RUTHFULLY YOURS

Scroll down the RealClearPolitics poll summary for the last few days, and you see a lot more red than blue in the latest surveys [1] released for Senate, House and governor’s races. Many races are very close in all three categories, but over the past two weeks the GOP position — particularly in House and Senate races — has generally improved.

Governor’s races are the biggest crapshoot. RealClearPolitics counts 14 races as tossups: Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin, Illinois, Colorado, Hawaii, Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, and Michigan. Since eight of the 14 are currently in Republican hands, this may be the biggest opportunity for gains for Democrats. There is little chance Democrats will gain seats in either house of Congress.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is now focusing on only 25 races, and 18 of them are seats currently held by Democrats. If the Democrats won all 25, they would still be 10 seats short of the 218 seats needed to take control of the House. A more likely result at this point, given that Democrats are on defense in most of the competitive races, is for the GOP to hit 240 or more, maybe even to hit a number higher than the party has achieved at any time in the past 65 years.

The RCP House summary [2], as well as those of Larry Sabato [3]and Stuart Rothenberg [4], suggests that more Democratic-held seats are likely to shift than Republican-held seats, since more of the tossup races are for Democratic-held seats. As an example, today there are no Republicans in the U.S. House from any of the six New England states — but Republicans are competitive in both New Hampshire districts, Maine 2, and Massachusetts 6, the last two being open seats. The GOP also has excellent pickup opportunities in Illinois 10 and 12, and has a decent chance in Iowa 1 and 2, two seats thought safe for Democrats a few months back. These are districts in states where Republicans have underperformed in recent cycles. With unhappiness with Congress expressed quite strongly in every poll, the few dozen House districts that are competitive after the last post-census redistricting (which was performed skillfully by both parties where they had the opportunity) could well see a lot of turnover.

Nothing much the Republicans have done explains why they are on the verge of taking back the Senate and making gains in the House.

Not since the summer of 1974 [1] or October 1980 have we see a presidency in a total meltdown [2]. Abroad, ISIS, Putin, and the bullying Chinese have revealed that the Obama administration is either clueless or has subordinated foreign policy decisions to rank politics — or both. At home we have Ebola. Meanwhile, the list of corrupt, incompetent or politically rogue federal agencies keeps growing — the VA, ICE, the NSA, the IRS, the Secret Service … even the Patent and Trademark Office. Each day we learn yet another story about how corrupt Eric Holder’s Justice Department is — the latest a vendetta against a California timber company [3].

Allowing flights to Monrovia, Liberia, follows the same sort of script that told us Benghazi was a spontaneous demonstration caused by a right-wing video maker. Susan Rice still goes on Sunday television shows and tells whoppers. Another partisan czar, Ron Klain, knows little [4] about what he is supposed to salvage other than to finesse the politics of disaster — reminding us of Rahm Emanuel’s “never let a serious crisis go to waste.” When Obama’s starts out with “make no mistake about it,” we know something along the lines of the Obamacare falsehoods inevitably follows.

Those not working are at all-time highs [5]. Zero-percent interest rates have impoverished the middle class and enriched the Wall Street elite. Our youth, saddled with $1 trillion in student debt, will have to pay back much of the $18 trillion national debt, more than a third of it piled up by this administration. Unsustainable entitlements will strangle the futures of anyone under thirty.

In reaction, Democratic congressional and Senate candidates choose to orphan themselves from Obama. Even Jimmy Carter finds Obama wanting [6]. Two former Obama secretaries of defense describe him as vacillating, predicating foreign policy decisions on politics.

Given such a disastrous Democratic landscape, it may be penny-wise for Republicans to eek out a midterm victory to win back the Senate by being against anything Obama is for. But it is a pound-foolish strategy that won’t do anything to stop Hillary Clinton or a Democratic resurgence in 2016.

(Editor’s note: J. Christian Adams’ Crimes Against the Republic is available free for a limited time only, exclusively through the PJ Store.)

Lots of folks think Democrats oppose voter ID laws because they want to cheat and such laws interfere with their plans. That’s an attractive explanation, but it ignores the far more complex architecture of voter ID opposition. Here’s the real reasons Democrats oppose voter ID. Understanding these three reasons will help you decode the whole narrative behind voter ID.

1. Opposition to Voter ID Is a Base-Mobilization Tool.

Simply, Democrats and civil rights groups spend millions of dollars opposing voter ID because they are trying to scare minority voters into thinking that Jim Crow is back. If Jim Crow is back, then they better go vote in November. This was made starkly clear to me when I learned that a 3rd grade teacher in a government-run school was telling her students that Republicans were trying to take away the right to vote for black people, so they better get their parents to vote against Republicans. (Yes, that’s another story for another day, and yes I know her name and the school where she still teaches.)

Fear mobilizes people to vote better than does logic. If you can scare minorities falsely into thinking that they may lose their right to vote if they don’t vote for Democrats, they will vote for Democrats.

2. Voter ID Opponents Have the Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations.

In yet another controversial decision, the Goldsmiths College Students’ Union has rejected, by a margin of around 60 to 1, a motion to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day and all victims of genocide.

Education officer Sarah El-Alfy urged students to vote against the proposal, rejecting it as “Eurocentric” and “colonialist”.

One unnamed student added that, “The motion would force people to remember things they may not want to remember,” whilst another added argued that as the Union was “anti-Zionist” she couldn’t commemorate the Holocaust.

This follows news that the NUS voted against a motion condemning ISIS and supporting the Kurdish resistance as to do so would be Islamophobic.

The Tab reports that Goldsmiths Student Union President Howard Littler responded by saying, “Someone brought up Israel-Palestine out of the blue but I made a point of information and said I didn’t want to conflate the two,” further commenting that the controversy was just a “storm in a teacup.”

The motion called on the Union to recognise the “unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust, of the other genocides, of totalitarianism and racial hatred,” adding that, “commemorating the victims of genocide, racial hatred and totalitarianism, and promoting public awareness of these crimes against humanity, is essential to sustaining and defending democratic culture and civil society, especially in the face of a resurgence of neo-fascism, racial hatred and neo-Stalinism across Europe.”

Obama’s foolish green agenda interferes with the military’s core mission

The Pentagon’s “2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap,” published last week, demonstrates how thoroughly and deeply liberal “climate change” ideology is being embedded in our military establishment. To undo the damage will require a determined effort by our next president.

We’ve already seen how the climate change ideology has wasted scarce defense dollars, such as Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus’ decision to spend $26 a gallon for 450,000 gallons of biofuel — about $11.7 million — when $5 a gallon diesel fuel would have met the same need. That, of course, came at a time when the Navy fleet was shrinking to the smallest size since the end of World War I.

The new roadmap implements two of President Obama’s executive orders, which direct all federal agencies to integrate climate change considerations in all their operations, planning and mission objectives. On the first page, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel writes that the Pentagon is very busy determining things such as the effect of climate change on Mr. Obama’s military “shift” to the Pacific and how it should be included in war games. He adds, “Politics or ideology must not get in the way of sound planning,” but that’s exactly what the mandates he describes will accomplish.

The report accepts as fact all the hyperbole of climate change and on that basis mandates that every aspect of Pentagon operations and planning should be adapted to consider those “facts.” It claims that climate change is a “force multiplier,” so great a national security risk that it may cause disease, trigger instability in and among nations and foster terrorism.

“We do not wish to live together with dirty beasts like you…”

The Norwegian news portal VG Nett is reporting that a Muslim terrorist group, Ansar al-Sunna’, is threatening that if a section of the nation’s capitol isn’t transformed into a sharia-complaint Muslim nation, an attack rivaling 9/11 will be launched upon the Scandinavian nation.

VG Nett has stated that the Norwegian Police Security Service (Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste – PST) is already familiar with many members of this particular terror group.

As translated by Michael Laudahn,

“If norwegian soldiers can take planes to Afghanistan, then Osama and Mohammed can also take planes to Norway, inshaAllah.

Now, the government must wake up and assume responsibility, before this war spreads to Norway. Before the counterpart reacts. Before moslems take the step necessary.

Do not confuse the moslems’ silence with weakness. Do not profit from the moslems’ patience. Do not force us to do something that can be avoided. This is not a threat, only the words of truth. The words of justice.

A warning that the consequences can be fatal. A warning about a 9/11 on norwegian ground, or larger attacks than the one carried out on 22 july. This is for your own good and in your own best interest.’

We do not want to be a part of norwegian society. And we do not consider it necessary either to move away from Norway, because we were born and grew up here. And Allah’s earth belongs to everybody.

But let Grønland become ours. Bar this city quarter and let us control it the way we wish to do it. This is the best for both parts.

We do not wish to live together with dirty beasts like you.”

Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Ebola

When all the debris is cleared away from the present controversies concerning the possibility of an outbreak of the deadly virus Ebola in the U.S., an important geopolitical marker will be registered.

Epidemics have invaded U.S. shores before of course. There was the notable worldwide influenza epidemic [“Spanish ‘flu”] of 1918 which claimed 50 million lives worldwide. As World War I was ending, it laid low almost half of the then mobilized American soldiers, killing more than died in combat. In an era of poorer sanitation, long before antibiotics and the sulfa drugs and some of today’s routine emergency medical procedures, more than 375,000 died in the U.S. But it was also the world of steamships not of vast international air traffic.

Today on an annual basis the highly mutable influenza virus, often sweeping out of south China, claims an average of 200,000 victims in the U.S. with deaths often reaching 35,000 among the more vulnerable, especially the elderly.

Again with the prospect of an invasion of Ebola – against which there is not yet a cure with mortality in Africa running as high as 70% – Americans face a possibility, however remote, of a health catastrophe.

That the U.S. was not prepared is obvious; how could it be otherwise? That the Obama Administration did not take adequate measures when a threat was identified will be debated long after the November mid-term elections are decided and gone. At what level blame for the initial chaotic preparation for an onslaught should be assigned to the $3 trillion annual government and private health care establishment will also be a subject for discussion. Will the Ebola crisis focus the spotlight on hospital-acquired infections costing $30 billion annually and leading to nearly 100,000 patient deaths a year?

But what appears already clear is that the whole Ebola affair forces a turn on the political consciousness of the American electorate. It goes further than identifying the immediate culprits/scapegoats. Just as Pearl Harbor destroyed for all time the U.S. dogma that it was protected from foreign attack by two wide oceans, 9/11/2001 demonstrated how vulnerable the homeland – a word rarely employed before that time – was to clever if accident-prone fanatics. That both these episodes could have been prevented, that with 20-20 hindsight the most fundamental aspects of security were breached, is not a new phenomenon in the history of the U.S. and other great powers. Historical calamities, however destructive, most often are like personal disaster, are the result of pervasive stupidity — even in political circles.

Nonie Darwish zeroes in on the best strategies to confront and outsmart our enemy in the terror war.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/frontpagemag-com/tricking-and-dividing-the-muslim-world-on-the-glazov-gang-2/

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
http://blogs.jpost.com/users/just-look-us-now
An Israeli-discovered link between diabetes and brain disease may lead to treatments for both.
· The new head of an Israeli hospital is from Israel’s minority Druze community.
· An Israeli startup is developing a 3D desktop printer that can print electronic circuits.
· Israel has abolished customs duty on imports of clean technology products.
· Three Israeli TV shows were big sellers at the Cannes international MIPCOM show.
· Israel hosted the largest vegan festival in the world.
· The birth rate in the Jewish State is the highest in the developed world.
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Link between diabetes and brain disease. (Thanks to Israel21c) In another brain disease discovery, Ben Gurion University researchers have found similar adverse protein interactions in Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Type 2 diabetes. Treatments to prevent these interactions could prevent all three diseases.
http://www.israel21c.org/headlines/why-diabetes-raises-risk-of-parkinsons/

The first medical inhaler for cannabis. Israeli biotech Syqe Medical has developed the world’s first metered-dose device for inhaling medical cannabis – vital for many patients suffering from MS or pain that does not respond to conventional treatments. The device can be produced on a 3D printer and controlled by iPhone.
http://www.greenprophet.com/2014/10/syqe-inhaler-medical-cannabis/ http://www.syqemedical.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miUYb_V2GMU

Eye surgery in Kyrgyzstan. (Thanks to Hazel) Israeli eye doctors performed 55 operations and examined over 250 patients at the Eye Microsurgery Department of Osh Interregional Hospital in Kyrgyzstan. (Note – the original website article has been deleted)
https://www.facebook.com/CaNewsEng/posts/548645325265461

It’s breast cancer awareness month. I missed reporting previously this report on Israel’s Channel 2 of the Octava cancer test from Israel’s Eventus. So this month it’s a good opportunity to include it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV2-IM4Vo_w
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

3D electronics printing. Israel’s Nano Dimension is developing a desktop-sized 3D printer that prints electrical circuit boards. It uses silver nano-particle processes developed by Hebrew University Professor Shlomo Magdassi to produce insulating and conductive inks for the circuits. Maybe one day you will be able to print your own computer or mobile phone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4m5skH0sGw
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/10/prweb12215397.htm http://www.nano-di.com/

The plastic center of attention. The International Polymer Processing Society (PPS) is holding its annual conference in Israel for the first time in its 30-year history. Top experts will discuss 3D printing, nano-technology, biodegradable polymers, super-hygrophobicity, medical polymers, smart materials and much more.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/boycott-be-gone-plastics-researchers-to-meet-in-israel/

The Israel Conference in LA. The Israel Conference Oct 30-31 in Los Angeles features 75 stellar speakers from Israel-facing hi-tech companies. The diverse cross-section of innovation and design from Israel provides the attendees with a front-row seat to the technologies and products of tomorrow.
http://www.israelscienceinfo.com/en/hightech/yossi-vardi-invite-75-leaders-israeliens-du-high-tech-los-angeles-the-israel-conference-les-30-31-oct-2014/

Converting kitchen waste to cooking gas. Israeli HomeBioGas units are transforming trash into bio-gas for Bedouin residents of Umm Batin near Beersheva. Israel’s environment ministry subsidized the 8,000-shekels cost per unit. Now 50 units are headed to the Dominic Republic as part of a test project.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/New-Tech/Generating-biogas-from-Umm-Batin-to-the-Dominican-Republic-378105

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

No customs duty for cleantech products. Israel has joined a group of 41 countries that have agreed to drop all customs duties on goods that contribute to a cleaner environment. The global deal will also make Israel’s vast range of clean technology products cheaper abroad and thus help Israeli exports.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/186129#.VDyqGlc0_B8

The first haredi incubator. “Yazam BaLev” (“an entrepreneur at heart”) is the first full-fledged accelerator that will provide support to haredi (very religious) Jewish hi-tech start-ups. The 4-month Jerusalem College of Technology program includes mentoring and training in how to present to potential investors.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/first-ever-haredi-tech-accelerator-opens-in-jerusalem/

Am Yisrael Buy. A new app Am Yisrael Buy helps users find products that were specifically made in Israel to buy. The name is obviously a play on the Hebrew phrase “Am Yisrael Chai” which translates as “long live the Nation of Israel.” The app is available for both Android and iOS smartphones and devices.
http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2014/10/18/am-yisrael-buy-app-helps-support-israel/

Israeli TV shows are big sellers. (Thanks to Israel21c) Turkey, Italy, Germany, France, Sweden and Spain have all signed deals for new original Israeli game shows and reality formats. At the MIPCOM TV market in Cannes, international TV producers bought “The People’s Choice”, “Help! I can’t cook!” and “300 Sec. Ride”
http://www.israel21c.org/news/world-tv-producers-scoop-up-israeli-shows-at-mipcom/

All good news here. Thanks to ex-Ambassador Yoram Ettinger for this report of recent Israeli global business successes. http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=10245

Israeli gas is a game changer. By end 2015, Israel may have binding agreements to sell billions of dollars of natural gas to Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. Even Turkey is interested. Israeli Energy Minister Silvan Shalom said Israel’s gas “allows us to enjoy both political and economic fruits”.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-10-13/israel-sees-gas-as-key-to-transforming-mideast-relations

CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT

Israeli dance troupe wins Cyprus folklore festival. Hadera’s 26-member “Colors of Dance” troupe won first prize at the Ninth Mediterranean Folklore Festival in Larnaca, Cyprus. 12 countries competed in the five-day festival, including Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Egypt and Georgia.
http://www.jpost.com/Metro/Victorious-Hadera-dance-troupe-returns-home-from-Cyprus-Folklore-Festival-378316

The world’s largest vegan festival. Israel hosted on Monday what organizers say is the largest vegan festival in the world. Ramat Gan’s Vegan Fest 2014 featured workshops, lectures, panels, concerts, some 15,000 visitors and (of course) meat and dairy-free food. Israel also has the largest proportion of vegans in the world.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/vegan-festival-said-to-be-worlds-biggest/

The balloons go up and down. (Thanks to Israel21c) This year’s International Hot Air Balloon Festival began near Mount Gilboa in the Galilee and finished at Park Eshkol in the Negev, watched by over 10,000 spectators. 16 balloons traversed the country, including from the US, Austria, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
http://www.israel21c.org/israel-in-pictures/hot-air-balloon-festival-2014/

The best bar in the Middle East. (Thanks to Hazel and Israel21c) Drinks International magazine listed Tel Aviv’s Imperial Craft Cocktail Bar as the best bar in Africa and the Middle East. Outside of Israel, however, the choice must have been somewhat limited!
http://www.israel21c.org/news/mideasts-best-bar-is-in-downtown-tel-aviv/

10 dolphins visit Israeli coast. Tourists to the Jewish State during the festival of Tabernacles included a school of 10 dolphins that entertained the survey team from the Israel Marine Mammal Research & Assistance Center.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/WATCH-Dolphins-swimming-off-of-Israels-Mediterranean-coast-378718

Two wins out of two. Israel made it six points out of six in soccer’s Euro 2016 qualifying Group B, with Omer Damari netting a hat trick in a 4-1 victory in Andorra. Previously, Israel had an encouraging 2-1 win in Cyprus.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Sports/Israel-beats-Andorra-4-1-in-Euro-2016-soccer-qualifier-378843
http://eajc.org/page32/news47666.html

THE JEWISH STATE

From Chief to Chief. In 1953 Yigael Yadin – the first Chief of Staff of the new Jewish State – discovered letters written by Simon Bar Kochba – the last commander of Judea. The letters, now on display in the Israel Museum, were addressed to commanders of the Jewish army – perhaps including Yadin, some 1820 years later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juwF2Eo_Z-0

Leader of Jewish legion returns to Zion. Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson led the British Army’s Jewish Legion to battle against the Turks in WW1. He was widely recognized as a “true righteous among the gentiles”. To commemorate the 147th anniversary of his birth, Lt. Col. Patterson’s ashes will be re-interred in Israel.
http://www.jns.org/news-briefs/2014/10/13/christian-commander-of-jabotinsky-and-trumpeldor-will-be-buried-in-israel#.VDysrlc0_B8=

Another rescue via Entebbe. The Ugandan Jewish community of Abayudaya had no Arba Minim (4 species) with which to celebrate the festival of Sukkot. So Melanie Lidman traversed facebook, Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Entebbe airport and Kampala to bring a set donated by total strangers to the eagerly awaiting Jews.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-great-ugandan-lulav-crisis-averted-with-a-little-help-from-my-fronds/

President Rivlin’s “green” sukka. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin used the theme “Sukkot in the Environment” when he invited the public to join him in his Jerusalem sukka. Visitors enjoyed activities and displays promoting recycling and reuse, green space, bio-gas from waste and sustainable construction.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/186108#.VDvVW1c0_B8

Israel has the highest birth rate in the developed world. At the Jewish New Year 2014, Israel’s population has risen to 8,252,500. Israel’s birth rate of 3 children per woman is the highest in the developed world. (The international average is 1.7) 42% of the world’s 14.2 million Jews now reside in Israel.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/newpop.html

Returning lost property. Yarden Ben-Ezra was driving behind a Brink’s security truck in the Israeli city of Kiryat Ata when a sack containing 400,000 shekels fell out of the truck. Ben-Ezra retrieved the bag and chased the truck until it finally stopped. The guards, who hadn’t noticed the loss, thanked Ben-Ezra and drove off.
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=20709

“They will all come to Jerusalem”. Zechariah’s prophecy is coming to fruition. Thousands of Christian supporters of Israel packed Jerusalem’s streets and the new Pais Arena to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
Thousands of Christians voice support for Israel in Jerusalem

The entire issue of Palestinian statehood, and the Palestinian narrative on which it is based, are nothing but a giant hoax so transparent it is inconceivable that anyone even feigns credence to it.

‘With the two-state solution… Israel will collapse, because if they get out of Jerusalem, what will become of all the talk about the Promised Land and the chosen people? What will become of all the sacrifices they made – just to be told to leave? They consider Jerusalem to have a spiritual status. The Jews consider Judea and Samaria to be their historic dream. If the Jews leave those places, the Zionist idea will begin to collapse…. Then we will move forward.”

– Abbas Zaki, senior PLO official. (ANB TV, Lebanon, May 7, 2009)

Two recent events have once again propelled Palestinian statehood into the forefront of media spotlight, after several months of it being overshadowed by other events like developments in Ukraine, the war in Gaza and the televised barbarity of Islamic State.

One was the statement by Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven (subsequently somewhat equivocally revised) that his country would recognize a Palestinian state. The other was the British Parliament’s (nonbinding, but in the eyes of some, historic) vote on recognition of statehood for the Palestinians.

In light of these incidents, I was invited to appear on i24news news and participate in a discussion with a Palestinian interlocutor on the prospects for, and the prudence of, establishing a Palestinian state.

Much of what follows reflects the things I said during that 20-minute debate – and the things I didn’t, but would have, had time permitted.