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December 2019

Right from wrong: Politics and indictments aside Whether Netanyahu’s political acumen and personal ambition enable him to survive the current storm seems to be questionable at the moment. Ruthie Blum

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Right-from-wrong-Politics-and-indictments-aside-610

Something uncanny is happening in Israel. Though plagued by an unprecedented political deadlock that is almost certain to guarantee a third round of Knesset elections in less than a year, the so-called “interim” government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is engaging in crucial high-level diplomacy and meeting serious military challenges without skipping a beat.

This is no small feat due to a number of factors, chief among them Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit’s announcement that he intends to indict Netanyahu on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. As if this didn’t make the incumbent PM’s job any harder than it already was, it coincided with the failure of Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz to form a coalition – following weeks of negotiations – and a decision within Netanyahu’s Likud Party to hold new leadership primaries.

In other words, Netanyahu has been forced to focus, simultaneously, on interrogations, internal politics and international policy. It is a rare statesman who can pull all that off with such apparent aplomb. But then, Netanyahu is sui generis – as even his fiercest critics grudgingly admit – which is why he has been in power longer than any of his predecessors, including the country’s first and previously most legendary leader, David Ben-Gurion.

OBAMA’S TREASON: EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT ROBERT SPENCER (2018)

https://www.israpundit.org/obamas-treason-even-worse-than-we-thought/

But Leftist Privilege will prevent him from ever being held accountable.

The Washington Free Beacon reported Wednesday that “the Obama administration skirted key U.S. sanctions to grant Iran access to billions in hard currency despite public assurances the administration was engaged in no such action, according to a new congressional investigation.”

And it gets even worse: “The investigation, published Wednesday by the House Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, further discloses secret efforts by top Obama administration officials to assure European countries they would receive a pass from U.S. sanctions if they engaged in business with Iran.”

This revelation comes after the news that came to light in February, that, according to Bill Gertz in the Washington Times, “the U.S. government has traced some of the $1.7 billion released to Iran by the Obama administration to Iranian-backed terrorists in the two years since the cash was transferred.”

There is a law that applies to this situation. U.S. Code 2381 says: “Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.”

In a sane political environment, Barack Obama would be tried for treason.

Inconvenient Murders By Bari Weiss — 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/opinion/politics/antisemitism-europe-corbyn.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

DPS Note:

It has got to be pretty bad and likely to get a lot worse if the NY Times is willing to publish an acknowledgment that some Muslims and lots of left wing politicians (here and abroad) hate Jews and aren’t shy about saying so.

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Two years ago, a 27-year-old man named Kobili Traoré walked into the Paris apartment of a 65-year-old kindergarten teacher named Sarah Halimi. Mr. Traoré beat Ms. Halimi and stabbed her. According to witnesses, he called her a demon and a dirty Jew. He shouted, “Allahu akbar,” then threw Ms. Halimi’s battered body out of her third-story apartment window.

This is what Mr. Traoré told prosecutors: “I felt persecuted. When I saw the Torah and a chandelier in her home I felt oppressed. I saw her face transforming.”

One would think that this would be an open-and-shut hate crime. It was the coldblooded murder of a woman in her own home for the sin of being a Jew. But French prosecutors decided to drop murder charges against Mr. Traoré because he … had smoked cannabis.

If France’s betrayal of Sarah Halimi is shocking to you, perhaps you haven’t been paying much attention to what by now can be described as a moral calamity sweeping the West of which her story is only the clearest example. A crisis, I hasten to add, that’s perhaps less known because it has been largely overlooked by the mainstream press.

Quantum Trends And The Internet of Things Chuck Brooks

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2019/12/05/quantum-trends-and-the-internet-of-things/#69fd80483eb0

As a new decade approaches, we are in a state of technological flux across many spectrums. One area to take note of is quantum computing. We are starting to evolve beyond classical computing into a new data era called quantum computing. It is envisioned that quantum computing (still in a development stage) will accelerate us into the future by impacting the landscape of artificial intelligence and data analytics. The quantum computing power and speed will help us solve some of the biggest and most complex challenges we face as humans.

Gartner describes quantum computing as: “[T]he use of atomic quantum states to effect computation. Data is held in qubits (quantum bits), which have the ability to hold all possible states simultaneously. Data held in qubits is affected by data held in other qubits, even when physically separated. This effect is known as entanglement.” In a simplified description, quantum computers use quantum bits or qubits instead of using binary traditional bits of ones and zeros for digital communications.

There is an additional “entanglement” relating to quantum, and that is its intersection with the Internet of Things (IoT). Loosely defined, the Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the general idea of things that are readable, recognizable, locatable, addressable, and/or controllable via the Internet. It encompasses devices, sensors, people, data, and machines and the interactions between them. Business Insider Intelligence forecasted that “by 2023, consumers, companies and governments will install 40 billion IoT devices globally.”

More than 100 tombstones desecrated with antisemitic content in France

https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Antisemitism/More-than-100-tombstones-desecrated-with-antisemitic-content-in-France-609792

DPS Note: 

Comme toujours, the French do a lot of tut-tutting but they never do anything substantive – except to find that every Jew attacker and killer in France (which most often means Muslim) is not brought to justice. I wonder if they’re just scared of the Muslims or if it’s just the usual French anti-Semitism. A combination I think. More and more French Jews know how to say “Let’s get the hell out of Dodge.” And they are doing it. And come to think of it, Tlaib, Omar, Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez (and their innumerable fans) would probably be just fine if it was that way in America. The morning line in Vegas is 8 to 5 that they’re the new face of the Democrat Party. One more generation and Katie bar the door for Jews in America. Yeah. I sound like a slightly tipsy alarmist. I sure hope I am. I don’t drink so tipsy I am not. But try being an overt Jew on most college campuses today. If you don’t know what I mean by that then alarmed you should be.
More than 100 tombstones were daubed with antisemitic text and imagery at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France.
The desecration was discovered Tuesday at the Jewish cemetery of Westhoffen near Strasbourg, the AFP news agency reported, as French lawmakers were scheduled to vote on a resolution about fighting antisemitism.

A spokesperson for the town’s municipality did not specify the nature of the text and images painted on the cemetery.

“I condemn very firmly the despicable antisemitic acts that have once again occurred the region and express my unreserved support of the Jewish community,” Jean-Luc Marx, the prefect of the Bas-Rhin region where Westhoffen is situated, said in a statement.

Another Opportunity to Miss an Opportunity? Michael Galak

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2019/12/another-opportunity-to-miss-an-opportunity/

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has declared that Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria will, for the US, no longer be regarded as illegal. This reversal of long-standing policy is no less than a change of paradigm. This declaration, however, does not change the US position on Judea’s and Samaria’s jurisdiction – it is for the parties to determine. 

This seemingly unexpected announcement in mid-November triggered a firestorm of condemnation, denunciations and threats around the globe, including from morally upright, ‘woke’ Australians. The shock and ensuing venom with which anti-Israeli mobs reacted cannot be overestimated. It ranged from hysterical proclamations of ‘Death of the peace process, irresponsible behavior and the breach of international law’ by the Palestinian Authority ‘moderates’, to traditionally blunt Iranian threats to annihilate the Jewish State, and to further barrages of the Gaza Strip jihadis’ rockets.

The supposedly pro-Western Jordanian Government’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi,was ‘concerned’ about ‘dangerous consequences’ and warned that “Israeli colonies in occupied Palestine ignore international law and prevent the possibility of conflict resolution by the creation of two states for two people.”

He did not explain under which international law Jordan has occupied Judea and Samaria for 20 years and then settled these areas with then Jordanian citizens. The paradoxical aspect of this hypocrisy is that he will claim that Jordan did not break any international law by moving citizens to disputed areas. He will be correct, because no law prohibits settling in a territory under no-one’s jurisdiction.

Judea and Samaria have always been the historical heartland of the Jewish people. They have maintained an unbroken record of connection to this land since Biblical times, some three thousand years ago. They have never formed part of any Arab state, which could possibly have legitimately claimed them – because there were no Arab states. International law, often cited as being broken by Israel, does not apply to areas under nobody’s jurisdiction, the legal status of these territories when Israel re-conquered them. 

This situation has an historical precedent – the Reconquista of  Spain. The Christian armies, after their loss of the Iberian Peninsula and after centuries of Moorish rule, defeated the  occupiers and retrieved their native land by force of arms.

Germany: All EU Members Must Take in Migrants by Soeren Kern

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15245/eu-migrants-relocation-quota

The continuing debate over migration is, at its core, about European federalism and the degree to which the European Union will be allowed to usurp decision-making powers from its 28 member states.

If everything goes according to plan, the draft legislation would be adopted by the European Parliament in the second half of 2020 when Germany holds the presidency of the EU. It would then be ratified by the European Council, made up of the leaders of the EU member states.

“We fundamentally reject illegal migration. We also reject allowing smuggling gangs to decide who will live in Europe.” — Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.

“The V4’s [Visegrád group: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia] position is clear. We are not willing to admit any illegal migrants into central Europe. The success and security of central Europe is thanks to our pursuit of a firm anti-migration policy, and this will endure…. Hungarians insist on our right to decide whom to allow into our country and with whom we wish to live.” — Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has unveiled a new plan to reform the European asylum system. A draft of the proposal leaked to the media shows that all member states of the European Union would be required to take in illegal migrants.

Countries in Central and Eastern Europe are opposed to mandatory relocations on the basis that decisions about the granting of residence permits should be kept at the national level. They have noted that by unilaterally imposing migrant quotas on EU member states, unelected bureaucrats in Brussels are seeking to force the democratically elected leaders of Europe to submit to their diktat.

Indeed, the continuing debate over migration is, at its core, about European federalism and the degree to which the European Union will be allowed to usurp decision-making powers from its 28 member states.

Blame Others, Not Trump, for NATO’s Divisions by Con Coughlin

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15244/nato-divisions

While getting NATO’s finances in order clearly remains a pressing priority for the Trump administration, the real divisions at the summit have been caused by the conduct of the Europeans, most notably France and Turkey.

Turkey’s recent decision to purchase Russia’s S-400 anti-aircraft missile system, which was designed specifically to shoot down NATO warplanes, has been another serious bone of contention at the summit.

Turkey’s important geographical location means that NATO leaders have previously been reluctant to sanction Ankara for its increasingly pro-Russian outlook, which is very much at odds with NATO’s position that Russia poses the most significant threat to the alliance’s security.

If there is one clear lesson to be drawn from the NATO summit just held in London to mark the alliance’s 70th anniversary, it is that the Europeans, and not Donald Trump, are to blame for many of the divisions that exist between NATO’s 29-member states.

Prior to the summit, during which leaders of the alliance attended glitzy receptions at Buckingham Palace and Downing Street, much of the focus centred on the American president and persistent fears that he might carry out his threat to withdraw the US from the alliance.

Mr Trump’s unhappiness with NATO is well-documented, and dates back to the NATO summit in Brussels in July 2018 when, during a testy exchange over the failure of most European member states to pay their fair share towards NATO’s running costs, Mr Trump made a direct threat to withdraw the US from the organisation.

It still remains the case that, despite Mr Trump’s hectoring on the subject, a significant number of European powers — most notably Germany, Italy and Spain — fail miserably to meet the defence spending target of 2% of GDP, which is the minimum requirement for NATO membership. In all three cases, their contributions are just above 1%, which lends credence to Mr Trump’s accusation that American taxpayers are footing the bill to ensure the security of feckless Europeans.

Katie Hopkins Video: They Plotted to Behead Me.

https://jamieglazov.com/2019/12/04/katie-hopkins-they-plotted-to-behead-me/

When a female Jihadi wants your head as a wedding present.

MY SAY: THE GREEK GODDESSES OF THE DEMOCRATS

Anaideia was the Greek Goddess or spirit of ruthlessness, shamelessness and unforgiveness.

Apate was the goddess/personification of fraud, deceit, trickery, deception and guile.