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Trump, Dictatorship and Competing With An Illiberal Left Daniel Greenfield

Posted By on December 25th, 2015

A number of editorials have appeared in center-right outlets accusing Trump supporters of wanting a dictator.

Well obviously.

Politics is a competition. Everyone wants to win the game based on the rules of the game. And the current rules of the game are not Constitutional. The left wanted a dictator. Obama gave them one. He implemented laws, started wars and took on powers which were not only beyond his authority, but which were opposed by the majority of Americans and elected legislators in Congress.

And he won. He got away with it. And that made his way of doing things the new game.

The media and some Republicans sputter that Trump’s proposals couldn’t be carried out. Well of course they could be. If Trump were to run things the way that Obama has.

There are two responses to this.

The left deems this unacceptable because it has a double standard. There’s always some reason why its rulebreaking is okay, but why the rules must be applied to the right. Mocking the kids of presidential candidates is off limits… unless they’re Republicans. Ruling by Executive Order is tyranny… unless a progressive does it. Starting wars based on lies is wrong unless… etc.

Now that kind of hypocrisy is only to be expected from politicians. The trouble is that the left encompasses the media, much of the legal system, academia and a raft of other key network institutions that make it impossible to have any kind of honest discourse about the rule of law.

That means the game is rigged. There are two sets of rules. So why play by them?

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Christie: Clinton Should Suspend Campaign After ISIS Comments By Nicholas Ballasy

Posted By on December 25th, 2015

In a New Hampshire town hall meeting, Republican presidential candidate Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.) referred to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as “Secretary Happy Talk” and suggested she suspend campaigning over her recent ISIS comments.

“We had the woman who wants to succeed [Obama], who said in the debate here in New Hampshire Saturday night that as to ISIS we’re finally exactly where we want to be. Here’s what I suggest to Secretary Clinton: I suggest that she suspend campaigning, get on an airplane, fly to Paris and before Christmas meet with the families of the murdered victims in Paris and tell them we’re exactly where we want to be as to ISIS as they endure, not celebrate, endure Christmas this year without their loved ones. I want her to look them in the eye,” Christie said at a town hall meeting in New London, N.H.

“The fact is she is Secretary Happy Talk. That’s her new name, that’s all I am going to call her from now on is Secretary Happy Talk. The slogan for this administration should be, ‘do you believe me or your lying eyes?’” he added.

Christie also labeled Clinton a “hypocrite” due to her support for military intervention in Libya.

BOOKS Comments turned off

Abbas’ Belligerent “Christmas Message”by Rachel Ehrenfeld

Posted By on December 25th, 2015

In his “Christmas Message”, like Arafat before him, PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas portrayed Palestinian terrorists as victims of Israeli oppression and urged, “international intervention is “desperately needed to protect the Palestinians.”

How do you square this with the daily growing number of Palestinians attacking Israelis by stabbing, car ramming shooting and stoning?

David Bukay, professor of Middle East Studies at the University of Haifa, explains what’s behind Abbas’ deception: “The Muslim leadership and the useful idiots portray Muslims as peaceful, tolerant human beings, and non-Muslims as aggressors, imperialist-colonialist occupiers. Thus, all Muslims, even those who are potential victims must fight to defend themselves and retaliate against the Kuffar (non-believer), who always instigates war.

“These clearly contradictory characteristics of Arab-Islamic political culture mean that Muslims can viciously attack at every possible opportunity while at the very same time crying out they are victims of oppression and aggression. They can perpetuate obscene inhuman acts of violence, terrorize and intimidate while accusing the infidels of colonialism, apartheid, racism, and Islamophobia.”

BOOKS Comments turned off

DAVID GOLDMAN: WHY IS THE WORLD OBSESSED WITH THE ELECTIONS IN ISRAEL

Posted By on December 25th, 2015

JERUSALEM–The Election of Israel is in the news again, with the report of a Vatican Commissionthat affirms the eternal validity of God’s covenant with the Jewish people. The Western elite long ago dismissed the subject as superstition. The vast majority of American Jews, think Election is a Jewish folk-belief like dybbuks or the Golem. (By contrast, 70% of Israeli Jews believe that the Jews are God’s chosen people).

The Western elite wants people to act rationally and considers all supernatural claims an affront to rationality. The trouble is that people aren’t rational (neither is the Western elite, but that’s another story). We want to live forever or we don’t want to live at all. When we lose faith, we stop reproducing. There might be a stray philosopher here and there so convinced of the immortality of the spirit as to despite death itself, as Socrates claimed to do (although I have my doubts even about him). We can’t live forever, to be sure, but we can take part in a culture that links our ancestors and descendants in an immortal chain.

ANTI-SEMITISM, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

India’s Narendra Modi to Make First Visit to Pakistan for Chat With Nawaz Sharif The Indian prime minister plans to stop over in Lahore on his way back from an official visit to Afghanistan By Qasim Nauman And Saeed Shah

Posted By on December 25th, 2015

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Pakistan on Friday to meet his counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, the latest in a series of breakthroughs between the estranged nuclear-armed neighbors after years of tensions.

“Looking forward to meeting PM Nawaz Sharif in Lahore today afternoon, where I will drop by on my way back to Delhi,” said a post on Mr. Modi’s verified Twitter account.

A statement from Mr. Sharif’s office said he would receive Mr. Modi on his arrival in Lahore, the Pakistani leader’s hometown.
Mr. Modi also said on Twitter that he spoke to Mr. Sharif on Friday to wish him a happy birthday, which coincides with both Christmas and the birthday of Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The Indian prime minister is to make his stop in Pakistan on his way back from Afghanistan.

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U.S. Plans Mass Deportation of Illegal Central American Migrants Authorities face influx of migrants escaping violence in El Salvador and Honduras By Miriam Jordan see note

Posted By on December 25th, 2015

How disappointing to find such a glaring error in the WSJ….the definition of staunch is : steady, constant, trusty, hard-working, steadfast, redoubtable, unwavering, tireless The correct word should have been stanch which means to stop or restrict….Furthermore, it is the influx of Arab/Moslems that should be stanched ….the immigration policies are idiotic…..rsk
To staunch the flow of illegal migrants to the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security has been preparing a national operation to deport Central American families who have evaded removal orders, according to a government official.

Starting early next month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a DHS unit, plans to start rounding up hundreds of families that entered the U.S. illegally and who have ignored a final order to leave the country, said the official. Such an order is issued by a judge in immigration court.

The number of families showing up at the southwest border has spiked in recent months as gang-related violence grips El Salvador and Honduras. The region also has been plagued by drought.
Related

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Belgium Charges Ninth Person In Paris Attacks Investigation Police arrest Belgian national to face terror-related charges By Tom Fairless

Posted By on December 25th, 2015

BRUSSELS—Belgian authorities have charged a ninth person in connection with last month’s terrorist attacks in Paris, as they continue to hunt for a key suspect in the atrocity, the federal prosecutor’s office said Thursday.

Abdoullah C., a Belgian national, was arrested in Brussels on Tuesday and charged by an investigating judge with terrorist murders and participation in the activities of a terrorist organization, the prosecutor said.

The man, born in 1985, is suspected of having had “several contacts” with Hasna Ait Boulahcen, niece of the ringleader of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud. Those contacts allegedly took place between the attacks and a subsequent police shootout in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, in which both Mr. Abaaoud and his niece died, the prosecutor’s office said.

Belgian authorities will decide later today whether to extend Abdoullah C.’s detention.

The latest arrest was the result of a house raid close to the Brussels district of Molenbeek, where at least three of the alleged Paris attackers lived, said Eric Van der Sypt, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor.

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BOOKS FOR THE NEW YEAR

Posted By on December 24th, 2015

Notes from Old Lyme by Sydney Williams

This book is coming in February 2016. The author is an e-pal and friend and a wonderful essayist whose many columns have been posted in ruthfully yours. They appear on his own blog

http://swtotd.blogspot.com/, the latest is a lovely essay on “Christmas and Christianity.”

Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win Hardcover –byJocko Willink (Author), Leif Babin (Author)

I plan to read this book and post a review in January. It is the story of two combat proven U.S Navy SEAL officers, who led the most highly decorated special operations unit of the Iraq War. The book was sent to me by one of the authors Leif Babin with a lovely inscription. This will be a holiday treat for me….rsk

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

BOOKS: GENERAL TOPICS

Posted By on December 24th, 2015

Roosters of the Apocalypse: How the Junk Science of Global Warming is Bankrupting the Western World (New, Revised…Nov 25, 2013 by Rael Jean Isaac

I have long suspected that that common sense conservation has been coopted by the climate changelings whose entire agenda is an assault on industry and capitalism.
Many good writers have exposed this duplicity, but none as concisely as Rael Jean Isaac. In this book all the corruption, the hypocrisy and the faux science of the cult of global warming are laid bare. It is essential reading and should be distributed widely in the academies. rsk

The Road to Serfdom: Fiftieth Anniversary Edition by F. A. Hayek and Milton Friedman

The Road to Serfdom is an astonishing book. I had to remind myself that it was not written yesterday as it details the incompatibility of democracy and central government rule, as well as the ineluctable path from socialism to totalitarianism. planning. rsk

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

BOOKS: HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY

Posted By on December 24th, 2015

A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin

This is absolutely the very best book I have read on the subject of history and the Middle East. The alliances and deceptions and betrayals of history’s major players in the Middle East- Turkey, France, Great Britain, Germans, Arabs, Zionists are brilliantly cataloged. I could not put this book down- all 600 pages are a must read…. rsk

Churchill: A LifeOct 15, 1992 by Martin Gilbert

The late, and greatly lamented historian Martin Gilbert wrote a three volume biography of Churchill, and this book packs much into one volume on the life of one of history’s greatest statesmen-who for all his warts with respect to Palestine and the White Papers, was the greatest leader of World War II and the last century.Elegantly written and full of detail…rsk

Garibaldi: Hero of Italian Unification by Christopher Hibbert and Ross King

I once heard the late Menachem Begin state that his favorite statesman was Garibaldi-a fact that intrigued me enough to read this biography of Italy’s hero. Giuseppe Garibaldi was praised for his military genius, his courage, and his charisma. Known as the “Hero of Two Worlds,” Garibaldi’s military prowess extended to the Americas, where he played a major role in the Brazilian struggle for independence. During his fight for Italian unification Garibaldi personally led an army of local untrained rebels to victory in Palermo, Naples, and Sicily. If this bio is a tad too lavish in praise, the history of the unification of Italy is amazing. rsk