My friend, Avi Jorisch, has his book (see 1 below.) coming out next month and I am working with him and Guy Randolph to have Avi come down on Nov. 13 for one of the Monthly SIRC TP meetings to discuss and autograph his book.
=====================================================
Bret Stephens make the case for "Bibi" to retain power and I agree: https://mobile.nytimes.com/
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Trump begins walling in his detractors. (See 2 below.)
And:
I believe this op ed hits the mark. (See 2a below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sent by a close friend and fellow memo reader regarding thoughts on the 2d Amendment issue. (See 3 below.)
#AR15 #Assaultrifle #2A #gunri
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Leaving town Friday and returning Tuesday. Have a great weekend.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dick
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1)Thou Shalt Innovate
How Israeli Ingenuity Repairs the World
Avi Jorisch
Thou
Shalt Innovate profiles wondrous Israeli innovations that are
collectively changing the lives of billions of people around the world and
explores why Israeli innovators of all faiths feel compelled to make the world
better. This is the story of how Israelis are helping to feed the hungry, cure
the sick, protect the defenseless, and make the desert bloom. Israel is playing
a disproportionate role in helping solve some of the world’s biggest challenges
by tapping into the nation’s soul: the spirit of tikkun olam –
the Jewish concept of repairing the world.
There is
no single narrative that fully describes the State of Israel. But there is also
no denying that Israel has extraordinary innovators who are bound together by
their desire to save lives and find higher purpose. Thou Shalt Innovate introduces
the reader to Israelis who exude light in the face of the darkness, people who
have chosen hope and healing over death and destruction. In a world that has
more than its share of darkness, these stories are rays of light.
Key Points
· Features
fifteen astonishing Israeli inventions that are changing the world, plus
Israel's top 50 innovations since the founding of the State.
· Examines
the driving force behind Israel’s outstanding contributions to technology,
science, agriculture, water management, and defense.
· Based on
extensive research and over one hundred personal interviews.
· Written
by a Middle East insider.
Avi
Jorisch is a seasoned entrepreneur and Middle East expert. He is a
Senior Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and founder of IMS, a
merchant processing company that services clients nationwide. Mr. Jorisch is a
member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Entrepreneur’s Organization.
A thought leader in exploring global trends in the Arab world, radical Islam,
counterterrorism, and illicit finance, Mr. Jorisch served as a policy advisor
at the Treasury Department’s office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. He
holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Binghamton University and a master’s
degree in Islamic history from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also
studied Arabic and Islamic philosophy at the American University in Cairo and
al-Azhar University, the preeminent institution of Sunni Islamic learning. His
articles have appeared in influential outlets including the New York
Times, the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Forbes, and Al-Arabiya.net.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2)
Trump Awards First Border Wall Contract
A town in California seems to be getting the first installment of the border wall, as an Omaha, Neb. contractor has been brought in to build a 30 ft. wall near Calexico, Calif. From the San Diego Union-Tribune: "It encompasses an area bisected by the New River, where smugglers are known to guide people through polluted waters. The project, which includes a bridge over the river, is expected to take 300 days." The $18 million project should be completed by the end of 2018.
If Congress does not act immediately to fund the wall, this will serve as something of a demonstration to show the efficacy of the wall at preventing illegal crossings, as the current barrier is a fence of roughly half the size. The Union-Tribune continued: "The Trump administration also has issued waivers to build in San Diego and Santa Teresa, N.M. George W. Bush's administration issued the previous five waivers, allowing the government to quickly extend the wall to nearly one-third of the border without legal challenges that can block construction or cause major delays. The state of California and major environmental advocacy groups have sued the administration over the waivers, saying its authority expired."
U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who Trump tangled with during the campaign, is presiding over the lawsuit to determine whether the lawsuit will move forward. President Trump is incrementally making progress on the border and is within reach of replicating the success of the Calexico wall all along the southern border, but has to overcome spurious legal challenges and funding disputes from DC insiders to bring it home. The President reassured CPAC just last week, "You’re getting the wall. Don’t worry."
2a)
The Only Good Thing About Donald Trump Is All His Policies
A U.S. president who is a boor presents a problem. The presidency, after all, has a symbolic aspect.
By Joseph Epstein
My son Mark, whose mind is more capacious, objective and generous than mine, nicely formulated the Donald Trump problem for thoughtful conservatives. “I approve of almost everything he has done,” my son remarked, “and I disapprove of almost everything he has said.”
Second the motion. I approve of the Neil Gorsuch appointment, the moving of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the removal of often-strangling regulations from much commerce, the opening of the Keystone pipeline, the tax-reform law, and more.
I disapprove of the bragging tweets, the touchiness, the crude put-downs of anyone who disagrees with him (“Little Marco, ” “insecure Oprah, ” “Sloppy Steve, ” and the rest), the unrestrained vulgarity. America has had ignorant, corrupt, vain, lazy presidents before, but in Donald Trump we have the first president who is a genuine boor.
In many realms of life, a boor’s rude, unmannerly nature can be forgivable. A wise stockbroker, who makes his clients lots of money, might get away with being a boor. A boorish winning football coach— Mike Ditka, take a bow—is livable if not likable. Showbiz has never been without its boors, from George Jessel to Whoopi Goldberg. Even a boorish friend is possible, if he is also loyal, generous and honorable. But a boorish president of the United States presents a problem.
The presidency, like the monarchy in England, has a symbolic along with a practical aspect. The president is meant to represent the nation at its best. What precisely that means can vary greatly in a country as wide and differentiated as ours. Dwight David Eisenhower was a different model of our best than was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Harry S. Truman was different again, and yet in his own way he represented the country, in its Middle Western, small-business, common-sensical strain.
No one expects the president to be perfect. Nonetheless, it is disappointing when his imperfections are glaringly on display. Hence Bill Cinton’s fraternity-boy high jinks in the Oval Office with Monica Lewinsky was not a mere misdemeanor, a contretemps, but a disgrace, which left a permanent blot on what was in many ways a successful presidency.
The obverse of Donald Trump’s presidency for me was that of Barack Obama. To flip my son’s formulation, I approved of almost everything Mr. Obama said, and I disapproved of almost everything he did. He made a wretched nuclear deal with Iran, initiated a hopelessly cumbersome health-care law, deserted Israel at the United Nations, and did more to exacerbate than to alleviate race relations. Yet no hint of corruption, no sexual scandal of any sort, clings to Mr. Obama, a man who seems a loving husband and a good father.
I can easily imagine myself at lunch with Barack Obama, talking baseball, basketball, the University of Chicago, the intricacies of Chicago-style machine politics, whereas I cannot think of a single topic I might take up at a similar meal with Donald Trump.
The presidency, I can hear critics claiming, is not a charm contest. If President Trump is a boor, that may be regrettable, but better a boor with sound policies than a gentleman with unsound ones. True enough, yet this does not, as the philosophers say, exhaust all cases. A man likes to think that one day we may again have a president with both sound policies and dignified behavior.
Such a combination is of course possible, but at present more than merely unlikely. Boors in their 70s do not change. Donald Trump is incorrigible. Not even John Kelly, a tough retired Marine Corps general, has been able to whip him into anything resembling presidential shape. With Mr. Trump, what we see is what we get, and what we get distinctly isn’t Cary Grant. And we have three more years, possibly seven, to live it.
What is to be done? I wonder if we might start with journalism. What if American reporters began by ignoring Mr. Trump’s tweets, treating them as no more than the belches and embarrassing flatulence of an incurably dyspeptic man? Heavy media coverage of his tweets only encourages the old boy. What if journalists also ceased searching out the rest homes for aging hookers, porn queens, Mmes. America and Universe who, many moons ago, may or may not have lain with the current leader of the free world? With these two steps alone, the nature of current-day political life would be radically improved.
As things stand, with television punditi awaiting each morning’s fresh batch of presidential tweets, and with journalists sniffing out possible sex scandals like so many truffle dogs, the coverage of our politics seems rarely to rise above the intellectual level of the New York Post’s gossip-filled Page Six. Gossip is amusing in its place, but when that place is the White House it tends to lose its allure. In fact, it makes politics in the United States dreary beyond reckoning.
Mr. Epstein is author of the forthcoming “The Ideal of Culture and Other Essays” (Axios Press) and “Charm: The Elusive Enchantment” ( Taylor Trade), both to be published in 2018.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3)
Dems: Hey, Let's Ban All Semi-Automatics
Their gun-grabbing efforts are nothing new, though this one goes pretty far for a campaign issue.
by Thomas Gallatin
Democrats have always hated the Second Amendment. When they were the party of slavery and Jim Crow, they invented gun control to keep firearms out of the hands of blacks. Over the past few decades, as Democrats have increasingly moved hard left, the party’s position on the Second Amendment has become less about race than an ever-growing vitriolic anti-gun animosity. Once again, exploiting the recent Parkland atrocity, Democrats are going all-in by declaring themselves the party for “banning guns.”
On Monday, 156 House Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) introduced their latest anti-gun measure. The legislation, dressed up with the faulty language of “assault weapons” and “weapons of war,” was marketed as “sensible policy.” Of course, Democrat “common sense” is a non sequitur. In introducing the bill, Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) insisted, “Assault weapons were made for one purpose. They are designed to kill as many people as possible in a short amount of time. They do not belong in our communities.”
While Democrats’ gun-grabbing efforts are nothing new, this bill, far from being “sensible,” would essentially ban all semi-automatic firearms. The Washington Examiner reports, “The bill prohibits the ‘sale, transfer, production, and importation’ of semi-automatic rifles and pistols that can hold a detachable magazine, as well as semi-automatic rifles with a magazine that can hold more than 10 rounds. Additionally, the legislation bans the sale, transfer, production, and importation of semi-automatic shotguns with features such as a pistol grip or detachable stock, and ammunition feeding devices that can hold more than 10 rounds.”
Democrats and their cohorts in the mainstream media seek to demonize firearms and individual gun ownership rights, banking on the further polarization of the issue helping their election chances come November. Democrats know their bill won’t see any vote, but they aim to make “sensible gun control” an election issue for their campaign. And should another mass attack occur at another school or similar “gun-free zone” before the November elections, Democrats will be quick to point out how they are the only ones serious about “solving” the problem. However, the issue is so polarizing that it may prove to backfire against Democrats, as many Americans see this for what it is — a direct attack on Americans’ constitutional rights. Needless to say, it appears that Democrats are eager to take the political gamble.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
No comments:
Post a Comment