F-35's Fly In The Ointment Facts Regarding Congressional Pensions. Additional One Liners Snide Remarks. Gravitas! Dershowitz And Hypocrisy.

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Why some in Israel are concerned by a U.S. sale of F-35s to the UAE YAAKOV LAPPIN / JNS The combination of regional arms races and instability means that Israel's defense establishment is intent on maintaining the country's qualitative military edge, though there is no opposition to cooperation on other defense technologies or intelligence sharing. BRIEF / Pompeo: US will ‘respect’ Israel’s military edge while reviewing possible F-35 sales to UAE

JNS

“The United States has a legal requirement with respect to qualitative military edge, and we will continue to honor that,” said Pompeo. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  https://v.maga.host/WJzJSWe And: Kamala Harris Reportedly Duped By Russian Pranksters Posing As Greta Thunberg +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This from a very dear friend and fellow memo reader and is factual: Richard- when I ran for Congress I carefully reviewed their benefits and retirement program. NO Congressman or Senator retires with a full salary. They are enrolled in a Federal employees retirement program that is generous but not extraordinary. If a Congressman serves less than 5 years there is no retirement benefit. The longer they are in and the more that they contribute to their own retirement, much like  a 401k, the more they get. The myth that after a single term they retire with a full salary for life is just that: a myth. However we would probably be better off if that were so, because they would ALL retire after 1 term causing de facto term limits! Your friend B-- +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Some additional thoughts and one liners Trump could make instead of rambling and repeating. a) If Trump is re-elected he should offer anyone a plane ticket, paid by the government who hates this nation and wants to leave and the quid pro quo is they lose their citizenship.  Anyone who wishes to remain forgoes their opportunity to engage in destruction of property and if they do engage in anarchy and destruction they go to jail for quite a while. b) Additional terse one liners : Our party honors and salutes our flag, Biden's radical Democrat Party kneels, defiles and burns our flag. Trump's GDP grew beyond the pathetic historically low level of Obama-Biden's GDP. Obama said it could not happen. Trump's populism  places America first. What place does Biden have in mind for America? Trump killed terrorists,Obama and Biden financed them. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++I actually heard some fabulous speeches last night at the opening of the RNC Convention from: a Cuban who fled to America, a Georgia great football player who ran but whose last name was Walker, every day Americans impacted by riots, police de-funding etc.  Democrats choose to ignore, the former Amb. to The U.N, who has a powerful future,  if she has higher ambitions, a charming  black Senator with a great smile, who authored the Opportunity Legislation and the president's son and his impassioned  girlfriend as well as hostages whose release from captivity  was  obtained by Trump and Obama Biden failed and/or never made  a  serious effort. The first night was pretty impressive, patriotically displayed and should have given anyone who watched. with an open mind,  food for thought.  I watched it on CNN to see how they would twist it and was not disappointed. The four responding carpers were authentic and capable of finding plenty of fault and making snide comments.  They only used the word gravitas once. Liberals are serious about using the word because it connotes how serious they believe a candidate is or isn't. Their candidates always have gravitas whereas the opposition candidates generally lack sufficient gravitas. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ One mistake after another. That New Yorker's are willing to tolerate and re-elect de-Blasio suggests they are either lazy and/or un-sophisticated. Why the Fifth Avenue ‘Black Lives Matter’ mural is another de Blasio disaster By Jonathan S. Tobin It happened again this weekend: A pro-Trump protester vandalized the Black Lives Matter mural painted on Fifth Avenue below Trump Tower. The mural has become a dangerously divisive symbol. It needs to go. Last month, Mayor de Blasio and several other political and civic leaders helped paint the bright yellow letters on the pavement in front of the president’s iconic HQ. Ever since, critics have repeatedly doused it with black or red paint. Police have arrested the vandals, and enlightened opinion has ­denounced them as crackpot Trump supporters. The mayor’s childish provocation is now an icon of the anti-Trump #Resistance. To the woke, the mural must be preserved as a reaffirmation of City Hall’s commitment to all that is good and just — including, no doubt, a Democratic victory in November. Self-awareness and thinking outside of his own personal ideological box isn’t one of Hizzoner’s strengths. But after several weeks of this nonsense, it’s time for the mayor to rethink the decision to turn the Fifth Avenue site into a magnet for protests that are ­almost certainly going to get nastier and messier as we draw closer to the election. This mayor has overseen a mental-health crisis long predating the recent pandemic troubles, an ­explosion in homelessness, a massive spike in violent crime and the general collapse of the rule of law. So his decision to paint the slogan in front of President Trump’s former home isn’t the worst thing de Blasio has done. But the mural does symbolize the way he has demonized the police and prioritized the politics of the ideological left over the safety and well-being of ordinary New Yorkers. The president has largely avoided the place in the last 3 ¹/₂ years for security reasons. But the building is still the most prominent reminder that Trump is a lifelong New Yorker, whose fingerprints as a real-estate developer are all over the city. As such, it was understandable that liberals would fixate on the tower to vent their spleen at the president. But for the city to make such sentiments official government policy was an absurd abuse of power to advance a partisan cause. Was it legal, strictly speaking? Probably. Was it wise? Absolutely not. New York has had its share of great and good mayors. In the last century, men such as Fiorello La Guardia, Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani left Gotham better than they found it. There is an even longer list of terrible and corrupt mayors dating back to the 19th century. But it isn’t likely that even one of the on-the-take stooges and knaves put forth by Tammany Hall in its heyday would have thought insulting a sitting president from Manhattan was a good idea. Trump, after all, might get re-elected, and the Big Apple badly needs a federal bailout. The mural was also a terrible idea from the point of view of social cohesion. De Blasio has now enshrined a visible marker of support for the official BLM movement, which smears America as irredeemably racist and promotes terrible ideas like defunding the police. Hizzoner has also created a rallying point for Trump supporters. Now overburdened cops have to arrest anyone who dares to deface the mural — even as few have been arrested for graffiti and far worse forms of disorderly conduct committed in the name of black lives. Taxpayers, moreover, have to foot the bill for the mural at a time when funding for graffiti cleanup elsewhere — so necessary to maintain the impression that the law is being enforced — has been cut. But the deepest problem is that de Blasio has created what lawyers might call an “attractive nuisance” that is a standing invitation to mayhem. Last month, a policeman was injured during one such melee. As the election campaign heats up, this finger in the eye of Trump will continue to be a point of contention; more casualties are likely. Only someone as blind to reality as de Blasio can fail to see that turning Fifth Avenue into a battle zone merely to troll the president isn’t worth it. Removing the BLM mural won’t help Trump win. But it will be a much-needed return to sanity that all New Yorkers should approve. Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS.org. Twitter: @JonathanS_Tobin ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I am not privy to all the allegations or facts hurled at  Alan Dershowitz but nothing surprises me when it comes to character assassination by angry liberal women seeking fame and/or fortune.  The same is true of Trump's sister as was what some psycho women tried to do to Justice Kavanaugh. It is a shame Dershowitz must learn what hypocrisy,those he pals with, is all about when they aim  at you. J Post: Dershowitz, the #Me Too Movement, and the Rule of  Law – Opinion By Isi Leibler On Friday, August 14, The Jerusalem Post Frontlines section  featured a massive two-page article by David Brinn about  allegations leveled against American lawyer and legal  Alan Dershowitz. As I read it, my thoughts reverted to the ordeal  endured by US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when  the #MeToo movement attempted to smear him over alleged sexual assault charges without a scintilla of supporting proof. I was traumatized watching the Senate hearing, which made  McCarthyism pale in comparison. Having been a CEO of a major international company and a leader confronting global Jewish  challenges that involved engagement with thousands of women,  I realized that in today’s insane climate, it would only take one  woman to go to the media and accuse me of sexual misconduct.  She would soon be joined by others and #MeToo supporters  baying for my blood. Although entirely without evidence, their unsubstantiated testimony could transform me overnight into a  pariah. Unfortunately, there are, of course, sexual predators who should  have been dealt with long ago, and for that reason, initially I  considered the #MeToo movement a highly overdue effort to  stamp out these abominations. But the Kavanaugh episode demonstrated that unless the rule of law was accompanied by a presumption of innocence, the solution to misogyny propagated by the #MeToo movement, if left  unchecked, would result in innocent lives being shamelessly  defamed and ruined. Unfortunately, the media have always been selective in whom they investigate. Contrary to the unrelenting attacks on Kavanaugh,  when Joe Biden was faced with accusations of harassment, the  media rightly refused to blindly accept the allegations. Dershowitz is one of the most competent lawyers in the United  States, and renowned as a liberal and civil libertarian. His is a  prominent Democrat who, until last year, was a darling of the media. He is one of the most effective defenders of Israel, promoting the  case for Israel in books, articles and innumerable addresses to  frequently hostile campus audiences and has not been afraid in  recent years to castigate the antisemitism of the radical progressive elements of the Democratic Party. Over the past year, however, he committed the cardinal sin of defending some of US President  Donald Trump’s policies, and went so far as to argue during  Trump’s impeachment trial that there were no legal grounds to  remove the president from office. This outraged his former liberal supporters and turned the liberal media against him. He is regarded to be among the world’s best criminal lawyers and  has successfully defended some of the allegedly worst and most disgusting suspects. He takes pride in providing the best defense  possible to all, which he considers a hallmark of democracy. Having successfully negotiated a plea deal for the now deceased, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in the first criminal case  against him, Dershowitz is now undergoing a Cavanaugh-type witch hunt and, without any evidence, is being accused of having sex  with a minor who was allegedly trafficked by Epstein. THE ACCUSATION against Dershowitz is so obviously suspect that  he deserves the presumption of innocence. If the media are to  report on the allegations, they should at the very least be  investigating the veracity of the claims of his accusers, rather than shoddily implying that “where there is smoke there is fire.” As Dershowitz has pointed out, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who raised the allegations against him, has a long history of fabricating stories  about prominent people, including about Al and Tipper Gore, Bill  Clinton, and Leslie Wexner. Her own lawyer has even admitted that  Giuffre falsely accused Wexner and other prominent individuals. Another of her lawyers has said that she was “wrong... simply  wrong” in accusing Dershowitz, because his travel records  conclusively prove that he could not have been in the places where  claimed to have met with him. Her own emails and book manuscript even admit that she never met Dershowitz. She tried to suppress these documents because they prove the falsity of her claims, but  eventually they came to light. Yet the media have not focused on  this evidence. Another woman who falsely accused Dershowitz of having sex with  her when she was a 22-year-old had sent the New York Post a  series of emails in the run-up to the 2016 election in which she  claimed to have sex tapes of Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Donald  Trump, and Richard Branson. She also claimed that Hillary Clinton  has arranged for the CIA to kill her and that she was now working  with the KGB. Ultimately, she admitted that she had invented the  whole story, just as she invented the story about Dershowitz. A third one who claimed to have seen Dershowitz in Epstein’s  presence with young women has now been exposed as a virulent antisemite who has accused all Jews of being pedophiles and racists under the domination of the Rothschild family. Not coincidentally, all three of these false accusers have the same  lawyer, with a long history of ethical violations. Dershowitz is suing  the lawyer as well as his accusers. Dershowitz is not entitled to any special treatment by the media  because of his history of good deeds. But if anyone deserves the presumption of innocence in the Jewish media – indeed in any  media – it is that Dershowitz is well-known for telling the truth about  Israel and matters of law and civil liberties. The tragedy is that these lawsuits, necessitated by false accusations against him, have diverted Dershowitz from his major task of  defending Israel and human rights. As a result, he is persona non grata and is no longer being invited to speak in defense of Israel on college campuses and on other major platforms. All of us who consider that Dershowitz is being denied natural justice and smeared by word of mouth, in the absence of any genuine  evidence against him, should speak up and show him the support  that his lifetime of good works has earned him. That applies, in  particular, to supporters of Israel for his courageous defense of the  Jewish state. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++