Beyond the Cusp

December 11, 2016

From Israel for Your Information

 

Just as the world’s media downplayed or simply ignored not only the massive forest and other fires where many were proved to be arson, there are some other stories which might not have reached the rest of the world we thought you might desire hearing all about. We will start out with lighter fare and work our way through to wherever it leads us. One factoid which became known this week has supposedly struck some in the Arab world as distressful, that there has been a steady increase of Israeli Arabs joining the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Another was the breaking up of a terror cell of eight Hamas backed Arab residents from the Sur Baher and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. The cell was preparing to carry out shooting attacks in the Israeli Capital of Jerusalem and surrounding areas, including against an IDF base and targets on Mount Scopus, home to the Hebrew University and Hadassah Hospital. The cell had reconnoitered some of their targets and were about to attack the IDF base in North Jerusalem on Mount Scopus. The cell was apparently started by Hamas back in 2015 after many of its members were released from serving their sentences for previous “nationalistic” crimes, a euphemism for terrorist attacks. A statement released by Shin Bet reported, “The disruption of the [terror] network preventing a number of serious terror attacks in Jerusalem and its discovery again highlights the danger posed by terrorists with Israeli ID cards, who benefit from the freedom of movement and access to firearms, making it relatively easy for such individuals to carry out terror attacks.”

 

In plain English the point was that the instigating tactics and inflaming of anti-Israel and anti-Semitism exists and has been growing amongst Israeli Arab, especially those who received citizenship when East Jerusalem was formally annexed and the residents granted Israeli identification cards. Many of these who have taken to terrorism were initially educated by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and never were honestly integrated into Israeli society and still dreamed of the destruction of the Jewish State. This was also a further warning of some of the problems which now exist after so many decades of Arab incitement throughout their society and particularly in their education indoctrination schools and camps. The silence from the world’s media on these two stories stem from the same inadequacy, or better put, were filtered from the news by the same principle, no news which backs the Israel or Jewish side of this conflict must be permitted. On the other hand, every time an Arab is harmed even through a verbal slighting, no matter what the reasoning this must be blown out of proportion and be used to show the racism in Israeli reporting by the European and leftist world media. The simple fact of breaking up a terrorist squad one would think could be a good news story but only if it takes place in Paris, Rome, Berlin, London or any other Western metropolis as preventing terror in these parts is part of the “War on Terror” while the same events in Israel is part of “other news” and not the slightest degree of equal importance. The media would have you believe that terrorism in Israel is separate and totally different and unrelated to terror outside of Israel. According to too many media news editors, Israeli terrorist attacks are deserved while all terror outside Israel is horrific and actually Israel’s fault in the first place and thus can be reported and even blamed upon Israel if even the most tenuous connection is possible.

 

This brings us to our last story before more opinion comes your way. The United Nations, that great arbiter of beneficial actions has decided to vote next week in the General Assembly to fund a blacklisting of Israeli and international companies operating in Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and in Judea and Samaria. There will be no distinction as to whether these companies employ Palestinian Arabs or that by boycotting them they are acting in a hurtful manner as we can assure you that in virtually every company which had facilities outside the Green Line is employing both Israeli settlers and Palestinian Arabs. Why, you may ask, would the international community boycott or otherwise target Israeli companies who employ Palestinian Arabs with equal rights and salaries as Israeli citizens possibly causing these Palestinian Arabs who this is done to support their good paying jobs. The reason is as sick as it is disgusting. These Arabs, who work alongside Jewish workers, hold management and supervisory position in equal percentages as Jewish workers with some supervising Jewish workers, despite what you may have been told, are not helping the cause of proving Israel to be an Apartheid state which segregates against Arabs. All Palestinian Arabs must be dependent on Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah, UNRWA, and be providing ample fodder for the terror mills. Israeli employed Palestinian Arabs make often half again higher wages that even the PA security forces are paid and this makes for bad news. These Palestinian Arabs are considered by the world media to be collaborators and that can only be an evil Zionist plot to employ these Palestinian Arabs and provide them jobs and equal treatment and what would happen should the world find this out. When SodaStream was boycotted and maligned sufficiently that they closed their Judea plant and this cost nearly a thousand Palestinian Arab jobs but this was heralded as a good thing as it presumably cost the Jew settlers their jobs, but it did not because they have Israeli Identification Cards and thus just had a farther distance to drive to work and kept their jobs. The Palestinian Arabs would need to receive special work permit identification cards which would also have required clearance from the PA as well as Israel and these papers were slow if ever coming at all thus all that was accomplished by the boycott of SodaStream was the loss of Palestinian Arabs’ jobs making for another group of PA Arabs that Israel would not permit to work. Now there is a story they did report but did so making it seem like SodaStream had simply fired their Arab workers at their Judea plant and never noting it was the media that hounded them in closing that plant.

 

Many of these to be blacklisted Israeli companies will either move their companies within Israel or simply go bust and close up all together. Palestinian Arabs will lose good jobs and Jews residing now near their work will need to take transportation or drive further to reach their work. This blacklisting makes for some added stress for the Jews working in Judea and Samaria for these companies but it denies the PA Arabs of jobs which serves the propaganda campaign against Israel. If PA Arabs must suffer so Israel will look bad, well then to help these PA Arabs we must first destroy their jobs and lives. They are destroying workplaces where Jew and Arab work together in peace and with mutual respect in the name of helping the Arabs who without this help would have nowhere to turn, but it is more like because of this help they lose it all and then have nowhere to turn. These lost jobs are then trumpeted in the media of a wickedly evil within Israeli society refusing to hire Arabs despite the reality that it was the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanction) Movement which stole the existing livelihood from these PA Arabs who they now lament lost their jobs. It is one of the worst cases of it works so let’s fix it which leads to destroying a better life for PA Arabs because the story line must read Israel denies PA Arabs the opportunity to work. How can these NGOs demonize Israel if Israeli companies are treating PA Arabs as equals in their factories in Judea and Samaria, those “settler” companies? That is a question the media refuses to admit to facilitating.

 

The reality that the world is not being told about is that it has been the PA leadership which has refused to make any deal with Israel as they still adhere to the Khartoum Conference’s Three No’s which are, No Peace with Israel, No Negotiations with Israel, No Recognition of Israel. This was the agreement reached in an emergency session of the Arab League. It was his going against these agreements for which the Muslim Brotherhood, potentially but unproven assists from the Arab League or other Arab nations, arranged the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat after he Negotiated with Israel, made Peace with Israel and thus Recognized Israel. Anwar Sadat was a brave soul who knew he was tempting fate when he initiated talks with Israel meeting in Jerusalem with Menachem Begin. For reaching an agreement with Israel, Egypt was returned the entirety of the Sinai Peninsula with its small but profitable oil fields, its Sharm El Sheikh Resort community and with the destruction of twenty-plus Israeli settlement communities being removed and the Israelis taken back within Israel. That last bit is proof positive that the “settlements” are not an impediment for peace. If a true and real peace required their destruction, then such would become a definitive possibility, but the world does not want a peace or any settlement of the Palestinian Arab situation, the world wants it to fester and to become ever more dire with the Palestinian Arabs without jobs such that the destruction of Israel becomes the cry of the day. Mahmoud Abbas has flat stated that he will only accept a peace which destroys Israel as a Jewish State and is perfectly fine with an Israel ruled by Arabs. The fact that the Arabs he desired be moved to Israel include every Arab in any refugee camp including the camp in Jenin and the camp outside Nablus and even the camp attached to Gaza City. Yes, there are three massive refugee camps for Palestinian Arabs with their being held prisoners within lands under Palestinian Arab autonomy, complete rule when speaking of Gaza under Hamas. These Palestinian Arabs are guarded by Arab security forces and some even meet with family through the barbed wire topped fences. One need understand that these Arabs must be kept separate from their brethren because they are the political hammer and crowbar with which Israel is to be destroyed and as such they are only useful if they are kept as refugees in their own lands. And yes, the media, the Western governments, and the United Nations all know about these refugees left in these camps for the purpose solely of bringing about the destruction of Israel and they all agree that this is the end to be desired even if it leads to every Israeli Jew and Christian being slaughtered along with many Arab Muslims who are deemed to be traitors to the cause for being Israeli citizens and having a good life with all the benefits of being an Israel over being a Palestinian Arab inside the fences of Jenin, Nablus and Gaza City. Oh, and one last thing, there are no Arab refugee camps within Israel and Israel took in the same numbers if not more refugees of Jews forced to flee their homelands in Arab countries across the Middle East and North Africa. None were placed in refugee camps and left to languish in misery just to make a political point, they were taken in as brothers and sisters as they are just as much family as the Ethiopian Jews who were airlifted to Israel when their homelands turned on them and they needed a new home. These are all realities you will never hear from the media hype of mean horrible Israelis victimizing Palestinian Arabs with genocidal rage and hatred.

 

Israel being the good guys is rarely covered and when it is it has often been Israelis rushing to some of the world’s worst disaster places to assist in helping in any way possible. Israel has civilian corps and military units which are trained to provide assistance, do search and rescue, set up and man a complete field hospital including OBGYN, delivery rooms and a nursery as well as fully capable operating rooms and clinics which can treat people where they live and are injured plus perform triage of a sort for the main field hospital. One of the best examples was Haiti after their devastating earthquake and the Philippines after a horrific typhoon. Israel was at Japan after the earthquake and tsunami which destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant meltdown and destruction. Israel assisted in New Orleans after Katrina and in New York City and all its affected surrounding areas after Superstorm Sandy. Israel has assisted in Turkey, Nepal and just about every nation willing to accept Israeli help.

 

Top left Haiti Earthquake Top right Philippine Typhoon 2014 Bottom left Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant explodes Bottom right remains of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant

Top left Haiti Earthquake Top right Philippine Typhoon 2014
Bottom left Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant explodes
Bottom right remains of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant

 

Israel has a group of heart specialists who assist with special cases where children require specialized help. The group is known as Save A Child’s Heart (SACH) and will go to any length including flying children and parents to a third country or even a fourth in order to bring them to Israel to receive the medical care not available to them at home. SACH also trains pediatric heart doctors the world over, especially the developing world, sets them up with entire treatment facilities and thus spreads their good work to many more children the world over. For any wishing to enjoy a benefit symphony to benefit SACH being held Sunday, January 29, 2017, in the Los Angeles area, please find information and link at the very bottom of this article and please visit the SACH link above if you are at all curious of their entire range of assistances provided.

 

Symphony to benefit SACH being held Sunday, January 29, 2017, in the Los Angeles area

 

Beyond the Cusp 

 

November 7, 2016

Finally It is Your Turn to Speak, So Speak Loud and Clear

 

After over a year of he said, she said, they said, the time is here for the only opinion that matters. It is the time that you the voters will say and then it should be settled and the world will hear your answer; or will they? There are those Liberals who in their holier than thou selective memories claim that Donald Trump is the only candidate to claim that the election system can be gamed. Apparently the cries of “Selected, not elected,” over the 2000 election of George W. Bush and the Florida hanging chads recounts where there were so many challenges and recounts that all the holes ended up pushed through on some ballots making them void. The same cries were heard four years later over Ohio and Barack Obama claimed before Election Day that should he not win it could only be through voter fraud, so that should be all for claiming that Donald Trump is entering new areas of calling into question the validity of the system. Hillary Clinton has claimed that the Russians are going to steal the election for Trump because Putin is convinced that Trump would be the easier pushover and more willing to work with Russia than Hillary would be. Actually the only commentary attributed to Russian President Vladimir Putin which has any shred of validity was his fears that Hillary Clinton being elected threatened starting next world war. It matters little tomorrow on this important but relatively ignored subject as the first order of business is to get past the initial casting of ballots and their initial counting.

 

Hillary Clinton – Vladimir Putin – Donald Trump

Hillary Clinton – Vladimir Putin – Donald Trump

 

That reported initial registration of election results may actually decide the victor and do so completely overwhelmingly that there would be no viable means of challenging the results. Either way, this would be a result which would best serve the American people and ultimately the world. A smooth, court free, uncontested election will always bring the smoothest of transitions. That would be the most preferable means to transfer power especially in this election whose process and integrity has proven so acrimonious and has produced challenges to the system even before the Election Day voting has begun. There has been complaints of an uneven playing field in the media from both camps while there have been claims of Russian interference favoring one side, the election of Trump; while raising claims the entire Wikileaks e-mail stories have been a Russian ruse and those claimed e-mails were never sent nor crossed that server nor had Ms. Clinton broken any law or committed any questionable actions which might have compromised the national security. This claim has gone well beyond the claim that Hillary Clinton was cleared from suspicions to the entire e-mail investigation was chasing after a Russian fabricated ploy to assist electing their pawn, their Manchurian Candidate who would do Putin’s bidding, Donald Trump. One can only wonder what comes next.

 

Then there are the polling numbers. This election has witnessed swings in the polling which often appeared to precede certain critical events and news stories throughout the campaign. The most recent came the last week of the election where the Clinton lead all but disappeared bringing Trump within striking distance and this slide arrived a full four days before FBI Director Comey reporting his reopening the e-mail investigation as New York investigators looking into child sexual misconduct revealed the existence of thousands of backed-up copies for the communications coming in and out of the office of close Clinton aide and confidant (if anyone can be considered to be that close and intimate with Hillary) Huma Abedin. These records were found on Huma Abedin’s estranged (and downright strange) husband, disgraced former Representative Anthony Weiner’s laptop computer which was seized as part of the New York police investigation of his sexting an underage girl. This will get very messy.

 

Here are some rumors which have surfaced as a result of this investigation and how it will affect the e-mail scandal investigation. These back-ups will definitively prove that Hillary Clinton, along with top aide Huma Abedin, acted loose and careless with Top Secret and other highly classified and sensitive information, e-mails, documents, files and reports. There will be overwhelming evidence that such compromised information had been shared or allowed access by people without the proper clearances, Anthony Weiner for one and Clinton Philippine housekeeper Marina Santos for another who was indicated to have printed out such intelligence and information while working at Clinton’s house in Washington, D.C. Then there appear to be references to actions and fetishes in which others outside the Clinton camp, though they may not be spared once the onion has been completely unraveled, who may have committed and continue such acts which would warrant ethics investigations at the very least and criminal investigations in the worst case scenarios. The full extent will not be known nor revealed for quite some time though some people may fall well before the investigation reaches its final conclusion. Some of this information has been verified by trusted people.

 

The one item in all of this we would love to see brought into the light is the uranium deal where it resulted in Russia gaining the mineral rights to one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States. One of the crucial signings of approval came from the State Department which was under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at that time. Russia gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013 and each step of the way there did result in a flow of cash to the Clinton Foundation. Further, a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin paid former President Bill Clinton $500,000 for a speech in Moscow. This was the bank which was promoting Uranium One stock and stood to make sizeable profits in the process. It was Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining financier, who orchestrated his first big uranium deal which initiated these transactions and which was completed with Mr. Clinton at his side. The two men had traveled to the meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan in Mr. Giustra’s private jet. This deal was a major victory for UrAsia, Mr. Giustra’s then company which soon saw its future brighten significantly when it merged with Uranium One, a South African company with assets in Africa and Australia. Uranium One was controlled by UrAsia investors which included Ian Telfer, a Canadian who later became chairman and Mr. Giustra, whose personal stake in the deal was estimated at about $45 million. Mr. Giustra donated $31.3 million to the Clinton Foundation in or around the months following the Kazakhstan mining deal. It also turns out that Ian Telfer made a $2.35 million contribution to the Clinton Foundation. More detailed information can be read showing deep involvement of both Bill and Hillary Clinton in the entire train of events and includes State Department approvals and one could say accommodations all in a New York Times article. A full disclosure of how twenty percent of United States mined uranium is sold to Russia by a Canadian friend of the Clintons receiving every necessary accommodation and authorization while Hillary was Secretary of State and known to be able to pressure other Cabinet Secretaries to follow her lead in providing permissions and licenses all while the involved Canadians are contributing millions upon millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation. Something here just does not figure and we would bet there are even higher and bigger fish to catch in this little pond, really big fish.

 

Meanwhile, tomorrow the American people will speak. We can expect, if this is at all even close, for the losing campaign to kick off the challenges followed soon behind by the winning party just to assure they are not excluded from the efforts to gain electoral votes. There may even be a challenge to the integrity and manner in which the Electoral College is arranged such that it can oppose the winner of the popular vote. We could hear that tired complaint about how Wyoming voters are way over-represented when compared to California or New York thus making those residing in such populous states being denied equal representation. This complaint has been answered ad-nausea pointing out that this was the actual design and is functioning such that, at least for the Presidency the smaller states get privileged representation as a barrier against pure democracy mob rule. This is a result of the equality the states enjoy in the Senate, so live with it. Of course if the losing side did not carry lonely and most sparsely populated Wyoming, then this argument makes perfect sense to those on that end of the Electoral College. Further claims will be filed in every state where the margin of the loss was under 5%, even 10% with both contesting as many as possible in order to topple the initially announced winner or to retain said position. Who knows what court challenges and other lawsuits will be filed but the process for validation will likely take the United States well into Thursday before the candidate at the wrong end of the vote starts to run out of options, but they have lawyers to address this until the Supreme Court ends the misery, which with a four-four split with one open position left by the passing of Justice Anthony Scalia this past February, the court may not be of much assistance.

 

We will see what the American people desire and the level of their interest by the percentage of eligible voters who actually vote. This is something we have always been troubled about. The President who should represent all the people is often only receiving one-third of the potential votes which could have voted and less when including potential to be registered voters. The math is sickeningly easy to do but a touch more difficult to explain. First we need to start with the adult population over eighteen which numbers at approximately 236,000,000 out of the approximately 309,000,000; or around two-thirds. This is the entirety of Americans legally eligible to vote give or take a million. Of these only 70% on average are registered to vote and a mere 60% actually vote. These results in only 42% of eligible voters actually vote in an election. We can safely claim that no more than 45% of voters actually do vote and it is considered that taking 55% of the vote represents winning in a landslide thus a big winner receives a mere 24¾% of the total number of people who meet the requirements for voting (representative graph by age group below). It is true, candidates need only persuade one-fourth of people eligible to vote in order to win, providing it is the right one-fourth.

 

Graph by Age Representing Voter Registration and Activity and Apathy

Graph by Age Representing
Voter Registration and
Activity and Apathy

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

November 4, 2016

As the Pacific Far East Crumbles Away

 

Eight years of steering the United States away from even the slightest whiff of conflict or controversy leaving virtually every former ally stuck out in the wind swept stormy seas of fate have started to leave some palpable damage along the Asian Pacific Rim. These damages may only last until the few weeks after the next Presidential Inauguration or may be cemented with more to follow; it all depends on the coming, and it can’t come too soon, American Elections. The slow tear between Washington and Manila may have just torn well past the turning point as the State Department may decide to hold on an agreed arms shipment for the Philippine Police because a single Senator, Benjamin Louis “Ben” Cardin, a Democrat from Maryland, informed them he would block such a request. It seems unusual for an already approved arms deal would be held, maybe cancelled, because a single Senator raised his displeasure unless his displeasure was requested from a higher source who preferred hiding in the shadows this close to the election. No reason to risk the Philippine and other related votes in what might be a closer election than the media has painted. The reason, apparently, for Senator Cardin demanding the weapons be withheld was due to the violent manner in which the Philippine authorities are carrying out their resolute and determined crackdown on the drug lords and their criminal enterprises. The claim is that the Philippine government is using extrajudicial killings against the drug gangs because obviously there is little chance the drug gangs might be resisting the efforts to close their operations down. It is interesting to note that extrajudicial killings is exactly the same charge made by leftist Europeans, leftist Americans and the Arab lobby to throw at Israel whenever a terrorist is killed instead of coddled like a harmless puppy.

 

In nearby Malaysia, Premier Najib Razak also had some suggestions for Washington, though he directed them at the West in general referring to the former colonial powers when he cautioned, “It is not for them to lecture nations they once exploited on their internal affairs.” He was referring to the July lawsuits filed by the United States Justice Department implicating the Premier in a money-laundering scandal referencing more than three and a half billion dollars which were allegedly misappropriated. The Justice Department charges could not have anything to do with Najib is looking to strengthen ties with China and his recent six-day visit to Beijing. The United States State Department cannot be overly happy as Premier Razak’s China visit followed on the heels of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit. Not to worry folks, it’s all part of fundamental change President Obama promised in his October 30, 2008, speech where he stated, “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” We would say job well done except that the entire job is not near finished. Yes, the news from the Far East, particularly the Philippines and Malaysia, but many allies of the United States have held silently strong knowing, or at least hoping and praying, that the United States would return to its former policies and things returning to previous normal. The four year hopes died hard and the eight year prayers will be determined within the coming five days even if there are states making recounts.

 

Malaysia Philippines and Indonesia

Malaysia Philippines and Indonesia

 

There is a theory that no matter the results of the Presidential Election there is one coming end of term surprise from the White House, a surprise President Obama wants the visceral satisfaction of performing personally. This is one that is so personal that President Obama may even take a vacation and visit Turtle Bay and the United Nations in order to call a Special Session of the Security Council to hear a proposal to solve what he has determined is tantamount to the root of all problems in the Middle East if not the world, solar system, galaxy or potentially the entirety of the Universe and all creation, Israel and the formation of an Arab State for the ‘Palestinians’ in Judea and Samaria with East Jerusalem as its Capital City. President Obama would be sure to relate how the recent UNESCO decision which removed all Jewish and Christian connection to the Temple Mount or the Old City of Jerusalem, which is most of East Jerusalem, and that it is solely a Muslim Holy Site thus would serve as a natural capital for a new Islamic Palestinian nation. This would be his argument along with the seeming international itch to take away a fair sized additional chunk of the lands originally promised for the Jewish State and form yet another doomed to fail Arab Muslim State reneging yet again making a mockery of international treaties. The only surprise would be such a move being vetoed by one of the other four permanent members of the Security Council; Britain, France, China or Russia. Is such likely? In a word, “Yes.” As to which one, that remains to be seen. Our guess has three in the following order least to most likely, China, Britain, or Russia.

 

That leaves a single pair of questions. One is whether nations which have started to distance themselves from the United States could be gathered back to the warm bosom of Washington and all the wondrous prizes that includes? Should the next President and advisors in the administration return to a more traditional set of policies, then time will reset most relations. Some of those who have moved away or distanced such as the above mentioned Malaysia and Philippines and includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan and an additional small selection largely in Eastern Europe will move further from United States orbit unless concerted and deliberate efforts are expended. Even then the chances of returning all will prove near impossible. Nations such as Iraq and Egypt may be lost for the foreseeable future as Russia and China pick up influence. Still. The majority of estranged nations would gladly return given the slightest of efforts. That is the good and the bad side, but there is a worse possibility.

 

What could be worse than losing as many as a half dozen or potentially more lost due to the changes made during President Obama’s Administrations? Well, the continuation of this path which is and always was an idea which found favor in the State Department no matter the President and their policy preferences. Many Presidents since some time after World War I and the infestation of Progressive, Leftist anti-American policies siding with virtually every enemy of the United States changing hands while the highest levels nurture whatever opposing force of the moment that faces the United States with the chain simply altering as the leadership is always passed to those supporting the subversion. These State Department employees are Civil Service workers who are protected by Civil Service rules and very strong unions, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) or the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE). There have been instances where these unions have been suspected on working on campaigns, something quite unethical if not illegal. Should the advisors from the State Department continue in their privileged positions for setting foreign policy, then the current damage will only come closer to becoming permanent and the United States losing her position as leader of the free world. There are those who are claiming that continuing the current policies will lead to the death of the free world. Our comment is to say not so fast. There are places where freedom is still strong and others where freedom is slowly growing. Will there be a terrible and rough period? There are always such, the areas affected simply change with time. Hope should never be lost as cycles are a constant and things constantly change and that is unavoidable. As for what level of hope one should hold? Wait just a bit and we will get back to you on that.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Next Page »

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

%d bloggers like this: