RUTHFULLY YOURS

Mark Steyn is no stranger to apocalyptic doom, having written two best-selling books on societal dissipation and collapse, America Alone and After America.

But in addition to doom on a macro level, as the Washington Post has dubbed him, Mark is also the “world’s wittiest obit writer,” as exemplified by his anthology of obituaries, Mark Steyn’s Passing Parade, newly updated and available on dead tree format (appropriately enough), and finally for the Kindle as well.

Featuring obituaries of figures ranging from Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, all the way to show business personalities as diverse as Bob Hope, Tupac Shakur, Evel Knievel, James Doohan, and Michael Jackson, the Passing Parade is a brilliant time capsule of popular and political culture at the dawn of the 21st century.

During our 35 minute long interview, Mark will discuss:

● How his career as an obituarist began.
● The secret Tupac Shakur, Evel Knievel, Wayne Newton connection — revealed!
● How England’s decline in the 1970s was a preview of America in the Obama years.
● How Margaret Thatcher returned foreign policy respectability to England — even without hashtags.
● How did a four-decade old Bob Hope joke lead to Mark’s parting of the ways with National Review?
● What’s the status of the legal imbroglio involving Mark and Michael Mann?

China and Russia evidently have concluded a 30-year gas deal which shifts the balance of Russian hydrocarbon exports eastwards, but that’s not the thing to focus on. Pravda reports:

The central themes of the talks between the two leaders will be two projects in the field of aviation – the creation of a joint wide-body long-haul aircraft and the production of Mi-26 heavy helicopter in China, the Kommersant reports.

Russia, entering into such cooperation with China, indicates that it is ready to open access to Russian aircraft technologies, despite the fact that China previously resorted to building unlicensed copies of well-known Russian aircraft.

Energy is important, but military and aerospace technology may be even more important. As the Russian newspaper observes, Russia had restricted exports of its best equipment to China because of intellectual property violations. Two weeks ago Putin approved sale of Russia’s new S400 air defense system to China; this reportedly will give China air cover over the whole of Taiwan, among other things.

Russia always has had first-rate designers, but its production capacities never matched the ideas. Merge Russian designs with Chinese engineering, and the likelihood that the Sino-Russian combination might challenge US technological superiority is high. It’s not surprising that Russia responded to US sanctions by cutting off exports of the rocket engines on which the US depends to launch spy satellites. Bloomberg reports that it will take the US six years to build replacement capacity.

Meanwhile, reports the South China Morning Post,

China and Russia started a week-long naval exercise in the politically sensitive East China Sea yesterday.

If an evangelical group that brings Christians to Israel wishes to advance peace, it should stop engaging “experts” who demonize both Jews and the Jewish state.

Tricia Aven works as a Senior Research Analyst for CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. She has a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California, and a Masters in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

The Telos Group works to offer a voice that is “genuinely pro-Israeli, pro-Palestinian, pro-American, and pro-peace, all at the same time.” These are admirable goals, and it is the Telos Group’s self-defined mission to strengthen the capacity of American Evangelicals “to help positively transform the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” To this end, Telos provides many services, such as all-expenses paid pilgrimages to Israel, where they select speakers to address tour participants.

We can all agree that this is a conflict crying out for positive transformation. But the Telos Group can better achieve such a transformation if it pays more attention to the speakers they invite to speak on these pilgrimages. Telos should not get so caught up in the obvious need for work on this issue that it neglects to check the credentials of the people with whom they work.

For instance, Telos pilgrimage participants meet Rev. Mitri Raheb, the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem. Speaking at the “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference in Bethlehem in 2010, Raheb offered a racial theory to support his belief that Jews have no connection to the land of Israel:

Israel represents Rome of the Bible, not the people of the land. And this is not only because I’m a Palestinian. I’m sure if we were to do a DNA test between David, who was a Bethlehemite, and Jesus, born in Bethlehem, and Mitri, born just across the street from where Jesus was born, I’m sure the DNA will show that there is a trace. While, if you put King David, Jesus and Netanyahu, you will get nothing, because Netanyahu comes from an East European tribe who converted to Judaism in the Middle Ages.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/15035#.U31cA165fwI

Op-Ed: Israel, the Cornerstone of the Western World

Is Israel the cause of instability in the Middle East? Is Israel not worth the $3 billion that the US gives it every year? Or, is Israel the cause of stability in the Middle East, and the West’s first, and last, line of defense against an Iranian/Islamic tidal wave which would smash into Southern Europe?

Look at any simple country/population map of the Middle East. In the upper-left-hand corner is my personal dividing line between the West/Greek versus the East/Islamic: The Blue-Seam-Line

Greece is just to the left of, or west of, the Blue-Seam-Line. Greece has a total of 11 Million Christians. East of, or right of, the Blue Seam-Line there are 370 million Muslims. This excludes the 660 million Muslims in the countries of Pakistan-180m, Nigeria-75m, Indonesia-205m, India-180m.

Israel- is the only non-Muslim Western Bulwark country in between, 11m Christian Greeks in Greece, to the west and 370m Muslims who control 65% of the world’s oil reserves. That does not include Cyprus, with 1 Million Christians, an enclave without an army or navy to speak of. And, to boot, Cyprus isn’t a NATO country. (As if being a NATO country means anything anymore.)

People who claim “Israel is the cause of Middle East instability” don’t just claim that Israel is the “core of instability since 1967;” they say “Israel has been
Would you rather have 7 million resourceful Israelis deal with the 1.6m Palestinian Arabs in the ‘West Bank’ as best as the Israelis reasonably see fit?
the cause of instability since 1948.” Which is just “polite,” Jew-hating, Israel-hating code for No-Israel-at-all!

Now, we are not talking about an Israel with, or without Judea and Samaria, more commonly known as ‘The West Bank.’ No, understand this, they are talking about No-Israel-at-all!!

ARKANSAS 2014
Filing Deadline (Party & Write-In Candidates): March 1, 2014
Primary: May 20, 2014

To see the actual voting records of all incumbents on other issues such as Foreign Policy, Second Amendment Issues, Homeland Security, and other issues as well as their rankings by special interest groups please use the links followed by two stars (**).

U.S. SENATE
Senator John Boozman (R ) Next Election in 2016.

Senator Mark Pryor (D ) Incumbent
http://pryorforsenate.com/
http://www.pryor.senate.gov/public/
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/mark_pryor.htm **
Pryor serves on six Senate Committees, including the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. He was recently named Chairman of the Subcommittee on Agriculture Appropriations—a position that will allow him to prioritize funding for federal programs that benefit Arkansas farmers, producers, and rural communities, and keep Arkansas’s agricultural sector strong.
Pryor also serves on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee; the Senate Rules Committee; and the Senate Ethics Committee.
ISSUES

ECONOMY/JOBS/ENVIRONMENT
http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/96974/coalition-including-mark-pryor-backs-keystone-xl-oil-pipeline
BACKS KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE

HEALTHCARE
http://americarising.tumblr.com/post/57610782446/mark-pryor-says-obamacare-has-been-amazing-success
Mark Pryor Says ObamaCare Has Been Amazing Success Story So Far
Continuing his full embrace of ObamaCare for 2014, Mark Pryor called ObamaCare an “amazing success story so far”:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/01/03/politicos_john_harris_obama_and_obamacare_dragging_down_mark_pryor.html

IMMIGRATION
http://immigrationstance.diggersrealm.com/ar/senator_mark_pryors_record_on_immigration_reform_and_illegal_aliens.html
Senator Mark Pryor has voted in favor of giving illegal aliens further rewards and other incentives to come such as in-state tuition, educational benefits, welfare and health care services.

Rep. Tom Cotton (R) Challenger
Presently Rep. district 4, Attorney, Afghan War Veteran
http://cotton.house.gov/
http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Tom_Cotton.htm **
ISSUES

DEFENSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY:
http://cotton.house.gov/issues/defense-and-national-security
I volunteered to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I believe those wars are just and necessary. As a veteran, I want to bring our troops home as much as anyone, but I want to bring them home victoriously. I don’t believe in exit strategies; I believe in victory strategies. In Congress, I will stand up to President Obama, whose short-sighted and politically motivated decisions threaten the lives and money that America has invested in these wars.I strongly support the many critical fronts in our global war against Islamic terrorists. We must continue to track and monitor our enemies through terrorist-surveillance programs. We should target these terrorists aggressively through the use of drone technology wherever possible. We should employ our special-operations forces and intelligence professionals where feasible. When we capture terrorists, they should go to Guantanamo Bay for vigorous interrogation—not to a civilian court in America
ECONOMY/JOBS/ENVIRONMENT
http://cotton.house.gov/issues/energy
We must open federal lands and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to more exploration and production. The oil-and-gas reserves in the Gulf of Mexico, the Arctic Ocean, and federal public lands in the West and Alaska are a tremendous untapped source of economic growth. Greater exploration and production will increase the reliability of our supplies and reduce prices, create high-paying jobs that can’t be sent overseas, and reduce the deficit through higher lease and royalty payments. In Congress, I will work not only to open these lands and the OCS, but also to ensure that regulators act on drilling and production permits in a timely, responsible manner.I strongly oppose all forms of a “cap and trade” schemes, which are nothing more than a massive new tax on energy I will fight tirelessly against cap and trade, both in Congress and against the EPA’s abusive use of the Clean Air Act to implement cap and trade unilaterally.

HEALTHCARE
http://cotton.house.gov/issues/health-issues
President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, is a job-killer, a health-care disaster, and an assault on liberty. I will fight to repeal and replace ObamaCare with free-market reforms that empower patients and doctors to make health-care decisions..I will also help states to reform the medical-malpractice system to protect our doctors and serve our patients.
ObamaCare must be repealed entirely. If that does not happen, it must be repealed piece-by-piece. And if that fails, it must be defunded.

U.S.CONGRESS
District 1

Rick Crawford (R) Incumbent

http://crawford.house.gov/
http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Rick_Crawford.htm **
http://crawford.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=42749
Rated -3 by AAI, indicating a anti-Arab anti-Palestine voting record. (May 2012)

ISSUES

ECONOMY/JOBS/ENVIRONMENT
In order to get our country back on track, we must create certainty for businesses by reducing the regulatory burden and permanently lowering taxes. Moreover, I support efforts to overhaul the current tax system by broadening the tax base and lowering the corporate tax rate. These measures would have immediate and long-term effects by spurring job growth and making America more internationally competitive. One of my first acts as a Member of Congress was to introduce legislation that eliminates the 1099 paperwork requirement included in ObamaCare. This provides immediate relief to small businesses allowing them to redirect resources and focus on job creation. I also co-sponsored legislation that permanently extends the Bush tax cuts and repeals the estate tax.
As a Member of the House Committee on Agriculture, I am responsible for writing policies that support our farmers and advance the interests of American agriculture. Unfortunately, the current Administration has put a squeeze on our farmers with excessive regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). I have worked with my colleagues on oversight and will continue to do everything within my power to scale back the EPA’s overreach. I have been particularly vocal on the House floor and in Committee about the EPA’s proposal to regulate farm dust.
Supports construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline without limiting amendments.

HEALTHCARE
We must ensure that the quality of health care afforded to our citizens remains the best in the world. Doctors and patients should make decisions, not Washington bureaucrats.. My first act as a new Member of Congress was to introduce H.R. 2, the Repeal the Job Killing Health Care Act.

Jackie McPherson (D) Challenger
http://www.jackieforarkansas.com/

District 2

Tim Griffin (R) Retiring in 2014 no Incumbent
http://griffin.house.gov/

French Hill (R ) Challenger
http://www.electfrench.com/
http://talkbusiness.net/2013/10/banker-french-hill-to-run-for-congress/
“I’m running for Congress because we need more business leaders in Congress – not more career politicians. I grew up in the Second District and live and work here today,” said Hill. “Everyday at my business my priorities are helping Arkansas’s entrepreneurs start and grow their own businesses and encouraging families to save and invest. I know first hand the challenges businesses and families in Arkansas face, and in Congress, I will fight every day for policies that spur economic growth and job creation. I will demand greater accountability at every level of the federal government and do away with job-killing policies like ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank. Representing the Second District in Congress would be an honor, and I look forward to working hard to earn the trust and support of Arkansans in the months ahead.”
Hill is a former George H.W. Bush administration official having served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury.

ISSUES
HEALTHCARE
Obamacare is more than just a malfunctioning website—it is a $2.2 trillion mistake. Big government, “one size fits all” solutions simply do not work in our large, complex country. This law is harming Americans with fewer choices, higher healthcare costs and countless tax increases. It is also chipping away at the physician/patient relationship. We need to repeal and replace it with reforms that lower healthcare costs for all Arkansans. We need to reject the ever-expanding culture of dependency and encourage our able-bodied citizens to pursue lives of virtue, hard work, and civic service.
We must also embrace reforms that reward quality healthcare, encourage healthy living, and minimize waste through patient choice, information, transparent pricing, and healthcare ownership. We need a private insurance market that allows for flexibility, portability, and choice. We must reform Medicaid so that governors have flexibility to control state budgets and manage high-impact patients who drive up costs for local providers and federal/state officials. We also need medical malpractice reform.
Our healthcare system faces some serious problems. But, we need targeted, surgical, carefully considered reforms that acknowledge the complexity of our healthcare system.
JOBS, TAXES AND ECONOMY
Our economy remains adrift, wages are flat, Obamacare is not working, and businesses face so much uncertainty. Americans have little faith in Washington. Sadly, opportunities are slipping away for future generations because of anti-business regulations and job-killing policies. The current administration has only made things worse.
We must demand accountability and simplicity at every level of the federal government. That starts by repealing the endless regulations, mandates and taxes that saddle Arkansas small businesses. We have a federal tax code that is madly complex. We need a simple, clear, fairer tax code. Manufacturers need certainty and relief so they can to grow, expand, and add jobs.
In short, we must completely overhaul the federal government’s wet blanket that is holding our nation back. Hardworking Americans and entrepreneurs need an ally—not an enemy—in Washington.
Washington is out of control and career politicians are bankrupting our country. The federal government needs to quit trying to do everything and instead, shift power back to state and local governments. The federal government is too big and spends too much.
The federal government must reform entitlements, cut low-priority spending, and stop performing functions best left to state and local governments or the private sector. We need a cultural change in which the federal government is a smaller, less significant, and much less expensive and intrusive part of everyone’s lives. We must enact a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and a line-item presidential veto power that could pass constitutional muster. These types of reforms are a necessary antidote to Congress’s failures to exercise self-control.

Patrick Henry Hayes (D ) Challenger
Army Veteran, Attorney, Former Mayor of North Little Rock
http://www.patrickhenryhays.com/
ISSUES

JOBS AND ECONOMY
As Mayor of North Little Rock, Patrick Henry Hays cut wasteful spending and used the savings to grow the economy and create jobs. Hays championed the construction of Verizon Arena, Dickey-Stephens Ballpark, and attracted Caterpillar’s new factory to North Little Rock – creating hundreds of local jobs. And by revitalizing downtown Argenta, enhancing Burns Park, and making a better quality of life for the people of his city, Mayor Hays was able to attract business and tourism that helped keep the local economy afloat, even during the Great Recession.
In Congress, Patrick Henry Hays will take the same approach. He will cut wasteful spending, eliminate burdensome and outdated regulations, keep higher education affordable, and invest in the things that create jobs – like public and technical schools and high-tech research.
Cutting Federal Spending
The skyrocketing national debt is unacceptable. Washington needs to learn how to balance its budget the same way we do. As Mayor of North Little Rock, Patrick Henry Hays balanced 24 city budgets, slashed the city’s debt, and cut wasteful spending. That’s how Hays transformed North Little Rock into an engine of economic growth.
Patrick Henry Hays will take the same approach in Congress – working with Democrats and Republicans to cut spending, reduce our government’s growing debt, save taxpayer dollars, and help businesses create jobs.
NATIONAL SECURITY
The United States government’s first and foremost responsibility is to keep Americans safe from foreign and domestic threats. In Congress, Patrick Henry Hays will keep our military strong, invest in our capacity to fight terrorism at home and abroad, and encourage investment in renewable energy sources that will make our country energy independent.
GUN RIGHTS
As a gun owner himself and a member of the NRA, Patrick Henry Hays understands that gun ownership is an important part of Arkansas tradition – and the right to bear arms is guaranteed by our Constitution. In Congress, Hays will oppose any law, including an assault weapons ban, that would take guns away from law-abiding citizens. But as a Mayor, Hays understands that we need background checks on commercial gun sales – to help keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.
ENERGY
Energy Independence is essential to America’s national security, and the key to making energy more affordable for families in Arkansas. Patrick Henry Hays supports a do-it-all approach: we need to invest in renewable energy like wind, solar and biofuels, while also taking full advantage of our abundant domestic resources like oil and natural gas. That’s why Hays strongly supports the completion of the Keystone pipeline.

District 3

Steve Womack (R) Incumbent
http://womack.house.gov/
http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Steve_Womack.htm **
http://womack.house.gov/issues/
Rated -4 by AAI, indicating a anti-Arab anti-Palestine voting record. (May 2012)

ISSUES
ECONOMY/JOBS/ENVIRONMENT
Energy independence is a National Security issue and we must support and promote domestic energy exploration and production. Additionally, we must continue to work hard to develop new forms of “cleaner and greener” energy that will carry us into the next century. I am committed to reducing our dependence on foreign oil. I will continue to support policies to remove barriers to domestic energy production and stop harmful regulations from driving up energy costs .Supported construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline without limiting amendments.

HEALTHCARE
I will work to ensure health care is affordable and portable but we must address the fiasco known OBAMAcare. I will demand that Tort reform is put at the forefront of the discussion – it must be fixed to reduce costly defensive medical practices. We do not need Government run health care in this country. I will lead the way to reach a bipartisan approach that benefits ALL Americans.

IMMIGRATION
Prior to any discussion about immigration reform, I will demand that our borders are secure. I believe that we can secure our borders within a short time period – but Congress must have the will to push this issue. I will lead a broad bi-partisan fight to ensure we have a person in charge that is competent and committed to get the job done. We must fix this issue with compassion and common sense – but I not in favor of Amnesty – in fact I am on record against it.

DEFENSE:
As a 30-year veteran of the United States Army National Guard, I understand the importance of ensuring our nation is protected from those who want to harm us.
No Democratic Party Challenger

District 4

Tom Cotton (R )- Is leaving Congress to run for Senate No Incumbent
Bruce Westerman(R) Challenger
State House Majority Leader, Ex-Fountain Lake School Board Pres. & Agricultural Engineerand member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, representing District 22. He was first elected to the chamber in 2010.
http://www.brucewesterman.com/
I am asking for your vote and support to continue my fight in Washington, where an unfair Obama administration governs from the top-down, picking winners and losers. .

James Lee Witt (D ) Challenger
http://www.jamesleeforcongress.com/
James Lee served 10 years as County Judge until he was appointed Director of Arkansas Office of Emergency Services and managed the state’s response to disasters. Based on his performance, President Clinton nominated James Lee to be the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). His nomination won unanimous support in the United States Senate.
At FEMA, James Lee was the best kind of leader: a common sense guy who would listen to everyone. In just a short time, he transformed FEMA from a failing agency to what was widely recognized as the most successful agency in government. He accomplished this unprecedented turnaround by putting performance and people ahead of politics.
Time Magazine’s special segment on James Lee called him the “Master of Disaster.” Democrats and Republicans alike praised him for his leadership and FEMA’s performance, as did the state and local officials where FEMA worked. As Director, Witt oversaw 379 major disasters, including some of the most devastating disasters of all time. These included the Oklahoma City bombing, the Great Midwest Flood, horrendous tornadoes, numerous wildfires and hurricanes, and Northridge, the most destructive recent earthquake in the country. Witt managed a total of 710 disaster declarations, 65 emergency declarations and 266 fire suppression authorizations.
After FEMA, James Lee opened James Lee Witt Associates, a company that helps governments and corporations throughout the world recover from disasters and deal with other crises.

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Humberto Fontova, the author of three critically-acclaimed and internationally-published books on the Cuban Revolution. He was born in Havana, Cuba in 1954 and escaped from Castro’s communist regime in 1961 with his family. His father remained briefly in Cuba as a political prisoner while Humberto and his family were accepted as political refugees in the USA. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of New Orleans and a Masters Degree in Latin American Studies from Tulane University. Humberto has become FoxNews’ “go-to-guy” on Cuban matters and has been a regular Frontpage Magazine contributor for almost a decade. He is the author of the new book, The Longest Romance: The Mainstream Media and Fidel Castro.

FP: Welcome, amigo.

Fontova: Great to be here, Jamie. Thanks for the invite.

FP: Let’s begin with what inspired you to write this book.

Fontova: I’m gritting my teeth as I write this, because I normally detest the term “consciousness-raising,” —but I simply can’t avoid it here. That’s precisely what I’m attempting with this book, as I have with my previous ones on the so-called Cuban Revolution. Few events in modern history are as misunderstood. Few have been as effectively propagandized. Among historical figures, Fidel Castro wins, hands down, as the most persistently effective liar of modern times. Castro’s colorful cachet as worldwide icon of anti-Americanism and as pioneering beatnik allows his record as a warmonger, racist/Stalinist and the godfather of modern terrorism to be forgiven, ignored and falsified. The Longest Romance exposes this record, the abettors and the falsifiers.

FP: So what story does The Longest Romance tell and how is it different from other books on the subject?

Holocaust-Denial Assignments for American Children — on The Glazov Gang

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/frontpagemag-com/holocaust-denial-assignments-for-american-children-on-the-glazov-gang/print/

This week’s Glazov Gang was joined by superstars Basil Hoffman, a Hollywood actor (“Rio, I Love You”), Ann-Marie Murrell, the National Director of PolitiChicks.tv and Ernie White, a Civil Rights Activist.

The Gang discussed Holocaust-Denial Assignments for American Children, analyzing how Stealth jihad and Jew-hate have now entered our public schools (starting at the 20:30 mark).

The discussion occurred with the context of The Cancer of Common Core, in which the guests discussed how Islam is a big investor in the Left’s new educational concept, how Mao’s Cultural Revolution has now reached America’s public schools, how individualism is being crushed in the new “raising of standards,” and much, much more:

…We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies, we want that we will be able to live in an entirely different environment of relations with our enemies.

Those words were spoken by Ehud Olmert in a speech to the dovish, American Jewish, Israel Policy Forum in June 2005. At that time Olmert was Israel’s deputy prime minister. Less than a year later, in April 2006, he became prime minister.

The words shocked many at the time; they sounded morally and intellectually corrupt. The Second Intifada, a savage five-year Palestinian terror war waged mostly against Israeli civilians, was then still winding down—thanks only to the courageous fighting of the Israeli security forces. To intimate that Israel was exhausted, and only looking to get chummy with “enemies” of murderous ilk, sounded like stunning, cavalier cynicism.

Olmert was prime minister from April 2006 to March 2009. Last week a Tel Aviv District Court judge, David Rozen, sentenced him to six years in prison and a million-shekel ($290,000) fine for taking bribes as part of a massive real estate scandal, both while Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003 and subsequently when he was a cabinet minister.

Judge Rozen censured Olmert with particularly harsh words:

A public official who accepts bribes, an individual who abuses his power to gain illicit benefits for his own gain, is no better than a traitor. An individual who offers bribes is corrupt and his actions corrupt others. Those who accept bribes evoke nothing but disdain, as they antagonize the public and undermine state institutions.

Some in Israel—generally those who still share the dovish outlook that Olmert adopted—see the sentence as excessive and put hopes in Olmert and his lawyers’ planned appeal to the Supreme Court. Others note that Olmert, going back to when he was mayor, was known to be a focal point of corruption in Israel and see the sentence as justice finally catching up with him.

Eli Hazan, a commentator for the right-of-center daily Israel Hayom, notes that Olmert as mayor

left behind enormous debts, failing municipal services, a mass exodus…from the city…. Ahead of the 2006…election, many Jerusalemites tried to raise the question of Olmert’s conduct in the national media…. The sentence given to Olmert on Tuesday provided Jerusalem residents with closure.… Olmert learned that everyone is equal before the law. This is how things work in a properly run country.

Last year Obama delivered his own “Mission Accomplished” speech at the National Defense University. Its broad theme was that the War on Terror was over; it was time to shut down Guantanamo Bay and stand down from a war footing.

Obama claimed credit for putting “the core of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan” on the “path to defeat” with his disastrous Afghan strategy which cost 1,600 American lives while letting the Taliban take over the country. He did not acknowledge that the so-called core Al Qaeda had stopped being relevant even before he was elected.

1,600 Americans died chasing a political slogan that existed only in the heads of his speechwriters.

In 2009, the CIA determined that there were at most 100 Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Next year his own CIA director admitted that there were at most 50-100 Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

That same year 499 Americans were killed in Afghanistan.

Obama had declared victory against an enemy that the United States wasn’t fighting while losing a war to an enemy that the United States was fighting.

Meanwhile his own people were telling him that Al Qaeda had not been defeated.

National Intelligence Director James Clapper said, in response to a question about whether Al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, “No. It is morphing and franchising itself, not only here but in other areas of the world.”

“They are not,” Defense Intelligence Agency Director Michael Flynn added.

These two men were not telling the Senate Armed Services committee anything they had not already told Obama. But their boss was choosing not to listen.

By narrowly defining Al Qaeda as a small number of leaders and fighters in pre-existing war zones in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, he and his White House staffers were making it easier to claim victory while ignoring the threat from expanding groups such as Boko Haram and Al Qaeda in Iraq and Syria.

Obama’s policy snapshot of Al Qaeda in which Osama bin Laden was still a menace and Al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan were the biggest threat to America was a decade out of date.

In his Mission Accomplished speech, Obama said that the core of Al Qaeda was no longer a threat.”They did not direct the attacks in Benghazi or Boston.”

Al Qaeda’s core might not have directed either attack, though it’s possible it did, but both attacks emerged from its strategy of building up local franchises and training lone wolf attackers over the internet.

What Obama was celebrating as proof of his victory over Al Qaeda actually reflected his failure to understand and prepare for Al Qaeda’s next move.

He was using the fact that Al Qaeda had outmaneuvered him twice, and carried out devastating attacks, as proof that he had defeated Al Qaeda and that we no longer had to worry about Al Qaeda.

In Beverly Hills on May 12, Robert Spencer spoke about his new book, “Arab Winter Comes to America: The Truth About The War We’re In,” at the Wednesday Morning Club’s monthly luncheon.

Spencer is the author of 13 books, the most notable of which are “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam” and “The Truth About Muhammad.” His new book, he said, describes how nobody who speaks out about the real goals of Islam is spared by either the liberal main-stream media or those on the political left who seem unable or, worse still, unwilling to define the destructive intentions which Islam has towards America and the West.

Paradoxically, said Spencer, these destructive intentions have been public knowledge for quite some time. In 2008, the Holy Land Foundation, a front group for the Muslim Brotherhood, was convicted of raising money for the terrorist group Hamas, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Muslim Brotherhood. Its leaders were given life sentences for funneling $12 million to Hamas. During the trial documents revealed a strategy paper that stated:

The Ikhwan (Arabic for Muslim Brotherhood) must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.

It went on to say that this process requires a “mastery of the art of ‘coalitions’, the art of ‘absorption’ and the principles of ‘cooperation’.”

In other words, the scheme is to ingratiate and insinuate themselves into our society by appearing to be in favor of pluralism, democratic values and common fellowship, all the time gaining trust and acceptance only to sucker punch us when the time is right. The Muslim Brotherhood is black with menace. Their hatred of America and the West is doctrinally inspired and is entirely due to the religious fanaticism which inspires Islamic supremacism.

In recent history, many Western leaders born and bred in the fear of the Soviet Union failed to see the resurgence of Islamic totalitarianism and the terror it always engenders. Somehow, they have been unable to identify the defining issue of our time and so imperil us all.