Displaying posts published in

February 2016

BOOKS Comments turned off

RUTHIE BLUM; CANADA’S PRIME MINISTER OUTDOES HIMSELF

By on February 24th, 2016

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion exhibited a real knack for the twofer on Friday, by going after both his political opposition and the Israeli government in one disingenuous swoop.

In perfect doublespeak, Dion managed to announce his (Liberal) party’s support for a Conservative motion condemning the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, while attacking it as an attempt to foment discord in parliament.

The motion to “condemn any and all attempts by Canadian organizations, groups or individuals” to engage in BDS — “the demonization and delegitimization” of Israel — was tabled by Tory MP Tony Clement.

“This is not a partisan issue,” he asserted, urging Liberals to “side with us on this motion. Send a strong message to our fellow Canadians and to freedom-lovers around the world.”

Tory MP David Sweet went even further, calling BDS “anti-Semitic.” Sweet also got up and commended the Liberals for joining in a bipartisan effort to combat it. But this was too much for Dion, who made sure to say that though the Liberals would support the motion, they had “reservations” about it, among them the impure and divisive motives of the Tories in pushing the bill forward.

“To me, this is further proof that the Conservatives have not learned from their mistakes and are still trying to divide Canadians on issues that should unite them,” he said.

Huh?

Continue reading →
WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Iran’s Hard-Line Elections By Lawrence J. Haas

By on February 24th, 2016

Henry Kissinger famously remarked some time ago that Iran must decide whether it wants to be “a nation or a cause.” For decades, U.S. presidents of both parties have been trying to coax Tehran toward the former and away from the latter.

Most recently, the U.S.-led global nuclear agreement with Iran – with its scores of billions in sanctions relief that President Obama hoped Iran would invest to improve the living standards of its people – was designed to convince Tehran to abandon its revolutionary ways and become a nation in good standing.

But if Tehran’s political crackdown before its upcoming Feb. 26 elections for the Assembly of Experts and Parliament is any indication, the Islamic Republic shows few signs of moderating its ideological impulses. Thus we should expect more of the revolutionary fervor that drives Iran’s efforts to destabilize Sunni regimes, impose its will on their successors and, in that way, advance its hegemonic ambitions.

All of that, in turn, presages no new day in U.S.-Iranian relations, as Obama and his top advisers hoped to create in inking the nuclear deal. Instead, it sets the stage for a still-larger challenge for the next president, with Tehran deploying the financial windfall from that deal to expand its military, advance its weaponry and strengthen its terrorist proxies.

Iran’s ruling class has long played a cat-and-mouse game with the nation’s limited democratic processes – promoting Iran’s democratic trappings to a naive Western audience that seeks its global integration while, behind the scenes, ensuring that no real democracy will unseat the clerics who run things.

Continue reading →
POLITICS Comments turned off

SYDNEY WILLIAMS: FREE STUFF

By on February 24th, 2016

“Free stuff” is an aphrodisiac; it is like honey to a bear – who can forget the image of Pooh stuck head-first into a tree, bees swarming about him. It was why Odysseus had his men lash him to the mast as they approached the island of the Sirens. It appeals to the emotions, not the intellect. Listening to Bernie Sanders speak after trouncing Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire last week, it was easy to be swept away with his promises of free stuff – healthcare and college – all with the illusion this would solve unfairness and inequality. No discussion of the cost or how it would be financed, other than to raise taxes on Wall Street moguls. No mention of the decline in cultural and moral habits, like marriage, religion and work habits, that accompanied the rise in entitlements. It is not just the words; it is the way they are said.

Those who are duped with promises of “free stuff” ignore the simple fact that everything has a cost. Mr. Sanders’ admirers are asked to reject the critical concept underlying our history, which is the opportunity to succeed. No government can guarantee individual success, but ours does provide equality of opportunity and equality before the law, without regard to class, race or religion. Our government was created to protect us from the threat of kings and oppressors. It was based on the notion that our rights are God, not man, given. The Constitution provided us the freedom to think, speak, assemble and pray as we like. It enacted laws that protect us and our property from unlawful imprisonment and seizure. It promised that we would be judged by juries of our peers. America’s democracy recognizes inherent differences in individuals, as well as culture and heritages – that we are (and always have been and always will be) a nation of immigrants tossed in a cauldron, but maintaining our individual identities. American culture was based on pluralism, not multiculturalism. We are individuals, not cattle to be placed in pens convenient for politicians focused on group solutions to group problems. We are meant to be unified, not divided. The American meaning of liberty was never based on the promise of equality of outcomes – something that can never be delivered.

Continue reading →
NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Sydney M. Williams:Financial Markets and Politics

By on February 24th, 2016

Financial markets are humbling. After spending forty-eight years working in the industry, one would think I would have learned some, if not many, of the answers. Not so. In my late teens, I met the president of a regional brokerage firm based in Boston. He told me that he had been in the business for several years and claimed he knew less each year. That is familiar territory. Financial markets are akin to discoveries about space. Just as boundaries to the latter keep expanding, complexities to the former become more ubiquitous. Just when we think we know the answer, something else gets added to the mix.

One ingredient this year is the campaign for President and the possible nominees. A recent Barron’s article spoke to the “Bernie and Donald factors.” They included a chart which contrasted the spike in their respective polls, beginning late last year, with a collapse in the S&P 500. Coincidence? I don’t know. Isolationism is troublesome to markets. While neither man campaigns as an isolationist, they both advocate policies that lead that way. Mr. Trump talks of imposing tariffs on goods imported from China. Senator Sanders recently stated: “Unfettered free trade has been a disaster for working Americans.” While the odds that either man will win the Presidency may not be high, it is impossible to avoid the fact that the popularity of both reflect the thinking of millions of Americans. Voters should not ignore the positive contributions that free trade and globalization have brought to man’s well being. To the extent the policies of Mr. Trump and Senator Sanders have economic consequences, they will be reflected in financial markets.

Continue reading →
BOOKS Comments turned off

Jewish Donors: Stop Funding Anti-Semitism – Divest From Universities Rachel Lefkowitz

By on February 24th, 2016

Paul Bronfman is a hero to the Jewish people. He gave York University an ultimatum: Take down the anti-semitic mural within 24 hours or else I withdraw all support. As the chairman of Pinewood Toronto Studios, he had been supplying thousands of dollars of film equipment, technical services, and know-how to York University’s Cinema and Media Arts Program. They refused to take down the mural. And he followed through with his threat. He pulled money, production equipment, seminars, open houses with students, learning labs and training programs – everything!

Mr. Bronfman’s action has attracted a lot of media coverage because it is big news. As a result, anti-semites everywhere have been crawling out of their holes. A hundred faculty members at York University have exposed themselves as Israel haters when they signed an open letter defending the now infamous anti-semitic mural and critizing Paul Bronfman for pulling funding over it. Even Rogers Waters of Pink Floyd fame, today mainly known for Jew hatred, has chimed in with his useless opinion. It doesn’t happen every day that a Jewish donor steps up to the plate. In fact, it has as far as I can recall, never happened…until now.

Despite the fact that universities across North America have become sewers of anti-semitism, rife with anti-semitic professors, anti-Israel demonstrations, and verbal and physical assault of Jewish students, Jewish donors have generally chosen the path of denial and continue their love affair with their chosen universities. Personally, I lose sleep when I know fellow Jews are harassed or attacked. But maybe that’s just me and my like-minded friends and cohorts. Apparently Jewish donors have no problem dishing out hundreds of millions of dollars to educational establishments that allows its Jewish students to be treated like garbage. They pretend that all is well and continue pouring big money into their alma matters – because after all, that campus building is simply not going to name itself.

Continue reading →
POLITICS Comments turned off

With GOP nomination looming, Trump slated to take witness stand in fraud trial Michael Isikoff

By on February 24th, 2016

Here’s a part of the political calendar that nobody in the Republican Party seems to have noticed: This spring, just as the GOP nomination battle enters its final phase, frontrunner Donald Trump could be forced to take time out for some unwanted personal business: He’s due to take the witness stand in a federal courtroom in San Diego, where he is being accused of running a financial fraud.

In court filings last Friday, lawyers for both sides in a long-running civil lawsuit over the now defunct Trump University named Trump on their witness lists. That makes it all but certain that the reality-show star and international businessman will be forced to be grilled under oath over allegations in the lawsuit that he engaged in deceptive trade practices and scammed thousands of students who enrolled in his “university” courses in response to promises he would make them rich in the real estate market.

Although the case has been winding its way through the courts for the past five years — and Trump has denied all wrongdoing — the final pretrial conference is now slated for May 6, according to the latest pleadings in the case. No trial date has been set, but the judge has indicated his interest in moving the case forward, the pleadings show.

“This is pretty amazing,” said Scott Reed, a veteran Republican Party consultant, about Trump’s upcoming due date in federal court. “Usually, you clean this stuff up before you run for president.”

Trump’s new lead lawyer in the case, Daniel Petrocelli, best known for representing one of the slain murder victims in a civil suit against O.J. Simpson, did not respond to emailed questions about Trump’s upcoming testimony, including how long he expects his client to be on the witness stand.

Continue reading →