My Guilty Verdict of Identity Political Sins

 

I awakened this morning realizing the horrid truth that I am an affront to identity political fears. Of all my sins, probably my most egregious is that I am a male. Not just male but also heterosexual. Well, I may as well admit to my further crimes, I am white as well. At least I do not fit the final box on the White, Male, Heterosexual privilege chart, I am not a true WASP as I am not Protestant. But as it turns out, I may be in an even worse category; I am a Jew, and not just a Jew but a Zionist and conservative Jew. I may as well admit it as it has cost me dearly in the past making me a pariah in more than one Synagogue across the fruited plains and both coasts as well. But I am even worse than the run of the mill White, Male, Heterosexual, Conservative, Religious and pro-Israel individual, I am proud of my guilt because I know that there is no real guilt to be had. The only true sin I have committed is not having any difficulty owning up to my presumed guilt and will gladly profess my preferences before my accusers. Of course this simply infuriates them further as they only gain advantage when people like me act ashamed and defensive to their accusations. Me, I simply revel in them and laughingly watch as those who would greedily stand pointing out my guilt over my groveling and writhing body on my face and begging forgiveness as they haughtily instruct me that I must confess my sins. They cannot utilize someone who refuses to beg and instead stands proudly before them stating that sure I am exactly what you accuse me of being, so what! That is the wrong stance and they are used to people that apologize for their sins, not reveling in them and using the identities as a badge of honor that it should be and not a sash of shame. I will not eat humble pie nor will I claim to be sorry for my accomplishments as I earned each and every one and none were simply given to me because of my so-called privilege.

 

You see I refuse to play by the rulebook of Identity Politics. This book states that in order to win every argument one only need accuse the other side of committing some unforgivable sin. The person is white or male or heterosexual or conservative or belongs to any group which can be cast as a majority, well, except being male as men are actually a minority. Their rules are to hit any sensitive spot where they can accuse you of being one of the deadly privileged kinds of personhood and if no prime example exists, then they just throw accusations until they hit a nerve. The accusations start with the obvious but let us say their adversary is someone such as Star Parker who is an American syndicated columnist, Republican politician, conservative political activist, author and very attractive (see below). Her disqualifying identity is that she is famous and even more unapologetic than I. They would strike her for being a known conservative and a Republican and those would be the last words they manage before she would tear them apart piece by piece. That is a side effect of proud and informed conservatives; we usually are not at a loss for words. But even those of us who are capable of giving as good as we get, if not better, is that we are defenseless against the current dilemma, the massive attacks such as are showing at Republican politicians’ town hall meetings.

 

Star Parker

 

Protesters exploded in anger after a chaplain prayed in the name of Jesus at a town hall meeting in Louisiana hosted by U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy. They did just as decent, or should we say indecent, a job heckling at a decorated Viet Nam veteran when he attempted to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The hecklers shouted things such as, “Pray on your own time. This is our time,” and “Amen. Let’s get on with it,” while others insisted, “Separation of church and state” and so on and so forth. Chaplain Sprague told the media, “I’ve never been shouted down throughout a time of prayer like that,” adding “I’ve never been in a situation like that. It’s sad there wasn’t honor and respect for God.” Cassidy said in remarks reported by the Times-Picayune, “Wow, they booed the name of Jesus.” Some mentioned that they were suspicious as to the origin of these disrupters as they claimed people from their area would never have acted in such a manner. Our sense was it had been noted that there were numerous vehicles which arrived early with out of state license plates which we found to be suspicious explaining why the event had been hijacked with some of the locals betting that the disrupters were likely paid for their disruptive and disgusting performances. Their providers likely should be happy as it appears they got their money’s worth.

 

 

This has been the recent explosion across the width and breadth of the United States at numerous conservative town hall meetings held by Republicans. These have been in concert with the events we spoke of in our article from yesterday titled, “The Left and Their Dream with the Shadow Government” where there have been concerted rioting taking place in major liberal cities and college campuses with many locations security personnel and police instructed to stand back and allow the “demonstrators” space to express themselves. In an event not too long ago where Milo Yiannopoulos was invited to give a performance or something at the University of California Berkley Campus where because he was perceived as a conservative speaker, he is more libertarian than conservative, there was a riot staged with the campus police instructed not to interfere resulting in over one-hundred-thousand-dollars damages to the campus before everything calmed. He was denied speaking so their actions were rewarded and this will serve Berkley, the birthplace back in the 1960’s of free speech, poorly and probably just serve to encourage a much larger disruption the next time anybody considered controversial is invited by anybody to appear.

 

All of these actions have been far from amusing and have served to reinforce that my making Aliyah was the correct action even though my doing so had nothing to do with American political scene, it was the result of a promise made to myself when I was quite young, nine to be exact. My wife probably would have preferred my informing her of this little item before we were married and the look on her face when I announced we were moving to Israel one evening in passing as if it was simply another casual remark. Her reaction was less than casual and in the end we made the trip and it has made us both quite happy to be here. She still holds dearly to her Americanism and the politics are a sort of interest though she does not dwell politics quite as I do. She spends more time socializing and having events with other ladies and groups, often dragging me along (well, not always dragging as I do enjoy many events and am going to pay for admitting this). Perhaps we can take less of a panicked look at events in the United States, at least far more relaxed than our friends still back there, especially those residing near and about the nation’s capital. That space allows for a more unattached review where things do not strike us as if it were right outside. For that we have our own set of political and other possibilities which take center stage over the events in America, as they should. Still, we at BTC still need to stay up to date on events back in the United States in order to write on them, so we still know and react to events, just do not need to worry if the demonstrations will be coming down our street or block our way to the store or wherever. As stated, for that we have our own difficulties from time to time.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

The Clocks Are Ticking Bibi

 

We understand that for a brief period you might slowly back away from your pushing the Two State Solution and replace it with a final ultimatum to Mahmoud Abbas, negotiate in good faith or all agreements are now null and void. Set a deadline like, oh, say the first of July, or perhaps June. Then, when Mahmoud Abbas instead makes demands at the United Nations General Assembly claiming that Israel refuses to negotiate honestly, remind him that technically the Oslo Accords had an end by date which was passed long ago and any allowance Israel has made by not deporting him and his merry band of cutthroats has been good faith times ten. Then remind him of the deadline and that this is as far as Israel is willing to extend the moribund Oslo Accords. Remind him that once the Oslo Accords are made defunct, that he no longer has any authority and his Security Force of enforcer thugs will be disarmed and disbanded as Israel will be reclaiming her weapons and enforcing all Israeli laws about firearm ownership. Further, point out that abiding by International Law that once the Oslo Accords are considered abrogated, that there is no Palestinian Authority and the PLO returns to being a terrorist organization and Fatah has no standing as it only existed to serve as the terrorist party which ran the Palestinian Authority as a dictatorship. Remind Abbas that his term of office ended years ago and that Israel will be holding new election across the areas of Judea and Samaria for local offices in every town and city. These elections will be monitored by Israel and Fatah will not be on any ballots because he and his merry band of thieves are going to be back in Tunis or wherever they can find someplace which will accept them. You might want to mention that Syria is the default location for his banishment so he had best find someplace a little less terrifying unless Syria suits his ideas for the future. That is what should happen and what many Israelis are hoping will happen.

 

President Obama is gone and United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2334 is an advisory resolution with no enforcement or even advisory status and the nations who are now committing to boycotts are using UNSC Res 2334 as their cover and would use anything they might ever find, even a call from Mahmoud Abbas or any of his henchmen as reason for boycotting Israel. You will notice their boycotts are selective in that they are only boycotting items which they are able to buy elsewhere and not Israeli technology, medical breakthroughs, agricultural developments, communication devices and all other wonders from Israel and aiming for retail items. Perhaps Israel should start a boycott of the nations who are boycotting Israel by refusing to allow them anything Israeli, except that is not how Israel or the Jewish People work as we try to be a better people by not stooping to the low levels others may take against us. Israel refuses to give up on peace despite everything that has worked to make that overly costly and cheated us of the lands we were promised by the world for over fifty years. We gave peace and the Arab Palestinians every opportunity including the Gaza Strip to show their true colors and their idea of what peace should be. They showed they defined peace as dead Jews, an Israel bombed and rocketed back to the Stone Age and in ruins, a desolate ruin with six-million Jews murdered, preferably in their sleep as that makes them unable to fight back. Whenever they attempted to destroy Israel by force they failed because we fought back, period. Every time Israel made a concession, surrendered control of land to the Arabs or anything else to forge peace we were answered with violence and terrorism. No more as we have had enough and we demand our government give our ultimatum and make peace now or end the farce.

 

When we elected your party we did so because we desired an end to the roundabout of demands followed by terror attacks followed by further demands then terrorism over and over endlessly and we were told that this would end. Then came President Obama and a threat over our heads held by the United States President who had nothing but spite and hate for Israel and religious Jews. He favored Iran controlling the Middle East and Israel a secondary power and soon to be a relic talked of fondly as they always do once the Jews have been defeated. After the Shoah we heard the sorrow and apologies and the claims of “We didn’t know.” The lies and the regrets over the dead Jews when the real sorrow was there were live Jews who were now demanding their nation which had been promised already for twenty years and counting. The British did everything they were able to arm the Arabs who were dedicated to murdering the Jewish State at her birth and who rose up with the Mufti of Jerusalem, the Mufti just returned from spending the war in Berlin and attending the Wannsee Conference where he was considered an advisor and expert on how to address the Jewish Problem. There exist reports which give the Mufti credit with suggesting that the Jews be liquidated completely and requested that when the Nazis conquered the Middle East and allowed him to rule it that they assist him with what would be his Jewish Problem. He definitely organized militias and rear attacks by numerous Arab villages during the war of elimination waged against Israel in 1948. The Mufti of Jerusalem commanded a division called the Arab Brigade which was made up of Arabs who had been living alongside the Jews in the lands of the British Mandate west of the Jordan River. These forces already held most of Jerusalem and much of Judean Hills and Samaria as well as parts of the Galilee and Negev as well as what is today called the Arab Triangle in the southeastern Galilee bordering Judea and were well armed allowing the Arab armies from six nations plus volunteers to gain large swaths of what the world had promised Israel including all of Jerusalem. It took the Israelis most of a year to slowly regain land and open a road to Jerusalem and manage to take the western end of Jerusalem but were unable to take the Old City, Temple Mount and much of the historic Jewish Capital City. When that war was ended we heard again how sorry the world was that they had to allow the Arabs to retain lands which were promised Israel. They then armed the Arabs and by 1967 they were ready to try and extinguish Israel once again. The world was quick to stop that war after one week as it became obvious after Israel surrounded the Egyptian Third Army in the Sinai Peninsula, had taken the Golan Heights and were a threat to Damascus and pushed Jordan from the areas of Judea and Samaria and liberated all of Jerusalem. The world was again sorry that they did not allow Israel to force their enemies to surrender but instead allowed them a noble end to the fighting. Then they regretted but started demanding Israel return land, just land and later the land and now all the land. The world is sorry so they demand to set up a rematch this time with Hamas and Hezballah along with Iran and who knows who else. Bibi, the world is always sorry and we always accept their apology. Let us give them a reason to be sorry again except this time because we asserted to take that which is ours.

 

Mufti of Jerusalem During Nazi World War II
Where He Met the Highest Officers
And Attended the Wannsee Conference

 

There is no more threat coming from out of Washington D.C. and we have a friend in the White House. We need act because any friend in the White House will face pressures from the enemies of Israel and her Jews in the American government. They exist in the State Department through and through and they are at the United Nations and a swarm of hundreds of antagonistic NGO’s plus enemies in the Congress and who knows where else. All of these will begin pestering President Donald Trump making his life difficult and being such a bother that eventually he will simply grant them a morsel just for a moment’s peace. That will be a brief respite before the spite returns and demands another morsel. We must act before he is forced to grant that first morsel because once that has happened, we will have lost our golden opportunity. Opportunities for Israel and for Jews are a rare and seldom held jewel. Often when these rare jewels do arrive we find that many amongst us become timid and worry that perhaps we need consider the ramifications of acting too fast. They demand we stop and debate the best course. They want a plan laid out with every step planned and the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed before even taking that first step. Our enemies do not plan; they simply attack and attack never giving a moments rest to those who try to assist us. They cannot help us more than we help ourselves. When we falter, they falter as they are not going to stand someplace we refuse to stand ourselves. We must stand forth now and make our position known and strongly stated. We must make the alternative to Abbas negotiating honestly and immediately with our relegating the Oslo accords to the trash bin of history where it should have been tossed years ago. Time ran out on Oslo long ago during the last century and Oslo II has also passed its use by date and belongs next to Oslo in that trash bin of history. The lands of Judea and Samaria belong to Israel by International Law and we all know this. Time has come to annex them and unite them with the rest of Israel. The first thing after that will be to extend Israeli law to all of Judea and Samaria and allow for the sale of land by its owner to whomever they please for whatever price they are able to get without any threat of death from their government. We must bring the rule of law equally to the Arabs who have been deprived their true freedom to grow and gain wealth. Within the first six months there should be elections in every town, city, community and hamlet and the disbanding of the Palestinian authority. Mahmoud Abbas and the rest of the officers and Security Forces need be fully vetted and if any link to terrorism is found, then they need to be deported. There is an alternative and that is to hold an open and free election in Judea and Samaria and allow the Arabs to choose leadership. All the candidates must be vetted by Israel and be free from any terrorist ties. Regular Israeli laws must be extended to all of Judea and Samaria should Abbas refuse again to negotiate in good faith. Breaking off negotiations or demanding unacceptable conditions will not be tolerated and there should be a deadline for reaching an agreement or Israel annexes everything. No more the Arabs demand, break negotiations and then pick up demanding additional concessions before breaking off negotiations again and repeating this in efforts to gain everything without giving in on anything. This has to end now.

 

The end must come within this first six months as to expect President Trump to tolerate endless fake negotiations is ridiculous. Making the Israelis put up with terrorists governing Judea and Samaria teaching hatreds raising generation after generation of new terrorists is unacceptable. All of this ridiculous allowing endless terrorism with wave after wave must not be tolerated any further. The time has come and the opportunity with it for Israel to demand an end. We, the Israeli people, your people, we have endured intifadas, rocket attacks in the thousands, terrorists tunneling under our towns and coming up near our schools and kindergartens threatening our children. No more terror and safety for our children and ourselves. We demand life and our government should provide us with everything for the safety of our towns, cities, kibbutzim and every last farmhouse. No more terror, no more rockets, no more intifadas and no more incitement which will grant us life because our enemies are correct, we choose life and we value life. The Arabs likely also would choose life providing their lives were made worth living. Under the terrorist government they suffer, their lives are made worthless and their opportunities are stolen before they can be realized. Israel must change that for them because doing this and giving them freedom and opportunity will change their views and many will choose life for themselves and their children. We must choose life and give the Arabs the opportunity to choose life and make life worth choosing. The real thing that is debated and negotiated is and always has been life, our lives and the chance for the Arabs to live free as well. Now is the time that we can make this be a real opportunity for the Arabs and giving them the opportunity to thrive and be really alive, will make a real difference and that opportunity cannot be squandered. Too many times we have squandered real opportunities and we the Israelis demand this one not be lost. If you are unable to commit to progress and life for all within our lands then please resign and hold an election so we can find somebody willing to act and do that which is required to make good on this opportunity we have been presented. We want to choose life and freedom without the fear of terror which had plagued us since Oslo and shortly before committed to push us to the false Oslo promise which was actually a promise of a slow death. We choose life, end this tracking of death and let us choose life.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

What a Difference the Media Makes

 

Thinking back just over eight years to the media coverage of the election of President Barack Hussein Obama and his overwhelming Democrat majority in both houses of Congress and with a filibuster proof majority in the Senate and the media was all dreamy-eyed. There was their obvious euphoria which reflected much of the population’s reaction to having elected the first Black President. There was speculation of all the wondrous things to come, universal healthcare, a more perfect society, booming economy, jobs galore, the end of war, historic changes and a better Supreme Court. It was almost ghoulish when some articles even listed three or potentially four older Supreme Court Justices who might pass on or resign during President Obama’s terms in office. Oh yea, and his reelection was already in the bag, the one item which was apparently true. There were no mentions of crime rates, homeless people, drug problems amongst teens and young adults, rampant crime or even mention that some who had voted for Senator John McCain might not be as “in” with the election results. No, there was no mention of them or that they were not happy with the idea of fundamentally changing America and feared they were about to experience a rerun of President Jimmy Carter on steroids. Little did they know but they were also going to get a big dose of President Lyndon Baines Johnson and steamrolling over Congress and a pinch of President Lincoln and his disregard for the limitations of the Constitution. The ride was going too long and especially hard for Strong Conservatives, Religious Traditionalists, Strong Foreign Policy and Constitutional Purists. In most of the media, even presumably conservative Fox News with the only exceptions being some conservatives talk radio and television and editorial page writers who predicted a long cold time in the winter grounds of the political world. They were exiled and shunned with much of the media predicting the end of conservatives and the Republican Party. They were almost correct.

 

The presumed common knowledge that any Republican could and would have defeated Hillary Clinton and done so with a far more definitive vote count in the popular vote and Electoral College. Some doubt this bold and seeming obvious logic and ask if Jeb Bush had been the Republican candidate, would he have done as well or even won? Then counting out Jeb Bush, which of the other fifteen remaining candidates would have won? Would Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, John Kasich, Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki or Jim Gilmore really have drawn voters to the polls in the numbers that Donald Trump? Would any of these have made a bigger spectacle of the media and their bias and used the media against the system as did Donald Trump? Granted, there might have been a select few, no more than three, who would have honestly had a better than even chance of defeating Hillary Clinton using traditional political theater. Republicans should face the fact that Donald Trump really was the choice looking back because Hillary Clinton had the old style game wrapped up and had the funding to bury any Republican message put forth in the traditional manner. Trump won by making news report him and often only him and that was what was necessary to outdo Hillary Clinton and the billions she had to spend. It was being brash and in the face of the media demanding time that gave Trump the edge other candidates would have lacked. Name a single Republican who could have gotten more media than Hillary Clinton and also been considered electable by normative standards, the means all the others with the possible exception of Ted Cruz whose appeal was even more limited than Donald Trump had.

 

Forward to the media after this Electoral College landslide and what are the media covering. Their main stories are “stolen election,” popular vote, Hillary Won, Electors need be allowed to switch to Hillary Clinton, end Electoral College, American democracy (forgetting that America is actually a Constitutional Democratic Republic with the words other than Democratic having the majority of the weight), Russian hacking, Russia backing Trump, and more Hillary Clinton needs to become the winner by any and all means necessary. When not declaring Donald Trump illegitimate, questioning election results, giving slanted or even false stories about delegates changing their vote on the first ballot of the Electoral College (never happened and most delegates are sworn to vote for the declared winner of their state on the first or first two ballots with some having to do so no matter how many ballot votes are necessitated), then they are talking of all the threats and difficulties which President Trump will face. Some news items are talking up the challenges and negatives in society which they have not mentioned for the past eight years, really weird how all these things, low workforce participation, higher than reported unemployment, crime rates climbing, murder rates at all-time highs, foreign problems in the Middle East, especially Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria which were all under control until Trump won because that caused them to explode, Putin, more Putin, and some even decry that Donald Trump was elected President and has done nothing about any of these problems. Truth is Donald Trump will not actually be elected President until next week after the Electoral College votes and sends their results to Congress and then we technically need to wait for Congress to accept the ballots and then he becomes President Elect, probably some time a week before the Inauguration. Oh, another item is that he does not become President until after the swearing in at approximately noon on January 20, 2017 and then he becomes President with absolutely no advisors, Cabinet, or Administration in any working order as he has to present all his appointees for Senate ratification. These are often a simple formality with an occasional debate and extra few days or a week required and rarely is anyone the President desires on his Cabinet turned down. Expect the Democrats to filibuster and try to prevent some, if not many or even a majority, of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet appointments with the possibility that some will be refused because the Democrats refuse to permit a vote to ratify their appointments. While this is not unheard of, it has not been a practice and the last time there was even doubts was with President Ronald Reagan and we cannot recall any from before that going back to the first republican President, Abe Lincoln, who was the last to have any appointments to his Cabinet debated harshly.

 

Why the problems with the Cabinet. Well, the media has been debating the problem already. President Trump has chosen two Generals, actually three but the third does not require Congressional approval as he will be the National Security Advisor (but he may require release from the seven years required retirement time before serving in government which falls to Congress), both of whom President Obama let go, forced retirement, fired (you choose the description which fits your thoughts as they all end the same way) thus also require waivers as well as approval to their positions. The generals are General James “Mad Dog” Mattis (ret) as Secretary of Defense and General John Kelly (ret) as Secretary of Homeland security (Lt. General Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor). The positions that the media is all hyperventilating over, having retired Generals appointed from the Marines and Army, are hardly positions where having served in a ranking position in the military would exactly be a disqualification and one might claim an advantageous part to have in one’s background. General John Kelly (ret) served largely in intelligence and that General James “Mad Dog” Mattis (ret) was an infantry and combat arms commander who was loved and highly rated by the men who served under him, both as officers and enlisted down to the lowest grunt. Lt. General Michael Flynn also has a background serving in the Defense Intelligence Agency as well as holding Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance. General James “Mad Dog” Mattis service history is extensive and reads U.S. Central Command, U.S. Joint Forces Command, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, U.S. Marine Forces Central Command, Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Commander 1st Marine Division, Commander 7th Marine Regiment, and Commander 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. General John Kelly (ret) served as United States Southern Command, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, and Multinational Force West. We would not be exactly upset, saddened or even perturbed should Donald Trump choose a few more Generals as well as others with extensive military background as we fear that such men and women with such experience are going to become a needed commodity sooner rather than later as the world, especially the Middle East and Europe crumble before our eyes.

 

We can expect much of the media going into hypoxic shock from hyperventilating and potentially passing out with some requiring medical treatment for what will eventually be referred to as TRDS, or Trump Reflexive Distress Syndrome. There is probably no cure but as we understand, it is treated by having the afflicted color in coloring books (neatness not required nor is coloring inside the lines), petting puppies and kittens, hugging warm blankets while suckling on a pacifier or thumb, standing in a corner screaming obscenities at the wall (only for the most severe cases) and the always required stress counselling with a trained and licensed Stress Counsellor. There will continue to be long lists of a litany of troubles, criminal waves, lawless cities, and general disasters worldwide which are the direct result of the Trump victory and also the greatest threats to world societal peace and thus things that a President Trump will be responsible for contending with. Of course there is an instant solution to all these ills, find a way to elect Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump and all these problems would disappear until a Republican would get elected, like that would ever happen in a sane world. See, even we are showing signs of stress due to all those who are suffering from TRDS (Trump Reflexive Distress Syndrome). Those who voted approvingly for Donald Trump and have been celebrating this victory should be advised to not turn on their radios or televisions unless they know and have wisely chosen where and from whom to get their news. Choose incorrectly and your sanity will be rocked by the openly biased partisanship against Trump which is close to universal even across the ocean in Europe the leftists are in shock. There is hope that these people can be settled sufficiently such that they can explode again should Donald Trump even run and especially should he win a second term.

 

TRDS or Trump Reflexive Distress Syndrome

 

Puppies at George Mason University
Picture Care of Washington Post

 

But first, why don’t we all agree to wait and see how he performs before denouncing him as a failure because all these problems are out there and he has not done a single thing. You are correct, but that is because he is not the President yet. If you had truly wanted actions taken on these issues you would have been covering them for the past eight years and wondering where President Obama was on these problems but instead you simply celebrated having won the election because that is what it is all about, winning. President Obama summed up the left when he stated simply to the Republicans when they were intentionally locked out of anything to do with the crafting of Obamacare and he blurted accusingly, “We won!” What an argument over any input on such an overreaching piece of legislation but on the other side, Obamacare is pure Democrat Party crafting and did not receive a single Republican vote in the entire two houses of Congress. Unprecedented, and there you have it.

 

Beyond the Cusp