And It Starts Once Again

 

United States Vice President Pence flew into Egypt on Tuesday and following will visit Israel. What remains to be seen is whether the royal Palestinian High Mucky-Muck Mahmoud Abbas will deem it worth his while to allow the United States Vice President to meet with him. Just after President Trump made his monumental recognition of the historically obvious, Jerusalem is the Capital City of the Jewish State of Israel, Palestinian Authority (PA) President, PLO Chairman, Fatah Party Chairman and chief swindler Mahmoud Abbas announced that he determined that the United States could no longer be acceptable as a just and impartial arbiter in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Abbas refused to give any reason beyond the recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli Capital despite the critical mention in that speech which stated a number of qualifiers which included the following:

“In making these announcements, I also want to make one point very clear: This decision is not intended, in any way, to reflect a departure from our strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace agreement. We want an agreement that is a great deal for the Israelis and a great deal for the Palestinians. We are not taking a position of any final status issues, including the specific boundaries of the Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, or the resolution of contested borders. Those questions are up to the parties involved.
“The United States remains deeply committed to helping facilitate a peace agreement that is acceptable to both sides.
“I intend to do everything in my power to help forge such an agreement. Without question, Jerusalem is one of the most sensitive issues in those talks. The United States would support a two-state solution if agreed to by both sides.
“In the meantime, I call on all parties to maintain the status quo at Jerusalem’s holy sites, including the Temple Mount, also known as Haram al-Sharif.
“Above all, our greatest hope is for peace, the universal yearning in every human soul. With today’s action, I reaffirm my administration’s longstanding commitment to a future of peace and security for the region. There will, of course, be disagreement and dissent regarding this announcement. But we are confident that ultimately, as we work through these disagreements, we will arrive at a peace and a place far greater in understanding and cooperation.
“This sacred city should call forth the best in humanity, lifting our sights to what it is possible; not pulling us back and down to the old fights that have become so totally predictable. Peace is never beyond the grasp of those willing to reach.
“So today, we call for calm, for moderation, and for the voices of tolerance to prevail over the purveyors of hate. Our children should inherit our love, not our conflicts.”

 

Our bet is the Mahmoud Abbas may not have listened to the entire speech as with his keen sense of observation and knowledge of human nature and political insight that after the words, “Thank you. When I came into office, I promised to look…” he stopped listening already having figured out the remainder of the speech thus not needing to wait for the actual speech itself. He had judged that with just these words that everything had changed. He was partially correct. What is most interesting is that when, back in April of this year, President Putin announced that Russia was recognizing Jerusalem, West Jerusalem, as the Capital City of Israel Mahmoud Abbas saw nothing wrong with that announcement. After reading all, and we obviously mean all, of President Trump’s Jerusalem speech and making sure to see and fathom the meanings of every phrase, we see little difference in the actual recognitions. The measurable difference is that as long as the future does not alter things as they currently stand, then the default position is that all of Jerusalem, united and whole, will forever be the Capital City of Israel, but that is only if nothing changes. Should there come a peace between the Arabs and Israelis establishes a Palestinian State with its capital in East Jerusalem with the Temple Mount under “international” United Nations protection, then we will return to the situation from before 1967 within six weeks as the United Nations guardians of the Temple Mount flee to Tel Aviv and then back to wherever they came from while Israel will be forced to once again place a tall cement barricade between the two halves of the city. This wall will not be an apartheid Wall but a bullet stopper just as was necessary for nineteen years from 1948 through June of 1967 and the fateful six days that changed the world. Should their be a peace agreement with someplace other than East Jerusalem as the capital, then Jerusalem as a whole will be the Israeli Capital. Any negotiation result in the world attempting to impose an Arab state with all of Jerusalem as the capital, then that would be the equivalent of giving away sovereign Israeli soil and a casus belli for war.

 

Now to the reality of the threats from Mahmoud Abbas and his official echo chamber of underlings, they sent their usual threat to break relations with the United States and refuse the United States as a mediator and rely on the United Nations, European Union and other world bodies to find a suitable settlement. Well, it was nice of Mahmoud Abbas to all but list the groups which must never be permitted to mediate anything in the Middle East, not the European Union, not the United Nations, which in this case they means the General Assembly, Human Rights Commission, UNESCO and other pro-Palestinian NGO’s and not the remainder of those referenced do-goodies of the world. Mahmoud Abbas is not really going to break relations with the United States and the PA will continue to sit comfortably in their New York and Washington D.C. offices and retain their chair in the General Assembly Hall and their open back door at the United States State Department. What they are demanding is that the United States now proves their impartiality by forcing some concession out of the Israelis. They already have forced the cessation of any further construction by the Israelis with small allowances within the approved communities (settlements) as well as limitations on further destruction of illegal Arab structures with a special emphasis on those built by their friends at the European Union who even leave their flag on each structure just so the Israelis know who is placing these facts on the ground in Area C, where the Palestinian are not permitted to build and is completely under Israeli jurisdictions by the Oslo Accords, strategically placed to surround Jerusalem cutting it off from the other Israeli communities. These are the people Mahmoud Abbas trusts as impartial as truly impartial mediators favor Israel because they actually want peace allowing both sides to exist. Abbas defines impartial as anybody who agrees that all the land belongs to the Arabs and the Jews are not entitled to anything. So, now we will see what happens when, despite encouragement from the State Department to force further Israeli concession, President Trump actually dares to ignore the desire and threats from Mahmoud Abbas and simply leaves well enough alone and waits to see what develops.

 

For this, President Trump is taking a different tactic compared to his predecessors. Where President William Jefferson Clinton attempted to cajole and use friendly good-old-boy country charm to persuade an agreement out of the two sides and came close when he pushed and extracted from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to meet every last demand which he had somehow extracted through negotiations as the minimal demands which would satisfy Yasser Arafat. The next morning Yasser Arafat realized he had been snookered into actually making a deal, so he walked right past the gathered American and Israeli delegations, got into his limousine, drove to the airport, boarded his plane, returned to Nablus via Jordan and a short while later loosed the Second Intifada on Israel blaming it on the fact that Prime Minister elect Sharon had the audacity to take a walk through the Temple Mount which Arafat defined as entering the al-Aqsa Mosque setting the precedent that the Arabs consider the entirety of the Temple Mount to be the al-Aqsa Mosque.

 

This definition has been used in order to claim that the Jews who enter the Temple Mount are transgressing into the al-Aqsa Mosque and thus profaning its purity. This is what is used to justify and instigate the Temple Mount rioting which is used regularly whenever the Arabs feel like heightening tensions and raising a ruckus in the media. This is the means by which the Arabs force the closure of the Temple Mount to Jews by demanding such a closure to end the rioting, which still takes at least a week to wane to a safe level. The Israelis, should they ever choose, could end the rioting within a few minutes by using less measure force. The reality is the Israelis attempt to keep injuries on both sides to a minimum and avoid fatalities as much as possible. The Arabs see this as a sign of Israeli weakness and not as respect for human life. It is this supposed weakness which also makes the Arabs believe that they will win and that time is on their side. They believe they can out-wait the patience of the Israeli People; they can out-wait the Jewish People who have waited for two thousand years for their return to their ancestral homelands, that is almost one and a half times the length of time Islam has existed which is under fourteen hundred years.

 

Mahmoud Abbas will still rely on the United States to be the suckers using shuttle diplomacy flying between Washington D.C. and the Middle East from Jerusalem to Nablus and once around the capital cities of a number of Arab and even European cities so as to make the trips not entirely about the Arab-Israeli conflict. Perhaps there might be a trip which includes Moscow as getting Putin to back a proposed peace might make it more difficult for Abbas to simply refuse outright. The truth is that as long as any agreement permits even Tel Aviv metropolis to be considered the Jewish State, Abbas will either refuse or depend on the coming war to eradicate even that shred of Jewish land from continuing to exist. From the Khartoum Resolution and the “Three No’s”: “no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel,” Yasser Arafat pledged the PLO’s continuing allegiance to the heart and soul of the Khartoum Resolution and guaranteed that there would be no permanent peace with Israel and that the resistance, code for terrorism, would continue after any agreement and that was how they would destroy Israel in stages. Mahmoud Abbas was beside Arafat as his second in command and fully invested in his mentor’s vision. This is the reality and it has supporters outside of the Arab world as has become obvious from many points across Europe, the European Union, the United Nations and its appendages such as UNESCO and numerous other NGO’s and individual nations. Sampling the college and university campuses, we see the future leaders of the developed world to be a frightening prospect with the anti-Israeli and accompanying anti-Semitism which has become pervasive at many of the leading schools.

 

Zechariah’s Jerusalem

 

The Biblical story could be taken from Zechariah, Chapter 12, which reads,

Zechariah – Chapter 12
1) The prophecy of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Says the Lord, Who stretches out the heavens and founds the earth and forms the spirit of man within him:
2) Behold! I am making Jerusalem a cup of weakness for all the peoples around, and also on Judah, [that he] shall be in the siege against Jerusalem.
3) And it shall come to pass on that day that I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden for all peoples; all who bear it shall be gashed, and all the nations of the earth shall gather about it.
4) On that day, says the Lord, I will smite every horse with bewilderment, and its rider with madness. And upon the house of Judah I will open My eyes, and all the horses of the peoples I will smite with blindness.
5) And the princes of Judah shall say to themselves, “The inhabitants of Jerusalem were my strength through the Lord of Hosts, their God.”
6) On that day I will make the princes of Judah as a fiery stove among wood, and as a brand of fire among sheaves. And they shall consume on the right and on the left all the nations round about, and Jerusalem shall still stay in its place in Jerusalem.
7) And the Lord shall first save the tents of Judah, so that the boasting of the house of David and the boasting of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not increase over Judah.
8) On that day the Lord shall protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the weakest of them shall be, on that day, like David. And the house of David shall be like angels, like the angel of the Lord before them.
9) And it shall come to pass on that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come upon Jerusalem.
10) And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplications. And they shall look to me because of those who have been thrust through [with swords], and they shall mourn over it as one mourns over an only son and shall be in bitterness, therefore, as one is embittered over a firstborn son.
11) On that day there shall be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

The War Against Conservatism Begins

 

The war against Conservatism and all things right of center, and possibly even left of center, has begun but where will it end? Recently the August 16, 2017 “MTP Daily” show and the August 20, 2017 “Meet the Press” program, author Mark Bray, who wrote a book about Antifa was featured. Bray argues that, “Nazism and fascism was not stopped by polite dialogue and reasonable debate. It had to be stopped by force.” This led to the conclusion of the discussions to plead that violence is necessary. Apparently, if there exist people whose views do not correlate within the prescribed norms as defined by our masters in the media, academia, entertainment and the rest of the left leaning establishment to the extreme leftists, then they may be dismissed and are of little concern according to many of our political leaders. In all honesty, this struggle has been ongoing for much longer than many of us realize. Believe it or not, this did not begin with the election of President Trump, nor with President Obama, nor George W. Bush, nor William Jefferson Clinton, nor on an on for elected leadership back before even President John F. Kennedy, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and on and on back before President George Washington. This fight between the right and left goes back to Aristotle and possibly to King David and possibly even earlier than that. This struggle between the liberal left and the conservative right has been one of the basic contentions of humankind.

 

This argument was fought when the Israelites threw off slavery in Mitzraim (Egypt). The argument was seriously debated by the Greeks and in Rome it took the life of Caesar and led to numerous wars throughout the ages. The modern history of this struggle became to a pinnacle point on June 15, 1215, when King John of England signed the Magna Carta Libertatum (Medieval Latin for “Great Charter of the Liberties”), at Runnymede, granting limited shared power between the King and the major land owners of Britain. The struggle continued on through the American Revolution followed by the French Revolution, the second having less than stellar results. The next point of armed struggle in the United States was the Civil War and the resulting freeing of the slaves. There was some backsliding with the laws which resulted in returning many slaves to second-class status and this continued until the next great struggle of the Civil Rights movement. This was incorporated into the entire sixties peace movement and its related alternative lifestyles. Things appeared to come to a boil in the sixties as there were violent protests with the media, academia, entertainment and the right leaning establishment to the radical right conservatives who desired to take things back to the “good old days,” a term which was very loosely defined if defined at all. Over the next forty to fifty years, there has been a changing of the guard and a shift in positions on many subjects. In the sixties, the left were the Libertarian leaning side who supported limited government and individuality while the right believed that society needed regulations and laws in order to prevent chaos, crime and immorality. That was then, but what about now?

 

Today the sides have changed in many ways. Instead of the establishment being right leaning, today the establishment leans left. The media, academia, entertainment today are all left leaning or even reaching into the far left. The right is in favor of less government and individualism while the left believes that government must take charge and clear all of the societal ills. Simply put, the sides and power have shifted and as the power used to be with the right, it now lies with the left. Things were nice and quiet and running smoothly whenever the left, the Democrats, were in the White House and thus holding ultimate power over the government as the President can prevent anything the left considers backsliding from their agenda. While President Clinton was in office, the fight was fairly civil. While George W. Bush was in the White House, things were less civil but still could be considered civilized though there was much consternation over the initial results against Al Gore and the debacle in Florida. Then came President Obama and things were reported as being the most unbelievably wonderful of all administrations. The economy was reported to be in constant and steady, if slow, recovery. Problems were minimal and the problems with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) would be worked out and it would be the most successful healthcare innovation since the invention of penicillin.

 

Then came the election for the successor to President Obama and the campaign was running smoothly and with precise and perfect precision according to all mainstream media reports. Hillary Clinton was the presupposed and inevitable winner and was to be coronated President after the election. As the election came closer, the numbers began to close together, something which always happens, so nobody took any real note, as Hillary could not lose to the ignorant and offensive Donald Trump. Every newspaper from the large cities touted their polls of their readership and they showed Hillary with double-digit leads. Every major city around the nation, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Boston and Washington D.C. all ran headlines right up to a day or two before Election Day giving Hillary Clinton a comfortable lead. The night before the election the lead narrowed to a point where some began to doubt the polling and some even claimed that Donald Trump could actually win. Well, they were correct and we now have President Trump and the left who believed with every fiber of their being that Hillary Clinton could not lose went completely off the deep end. Since the election of President Trump there has been a concerted effort to destroy him and open warfare has been declared by the leftists. We see it regularly and where it will lead cannot be predicted, but we know what they demand, the return of power to the left and its protectors as they feel the left are the only people who have the right to lead.

 

Blame Game Starring
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump

 

The open conflict between the left and the right was coming to a boil long before Charlottesville and making it appear as that was the start was simply another deception. The left uses the media to define everything to their means and way of thinking. They insist that only the left has any answers to the challenges which the nation faces. They claim that the right is full of racists and people angry and filled with hatred and thus are unfit for leadership. The left claim to be all about compassion but apparently they feel that only those who agree with their programs and principles are worthy of receiving that compassion. There are many on the left who are wonderful people and they are willing to compromise and work with those on the right who also will compromise. Then there are those on the far left which are most often labeled as leftists who take a position that should their compatriots on the left not be in power then violence is the answer. They would riot and take offense at any and every perceived offence and were the ones who came ready to fight with the alt-right in Charlottesville. Since Election Night, there have been continuous streams of points which have been called pivotal focal points which they have blamed the right, or the alt-right, for taking things to a new level and; in each of these, the levels of the conflict have been escalated. Friendships have been destroyed, marriages have broken up, families torn asunder and business partners broken apart as the escalations have grown to the point that civil society is now close to being threatened. Where this will lead is becoming painfully apparent, as there will be no peace for as long as the Republicans hold the White House. Actually, that is not entirely honest as there are rumors of a plan being put in motion which would permit a Republican in the White House with certain concessions being made.

 

Everyone has seen that the Republican core old guard all are pretty much against President Trump almost as much as are the Democrats. Their leader has been Senator John McCain. But there are rumors this core of Republicans has decided to join with the Democrats and rid the United States of this upstart and irresponsible person sitting in the White House. There are rumors that some have been promised leadership in the new government while others have been promised campaign funding or other monetary enticements. The one rumor which is the most disheartening has been the one which places Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan siding with the Democrats to form a new union. This has all the beautiful aroma of the coming of some Republicans switching parties or forming a dual party coalition to rule as a new consensus party of left-leaning and leftist Democrats and Republicans who will run claiming to be mainstream members of their respective parties but would legislate and control the Congress and White House all while attempting to keep their agreement from the people. They would act out their arguments while voting as to their agreed mission. The worst of the rumors claim that Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has joined an effort which will result in his becoming President. The idea is preposterous, but according to the rumors, the intent is to impeach President Trump. One may inquire as to under what pretense and charges. Well, the charges do not matter, any pretense which results in a majority of the Representatives on the House bringing a charge and two thirds of the Senate finding for guilt and the President is impeached. The charge could be mentally unsuited for office, the current thread being pursued replacing the Russian conspiracy and alt-right ties. Anybody with any knowledge of American governance will point out the small inconvenience, that once President Trump would be impeached, then Vice President Pence would take office, not the Speaker of the House. This is where many call this rumored concept of convincing Speaker of the House Ryan that he would be placed in the Presidency would fall apart, but wait, the conspiracy theorists have this covered as well. They agree that Vice President Pence would take over and be President, temporarily. They have already come up with an idea for the next step, impeachment of President Pence. They claim that they can get him on his inability to separate religion from his office and as we “all know,” there is this “wall separating Church and State.” Well, actually, there is only a wall separating State from Church but none separating the Church from State as religious beliefs are perfectly permitted in politics. But as we pointed out previously, the charges do not matter, it is the votes which count. But would not Pence on becoming President get to appoint a new Vice President? Then that person would become President next even if Pence were impeached. Hold on there cowpoke, the new President gets to nominate a new Vice President upon taking office and they are not granted the office until the Senate approves their nomination. If the Congress can refuse to approve any nominee for Vice President and impeach President Pence before such nominee has been approved, then the third in succession becomes President, Speaker of the House Ryan.

 

As long as we are going down the rabbit hole, we see another outcome where these Republicans would be left out completely and it is really simple. All the Democrats need do is take their time on the impeachment of President Trump, continue once that has been accomplished to prevent any new Vice President being approved and have charges be leveled against President Pence and then wait for the 2018 elections. Then if they take the House of Representatives they can appoint their own Speaker of the House, and if Hillary Clinton would run for a House Seat in a solidly bluer than blue district and thus become a member of the House of Representatives, they could make Hillary Speaker and then convict Pence thus impeaching him and placing Hillary Clinton into the chair they claim was stolen from her. As long as we are talking craziness, why not go completely down the rabbit hole.

 

Beyond the Cusp