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Ruth King

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Big Mouth Barack

By on November 13th, 2023

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/11/13/big-mouth-barack/

Tens of millions of Americans, though not enough to keep his malign presence out of the Oval Office, were years ago sick of Barack Obama opening his mouth and spouting off about whatever subject he chose to educate us on. After enduring eight years of pretentious lectures, we thought we were finally rid of him in 2017. But no, he’s still enlightening his inferiors, which in his mind is everyone who isn’t him, most recently to link market-based systems to slavery. Such mean-spirited nonsense deserves a Fisking.

Speaking a week ago at the Obama Foundation’s Democracy Forum, the former (and current de facto) president said “just because an economic system generated wealth and innovation doesn’t mean it guarantees a good society. Because from the outset, market-based systems have been compatible with slavery, caste systems, colonialization, war, exploration, corruption, fraud, autocracy, the poisoning of our natural environment.”

Gosh, is there no evil that the free market hasn’t facilitated?

Sarcasm aside, let’s take these comments in no particular order.

Just because an economic system generated wealth and innovation doesn’t mean it guarantees a good society. And what is the alternative to a free-market economy? There are several, and they all have one commonality: Government is in control, either through central planning, a system of collectivism that allocates resources, a regime that manages the means of production, or an outright tyranny. Like so many of his fellow Democrats, Obama prefers a “progressive” system, using the blunt instrument of government, which is made up of flawed humans, to perfect humanity to guarantee that good society. If this sounds insane, it’s because it is.

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ELECTIONS Comments turned off

James Clyburn And The Big Third-Party Lie Thomas Buckley

By on November 13th, 2023

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/11/13/james-clyburn-and-the-big-third-party-lie/

A few new polls out show former President Donald Trump ahead of current sort-of President Joe Biden.

And ahead rather comfortably, leading nationally overall by enough and leading in five of the six “swing states” that have determined the last two presidential elections.

Good news for him? Yes.

The downside for Trump is that those leads shrink if certain third-party candidates are thrown into the mix.

Without RFK Jr. in the mix, Trump polls well ahead of Biden – add in RFK Jr. and it shifts to a small Biden lead nationally and a “who knows?” in the swing states.

But then add in Cornel West – who recently dropped his Green Party nomination effort and is, like Kennedy, going the independent route – and Biden and Trump are really in jumpball territory.

So then why would Biden’s Democratic South Carolina savior Rep. James Clyburn be railing about the evils of third-party candidates?

Clyburn states that third parties could so confuse the race that Trump in the end benefits and that in and of itself “fundamentally endangers our democracy.”

Whose democracy, Jim? If you wrote “my democracy” that would be accurate, but “our democracy” is not put in danger when more people run for office. It seems Clyburn has no problem with just anybody voting – he pushed the John Lewis Act, which would hamstring states from instituting legitimate voting ID requirements and essentially federalize the election process – but he has a problem with just anybody running.

Anyway, Jim, the addition of West and Kennedy seems to help your guy, so what gives?

“Our democracy” is what gives. Whenever the term is used it is not about “our democracy” but “their democracy.”

The Romans called the Mediterranean Sea ‘Mare Nostra,’ or ‘Our Sea’ to connote power and exclusivity.  The mafia is often referred to by its members as ‘Cosa Nostra,’ or ‘Our Thing,’ again to ensure a protective separateness from everything and everyone else.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

The Day After Israeli Victory The Palestinian-Israeli peace process can’t return to regularly scheduled programming.

By on November 13th, 2023

https://www.wsj.com/articles/antony-blinken-israel-hamas-palestinian-authority-gaza-benjamin-netanyahu-3a92fb36?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

While Israel focuses on winning the war against Hamas, the U.S. has been pressing for commitments on what will come next. Speaking in Tokyo last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken laid out five “Nos”: “No forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. . . . No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism or other violent attacks. No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends. No attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza.”

If only the Biden Administration had that many red lines for Iran. The Secretary of State might also recall that the postwar U.S. occupations of Japan and Germany continued into the 1950s and included territorial adjustments.

Mr. Blinken followed his five “Nos” with three “Musts”: the way forward to peace “must include the Palestinian people’s voices and aspirations at the center of postcrisis governance in Gaza. It must include Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority. And it must include . . . a pathway to Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in states of their own, with equal measures of security, freedom, opportunity and dignity.”

It is sensible to think ahead but premature to give marching orders for the harmonious future. Israel still has intense urban fighting ahead. What happens after Hamas’s command center underneath al-Shifa Hospital falls? Will a terrorist insurgency persist in Northern Gaza? How will Israel root out Hamas from Gaza’s south, to which most civilians have fled?

The answers can’t help but affect how Gaza will be governed. “The reality,” Mr. Blinken acknowledged on questioning, “is that there may be a need for some transition period at the end of the conflict” in which Israel keeps some control. This is essentially what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said earlier: “I think Israel will, for an indefinite period, have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it.”

If Israel isn’t taking on the terrorists, who will? The rush to empower “the Palestinian people’s voices” after Israel left Gaza in 2005 saw Gazans elect Hamas in 2006. The Palestinian Authority hasn’t held another election in the West Bank, knowing Hamas could win there, too.

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ISRAEL, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Hamas’s Useful Idiots in the U.S., Europe by Bassam Tawil

By on November 13th, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20142/hamas-useful-idiots

These demonstrators, who appear to feel so virtuous, send a message to the terrorist groups that people in the West happily support violence, terrorism and the Jihad (holy war) not only against Israel and Jews, but also against Christians, all “infidels,” Europe, the United States and the West.

Although many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip support Hamas and its genocide, many others deeply oppose Hamas. In recent years, thousands have fled the Gaza Strip for Europe, where they hope for a better life — like the one the demonstrators enjoy — where they will not have to fear a knock on the door at two in the morning or have their government lodge rocket launchers next to their playgrounds and homes. A recent video shows a Gazan woman saying, “Those bastards at Hamas,” before a man clamps his hand over her mouth.

Countries and groups that commit terrorist attacks view the anti-Israel demonstrations as an extension of their war against the West.

Meanwhile, the “pro-Palestinian” demonstrators masquerade as peace-seekers. In fact, they celebrate terrorism and imperialism — Islamic imperialism — that seeks forcibly to expand Iran’s territorial gains not only throughout Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Iraq, but through Yemen, Saudi Arabia and South America on its way to the “Big Satan,” the United States. The Iranians have already infiltrated Venezuela and met in Cuba…

Apparently not realizing how destructive these peace-loving demonstrators are to themselves and their free way of life… they do not even… bother to think for a minute what life would actually be like for them if they lived in Gaza, Beirut, Damascus or Tehran. It is easy to be a demonstrator in London, Washington DC or New York.

Despite all the claims to the contrary, these are not pro-Palestinian rallies. These are hate marches of people seeking the destruction of Israel and the West. Make no mistake: those who are now protesting against Israel are advocating for a totalitarian way of life, for poverty — except for the leaders, of course — and for the same sort of utopia now being relished by the citizens of Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, Cuba, Venezuela… and Gaza.

The “pro-Palestinian” demonstrations that have taken place in the US and some European countries over the past few days are all about hating Israel and Jews, not about helping the Palestinians – especially those who have been living under the rule of the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip since 2007.

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Defund the Soros Hamas Insurrection by Daniel Greenfield

By on November 13th, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20140/soros-hamas-insurrection

The illegal pro-terrorist activities of both JVP and IfNotNow, as well as many other groups in the anti-Israel network, reflects the refusal of the IRS to enforce the tax code against the Left.

The IRS had previously found that the tax code bans funding of anti-war groups or any organization whose “primary activity is the sponsoring of… protest demonstrations in which demonstrators are urged to commit violations of local ordinances and breaches of public order.” Such organizations don’t “qualify for exemption under section 501(c)(3) or (4) of the Code.”

IfNotNow and JVP are one of many leftist organizations and other anti-Israel protest groups whose very existence is a violation of IRS regulations. But above and beyond the tax code, Soros is knowingly funding riots and illegal activities by hate groups with a long history of such activities.

If the IRS will not do its job and enforce the tax code against nonprofits engaged in illegal activities, Congress must move to close the loopholes and end the nonprofit status of groups engaged in violence, crimes and support for terrorist organizations.

On October 18, pro-terrorist insurrectionists stormed the United States Capitol after a hate rally by two anti-Israel groups: IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Both hate groups had issued statements that either justified or rationalized the Hamas atrocities against Israelis.

IfNotNow’s statement after the Hamas rapes, killings and kidnappings argued that, “we cannot and will not say today’s actions by Palestinian militants are unprovoked. Every day under Israel’s apartheid system is a provocation.” Jewish Voice for Peace described the Hamas attacks as an incident in which “Palestinian fighters from Gaza launched an unprecedented assault” in response to Israeli “oppression” which is the real “source of all this violence”.

The pro-Hamas insurrectionists rallying for a “ceasefire” that would allow Hamas to attack again had come knowing that their actions were illegal, and over 400 of them had intended to be arrested. Over 300 eventually were arrested for their insurrection in the rotunda of the Capitol’s Cannon House Office Building. Three of the extremists were taken into custody for assaulting police officers.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

POSITIVE NEWS FROM ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on November 12th, 2023

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

Israel has a diverse and dedicated citizen army defending historical truth against enemies with fanatical hatred. Behind the headlines is a remarkable democracy. Michael Ordman, to his enormous credit, brings us positive news even during a war. rsk

 
Unexpected heroes. One website containing the stories of 27 Israeli citizens who were thrown into life-saving situations on Oct 7.  https://www.israel21c.org/unexpectedheroes/
 
Angels in orange. So many stories about United Hatzalah EMTs who rescued dozens of wounded Israelis on Oct 7.  Some were too harrowing for this newsletter.  At least these ones have positive endings. Since Oct 7, UH EMTs have treated thousands, evacuated hundreds, delivered tons of medical supplies, and much more.
https://israelrescue.org/stories/emt-reunites-with-policeman-he-saved-in-under-fire-rescue/
https://israelrescue.org/stories/jewish-emt-reunites-with-muslim-bedouin-father-and-son-he-rescued-following-october-7th-hamas-attack-that-killed-the-mans-wife/
 
How Kfar Maimon was saved. On Oct 7, dozens of Hamas terrorists invaded the fields of Kfar Maimon, a religious Moshav about 5km from Gaza. They made the mistake, however, of shooting down a passing low-flying helicopter. It was carrying Israeli paratroopers who exited unhurt and eliminated the terrorists.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379945
 
IDF base reopens. The Nahal Oz surveillance control center overrun by Hamas terrorists on Oct 7 has been reopened at a temporary site on the Re’im army base 2km south of the original base. The (mostly female) surveillance soldiers belong to the Intelligence Corps as did hostage Ori Megidish who was rescued from Gaza.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-story-of-heroism-and-fighting-army-reopens-surveillance-center-raided-by-hamas/
 
Natebuzz is in Israel. Australian actor Nate Buzolic (natebuzz on Instagram with 3.4 million followers) is in Israel for the 26th time. He founded Rova Media 3 weeks ago and has partnered Rabbi Ari Lamm (grandson of former YU chancellor Rabbi Norman Lamm) to change Israel’s poor online image for the younger generation.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/aussie-influencer-natebuzz-in-israel-to-fight-social-media-battle/  
https://www.instagram.com/rovamedia_/ https://www.youtube.com/@RovaMedia
https://www.instagram.com/natebuzz/
 
Protecting civilians in Gaza. Finally, a positive Israel story from the BBC. How Israeli intelligence worked with a Gazan dentist to ensure that hundreds of Gaza civilians were unharmed as the IDF prepared to bomb tower blocks housing Hamas terrorists.  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67327079
 
215 Bnei Menashe make Aliyah and join IDF. Since Oct 7, 75 members of the Bnei Menashe community from India have made Aliyah and joined IDF combat units. Another 140 new Olim have joined the reserves.
https://israfan.com/2023/11/07/from-india-to-israel-the-brave-bnei-menashe-joining-israels-defense/
 
Miracle births. (TY Ari) On Oct 7, Hevda Malca was in a safe room in Sderot while Hamas terrorists were rampaging outside. Her sister-in-law Ayala Shlomo was in a safe room in Kiryat Gat when a Hamas rocket hit their house. Both Ayala and Hedva have just given birth at Laniado hospital in Netanya.
https://newsrnd.com/news/2023-10-27-life-is-stronger-than-everything–on-simchat-torah-hide-from-the-missiles—this-week-they-gave-new-life-%7C-israel-hayom.rJk12LFGp.html
 
 
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Successful trial of heart support device. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Magenta Medical (see here previously) reported positive results in a 15-patient trial of its Elevate System. The percutaneous Left Ventricular Assist Device (pLVAD) supports circulation in high-risk percutaneous coronary interventions (HR-PCI).
https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/magenta-medical-reports-positive-results-for-us-early-feasibility-study-of-elevate-heart-pump-in-providing-temporary-mechanical-circulatory-support-during-high-risk-pci-procedures-301968986.html
 
Long-term relief from migraines. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Theranica (see here previously) has reported successful long-term use of its Nerivio Remote Electrical Neuromodulation (REN) device for 409 migraine sufferers in the US. It consistently gave pain relief, functional disability relief and freedom.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-study-demonstrates-consistent-positive-long-term-adherence-and-efficacy-of-nerivio-for-treatment-of-migraine-301966050.html
 
AI to develop new therapies. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Can-Fite (see here previously) is developing small molecule medicines that address oncology and inflammatory diseases. It has partnered with Collaborations Pharma to use AI and Machine Learning techniques that significantly reduce development time and costs.
https://ir.canfite.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1032/can-fite-to-harness-artificial-intelligence-to-develop
 
 

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

‘You Zionist Pig’: Pro-Palestinian Protesters Vandalize New York Times Building, Grand Central Station By Ari Blaff

By on November 12th, 2023

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/you-zionist-pig-pro-palestinian-protesters-vandalize-new-york-times-building-grand-central-station/

Pro-Palestinian protesters marched through central Manhattan on Friday, tearing down American flags on city blocks and kicking in the doors of Grand Central Station as law enforcement sheltered inside.

Beginning at Columbus Circle, the mob burned an Israeli flag and led chants of “We don’t want a Jewish state. We want ’48!” referring to a historical period prior to the establishment of the country. Others demanded, “Settlers, settlers, go back home! Palestine is ours alone!” and “It is right to rebel. Israel, go to Hell!”

As one protester told the New York Post, “Since ’48 Israel came and occupied Palestine. Since that day and today they’re killing kids and children. Every day they’re bombing hospitals, kids and schools, and houses.”

An organizer of the demonstrations, Within Our Lifetime, called on protesters to “flood Manhattan for Gaza,” demanding, “Cease genocide. Cease the siege. Cease the blockade. Cease occupation. Cease funding Israel. Cease settler colonization. Cease Zionism. Cease imperialism,” in a pinned post on Instagram. The leader of the group, Nerdeen Kiswani, during an appearance on Piers Morgan’s talk show in late October, would not condemn the Hamas atrocities committed on October 7.

Along the marching path, the mob vandalized the New York Times building before encircling Grand Central Station and forcing the transit hub to close for the second night in a row. Outside the media outlet’s headquarters, young men flipped off a Daily News reporter screaming, “F*** you! You Zionist pig!”

Despite it being the night before Veterans Day, demonstrators wearing Palestinian keffiyehs repeatedly tore down American flags across the city to wild cheers from the crowd of supporters. Some were detained by NYPD officers. In at least one instance, NYPD officers looked on and decided not to intervene as people scaled city street lights to desecrate the flag.

Despite the destruction and violence, CBS reportedly described the mob as “mostly peaceful,” according to Atlantic journalist Judith Shulevitz conjuring up CNN’s infamous defense of Black Lives Matter riots. “They were chanting from the river to the sea, and that calls for the elimination of Israel and the genocide of the Jews,” one counter-demonstrator told the Post.

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Israel, Iran and the Biden Administration: If America Does Not Win, Its Enemies Do by Guy Millière

By on November 12th, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20141/israel-iran-and-the-biden-administration-if

Above all, to have the hostages released faster, there must be as few “pauses” as possible and no let-up by Israel in military pressure.

While the Israelis were urging the residents of northern Gaza to move south to avoid airstrikes, Hamas’s leaders were ordering the Gazans, to stay in their homes, or were shooting at them as they tried to flee — presumably so that Hamas could have more dead bodies to show the television crews how evil the Israelis supposedly are.

To Blinken’s credit and that of the Biden administration… on November 5, he rebuffed the request of Egypt and Jordan for humanitarian aid, saying that “such a halt right now would only allow Palestinian militant group Hamas to regroup and attack Israel again.”

Unfortunately, Biden also announced that the US will send $100 million in “humanitarian aid” to Hamas and the West Bank, thereby freeing up other funds to be used for further attacks

Israel, regrettably, evidently under US pressure, has just agreed to four-hour “humanitarian pauses.” The concession sounds virtuous, but actually breaks a law that prohibits resupplying terrorists. To Hamas, any pause is a gift. It can restock and plan attacks, and keep re-hiding the hostages. What chance is there that a terrorist group that shoots its own citizens to keep them from fleeing to safety will hand out food water and medicine to anyone but its cohorts?

In fairness, Biden immediately sent US ships , welcome materiel, and a nuclear submarine to the area…

The US president, nevertheless, has not failed to repeat his support for a “two-state solution”, even though it is now clear more than ever that the creation of a genocidal Palestinian state on what is left of Israel’s small border must be unthinkable…. In such a volatile region what if Iran or Islamic State were to take over the new Palestinian State?

If the US were to incapacitate the port Iran uses to ship oil China, or take out base of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — or at the very least, as Gen. Jack Keane has been advocating, the base Iran uses to train troops — the war would likely be over in a minute.

The Ukraine is indeed a worthy US involvement: if Russia can keep the Donbass and Crimea, China’s Communist leader Xi Jinping will be encouraged to take Taiwan, perhaps the Philippines, all the sea lanes in the Indo-pacific, as well as further threaten Australia and Japan.

In January 2021, Iran was on the verge of economic asphyxiation, barely able to continue financing Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas. The Abraham Accords outlined the prospect of regional peace, and Saudi Arabia was considering joining the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kosovo, Morocco and Sudan. Israel was a respected regional power.

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Anatomy of a Paris Demo by Amir Taheri

By on November 12th, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20138/paris-demonstration-gaza

A poll for the daily Le Figaro shows that 37 percent of the French still have sympathy for Israel, while Palestine gets 20 percent and Hamas 5 percent.

Those I talked to in the demo seemed as if they had forgotten October 7, reminding me of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s phrase “What a miser is a human memory!”

In the Saturday demo, there was no mention of the nearly 250 Israeli hostages held by Hamas. The so-called elites have adopted a one-way indignation posture against Israel.

“Paris could become a battlefield!” This was how commentators speculated about a “solidarity with Palestine” demonstration that the police had authorized for last Saturday. The concern was not groundless.

A few days before, a Harris opinion poll had shown that 82 percent of the French feared a wave of terrorism in France and 72 percent believed that something like the 7 October attack by Hamas would happen in Paris.

“People are right to have concerns,” says Brice Hortefeux, a former Minister of the Interior.

In the past decade, France has been hit by over 400 terrorist attacks or attempts, almost all related to the Middle East or what is shorthanded as “Islamic World.” The same concern was expressed in numerous editorials, reminding people that as home to Europe’s largest Jewish community, some 500,000, and highest number of Muslims, around 7 million, France was already “part of the Middle East.”

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Iran’s Less than Nuanced View of Bi-Lateral Relations: ‘Death to America!’ is not just a slogan – it is a policy By Thaddeus G. McCotter

By on November 12th, 2023

https://amgreatness.com/2023/11/11/irans-less-than-nuanced-view-of-bi-lateral-relations/

One of the more odious aspects of the cornucopia of hypocrisy that is the Left’s “woke” ideology is how, after assuming its intellectual and moral superiority and “privilege” within society, the Left further assumed others cannot elevate their own status without the woke cult’s intercession and assistance. Not surprisingly, such a “top-down,” condescending ideology has consequences, though the affluent “woke” Leftists driving, voting, donating, and foisting these disastrous policies are often insulated from the consequences of their actions. Not so, however, for the “oppressed,” who through no fault of their own have been targeted for “liberation” by the woke cult’s offensive attitude and its injurious, unwelcomed “help;” nor for society as a whole.

For example, the woke cult’s “bail reform” has led to an increase in crime for residents of urban areas, especially those communities already suffering high crime rates.  Other residents and tourists in these cities also are now at greater risk of being victimized by criminals. But this is of no concern to the self-congratulatory Leftists who imposed these perilous policies upon them – unless, of course, these elitists happen to emerge from their gilded communities and are accosted by the physical incarnation of their own smug imbecility.

Yet, the woke cult’s physical incarnations of their own smug imbecility do not end at the city limits or even the waters’ edge.  And nor do the consequences of the woke ideology.

As reported by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took to Iran’s Channel 1 on November 1 and reiterated his less than nuanced position on bi-lateral engagement with the United States: “The situation between America and Iran is this: When you chant ‘Death to America!’ it is not just a slogan – it is a policy.”

After carping how this is not the first time he has had to publicly state the obvious and his historically revisionist complaints for it, Iran’s Supreme Lesion deigned to do so again; and, waxing homicidal, railed against the U.S., Israel, and current events:

“For many years, from the 1940s to the 1970s – that is 30 years – the Americans did everything they could do against the Iranian nation.  They hit Iran in any way they could – financially, economically, politically, scientifically, and morally.

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