Is Bret An Horatio? Who Is The Real Booker? Mueller, End Your Disruptive Investigation. John James Offers The Better Path.GAZA. NAACP Charges Racism.

Did Bret Stephens burn his bridges at The Wall Street Journal or did he seek another venue that would pay more and give him greater prestige?  Bret told me his move would be same view, different audience.

I wonder how he feels now that he is at The New York Times with their new editorial hire and their constant slanted reporting ?  Over time, will their bias rub off on him? (See 1 below.)

And:

Has Booker's  stripes changed color? Are we now seeing the true Booker?(See 1a below.)

Finally:

More commentary regarding Gaza. (See 1b, 1c and 1d below.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Another Rant. (See 2 below.)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
For those who might enjoy the lecture and classes at The Adult Learning center. (See 3 below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If Mueller is willing to get back on track regarding  investigating Russia Collusion it would seem he would also be actively investigating Hillary and those on the other side of the aisle who were involved in real collusion.  Mueller's continued one sided investigation has been both corrosive and disruptive and needs to end. He should file his report and let the chips fall where they may based on evidence he has uncovered.

Meanwhile, John James responded, in an interview, why he will be an active supporter of Trump's efforts should he be elected, as he deserves. It is only a matter of time before Democrats and Hollywood liberals will be attacking him as an Uncle Tom. John James is a West Point Graduate, he is a combat officer and is running on the Republican Ticket for Senator from Michigan.

His message is given in an articulate manner and, therefore, he is a threat to the left's hypocrisy. Will Michigan blacks be smart enough to hear what he is saying and elect one of their own? Logic would suggest they should but history tells another story.  Blacks remain enslaved to the Democrat Party which has played them for fools and, as Trump posed, "what have you got to lose?"

Black citizens have a lot to lose and seem to enjoy doing so based on their loyal voting patterns but any gain is limited to a select number from their ranks who have gained wealth and power but it has not trickled down. The story of how blacks have been manipulated by liberals was told by Moynihan 53 years ago but stupidity takes a long time to die.

Now these same liberals are attacking Trump for being a racist and disparaging black intelligence. If truth be told, Trump is not a racist and he is executing policies that should win him a large measure of the black vote but time will tell whether they are truly wise enough to break the  chains that bind them.  Meanwhile, character assassination and false attacks by Democrats  are flowing like lava from an erupting volcano. the intensity of their attacks suggest two things:

a) they are frightened, and b) their message remains a false one. (See 4 below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Spending is the culprit. (See 5 below.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Men can never win. (See 6 below.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dick
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1)The Jewish State’s Nation-State Bill Non-Scandal

How a law became something quite different in the media.

By Bret Stephens Opinion Columnist

Anyone who follows the news from Israel knows that the Knesset last month passed legislation that takes the Jewish state a step closer to apartheid and outright theocracy. For instance, the bill explicitly authorizes Jewish-only communities and requires secular courts to adopt Jewish ritual law in certain cases. It also promotes the settlements.

Actually, the nation-state bill, as the legislation is known, does none of that. Nearly all of its most controversial provisions were stripped from it before passage. But you’d be forgiven for assuming otherwise based on the reaction to the bill — reaction that is far more revealing than the bill itself.

Among the planks of the legislation: “Hatikva” is Israel’s national anthem. Hebrew is its official language. Jerusalem, “complete and united,” is its capital. The flag and menorah its official symbols. The Sabbath its day of rest (with non-Jews having their own days of rest). Israel is open to Jewish immigration. Above all, “The right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.”

If you’re shrugging at most of this, you should: The bill’s purpose was to codify into Israel’s Basic Laws — akin to a constitution — aspects of Israeli identity long taken for granted by Israelis and outsiders alike.

The bill has some more controversial features. It gives Arabic — the native language of roughly one-in-five Israeli citizens — “special status” as a language, which has no practical effect but is a demotion from the official status it enjoyed since the days of the British mandate. It contains language that might impede efforts to foster greater Jewish religious pluralism in Israel, including egalitarian prayer spaces at the Western Wall.

It also places a “national value” on the “development of Jewish settlement,” which means towns and communities in general but sounds like — and by no means excludes — West Bank settlements. And it notably fails to mention the word “equality,” which has a prominent place in Israel’s Declaration of Independence.

All this can plausibly be described as a mostly symbolic codification of Israel’s Jewish character in the face of persistent efforts to deny that character. Or as part of a broader global turn toward more nationalistic forms of politics. Or, as Anshel Pfeffer, the author of “Bibi,” an excellent new biography on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tells me, as “a rabble-rousing poke in the eye to Israel’s minorities drafted to excite Bibi’s far-right base.”

What the bill is not is the death of Israel’s democracy — it was enacted democratically and can be overturned the same way. It is not the death of Israeli civil liberties — still guaranteed under the 1992 Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty and visibly reaffirmed by the large public protests following the bill’s enactment. And it is not apartheid — a cheap slur from people whose grasp of the sinister mechanics of apartheid is as thin as their understanding of the complexities of Israeli politics.

Nor, for that matter, is it anywhere remotely as noxious as what is happening in other Western democracies wrestling with competing claims between national identity, civil liberties and cultural pluralism. In Denmark, The Times reported last month, “starting at the age of 1, ‘ghetto children’ must be separated from their families for at least 25 hours a week, not including nap time, for mandatory instruction in ‘Danish values,’ including the traditions of Christmas and Easter, and the Danish language.’”

Whatever else you think of Israel’s nation-state bill, this is undoubtedly worse. So where are the calls to boycott, divest and sanction Denmark?

Which raises a deeper question concerning the nation-state bill: Why the over-the-top reaction? In an interview with Haaretz, British philanthropist Vivien Duffield, who has given hundreds of millions of dollars to Israeli causes over the years, declared “I hate Israel” after the bill’s passage, then reached for the apartheid analogy.

Shoddy reporting about the bill from some of the usual suspects furnishes at least part of the answer. Ordinary liberal distaste for a conservative Israeli government furnishes another part.

And there are plenty of good reasons even for Israel’s friends to dislike the bill as unnecessary, provocative, divisive and a transparent bid by Netanyahu to shore up his popularity in the face of corruption allegations and a military quagmire in the Gaza Strip.

But if liberal Americans haven’t (yet) given up on the United States in the age of Donald Trump, liberal Jews shouldn’t be giving up on Israel on account of an overhyped, underwhelming law whose effects would be mostly invisible if they hadn’t been so loudly debated. Countries we love will inevitably do things we don’t like or fail to understand. The same goes for people.

However else you feel about the nation-state bill, reserve your serious outrage for the things that deserve it. An estimated 542 Syrian civilians were tortured to death last month by the Syrian regime, according to theSyrian Network For Human Rights. Did you know that?

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion), and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.

Bret L. Stephens joined The Times as an Op-Ed columnist in 2017 after a long career with The Wall Street Journal, where he was deputy editorial page editor and a foreign affairs columnist. Before that he was the editor in chief of The Jerusalem Post. 

1a) Corbyn’s portents for Israel

By Caroline Glick

If the current violence between Israel and the Hamas terrorist regime in Gaza escalates into a full-scale war, one thing is certain. The main thoroughfares of the West’s great cities will be filled with thousands of protesters marching in support for Hamas and its strategic goal of annihilating Israel.

The anti-Israel demonstrations this time around will dwarf all those that preceded them.

We also know with mathematical certainty that Jewish institutions and Jews will be violently assaulted from London to Melbourne, Paris to San Francisco.

Every public demonstration in support of Israel, indeed, every public demonstration of Judaism, including Jewish people walking to synagogue on Shabbat – will become a focal point for attacks.

We also know with absolute certainly that just as the violent assaults against Jews in the West during Operation Protective Edge in 2014 dwarfed the attacks from earlier wars, so the violence directed against Jews and Jewish institutions in Europe and the US in the next war will dwarf all that preceded it.

We know that the anti-Israel demonstrations will be bigger and violence against Jews more widespread now than in the past because over the past four years, leftist antisemitism has grown in scope and extremism throughout the Western world.

Hatred of Jews, based in a rejection of Israel’s right to exist and expressed first and foremost through the demonization of Israel’s supporters as racists, has become more widespread. Its expressions have become more extreme and more violent.

Consider the situation in Britain. Last month, US President Donald Trump paid a visit to the US’s closest ally. The Red-Green alliance of the Left and the Muslims was beside itself. Its queer, feminist, jihadist and animal rights members banded together to organize a major demonstration against Trump in London.

As British Jewish writer and activist David Collier documented on his website, two aspects of the demonstrations stood out. First the marchers weren’t against Trump. They were anti-American.

As far as they were concerned, Trump is just a manifestation of America’s inherent evilness. His predecessor Barack Obama was also terrible.

The second notable aspect of the supposedly anti-Trump, Red-Green rally in London was the prevalence of anti-Israel messages. Collier posted videos of crowds at every corner happily shouting out chants calling for Israel to be destroyed, (“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free,”) and supporting Hamas, (“From Palestine to Mexico, racist walls have got to go!”).

It’s worth asking how the protesters at an antiTrump rally naturally gravitated towards anti-American and antisemitic messages.

Why did the people who supposedly hate Trump snap up “Free Gaza” stickers like hotcakes? What possesses British feminists to support a jihadist regime that routinely attacks Israel for no reason and treats women like property? The answer is simple enough. They aren’t thinking. They are following.

And over the past 15 to 20 years, hatred of Israel and support for its enemies, including Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah, has moved from the margins of the Left to become its signature foreign policy. What was once the cause célèbre of the Left’s radical fringes has now become the default position of politicians and activists associated with the Left throughout the Western world.

Take for example Sen. Cory Booker’s recent participation at the annual Netroots Nation conference, which took place last weekend in New Orleans. The conference, first convened during Barack Obama’s presidency, bills itself as “a political convention for American progressive political activists.” It has become a key tool for fundraising and political organizing for Democratic politicians. Would-be presidential candidates cannot afford to miss it.

Given its “progressive” pedigree, the only foreign policy position the participating groups advocated on behalf of was abandoning US support for Israel and replacing that support with support for the Palestinians. To this end, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, (USCPR) was a major participant in the conference.

Booker’s political roots are in the pro-Israel community.

And until Obama concluded the nuclear deal with Iran three years ago, Booker was one of the most outspoken supporters of Israel in the Democratic party.

Booker smiled broadly in the picture he took with the USCPR members. In the photo, Booker happily clutches a sign which reads, “From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go.”

When asked about the photo by reporters, Booker’s spokesman insisted that Booker hadn’t read the sign.

But USCPR activists dispute his position. They told The Intercept that they spoke to him before snapping the photo. One of the members in the photo is wearing a t-shirt that says, “Palestine is a queer, feminist, refugee, racial justice issue.”

If he didn’t read the sign, he should have been able to guess it wasn’t an ad for a kosher deli.

THIS BRINGS us back to Britain.

Two weeks ago, in an unprecedented move, Britain’s three national Jewish newspapers closed ranks and jointly published the same front-page editorial.

The editorial dealt with the growing prospect of a Labour government under the leadership of Labour Party chairman Jeremy Corbyn. The papers referred to that possibility as “an existential threat to Jewish life in this country.”

According to the joint editorial, “With the government in Brexit disarray, there is a clear and present danger that a man with a default blindness to the Jewish community’s fears, a man who has a problem seeing that hateful rhetoric aimed at Israel can easily step into antisemitism, could be our next prime minister.”

The Jewish newspapers were driven to publish the joint warning by the Labour Party’s refusal to adopt the same definition of antisemitism as the British government, 130 local governments and dozens of other countries have adopted. The definition, which was drafted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, (IHRA) enumerates eleven examples of antisemitism to enable authorities to properly identify anti-Jewish discrimination.

Included in the examples is the allegation that Israel is inherently racist and comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany. Labour based its rejection of the IHRA definition on the presence of those examples.

As far as Corbyn’s Labour party is concerned, it is not necessarily antisemitic to argue that Israel is inherently racist and therefore has no right to exist or to compare Israel to Nazi Germany.

Labour’s refusal to accept IHRA’s definition on these grounds is not merely a testament to the fact that the view that Israel the illegitimate, modern incarnation of Nazi Germany is commonplace in the party today. Indeed, Corbyn and his close advisors have been repeatedly documented voicing such views.

It is also a declaration of intent for the future.

By refusing to say that it is antisemitic to claim that Israel is inherently racist, Labour is justifying, and to a degree, inviting open discrimination and persecution of Jews.

If Corbyn becomes Britain’s prime minister, Labour’s position will open the door to institutional discrimination against Jews. Due to their Zionism – that is, their “racism” – British Jews are liable to find themselves boycotted, fired, socially, academically and professionally shunned and sued. After all, if they are Zionists, they are evil.

British Jews aren’t the only ones who need to be alarmed by Corbyn’s rise, and the Left’s ever-growing embrace of antisemitism. Israel also needs to be deeply concerned.

Not long ago, Corbyn referred to terrorists from Hamas and Hezbollah as “my friends.” If he becomes British prime minister, not only can Israel expect his government to suspend all security cooperation. Israel can reasonably expect Britain to start funding – and transferring strategically significant information – to Corbyn’s “friends.”

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The main threat Corbyn poses to Israel stems from Britain’s alliance with the US.

In the century that preceded Trump’s presidency, the British used their close relationship with Washington to diminish US support for Israel. In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks for instance, then British prime minister Tony Blair convinced then-president George W. Bush to limit the scope of his anti-terror campaign to terror groups that didn’t primarily attack Israeli Jews. Due directly to Blair’s intervention, in his September 20, 2001 speech before the joint houses of Congress, Bush declared war on terror organizations “with global reach.”

Thanks to Blair, given the “local” nature of their terror war against Israel, Palestinian terrorists received ever expanding political, military and financial support from the Bush administration.

Indeed, two months after Sept. 11, then secretary of state Colin Powell became the first senior US official to officially express support for Palestinian statehood.

IF CORBYN rises to power while Trump is still in the White House, he will speed up the ongoing radicalization and legitimize the antisemitic trajectory of the Democratic Party. But his immediate effect on US policy towards Israel will be limited.

If, on the other hand, Corbyn serves in parallel to a Democratic president, given the radicalization of the Democratic Party, a Corbyn government will have a poisonous effect on US-Israel relations.

In light of the stakes, Israel needs to work on three levels simultaneously.

First, Israel needs to fight for British Jewry. The Foreign Ministry, and national institutions like the United Israel Appeal, and even regular Israelis on vacation in Britain – need to be as outspoken in criticism of Corbyn as the Jews of Britain are.

There is no point in being diplomatic. If Corbyn forms a government, diplomatic niceties will get us nowhere.

British Jews now courageously fighting Corbyn with everything they have are not being alarmist.

As the three papers noted, until recently, the Labour Party “was the natural home for our community,” but “Corbynite contempt for Jews and Israel,” has eroded “its values and integrity.”

Second, Israel needs to prepare for the day after Corbyn wins the next general election. Any longterm strategic projects Israel may have with Britain should be wound down now. New projects should not be initiated.

Israel-based anti-Israel NGOs with ties to the Labour party should be followed very, very closely.

As far as the US is concerned, given the ongoing radicalization of the Democratic party and its ties with Britain’s Labour Party, Israel’s continued strategic dependence on US military aid is looking less and less responsible.

Israel should use Trump’s tenure in office as an opportunity to transform our military dependence into a military partnership. We should exchange aid for US investments in joint weapons research and development projects. By transforming our relationship into a partnership, Israel will minimize the chance that the next Democratic president will feel comfortable walking away from Jerusalem in lockstep the party’s radical grassroots and his or her British counterpart Corbyn.

The growth and escalation of antisemitism in the Western Left is a strategic threat to both Israel and the Jewish communities in Western nations. For the future of Western Jewry and of Israel, we need to recognize the threat and take action to limit its consequences.

1b)After Gaza rocket hits Beersheba, IDF levels an alleged Hamas HQ

As high-level security cabinet convenes to discuss violence in south, Israeli jets flatten five-story building near Gaza City the army says was used by Hamas internal security

By JUDAH ARI GROSS and ADAM RASGON

The Israeli Air Force on Thursday evening flattened a five-story building in the northern Gaza Strip that served as a headquarters for the Hamas terrorist group’s internal security service, the army said.

The Israel Defense Forces said the strike on the building in the northern Gaza Strip, which also served as a cultural center in the coastal enclave, was in response to “rocket fire by the Hamas terror group against the city of Beersheba earlier in the day.”

Hamas denied that it was behind the attack on Beersheba, saying it was the work of a more radical salafist group, according to Hadashot news.

The military threatened that its attack on the building was “an expression of the IDF’s intelligence and operational capabilities, which will expand and intensify as necessary.”

Eighteen Palestinians were wounded in the Israeli strike, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. The degree of their injuries was not immediately known.

The attack on the building was one of the IDF’s first strikes on a site deep inside a city in Gaza since the 2014 war. Most of the strikes previously conducted by Israel targeted facilities outside major population centers. In addition, the Rimal neighborhood in which the building was located was one of the nicer areas of Gaza City.

This decision was seen as an attempt by the military to show Hamas that it was prepared to step up its attacks against the terror group if rocket and mortar fire continued to strike southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.

The IDF released aerial footage of the strike.

Minutes after the Israeli strike on the building began, incoming rocket sirens blared in the Eshkol region of southern Israel, sending thousands of residents into bomb shelters, where they had already spent much of the day in light of frequent attacks from the Gaza Strip throughout the previous two days.

A second wave of sirens were triggered in the Eshkol region shortly after the IDF confirmed that it had conducted the strike at 8:00 p.m.

Just over an hour later, a third barrage set off alarms in the Eshkol, Sha’ar Hanegev and Hof Ashkelon regions.

One projectile fired at the Sha’ar Hanegev region sparked a small fire when it exploded in an open field, a local government spokesperson said.

There were no other reports of injuries or damage caused by the attacks.

The building targeted by the Israeli strike in Gaza City was known as the Said al-Mishal Cultural Center. The building contained the second-largest theater in the Strip and was home to an office for Egyptians living in coastal enclave.

However, the IDF said the building was also used by Hamas’s internal security service, which “is the operational arm of the political leadership of the Hamas terror group.”

The military said the building contained offices used by the security service.

“Some of the members of the internal security unit are also operatives of Hamas’s military wing,” the IDF said.

Videos and photographs from the scene showed that the entire structure was flattened after Israeli aircraft fired multiple missiles at it.

In the attack, the Israeli military appeared to have used its “roof-knocking” technique, in which planes first drop a low-powered bomb on a building as a warning to those nearby of an impending strike.

The airstrikes came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened the high-level security cabinet on Thursday evening to discuss the volatile security situation in the south and decide on a course of action.

It came hours after the rocket hit an open field north of Beersheba, setting off sirens in the southern city for the first time since the 2014 Gaza war and rupturing a purported ceasefire that lasted approximately two hours.

The Grad rocket caused no injuries or damage. Police said sappers were called to the scene to collect and remove the debris.

No Palestinian terrorist group immediately took responsibility for the attack.

Palestinian media reported Israeli artillery strikes against terrorist groups’ positions in the Gaza Strip around the same time as the attack, though it was not immediately clear if these raids were related to the rocket launch.

The attack against Beersheba marked a significant increase in the level of violence from the Gaza Strip. Terrorist groups in Gaza have launched over 180 rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel since Wednesday evening; however, these have been mainly directed at communities directly adjacent to the coastal enclave. Beersheba is located some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Gaza.

That rocket launch came some three hours after terror groups in the Strip declared the current round of violence to be over and two hours after the latest mortar shell had been fired.

“The current round in Gaza has ended. The resistance responded to the enemy’s crimes in Gaza. The continuation of calm in Gaza depends on [Israel’s] behavior,” said an official from a joint command center for a number of Palestinian terrorist groups, notably the Gaza-ruling Hamas, earlier Thursday.

A source in the Hamas terrorist group confirmed the cessation to AFP.

On Tuesday, Hamas had vowed to avenge the deaths of two of its members killed by IDF tank fire after the army mistakenly thought a Hamas military exercise had been a cross-border attack. On Wednesday afternoon, the military warned that it was anticipating a revenge attack by Hamas.

Shortly after the cessation announcement was made at noon, terrorist groups in the Strip launched two fresh attacks, which triggered sirens in the area adjacent to Gaza but appeared to have hit open fields, causing neither injury nor damage.

Throughout Wednesday night and Thursday morning, Gaza terror groups fired over 180 rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel, injuring at least seven people and causing damage to homes, businesses, and infrastructure throughout the region, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

In response, the Israeli Air Force struck over 150 Hamas “terror sites” in the Strip, the army said.

Palestinian officials said a pregnant woman and her infant daughter were killed in the Israeli strikes, along with one Hamas fighter, who was reportedly in a car used by a rocket-launching Hamas cell that was targeted by an IDF aircraft.

The Hamas-run health ministry named the woman as Aynas Abu Khamash, 23, and her daughter, 18-months-old, as Bayan. According to Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesman for the ministry, they were killed in an Israeli strike on the central Gaza Strip early Thursday morning. Mohammed Abu Khamash, Aynas’s husband, was seriously injured in the strike, he said.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the IDF, said he could not comment on the specific case of the Abu Khamash family, but stressed that the army targeted “only military sites” in its raids.

Arab 48, an Arab-Israeli news site, which spoke with members of the Abu Khamash family, said the family’s home is located in rural Gaza and four kilometers from the border fence between the Strip and Israel. There are a number of military sites which belong to armed groups in Gaza near the border. The report did not say if the Abu Khamash home was located adjacent to a military site.

On Thursday morning, Israeli fighter jets bombed two Hamas fighting tunnels along the central Gaza coast, as well as a tunnel opening in the northern Strip and a military facility east of the southern city of Rafah, the army said.

“The wide-reaching attacks that the IDF has conducted caused damage and destruction to some 150 military and strategic targets belonging to the Hamas terror organization, which represent a significant blow to Hamas,” the army said in a statement.

In addition, an IDF aircraft also targeted a terrorist cell launching mortar shells at southern Israel on Thursday morning. The military later released video footage of the airstrike.

The army warned the terror group that it will “bear the consequences for its terrorist activities against the citizens of Israel.”

So far, the military has focused on targeting Hamas infrastructure while largely avoiding casualties, apparently in an effort to prevent further escalation of violence.

However, senior Israeli officials indicated that the country was prepared for a wider confrontation with Hamas.

“Whatever is needed to protect our citizens and our soldiers will be done, no matter what the price will be in Gaza,” Housing Minister Yoav Gallant, who serves on the security cabinet, said Thursday.

“Let’s hope for peace, and let’s be ready for war,” he added.

Earlier in the morning, a senior IDF officer warned that Israel was “rapidly nearing a confrontation” with Hamas in Gaza.

“Hamas is making serious mistakes, and we may have to make it clear after four years that this path doesn’t yield any results for it and isn’t worth it,” he said, referring to the time elapsed since the 2014 Gaza war.

In the hours before the security cabinet meeting, Netanyahu held security consultations with Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, the head of the Shin Bet security service Nadav Argaman, and National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv.

The military was deploying additional Iron Dome batteries in the region in preparation for Hamas possibly increasing the range of its targets. During past wars rockets have reached as far as Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Beersheba.

A large number of additional forces were also deployed to the Gaza area. However, no reservist units have been called up as of Thursday morning, the army spokesperson said.

The renewed rocket attacks came amid a period of heightened tensions along the Gaza border, following months of clashes and exchanges of fire.

Earlier this week, there had been reports of intensive talks between Israel and Hamas for a long-term ceasefire.

Raphael Ahren and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

1c)

Gaza Judge Says That ‘Jihad’ Against Israel Is an ‘Individual Duty’

BY AARON BANDLER

Gaza Judge Omar Nofal, who serves on Gaza’s Sharia court, said on Hamas TV on August 8 that “jihad” against Israel is an individual duty.

Nofal’s interview on Hamas TV, translated by MEMRI, begins with Nofal hyping the “72 Virgins of Paradise” as well as “the crown of honor” that martyrs earn in the afterlife.

“How can anyone cling to this world after hearing all of these great rewards?” Nofal said. “You can see that our young people have renounced life in this world, and hastened (to become martyrs).”

Nofal claimed that this is one of the reasons why “the Palestinian people have emerged victorious in all battles.”

“You can see that when the rockets are raining down, our young people march toward martyrdom,” Nofal said. “On the other hand, as soon as our enemies hear the siren – I’m talking about sirens and balloons, not rockets – when they hear the sirens, all of them – the police, the civil defense and, the soldiers – throw themselves to the ground and have a panic attack.”

Toward the end of the clip, Nofal states, “Regarding the situation in Palestine, I say that jihad is an individual duty incumbent upon the entire nation. Nobody is allowed to forsake this jihad.”

Nofal’s comments come amidst Hamas shooting rockets and fiery kites and balloons into Israel. Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon is calling on the U.N. to put the full responsibility on the escalation in violence on Hamas.

“Alarms have once again shattered the hope of the children of southern Israel for a quiet summer vacation – no country would tolerate such a situation,” Danon said. “The international community must condemn Hamas and place the responsibility for this unacceptable onslaught on the terrorist organization”

1d)

·          Three Dilemmas in Gaza

BY SHMUEL ROSNER 

There are much more than three dilemmas to consider as Israel and Hamas, assisted by Egypt, are pondering a deal to resolve the Gaza crisis. But amid the usual cacophony of reports that mix apples and oranges (or in the case of Gaza, rockets and balloons), it is worth considering some of these dilemmas separately. 

Obviously, such an exercise still leaves us without a clear answer to what Israel needs to do. But it still is useful, as it is the first step out of two. First, separate and dissect the main dilemmas. Second, set the priorities between the different dilemmas. If you can do both, you will know what Israel needs to do next.   

Dilemma One: Long or short term.

In the short term, Israel does not want war. In the long term, it does not want Hamas to get stronger. These are the two basic elements of this dilemma. And these elements rest on two presuppositions: 1) War cannot solve the long-term problems in Gaza (and hence, there is no long-term benefit to war); 2) Hamas is in Gaza for the long haul — that is, there is no viable path to removing it. War will not remove Hamas, unless Israel wants to take over (and it does not). Peace will not remove Hamas. In fact, it is likely to strengthen Hamas. And this is where the long-term becomes an issue. 

Strengthening Hamas is not in Israel’s interest. That is, unless a way can be found to strengthen Hamas as a power that rules the unruly Gaza, without it one day turning this newly developed strength against Israel. So now the dilemma becomes clear, if not simple to overcome: Can Israel give Hamas enough to avoid war without it being enough for Hamas to get much stronger and hence more dangerous?

Dilemma Two: What about the Palestinian Authority?

In the short term, Israel is tired of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its incompetence in solving the Gaza problem. In the long term, the Palestinian Authority is, or used to be, Israel’s possible partner. 

This becomes an issue as Israel ponders a settlement in Gaza disregarding the interest of the PA, its policy and sensitivities. This becomes an issue as Israel ponders a settlement that is likely to strengthen Hamas and further erode any prospect of the PA coming back to control Gaza. 

Of course, this is only a dilemma if Israel still hopes for the PA to one day become a partner for peace — and there are more than a few critics of Israel who believe this is no longer the case. In fact, if it is no longer the case, Israel might have an interest in keeping the Palestinians divided. 

Dilemma Three: With or without the missing soldiers. 

In Israel, this is the most talked about dilemma, even though it is probably the least important of the three. In short: Hamas holds on to the bodies of Israeli soldiers who were killed in the 2014 Gaza conflict. Israel demands that these bodies be returned as part of any arrangement. Hamas refuses to trade the bodies for anything other than the release of its prisoners in Israeli jails. So the two sides are stuck with a dramatic possibility — that there will be another war over the return of bodies from the previous war.

Politically speaking, it is very difficult for an Israeli government to have a deal with Hamas that does not include a resolution of this situation. There is pressure from the families of the missing soldiers, with whom the public identifies (and for good reason). But trading bodies for Hamas prisoners also will be highly unpopular — and unwise. 

So the way forward for the government is one of three: 1) Refuse to settle matters with Hamas unless the soldiers are sent back. The possible benefit: Hamas will blink first. The possible harm: War. 2) Reject the demand to condition a general settlement with Hamas on the return of the bodies. The possible benefit: removing an obstacle to agreement. The possible harm: losing Israel’s best opportunity for returning the bodies without paying an unacceptable price. 3) Release Hamas prisoners. The possible benefit: taking the issue off the table and the pressure of families off the government’s back. The possible harm: Hamas terrorists going back to killing Israelis, Israel proves, yet again, then it caves under pressure (hence motivating Hamas to capture more soldiers and bodies).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2)

The black swans are really circling now in the Mideast. There is a very high chance for war on several fronts at once. It is my view that the whole Mideast geopolitics are going to change dramatically over the next year. It will be extremely violent, and when it is over, it is likely the US, the Sunnis, and Israel will be in control.  Iran will be driven out of Iraq. Iran will be under a new regime, Erdogan may be deposed, and Russia and the US will have arrived at some sort of modus operand in Syria so that the risk of confrontation is minimal and refugees can start to return. Hamas will be decimated. Hezbollah may be greatly weakened, or at least left unconnected with Iran no longer there to back it.  Iran will fight to disrupt oil shipping, but the US, Israel and Saudis and UAE will fight back and destroy the Iranian navy and air force. There is nothing China and Russia can do to save the mullahs. The war in Yemen will end with some type of agreement with the Houthis, but with the Saudi/ US backed government in control and Al Qaeda wiped out in Yemen. Destroying the Iran regime is the key to everything. There are so many sparks and flashpoints, that it seems almost inevitable that war will break out in the next week to one year. The current situation cannot go on without some sort of war or revolution occurring, and there is nothing the UN or the EU can do. They are just not relevant in all of this.

I have no information as to exactly what the administration is trying to accomplish with Turkey, but one can speculate. I do not believe the confrontation of this magnitude with Turkey is really about the one pastor. That is just the excuse. Turkey has gone much more Islamic under Erdogan, and has cozied up to Putin.  They have created serious issues for the US and its Kurdish allies in Syria. In various ways, Turkey, under Erdogan, has become a major problem for the US and Israel. Related to that, it appears the Mideast is about to explode. Israel is very likely to invade Gaza again, and this time maybe they will really end it, and wipe out Hamas once and for all. Having the US full backing makes a huge difference, as opposed to the resistance to Israel and the Sunnis by Obama who was intent to do the nuke deal with Iran. Nicky Haley will have Israel’s back at the UN this time, as opposed to Obama stabbing them in the back with their refusal to veto. The current situation cannot continue, and if they do wipe out Hamas, that is a major setback for Iran and allows Fatah to once again take control. That is key to any hope of a resolution of the Palestinian issue. When I was in Turkey, and based on reports since, it is pretty clear, 50% of Turks are against Erdogan, so this time, he might be overthrown by the generals if the economy crashes and he loses popular support. He cannot fight the US trashing the Lira and imposing tariffs which will crash his economy. He might throw the US out of the airbase, but that is no major setback to US military interests. They have many options.

Once the oil and banking sanctions are in place on Iran in November, their economy cannot survive. It is already crashing, and the protests are growing rapidly. This time the protestors know the US is there for them working for regime change, and it is very unlike the situation in 2009, when Obama sided with the mullahs and against the people. Things will get very violent inside Iran by early next year, if not much sooner. If we can bring about regime change in Turkey and Iran, everything in the world of geopolitics changes for the better. The Obama support for the mullahs is over, and now is the moment when Trump can exert maximum pressure to encourage a regime change. The EU still does not get it at all, and continues to try to help the mullahs instead of the US and Israel, and the people of Iran.  This is why the EU is no longer relevant to world events. First Merkel allowed in over 1 million Muslims, badly upsetting the demographics and culture of Europe, but now she is intent to have trade, which is not going to happen, instead of overthrowing the terror regime of the mullahs.  It is stunning to watch her do these things, which history will judge to have been very dangerous and destructive. You may hate Trump, but he and his national security team are changing the history of the Mideast and the world. There is no way to resolve issues with Iran without a violent confrontation, and no way to resolve the Palestinian issues without destroying Hamas. Diplomacy is not an option. That has been tried and failed miserably for decades.

Now is the moment when the US can bring about historic change to the world. It takes a very strong economy, oil independence, which we essentially have now, a strong military, which we are building, and a will to fight and utilize economic and military power, the same as we did to end the Soviet Union. The people of Iran want change and now see the opportunity with Trump. Israel knows it can attack without concern of no backing form the US. Trump is using the economic power of the US, with military force backing it up. There are direct parallels to the Reagan Gorbachov era, except Gorbachov understood that the Soviets could not compete, and acted to change the world without war. There is no such leader in Iran and Turkey. We need to be prepared for a very uncertain and potentially violent period over the next year. Erdogan and the mullahs in Iran are not going quietly. It is a shame and a real issue that the Dems will resist this effort, and even try to impeach Trump if they get control of the House just as all of this is playing out.

With the national security team Trump now has, all of the above makes sense to me since he has a superb, highly experienced team that is strategic, and highly experienced, and not the naïve fools of the Obama era. Compare Kerry to Pompeo, Bolton and Kelly to Rice and Rhodes, and the difference is obvious. Mattis adds the expertise that has been missing in the Defense Dept for the last decade. The focus on rebuilding the military, combined with the strong economy is key to the whole picture.

This will likely lead to  a lot more volatility in the markets, currencies and the economy of the EU. However, we have been here before, and the stock market will be fine since the economy is so strong.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

3)The Fall 2018 catalog of offerings for The Learning Center is now available online.  Registration for the summer term will open on Monday.

This catalog is the biggest one we’ve ever released, containing some 67 programs in which members and visitors may enroll and representing the vision, talent, and effort of 73 volunteers.

Special events include an inaugural fall lecture and luncheon on the topic of Daufuskie Island on September 12, an art gallery opening featuring the paintings of Fran Thomas on September 17, a lecture by David Jones and a new member-recruitment event at Skidaway Island on October 1, a TLC lecture by Cindy Costa and Telfair Museum visit to the Monet to Matisse Impressionist art exhibit on October 5, and a Local Vocals Holiday Sing-Along on December 13.

Since The Learning Center’s inception twelve years ago, breaking the stereotypes of “senior” education has been the top priority.  We always want to venture boldly into programs and experiences that broaden the mind and support the mission of aging successfully.  To that end, we proudly announce two completely new lines of programs:

Healthwise is a series of health and wellness presentations designed with you, the sophisticated adult, in mind.

Newsworthy is a series of substantive and relevant current events presentations in both the international and domestic realms.  We’re particularly enthusiastic about a new and formal partnership with the Savannah Council on World Affairs, whose board of directors has been vital to the creation of the international programs in this season’s catalog.

Of course, you’ll still find a large range of multi-week courses, plenary lectures, travel and special interest opportunities, and much more in the pages of the new catalog.

We are attaching a link to a digital copy of the catalog so that you can preview the courses and lectures for the next term.  You can also visit our online ordering site to search for programs and register.

To view the catalog, click HERE

To register, click HERE or contact The Learning Center at 912-236-0363

Printed copies of the catalog will be available at The Learning Center on Bull Street after August 21.

Printed copies of the catalog will be mailed to all members who do not pick up a copy on August 24.

If you know of someone who you think would like to receive a catalog, please forward their mailing address – or email address – to us, and we would be happy to add them to our distribution list.

Thanks so much, and we look forward to seeing you at The Learning Center soon!

Roger and Debbie

Roger Smith                                                       Debbie Hornsby

The Learning Center of SCI                          The Learning Center of SCI

912.236.0363  x145                                           912.236.0363  x146

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
4) NAACP Cries Racism After Own Poll Reveals Trump Surge
By AAN Staff


Since Donald Trump's political ascension, left-wing media personalities and celebrities have routinely contended that he's racist.

They conveniently ignore that as a real estate tycoon, Trump hobnobbed with people of all backgrounds and ethnicities. Even Jesse Jackson praised Trump before his White House run.

Despite the constant media barrage, the Left's racists narrative has failed to resonate with African-Americans. (Conservative Tribune)

Even a poll conducted by the NAACP — one of the most well-known black liberal groups in America — revealed that while there’s still a long way to go, Trump is faring much better with the black community than many of his Republican predecessors.

That poll put Trump’s support among black Americans at 21 percent. No, it doesn’t seem very high … but when you consider how low past Republicans have fared with minorities, it looks downright magnificent.

It’s also bad news for Democrats. The left has long relied on black Americans voting blue at the polls, and if that demographic continues to walk away from liberal politicians, the ability of Democrats to win future elections is in serious jeopardy.

“The Democrats heavily depend on 90-plus-percent turnout and 90-plus-percent support for Democrats among African-Americans. If that level of support falls to 71%, the game is more or less over,” explained American Thinker.

Rasmmussen Reports: The math here is simple. Democrats simply can't win if black voters begin to vote Republican or stay home on election day – as many did in 2016.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
5)

Tax Revenues Are Higher

Individual receipts were up 7.9% in the first 10 months of fiscal 2018.

By  Editorial Board
Perhaps you’ve read that the federal budget deficit is rising again, and that’s true. But what you probably haven’t heard is that the main reason is spending, not falling revenue from tax cuts.

The Congressional Budget Office released its budget summary for July this week, and the deficit for the first 10 months of fiscal 2018 reached $682 billion, up $116 billion from a year earlier. Federal spending increased by $143 billion for all the usual reasons—especially Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

But revenues were higher as well—up $26 billion. Corporate income taxes were down substantially as expected in the wake of the tax reform that cut the corporate rate and added 100% expensing. But individual income taxes increased by $104 billion, or 7.9%, despite the cut in individual tax rates. How could that be? CBO says one reason is that withholding from paychecks increased by $32 billion, which “largely reflects increases in wages and salaries.” In other words, a faster-growing economy employed more people who made more money.

Individual tax receipts were down a bit in July but that was more than offset by record revenue in April, the biggest month for tax receipts. Meanwhile, don’t believe everything you read about tax reform and deficits. Higher spending is the real problem.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

6)

To Be 8 again! A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching his wife, who was looking at herself in the mirror.  Since her birthday was not far off, he asked what she'd like to have for her birthday. 'I'd like to be eight again', she replied, still looking in the mirror. On the morning of her Birthday, he arose early, made  her a nice big bowl of Coco Pops, and then took her to Adventure World theme park. What a day! He put her on every ride in the park; the Death Slide, the Wall of Fear, the Screaming Roller Coaster, everything there was. Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park.  Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down. He then took her to a McDonald's where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate shake. Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soda pop, and  her favorite candy, M&M's. What a fabulous adventure! Finally she wobbled home with her husband and  collapsed into bed exhausted. He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly  asked, 'Well Dear, what was it like being eight again'? Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly  changed. 'I meant my dress size, you f#**%g! retard!!!!' The moral of the story:   Even when a man is listening,  he is gonna get it wrong. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++