Allen West: Mazel Tov on your win. Stay well. Me
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Seems We Have Come Apart At The SeamsThe only one in The White House who does not understand the President and his Administration are beyond redemption is his brainless press secretary.
The White House Staff are at their wit's end, have thrown up their hands in despair and most have decided to let Biden be Biden.
After doing this, three new issues arose
1) Biden's poll numbers dropped further.
2) It became even more evident the American people know they have been lied to and now only believe their own eyes and ears not the snow job from Biden staffers.
3) Staffers are totally out of step with Jill. Apparently, Jill wants to keep Biden in his/her cocoon because he has become totally dysfunctional.
Biden never was much to begin with but letting him be himself now is beyond reason. Why?
The man in the street believes he is corrupt.
They know he is mentally and physically challenged.
They know our adversaries believe this as well.
They know America is being flooded with criminals, Fentanyl and immoral sex traffic is exploding.
They know Biden is being manipulated and cannot complete a sentence even using cards and a teleprompter.
They have concluded every decision he makes has boomeranged and he is an unmitigated liar.
Worst of all, they now believe not only is he and his family corrupt but the Justice Department, FBI and other agencies have also been stonewalling GOP truth seeking investigators.
And you know the rest.
Having written the above, Biden's defeat is not a slam dunk. Why?
Because his opponent is not the warmest, fuzziest, beloved former presidents even though his record of achievements is basically sound.
Obviously, Biden's poll numbers reflect the fact Americans do not wish to endure 4 more years of Biden "nomics" of any kind but neither are they giddy about a rematch between Biden and Trump.
Americans are depressed and feel trapped. They fear we are a nation in decline and increasingly do not know a way out of our dilemma.
They also are frustrated over our inability to live within our means and hate being bled by Ukraine and are beginning to want Israel to end their war with Hamas but understand the predicament Israel is in if they are not allowed to continue to victory. In other words, more October 7's and bombings from Hezbollah etc. as Iran becomes nuclear.
If this is not enough, most Americans know the mass media no longer serve as America's ombudsman and they cannot trust what they read and hear from those sources
Seemingly, America has come apart at the seams. We are no longer the "United States."
Below are two cartoons that aptly depict what I have written.
.jpg)
And:
Attached is sort of a rebuttal to my own essay above.
I find the writer, Walter Mead, a bit cavalier in his choice of words like ," A distracted America," his focus on technological progress yet , utter disregard of a society in dissent and internally turning into dry rot. A society which allows university campuses to become bastions of hatred, a president who turns his green shaded eyes away from sex trafficking, death killing drugs, increasing street crimes and contempt for law and order.
Ain't the America I once knew.
+++
A Distracted America Still Leads the World
China, Russia and Iran see the U.S. as polarized and waning
but underestimate the power of capitalism.
By Walter Russel Mean
These are terrifying times. As a technological revolution propels the most dangerous arms race in human history, a coalition of powers ranging from China and Russia to Iran, Venezuela and North Korea is trying to undermine American security and break American power. In the U.S., the foreign-policy establishment in both political parties is widely discredited, but populist isolationism offers little in the way of constructive alternatives. Meanwhile, culture wars and bitter polarization have distracted and divided the one country that can lead the world back toward a more peaceful path. If the potential consequences of this mix of global crisis and American incapacity don’t trouble your sleep at times, you haven’t been paying attention.
Many factors contribute to this distressing situation, but the economic and social disruptions brought on by the Information Revolution are the heart of the matter. As social media upends political parties and systems across the world, and technological change transforms industries, political leaders are struggling to maintain the authority and legitimacy necessary for far-sighted foreign policy. At the same time, advances in drone warfare, artificial intelligence, hypersonic missiles and cyberattacks are changing the nature of war and international competition. Global problems are getting more urgent and difficult even as political leaders in the U.S. and elsewhere are losing their ability to lead.
The U.S. remains the key actor in the international system, but American society is less focused on dealing with foreign challenges than in resolving economic, political and cultural issues at home. This has happened before. In the late 19th century, Americans were focused on managing the consequences of the Industrial Revolution, such as the rise of conglomerates, the centralization of financial power in Wall Street banks, and mass migration from Europe to the industrial cities of the Northeast and Midwest. All the while, an agricultural crisis was unfolding as the economics of family farming became less favorable. International events commanded scant attention even as Europe drifted toward the disaster of World War I. In the 1930s, the Great Depression similarly led the U.S. to focus inward despite dangers beyond its borders.
Seeing a polarized America sliding toward less effective global engagement amid international conflict and crises, our adversaries in Beijing, Moscow, Tehran and Pyongyang believe the clock is running out on the American Century. Their efforts to lower the curtain on the Pax Americana are growing more ambitious as Americans lose their sense of unity and purpose.
But the Pax Americana is more robust than it looks. Historically, these periods of internal dissension and social upheaval haven’t signaled the collapse of American power so much as prepared its resurgence. Between the Civil War and the early 20th century the inward-focused, polarized Americans created a massive industrial economy and a powerful financial sector that made us irresistible when we entered World War I. Ditto in World War II.
American power is grounded in capitalism, the most disruptive and revolutionary social system in the history of the world. Our openness to capitalism makes the U.S. quick to gain the benefits that capitalist development brings, and also quick to suffer the displacements effected by technological and economic change. Amid the struggle in American domestic politics today, we can still see the emergence of new industries, new forms of social organization, new technologies that are likely to make us a decisive actor in the 21st century.
Even as our politics descend into chaos, our farms and factories are becoming more productive. Our financial markets are becoming more sophisticated. Our computers are getting faster and more complex, our software more capable. More enterprises are harvesting productivity gains from new technology. Our struggles aren’t the death agonies of terminal decline. As I’ve written elsewhere, they are the awkward lunges of a butterfly struggling to escape a cocoon.
Those who expected a permanent peace and a long calm after the Cold War were profoundly mistaken about the impact of American power. America’s victory in the Cold War didn’t end history but accelerated it.
America’s internal dissensions are reaching a peak even as the world slides toward chaos. This is an explosive conjunction, and there is no guarantee of a smooth ride ahead. But if America remains a dynamic society filled with raucous, ambitious and impatient people, we are likely to continue to surprise ourselves and the rest of the world with the wealth we create—and the power that flows from it.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It is about time.
+++
UC Berkeley is under federal investigation over the recent disruption of an Israeli speaker
By Andrew Lapin
(JTA) — The violent disruption to an Israeli speaker’s appearance on campus last month has triggered negative headlines and a criminal investigation at the University of California, Berkeley. Now, the school is facing a federal discrimination investigation, too.
The U.S. Department of Education announced the investigation into Berkeley’s handling of antisemitism on Tuesday, just a week after the incident — in one of the clearest signs yet that the department is moving unusually swiftly in responding to campus discrimination claims involving the Israel-Hamas war.
The department’s Office of Civil Rights announced the Title VI “shared ancestry” investigation at Berkeley along with four other new investigations joining a quickly growing list of discrimination claims since Oct. 7. The department does not reveal publicly why it is investigating a particular school, but a spokesperson for the university confirmed to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that its investigation “has to do with the events of February 26th.”
On that day, hundreds of violent anti-Israel protesters on campus forced the cancelation of a planned lecture by Ran Bar-Yoshafat, an Israel Defense Forces reservist and senior leader at the Kohelet Policy Forum, which backed Israel’s recent judicial reforms.
The protesters blocked the venue, smashed windows and, according to witnesses, physically attacked some students who tried to attend the event. University police ordered the venue evacuated at the last minute and said they could not guarantee student safety.
The investigation timeline is notable because, although the department has vowed to open every Title VI complaint it receives for investigation regardless of merit (and has opened many related to antisemitism since Oct. 7), it has typically taken weeks or even months for a complaint to trigger a response. The swift action in Berkeley comes amid widespread press attention about the incident, which stood out for reports of physical violence.
It was not immediately clear who filed the Berkeley complaint, another piece of information that the education department does not make public.
The university spokesperson did not elaborate on the investigation but said officials would cooperate fully with the investigation. The chancellor and provost issued a statement Monday condemning the incident as “unacceptable” and said some Jewish students had experienced “overtly antisemitic expression,” and said the school had opened a criminal investigation. (Because Title VI investigations focus on how the university responded to incidents of antisemitism, prompt action to curb antisemitism can bolster a university’s case.)
Of the four other new investigations the department announced Tuesday, at least three of them, at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, Illinois Wesleyan University and Middlebury College in Vermont, also involve allegations of antisemitism.
The first two complaints were filed by Zachary Marschall, a conservative Jewish writer who is the editor-in-chief of the website Campus Reform and has had at least 12 of his Title VI complaints opened for investigation to date, all at universities where he has no current connection. Both allegations involve the universities’ handling of pro-Palestinian campus protests.
A spokesperson for Swarthmore told JTA the school had only received notice of the complaint, not the complaint itself, and could not comment. “Despite the fact that the complaint seems to have come from someone unaffiliated with the College, we take it very seriously, and we are committed to complying with the law and collaborating with the Department of Education as it conducts its review,” the spokesperson said, adding that the college has publicly condemned “antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of discrimination within our community.” Illinois Wesleyan University did not return a request for comment.
Middlebury’s investigation was triggered by a complaint last month from the pro-Israel group StandWithUs. The complaint alleges the university did not appropriately communicate with Jewish students in the days following Oct. 7, including around a planned vigil they hoped to hold, and that officials were slow to provide them with police protection.
“We look forward to working with OCR as their investigation explores the allegations against Middlebury outlined in our Title VI complaint,” Yael Lerman, director of StandWithUs’ legal operations, said in a statement.
A Middlebury spokesperson told JTA, “We are proud of how our students, faculty, and staff engage peacefully, openly, constructively, regularly, and rigorously on deeply concerning issues such as anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and the Israel-Hamas war,” and said the school was pursuing dialogue between Jewish and Muslim students.
A fifth Title VI investigation was opened this week at SUNY Rockland Community College. A spokesperson for the college did not return a request for comment.
The Trump Coalition Replaces the Roosevelt Coalition
There is every indication President Trump is going to aggressively seek the support of every element of the Roosevelt coalition that will listen.
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The UN finally admits the truth, but won’t do anything about it.Don’t expect any action to follow the UN report admitting
Hamas committed mass rape on October 7. The UN is so anti-
Israel that it is more likely to pass a resolution endorsing the
mass rape of Jewish women than condemning it.
After five months, the United Nations finally admitted that Hamas terrorists committed large-scale acts of rape and sexual violence on October 7.
Well, mostly. The report released by UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence Pramila Patten on Monday states that after she and other UN officials visited Israel in January and were exposed to the mountain of evidence, there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas used sexual violence while committing the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Since the victims were mostly Jews, they will have to settle for “it probably happened” rather than “it definitely happened.”
This is a far cry from the rush to believe every accusation leveled against Israel, no matter how spurious or how obviously untrue they are. And this report only occurred because of massive pressure on the UN to do the right thing for once.
Sadly, this is probably the end of it, the limit of how far the UN will be willing to go for the Jewish victims. The General Assembly is so anti-Israel that it is more likely to pass a resolution endorsing the mass rape of Jewish women than condemning it, and Hamas will be defended by Russia and China at the Security Council, which still has not condemned the October 7th massacre.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will likely do his best to ignore the report’s existence. If, after enough badgering, he does acknowledge it, we can expect any condemnation to include an attempt to contextualize the mass rapes from the man who claimed that October 7 “did not occur in a vacuum.”
What’s even worse is that even the report’s warning that these atrocities are ongoing will result in no action. As the report states, there is every reason to fear that the hostages who were kidnapped on October 7 and continue to be held captive in Gaza are being subjected to sexual violence on a regular basis. But aside from some meaningless lip service, there will be no resulting push to save the hostages from this fate.
No. Instead, the focus of Guterres and the rest of the UN will be on saving their captors and tormentors, on protecting the rapists and butchers of Hamas. Reaching a ceasefire that leaves Hamas in power and free to commit mass murder and mass rape again is their overriding goal.
In a sane (not to mention moral) world, Hamas would be under pressure from the entire world to unconditionally surrender, release every hostage, and disband. This would not only save the hostages, but save the civilians of Gaza from the ravages of war and from the brutal subjugation of Hamas. But antisemitism drives insanity and perverts and inverts morality.
The sad truth is that Jewish and Israeli victims do not matter. To the UN and even to many international women’s rights groups, the very fact that they are Jewish or Zionist makes them on some level deserving of any crime committed against them. Like the Red Cross patting itself on the back for doing nothing more than serving as a glorified Uber driver for the hostages who have been released after not even attempting to visit or care for the hostages in captivity, they may say that they have gone above and beyond by acknowledging reality many months too late when they have in fact not come close to doing the bare minimum basic human decency requires.
This is why Israel must continue to fight until victory. Israel must ignore the pressure from those who refuse to pressure Hamas. The Jewish State must rescue the Jewish hostages and protect the Jewish people, because the world and the UN sure as hell won’t.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Well, mostly. The report released by UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence Pramila Patten on Monday states that after she and other UN officials visited Israel in January and were exposed to the mountain of evidence, there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas used sexual violence while committing the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Since the victims were mostly Jews, they will have to settle for “it probably happened” rather than “it definitely happened.”
This is a far cry from the rush to believe every accusation leveled against Israel, no matter how spurious or how obviously untrue they are. And this report only occurred because of massive pressure on the UN to do the right thing for once.
Sadly, this is probably the end of it, the limit of how far the UN will be willing to go for the Jewish victims. The General Assembly is so anti-Israel that it is more likely to pass a resolution endorsing the mass rape of Jewish women than condemning it, and Hamas will be defended by Russia and China at the Security Council, which still has not condemned the October 7th massacre.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will likely do his best to ignore the report’s existence. If, after enough badgering, he does acknowledge it, we can expect any condemnation to include an attempt to contextualize the mass rapes from the man who claimed that October 7 “did not occur in a vacuum.”
What’s even worse is that even the report’s warning that these atrocities are ongoing will result in no action. As the report states, there is every reason to fear that the hostages who were kidnapped on October 7 and continue to be held captive in Gaza are being subjected to sexual violence on a regular basis. But aside from some meaningless lip service, there will be no resulting push to save the hostages from this fate.
No. Instead, the focus of Guterres and the rest of the UN will be on saving their captors and tormentors, on protecting the rapists and butchers of Hamas. Reaching a ceasefire that leaves Hamas in power and free to commit mass murder and mass rape again is their overriding goal.
In a sane (not to mention moral) world, Hamas would be under pressure from the entire world to unconditionally surrender, release every hostage, and disband. This would not only save the hostages, but save the civilians of Gaza from the ravages of war and from the brutal subjugation of Hamas. But antisemitism drives insanity and perverts and inverts morality.
The sad truth is that Jewish and Israeli victims do not matter. To the UN and even to many international women’s rights groups, the very fact that they are Jewish or Zionist makes them on some level deserving of any crime committed against them. Like the Red Cross patting itself on the back for doing nothing more than serving as a glorified Uber driver for the hostages who have been released after not even attempting to visit or care for the hostages in captivity, they may say that they have gone above and beyond by acknowledging reality many months too late when they have in fact not come close to doing the bare minimum basic human decency requires.
This is why Israel must continue to fight until victory. Israel must ignore the pressure from those who refuse to pressure Hamas. The Jewish State must rescue the Jewish hostages and protect the Jewish people, because the world and the UN sure as hell won’t.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My own loyalty is to what I believe is the right thing to do. Then to my country. As for Israel, I see America and Israel, in most cases, as one. Why? Because we want the same things.
On occasion, we are confronted with different challenges but our aspiration are driven by similar, if not same, values.
+++
« Corruption and redemption? America on the precipice
High-tax states are running out of things to tax, so they
resort to lawsuits »
The reality behind allegations of the so-called ‘Jewish dual
loyalty problem’
By Jerold Levoritz
Over multiple generations and in many places, Jews have been charged with having “dual loyalties”; that is, they allegedly show no allegiance to the countries that so graciously took them in. What underlies this is the idea that insistence upon continued Jewish existence is no more than coarse chauvinism and a stumbling block to human progress.
In fact, if left alone in freedom, Jews are ardent patriots. But when a government turns on them, they’ll logically start looking for a way out, which is bad for the Jews and the country they’re forced to leave. After all, history shows that countries without Jews are also countries without liberty for the rest of their citizens.
From the Jewish perspective, after decades or even centuries of living peacefully, loyally, and patriotically in a specific country, the “dual loyalty” charge sets the wheels turning in their heads: Where do we run to next because a pogrom cannot be far behind?
If the host government wants the Jews to stay and add to the country’s life and character, all it would have to do is prevent violence from erupting against the Jews. Once governments want Jews to choose between being overtly Jewish or leaving the tribe behind, Jews who are deeply attached to their historical roots become suspicious and distrustful. They can resolve the dissonance raised by the question of allegiances by either escaping their Jewish roots through assimilation or by strengthening their Jewish roots.
Image: 1899 painting by Eugeen Van Mieghem showing Eastern European Jews in Antwerp hoping to head to Ellis Island. Public domain. Once there, they were subject to medical inspection and interrogated about their financial status, destination in America, criminal past, etc.
Jews-in-name-only (JINOS), along with those who have converted entirely, cannot escape the consequences of their stiff-necked progenitors’ loyalty to Jewish practice. They get caught in the antisemitic backwash because they can never separate themselves sufficiently from their roots in a way that prevents antisemites, even with a backhoe, from excavating their unwanted original connections. This group of fleeing Jews can run, but they have not yet been able to hide completely.
In our generation, Anthony Blinken and Robert Malley are two prime examples of those who have tried both desperately and dramatically to erase their Jewish origins, either through the weakening of the State of Israel (Blinken) or by closely advising the enemies of the Jews (Iran) perhaps to the point of committing legal treason against the US government (Malley).
While adversity causes some Jews to ally with those who seek their destruction, there is an opposite response too: Jews who have been only mildly attached to their ancient past decide to strengthen their connections. These Jews were stunned by the hostility from large groups of non-Jews worldwide since October 7. They realized that they were safer within the boundaries of the Jewish community and found themselves willing to expend energy to solidify that feeling of belonging.
Indeed, this is an ongoing process, predating October 7. In Nahariya, a town north of Tel Aviv, French is commonly heard and spoken. This is because escalating antisemitism in France has seen French Jews immigrate to Israel. In previous generations, Russia competed with Hebrew in Israel’s streets, as did Arabic, from the Mizrahi Jews ejected after 1948 from their ancient homes in the Muslim world.
Today, Jewish newspapers in the United States and Canada have recently begun running more real estate advertisements for modest apartments in Israel. They also have ads for all-English courses at Hebrew University, Bar Ilan, Technion, and the Jerusalem College of Technology for Jewish students who want to obtain their college degrees without the hassle of being accused of genocide. These world-renowned institutions charge between eight and twelve thousand dollars annually for tuition, a bargain by American standards. After enough harassment, these opportunities begin to look pretty good to the beleaguered young Jew on a hostile American or Canadian campus.
I fear that there will yet come a time in America when people will be unable to say that they have met a Jew. Why? Because America continues to import congenitally anti-Jewish Muslims who will seal the fate of the American Jewish community. Everyone sees safety as a prime concern, especially Jews, given their history. If they cannot remain Jews in a society that will tolerate them, Jews will vote with their feet.
This is bad for the Jews, but it’s also bad for the former host country. Jews are like the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to liberty. If Jews cannot survive, everyone else is also in for a terrible experience.
This need to uproot and start over has characterized Jewish life for millennia (Fiddler on the Roof as a reality). To the Jew, it is not a matter of ‘dual loyalty’ but the tolerance of the society in which he finds himself. When simply wearing a Jewish star on a necklace is an unacceptable aggression, the differences between America and Stalin’s Russia and Mao’s China will have evaporated. Can America find its way back from the edge of the abyss?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In fact, if left alone in freedom, Jews are ardent patriots. But when a government turns on them, they’ll logically start looking for a way out, which is bad for the Jews and the country they’re forced to leave. After all, history shows that countries without Jews are also countries without liberty for the rest of their citizens.
From the Jewish perspective, after decades or even centuries of living peacefully, loyally, and patriotically in a specific country, the “dual loyalty” charge sets the wheels turning in their heads: Where do we run to next because a pogrom cannot be far behind?
If the host government wants the Jews to stay and add to the country’s life and character, all it would have to do is prevent violence from erupting against the Jews. Once governments want Jews to choose between being overtly Jewish or leaving the tribe behind, Jews who are deeply attached to their historical roots become suspicious and distrustful. They can resolve the dissonance raised by the question of allegiances by either escaping their Jewish roots through assimilation or by strengthening their Jewish roots.
Image: 1899 painting by Eugeen Van Mieghem showing Eastern European Jews in Antwerp hoping to head to Ellis Island. Public domain. Once there, they were subject to medical inspection and interrogated about their financial status, destination in America, criminal past, etc.
Jews-in-name-only (JINOS), along with those who have converted entirely, cannot escape the consequences of their stiff-necked progenitors’ loyalty to Jewish practice. They get caught in the antisemitic backwash because they can never separate themselves sufficiently from their roots in a way that prevents antisemites, even with a backhoe, from excavating their unwanted original connections. This group of fleeing Jews can run, but they have not yet been able to hide completely.
In our generation, Anthony Blinken and Robert Malley are two prime examples of those who have tried both desperately and dramatically to erase their Jewish origins, either through the weakening of the State of Israel (Blinken) or by closely advising the enemies of the Jews (Iran) perhaps to the point of committing legal treason against the US government (Malley).
While adversity causes some Jews to ally with those who seek their destruction, there is an opposite response too: Jews who have been only mildly attached to their ancient past decide to strengthen their connections. These Jews were stunned by the hostility from large groups of non-Jews worldwide since October 7. They realized that they were safer within the boundaries of the Jewish community and found themselves willing to expend energy to solidify that feeling of belonging.
Indeed, this is an ongoing process, predating October 7. In Nahariya, a town north of Tel Aviv, French is commonly heard and spoken. This is because escalating antisemitism in France has seen French Jews immigrate to Israel. In previous generations, Russia competed with Hebrew in Israel’s streets, as did Arabic, from the Mizrahi Jews ejected after 1948 from their ancient homes in the Muslim world.
Today, Jewish newspapers in the United States and Canada have recently begun running more real estate advertisements for modest apartments in Israel. They also have ads for all-English courses at Hebrew University, Bar Ilan, Technion, and the Jerusalem College of Technology for Jewish students who want to obtain their college degrees without the hassle of being accused of genocide. These world-renowned institutions charge between eight and twelve thousand dollars annually for tuition, a bargain by American standards. After enough harassment, these opportunities begin to look pretty good to the beleaguered young Jew on a hostile American or Canadian campus.
I fear that there will yet come a time in America when people will be unable to say that they have met a Jew. Why? Because America continues to import congenitally anti-Jewish Muslims who will seal the fate of the American Jewish community. Everyone sees safety as a prime concern, especially Jews, given their history. If they cannot remain Jews in a society that will tolerate them, Jews will vote with their feet.
This is bad for the Jews, but it’s also bad for the former host country. Jews are like the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to liberty. If Jews cannot survive, everyone else is also in for a terrible experience.
This need to uproot and start over has characterized Jewish life for millennia (Fiddler on the Roof as a reality). To the Jew, it is not a matter of ‘dual loyalty’ but the tolerance of the society in which he finds himself. When simply wearing a Jewish star on a necklace is an unacceptable aggression, the differences between America and Stalin’s Russia and Mao’s China will have evaporated. Can America find its way back from the edge of the abyss?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A realist speaks.
The problem is not even their own brothers want them. They are nothing but trouble wherever they go.
+++
From the River to the Sea…Israel Will Be Free
Annexation of both Gaza and the Territories will provide
us with a secure
homeland from the river to the sea; the sooner we
embrace this concept, the
sooner our future, with G-D’s help, will be assured. Op-ed.
By Jonathan Pollard
(March 5, 2024) Ambassador David Friedman should be praised for his principled advocacy of Israeli sovereignty over the Territories. His courage to publicly defend our G-d given right to these Lands is truly a breath of diplomatic “fresh air.” However, as constructive as Ambassador Friedman’s idea seems to be, it simply won’t work. Why do I say this? Because the “genie” of Palestinian statehood from “the river to the sea” is out of the bottle and no amount of good faith negotiations or even unilateral moves on our part is going to put it back into the poison-filled bottle from which it emerged.
We all know that decades of Palestinian Authority (PA) brainwashing of their citizens has created an expectation of independence based on the destruction of Israel. And we’d be fooling ourselves to think that the so-called “Palestinians” can somehow be reasoned with to accept something less than full statehood, even if it involved a capital in East Jerusalem, the forced removal of 500,000 Israelis from the Territories and the return of millions of fake refugees to Israel proper.
This means that any deal arranged with the PA for something less than a sovereign state covering the entire Land of Israel, will simply be seen as just one more step on the road to Israel’s eventual disappearance. The bottom line, then, is that the Palestinians will not accept anything less than the total destruction of Israel. And this is not my conclusion. All the scientific polling of the Palestinians indicates that this is the case. So, even in the event that Ambassador Friedman’s idea were to be implemented, our war with the Palestinians will continue. And no amount of material improvements to their lives is going to change the minds of the Palestinians. They’ve tasted Jewish blood and they want more - much more.
Of course, part of their belligerency is the result of our own inexplicable refusal to take rightful possession of our sacred homeland. Indeed, the more time passes, the more the Palestinians and their international allies believe that the Land actually belongs exclusively to them and that WE are the illegal occupiers who must be expelled. Certainly, the disgraceful refusal of both our military and political leaders to decisively stamp out Arab violence in the Territories has only convinced them that terror is a winning card. I mean, we can’t even bring ourselves to hold the PA accountable for their “pay for slay” policy, which subsidizes the murder of Jews! How pathetic is that?
This is why I believe that nothing short of the wholesale transfer of the Palestinians to Jordan is going to provide us with a rational solution to the “Palestinian problem.” And contrary to what certain leftist pundits believe, population transfers have occurred many times in history. Recent examples of this include the expulsion of 11 million ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe at the end of World War 2, and the deportation of over 700,000 Jews from Arab lands in the wake of Israel’s successful War of Independence. And if you look at the alternatives that may have befallen these displaced peoples, their transfer to welcoming countries was actually the most humane outcome that could have occurred.
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This was sent to me by a friend and fellow memo reader who asked me to post. I would be happy to post an op ed supporting the project if any memo reader wants to send one to me.
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Would love you to send this to anyone you know that might be on the fence.
WHY I AM VOTING AGAINST THE GRAND
HARBOR PROPOSAL
The reasons are simple: You don’t sell 90 club memberships (two memberships for the first two owners of the 45 lots) to a competitor which is literally down the street. The memberships give Grand Harbor a significant marketing advantage it would not otherwise have, to the detriment of The Landings.
How important is the club membership to Grand Harbor? The developer, according to a chart contained in the 2/27 edition of the club’s daily news, is going to pay between 22% to 33% of the development’s profit to secure this amenity. Consider the following: There is a video accessible on YouTube by a realtor with Berkshire Hathaway dated May 23, 2023. The video is entitled The Landings or Grand Harbor: which is right for you? In the video, the realtor states that buyers will have access to the same level of membership as anyone in The Landings has with respect to the club. He stated that a prospective buyer should definitely not let be a point to stop him or her fromconsidering Grand Harbor. Fast forward to today; the proposal will make this a reality.
I am also concerned that the proposal reflects a change in the relationships in our community among TLA, the club, and the Landings Company. Throughout the process which led to this proposal, the club’s s emphasis has been what is good for the club-money and members- without regard for the impact on the community. The club did not consult with or advise TLA of the proposal until after the negotiations with Grand Harbor had been concluded. I was told that Steven said the reason was because it was a club matter. I hope what I was told is incorrect because it marks a significant departure in how the club and TLA have interacted over the years. This is not how a “partner” is supposed to act.
Grand Harbor first came on my radar at the TLA monthly meeting in October of 2022. I attended that meeting as an ex offcio member. A board member asked then clubPresident Mike Barber about non-property owner’s membership and specially the video on YouTube dealing with Grand Harbor... Mike indicated that the club had decided to raise the number of non-property owner members to two hundred and that the club viewed Grand Harbor a s good opportunity to gain additional members. He did not answer the question of whether such membership was aspirational or a fact.
Mike made two other comments at the meeting which caught my attention. He told about a conversation he had at a club golf event with a man who did not find the housein The Landings but bought a condo in Thunderbolt. Mike said the man was able to join the club and that this was a good for the club but not so good for TLA. He also said that the club, TLA, and the company need to be in lock step and partnership and working closely together.(8:43) The concept of “good for the club; not good for TLA” is a theme that is the hallmark of the Grand Harbor proposal.
The difference in the way the club has handled the Grand Harbor proposal is marked by the absence of working together or the lock step approach with TLA referred to by Mike Barber. From the initial letter from the developer to the club to the club’s materialsabout the benefits of the proposal, this had been no mention, much less discussion of our community or the impact on it, In the December 15, 2023 club slide deck, the developer indicates he wants to make a proposal beneficial “to both our residents and The Landings Club members.” (Slide 289) In a discussion of the benefits of the proposal on slide 292, the club listed seven bullet points; none addressed The Landings. Why? Did the club really think this proposal would not impact the community or be a matter of concern to TLA? Did the club really believe that this was a matter for it alone? Whatever the reason, it is a departure from how our community has worked in the past.
In the Club’s Grand Harbor FAQs, the club poses the question of what will happen if the proposal is not approved. The answer states that the club suspects many of the new owners will be Tuesday, March 05, 2024embers anyway and the club will not get the $1 million dollars. I would add that Grand Harbor will not gain the opportunity for club membership that makes it more competitive with The Landings.
As to the money, I assume the club will take some consolation with knowing that the overpayment on the Marshwood et al. assessment which it has calculated as being $3 million dollars will continue to come in over the next few years.. The club has reported that it received $450,000 last year and will be receiving the remaining $2+ million .
Branigar established The Landings as a residential community which offered amenities. You bought a house and if you wanted, you could join the club. Mike Barber aptly described how the club and TLA should be in: partnership and working closely together. That did not happen here. The slides in the December side deck that address Grand Harbor have the caption Grand Harbor: a win-win opportunity. It is missing a win for our community-appropriately so because it is not a win. No one segment of our community is more important than any other; there is a balance. Here there was no balance.
John Holmquist
March 5, 2024
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