology outpacing U.S. advancements.
2. America’s nuclear superiority was eliminated by Obama’s New START treaty with Russia.  While the U.S. reduced its nuclear stockpile as per the “agreement,” Moscow violated the terms of the treaty and continued to perform testing and develop new capabilities.

Note:  The nuclear capability of secretive states such as Russia and China cannot be verified.  It has been calculated that U.S. estimates of Chinese stockpiles could be off by a factor of 10.  The capabilities of Russia and China’s clients, North Korea and Iran, is a potential massive atomic threat to America and its allies.

3.  During the Cold War, Russia and China were adversaries; they are now allies.

4.  Russia has aggressively moved into Eastern Europe and Latin America and has engaged in an extensive arms build-up in the Arctic.  China has expanded its influence in the South and East China Seas.  

5. The U.S. now lacks the industrial base to rapidly build new ships, planes and tanks and is increasingly more reliant on foreign sources for necessary materials.  The use of foreign components and raw materials can lead to supply disruptions and potential sabotage.  

6. Due to changes made by the Obama administration, training levels have been reduced that impair U.S. battle readiness, even reducing the deployability of pilots. 

7. Hezbollah, ISIS and Al Qaeda operate in the western hemisphere and poorly protected borders have allowed sleeper cells to penetrate the U.S.

8. The increased threat of infrastructure sabotage and cyber espionage have been inadequately addressed by the U.S. government.  

9. Underfunded NATO nations do not represent a stalwart bulwark against the Russian-Chinese-North Korean-Iranian axis.  

10. The U.S. faces the very real threat of an EMP attack of catastrophic proportions.  Such an attack may not necessarily trigger our warning systems.  Other nations have hardened their grids while the U.S. has done little to prepare for the devastation of a strike that could potentially take out the electrical grid and eliminate critical infrastructure including water, electricity, telephones, computer networks, heating, air conditioning, transportation, manufacturing and banking.  

11. The U.S. no longer has a military capable of covering multiple military contingencies simultaneously.  

12. A great deal of American taxpayer funded research and development has been stolen by espionage by America’s enemies, particularly China.

13. It is unclear if the U.S has adequate defenses against asymmetric warfare conducted by insurgency and terrorist movements utilizing bioweapons, cyber instruments and precision-strike capabilities that could result in large-scale violence and disruption. 

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