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Aunt Fay's various birthday events were great. Fay's daughter in law , Lisa, outdid herself. After NYC we rented a car and drove up to Kingston to be with our grand daughter and her husband.
We spent the nex three days driving around the beautiful country and seeing some of the quaint little towns. Some were doing great, some not so great. Factories had left and it was obvious they had not been able to replace the commerce.
Prices were outrageous, particularly for restaurant meals. Gas prices were a dollar plus more than here in Georgia. Some towns had made the transition to tourism but the shops were only open a few days each week.
On these type trips we always visit museums and college campuses. We saw Bard College and their lovely art museum, several SUNY college campuses and a sculpture garden called OMI. We also visited a very way out museum of very modern art. The museum space was more interesting than the displays. Many of the donors to that museum are known to us. One. in fact, was the son of a Dallas client and he and his wife are known for their own art collection and Richard Neutra Home.
We were a few miles from West Point but I just cannot walk like in the past so we had to pass.
It was a good trip. because we got to see and celebrate with family. but as I approach 90 I can no longer endure the stress though I still love driving the back roads. You never know what is around a curve or bend.
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It will take me several days to catch up and then back to memos.
The attack on Trump continues and reaches new despicable heights. The next thing I expect out to these rabid and hateful Democrats is waterboarding. We no longer can trust the mass media, the government, many of it's agencies, the AG, the President and ow the left side of Congress. No wonder75% of American's believe we are heading in the wrong direction.
Republicans continue to prove they do not know how to campaign even when they have a lay up opportunity. They are totally pathetic. McConnell may be a crafty parliamentarian but believing Republicans should remain silent and let Democrats self-destruct ain't going to work and is wishful thinking. You have to be pro-active, attack your adversary and tell America what you intend to do to do to solve specific issues and problems.
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‘Prepared for Any Scenario’: Israeli Military Raises Alert Level for Terror Attack
In a phone call with local leaders in Israel’s south, Lapid said that he was aware of the “harm to daily routine” but emphasized that he was working to end the current situation as soon as possible, according to a readout from Israel’s Government Press Office.
Israeli authorities first closed crossings and roads around the Gaza Strip border area on Tuesday amid the threat of retaliatory attacks by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, following the arrest of one of its West Bank-based leaders.
Later on Thursday, Lapid held a security assessment with defense officials, and pledged not allow terror groups to “disrupt citizens’ lives” for the long term.
“We will not be deterred from using force in order to restore normal life in the south, and we will not halt our policy of arresting terrorists in Judea and Samaria,” Lapid continued.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Benny Gantz ordered the defense establishment to employ civilian and military measures to counter threats on Israel’s southern region, and also to prepare to restore routine life along the Gaza border. The steps were announced during an assessment meeting between Gantz, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, the head of the Israel Security Agency, and additional Israeli senior officials.
Gantz also ordered the Head of the National Emergency Authority in the defense ministry to work together with the IDF’s Homefront Command in order to “respond to and fulfill the needs of Israeli citizens living along the Gaza border,” whose lives have been disrupted by the road closures.
Earlier, Kochavi toured the IDF’s Gaza division together with Brigadier General Nimrod Aloni to review the intelligence and operational situation. Kochavi instructed the IDF’s additional combat forces and artillery that arrived in the area to raise their alert level in case of possible escalations, and to strengthen defense and intelligence efforts. He also approved plans for offensive efforts should they become necessary in the scenario of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad attack.
“We detect the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s intentions to carry out terrorist attacks against the civilians of the Gaza Strip and soldiers of the IDF and so we set up roadblocks throughout the area,” said Aloni, Commanding Officer of the IDF’s Gaza division. “This will be continued as long as necessary – the safety of residents comes first.”
And:
Why did the Islamic Jihad agree to a Ceasefire so quickly?
By Mudar Adnan Zahran
On the third day of confrontations between Israel and the Islamic Jihad, the militant group announced an Egyptian-brokered truce will begin at 20:30 GMT on 7 August. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s office confirmed the ceasefire.
A very well-informed and senior Arab official has informed me that the ceasefire was confirmed by the Islamic Jihad after a 45-minute phone call between a very senior Egyptian intelligence officer and his Iranian counterpart. The official noted “The Iranian side wanted the truce to happen as fast as possible”
What the source claims does not seem to contradict what is happening on the ground in Gaza. This quick conclusion of fighting is very inconsistent with previous rounds. Usually, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad refuse all offers for a ceasefire until some serious Israeli bombings have taken place. The reasons for this are simple; the leaders of both terror groups are rarely affected by the fighting. They and their families are either safe in bunkers underground or vacationing in either Jordan, Qatar, or Turkey. The second reason is that both, Hamas, and the Islamic Jihad are not free to make their own decisions. They receive orders over the phone from their masters who call the conditions of any ceasefires that serve their interests and not those of Gazans. In the case of the Islamic Jihad, the leaders of the terror group receive their orders directly from Iran.
Trained, financed, and promoted by Iran and her Arab friends, the Islamic Jihad is a de facto offshoot of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. This means Iran is the one who has called the ceasefire shot. But why wouldn’t Iran let Gaza burn this time as it has always done? Why did Iran agreed to a ceasefire so quickly?
The answer lies in the way Israel managed the matter, which was quite different from the previous times and therefore has produced different results.
First, Israel took the initiative by arresting a senior Islamic Jihad figure in the West Bank, Bassam Al-Saadi. This helped demoralize the Islamic Jihad’s followers there and blocked their chances of causing any unrest in support of Islamic Jihad members in Gaza.
Second, Israel took the initiative by killing the most senior and capable military commander of the Islamic Jihad, Tayseer Al-Rajabi on 5 August. Then, immediately proceeded with very surgical and effective hits on installations of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza which left the terror group dumbfounded with the unprecedented and highly accurate strikes.
Third, Hamas never joined the fight on the side of the Islamic Jihad. My Arab intelligence sources who are very close to the situation in Gaza have confirmed to me the Egyptians and Qataris have both convinced Hamas to keep the truce they have sustained since January 2022. The sources claim Hamas leaders were told Qatar would go as far as freezing Hamas monthly funds if it was to break the truce with Israel. Hence, Hamas did not join the Islamic Jihad’s fight and left them to fend for themselves.
Fourth, Israel was upping its Gaza operations quickly and went beyond the curve by killing Tayseer Al-Jabari’s second in command, Khaled Mansour, “Commander of the Southern District in Gaza.” Mansour was much less capable and nowhere near charismatic as Al-Jabari, nonetheless, he was his potential successor.
With the Israeli hits becoming more painful and on target, Iran had no chance but to swallow its pride and seek a quick truce to save its terrorist assets in Gaza from being annihilated by Israel.
With the Islamic Jihad humiliated, its top leaders gone and its mentor, Iran, approving a quick ceasefire, it is safe to say Operation Breaking Dawn has been successful. This success must serve as a challenge to the outdated “conventional wisdom” by several Israeli governments of “Maintaining the status quo” and “Keeping the current leaders because you never know whom you are going to get if they are gone.”
The terror leaders ruling Gaza are a threat to the Gazans themselves, to Israelis and to the region. Targeting the head of the snake kills it. The lesson learned from this operation could be summed up with this verse of ancient pre-Islam Arab poetry:
“Do not you cut the snake’s tail and let it go,
If you are a mensch, hit it on its head then follow with the tail.”
Worth noting that there was a major call by Gazans for “a million-man march to topple the Hamas regime,” which was supposed to be launched on the 5th of August, the same day the operations began.
Mudar Zahran is the Secretary General of the Jordanian Opposition Coalition and an important Palestinian leader.
Finally
Dreaming Progressives Cannot Deal With Reality:
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Posted By RUTHIE BLUM
Jihad and peace: When apples grow on cherry trees - opinion
The idea that there is even the slightest chance of achieving peace, let alone a “two-state solution,” with a society that promotes murder and welcomes martyrdom is laughable.
Operation Breaking Dawn, Israel’s 55-hour war against Islamic Jihad in Gaza that ended on Sunday night, not only aroused the wrath of the world’s usual antisemitic suspects; it also caused the small but vociferous domestic “peace camp” chorus to sing its tired refrain about the desperate need for a political solution to the conflict.
The tired “two-state” mantra is also reiterated by White House and State Department officials at every opportunity, other than when they are busily beseeching Iran to return to the nuclear deal. Naturally, US President Joe Biden repeated it during his visit last month to Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).
He went beyond his already foolish even-handedness, however, when touring the Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. On his way to the medical center that treats Palestinian patients from East Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and Gaza, his team removed the Israeli flag from his limousine and forbade Israeli reporters from covering the event. He then gave a little speech in which he likened the plight of the Palestinians to that of his Irish forebears.
“[W]e have a long history not fundamentally unlike the Palestinian people with Great Britain and their attitude toward Irish-Catholics over the years, for 400 years,” he said, before quoting an Irish poem about hoping for a “tidal wave of justice.”
LITTLE DID he know that a very different sort of “tidal wave of justice” from the one he had in mind would come a mere three weeks later when the IDF pummeled the Islamic Republic-financed IJ by assassinating the bulk of its top brass. One IJ commander who emerged unscathed was Ziyad al-Nakhala, secretary-general of the organization’s West Bank (Judea and Samaria) branch. While the fighting was going on in Gaza, al-Nakhala was off in Tehran chumming it up with Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi.
One thing that can be said about Biden is that at least he’s consistent when it comes to the fantasy that it’s viable to engage in diplomacy with entities bent on the annihilation of the West in general and the Jewish state in particular. The trouble is that while he doesn’t deny Iran’s race to nuclear weapons – and believes that an agreement like a new version of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action will prevent the regime in Tehran from acquiring them – he thinks that Palestinian terrorism is an expression of frustration over a lack of independence.
Ironically, the Jew-killers in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are the first to acknowledge that, for them, death is preferable to life alongside Israel. Nor is this solely because the families of those who meet their end in the process of murdering Israelis are showered with accolades and lots of cash, courtesy of the Palestinian Authority Martyrs’ Fund – though the fringe benefits certainly add to the allure.
Ibrahim al-Nabulsi
TAKE THE case of Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, for instance, who was eliminated this week by Israeli special forces. The last words of the 19-year-old member of the unaffiliated “Baruka” terrorist cell to his numerous social-media followers were: “I love you all. I am now going to die a martyr’s death. I am asking that you never abandon your weapons. I love my mother. Take care of the homeland for me.”
“I love you all. I am now going to die a martyr’s death. I am asking that you never abandon your weapons. I love my mother. Take care of the homeland for me.”
Ibrahim al-Nabulsinone
The TikTok sensation, dubbed by his adoring fans in the PA as the “Lion of Nablus,” was responsible for several attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, including the shooting of worshipers at Joseph’s Tomb. He had escaped IDF capture on three occasions since the beginning of the year.
One of these resulted in the fall of a fellow terrorist. In the wake of the incident, a video circulated on the Internet showing Nabulsi carrying the body of his comrade-in-arms and hearing him say, “Lucky you; you are now in Allah’s good graces.”
If such a send-off of a cohort sounds chilling to Western ears, it’s nothing compared to the elated eulogy delivered by Nabulsi’s own mother in the wake of her “beloved” son’s death. To grasp the extent of her sick reaction to the loss, one needs a recap of the details of the raid in which he was gunned down.
In a joint operation on Tuesday morning, members of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), the Israel Police’s National Counterterrorism squad and the IDF Commando Brigade’s Duvdevan Unit entered Nablus and surrounded a building where Nabulsi and other terrorists were holed up. Refusing to surrender, he and the other gunmen opened fire on the Israeli forces.
They responded by using the “pressure cooker” method, hitting the building with a shoulder-fired missile. The mission, which ended up including a confrontation with neighboring residents throwing rocks and firebombs at the forces, also turned up a large cache of weapons and explosive devices.
The hours-long battle claimed the lives of Nabulsi and two other terrorists, Islam Soboukh and Hussein Taha, and left more than a dozen Palestinian rioters injured.
THE ONLY Israeli casualty of the terrorists was Zili, a Yamam K-9 dog, referred to by Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai as a “true four-legged warrior.”
In the days since the raid, Zili’s passing and formal burial have been the focus of news and feature stories, with trainers and officers hailing the 9-year-old Belgian Malinois as a loyal friend and genuine hero. Countrywide attention to the mourning of Zili has sparked a number of hostile comments about how similar sympathy supposedly wasn’t extended to the children killed in Gaza days earlier.
Never mind that this isn’t true, or that poor IJ rocket-launch aim was the culprit; any excuse to hurl unwarranted accusations at Israel will do. Rather than pointing fingers in the wrong direction, critics of Israeli morals might want to pause to observe the form that Palestinian grieving often takes.
“Ibrahim, they shot him. But there are 100 more Ibrahims here. Everyone here is Ibrahim. Everyone here is Ibrahim. You’re all my children. You’re all Ibrahim. Ibrahim is now with Abraham; Ibrahim is now with the Prophet Muhammad.”
Ibrahim al-Nabulsi’s mothernone
This brings us back to Nabulsi’s mom. Standing amid a throng of supporters, the smiling woman declared: “Ibrahim, they shot him. But there are 100 more Ibrahims here. Everyone here is Ibrahim. Everyone here is Ibrahim. You’re all my children. You’re all Ibrahim. Ibrahim is now with Abraham; Ibrahim is now with the Prophet Muhammad.”
Her remarks elicited happy chanting from the crowd.
“Congratulations to the martyr’s mother!” they shouted. At this, she grinned and made a victory sign with each hand.
“I wish my mother would take your place,” they added. “Ibrahim has won. He won. He won.”
Nodding in agreement, she yelled, “Praise be to Allah, praise be to Allah, praise be to Allah!”
No peace with Palestinians
THE IDEA that there is even the slightest chance of achieving peace, let alone a “two-state solution,” with a society that promotes murder and welcomes martyrdom is laughable. This is why fewer and fewer Israelis consider it an option worth considering as part of a political platform.
Indeed, any lip service to it that doesn’t emanate from the far-Left is vague and hypothetical. After all, everyone accepts that when the Palestinians rebel against their leaders, shun their violent religious ideology and stop being backed by the globe’s greatest state sponsor of terrorism – you know, around the time that apples start growing on cherry trees – the possibility of nonbelligerent coexistence could present itself and be taken seriously.
Until then, military preparedness and prowess will remain as imperative to Israel’s well-being as weeping over a cherished dog is illustrative of its character.
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Biden Appoints Problematic Islamist With Muslim Brotherhood Ties To Religious Freedom Commission
BY: DEXTER VAN ZILE
Under the Biden administration, Islamist affiliations are résumé builders and genocide denial is no big thing.
Serving as an imam of a mosque that was credibly accused of serving as a conduit for terror financing and as the leader of a national organization with roots in the Muslim Brotherhood should disqualify someone from serving on a commission charged with monitoring abuses of religious freedom. And downplaying the horrors of a well-documented genocide fueled by religious animosity should also be a deal breaker. But under the Biden administration, these types of Islamist affiliations are résumé builders and genocide denial is no big thing.
This was demonstrated last month when the White House appointed Mohamed Hag Magid, a prominent imam from Virginia, to serve on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) last month. Established by Congress in 1998, USCIRF is charged with monitoring violations of the right to religious freedom throughout the world and makes recommendations on how to respond to these violations to the president, the U.S. State Department, and to Congress. According to its website, the nine-member commission is “appointed by either the President or Congressional leaders of each political party, supported by a non-partisan professional staff.”
In its announcement of Magid’s appointment, the White House highlighted his status as Executive Imam of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center in Sterling, Virginia. In the early 2000s, the ADAMS center was named in a federal investigation as part of the SAAR network, an alleged terror finance organization funded by Saudi donors.
To further buttress Magid’s appointment, the White House invoked his tenure as president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) which was founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1981. During his time as president, Magid gave an award to Dawud Walid, the executive director of CAIR-Michigan. Prior to receiving the ISNA reward, Walid declared, “Who are those who incurred the wrath of Allah? They are the Jews.” ISNA, by the way, was founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Magid’s episode of genocide denial took place at a 2004 conference in Georgetown where he stated that reports about the mass-killings of Christians by the Islamist regime in Khartoum were “some kind of exaggeration,” and that “things escalated and people called it genocide.”
One of the groups that called what happened in Sudan “genocide” was USCIRF, the commission he now helps oversee. In 2001, USCIRF declared that religion was a major factor in Sudan’s civil war and that “the Sudanese government is committing genocidal atrocities against the civilian population in the south and the Nuba Mountains.”
This is not the first time a prominent Islamist activist has been appointed to USCIRF’s board. Kuwaiti-born Abou El Fadl, a professor from UCLA School of Law, served on the commission in the early 2000s after downplaying the aggressive expansionist agenda of Wahhabi extremists. In 2002, he declared that Wahhabis “do not seek to dominate — to attain supremacy in the world,” and that they “are more than happy living within the boundaries of Saudi Arabia.”
In the years since his time on USCIRF, El Fadl has been a vocal critic of specialists who raised the alarm over the Muslim Brotherhood, charging them with “Islamophobia.” This is not the behavior of someone intent on protecting religious freedom, but someone intent on weaponizing the principle to deflect scrutiny away from Islamist organizations.
Islamists have learned how to use USCIRF to harass their enemies. The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) has effectively lobbied the commission to condemn the mistreatment of Muslims in India. While inter-communal violence in India is a legitimate concern, the IAMC is simply not a credible source of commentary on religious freedom and peaceful interfaith relations.
In 2002, IAMC spokesperson Kaleem Kawaja lamented the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan asking his fellow Muslims if they could “spare a tear” for the organization. And on Sept. 11, 2021, IAMC had Islamist scholar Yasir Nadeem Al Wajidi spoke at its national retreat in Chicago, weeks after he celebrated the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, calling the event “an opportunity to present to the world an Islamic system based on justice and fairness.” The Taliban has subsequently evicted minority Shia Muslims from their homes in Afghanistan and denied girls their right to attend school.
And on August 15, 2020, IAMC celebrated 74 years of Indian independence with a webinar featuring Indian activist Harsh Mander, who was later reprimanded in India’s high court for instigating Muslim mobs to seek “justice on the streets.”
This is not to say that no Muslim can be trusted to promote the cause of religious freedom. The work of Rashad Hussain, the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom for the Biden Administration, is a case in point. He has condemned blasphemy and apostasy laws used to justify Islamist violence. Hussain also condemned the murder of a Hindu tailor by Muslim extremists in India during his recent appearance on the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.
USCIRF is supposed to monitor abuses of religious freedom. Sadly, the commission itself needs monitoring.
Dexter Van Zile is managing editor of Focus on Western Islamism (FWI), a publication established by the Middle East Forum in early 2022 to document and counter Islamist efforts to undermine Western democracies.
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