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July 2020

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The American Credo: An Address at Gettysburg Vanderleun

By on July 5th, 2020

http://americandigest.org/american-credo-address-gettysburg

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war,
testing whether that nation, or any nation,
so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”

To be born an American, or to become an American, you need only know and understand four things that we have written down: 1. Our founding document, The Declaration of Independence. 2. Our agreement with ourselves and our government that specifies and protects the self-evident truths and freedoms of the Declaration, The Constitution. 3. Our national motto:  “In God we trust.” 4. Our credo, “The Gettysburg Address.”

A credo is a short and straightforward statement of beliefs or principles. A credo has no fixed length but lies somewhere between a motto and a manifesto. The most widely known traditional credo would be “The Apostles Creed.”

Although it is not often thought of as such, Lincoln’s brief oration at Gettysburg at noon on that long-ago November day in 1863 is, in all its elements, our national credo. Although shaped as prose fit to be cut, as it has been, into stone, The Gettysburg Address is also a lyrical poem as polished as a crystal prism. Through this prism, all that we had been as Americans up until that day passed away and was transformed into the multifaceted nation Americans have become today. The Address is still not finished with us, nor we with it.

The Address shows us first how we came into existence as “the last best hope of Earth.” It echoes the opening refrain of the Declaration’s notes of liberty and equality. It reminds us of our original goals of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;” goals to which our founding fathers pledged their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.” It implies that all generations of Americans must, if the nation is to endure, pledge the same.

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Dear Jews: Too many of you don’t even know what it is you are not to forget Diane Bederman

By on July 5th, 2020

https://dianebederman.com/dear-jews-too-many-of-you-dont-even-know-what-it-is

I was out the other day and heard this most upsetting statement: You don’t vote for a political party just because of the way they treat Jews.

Have we still not learned that if it isn’t good for the Jews, it isn’t good for anyone?  Perhaps we need to erect a statue to Pastor Martin Niemöller. He wrote:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

We, the Jews, are  the canary in the mine. And, today, the mine is filled with Communists, Marxists, anarchists, socialists, fascists  and Jew haters from all walks of life; especially in the parties on the left; and in America that is the Democrat Party and their allies, Black Lives Matter, with a side order of BDS and a pinch of Antifa.

It is 2020, 75 years post Shoah, and two generations have grown up. The grandchildren of my generation, the baby boomers, are in school. We talk about Never Forget and Never Again.  Our children and these grandchildren don’t know what it is they are not to forget and what it is they are to remember.

I watch in horror as Jews march with Black Lives Matter. The enemy of your enemy is not your friend. Have they taken the time to learn about BLM before standing with them?

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‘President Biden’ Would Be Music to Russian and Taliban Ears By Andrew C. McCarthy

By on July 5th, 2020

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/president-biden-would-be-music-to-russian-and-taliban-ears/

It is laughable for Biden, of all people, to claim that Trump’s administration has been a gift to Putin.

Hard to fathom which notion is more hilarious. Is it that Joe Biden would get tough with the Taliban, or that Joe Biden would get tough with Russia?

The former veep wants you to know that he’s furious that President Trump sat on his hands for the past four months despite knowing that the Kremlin was paying bounties to the jihadists for targeting American troops in Afghanistan. Biden is sure this must have happened. No, he conceded at a rare press availability this week, he does not have access to classified information, nor has he been given an intelligence briefing on the subject. But Biden knows it must have happened because the New York Times and the Washington Post say so, relying on their crack anonymous intelligence sources.

Hmmm . . . The Times and the Post, relying on uncheckable sources of unknowable veracity, are peddling a story that Donald Trump has betrayed his country for the benefit of Vladimir Putin. Who wouldn’t take that to the bank after three years of collusion?

In this new and improved narrative, you’re to believe that Trump, who has dramatically beefed up military spending over Obama/Biden levels so that our forces can protect themselves, would knowingly endanger those forces; but that Biden, who last worked as a top official and strategist in an administration best known for imposing rules of engagement that made those troops sitting ducks, would back them to the hilt — against those diabolical Russians, who know Biden well, and who therefore know that, why, if they try any of that rough stuff, by God ol’ Joe would . . . um . . . you know . . . uh . . . the thing!

The thing being . . . he’d do nothing. And that’s if we’re lucky. His idea of doing something is to enrich the world’s leading state sponsor of anti-American terrorism while putting its regime on a glide path to nuclear weapons . . . all the while knowing that the mullahs are backing Taliban terrorists targeting our troops . . . and that the Russians are backing the mullahs.

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Epitome Of Hypocrisy: The Israeli Goose & The Russian Gander by Gerald A. Honigman

By on July 5th, 2020

So, it appears that the Russians–whose country is the largest in the world, even after the breakup of much of the former Soviet Union–have joined the international chorus of hypocrites assailing Israel. To create their enormous nation, numerous non-Russian peoples were conquered and had their lands annexed in the name of Russian national security.

Covering an area of almost seven million square miles, Russia includes nine different time zones and shares land borders with 14 adjacent countries. Its moves to absorb Ukraine’s Crimea are just the latest (renewed) examples of how Russia views the importance of its own interests–and to hell with everyone else.

Israel National News included a Reuters news organization report on July 4th (Happy Independence Day USA!) that Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, welcomed a pledge of unity between Fatah and Hamas against Israel’s plans to apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/282972.

And sovereignty is indeed the correct term.

Judeans don’t “annex” Judea–this isn’t Brits in the Falkland Islands; Arabs in Amazigh/”Berber” North Africa, black African Sudan, Syrian and Iraqi Kurdistan; the native Copts’ Egypt; and so forth  https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/13420 

I have a question for my Christian friends: Was Jesus born in Bethlehem of Judea–or in Bethlehem of Palestine or the “West Bank”? Check the Gospel of Matthew if you forgot …certainly not Zionist propaganda.

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Racism Is Recognized as Intrinsic to Western Societies. Why Isn’t Antisemitism? By Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld,

By on July 5th, 2020

https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/racism-antisemitism/

Many understand that racism is an intrinsic part of Western societies. So is antisemitism, yet this is acknowledged by very few. Antisemitism was on display during mass demonstrations about the coronavirus pandemic and the problem of racism, but was scarcely remarked upon. There has also been an outpouring of new mutations of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories in the wake of the pandemic. As has occurred for millennia, western cultures are interweaving their antisemitism into issues of the day.

On May 25, 2020, a 46-year-old black man, George Floyd, was asphyxiated and killed by police in Minneapolis. His murder led to huge anti-racism demonstrations in the US. Some were accompanied by extreme violence and looting. Anti-racism demonstrations also took place in several European countries, including the UK and France.

Many people understand that racism is, to varying degrees, an intrinsic part of western societies, and they view it as a problem to be eradicated.  Antisemitism is also an intrinsic part of Western society with a very long history, yet this obvious fact is only acknowledged by a few.

The societal integration of antisemitism exposes itself clearly from time to time. In the past few years, the institutional antisemitism of the British Labour Party drew international attention. This was partly due to the inaction about complaints by the party’s then leader, Jeremy Corbyn, a self-declared “friend” and “brother” of genocidal Arab terrorist organizations.

In the past few months, the presence of antisemitism in Western societies has shown itself in two contexts: the coronavirus pandemic and the massive anti-racism manifestations. Antisemitism often infiltrates mass demonstrations that have no relation to Israel or Jews.

This is the case at the “hygiene demonstrations” currently taking place against the coronavirus lockdown in Germany. Thousands have participated in these protests. In some cases, demonstrators threw bottles at the police, who responded with pepper spray and arrests. Among the demonstrators were conspiracy theorists and right-wing populists.

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BALTIMORE, THE LEFT’S PLANTATION by Paul Schnee (May 16,2015)

By on July 5th, 2020

Baltimore has been in the hands of the Democrats for over 45 years. What we recently witnessed there was the collapse of Democratic policies which continually throw money at problems without insisting on rigorous accountability.

A major cause of the riots was Mayor Rawlings-Blake who told the police to “stand down” and give the rioters “space to destroy”. She is directly responsible for all of the violence, injuries, looting and destruction of property mostly owned by minority businesses and now she has invited the federal government to investigate the BPD in a cynical attempt to distract attention from her glaring guilt and woeful incompetence. History teaches us that the only way to stop mob violence is with overwhelming force. Mayor Rawlings-Blake’s grade in History must surely have been an “F”.

Making matters worse was State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby whose “Verdict first, trial afterwards” statement that she would be seeking justice for Freddie Gray demonstrated not only a sense of prosecutorial panic and recklessness but also what appeared to be the first example of Stockholm Syndrome on the part of a prosecutor. Note to Ms. Mosby: Justice is supposed to be blind not intimidated.
 
Both of these disgraceful public servants should be held accountable for their weak and provocative behavior and resign in shame. Neither of them know what they are doing and are out of their depth to the extent they are positively water-logged.

 

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Cost of applying Israel law to Judea & Samaria (West Bank) Ambassador (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger

By on July 5th, 2020

https://bit.ly/2Z4nFW1

The suggestion that the application of the Israeli law to the Jordan valley and parts of Judea and Samaria would severely undermine Israeli interests, jeopardize Israel’s peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt and Israel’s overall ties with Arab countries, is divorced from the Israeli track record and Middle East reality.

Israel’s track record

The resurgence of the Jewish State from the ashes of WW2 to global prominence, technologically, scientifically, medically, agriculturally, economically, diplomatically and militarily – despite systematic adverse global pressure and Arab wars and terrorism – has demonstrated that there are no free lunches for independent nations, especially in the Middle East.

For example, in 1948, Prime Minister Ben Gurion, Israel’s Founding Father, did no wait for a green light from the White House, in order to declare independence.  He was aware that a declaration of independence would trigger a costly Arab military invasion. The CIA estimated that it could subject the Jewish people to “a second holocaust.”  However, Ben Gurion concluded that achieving a supreme goal was preconditioned upon the willingness to pay a supreme cost.  Indeed, the war against the Arab invasion consumed 1% (6,000) of the Jewish population (600,000).  Fending off the Arab invasion, Israel expanded its borders by 30%, and did not retreat to the suicidal 1947 lines, despite brutal global (including US) pressure.  The pressure on Israel dissipated, but Israel’s buttressed borders were preserved.

In 1967, Prime Minister Eshkol preempted a planned Egypt-Syria-Jordan joint offensive, in defiance of a strong red light from the White House (“Israel will not be alone unless it decides to go alone”), and despite prominent Israelis who preferred the venue of negotiation and mediation, and predicted a resounding Israeli defeat on the battlefield.  Eshkol was aware that Israel’s existence, in the violently intolerant and unpredictable Middle East, required a firm posture of deterrence, which could entail heavy cost. In the aftermath of the war, Eshkol reunited Jerusalem and renewed Jewish presence beyond the 1949/67 indefensible Green Line, in spite of a very heavy US and global pressure.  Consequently, while the pressure on Israel has subsided, the Jewish presence in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem has surged to 700,000 people.  

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Weapons of Mass Collusion By Julie Kelly

By on July 5th, 2020

https://amgreatness.com/2020/07/04/weapons-of-mass-collusion/

For two years, as Robert Mueller tried and failed to find evidence of a criminal conspiracy, NeverTrump Republicans tended to the right flank of the Trump-Russia collusion front. But their role in pushing the hoax went much deeper.

“The Clinton campaign got a bunch of dirty cops to frame and spy on their opponent, the Trump campaign. After Trump won, they rolled this dirty tricks operation, this spying campaign, into a coup.”

—Lee Smith, author of The Plot Against the President 

The biggest scandal in American political history started with NeverTrump conservatives. Desperate to tarnish Trump’s viability as a candidate, anti-Trump Republicans and Democrats joined together to convince the public that Donald Trump was working with Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Articles connecting Donald Trump’s campaign to Russian interests started appearing on conservative websites as early as March 2016. 

Just two days after then-candidate Trump announced his foreign policy team in the spring of 2016, the Washington Free Beacon posted a 1,100-word hit piece on Dr. Carter Page: “Energy investor Carter Page, one of Donald Trump’s handpicked foreign policy advisers, has heavily criticized what he considers American aggression toward Russia, even comparing U.S. policy to American slavery and high-profile police shootings,” Lachlan Markay wrote on March 23, 2016. “Trump’s selection of Page may indicate the reality-star-cum-politician’s opposition to U.S. policies that counter Russian interests in key global theaters.” 

Markay’s piece contained arcane details about Page’s views on Russia, including columns Page had written for obscure energy publications. (Page is a global energy consultant.) Even the most dogged reporter would have been hard-pressed to find so many specifics on an unknown campaign advisor, draft the article, and post it in less than 48 hours. How did Markay produce a lengthy article in such a short time—and why? 

According to Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that helped concoct the Russian collusion hoax, a Republican Party elder connected Fusion with the Free Beacon in the summer of 2015. Fusion chief Glenn Simpson sent an email to a “longtime Republican politico” in August 2015 to pitch their expanding file of dirt on Donald Trump. 

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Slavery Rampant in Africa, Middle East; The West Wrongly Accuses Itself by Giulio Meotti

By on July 5th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16195/slavery-africa-middle-east

For the intersectional activists, the US is the world’s biggest oppressor — not China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, or Iran.

“What the media do not tell you is that America is the best place on the planet to be black, female, gay, trans or what have you. We have our problems and we need to address those. But our society and our systems are far from racist”. — Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Twitter, June 9, 2020.

“The new anti-racism is racism disguised as humanism (…) It implies that every white person is bad… and that every black person is a victim”. — Abnousse Shalmani, born in Tehran, now living in Paris, to Le Figaro, June 12, 2020.

“America looks different if you grew up, as I did, in Africa and the Middle East”. — Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Wall Street Journal, June 26, 2020.

It is high time for the United States to stop funding the United Nations…. The United Nations is now being used to perpetuate injustice, not stop it.

Real slave traders and racists — those who believe Western societies and values should not exist at all — most likely look at the current Western self-flagellation and cheer their approval.

The United States abolished slavery 150 years ago, and has affirmative action for minorities. It is the country that elected a Black president, Barack Obama — twice! Yet, a new movement is toppling one historic monument after another one, as if the US is still enslaving African-Americans. Activists in Washington DC even targeted an Emancipation Memorial, depicting President Abraham Lincoln, who paid with his life for freeing slaves.

Today slavery still exists in many parts of Africa and Middle East, but the self-flagellating Western public is obsessively focused only on the Western past of African slavery rather than on real, ongoing slavery, which is alive and well — and ignored. For today’s slaves, there are no demonstrations in the streets, no international political pressure, and virtually no articles in the media.

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For a Politically Corrected Paris by Amir Taheri

By on July 5th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16194/politically-corrected-paris

Of the 5,400 streets in greater Paris, 287 are named after persons or events with colonial, imperial, or ideological bearings that clash with political correctness, the fashionable ideology of champagne and caviar leftists.

Paris is dotted with old buildings, museums, offices, barracks, schools and exhibition sites associated with events that would anger the politically correct.

Black Americans are under-represented. Martin Luther King has a park in a down-market neighborhood. But he wasn’t BLM enough. He emphasized equal citizenship, not skin color.

Ah! Rewriting history!

Caught in the Davy Jones locker room, a civilization may dream of … a device to reel back the past like a film and edit it as you please.

With bookshops closed during Covid-19 lockdown I was obliged to re-read books I had read before. Among them was Lamartine’s “Graziella”, the journal of his six-month stay in Naples. A love story, the novel also talks of the repression of Italian freedom fighters who try to end French occupation under Marechal Murat, one of Napoleon’s generals, as their king.

A stone’s throw from our place is the Boulevard Murat, named after the man who crucified Italian patriots.

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