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quakerjoe · 6 years

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A CUPPA JOE for SUNDAY 13 MAY 2018

This morning, one of our "brothers" here at Quaker Joe threw this quip into a thread "Christianity is under attack in America." It got me thinking, actually and I wondered:

By whom?

Seriously, I'd love to know. Most #Muricans claim to be "Christian", even if they don't act like they are. It sounds to me, to be perfectly honest, that the ones attacking Christianity are those from within, not from any outside sources. Bogus "Christians" vote for sexual predators carrying a cross. They INSIST on rampant gun ownership, because that's what Jesus would want, right? They back trump because a thief, adulterer, and con man who sexually assaults women is God's Chosen, right?

For "Christians", here in the US, they're awfully anti-Christ in nature. That's how they present themselves; as bullies and judgmental mega-assholes. Instead of "love they neighbour" or "love they enemy" or "judge not", they openly attack anyone not like them. They've been attacking one another since before we were a nation; one "brand" of Jesus versus another. They've attacked and murdered Jews, Blacks, Muslims, Sikhs, Atheists, the LGBTQ community, have supported Misogyny, were the founding backers of slavery, native American genocide... "Christians" in #Murican history have repeatedly proven, through our entire history as a nation, that the word "Christian" doesn't mean what they say it means.

The religion, like religions before it, is waning, mostly because people of compassion, empathy and reason have caught on that the religion is corrupt, rife with hypocrisy, and should be walked away from and avoided. Nobody's attacking it; people are trying to defend themselves AGAINST it. You don't get to be a bully to everybody and when they stand up to cry about how you're being attacked and play the victim when you {the religion} brought it upon yourselves. If you want to be a true, honest Christian, it comes at a price: HONESTY. Most Christians have never read their bible except for select, cherry picked slices of it that back whatever it is they personally wish to believe, and using the Old Testament is simply WRONG.

I could go on all day about this, but I've got other shit to do today. The bottom line is this. Christians in the US have been fighting against themselves since forever, and they openly shit on everybody else not Christian. People are getting sick of it. Standing up to a group of disingenuous, right wing nutjobs who flail about in a pile of hypocritical fecal matter is NOT attacking Christianity, it's calling liars out on their bullshit because they are NOT real Christians. We were warned in the Scriptures that there would be false prophets and that the masses would be blinded by them and follow them. "Christians" in #Murica do nothing about it. Satan, if he's real, could show up, fool them all, and most #Murican Christians would line up in droves to serve because they've been trained to knee-jerk react, get angry and to simply NOT THINK or QUESTION or analyze fuck-all anything. They've turned their backs on the divine, slapped Jesus' teachings in the face and punched them in the balls and then spat on him when he was down because that's how they handle things; not with love, acceptance or peace, but by casting stones even though they are not free from sin themselves.

People are catching on. People are rejecting them. People have had enough of the hypocrisy, the lies, and the bossy, pushy bullying and their infiltration into politics in order to push agendas that promote hate and fear, murder and rape, and a constant division among our fellow citizens and our neighbours. Christians are the only terrorists that anyone with half a brain in the US should worry about, and that is why we're standing up, for ourselves, for our nations, and for those who don't just talk the talk but walk the walk, for the sanctity of Christ's teachings because there are a FEW honest, genuine Christians out there who see this too and they're siding with those who most claim are "attacking Christianity". Thank you George, for getting the mind going while I was having my morning coffee. I know it was a quip, but I did find it engaging and the answer was probably longer than you'd expected.

I'd like to leave you all with this, since this has turned into a Cuppa Joe for this week instead of the one I'd prepared earlier in the week. I'd mentioned that the Bible itself mentions false prophets, so, as the former Christian that I am, let me leave you with some samples of what “the good book” had to say on the matter.

Ezekiel 13:9

"My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD."

Jeremiah 23:16

"This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD."

Here's one for Little Donny POTUS:

LUKE 6:26

"Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets."

Here's one I'd like to dedicate to Congress in particular...

Matthew 24:24

"For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect."

Matthew 16:11-12

"How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Matthew 7:15-20

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."

2 Timothy 4:3-4

"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."

Acts 20:28-30

"Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them."

2 Peter 3:14-18

"So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen."

When talking about false prophets, this is where it gets sketchy, because the "good book" also grants you permission to shit on people not of your religion, be judgmental, and if taken in the right context, allows you to kill the infidels. I give you the book of John, that sketchy, over-the-top nutjob. He was never one of my favourites. He always seemed a bit of a war pig to me. In retrospect, he sounds a lot like trump trying to sell you his brand in a way that demands total belief in what he said and to attack anyone who says otherwise.

1 John 4:1-6

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood."

There are more, if you bother to read the Bible and really look, and the warnings are clear to those with an open heart AND MIND. Sadly, that's too much to ask from 21st century #Muricans who think themselves devout. ~Joe

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margiehasson · 5 years

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In Her Own Words - An Interview with Ousted Women's March Board Member Zahra Billoo

In 2016, Zahra Billoo, director of the CAIR-San Francisco chapter, bought a ticket for Washington D.C. to attend the presidential inauguration before knowing who’d win. She figured that if Hillary Clinton won, she’d go to protest some of Clinton’s policies while also witnessing the historic moment of a female president being sworn in. If, God forbid, Donald J. Trump won, she’d protest.

CAIR-San Francisco Director Zahra Billoo

And then the Women’s March, a growing movement that emerged in the wake of Trump’s victory, invited Zahra to speak at its signature march in Washington D.C. I remember, because I was at the march with my daughter and a contingency of Muslim women listening to her, Linda Sarsour and others fire up the huge crowd.

Zahra and I live on opposite coasts (her on the West, me on the East) and run in different circles. However, we overlap in one big way – we’re both Muslim women with activism in our blood (for her, a way of life; for me, something I try and do in whatever small ways possible).

For the sake of full disclosure, I’ve worked with Zahra before, publishing op-eds she has written (at Altmuslim/Patheos Muslim) and including her in lists I’ve published about powerful Muslim women (here at Haute Hijab). I’ve followed her activism trajectory from afar, impressed by her strong moral stance on several issues while also personally questioning at times some of the language she has used in standing up for what she believes in.

All this is to say, though, that like so many American Muslims and Americans in general, I hold her work, her passions and her strength in high regard. Fighting for the marginalized has been Zahra’s life’s work, which is why like so many others, I was shocked to see her removed from the board of the Women’s March soon after her appointment became public.

Why? Because in large part, she was accused of anti-Semitism.

This is a huge accusation, and one to be taken very seriously. Cries of anti-Semitism have dogged some of the founding members of the Women’s March, namely Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory. But, I want to discuss what happened to Zahra right now – and while I’ve known Zahra to be staunchly against the state of Israel and anti-Zionist in her views and words, anti-Semitic is not something I’d accuse her of.

The problems began when the story first broke that three of the founding members of the Women’s March were stepping down and 15 new board members had joined (one of them being Zahra.) One of the first news stories from the Washington Post discussed Sarsour and Mallory leaving due to anti-Semitism accusations and other issues, the implication being that the Women’s March was “cutting ties” with them. The reality, however, was different.

Then came two days of grueling attention on Zahra, painting her as anti-Semitic as well and bringing up old tweets in which she used strong language to criticize the state of Israel, among other things. Within 48 hours of the news that the Women’s March had appointed new board members, Zahra was voted out.

Zahra and others marching at the San Francisco Women's March in 2018. Image source: Zahra Billoo's public Facebook page.

Like so many who have worked with Zahra from near and far and have kept up with her work, I’ve struggled to understand this decision. It has brought up some fundamental questions about what it means to be pro-Palestinian, what the differences are between anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and anti-Israel, and what things can be forgiven and what cannot in the court of public perception.

I got on the phone with Zahra to find out what happened and to talk to her about the accusations, her work and what this has all taught her. As I wrote this, more than 70 individuals and organizations signed an open letter demanding that she be reinstated to the board of the Women’s March. When you talk to Zahra, one thing becomes clear: She is placing her trust in Allah (S) to show her the path forward. “I have to make the intention that Allah, this is for you. And whatever happens, happens,” she told me.

The following is a portion of our conversation (edited and condensed for clarity).

Tell me about your involvement with the Women’s March. How long have you been involved and in what capacity?

I had already planned to be in Washington, D.C. [for the presidential inauguration in January 2016] and then heard of the Women’s March coming together, and I was honored to be invited to speak there. I remember looking into the crowd and being amazed at the sea of faces.

After the (national_ Women’s March, our staff and our board at CAIR San Francisco participated in the Women’s March in our area. I tweeted, I participated in regional events, I went to D.C. for the Cancel Kavanaugh action [as organized by the Women’s March]. I spoke at the Women’s March convention. I did all of those things and was really honored to be invited to join the board early in the summer of 2019.

The official board term began July 15. The announcement of the big transition didn’t happen until the second week in September.

What drew you to the Women’s March?

I have been so inspired by the organization and the founders’ ability to take what was heartbreak and turn it into action. That need hasn’t dissipated since 2017. It is hyped with everything going on and the impending 2020 election. So in thinking about my time and capacity, I often share with people that the question that keeps me up at night is, what is our ability to mobilize people into action? The Women’s March has done that over and over, and it has done that in an inclusive, thoughtful, intersectional and courageous way with issues that touch all of our lives.

Let’s talk about the trajectory of this story – starting with the headlines in the Washington Post and other things – what is the truth there?

I have been at CAIR over a decade and have been doing advocacy for the community for over 20 years. I’ve never seen anything this outrageously untrue. On Monday morning we woke up to an exclusive in the Washington Post about the new board that told a story about the transition that wasn’t accurate, namely that the organization was cutting ties with the founders. This wasn’t the truth. They were supporting the transition. Beyond that there is a founder that still sits on the board.

(Editorial Note: It’s public knowledge that there is a rotating founder’s seat on the board. Carmen Perez, one of the four original founders, still sits on the board.)

Unfortunately it took several hours to have our narrative posted through our channels. [By that time], the story had already gone viral. Right wingers were crowing over it.

Through the course of the day, the narrative shifted to, You got rid of the old folks and you brought this new board in [with the same problems]. My name was at the top of people who were attacked in the 24 to 48 hours of that original news story. Most of the attacks were from right-wing press, Zionist press and internet people.

Monday night (September 16th) I heard from a couple of people who told me, “You’ve become the story, and this is concerning.” I told them that this happens to my people so often, and it will cycle out. On Tuesday I start to hear murmurs about people who are upset and that this is causing a lot of pressure. I was told that my comments are offensive (certain tweets). I went to the board members and said that I’m sorry for the hurt it’s caused. We had conversations on the phone.

There was a lot of, “The organization is too fragile to handle this.” But I was like – the organization I know is courageous, bold, strong. What is fragility, and what does it look like that we want to work together when we’re about to take on one of the most frightening and critical elections of our lifetime, but the moment you are attacked for something like this, you are cast aside?

(Editorial note: Zahra was called to task for things she has tweeted about and said several years earlier against Israel and Zionism, using strong, and what some may consider harsh, language.)

People told me, I’m anti-Zionist too, but I don’t believe Israel is a terrorist state. But when I talk to people about what life is like in Palestinian refugee camps (having visited one) – you don't plan for next week because you don't know if you’re going to be alive next week. If that’s not terrorism, what is?

[In regard to my dismissal being Islamophobic in nature] I heard a lot of, “We can’t be Islamophobic because we too are from a marginalized community.” This wasn’t just coming from white women by any means at all. These were women of color also saying this. And finally, I also heard a lot of, “We can’t speak about women’s reproductive rights when we have to talk about about Palestinian rights.” I say – why can’t we do both?

It came down to I either needed to resign or be forced out. Another option was why don’t I resign, and they’ll replace me with another Muslim woman? I was like – so you want to replace me with someone more palatable? It didn’t look like I’d survive the vote. So, I decided I was going to make the Women’s March do the work [of letting me go] and be on the record for their cowardice. On Wednesday evening (September 18th) I was voted off the board. I was disappointed in the Women’s March in so many ways.

What about those questionable tweets? What do you have to say about that?

What I heard was a range of talk about my entire body of public writing and speaking. The comments were: How dare you criticize the military? How dare you say that the FBI recruits people into terror efforts? How dare you criticize the IDF? How dare you say Israel is a terrorist state or that Israel is persecuting Palestinians? But this is the reality of my community’s experiences and my experiences. Being on the board [of the Women’s March] doesn’t mean that they have to agree with 100 percent of the things I said.

I may not say the same things today that I said in 2014. I may not say the same things today that I said yesterday. I asked [the Women’s March], “What do you think I should do?” One of them said to me, “I think you should resign to protect your integrity.” But my integrity doesn’t come from an organization, from positions or title. It comes from my work, it comes from my religion teaching me that I shouldn’t back down.

I stand by the content of my tweets, but there are things that I wouldn’t tweet today. I might say certain things differently, For a decade I taught my community that you can't post what you can’t stand behind.

People tweet or do things all the time that they later regret or perhaps change their mind about or wish they had phrased differently. For example, in Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam wore blackface in a medical school yearbook photo. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also just apologized for wearing brownface in a past photo. You were called out for things you’ve said. What should be forgiven? What things are unforgivable in your mind?

I think it’s about degrees. Show me the criteria about racism in my tweets. Over and over I talked about Israel. When did I say anything about Jewish people? There’s a difference between blackface and criticism of Israel. I think people should have the opportunity, depending on the degree of what happened, to apologize and say, teach me, show me - where can we agree to disagree?

In this particular situation, I think the difference between blackface and my tweets about Israel is that there is no objective disagreement about blackface. There is objective disagreement about Israel.

The more important piece is that what happened here is not about a couple of tweets. It’s about the fact that Israel continues to steal land and subject Palestinians to the worst. And, our progressive friends in the West are unwilling to have conversations about that. Our Muslim women are facing exclusion from the left, and the idea of “Progressive except Palestine” is alive and well. That to me is the epitome of “How can we talk about reproductive rights if we have to speak about Palestinian communities?”

From all this, what I’ve learned is that the Women’s March is telling me, You can talk about Palestine until it gets tricky. You can be here, but not with your whole self. This is coming from the new Women’s March national board. This is not reflective of the founders, because they lived through this, and they did it courageously in a way this board hasn’t been able to.

And beyond that, this is not the Women’s March chapters across the United States. I’ve been incredibly moved by how some chapters have been. There is a mix of feelings and a lot of objections from some chapters. The chapters who worked so hard to align themselves with the founders, they are very disappointed.

This was the deepest commitment I made to an organization that is not majority Muslim – committed to joining as a Muslim speaking at their events. Allah says we will be tested in our work, and we are tested in different ways. My test might be in my work. I will say that this was not the place where I expected [to be tested] because this organization has been through so much of the same.

This is from Allah, and maybe there’s something good in it. As leaders, we say that we are doing this for the people. In teaching Islamic work and activism, I often say we are not in this for leadership, for awards or for any of the glamour. It’s really easy to say that when you have all of those things. For me, the test was saying that when I was losing all of this. The spiritual test for me and the test of my integrity was being willing to fight, being willing to stick to my principles even at risk of harm.

In Her Own Words - An Interview with Ousted Women's March Board Member Zahra Billoo published first on https://lenacharms.tumblr.com/

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go-redgirl · 5 years

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youtube

Kim Clement Prophecy 2014 of Donald J. Trump Election Chosen By Almighty God Who He Called His ‘David’.

234,010 views

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INDIVIDUALS/COMMENTS/POSTS:

dnglbry OH MY WONDERFUL DEAR GOD!!!WE MUST GET BEHIND THIS GREAT BRAVE MAN!!!!!

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REPLY Who is this April Like Trump or not......he WAS God’s elect!!! So take it up with God.....good luck with that.....

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Jose Ramirez I choose Trump from day one in the primary election! Latinos for Trump!!! Trump 2020!!!

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REPLY Caroline Rothstein God bless the Trump family

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REPLY lacc980 This prophecy is getting fulfilled now, please follow this prophecy

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REPLY rudyrod100 I've watched this twenty times at least, gives me chills every time and makes me glad I voted for Trump. God Bless America!

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Passionate Truth Network REPLY Viviana Hetnandez The Lord's hand is upon president Trump..Thanks to our Lord Jesus Is coming to pass now.. Allelulla!

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REPLY Passionate Truth Network Look at all the prophets in the USA speaking "GLOOM & DOOM" over America! Kim Clement said it wasn't time for the destruction of America...so there are some prophets who prophesy incorrectly...but Kim Clement and Mark Taylor have been very accurate in the prophesies they have given!

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REPLY marianne carlson "The enemy will try to put a witch in the white house."..Hillary is a practicing witch and is a part of a coven...has been for years.

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REPLY Barbara Sneller Jehovah God is at the helm. His WILL be done!

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REPLY MZ ANGEL Oh, God, let Your will be done on Earth!

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REPLY Terry Sigmon We need to pray for our President. This man is unbelievable. The hate that this man goes through don't seem to phase him. He is one the toughest man I've ever seen. Pray for his safety. His life is in danger. He cannot be bought like most politicians and they hate not being able to control him. Never has a president funded his own campaign and donated his pay to charity. GOD BLESS YOU DONALD J. TRUMP. GOD BLESS YOU. PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM.

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Passionate Truth Network

REPLY Pata Mo Thank you Father for President Trump! Thy will be done Father ❤️🇺🇸

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REPLY Truther777 Q just said "we have the gold" Q said it would bring down the federal reserve that's been robbing the people

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l kern watch how potus turns around and salutes the soldier at the stairs. that was real appreciation for the service of another human being, and Melania believes the words of her prayer. America is blessed.

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REPLY sjurdurkjv Wonderful. I'm crying for the first time in 25 years

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Cheryl Clarke No doubt whatsoever that Donald J. Trumps being elected Potus is sure divine intervention as there ain’t any person at present on earth who could possibly achieve what he has/is not only for his beloved USA but the world..Americans should be so grateful to have such a great leader..

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GOD IS GOOD, GOD IS THE TRUTH.. BLESSINGS TO MR PRESIDENT, MELANIA AND ALL AMERICANS

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REPLY Kerry Weston I liked Donald J. Trump before he ran for president and he has turned out to be the best president we've ever had. Unlike all the others, he speaks the truth and actually does what he says he will do.

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Passionate Truth Network REPLY Theresa Petekiewicz The Giants of the Federal Reserve in the Rothschild family. The giant of George Soros and the giant of NWO and the giant of national debt. Amen Lord Jesus you are all-powerful all-seeing and all-knowing. We need to pray daily for president Trump and all the white hats.

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REPLY Stev op62 THANK YOU LORD For coming to Save Us ! I Love You

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Summer Raines Love POTUS Trump & FLOTUS Melania!!! ❤💙

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Cookie N Creams God bless TRUMP... sending love to TRUMP from the United kingdom... His a good man.. b4 he ran and after he won.. he has kept his word... PRESIDENT TRUMP is the peoples PRESIDENT... God bless you AMERICA.. TRUMP 2020

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Carola Press Deliver this nation from evil Lord God! We call upon your name!

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Tread Softly I love my President and my First Lady they are beautiful loving and caring people!

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Leona Sammy God said he will built a wall for protection around this country . so why people against Trump building the wall to protect the broader

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REPLY Jose Roberto Menendez God bless our President, God bless America.

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Eric Trevi Two Supreme Court Judges have recently been appointed by President Trump.

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REPLY Victorious Pauper ISRAEL ......IS...... FOREVER !!!!

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Lisa Bannon God Bless Kim Clement!! Always and RIP what a great prohphet ... Sadly will be missed...

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REPLY hexencoff I hope that everyone is as honored as I am to have the privilege to say that we lived among the greatest of men like Kim Clement and our beloved President Donald J Trump!!! RIP Kim the world is by far a lesser place without you!!! Soar with eagles my brother for you have earned your wings I only pray to one day join you!!!

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Jorge Hernandez God choice nothing will stop his desire...2 terms

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REPLY angi seb AMEN OUR GOD DOES NOT LIE MAGA ......😘😘😘😘😘😘

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mary howland Thank God for giving us Trump for our president. I believe Kim is a true phrophet of God. I pray for all of us and God bless our country.

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REPLY Linda Bezecny Dear Lord Please Product Our President Donald Trump! Keep Him From The Evil Doers! Like The Ones Who Killed President Lincoln, Kennedy And His Son, And Brother! Also The Insanity Of Shooting President Reagan! Amen. \O/

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Cheryl Clarke Melania Trump is a Flotus Americans at last can be so very proud of...beautiful, stylish, classy, speaks “5” languages fluently...wowwwww what a combination!!!

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Diana Prince wow, such beautiful singing by that young lady. Gave me goosebumps.

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REPLY xee doll I wish they would say the Lords Prayer more often 🙏🏼

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Yoleta Trujillo Focus! Don’t be weary in well doing. It is our responsibility to not faint. Be the Spiritual Warriors God called us to be!

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Geri Messina Does everyone know all that has been going on behind the scenes to implement the plan as God briefly described here? There IS a magnificent plan that is brilliant and could only have been orchestrated, implemented by God!

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Lisa Bannon Thank you father God! For our President Mr Trump and his beautiful wife, I'm proud to call our first lady, thank you and praise you Yahweh praise you always...

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Anthony Lucky Powerful! Give glory to the Lord! Thank you for putting this together. Blessings to this channel.

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Sofiani Adams Thank you to our father in heaven for sending President Trump to us. Thank my dear Lord..AMEN.

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IP Rainwater It's happening now...Q

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Eileen Q Patriot I just learned about him - he's amazing.

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Chi88LuckHolistic

GOD BLESS AMERICA AND GOD BLESS POTUS!!! GOD anointed President Trump to save America eventually the world from the destruction by the deep state.

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Ed Bernardo THAT'S why he was crying out to God in the Rose garden. He was overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, crying out to God.

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REPLY Many don't agree with me but there was a massive red Tsunami that happened on the just passed midterm elections, Does anyone realize the victory the Republicans just got in the Senate?

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REPLY Darryl Cole I MISS KIM ( R.I.P.) & would love to have a Cool Ministry like that..!!! I'm a Drummer if anyone has Ministry like that and needs MUSICIANS let me know... We're Good & Ready...!!! and have all the equipment(PA)and instruments....,!!! Praise God

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REPLY Angela Becerra Thanks to God! Thank you Mr.& Mrs. TRUMP.....

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REPLY Janice Andreyka Kim Clement will be missed.. God bless his family !

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REPLY Bobby D I was weary of Mr Trump when I heard he was running. I was afraid for the American people 🇺🇲 Though I'm from Ireland 🇮🇪 I KNOW GOD & have always believed and knew, AMERICA was Chosen by God. And now I believe God has chosen Mr Trump & His Beautiful WIFE. God Bless America 🇺🇲 and God Bless your President 🇺🇲 Shine on, Shine on, Love & Blessings from Ireland America ❤️❤️❤️🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪

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REPLY Renee Mendias This is SO Powerful!! Listen to it again and again, embrace and pray it, witness it come to pass in the present age!

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REPLY YO All I can say is "WOW", this is amazing! AMEN!!!!

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REPLY matt noah Today president Trump and leader Kim of North Korea met! Looking back on these prophecy wow, what an awesome God we serve! Lord God continue to bless Donald Trump with your wisdom!

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REPLY Oh No GO MELANIA!!!!! Woot woot!!!!! 👍👍👍💐💐💐💐💐💐🇺🇸

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REPLY LARRY FARVER THANK GOD FOR KIM AND TRUMP. MOSTLY FOR JESUS.

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REPLY Gerardo Sanchez The earth and heaven will pass but! my words shall never ever pass amen to the Glory of God for ever. GBUA

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REPLY Marti True Tears in eyes. My heart is full

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REPLY Tammy Eaton Jesébel was a Baal-worshipping CRUEL WOMAN-she was INVOLVED WITH THE OCCULT—likewise HILDEBEAST will NOT become PRESIDENT-she did NOT ASCEND. She HAS the SPIRIT OF JEZEBEL! Hillary’s LUCIFERIAN WORSHIP is being EXPOSED. It’s been DISMISSED as FAKE NEWS-THAT is because they’re SCARED!

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REPLY inhisfootsteps That plan is happening now. as of 5/1/2018

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REPLY CLAY Thomas I'VE NEVER HEARD A FIRST LADY SAY A PRAYER, LET ALONE THE APOSTLE'S PRAYER. (JESUS GAVE IT AS AN EXAMPLE TO THE APOSTLES) The Apostles said 'Lord teach us to pray', the Lord said in Luke 11, a model of prayer for the Apostles to follow. A template if you will. 1. To glorify God and praise His Hallowed name

2.To support and pray for His Kingdom to be reflected on the Earth

3. To assure us that we will always and every day have the Holy Bible with which to feed us through the Holy Spirit

4. To forgive us our sins as we confess them to Him with a contrite heart and in turn forgive those who cause us pain and sorrow in our daily lives (for they know not what they do)

5. God will not allow us to bear a burden we are not capable of bearing, He knows exactly what we can handle (lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, the believer will be delivered from the pain and suffering of the world, through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

John Nowakowski The other "Snowdon" was Jullian Assange...

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Jack Frost Hell kill the giant just as David did, with faith. Hallelujah!!!!!

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Lovie Love God continue to bless the USA 🇺🇸 with this President and his family. TRUMP 2020.

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latafairam A true servant of God.

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ChildOfGod 22 Amen!!! Trump will carry out God's plan!!! Two supreme court Justices and a third retiring in January 2019!!!! Amen! God bless President Trump!

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REPLY Peggy Turner - Blue Marlin Real Estate God has BLESSED our Nation once more with a President after God's own heart.

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REPLY mary trammell Israel Is FOREVER!

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REPLY J Leo We love you Mr. And Mrs. President!!! Thank you for being REAL...being true Patriots. God bless you. MAGA!

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REPLY Jennifer Ward God Bless President and Melania Trump!! Hallelujah!!! Go God!!!

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REPLY jennifer wilson This is a Gold Mine for me. Thanks you LORD.

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REPLY Sammie Germany That is our beautiful First Lady.

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REPLY patricia belgrave DEAR GOD- DO NOT LET YOUTUBE TAKE THIS VIDEA DOWN- IF THEY DO- PLEASE PUNISH THEM. AMEN.

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REPLY Amy Manus True,True prophet of GOD!! #ISRAEL IS FOREVER!!!!!!!!!😇👼👏

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REPLY M1M P Wow - the church of God needs to wake up for a slumber

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REPLY JC 1 He was rejected by the Republicans because they said: this man is a child in politics.

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REPLY Ted Nanc

Beautiful prophet of God.........

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REPLY Dan Mefford Absolutely amazing

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REPLY Joseph Bezzi GODBLESS PRESIDENT TRUMP the Glory and Praise to FATHER GOD ALMIGHTY

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nataliesnews · 5 years

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Back in Israel

25.3.2020

The worst moment for me was saying goodbye to Daphne and Glenn ….I have had many sad goodbyes especially with Jessie. In the beginning the financial problem not knowing when I would be able to afford to go back. Then just saying goodbye to Jessie and Solly and not knowing when I would see them again or if. I so remember a night when I had to take the bus to Johannesburg. We had to go to the motel which was out of the village. Pitch dark and a bitter night. Our friend, Esther Prinsloo, came with us and the moment we saw the lights of the bus appearing in the dark we all three had tears. Or the time when I left her when she was still in the retirement village. Again early morning. Jessie in her dressing gown. We held one another and kissed and she said to me, “Go and don’t look back.” I think of Jeanette and Oscar even though with Jeanette it took a year and a half for me to save enough to go back to stand at her grave. When Oscar was kill at least I had the money to go at once. But this time was the worst I have ever known. When I saw my mountains disappearing into the distance on the plane . The young man sitting next to me thought that I was scared of flying but I explained I was saying goodbye to my beloved country and once again would I see it again.

So here I am back in my apartment. I decided last night that I would walk up and down each day until I get to the 10000 steps. Esther, my reflexology girl, phoned and when I said that I had not been able to find exercise on the tv to use u-tube. I will start from the end or the beginning. Normally I would come and start writing about the trip but let me start from after the wedding which was great and so joyous and which I will still write about. But I will start from the days after leading up to my eventually coming in to Nofim near 12.00 last night. Daphne went off to Inyati with her in-laws and the young couple and brother. Only to find that they had closed for 4 weeks. Luckily they found a place in the park and had a quiet time. I, in the meantime went to my friend, Anita, which was being in a little cocoon of peace. We have been friends since we were 12 and, I hope Anita agrees, seem to fit in like two peas in a pod over all the years. She told me that I was one of the few friends whom her husband, Ronnie, liked even though he said that whenever I came we were out yolling .But he liked to have his brandy with me as Anita does not drink much. In fact when I come I usually find the same amount of alcohol in the house as when I left from what I had bought.

I am very worried about the political situation here. We are definitely heading towards a dictatorship. My friend who is in a car convoy round the Knesset told me that there are police all over stopping them from getting near the place and also there is absolutely nothing on the news about it. I am sorry to write this but my thoughts go back to 1939 and the months that led up to the Holocaust. I won’t write more about that now. But it is more frightening to me than Corona.

read article: https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-bombshell-yuli-edelstein-resigns-to-avoid-calling-vote-on-new-speaker/

I am also wondering if the new law which is about the come into being tonight that you may not go more than 100 metre from your house is not to stop people demonstrating against the Balfour bastard. And how come the stars besides giving him Trump as a back up…and I am sure that I am not the first to notice the word trump now gives him Corona as a present. And his filthy son who puts a tweet on pissing on the high court. Where do we get this trash from?

And how come that the police are checking some people and in many of the ultra orthodox yeshivot they are doing their own thing

read article: https://www.timesofisrael.com/critics-say-rabbinates-call-for-day-of-public-prayer-puts-thousands-at-risk/

But some of the more intelligent rabbis are calling on video conference Passover. I still will be in quarantine.

But back to when I came back to Cape Town I think the situation really hit us. Maybe because Daphne’s in-laws had to get back home, Debbie and Charles whose kids were here from Australia and I. Anita and I visited one couple whom I had met on the trip and who live in Somerset West and are from America and we were all in the situation of not knowing exactly how we were going to get home. From day to day travelling seemed more and more fraught with fear ….not of the corona at any rate on my part but on getting home. Every time I heard the news it sounded more and more doubtful. If I travel again, I will choose another agent as it was impossible to phone him. My friends kept writing to me to stay in SA but we would all have gone mad had I done so. I don’t know how I am going to get through this period of being in one room and I woke up this morning, not in panic, but determined to think of ways to stay sane. I can order food through the restaurant and other necessities from the little shop downstairs or from the grocery store where they helped me after my operation. The end of the month I will see to get my medicines. One thing here in Nofim what happened in Spain will not happen here. The workers who can are here and we are looked after.

I found people so helpful at the airport. . In Cape Town they were not serving alcohol in the restaurant to my horror. And then they did not come and fetch me for the flight. A waiter there, Zee Parker, ….made me think of Zianda …asked two of those passing with wheelchairs to take me and they said they could only take people on receiving the order. He left the restaurant and came back himself with a chair and took me to the departure point. I told him that when I got myself together I would write to the airport and have it down on my list of things to do.

The young Israelis were wonderful. Two separate groups when they realized that I was alone….I had paid extra in Turkey to spend the 12 hour layover in a comfortable siltation. I am glad I did not go to the hotel as I thought to do….I think in any case they were full. There I would have been alone. But now these kids told me to come and sit with them and kept bringing me water and worried that I did eat. When I said I was cold they also brought me a blanket of theirs. And when another older woman came up to ask something they told her also to come and be together. I was too tense with the fear that the flight from Turkey would be cancelled when I saw the board of all the cancellations. Such a relief when we saw it. The funny thing was that they were all talking to their family about all the foods they wanted when they got home…..in spite of the fact that there was all sorts of foods there. And now on the tv again people are giving out recipes!!!

It was just as well that I went to the lounge as at one stage we heard yelling and shouting from downstairs where the general public were. Evidently everything there was closed and nothing to buy from so the airport brought in food and even had soldiers there trying to keep order. In fact when I saw what was happening there I was scared that the same thing would happen on the floight and that people would be fighting for a place. But it went very calmly thought the boarding was started well before the hour given …I guess to get people out of the airport as soon as possible.

And as for sitting apart from one another….the waiting room for Turkish was so full that we were nearly sitting on one another’s laps. In the morning my chair attendant tried to get me on an earlier flight and though I could not understand what he was saying I could see him begging them for me and then the lady got up and spoke to me directly and I could see that that they were really so sorry but there was not one place free on the earlier flight. When we parted they said I should stay well. I said I have had my life. You are those who must stay well.

I just made a big order from my grocery store where I used to be. I reckoned that at Nofim there would be enough buyers but I didn’t live in a high up economic area and reckoned that they would need custom as I am sure many people there are out of work and will struggle. Anyhow they brought it to Nofim and there was a knock on my door and when I opened there was no one there just the box. I also have a person of contact here if I want to know anything. Shosh Zeitman….it is Ilana and Amiram. I will get through this with the help of three bottles of liqueur from South Africa, and the two bottles of vodka and 8 bottles of wine that I ordered.

Phone calls are coming in all the time. My one friend sent a virtual kiss so I told him I would send him a virtual something else following the kiss. When people phone I walk up and down in the room and have already done two kilometer.

And I don’t have boerewors because my favourite great niece and nephew got at it before I saw that it had fallen out of my case and just about finished it off. I swear that those dogs felt the tension in the house. They were so dejected and what is more quiet. But poor Zoe was sick from the boerewors.

When I get my pictures straightened out I will send them.

#Back in Israel #25.3.2020

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islamicvoice-blog · 6 years

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Israel to reprimand Irish ambassador over Dublin's anti-settlement bill

New post https://is.gd/zq4u2O

Israel plans to reprimand Irish Ambassador Alison Kelly over her country’s advancement Thursday of a bill that would criminalize selling goods or services that originate beyond the pre-1967 lines.

“It is disturbing and disappointing that the initiators of the law are focusing on a hypocritical attack on Israel, rather than on dictatorships that slaughter their citizens,” the Foreign Ministry said. “This is a clear expression of obsessive discrimination that should be rejected with disgust.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry summoned Kelly to a meeting on Friday, after Ireland’s lower house of parliament voted 78-45, with three abstentions, to advance the bill. If it passes, it would make Ireland the first European Union country to criminalize commercial activity beyond the 1967 lines, including east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The Prime Minister’s Office said “Israel is outraged over the legislation against it in the Dail which is indicative of hypocrisy and anti-Semitism.”

Israeli Ambassador to Ireland Ophir Kariv wrote recently on the Irish website TheJournal.ie that passage of the bill would also make Ireland “the most extreme anti-Israel, although not pro-Palestinian country, outside Iran and the Middle East.”

After the vote, the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Frances Black, tweeted, “Ireland will always stand for international law + human rights, & we’re one step closer to making history. Onwards!”

Irish parliamentarian Maurice Quinlivan tweeted that it was also now time for Ireland to recognize the state of Palestine.

The minority government opposes the private member’s bill, but has not been able to halt its passage through the parliament because of its minority standing.

If passed into law, the measure would impose a fine of up to €250,000 or five years in jail for those found guilty of importing or selling any goods or services originating in the Golan Heights, east Jerusalem or West Bank settlements.

Initially it was believed that the government would be able to kill the bill, but the legislation gained steam. Israeli officials are still exploring possibilities to see whether there may be a route for the Irish government to squash the bill, but there are no guarantees and little optimism.

The senate approved it last year. It is now making its way through the house, which it is at the second stage of a five-stage process.

Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney retweeted the speech opposing the bill, which he gave to the lower parliament on Wednesday during a two-hour debate about the bill.

He told the chamber that the country had a long history of opposing Israeli settlement activity and had been at the forefront of government policy on the matter.

But Ireland cannot act alone on this matter because it is part of the EU’s single market, and as a result it has to abide by its policies, he explained.

“Trade is an exclusive competence of the European Union,” Coveney said.

The EU has labeled but not banned Israeli products produced over the pre-1967 lines.

Passage of the bill would put Ireland in breach of EU law and would open it up to legal action from the EU, including monetary fines that could cost Ireland millions of euros, Coveney said.

It would also make it difficult for American companies to operate in Ireland and vice versa, because of US legislation in support of Israel, Coveney said.

In addition, he added, the bill would harm Ireland’s ability to advocate for the Palestinians on a global stage.

“We would be choosing to be a principled voice in the wilderness, satisfied in the righteousness of our course, but largely unable to influence the real action,”

Minister of State Ciaran Cannon warned the parliamentarians that other EU states would not follow Ireland in passing similar bills criminalizing settlement activity. Ireland has no partners on this issue, he said.

Supporters of the bill were not deterred by the government’s arguments.

“Ireland needs to be a world leader in refusing to [accept] illegal settlements built on Palestinian land,” said Irish parliamentarian, Fiona O’Loughlin.

“This historic bill is an important message from us as a small nation, expressing our solidarity with the Palestinian people who are living in dreadful conditions in the occupied territories,” she said.

They were part of a long list of parliamentarians who delivered emotional speeches in support of the bill.

Some politicians who spoke in favor of the legislation – often in emotional speeches – insisted they supported Israel, and that the bill was a statement against the settlements, not a boycott of Israel or a statement of antisemitism.

Others were harsh in their rhetoric, accusing Israel of war crimes and apartheid. One of the speakers wore a keffiyeh.

“When discussing the settlements, we should be clear that they are a weapon of war,” said parliament member Paul Murphy.

The real reason for the government’s opposition to the bill is pressure from Israel, which has threatened to remove its ambassador from Ireland, Murphy said.

Outside the parliament, the Ireland Israel Alliance and the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem held a small demonstration.

In a letter to politicians, Paul Coulter of the ICEJ said, “As an Irish citizen who loves Israel and the Jewish people, I am both appalled and ashamed at this measure. Appalled at the bill’s thinly veiled antisemitism, and ashamed of my fellow countrymen who are promoting it. Criticism of Israel is not automatically antisemitic, but to uniquely single out Israel for criticism and boycott is.”

Bloomberg columnist Eli Lake wrote Wednesday that the proposed bill would be detrimental to Ireland’s economy, which is a tax haven for American tech giants such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook.

These companies, and others, have set up branch office in Israel and bought Israeli start-ups that have employees who live beyond the 1967-lines.

“The Irish legislation, if it becomes law, would force Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook to choose between their Irish tax haven and their business in the Jewish state,” he wrote.

And The Irish Examiner daily editorialized on Thursday that at best the bill is a “well meaning show of solidarity” with the Palestinians, and at worst – by targeting the actions of Israel alone – it “risks the accusation that Ireland is antisemitic. It is already being seen as such in the United States, particularly in Boston where politicians, business people and other power brokers have spoken against it, among them Mayor Martin J. Walsh.”

Boston has a strong Irish-American population.

“The State of Israel is not the only occupying force,” the newspaper wrote. “What about the occupied territories of Russia (Ukraine, including Crimea, from 2014, also parts of Moldova – 1992 – and Georgia – 2008), Turkey (northern Cyprus from 1974 and parts of Aleppo in Syria since 2016), Morocco (most of the Western Sahara since 1975)?” – JPost

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omowilfred2903-blog · 7 years

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10 Inexpensive Exterior Fixes To Aid Market Your Property.

Coming from southerly The golden state, BMX racing has actually increased to a worldwide circuit. Yamaha filth motorbikes are actually excellent for off-road competitions like as an example Motocross. You operate on dust instead of the street (at least, many of the amount of time), you breath in fresh air and you can take a look around you and also see exciting factors!

Road performers Barbiturikills as well as generated this mural in Valencia, Spain, shortly after Trump's governmental vote-casting success. Walking down Morton Street on a Friday evening was actually a fully conflicting expertise coming from each time that I have actually strolled down the street. The 4 within this case uncovers that this king was actually only counting on his own all-natural physical toughness and ability that seemed to become productive when facing various other bodily all-natural aim ats yet he was actually no suit for the God of the Hebrews that delivered the kids from Israel coming from the threat and damage that Sennacherib had plotted and they failed to must carry out a thing. That does certainly not cost any kind of much less to produce a little bike in comparison to that carries out to produce a huge one, however the smaller bike is anticipated to sell for less, consequently in order to be profitable the much smaller bike must sell in bigger varieties, so the question is: in 2009 what is the dimension of the market place for small road-going motorbikes in North America? As reflected on Wal-Mart's cash flow statement for the year ending January 31, 2017, our experts keep in mind the 27% boost in three-year common development in free capital from procedures: 16.4 billion in financial 2015 to $20.9 billion in economic 2017. Pair of days later Schepp introduced his purpose to devote $2.5 million to create a foundation for The big apple children in between 13 as well as 16 years of ages that will deliver all of them "along with ways to ready themselves for beneficial occupations." The children would certainly be required to "guarantee on their own to dispense with peccadillos, to obey the regulations of the State and also nation, and also to be considerate in their procedure from others." If, after 2 years, they kept the pledge, they will get $200 to be used to either begin an organisation or even complete their education and learnings. As market value financiers, our company likewise make note that in the 4th quarter of 2016, the company bought ~ 5.5 numerous IBM typical reveals via open market or private purchases at a typical rate per share of $159.50. These bundled purchases equated to perfectbody2018.Info a roughly 8% premium to the exchanging series of the share since this writing. When the phone lines levelled up for Q&A, 2 professionals (Mark Argento, Lake Street Financing Markets, and also Ross Licero, Craig Hallum Capital Markets) were permitted to inquire inquiries (find SA incomes telephone call transcript ); nonetheless, I was actually certainly not. Got this. If I can slip another in there, I merely would like to view if there certainly, perform you view every other possibility as you look around your very own companies today where you go to perhaps the cross roadways of reduced profitability on something that you run today, but an obvious driver on the market like G3 on the ladies's organisation edge that could possibly be actually yet another licensing chance for you, as you check out 2017. Some of the year's most compelling initiatives," Street Stories" assigneded U.K.-based musicians along with saying to the true stories from homeless British teenagers. Mtb are designed to overcome off-road terrain like dirt, snowfall, rocks and mud. At 2PM every NYSE trading day on the Returns Pet Catcher web page in Facebook, Fredrik Arnold carries out a quick live online video summary of among 5 supplies from the full week competing for a slot on the Trip To Sweet Results portfolio.

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abbyfdenton · 7 years

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Late Night Jokes Packet

I submitted a packet to one of those late night writing fellowships. Nothing’s gonna come of it, so here, if future submittees want to compare their packet to some random asshole’s work:

Topical Monologue Jokes

Pharmacy giant CVS recently finalized its purchase of health insurer Aetna, a deal that entered negotiations two months ago, making this the fastest anyone has bought anything at a CVS.

A drunk man took the Internet by storm when he entered a Waffle House late at night and found the staff asleep. He helped himself to the kitchen to cook himself dinner and, like far too many Waffle House patrons, forgot to tip.

Facebook has announced an instant messenger app just for kids under 13. In other news, former Alabama Senator Roy Moore was spotted registering a new Facebook account.

Some cinema owners, desperate to pry moviegoers away from Netflix, have been releasing fake snow and gusts of wind at pivotal points in the movie Coco. I guess they're trying to attract the pivotal longshoreman demographic. We've tried immersive movies for years. In the sixties theaters had electrified seats and scratch-and-sniff cards. More recently, the 3-hour runtime of Justice League made you feel like you'd been stuffed in a dark hole after getting all your bones broken. Chief of Imax Richard Gelfond was skeptical of these techniques and said, "The great revolution will be in virtual reality and augmented reality. Perhaps there’s a dinosaur in a movie and you see them sitting next to you.” (This actual quote is probably goofy enough to get a response, but if not:) I like to imagine Gelfond's dream project, about a wise-cracking, movie-watching dinosaur.

On Sunday the scheduled demolition of the Pontiac Silverdome, once home of the Detroit Lions and the Detroit Pistons, completely failed to trigger an implosion, making the Pontiac Silverdome Detroit's most intact building. Onlookers hoping to see a Detroit landmark fall to ruin were disappointed to learn they'd picked the wrong scheduled demolition that day.

Phone giant Apple recently broke with Dialog, the company making its microchips, and decided to start manufacturing their own. Amish experts were brought in to assist with the production of Apple chips.

In Pittsburgh a cow has now escaped from a live Nativity display twice, both times found walking along a major highway, away from the Nativity and... towards a mall, which I think is more than a little heavy-handed. The Baby Jesus remains at large.

A surgeon in the U.K. pled guilty to burning his initials onto patients' livers while he performed organ transplants. A gruesome case, but if you really want gruesome – how did they check the livers? Generally, you put your initials on rocks, or trees – things you know will last a long time, right? I say, this just proves he was confident.

A Connecticut town councilman recently resigned after a political opponent discovered that he'd spent years under a penname writing furry erotica. You'd think the giant mascot suit would have given him away. (Super an image of a guy in a furry mascot suit in the middle of a city council meeting) “Will the terrifying dog-man from Bridgeport yield the floor?” Meanwhile in the furry community a respected writer faced censure from his peers when it came to light he had been participating in degenerate human society. (Super the legend: FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD)

Meanwhile a town in Ireland recently complained that fumes from a nearby factory producing Viagra were affecting local dogs in, uh, a Viagarrific way. A Connecticut town councilman was quoted as asking, “Where was this?”

The UK has begun punishing people who have used Bitcoin to launder money. It took five years to reach that point for a product with the slogan “Bitcoin: We're for Doing Crimes.”

A New York woman was accused of funneling Bitcoins to ISIS. The Bitcoins totalled a US value of over sixteen thousand dollars... No, just under eight thousand... No, right around fifty-seven thousand dollars.

A report recently asserted that the computer farms processing Bitcoin use more electricity per day than the entire country of Denmark. Many people are saying this proves Bitcoin is a force for global evil, but have we considered that Denmark just doesn't use enough electricity? They let the wind do all their milling. It's a waste of perfectly good wind.

Australia recently voted to legalize gay marriage, which is wonderful news for everybody, especially for my side business selling young people excuses not to commit. (Super an appropriate fake business logo, perhaps of a blue footprint. SLOGAN: Cold Feet? De-Devote.) Notably 80% of the Australian voting public voted in the gay marriage referendum. 80%. In America we're lucky if 80% of the public can spell gay marriage referendum.

A prosecutor in a Chinese mortgage fraud scandal was quoted today as saying, “If everyone is doing it, you can't put them all in jail.” Michael Flynn was quoted as saying, “Bullshit!”

President Donald Trump recently attracted accusations that he was attempting to ignite more violence in the Middle east today when he referred to Jerusalem as the true capital of Israel. Less clear, however, is whether this is a change in US foreign policy or just a guy who doesn't know the capital of Israel.

Refillable desk bits

The Paris Review of Goosebumps

Two very pretentious figures provide contrasting scholarly reviews of an indefensibly silly kids' book, such as Baby-Sitters Club, Animorphs, etc, starting off debating themes but always devolving into schoolyard slap-fights.

Coming of Age

If a bit is risky or seems like it might not land in front of warm bodies, prep a contingency plan – the stage darkens, the host turns to look off-stage thoughtfully, and a voiceover is delivered by an older, folksier voice than the host about the bit's failure and what we've learned. Think: Stand by Me. “Now, I don't know why I thought they'd go for a photoshop of a dog jet-skiing over some dolphins. I guess back then I was a fool.”

Stuff We Did Before the Internet

In light of the FCC's commitment to rollback net neutrality, the host brings someone out to demonstrate past-times and hobbies people had before the Internet which may return to vogue, such as reading books (which the host tears apart while trying to figure out how to turn them on) or hand-churning butter.

Your Dad Explains the News

The host puts on a bad fake mustache, sits on a chair backwards and has a talk with the audience about something he doesn't understand. He loves comparing things to World War II documentaries, and most stories leave him wondering, “Why are these boys so angry?”

Regular Guys Riding a Bus

Following from the assumption that 90% of all problems would be solved if the rich and powerful had to bump noses with the average joe on public transit, the host conducts a political interview from the back of a city bus. A lot of the fun would come from the inconvenience – stop announcements interrupting the guest mid-sentence, stuff like that. Ideally the host and guest pause to offer seats to new passengers and switch positions as often as possible.

Next Week Tonight

Technically 2 segments:

1. A few predictions of what will happen in the coming week – not out of nowhere, upcoming events, releases, etc. Essentially predict results that are either comically bad or impossibly good. “The running of the bulls in Pamplona will cause an unusual amount of property damage, but the bulls will stick around to help rebuild.”

2. Footage of the previous week's predictions, contrasted with similar or completely dissimilar things that happened. Will tend toward gallows humor.

Segment is presented by the host and a shady gangster figure, whom it is implied extorts and bullies the host for gambling on these future predictions.

Animal House Epilogue

Take a clip from a movie or current events, freeze frame over different significant figures, and caption what happened immediately afterwards. e.g. Han Solo: Recovered from stab wound, now manages a Denny's.

Last-Minute Recast

The host interviews two guests, but gets their names mixed up. When they try to correct him, he laughs and says he's not going to fall for their “prank.” The guests attempt to remain in-character and answer questions on behalf of each other, even launching into convincing and obviously fake anecdotes about working on movies they weren't in, until a “producer” comes out, whispers to the host, and the mix-up is cleared up.

Normie Brewster

Soleil Moon-Frye complains about managing an Old Navy.

The Prophesied Return of Urkel

Jaleel White appears and begins to upstage the host much like how he replaced the original main cast of Family Matters. The jealous host banishes him in increasingly bizarre ways, by calling security, by winning an arm-wrestling match, or through a Charlie Daniels-esque fiddlin' duel. It is implied that Jaleel White is some manner of leprechaun.

#insight

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theradiodude · 7 years

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Saturday Night Live may have the week off, but news never stops, and neither do... well, actually, they do. But that doesn't mean I can't at least imagine what Update would be opening with this week. [HAMMOND] IT'S WEEKEND UPDATE... WITH COLIN JOST... AND MICHAEL CHE! [JOST] GOOD EVENING! [CHE] WELCOME TO WEEKEND UPDATE! I'M MICHAEL CHE. [JOST] AND I'M COLIN JOST. WELL, THIS WEEK WE FOUND OUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN AN ENTIRE PRESIDENCY IS OPPOSITE DAY. FIRST THING MONDAY, PRESIDENT TRUMP TWEETED HIS DEFENSE FOR BACKING BOTH LUTHER STRANGE *AND* ROY MOORE IN THE ALABAMA SENATE RACE. ALSO EARLY IN THE WEEK, TRUMP FACED A RENEWED EFFORT BY HIS ALLEGED VICTIMS TO HOLD HIM ACCOUNTABLE FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT. ON THURSDAY, THE UNITED NATIONS VOTED TO OVERRULE HIS DECISION TO RECOGNIZE JERUSALEM AS THE CAPITOL OF ISRAEL. THEN YESTERDAY, TRUMP WAS DEALT *TWO* BLOWS IN FEDERAL COURT, FIRST IN THE D.C. CIRCUIT, WHICH ONCE AGAIN UPHELD THE RIGHT OF TRANSGENDER PEOPLE TO JOIN THE MILITARY... AND JUST MOMENTS LATER, IN THE *NINTH* CIRCUIT, WHICH RULED THAT TRUMP'S *THIRD* ATTEMPT AT A MUSLIM BAN *STILL* VIOLATES THE LAW. TRUMP TOLD US THAT WE'D GET TIRED OF ALL THIS WINNING, BUT IF *THIS* IS WHAT WINNING LOOKS LIKE, WE SEEM TO BE CATCHING OUR SECOND WIND. THIS COUNTRY RIGHT NOW IS LIKE A COLLEGE STUDENT PULLING AN ALL-NIGHTER BECAUSE WE FORGOT TO STUDY FOR THAT BIG ORGANIC CHEMISTRY EXAM TOMORROW, AND WE KNOW WE'RE ONLY GONNA GET, LIKE, A 63, BUT WE'VE GOT A TWO-LITER OF MOUNTAIN DEW, SMELLING SALTS IN LINES LIKE COCAINE ON THE TABLE WHERE OUR NOSE WOULD LAND, AND THE DESPERATION TO AVOID ACKNOWLEDGING OUR ROOMATE'S HABIT OF DRY-HUMPING THE MATTRESS ALL NIGHT, SO BRING ON THE WINNING! [CHE] I DO *NOT* WANT TO MEET YOUR ROOMMATE. THE ONE WIN THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP *DID* GET THIS WEEK WAS THE NEW REPUBLICAN TAX PLAN, WHICH RAISES TAXES ON MOST OF THE MIDDLE CLASS, CUTS TAXES FOR THE TOP BRACKETS, AND INCREASES THE NATIONAL DEBT BY 1-POINT-3 TRILLION DOLLARS. AND, OF COURSE, HE SIGNED IT INTO LAW WITH THE TYPICAL POISE AND GRACE WE'VE COME TO EXPECT FROM PRESIDENT GOLDEN TOWERS... [TRUMP CLIP] OUR PLAN ALSO LOWERS THE TAX ON AMERICAN BUSINESS FROM 35% ALL THE WAY DOWN TO 21%. THAT'S PROBABLY THE BIGGEST FACTOR IN THIS PLAN-- [CHE] WHOA, WAIT A MINUTE! THE REPUBLICANS' WHOLE SALES PITCH FOR THIS THING WAS LOWERING TAXES ON THE MIDDLE CLASS! YOU DON'T GET TO JUST SLIP THAT IN THERE NOW THAT IT'S SOLD! THIS IS WHY NOBODY TRUSTS YOU! LIKE, FOR MY BIRTHDAY ONE YEAR, MY UNCLE JAMIE BOUGHT ME A SUPER NINTENDO, AND I WAS ALL EXCITED TO TAKE IT HOME AND PLAY, BUT WHEN I OPENED IT, HE SAID IT WOULD STAY AT *HIS* HOUSE, AND I COULD PLAY IT WHEN I WAS THERE, AND THE ONLY GAMES HE BOUGHT FOR IT WERE THE ONES *HE* WANTED. SO I RALLIED UP POPULAR SUPPORT FOR MY CAUSE, INFLUENCED PUBLIC OPINION, AND MY FAMILY VOTED HIM OUT IN THE MIDTERMS. I'VE GOT A HARSH FAMILY. [JOST] GIVES NEW MEANING TO "FAMILY POLITICS." STOCKS FELL FOR TWO DAYS AFTER THE PASSAGE OF THE NEW TAX BILL, LEADING AT LEAST ONE ECONOMIC EXPERT TO WARN OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANOTHER RECESSION, SAYING THAT THE REPUBLICANS ARE "SPRINTING TOWARDS AN ECONOMIC CLIFF," AND THAT THE BILL WOULD BE "CATASTROPHIC" FOR THE U.S. ECONOMY. YOU CAN READ THE FULL REPORT IN THIS MONTH'S ISSUE OF "PAINFULLY OBVIOUS MAGAZINE." THE BILL ALSO ELIMINATES THE INDIVIDUAL MANDATE FROM OBAMACARE, WHICH TRUMP EQUATED TO REPEALING *ALL* OF OBAMACARE. I'M GUESSING HE'S THE TYPE OF CUSTOMER AT A RESTAURANT WHO ORDERS A SIDE OF ONION RINGS, THEN VERBALLY ABUSES THE WAITER WHEN HE DOESN'T GET THE WHOLE SAMPLE PLATTER. BUT, ON A POSITIVE NOTE, DESPITE THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SLASHING ADVERTISING BUDGETS AND SHORTENING THE ENROLLMENT PERIOD, 8-POINT-8 MILLION PEOPLE SIGNED UP FOR INSURANCE IN THE FEDERAL MARKETPLACE THIS YEAR, ONLY SLIGHTLY LESS THAN SIGNED UP LAST YEAR. ANALYSTS ARE CALLING IT A BRIGHT SIGN OF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THOSE WHO ENVISION A DAY WHEN A POPULAR VOTE MIGHT MEAN SOMETHING. [CHE] AND IF ALL THE SERIOUS STUFF ISN'T ENOUGH CRAZY FOR ONE WEEK, THE GOVERNMENT CAME OUT AND ADMITTED THAT IT HAD BEEN INVESTIGATING U-F-O'S AND ALIENS FOR DECADES. WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO SURPRISE US? YOU CAN'T POINT A CAMERA AT THE SKY WITHOUT SEEING SOMETHING WEIRD! I'M *STILL* NOT CONVINCED HUMMINGBIRDS DON'T JUST FLOAT THERE. "SWAMP GAS," "WEATHER BALLOONS," "OPTICAL ILLUSIONS." AT SOME POINT YOU MAKE UP SO MANY UNBELIEVEABLE LIES THAT THE UNBELIEVEABLE TRUTH YOU WERE TRYING TO COVER UP BECOMES MORE REALISTIC. IT'S LIKE TELLING YOUR WIFE, "NO, IT REALLY *WAS* ME EATING THE OREOS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, NOT THE SUPER-INTELLIGENT POSSUM THE GOVERNMENT WAS TRAINING TO DISARM NUCLEAR WARHEADS WHILE WEARING AN INVISIBILITY CLOAK LIKE I SAID IT WAS. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ALREADY KNEW?!" PLUS, SPACE-X LAUNCHED *THIS* THING OVER CALIFORNIA LAST NIGHT, AND PEOPLE REACHED FOR THE OBVIOUS EXPLANATION: [PEOPLE IN VIDEO] "IS IT LIKE A SPACE THING?" "HOLY S**T; SOMETHING JUST CAME OUT." "ARE WE ABOUT TO DIE?" "ZOOM IN ON THAT." [CHE] SEE? WE'RE ALREADY SO USED TO THE IDEA THAT ALIENS ARE JUST GONNA RANDOMLY INVADE OUR PLANET THAT WE'RE ACTUALLY KINDA *HOPING* THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS. DID YOU HEAR THAT WOMAN'S VOICE? SHE WANTS OUT OF HERE! AND AT THIS POINT, I CAN'T SAY I BLAME HER! TRUMP HAS ALREADY KILLED REALITY AND BASIC HUMAN DECENCY, AND THE ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT AREN'T THAT FAR BEHIND. I DON'T LIKE IT ANY MORE THAN YOU DO, BUT IF IT'S A CHOICE BETWEEN WATCHING PRESIDENT TINY HANDS BLOW THE PLANET UP AND GETTING AN ANAL PROBE? ...ACTUALLY, JUST PUSH THE BUTTON. MAKE IT QUICK.

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lipwak · 7 years

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VHS #339

Two LONG C-Span hearings. One on going to war in Iraq, the other on Terrorism and Nuclear Power Security with Indian Point being highlighted. *** TCM short on square dancing, Bob Wills and The Texas playboys are the band. *** Chris Shays Forum on Iraq & TerrorismBedford Middle School, Westport, CTC-Span2/23/03, 5:41 pm…(missed a little of the intro and I cut off some of the end)4 hrs and 2 min! See the whole thing here: https://www.c-span.org/video/?175181-1/iraq-war-terrorism-town-hall-meeting Intro. He hugs MC. Thanks C-Span. Intros his wife and mother. If Saddam doesn’t co-operate with the inspections…, 50% think we need to wait before taking action. Huge opposition to this war. Jennifer Flasko - killing innocent people will not stop terrorism, it will create more, the country is slipping slowly into facism!, a Kurdish man - supports Saddam’s removal (gets applause), duct tape and plastic sheeting, it’s more about President Bush than Iraq, congress ceded the authority to go to war. He talks for 15 min after asking them is this a good time for him to speak. Talks about the 1st Gulf War, he went to the Peace Corps, oil, Chris Burnham, his committee had 21 meetings on terrorism before 9/11 but no one covered them, 9/11, new approach to terrorism needed, diplomacy is more important than anything else, have to confront terrorists, we know he has chemical, biological weapons, Res 1441. Back to audience comments: Greenwich Peace Action rep, Judy Star - frightening time, in the minority here, Al-Qaeda and Saddam, Brit, supporter, stand behind the troops, complete confidence in W, GDI, put them at risk?, Shays doesn’t think we’ll use nuclear weapons, don’t want to be driven by fear, Rumsfeld, Saddam was our guy, roots of terrorism not talked about, appeasement, we lead the world, we need to be the leaders of this world, Kurd, who stands to profit on the war? He tries to answer some of the questions: responding to fear, an administration that wants more power also needs more oversight, respects W, trusts him, containment?, fly zones, if we don’t find the weapons of mass destruction we’ll be in a mess of trouble, Nunn-Lugar, send a nuclear weapon to this country undetectably via container ships. More comments from the audience: containment, North Korea, Al-Qaeda, cost of the war, Sen Robert Byrd. Shays: 40 countries are helping us, they meet in Tampa, there are people who are working on North Korea. More comments: (Bruce? - Round Hill dancer), when we win this war (in 2 weeks), are we willing to put up with the deficits? Just say no to Saudi oil, addicted to oil, double our national debt, man who was born in Baghdad, liberation not an invasion, Norwalk considering a resolution for peace, Tony Hayden!, why not a Marshall Plan?, work with people not fight them, get whole Muslim world against us. Shays: oil used to rebuild the country. more comments: Peace Train, Carlyle Group, I don’t like that man, (Shays thinks that was over the edge. W gives up drinking…), Zach: thinks president is scaring us, (Shays: I think we are going to see a chemical, nuclear attack in this country in your lifetime, Churchill is his model.), Viet Nam vet: knowledge our leaders have greatly surpasses ours, fear used, Viet Cong, looks like those days, PR exercises, logic of pre-emptive action, (Shays answers that.), Arab-American, (Shays talks about Israel, will be going to occupied section in April, to interact with Palestinians.), against pre-emptive action, ends don’t justify the means, (third meeting Shays has had today), Israel and Palestine, another imperialist country coming in, (Shays: Nunn-Lugar deserve Nobel Peace Prize), money out of politics, war for oil, containment is working, (Shays asks why the French wouldn’t want Iraq to have nuclear weapons, they built the plant.), violence solve anything, when did you give up?, (Shays: military needs best equipment), Iraqi oil and France, Russia and Saudis? …, Gulf countries want us to come in.), woman of Armenian descent: father fears she will see a clash of civilizations, what do we have to do to protect ourselves?, (Shays agrees it will be difficult to figure out our position in the world.), (Shays talks about Homeland Security and Diane Farrell.), 1st Gulf war was about oil, Henry Kissinger, this one too, trust the president?, not in the public interest over and over, (Shays will stay until everyone has spoken. If we go in, we won’t go into the urban areas! (HA!)), are you listening?, it’s not ok that we’re going into this without the rest of the world, (Shays: The administration needs to do a better job…), President needs to make a better effort at selling this, man with strong accent - not sure what he’s saying, decommissioning of nuclear power plants? (Indian Point), (Shays is critical of our ability to protect them.), alliterative to oil, man whose father rebuilt the banks of Afghanistan in the 60s, Patriot Act 2 is damn scary, focus on Osama, (Shays: rather be voted out of office than to change what he believes.) war is a real messy business, don’t do it, possibly start a Viet Nam in Afghanistan…, 2 front war, correct tax benefit on Hummers vs Prius (he’s for that), wait, follow the money, he disagrees with his constituents, (Southern) man from Greenwich (Round Hill dancer), admires him, Republican against the war, one-sided support of Israel is the source of all this terrorism, we used to be even-handed, quotes a Roman warrior, can’t see how you can kill one innocent Iraqis, the Gulf War and what we are in now are two very different things, history of the Roman Republic, Shays agrees with him, going back to natural laws, where do we get the authority to kill another man, how do you justify that?, Ridge doesn’t impress him as a doer, (Shays: Give Ridge some slack. If I lived in NY, I would have bought the tape and the plastic.), Col Hackworth in Greenwich Post, Bruce? again, Indians hiding Osama?, will be in Afghanistan for 50 years maybe, W drunk driving, Bush Cheney connection to Enron, important to stay engaged with the UN, exhaust every other alternative first. Shays asks if anyone wants to join him at Sherwood Diner for a bite to eat. Many intelligent, eloquent voices. *** Terrorism and Nuclear Power Security hearing3/10/03, edited2:05 Watch the whole thing here: https://www.c-span.org/video/?175419-1/terrorism-nuclear-power-security opening statements from Kucinich, Shays, Janklow, Sue Kelly (Indian Point) - FEMA has to change, (Hubert Miller - NRC, W Craig Conklin - Homeland Security), (Nita Lowey, Eliot Engel, and others have submitted statements), Tierney, Janklow, Kelly - IP questions/problems, when was last unannounced exercise at IP?, offsite events are planned well in advance, Shays - I don’t know much more than when we started, Blumenthal (CT AG) - we’re in the stone age for planning, dirty bombs waiting to be detonated, Witt Report, shut down IP until we have adequate planning, there are other sources of power and they are affordable, Richard Bond, First Selectman of New Canaan, CT, John Wiltse, CT Dept of Emergency Planning, Shays to Blumenthal: What legal rights does CT have? Wiltse: understaffed, not a good network to communicate throughout the nation, Blumenthal: there is virtually no co-ordination between NY and CT now, Shays: would we ever get to go home, Jim Wells - GAO, IP, Michael Slobodien - Entergy Emergency Programs Director (also covers two other nuclear plants), release unlikely, plumes are monitored easily, plume would stay in the Hudson Valley, we disagree with a number of points in the Witt report, safety is foremost concern, Alex Mathiessen - Executive Director of Riverkeeper, need security and evacuation plans that work, 19% of the guards think they can repel an attack, FEMA, (Shays has palm against face), (Lowey and Engel's hearing last week), David Lochbaum - Union of Concerned Scientists, some guards working three shifts in a row, Shays: Should we shut down all nuclear plants? Are there any you would shut down? (more nuclear industry employees), windflow in in the Hudson Valley, Slobedien: plans are to direct evacuees from IP east and south not to New Canaan, no one in CT needs to leave as a result of an accident at IP, acute exposure, long-term cancer deaths, Lochbaum skeptical of Entergy’s claim of the 10 mile zone being safe, Price-Anderson Act federal liability protection, Shays gives it to them. …Adjourned. (repeated at 8pm tonight)

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newstfionline · 7 years

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The Crazy Imbalance of Russia-gate

By Robert Parry, ICH, September 23, 2017

The core absurdity of the Russia-gate frenzy is its complete lack of proportionality. Indeed, the hysteria is reminiscent of Sen. Joe McCarthy warning that “one communist in the faculty of one university is one communist too many” or Donald Trump’s highlighting a few “bad hombres” raping white American women.

It’s not that there were no Americans who espoused communist views at universities and elsewhere or that there are no “bad hombre” rapists; it’s that these rare exceptions were used to generate a dangerous overreaction.

Today, we have The New York Times and The Washington Post repeatedly publishing front-page articles about allegations that some Russians with “links” to the Kremlin bought $100,000 in Facebook ads to promote some issues deemed hurtful to Hillary Clinton’s campaign although some of the ads ran after the election.

Initially, Facebook could find no evidence of even that small effort but was pressured in May by Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia. The Washington Post reported that Warner, who is spearheading the Russia-gate investigation in the Senate Intelligence Committee, flew to Silicon Valley and urged Facebook executives to take another look at possible ad buys.

Facebook responded to this congressional pressure by scouring its billions of monthly users and announced that it had located 470 suspect accounts associated with ads totaling $100,000--out of Facebook’s $27 billion in annual revenue.

Here is how the Times described those findings: “Facebook officials disclosed that they had shut down several hundred accounts that they believe were created by a Russian company linked to the Kremlin and used to buy $100,000 in ads pushing divisive issues during and after the American election campaign.” (It sometimes appears that every Russian--all 144 million of them--is somehow “linked” to the Kremlin.)

Last week, congressional investigators urged Facebook to expand its review into “troll farms” supposedly based in Belarus, Macedonia and Estonia--although Estonia is by no means a Russian ally; it joined NATO in 2004.

“Warner and his Democratic counterpart on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam B. Schiff of California, have been increasingly vocal in recent days about their frustrations with Facebook,” the Post reported.

So, on Thursday, Facebook succumbed to demands that it turn over to Congress copies of the ads, a move that has only justified more alarmist front-page stories about Russia! Russia! Russia!

In response to this political pressure--at a time when Facebook is fending off possible anti-trust legislation--its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg added that he is expanding the investigation to include “additional Russian groups and other former Soviet states.”

So, it appears that not only are all Russians “linked” to the Kremlin, but all former Soviet states as well.

But why stop there? If the concern is that American political campaigns are being influenced by foreign governments whose interests may diverge from what’s best for America, why not look at countries that have caused the United States far more harm recently than Russia?

After all, Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Wahhabi leaders have been pulling the U.S. government into their sectarian wars with the Shiites, including conflicts in Yemen and Syria that have contributed to anti-Americanism in the region, to the growth of Al Qaeda, and to a disruptive flow of refugees into Europe.

And, let’s not forget the 8,000-pound gorilla in the room: Israel. Does anyone think that whatever Russia may or may not have done in trying to influence U.S. politics compares even in the slightest to what Israel does all the time?

Which government used its pressure and that of its American agents (i.e., the neocons) to push the United States into the disastrous war in Iraq? It wasn’t Russia, which was among the countries urging the U.S. not to invade; it was Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Indeed, the plans for “regime change” in Iraq and Syria can be traced back to the work of key American neoconservatives employed by Netanyahu’s political campaign in 1996. At that time, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith and other leading neocons unveiled a seminal document entitled “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” which proposed casting aside negotiations with Arabs in favor of simply replacing the region’s anti-Israeli governments.

However, to make that happen required drawing in the powerful U.S. military, so after the 9/11 attacks, the neocons inside President George W. Bush’s administration set in motion a deception campaign to justify invading Iraq, a war which was to be followed by more “regime changes” in Syria and Iran.

Although the military disaster in Iraq threw a wrench into those plans, the Israeli/neocon agenda never changed. Along with Israel’s new regional ally, Saudi Arabia, a proxy war was fashioned to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

As Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren explained, the goal was to shatter the Shiite “strategic arc” running from Iran through Syria to Lebanon and Israel’s Hezbollah enemies.

How smashing this Shiite “arc” was in the interests of the American people--or even within their consciousness--is never explained. But it was what Israel wanted and thus it was what the U.S. government enlisted to do.

Israel’s influence over U.S. politicians is so blatant that presidential contenders queue up every year to grovel before the Israel Lobby’s conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. In 2016, Donald Trump showed up and announced that he was not there to “pander” and then pandered his pants off.

And, whenever Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to show off his power, he is invited to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress at which Republicans and Democrats compete to see how many times and how quickly they can leap to their feet in standing ovations. (Netanyahu holds the record for the number of times a foreign leader has addressed joint sessions with three such appearances, tied with Winston Churchill.)

Yet, Israeli influence is so engrained in the U.S. political process that even the mention of the existence of an “Israel Lobby” brings accusations of anti-Semitism. “Israel Lobby” is a forbidden phrase in Washington.

However, pretty much whenever Israel targets a U.S. politician for defeat, that politician goes down, a muscle that Israel flexed in the early 1980s in taking out Rep. Paul Findley and Sen. Charles Percy, two moderate Republicans whose crime was to suggest talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

So, if the concern is the purity of the American democratic process and the need to protect it from outside manipulation, let’s have at it. Why not a full-scale review of who is doing what and how? Does anyone think that Israel’s influence over U.S. politics is limited to a few hundred Facebook accounts and $100,000 in ads?

And, if you want a historical review, throw in the British and German propaganda around the two world wars; include how the South Vietnamese government collaborated with Richard Nixon in 1968 to sabotage President Lyndon Johnson’s Paris peace talks; take a serious look at the collusion between Ronald Reagan’s campaign and Iran thwarting President Jimmy Carter’s efforts to free 52 American hostages in Tehran in 1980; open the books on Turkey’s covert investments in U.S. politicians and policymakers; and examine how authoritarian regimes of all stripes have funded important Washington think tanks and law firms.

If such an effort were ever proposed, you would get a sense of how sensitive this topic is in Official Washington, where foreign money and its influence are rampant. There would be accusations of anti-Semitism in connection with Israel and charges of conspiracy theory even in well-documented cases of collaboration between U.S. politicians and foreign interests.

So, instead of a balanced and comprehensive assessment of this problem, the powers-that-be concentrate on the infinitesimal case of Russian “meddling” as the excuse for Hillary Clinton’s shocking defeat. But the key reasons for Clinton’s dismal campaign had virtually nothing to do with Russia, even if you believe all the evidence-lite accusations about Russian “meddling.”

The Russians did not tell Clinton to vote for the disastrous Iraq War and play endless footsy with the neocons; the Russians didn’t advise her to set up a private server to handle her State Department emails and potentially expose classified information; the Russians didn’t lure Clinton and the U.S. into the Libyan fiasco nor suggest her ghastly joke in response to Muammar Gaddafi’s lynching (“We came, we saw, he died”); the Russians had nothing to do with her greedy decision to accept millions of dollars in Wall Street speaking fees and then try to keep the speech contents secret from the voters; the Russians didn’t encourage her husband to become a serial philanderer and make a mockery of their marriage; nor did the Russians suggest to Anthony Weiner, the husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, that he send lewd photos to a teenager on a laptop also used by his wife, a development that led FBI Director James Comey to reopen the Clinton-email investigation just 11 days before the election; the Russians weren’t responsible for Clinton’s decision not to campaign in Wisconsin and Michigan; the Russians didn’t stop her from offering a coherent message about how she would help the struggling white working class; and on and on.

But the Russia-gate investigation is not about fairness and balance; it’s a reckless scapegoating of a nuclear-armed country to explain away--and possibly do away with--Donald Trump’s presidency. Rather than putting everything in context and applying a sense of proportion, Russia-gate is relying on wild exaggerations of factually dubious or relatively isolated incidents as an opportunistic means to a political end.

As reckless as President Trump has been, the supposedly wise men and wise women of Washington are at least his match.

#Trump administration #Russiagate #Russian election meddling

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garancefranke-ruta · 7 years

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American Jews hear the footsteps of white nationalists and worry

Chanting “White lives matter! You will not replace us! and Jews will not replace us!,” several hundred white nationalists and white supremacists carrying torches marched in a parade through the University of Virginia campus. (Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The day after the election in 2016, Nancy Goldstein, a 55-year-old Brooklyn writer and academic who has never been to Israel, opened up her computer and began the process of applying for Israeli citizenship.

In Washington, D.C., 49-year-old entrepreneur David Bennahum began the complex process of moving his family and startup business to Montreal, finally establishing all four of them and the company there in July.

The one thing they had in common: They are both Jewish. And both had looked at the campaign of Donald J. Trump and decided they would be safer as Jews and as liberals if they had an exit strategy from America.

The question of living as a Jew in America under Trump has provoked varying degrees of anxiety in the year since he tweeted out an anti-Semitic meme about Hillary Clinton — the infamous Star of David tweet — and then sought to defend it as a “Sheriff’s Star.” That’s when I first started to hear the half-panicked, half-joking conversations about exit strategies if Trump won and considerations about where to go if America were ever to become unsafe. A friend whose grandparents had fled Germany talked to her mother about going back there. A half-Jewish, half-Australian friend decided to pursue — and ultimately secured — dual citizenship and an Australian passport.

Contemplating worst-case scenarios is something practically encoded in the Jewish DNA, a legacy of 2,000 years of persecution culminating in the slaughter of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust less than a century ago. And given that most American Jews are Democrats and political progressives, the sense of foreboding that Trump has provoked has been compounded by his actions and rhetoric against other groups Jews have stood in solidarity with in America: refugees, immigrants, religious minorities, people fighting for civil rights.

Now the events in Charlottesville, Va., have triggered more difficult historical memories, and forced some Jews to freshly confront troubling questions about their personal and community safety. And it’s forcing many of them to weigh how much they trust America against how much they trust their own fears about where their country is going under Trump.

“What happened last Shabbat was terrifying. Seeing Nazis marching with torches on American soil touches our deepest vulnerability, our collective trauma. Hearing the leader of our country refuse to take a stand against them reminds us of so many closed borders, so many who turned away when our parents and grandparents were running for their lives,” Rabbi Rachel Timoner of Congregation Beth Elohim wrote in a letter to her Brooklyn, N.Y., congregation urging them to not feel alone in their fears, and to stand with in the wake of the Charlottesville car attack.

Three days after Charlottesville, Eran Greenberg, a 42-year-old doctor who works in Northern Virginia, had a different response: He retook possession of the gun he’d bought years ago but kept stored outside his home. “Seeing this up three blocks from my house set me off,” he said, sharing a photo of an Identity Evropa poster proclaiming “Our destiny is ours” on a lamppost in Old Town, Alexandria, Va. Identity Evropa is an American white supremacist group, and the offices of “alt-right” leader Richard Spencer are in Alexandria, making the city a hub of white nationalist activity.

“Every Jewish person I know feels pretty much exactly the same way. And it’s this sort of sense of dread because we don’t know when we’re being unnecessarily frightened and when to take it seriously. It’s the question that’s been asked by Jews around the world: When is it time to go? When is it time to leave? And when is it too late?” asked Kaili Joy Gray, 39, a D.C.-based senior editor at Share Blue media, who unspooled a Twitter thread asking similar questions after Charlottesville.

“Most of the time for American Jews, now, in 2017, we feel pretty safe. We don’t necessarily stand out. We don’t necessarily get a lot of attention, and we are used to thinking about the horrible things that have happened throughout our history as historical things. And in the last few days we’ve seen Nazis, saluting Trump and saying ‘Heil Trump’ and it stirs anger and frustration and fear and makes you realize it’s not history, it’s right now and this movement — this hatred — is being fueled by the president of the United States and that’s terrifying,” she said.

The Ku Klux Klan protested on July 8, 2017 in Charlottesville, Va. (Photo: Chet Strange/Getty Images)

D.C.-area residents, like New Yorkers, have since Sept. 11 been urged to develop evacuation plans in the event of a terrorist attack, and many work in offices that continue to hand out emergency kits with items such as whistles and face masks. The fact that so many Jews live in communities that have already been on high alert or targeted by al-Qaeda doubtless contributes to the conversations about exit strategies and escape routes, along with the political environment and recent worries about a conflict with a nuclear North Korea. But mainly it’s Trump.

“My husband and I have talked about [having to leave] only since Trump took office. In the last half-year, we’ve said, you know it’s a possibility,” said Maia, 40, a business development specialist in Washington, D.C., who asked that I not to use her last name or place of employment.

“Thank God there’s an Israel and we have property there,” she added, noting that that would be the couple’s destination if they ever felt truly threatened in America. Israel, of course, routinely comes under rocket fire from armed militias and has been subjected to waves of terrorist attacks that dwarf anything seen in America.

“Personally, it’s not as threatening to me as 9/11,” Maia said of the neo-Nazi marchers. “That felt more like an assault. This feels like a lot of empty rhetoric without a lot of planning. I hope that this can bring us together like 9/11.”

Bennahum’s reasons for moving to Canada were more complex than just the attentiveness to politics that comes with being a son of a Jew who survived World War II in Nazi-occupied Romania. There were serious business incentives, such as not having to pay healthcare costs for his employees, thanks to Canada’s single-payer system. And he speaks French.

“What opened the deal was the election and then what closed it was the incentives offered by the federal government and the Quebec government to companies like mine to relocate engineers and resources,” he said.

But he also has a dark theory about what’s happening in America, where he sees a democracy that has been under assault since the 1994 Gingrich revolution. The “deeply bad” Bush v. Gore decision, the “nihilistic Republican Congress from 2010 forward,” and Clinton’s loss of the White House despite winning the popular vote are, along with Gingrich’s move to polarize Congress, “four sequential fundamental battering rams to the social norms of the republic” that have helped weaken the American project, he said.

“I put the chances at one in three that the republic is over. Full stop. That the grand American experiment, the world’s oldest continuous democracy — 240 years young — I put it at a one in three shot that it’s out. If Republicans hold Congress in 2018, it goes to one in two. And I think if Trump is reelected with a Republican Congress in 2020, it’s one in one. It is over. … It’s all going to be decided in the next, what, 41 months,” he said. “If I’m wrong, great, then I’ll come back. It’s not complicated. If I’m right, I’m really sorry.”

“I think everyone needs an exit strategy. It doesn’t mean you have to exit right away. But if you have not executed on your path out, you’re naive. If your plan is just to wait and see, that’s not a good story. We know how that ends. That ends in tears, at best,” he said.

Not everyone is so apocalyptic about the future for Jews in America.

“Give me a country and I will tell you we are a lot better off than that country in the Jewish community,” said Ira Forman, the former special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism at the U.S. State Department. “I’d much prefer being a Jew in the United States in terms of anti-Semitic threats than even Canada, France or the U.K.”

“Anti-Semitism in the U.S. has been almost qualitatively different from what we see overseas,” he said. “We are not in the ’30s, and we are not the German Jewish community in the 1930s. It is sure as heck not that. But we can’t be complacent.”

Fighting anti-Semitism is hard, and some of the most obvious approaches, such as taking down Twitter and Facebook accounts of white supremacists, don’t do as much to solve the problem as people might hope. What works best, what is most powerful, Forman said, is the power of social opprobrium.

“One thing we know a fair amount about is civil society speaking out. Heads of churches, civic leaders, business leaders, even common people — when people speak out and the haters pay a social cost, that’s a very powerful tool. We need a lot of folks to speak out. Not just political leaders. We need civil society to rise up,” he said. “It’s got to be consistent, it’s got to be long term and it’s got to be a lot of people.”

The Jews I’ve spoken with are less afraid that the U.S. government will turn on them with the organized ferocity of the Third Reich than that independent armed bands of anti-Semites and white supremacists will gain enough strength and engage in enough acts of terrorism, harassment and negative propaganda to bring what has been the golden age of America for Jews to an end.

Fear of civilian anti-Semitism and mob violence, and not just official state actions, is deeply grounded in the Jewish experience of non-state actors being the vanguard of anti-Semitic violence when egged on by government officials.

Toppled and damaged headstones rest on the ground at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Philadelphia. Pa., on Feb. 27, 2017. The Anti-Defamation League found an increase in cases of anti-Semitic intimidation and vandalism in 2016, evidence that anti-Jewish bias intensified during the election. (Photo: Jacqueline Larma/AP)

“The ‘very fine people’ comment sent shivers down my spine, because the Latvian man who led the murder of my grandfather’s family and the rest of the inhabitants of his tiny village ended up immigrating to Canada after World War II. He settled in Toronto, where I grew up, and in fact lived in the same suburb as I did, not far from my house,” said Lavi Soloway, 50, an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles who in 2004 became a U.S. citizen. “Why am I afraid? I know that ordinary people, patriotic nationalists, people with hatred for the other, specifically hatred for Jews, can be driven to insane acts of violence.”

“Those Charlottesville marchers are a danger to us all. And I cannot simply write them off as a small band of loonies, not with the president giving them succor,” he said.

And then there is the deep pain caused by watching elders taking note of the new anti-Semitism in their waning days.

“When the Nazis invaded [my grandmother’s] hometown of Lodz, Poland, she was 18 years old. She watched as her parents and all the members of her family were killed. She survived three years in the Lodz Ghetto and internment in Auschwitz, Hainichen and Theresienstadt concentration camps,” said Soloway.

“She has lived a remarkable life, and thus it is so monstrously unjust that after having succeeded to rebuild and raise a family, and see her grandchildren grow to adulthood and start families of their own, she is now confronted with the rise of racist nationalism and anti-Semitism, not just in the U.S. but certainly in Europe as well.”

Children too have been frightened in a way that hurts. “Yesterday my 9 year-old saw some footage from Charlottesville. Then she asked me if there would be a second Holocaust,” tweeted writer Peter Beinart on Friday.

Younger Jews in general are having trouble reconciling the idea of Nazi marches in America with how they think about this country, said Michael Uram, executive director and campus rabbi at the University of Pennsylvania, Trump’s alma mater. A lot of students, particularly those at large universities in major cities who grew up on the coasts, “think of anti-Semitism as something that existed for their grandparents and parents.”

To confront it as something they too might have to fight is jarring. “There was an incredible sense of shock and disorientation that all this bubbled up,” he said. “They have not felt marginalized or prohibited from doing anything — and yet the story of anti-Semitism is coming up. It’s very hard for students on campus to integrate, to understand how it fits into their Jewish story.”

Some scoff at the idea that Americans would ever turn against Jews in a threatening way. Jewish Americans are, by and large, well assimilated, educated and successful. Trump’s own daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism when she married Jared Kushner, one of the president’s most trusted advisers. The public views Jews more warmly than any other religious faith, according to a Pew Research Center study from 2014, although the numbers are higher among older Americans than those under 30. As well, “Jews receive their most positive ratings from whites,” according to Pew, demonstrating that there is a deep well of good faith toward Jews among the population from which white supremacists seek to recruit.

The widespread public condemnations of the marchers in Charlottesville and the rejection of the president by business, arts and charity leaders since his widely panned remarks Tuesday has been heartening to opponents of white nationalism. In Boston on Saturday, thousands of anti-white-supremacy marchers — the official police estimate was 40,000 — turned out to counter a “Free Speech” rally by Trump supporters and white supremacists that drew fewer than 100 attendees.

But fear is visceral, not rational. “Rationally, the reaction to Charlottesville by everyone in America who isn’t Trump is reassuring — it suggests there is no significant constituency for anti-Semitism in America. Irrationally, I’ve been thinking about the mechanics of leaving the country and even of last-ditch resistance, ever since last November,” said Adam Kirsch, a poet and literary critic in New York City.

Jews make up only 2.2 percent of the U.S. population, so even if only a tiny minority of white Christians choose to agitate against them, it could be felt profoundly given the broader demographics of the country. The Ku Klux Klan at its peak in the 1920s had a membership that constituted roughly 4 percent of Americans and was able to wield terror against African-Americans throughout the South.

The increasingly bitter polarization of U.S. politics is also a troublesome turn for Jews, in that they overwhelming vote for only one political party: The Democrats, now out of power at every level of national government. Of all the measured religions, Jews voted for Clinton at the highest percent, casting nearly three-quarters of their ballots for her and 24 percent for Trump, according to Pew . By comparison, only 16 percent of white, born-again Evangelical Christians voted for Clinton.

“The Jewish community has learned to live with the fact that one of the parties nominated — and White House came to be inhabited by — someone whose most fervent supporters are white nationalists racists and anti-Semites and those are the supporters he takes care not to alienate,” said Yehudah Mirsky, associate professor of the practice of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University in Boston.

“Does [Charlottesville] make Jews feel more threatened in America? It can’t not,” he said. That said, he added: “I don’t think American Jews have reason to be terrified. American society and American democracy are strong and healthy in all sorts of ways, but there are disturbing currents around, and president of the United States takes every opportunity to fan the flames.”

“Jews with historical memories always have their passports up to date, that’s just a matter of course,” Mirsky said. But “this isn’t France, where a Jew can’t walk around with his yarmulke on his head without fear of being beaten up.”

“Frankly one reason we don’t have that in America, is that as far as I can tell American Muslims are not anti-Semites,” he added.

Indeed Benjamin Sax, 42, a scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies in Maryland, said his group has found that Jews, with their refugee experiences, and Muslims, currently fighting Trump’s ban on refugees and Muslims, have been coming together since the election to build bridges around opposition to the president. Rather than fueling anti-Semitism, he sees Muslims in America making common cause with Jews.

“One silver lining is that my organization has responded to numerous requests, mostly by Jewish and Muslim women, looking to connect, so that’s actually been a pretty amazing community. And allies who wouldn’t normally align are finding their ways to our organization.”

“I live in Baltimore so I don’t feel at all under siege,” says Sax, but he too has felt compelled to consider over the past year to consider where he would go if he couldn’t stay in America. “I wouldn’t move to Israel, I lived there for five years. I thought about Germany. And I know that there’s a strange irony in that, but my wife grew up in Europe.” Denmark, which they visited on a recent trip, also looked attractive. “It’s very easy to get swept away in a European culture and ignore the demons that are in their closets,” though, he noted.

There is also the option that many Jews are taking for now, to stay and fight. Build the self-styled resistance movement. Protest, organize and trust in America. “As the white Jewish mother of a black teen, I deal with my ‘Jewish anxiety and safety concerns’ by teaching marshaling for demonstrations and nonviolent civil disobedience and by helping to organize fierce, disruptive but peaceful protests of varying sizes. Building resistant, defiant, loud community is my jam,” Alexis Danzig, a member of the anti-Trump group Rise and Resist said, quoting from my query.

“And then I lie awake at night wondering how to get my kid out of the country.”

Seven months into Trump’s first term, Goldstein has completed all the paperwork and been approved for Israeli citizenship upon completing one week of residency there, but it’s a step so fraught, she is still hesitant to take it.

The president’s reaction to Charlottesville wasn’t a wake-up call for her but an example of what she feared and expected from his presidency. What she really wants, though, is to feel safe here again, not to leave America.

#_uuid:4dfd89eb-3452-36e2-8522-c3b78d0cfe54 #_revsp:Yahoo! News #_author:Garance Franke-Ruta #_lmsid:a077000000CFoGyAAL

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repwincoml4a0a5 · 7 years

Text

Ivanka Trump Cleared Hurdle For Chinese Trademarks Same Day She Dined With Xi Jinping

SHANGHAI (AP) — On April 6, Ivanka Trump’s company won provisional approval from the Chinese government for three new trademarks, giving it monopoly rights to sell Ivanka brand jewelry, bags and spa services in the world’s second-largest economy. That night, the first daughter and her husband, Jared Kushner, sat next to the president of China and his wife for a steak and Dover sole dinner at Mar-a-Lago.

The scenario underscores how difficult it is for Trump, who has tried to distance herself from the brand that bears her name, to separate business from politics in her new position at the White House.

As the first daughter crafts a political career from her West Wing office, her brand is flourishing, despite boycotts and several stores limiting her merchandise. U.S. imports, almost all of them from China, shot up an estimated 166 percent last year, while sales hit record levels in 2017. The brand, which Trump still owns, says distribution is growing. It has launched new activewear and affordable jewelry lines and is working to expand its global intellectual property footprint. In addition to winning the approvals from China, Ivanka Trump Marks LLC applied for at least nine new trademarks in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Canada and the U.S. after the election.

The commercial currents of the Trump White House are unprecedented in modern American politics, ethics lawyers say. They have created an unfamiliar landscape riven with ethical pitfalls, and forced consumers and retailers to wrestle with the unlikely passions now inspired by Ivanka Trump’s mid-market collection of ruffled blouses, shifts and wedges.

Using the prestige of government service to build a brand is not illegal. But criminal conflict of interest law prohibits federal officials, like Trump and her husband, from participating in government matters that could impact their own financial interest or that of their spouse. Some argue that the more her business broadens its scope, the more it threatens to encroach on the ability of two trusted advisers to deliver credible counsel to the president on core issues like trade, intellectual property, and the value of the Chinese currency.

“Put the business on hold and stop trying to get trademarks while you’re in government,” advised Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush.

To address ethical concerns, Trump has shifted the brand’s assets to a family-run trust valued at more than $50 million and pledged to recuse herself from issues that present conflicts.

“Ivanka will not weigh in on business strategy, marketing issues, or the commercial terms of agreements,” her attorney, Jamie Gorelick, said in a statement. “She has retained authority to direct the trustees to terminate agreements that she determines create a conflict of interest or the appearance of one.”

In a recent interview with CBS News, Trump argued that her business would be doing even better if she hadn’t moved to Washington and placed restrictions on her team to ensure that “any growth is done with extreme caution.”

China, however, remains a nagging concern. “Ivanka has so many China ties and conflicts, yet she and Jared appear deeply involved in China contacts and policy. I would never have allowed it,” said Norman Eisen, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under Barack Obama. “For their own sake, and the country’s, Ivanka and Jared should consider stepping away from China matters.”

Instead, the first daughter and her husband have emerged as prominent interlocutors with China, where they have both had significant business ties. Last year, Kushner pursued hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate investments from Anbang Insurance Group, a financial conglomerate with close ties to the Chinese state. After media reports about the deal, talks were called off.

Publicly, Ivanka has taken a gracious, charming approach toward Beijing. During the Mar-a-Lago meetings, her daughter, 5-year-old Arabella stood in a gilded room and sang a traditional Chinese song, in Mandarin, for China’s president, Xi Jinping. The video, which was lavishly praised by Chinese state media, played over 2.2 million times on China’s popular news portal qq.com.

The week of the summit, 3.4 tons of Ivanka Trump handbags, wallets and blouses arrived in the U.S. from Hong Kong and Shanghai. U.S. imports of her merchandise grew an estimated 40 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to Panjiva Inc., which maintains and analyzes global shipping records.

Painter, the former Bush administration lawyer, recommended full recusal from issues related to trade with China. That is likely to be difficult because trade is so deeply embedded in the US-China relationship and has been linked with other matters, like North Korea.

“The danger is that with any discussion with the Chinese, one party or the other may try to bring up trade,” he said. “That’s a slippery slope that may require her or Jared to step out of the room.”

Gorelick, Ivanka Trump’s attorney, said that Ivanka and her husband would steer clear of specific areas that could impact her business, or be seen as conflicts of interest, but are under no legal obligation to step back from huge swaths of policy, like trade with China.

Under the rules, Trump would recuse herself from conversations about duties on clothing imported from China, Gorelick said, but not broad foreign policy.

“In between, you have to assess it case-by-case,” she said.

Trademarks can be signs of corporate ambition, though many countries — such as China, where trademark squatting is rampant — also allow for defensive filings to prevent copycats from using a brand.

Trademarks pose ethical, and possibly legal, implications for government employees because they are granted by foreign states and confer the monopoly right to sell branded product in a particular country — an entitlement that can be enormously valuable. Intellectual property lawyers say trademarks are also a crucial prerequisite for cutting licensing deals, which form the basis of both Ivanka and Donald Trump’s global business strategy.

Today, Ivanka Trump Marks LLC has 16 registered trademarks in China and 32 pending applications, along with a total of four marks granted preliminary approval since the inauguration, according to China’s Trademark Office. Altogether, they cover a wide range of goods and services, including cosmetics, jewelry, leather handbags, luggage, clothes, shoes, retail, spa and beauty services. There is no sign the recent approvals were particularly swift. China’s Trademark Office did not respond to a request for comment.

Globally, the company has more than 180 pending and registered trademarks in countries including Canada, India, Japan, Israel, Mexico, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, as well as the U.S. and Europe, public records show. In December, the company applied for five trademarks, covering handbags and wallets in Puerto Rico, and lingerie and other clothes in the U.S. After the inauguration, the company filed four more applications, for branded clothing and shoes in the Philippines, and perfume and other items in Canada.

Trump did not sign off on the new trademark applications, her brand said in a statement, adding that they are “not necessarily an indication that the brand is planning to launch a category or a store in a specific territory.”

Whatever the future plans, right now sales are growing — helped, some argue, by the glow of Ivanka Trump’s political rise.

The G-III Apparel Group Ltd., which makes Ivanka Trump clothes, said net sales for the collection increased by $17.9 million during the year that ended Jan. 31.

The brand itself claims revenues rose 21 percent last year, with early February seeing some of the “best performance ever,” according to a statement by Abigail Klem, president of the Ivanka Trump brand. Because it is privately held, the brand does not have to declare its earnings or where revenues come from. The actual corporate structure of Trump’s retail business remains opaque. Kushner’s financial disclosure form lists two dozen corporate entities that appear directly related to his wife’s brand. Trump herself has yet to file a disclosure.

Data from Lyst, a massive fashion e-commerce platform, indicates some of this growth coincided with specific political events.

The number of Ivanka Trump items sold through Lyst was 46 percent higher the month her father was elected president than in November 2015. Sales spiked 771 percent in February over the same month last year, after White House counselor Kellyanne Conway exhorted Fox viewers to “Go buy Ivanka’s stuff.” Conway was later reprimanded. The bounce appears somewhat sustained. March sales on Lyst were up 262 percent over the same period last year.

“You can’t separate Ivanka from her role in life and from her business,” said Allen Adamson, founder of BrandSimpleConsulting. “Her celebrity status is now not only being fueled by her wealth and her family connection, but by her huge role in the White House. All that buzz is hardwired to her products.” That, he added, is a competitive advantage other brands just can’t match — though it does come with risk.

Things could easily cut the other way for the first daughter. Ashley King, 28 of Calabasas, California, bought Ivanka Trump black flats and a cardigan several years ago. But King, who voted for Hillary Clinton, said she believes Trump’s role in the White House represents a conflict of interest.

“This is bothering me more and more,” she said. As for the Ivanka Trump items in her closet, she said, “I will be donating them.”

___

Online:

Daily change in Ivanka Trump’s orders on Lyst – http://ift.tt/2ptK1zd

Monthly change in Ivanka Trump’s orders on Lsyt – http://ift.tt/2oHgZJl

The Ivanka Trump Collection Quarterly US Imports – http://ift.tt/2pu1uYi

Associated Press reporter Catherine Lucey in Washington, researcher Fu Ting in Shanghai, and reporters Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Teresa Cerojano in Manila and Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Follow Kinetz on Twitter at twitter.com/ekinetz

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oRk37J

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rtscrndr53704 · 7 years

Text

Ivanka Trump Cleared Hurdle For Chinese Trademarks Same Day She Dined With Xi Jinping

“Put the business on hold and stop trying to get trademarks while you’re in government,” advised Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush.

To address ethical concerns, Trump has shifted the brand’s assets to a family-run trust valued at more than $50 million and pledged to recuse herself from issues that present conflicts.

Under the rules, Trump would recuse herself from conversations about duties on clothing imported from China, Gorelick said, but not broad foreign policy.

“In between, you have to assess it case-by-case,” she said.

Whatever the future plans, right now sales are growing — helped, some argue, by the glow of Ivanka Trump’s political rise.

The G-III Apparel Group Ltd., which makes Ivanka Trump clothes, said net sales for the collection increased by $17.9 million during the year that ended Jan. 31.

Data from Lyst, a massive fashion e-commerce platform, indicates some of this growth coincided with specific political events.

“This is bothering me more and more,” she said. As for the Ivanka Trump items in her closet, she said, “I will be donating them.”

___

Online:

Daily change in Ivanka Trump’s orders on Lyst – http://ift.tt/2ptK1zd

Monthly change in Ivanka Trump’s orders on Lsyt – http://ift.tt/2oHgZJl

The Ivanka Trump Collection Quarterly US Imports – http://ift.tt/2pu1uYi

Follow Kinetz on Twitter at twitter.com/ekinetz

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oRk37J

#DIYS

0 notes

realestate63141 · 7 years

Text

Ivanka Trump Cleared Hurdle For Chinese Trademarks Same Day She Dined With Xi Jinping

“Put the business on hold and stop trying to get trademarks while you’re in government,” advised Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush.

To address ethical concerns, Trump has shifted the brand’s assets to a family-run trust valued at more than $50 million and pledged to recuse herself from issues that present conflicts.

Under the rules, Trump would recuse herself from conversations about duties on clothing imported from China, Gorelick said, but not broad foreign policy.

“In between, you have to assess it case-by-case,” she said.

Whatever the future plans, right now sales are growing — helped, some argue, by the glow of Ivanka Trump’s political rise.

The G-III Apparel Group Ltd., which makes Ivanka Trump clothes, said net sales for the collection increased by $17.9 million during the year that ended Jan. 31.

Data from Lyst, a massive fashion e-commerce platform, indicates some of this growth coincided with specific political events.

“This is bothering me more and more,” she said. As for the Ivanka Trump items in her closet, she said, “I will be donating them.”

___

Online:

Daily change in Ivanka Trump’s orders on Lyst – http://ift.tt/2ptK1zd

Monthly change in Ivanka Trump’s orders on Lsyt – http://ift.tt/2oHgZJl

The Ivanka Trump Collection Quarterly US Imports – http://ift.tt/2pu1uYi

Follow Kinetz on Twitter at twitter.com/ekinetz

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oRk37J

#DIYS

0 notes

grgedoors02142 · 7 years

Text

Ivanka Trump Cleared Hurdle For Chinese Trademarks Same Day She Dined With Xi Jinping

“Put the business on hold and stop trying to get trademarks while you’re in government,” advised Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush.

To address ethical concerns, Trump has shifted the brand’s assets to a family-run trust valued at more than $50 million and pledged to recuse herself from issues that present conflicts.

Under the rules, Trump would recuse herself from conversations about duties on clothing imported from China, Gorelick said, but not broad foreign policy.

“In between, you have to assess it case-by-case,” she said.

Whatever the future plans, right now sales are growing — helped, some argue, by the glow of Ivanka Trump’s political rise.

The G-III Apparel Group Ltd., which makes Ivanka Trump clothes, said net sales for the collection increased by $17.9 million during the year that ended Jan. 31.

Data from Lyst, a massive fashion e-commerce platform, indicates some of this growth coincided with specific political events.

“This is bothering me more and more,” she said. As for the Ivanka Trump items in her closet, she said, “I will be donating them.”

___

Online:

Daily change in Ivanka Trump’s orders on Lyst – http://ift.tt/2ptK1zd

Monthly change in Ivanka Trump’s orders on Lsyt – http://ift.tt/2oHgZJl

The Ivanka Trump Collection Quarterly US Imports – http://ift.tt/2pu1uYi

Follow Kinetz on Twitter at twitter.com/ekinetz

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2oRk37J

#DIYS

0 notes