HERE’S HOW BAD THE ECONOMY IS
My neighbor got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.
CEO's are now playing miniature golf.
Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.
I saw a Mormon with only one wife.
McDonald's is selling the 1/4 ouncer.
Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America.
Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children's names.
A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico.
A picture is now only worth 200 words.
When Bill and Hillary travel together, they now have to share a room.
The Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates.
And, finally...
I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Hotline. I got a call center in Afghanistan, and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could drive a truck.
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Great email!!
Today, January 17, is MLK Day. The nation, in it's infinite wisdom, decided to celebrate the "accomplishments" of this extraordinary man and a personal hero of mine.
Cynically speaking, the nation, for whatever reason, chose to ignore his personal life style which did not always comport with his position as a minister of God's strictures.
Politically speaking, Trump had no such luck. In fact, his accomplishments were ignored and his questionable life style became the entire focus.
I am not equating MLK's accomplishments with Trump's. The former sought to heal a nation and force it to recognize the wrong that it had been perpetuating against a large segment of it's population. In the case of the latter, Trump made no particular effort to heal the nation socially but to do so economically and in other ways.
I am simply asking the reader to question whether a double standard is used when politics is involved. Certainly Trump's accomplishments, had they been the sole focus, would have caused him to be re-elected. This becomes even more evident in comparison with the pitiful performance of the president who defeated Trump.
What I am suggesting is emotion carries a lot of weight and can also lead to tragic consequences. I have made some poor political choices in my voting career but I always try to probe with my head and powers of reasoning rather than lead with my heart. Not an easy task but I believe a meritorious one..
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Biden’s fall from grace
By Salena Zito
If President Joe Biden’s disorderly and lethal Afghanistan withdrawal was the moment that fractured voters' regard for him, then his vicious Atlanta speech last week may be the moment that defines his presidency.
Speaking Tuesday at Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University, Biden uttered venomous, brutal accusations lacking factual basis. His shouting-in-the-wind delivery was inexplicable, and his decision to lash out at members of his own party — Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema — appears to have only strengthened their resolve not to give in to his demands.
Biden called those who disagree with his political views on legislation “domestic enemies.” He compared them to Confederate President Jeffersoni Davis and former Alabama Democratic Party Committeeman and ardent, violent segregationist Bull Connor. In American politics, that is about as divisive as one can get.
Biden bears no resemblance today to the man who ran for president, pledging over and over again to unify the country and restore a sense of calm and normalcy to politics.
The scope of Biden's fall from grace — from glib middle-class Pennsylvanian to venomous, lying politico who will say anything to please left-wing activists — has been staggering.
This has not gone unnoticed by voters. Last week's Quinnipiac poll showed that a plurality of voters (49%) now believe Biden is doing more to divide the country than to unite it.
Click here for the full story.
And:
Anything is possible.
Biden’s Awful Week Increases Chances of Awful Iran Deal
The following story is brought to you courtesy of National Review.
At some point during the torrent of news yesterday — all of it bad for President Biden — I tried to think of an issue or policy that was going his way. Build Back Better is dead. The election-takeover bills won’t pass. The filibuster isn’t going anywhere. Inflation is at a 40-year high. Omicron is everywhere. The Supreme Court struck down the employer vaccination mandate. Diplomacy with Russia failed. An invasion of Ukraine looks imminent. Where can Biden take comfort?
The only answer I could come up with is Vienna. That’s where the Biden administration has been holding indirect talks with Iran to resuscitate the nuclear deal from 2015. Since negotiations began last year, European powers have served as intermediaries because the Iranians refuse to deal with us directly. Not much progress has been made. Iranian demands are too much for even the Biden administration.
But there are signs that the Americans may be thawing. The two sides may soon agree to what Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies calls a “less for more” deal: Iran pockets sanctions relief and the technical advances it’s made over the last few years in exchange for one or two nuclear concessions. Iran’s ballistic-missile programs would continue. Its malign behavior would go on. Its human-rights abuses would persist.
A “less for more” deal would be a disaster for America, for the Greater Middle East, and for the world. No one’s interest is served if Iran becomes a threshold nuclear power. Its capacity to sow mayhem will grow. The regional balance of power will shift in its direction. Israel will face an existential threat. Other states will scramble to join the nuclear club. Iran will trumpet its propaganda victory. And in return? We will get empty promises.
Yet empty promises are exactly what President Biden wants. The man is desperate. He’s unpopular. His economy is a wreck. His coronavirus policy of vaccine mandates, masking, and testing has hit a brick wall. He still carries the stain of America’s retreat from Afghanistan. A foreign-policy “victory,” however tenuous and ill-conceived, would change the subject. The media would call it a triumph of diplomacy over war. Democrats would applaud this dubious foreign-policy achievement. Barack Obama would exult. For a day or so, Biden would be on top.
The moment won’t last. Only a major shakeup in approach and in personnel will change Biden’s downward political trajectory. But at this point the president will take anything he can get. The more awful weeks Biden has, the more likely he is to enter an awful deal with Iran.
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Any time some nut walks into a synagogue and proceeds to take hostages and threatens to kill congregants and our corrupt FBI concludes it has nothing to do with anti-Semitism they simply drive one more nail into their own coffin.
DPS Note:
Sometimes some jerk becomes the skunk at the garden party. But at the risk of being that jerk/skunk, I thought it worth circulating the piece below. I am as delighted as everyone at the outcome of the hostage taking standoff - even if it wasn’t Jewish related as the FBI has told us. And I am also delighted that the Rabbi and his co-hostages are fine and unharmed. I just thought that before Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker is nominated for the Jewish equivalent of sainthood - of which there isn’t one, of course - it might be helpful for people to know who he is and how he sees the homeland of the Jewish people - Israel. It doesn’t change my happiness about the outcome in Texas one iota but it does make me wish - profoundly - that more American Jews would recognize that Israel has been standing on its head since 1948 to make peace with all of its Arab neighborhors - most especially the Palestinians, who came into being in after the 1967 War and the defensive capture from Jordan (which had been occupying it illegally) of Judea and Samaria - a/k/a “the West Bank,” which was then transmogrified into “Palestinian" land when there hadn’t ever been a “Palestinan” people before. The antagonists and terrorists have always been the Palestinians. They have been offered peace deals multiple times with the blessings of multiple American Presidents and have never once considered anything other than Israel’s destruction. So for this Rabbi to be one of those American Jews - and in a position of influence - who chooses to criticize Israel and blame it for defending itself is painful for me to learn.
But at least, as I said, we can take comfort knowing that the FBI is all over this case and that it has nothing to do with Jews or Judaism.
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https://www.jewishpress.com/news/jewish-news/freed-hostage-rabbi-demanded-israel-drop-sovereignty-plans-in-the-settlements/2022/01/16/
Freed Hostage Rabbi Demanded Israel Drop Sovereignty Plans in the Settlements
By David Israel
In the aftermath of the hostage situation at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, TX (Update: All Four Hostages at Congregation Beth Israel Are Free), several media outlets, including JTA, have praised temple clergyman Charlie Cytron-Walker as a “wonderful human being,” and “Quite simply a mensch.”
As the temple website puts it: “Since… Charlie arrived at CBI he has worked to bring a sense of spirituality, compassion, and learning into the lives of our community. He loves finding a connection with people of every age and strives to carry forward the CBI tradition of welcoming all who enter into our congregation, from interfaith families to LGBT individuals and families to those seeking to find a spiritual home in Judaism, along with all others. In the community, he has developed positive relationships with local school districts and has organized interfaith gatherings including National Day of Prayer events and a memorial service on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. He is a past President of the South West Association of Reform Rabbis and serves on the steering committee of Peace Together.
So, before I add a sour note to the discussion, I should probably stipulate that Charlie Cytron-Walker must be a nice guy and well-liked in his community.
What peaked my interest was this Facebook post, shortly after the hostage drama had emerged.
So I went looking for the nice mench from Colleyville, TX and discovered an item that probably confirms where his politics and alliances lie: on June 18, 2020, when it appeared as if the Trump administration was encouraging then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to impose Israeli law in the Jewish settlements of Judea and Samaria, “Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker – North Richland Hills, TX” was listed among a gigantic group of 798 anti-settlement Jewish American clergies who called on the Israeli government to “Abandon Plans for Annexing the West Bank.”
The “Letter from Jewish Clergy” was sponsored by T’ruah, which states on its website that “as a human rights organization, we deplore the egregious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law that continue to occur in the occupied Palestinian territories. We advocate for the Israeli government to stop settlement expansion immediately and to work towards ending the occupation for the benefit of Israelis and Palestinians alike. We condemn the use of violence to achieve political ends by any of the parties involved and advocate for all to work for a peaceful solution to the conflict.”
The letter warns: “We hold fast to the vision, laid out in the state’s Declaration of Independence, that Israel will be ‘based on freedom, justice, and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex.’ Annexing all or part of the West Bank would mean turning Palestinians living there into non-citizen residents of Israel, without the legal rights or voting rights of citizens.
“This would be a catastrophic mistake.”
Now you know.
And:
| Texas Synagogue Attack Was Motivated By Antisemitism… But Apparently Not at The New York Times & BBC | |
| Is it antisemitic to take a synagogue full of worshippers hostage with the stated goal of getting a notoriously antisemitic terrorist released from prison? For The New York Times and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the answer is less than an unequivocal ‘yes.’ | |
| + Social media firestorm |
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