https://youtu.be/j58Bx0Ebppw
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Bennett
Israel's coalition loses majority as Yamina MK Silman quits government
Bennett and Lapid to meet over coalition crisis, Netanyahu congratulates Silman's decision
Israel's government began to crumble on Wednesday after Yamina MK and the coalition whip Idit Silman announced her resignation from the government.
With this, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's government loses its majority in Knesset, leaving it neck-and-neck with the opposition at 60-60. If an additional person were to leave the coalition, the government could be brought down in a law brought by the Opposition that would disperse the Knesset.
Should the Opposition have a majority, they would be able to attempt to form a government without even needing to go to elections. The more coalition members that defect, the easier this option becomes for them.
Huge political development in #Israel: The head of the coalition from the party of PM @naftalibennett, @iditsilman, is leaving the coalition because she "cannot take it anymore." Scoop by @amit_segal
Silman said that she "could not take it anymore," and that she could not continue undermining the Jewish identity of the State of Israel, a reference to a disagreement she had with Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz over allowing chametz into hospitals over Passover.
Netanyahu congratulated Silman on her decision, thanking her "in the name of many people in Israel that waited for this moment."
However, Labor MK Gilad Kariv said it was clear that the disagreement over the chametz was "not the real issue," adding that the government was always careful when it came to matters of religion and state.
Silman ditched the coalition after she was reportedly offered the 10th spot in the Likud Party list in a future election and the position of Health Minister should the party - led by Benjamin Netanyahu - successfully form an alternative government.
In her resignation letter to the prime minister, Silman said that she had "joined the current coalition out of a genuine desire to produce unity and closeness on the basis of the common good that unites us as a people and as a state. I honestly believed that in this way we would be able to realize the ideals with which we set out.
"How I tried to preserve the togetherness," she continued, "to find the common denominator and in this way to realize the important tasks that lay ahead of us. Some of our partners, who hold key positions in the coalition probably see things differently and are not prepared for any compromise on their part."
She stated that now, however, her core values are "inconsistent with the current reality," adding that she is "attentive to the voices from outside and to the sincere protest of the electorate whose support let us win and with whose votes we were elected."
She concluded by calling on the section of the right-wing which supports the coalition to "admit the truth," and admit that they tried and failed.
"It's time to recalibrate our route. To try and establish a national, Jewish, Zionist government. Let us join hands and realize the values for which we have been elected."
Maariv reporter Anna Ravya Barsky reported via Twitter that several senior coalition members were aware of this decision for at least a week, and it did not come as a surprise to them.
Silman joins MK Amichai Chikli in rebelling against the Yamina party. Chikli has voted against the government on multiple occasions, starting with opposing the formation of the coalition last June.
Response from the coalition
Bennett, who heads the Yamina party, was not aware of Silman's decision and was taken by surprise on Wednesday morning. He canceled his planned schedule for the day in order to deal with the fallout from her resignation.
Bennett was set to meet with alternate prime minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.
Early Wednesday afternoon, he met with Yamina MK Nir Orbach and Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, also of Yamina, and will meet with the remaining Yamina politicians throughout the afternoon.
Kariv said that he "very much hopes that at the end of the day Idit Silman will take it back, she is the chair of the coalition. This move can only lead to one result and that is a general election. The last thing Israeli society needs at the moment is another election campaign."
Meretz MK Yair Golan called Silman a "political opportunist of the inferior kind" and said she was putting the stability of the coalition at risk.
Speaking to 103FM, secretary general of Yamina Stella Weinstein said she was surprised by the news.
"It seemed to be in the air, but my friend Idit Silman usually does things in a much more measured way. I know we will work hard to overcome this hurdle too, and with hard work, I'm sure it will be ok."
MK Merav Ben-Ari (Yesh Atid) called Silman's decision irresponsible and "a great pity."
Also reacting to the news, Meretz MK Mossi Raz warned that "Israel is in danger of a corrupt nationalist government of Ben-Gvir, Netanyahu and Smotrich."
Response from the opposition
Netanyahu congratulated Silman on her decision, thanking her "in the name of many people in Israel that waited for this moment."
"I call on everyone who was elected with the votes of the nationalist bloc to join Idit and return home, you will be received with all due respect and open arms," he concluded.
Likud faction head Yariv Levin congratulated Silman on her decision, saying she did the right thing and that she is "saving the State of Israel from a dangerous and unprecedented process of deep damage to the Jewish character of the state and the foundations of its existence."
According to Likud party officials, Silman is not the only coalition member to have been considering resignation, and they have said that they are hopeful about others soon following her lead.
Religious Zionist Party MK Bezalel Smotrich called Silman's resignation "the dawn of a new day," and said it was the "beginning of the end for Bennett's non-Zionist left-wing government."
Joint List chairman Sami Abou Shahadeh (Balad) also responded to the news, saying that the best scenario for the Joint List would be to go to elections once more, and insisted that his party would not be a safety net, "not for Bennett and not for Netanyahu." His party will convene and consider their options when proceeding, he said, adding that "the Likud cannot count on our votes."
United Torah Judaism head Moshe Gafni responded to the events with an apparent dig aimed at Netanyahu, saying that the opposition needed to take stock of which MK "is the most deserving and has the most chance of forming a government" in the event that the coalition dissolves.
However, he later claimed that his statement had not been intended as a dig towards Netanyahu.
Groups of right-wing political activists across the country have taken to the street with signs in support of Silman and calls for a right-wing government to be formed.
Unfolding political crisis
Against the background of Silman's resignation, the Knesset plenum is set to convene at 11 a.m. at the request of 25 opposition MKs in order to discuss the wave of terror that Israel has recently seen.
The session is unusual as the Knesset is currently on recess following the winter session and does not meet unless a special request is issued.
Likud MKs Shlomo Karhi and Yoav Gallant submitted the request to discuss "a murderous wave of terror [that is] sweeping the streets of Israel and the government is doing nothing."
This is a developing story.
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What will happen next with Israel's government? Four scenarios
With the resignation of MK Idit Silman from the coalition, there are now four possible scenarios of what will come next.
With the resignation of MK Idit Silman from the coalition, there are now four possible scenarios of what will come next:
Domino effect
1. Another member of Knesset quits the coalition and helps the opposition – led by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu – to pass a bill dispersing the Knesset and taking Israel to a new election.
In this event, immediately after the dispersion of the Knesset, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid would become prime minister until the formation of a new government.
For Silman, the ideal situation would be for another member of Yamina to break away from the party so that she can then – together with earlier Yamina rebel MK Amichai Chikli – form a new faction that would be able to merge with an existing party and run in a new election.
Gantz jumps ship
2. Before the Knesset dissolves, Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz decides to join the opposition and become Israel’s prime minister. This scenario is likely for a few reasons. The first is that Gantz, who currently serves as defense minister, has been unhappy with the current government since its inception. He was particularly bothered by the fact that Bennett – with six seats and now five – became prime minister while he – Gantz – had eight seats.
In addition, Gantz might prefer this option over the dispersion of the Knesset, which would see Lapid become prime minister. Remember that the two politicians split – with Lapid's Yesh Atid Party leaving the Blue and White alliance – when Gantz decided in 2020 to join Netanyahu’s last government, which ultimately fell apart.
While Gantz has said that he learned the lesson from sitting with Netanyahu and that he would not make the same mistake again, he could argue that by joining Netanyahu he would not only be serving as prime minister but would also be preventing another election and further political instability.
A comeback for Netanyahu
3. Netanyahu manages somehow to form a government in the current Knesset or steps aside as chairman of the Likud – highly unlikely – and allows a different Likud MK to do so. It is more likely that he would prefer crowning Gantz than someone from his own party, something he could have done before Bennett became prime minister last June.
Limping to the finish line
4. The government – now a lame duck and unable to pass legislation – manages to survive until the beginning of 2023 when it needs to pass a new budget. Although it would not be able to pass any laws, this might be the best scenario right now for Bennett.
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Kicking them out of the U.N would be better.
Kicking Russia off the UN Human Rights Council is an empty gesture
Efforts to reform a body that traffics in anti-Semitism won’t work as long as tyrannies like China and Cuba remain members. The United States should leave and defund it, not try to fix it.
By JONATHAN S. TOBIN
(April 5, 2022 / JNS) After the recent revelations of war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, the world is looking for ways to make life harder for President Vladimir Putin’s regime and to express its outrage. So when America’s ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced that the United States was going to ask the U.N. General Assembly to boot Russia off of the world body’s Human Rights Council, the initiative was widely applauded.
Given the atrocities committed by the Russians in their illegal war of aggression, removing Moscow from the UNHRC is certainly justified. But it’s also a completely meaningless gesture. After all, what’s the point of kicking out the Russians while China, which is committing genocide against the Uyghurs, or Cuba, another totalitarian Communist state, or Venezuela, Eritrea or Somalia— all of which are brutal dictatorships—are allowed to remain members in good standing there?
There’s no good answer to that question. But somehow, the United States remains more committed than ever to an institution that makes a mockery of the principles that it was created to uphold. Many of the nations that are elected by the U.N. General Assembly to serve on the council are rated by Freedom House as “not free.” Others are only “partly free.” Yet the body composed of representatives of some of the worst tyrannies in the world is treated as the arbiter of what is or isn’t a violation of human rights.
Yet the Biden administration, which rejoined the UNHRC after former President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of this farce, is still committed to it, as well as to the United Nations as a whole. Their argument is that by being inside the tent at the council, as opposed to outside of it, is far more productive and gives America a chance to help fix what ought to be a vital international institution rather than just complain about it.
Any slight to Russia and Putin right now is justified. And it will be humiliating if Russia, which once commanded the loyalty of many of the non-aligned nations that make up most of the 193 member states at the United Nations, is unable to prevent itself from being voted off the council.
If international sanctions backed by most of the world have done nothing to deter or convince Russia to pull out of Ukraine or change its behavior, then this move will be equally futile. Being deprived of their perch on the UNHRC will do no real harm to Russia or Putin. Nor will it stop the Russian military from committing more atrocities or return the land it has occupied. But it will help Biden and other U.N. defenders make a false claim about the prospects of reforming the world body.
If Biden’s team is able to get two-thirds of the countries on the U.N. General Assembly to vote with them to expel Russia, their assertion that real change at the world body and one of its most problematic agencies is possible.
But that claim will be dead wrong.
Removing Russia while letting China and other equally egregious human-rights offenders remain there won’t make them care about those who live in other countries where freedom is merely a dream. On the contrary, they will act as if they’ve proved how much they care about the subject when that is nowhere near the truth.
The UNHRC will not be deterred from devoting most of its effort to demonizing and delegitimizing democratic Israel, which remains the subject of a disproportionate amount of the Council’s time and condemnations. As I recently wrote, anti-Semitic invective and targeting of the sole Jewish state on the planet remain business as usual there. America’s complaints about this have repeatedly proved ineffective.
Worse than that, Biden’s return to the UNHRC sent a signal to it and other prejudiced U.N. offices that America wasn’t really serious about forcing them to change. The only thing that could possibly get its attention and force it to give up its addiction to targeting and besmirching Israel would be the withdrawal of U.S. funding.
The problem is that the foreign-policy establishment and the State Department bureaucracy remain wedded to the discredited idea that the United Nations is still capable of realizing the idealistic goals that were behind its founding. With the United Nations preparing a permanent star-chamber investigation of Israel that is intended to smear it and help make it a pariah, every gesture that reinforces the legitimacy of an institution that lost any shred of credibility long ago isn’t merely wrongheaded. It helps strengthen one of the principal engines of international anti-Semitism.
Yet somehow, even those who are Israel’s friends in this country haven’t yet learned this basic truth.
That was illustrated by the recent letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed by 68 U.S. senators from both major parties, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), that urged the Biden administration to use its presence on the council to, “address major human-rights problems around the world. An important step in this regard would be to redirect the wasteful use of funds and personnel on excessive devotion to disparaging Israel to allow the U.N. Human Rights Council to fairly promote human rights around the world.” The letter goes on to say that the United States should move to halt “discriminatory and unwarranted treatment of Israel” on the UNHRC.
The letter accurately diagnosed what was wrong with the UNHRC but not the remedy. Its language criticizing the institution was both noble and correct. But by acquiescing to the American return to the council and the idea that changing it is remotely possible, the letter, which reportedly was circulated by AIPAC, actually does more harm than good.
Far more insightful was a different letter signed by four Republican senators—Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.)—urging Blinken to withdraw from the UNHRC.
As that letter eloquently stated:
“Remaining on the council does not just legitimize vilification against Israel; it damages America’s international moral standing by allowing countries like Russia and China—which are actively perpetrating crimes against humanity and genocide at this very moment—to serve in international human-rights bodies. Furthermore, it downplays atrocities perpetrated by Cuba, Venezuela, Libya and Eritrea by suggesting their leaders can provide human-rights leadership on the council.”
It’s long past time that even those who understand that the United Nations is a toxic waste dump of Jew-hatred and rationalizations of tyranny stop attempting to correct an institution that is incapable of reform. It is structurally set up to enable these injustices rather than to stop them. Engaging with it and paying for it—22 percent of its funds are provided by the United States—is an ongoing disaster that does much harm and no good.
The UNHRC is an example of how bad the United Nations has become. Removing one bad apple like Russia from it won’t repair what’s broken, but it will allow U.N. apologists to pretend that it is heading in the right direction. That even many supporters of Israel think that acquiescing to this state of affairs or supporting further American participation in these travesties is justified is an appalling mistake that only makes the situation worse rather than better.
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Ross Rants:
It is getting hard to keep up with events. However here are some overriding things that are major. The jobs report that came out needs to be delved into, and you can't just say unemployment is 3.6%, isn't that good. Wages were up only .4% or 4.8% a year annualized. The actual hourly average wage went up only $.13 per hour. Inflation is running at 10% now using the past 3 months average. It may be headed to 12%. U6 is still at 6.9%. The number of employed is still 1.5 million fewer than in December 2019. 5.7 million are not in the labor force now. Consumer spending is down .2% and dropping. The biggest number of new jobs is in hospitality-one of the lowest paying jobs, so that is not a lot of help to consumer spending. As I had predicted, 2.6 million retirees are returning to work to cope with inflation. It is also due to the child care tax credit expired in December. 300,000 returned to work. There are still 11.3 million job openings, so several states are reducing the time you can stay on unemployment since there is now no excuse for not working. Real wages are down for 10 straight months. A majority of consumers expect their financial situation to worsen over the next several months, and this metric is the worst in decades. Auto production is reduced due to lack of chips. In the eighties, when things were similar, bank account savings rates were much higher cushioning the strain on retirees. Now there is no return on savings. The bond market has suffered its worst performance in decades, and it will get worse. The yield curve is now inverted. 2 Yr-2.46, 5Yr 2.56, 10 Yr 2.30, 30 yr 2.43. Not a guarantee of a recession, but one more negative indicator.
So the administration's new budget response to all this economic strain is to propose to raise taxes by $2.5 Trillion, and to increase entitlement spending on useless programs that encourage staying at home. The proposed budget is 31% higher than 2019 when the economy was booming. Just what we do not need when inflation is the worst in 40 years. I no longer wonder if the White House staff are all stupid-they are just unable to get past page one of an economics textbook. Jared Bernstein, one of his top economic advisors gave an interview last week that was astonishingly ignorant, or maybe was just foolish talking points. Their budget will not go anywhere. The American Rescue Plan of March 2021, for $1.9 trillion can be shown to be the point of the start of inflation, and just a further delay in getting people to go back to work, instigating the huge labor shortage and wage increases. We are starting to see an economic slowdown that will accelerate as the months go by. The result will be a declining stock market ahead. What will be a worse crisis is the lack of fertilizer, so yields will be lower worldwide, and that means less wheat and other staples. That leads to unrest and riots in poor countries. Why the stock market was up recently is a mystery to me. Wall St is under estimating how bad it is going to get. This is not a buying opportunity. Whether we have a mild recession in late October, or a 1% GDP growth for 2022, is merely a matter of degree of bad. None of the Fed nor most Wall St economic forecasts have been even close to correct.
In the first 5 months of fiscal 2022, federal tax receipts rose 26% from fiscal 2021, $371 billion more. Corporate income taxes were up 31% -$28billion, and personal tax revenue up 38%. Since 57% of all taxpayers paid ZERO in 2021, that means high income and corporate payers paid huge sums more, and if there had not been the March waste of $1.9 TRILLION spending bill, we might have had a budget surplus. CBO admits that the 2021 increase of $436 billion tax revenue for individuals was due to high income workers facing higher tax brackets." Personal taxes were 9.1% of GDP, up from an average of 7.9% over 50 prior years. Inflation is pushing the people who do pay taxes into higher brackets even if their real income is declining . It is important to note that these huge levels of tax payments are after the Trump tax cuts took effect. Exactly what Kudlow said was going to happen, and the MSM said would not happen. But to repeat, 57% of workers paid zero, a substantial increase in people who pay nothing. But it is the wealthy who got the reduced taxes supposedly. Fact-the wealthy are paying more and the middle class paying less. So the Dems claim we do not pay our fair share, or that the 2017 tax cuts went to the wealthy is a provable lie.. When Biden says billionaires do not pay as much tax as firemen and only pay 8% rates, he is including unrealized cap gains as income. There is no limit to the lies and misrepresentation this White House tells. CBO did say that in a normal year, this flood of tax money would have been enough in a normal year to fully cover all government spending-i.e. no deficit. So when Biden says we need to spend more, and wasn't the 2021, $1.9 trillion spending bill wonderful, it was the exact opposite, and a total waste of money. It is now estimated that over $200 Billion of the various unemployment payouts and part of PPP were given as fraudulent payments. That was your tax money going to help fraudsters. Imagine if it had instead been used to build new Navy ships and hypersonic missiles so we can deal with China. There was a 66% increase in education spend -also known as paying off the teachers unions. There is more, but you get the idea.
So now they will release 1 million barrels a day from oil reserves. This oil must be replaced, so net over a year it is net zero benefit. To use critical reserves at a time of war is not just stupid, but irresponsible, and potentially dangerous. Suppose the Houghties succeed in blowing up one of the main Saudi oil fields. Europe is still struggling to get out from under Russian oil, but 4 LNG terminal permits are sitting unsigned by the energy department. Pipelines need to be built, but are not getting approved. Oil leases mean nothing if they are not permitted, and in many cases they are found to be of no oil worth drilling. Energy security as we now see is critical to national security, but the left Dems still want to shut down oil production. It is hard to understand how they can be so ignorant or unaware. There is no way China and India are not going to keep building coal fired power plants for at least another decade or more. It is the least expensive cost of generation for them, and the most reliable, so if they want to build their economy and avoid popular unrest, they will build coal fired plants. The real answer is small nuke plants. The technology is now well proven and cost effective. Can you imagine getting a nuke plant approved in the US right now.
The Fed just stopped buying mortgage bonds last week. So they were creating a false pricing and rate until now. It is estimated that for some mortgage bond offerings, the Fed was essentially the only buyer. Result, mortgage rates are now shooting up just as house prices are up ridiculously. Rates are going up because pricing of bonds is beginning to reflect real free market prices. My homes are going up in value so fast now that if I was smart I would sell them and just rent some nice little two bedroom apartment. The values on Zillow are so high relative to original cost it is hard to imagine they are real.
MIT just reinstituted SAT and ACT tests. What a surprise. They just did the analysis and acknowledged that these tests are very good predictors of how a student will do in the specific school based on the scores, and that for minorities they are good predictors of the gifted kids who might otherwise have been overlooked. How come universities did not know all these years that the tests were very good predictors of achievement is unsaid. University of CA system had the research done and it showed the same result, so of course the university system threw out the research, and dropped the tests claiming they are racist.
Don't believe the sanctions are what they are purported to be. As a favor to the "consensus with our allies" there are all sorts of exceptions, especially in regard to oil and gas. The Ruble is almost back where it was (up 40% since it fell) and some oligarchs have no sanctions. The US sanctions on Russian oil is not until June. Biden still has not given Ukraine the S300, nor more tanks, nor the Migs. So while the Russian economy is being badly hurt, and may take years to recover, the sanctions are being done only where the EU goes along and muddles their way through decision making. They could be a lot tougher and effective. Zellenskyy said Friday night he is going to win, but he needs the heavy weapons are needed and he is not getting them. He politely called on Biden to lead and do what is needed. The major battle of the war is shaping up right now in the Dunbas area. 40,000 Ukraine troops are there dealing with the Russians. 70,000 Russians from around Kyiv are being moved to try to encircle the Ukrainian force and destroy it. The Ukrainians however are moving their reinforcements into the area and preparing faster, and if they get the drones and heavy weapons quickly, they could possibly destroy the Russian army and win the war. This will be the epic battle, and it will happen soon according to military experts. Given how it has gone so far, Ukraine could win if the US moves faster and gets the right weapons there fast. Putin is now out of fresh trained forces and is using Chechens and Syrians. If the Russians suffer major losses in this battle they will have no real well trained reserves remaining. This could become the determinant of the future of Europe, and what China does on Taiwan.
Now you can claim to be an x for gender on your passport and with TSA. You can claim to be gender neutral (someone please tell me what that means), or non-binary???, or gender non-conforming?? If you do not know what sex you are you have a problem. The problem for the rest of us is TSA now says they will not use gender to validate identity at check points. So we diminish security because someone can't figure out if they are a male or female. This is nuts
Disney has proven why companies should stay out of social and political issues. They are destroying the most iconic brand on the planet. A company exists to benefit shareholders who invested, not to promote ideology of a small minority.
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Oh my oh my:
Daily DC Insider
Image Source: Just The News
Democrats were obsessed with Donald Trump's finances when he was in office. But it seems they don't hold themselves to the same standard when it comes to fully disclosing their stock trades.
Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., failed to properly disclose more than $885,000 in stock transactions as required by law, according to a complaint filed Monday by the Office of Congressional Ethics.
Suozzi allegedly failed to register at least 31 stock transactions between September 2017 and June 2021 until last month, according to the accusation.
Representatives are required by law to record any financial transaction of $1,000 or more within 30 days of the transaction taking place. They must also be included in annual reports to Congress.
A lawsuit was filed against the New York Democrat in September 2021, alleging that he failed to declare around 300 deals.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Maybe I am missing something but many European NATO countries are sending Russian military equipment they seem to own to Ukraine. This same equipment has proven to be less than functional so I am wondering is NATO capable of functioning should they be attacked and need to respond?
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