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May 2018

Expected Upsurge in Gaza Violence by Richard Kemp

Richard Kemp commanded British forces in Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans. He has spent time on the Gaza border in recent weeks, observing the Hamas-orchestrated violence and Israeli military reactions.

The true and malevolent purpose of Hamas’s plan is to incite violence in such a way that the IDF has no choice but to respond with lethal force, killing Gaza civilians.

If that happens, the UN and EU, human rights groups and many Western media organizations will have helped bring it about.

The UN, EU and a range of human rights groups and media organizations have devoted their efforts to unjustly condemning Israel’s actions. If there was genuine concern for human life and human rights among these people, rather than a fixation on unfairly vilifying Israel, they would harshly condemn Hamas.

I predict a riot — and much worse. The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas is orchestrating a ‘demonstration’ at the beginning of this week of up to 200,000 people on the Gaza border with Israel, and is intent on turning it into an orgy of death and bloodshed. If that happens, the UN and EU, human rights groups and many Western media organizations will have helped bring it about.

Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, is planning the bloody culmination of six weeks of violence along the border that has so far led to the deaths of around 50 of their own people and wounding of hundreds more. Now they intend to pile the bodies higher still, exploiting what they see as a perfect storm. It is the seventieth anniversary of the creation of the modern State of Israel — a date that Palestinians revile as ‘Nakba’ or ‘Catastrophe’ Day. It coincides with the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, a move abhorrent to those who consider the existence of the Jewish State illegitimate. And it is the beginning of the Islamic festival of Ramadan, a time when violence throughout the Muslim world often spirals.

Hungary sides with Israel and the United States

Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania, in coordination with Israel, blocked a joint EU statement criticizing the relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, Axios.com reported on Friday, quoting sources.

Axios recalls that according to European diplomats and Israeli officials, the draft statement circulated in European capitals had three points:

-Jerusalem should be the capital of both states — Israel and the future state of Palestine.
-The final status of Jerusalem should be negotiated and only determined through negotiations between the parties.
-The member states of the EU will not follow the U.S. and will not move their embassies to Jerusalem.

According to European diplomats and Israeli officials, the French and other member states wanted to publish the statement on Friday as a statement by the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini supported by all 28 EU members, but Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania announced they object to the statement and made it impossible to reach the consensus needed to publish it.

“The Hungarians didn’t want to poke Trump in the eye and the Czechs and the Romanians are considering to move their embassies to Jerusalem against the EU position. This is the state of the EU these days,”
a senior diplomat told Axios.

Knickers-and-Bra Feminists By Kyle Smith

A Cornell student delivered a thesis lecture in her underwear in order to combat systemic oppression.

Sorting out the tangled jumble of ideas that together define feminism can be a head-scratching experience. “We aren’t just sexual commodities,” some of them say, as they strip down to their lingerie.

An “I’m Spartacus” moment took place at Cornell University the other day, but because it was led by a young woman who grew up in a sex-drenched culture, it was more like an “I’m Victoria’s Secret” moment.

“Strip, everybody,” said senior Letitia Chai after removing her clothes down to her bra and panties to deliver her thesis. The Cornell Daily Sun reports that 28 of 44 students present doffed their clothing in solidarity.

Chai was reacting to the systematic oppression of being asked whether it was a great idea to deliver a lecture on the refugee crisis while wearing skimpy cut-offs. The professor of the class, “Acting in Public: Performance in Everyday Life,” was trying to do Chai a favor; college boys, like boys in general, are easily distracted by the sight of female flesh and are less likely to process what a woman is saying when they’re leering at her body parts.

Moreover, to the extent a college professor’s job is to prepare young people for the real world by gently nudging them away from teen habits and toward the way adults who take their careers seriously behave, the pedagogue was providing Chai with useful counseling. A year at Cornell costs a bit more than $70,000, and it is axiomatic that a degree from such an Ivy League university is mainly seen, these days, as a method for enhancing students’ value on the job market. College students need to be taught extremely basic skills like how to write an email, so it isn’t obvious that they understand that they shouldn’t show up for a job dressed like their last gig was prowling Eighth Avenue asking men, “Want a date?”

‘What Happened to Alan Dershowitz?’ How a liberal Harvard professor became Trump’s most distinguished defender on TV, freaked out his friends and got the legal world up in arms. By Evan Mandery

Maybe the question isn’t what happened to Alan Dershowitz.Maybe it’s what happened to everyone else.

NEW YORK — If you wanted to feel the full force of the intellectual whirlpool that is American politics in 2018, the place to go on February 25 was the Village Underground, a nightclub beneath East 3rd Street, where Alan Dershowitz, the longtime Harvard Law professor and civil liberties lion, was debating the future of American democracy on the side of President Donald Trump.

Opposing him were a National Review writer and a former FBI agent, arguing that the special investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign is well within the bounds of American law. Dershowitz, along with a conservative columnist for the Washington Examiner, was making the case that the Mueller investigation is dangerous to our entire system. In the room, which is normally a comedy club, it was impossible to shake the feeling that something was off. Two years ago, it would’ve seemed far more natural for the quartet to swap partners and switch sides.

On our way out, my wife and I were handed free copies of Dershowitz’s newest book, “Trumped Up: How Criminalization of Political Differences Endangers Democracy,” in which Dershowitz writes that special prosecutor Robert Mueller is subjecting Trump to “the legal equivalent of a colonoscopy.”

The woman behind us in line took her free book, turned to her husband and asked, “What happened to Alan Dershowitz?”

In certain circles—the legal academy, defense attorneys, Martha’s Vineyard—it is the question. Dershowitz, an iconic civil libertarian and criminal defense lawyer, who circulates between the liberal redoubts of Miami, New York and the Vineyard, has emerged in the past year as the most distinguished legal defender of Trump. He’s met Trump at Mar-a-Lago, and he dined with him at the White House the day after the FBI raid on Michael Cohen’s office. He’s a regular presence on TV, especially Fox News, where he’s a reliable voice on the president’s side against the investigation. In April, following the Cohen raid, Dershowitz appeared on “Hannity” nine times—including three days in a row. His message is clear: Mueller’s investigation is a witch hunt, and although he doesn’t think Trump should fire Mueller, the president would be within his rights to do it.

Rep. Maxine Waters vs. Rep. Kelly: “I Resent The Talk Of ‘Making America Great Again”By Tim Hains

Thursday on the floor of the House Financial Services Committee, Republican Congressman Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania interrupted Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat of California, when she was talking about discrimination.

“We’re trying to make America great every day and every way and the best way to do that is to stop talking about discrimination and start talking about the nation,” Kelly, a staunch Trump supporter, scolded Waters. “We’re coming together as a people in spite of what you say.”

“I want you to know that I am more offended as an African-American woman than you will ever be,” Waters said, speaking directly to Kelly. “And this business about making America great again, it is your president that’s dividing this country and don’t talk to me about the fact that we don’t understand… No, I will not yield, no I will not yield. Don’t tell me we don’t understand, that’s the attitude given toward women time and time again.”

Waters did not hold back when the Chairman intervened:

“You did not interrupt [Kelly] when he was making those outrageous remarks about him knowing more about discrimination than I know about discrimination. I resent that, and I resent the talk about making America great again.”

She continued: “He’s down here making a speech [about] this dishonorable president of the United States of America… and no I don’t yield (to Kelly), not one second to you. Not one second. Not one second to you.”

North Korea to Blow Up Nuclear Test Site It Can’t Use Anyway By Rick Moran

“The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it,” said Joseph Goebbels.

Charlie Brown. Lucy. Football.

North Korea says it will blow up the tunnels and dismantle its nuclear test site prior to the Trump-Kim summit later this month

It’s a coup for peace! Trump triumphant! Novus ordo seclorum!

Is it?

AP:

Kim had already revealed plans to shut down the test site by the end of May during his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month. Analysts say that while the closure of the site is important, it doesn’t represent a material step toward full denuclearization.

“A ceremony for dismantling the nuclear test ground is now scheduled between May 23 and 25,” depending on weather conditions, the Foreign Ministry’s statement said.

It said the North will invite journalists from the United States, South Korea, China, Russia and Britain to witness the dismantling process.

The journalists will be provided with a charter flight from Beijing to the North Korean coastal city of Wonsan, from where they will travel by train to the test site, the statement said.

The ministry said the North will continue to “promote close contacts and dialogue with the neighboring countries and the international society so as to safeguard peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and over the globe.”

Following the Moon-Kim summit, Moon’s office said Kim was willing to disclose the process to international experts, but the North’s statement Saturday didn’t include any mention about allowing experts on the site.

South Korea had no immediate response to the statement.

There’s a reason they were closing the test site anyway: it’s honeycombed with holes made by nuclear explosions.

John Kerry Reportedly Spotted Meeting Iranian Diplomats in Paris, Trash-Talking Trump By Megan Fox

John Kerry was just seen leaving a cafe in Paris after meeting with what appeared to be five Iranians driven in vehicles with diplomatic plates, according to Trump campaign senior advisor Jason Osborne.

Osborne tweeted on Saturday: “So John Kerry just left a meeting @ L’Avenue in Paris w/3 Iranians. A friend was sitting next to their table and heard JK blasting @realDonaldTrump. The Iranians had a 5 person security detail and left in diplomatic vehicles. Is he FARA registered?”
✔ @_JasonOsborne
So John Kerry just left a meeting @ L’Avenue in Paris w/3 Iranians. A friend was sitting next to their table and heard JK blasting @realDonaldTrump. The Iranians had a 5 person security detail and left in diplomatic vehicles. Is he FARA registered? @seanhannity @TuckerCarlson

“FARA” is the Foreign Agents Registration Act. According to the Department of Justice, FARA “requires persons acting as agents of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities.”

Kerry has been criticized lately for trying to save the Iran deal behind the scenes. The Boston Globe reported his backdoor machinations in detail.

John Kerry’s bid to save one of his most significant accomplishments as secretary of state took him to New York on a Sunday afternoon two weeks ago, where, more than a year after he left office, he engaged in some unusual shadow diplomacy with a top-ranking Iranian official.

He sat down at the United Nations with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to discuss ways of preserving the pact limiting Iran’s nuclear weapons program. It was the second time in about two months that the two had met to strategize over salvaging a deal they spent years negotiating during the Obama administration, according to a person briefed on the meetings.

With the Iran deal facing its gravest threat since it was signed in 2015, Kerry has been on an aggressive yet stealthy mission to preserve it, using his deep lists of contacts gleaned during his time as the top US diplomat to try to apply pressure on the Trump administration from the outside.

Is that legal? Many don’t think so.

Charles Hurt at the Washington Times recently penned a piece called “Throw John Kerry in Jail.”

Try to imagine for a second if some unelected diplomat from the Jimmy Carter administration had tried to interfere with President Reagan’s efforts to end the Cold War. Or if Condoleezza Rice had huddled with leaders from Iraq and Afghanistan to undermine President Obama’s policies in the region.

Of course, you cannot imagine that because it is unimaginable that even Jimmy Carter would have ever hired such a buffoon so utterly committed to hurting America. CONTINUE AT SITE

Why do we have such a liberal secretary of defense? By Ed Straker

Secretary of defense Jim Mattis seems to always be on the wrong side of every issue.

1. He believes that global warming is a national security threat.

Mattis has long espoused the position that the armed forces, for a host of reasons, need to cut dependence on fossil fuels and explore renewable energy where it makes sense. He had also, as commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command in 2010, signed off on the Joint Operating Environment, which lists climate change as one of the security threats the military expected to confront over the next 25 years.

Shouldn’t we have a secretary of defense more focused on real national security threats and less on imaginary ones?

2. Mattis believes that the so-called “settlements” in Israel’s Judea and Samaria are an “obstacle to peace” and that Israel could become an “apartheid state.” He shows zero understanding of the fundamental causes or the true nature of the dispute. For the so-called Palestinians, the existence of Israel is an “obstacle to peace.”

3. Mattis resisted a broader air strike on Syria when it was found to be using chemical weapons. Instead, we struck a few empty buildings at night. How do I know they were empty? Did anyone hear reports of a single casualty after the attack? No. Did anyone hear reports of plumes of chemical weapons dispersed by the explosions? No. It was a token effort, designed to do the minimum. You can argue whether or not we should have bombed Syria at all for employing chemical weapons (most of the victims of the Syrian regime have been killed by conventional weapons), but the pinprick kind of attack that Mattis recommended was simply ineffectual.

The Deep State Mob Targets Nunes By Julie Kelly

In an absurd tweet on Wednesday, Lawfare’s executive director suggested that Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) should be replaced as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee:
Susan Hennessey
✔ @Susan_Hennessey

This is a hugely significant story. DOJ and the IC do not trust the HPSCI chair to protect sources and methods that directly risk human lives. Nunes simply cannot continue to serve in the role and Speaker Ryan is wrong to not remove him and appoint a suitable choice like Conaway. https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/994318826404708353 …

That wasn’t even the most moronic tweet in Susan Hennessey’s arsenal. She went on to warn how “the intelligence oversight system is based on trust. Without trust it is irretrievably broken. The [Intelligence Community] and [Department of Justice] don’t trust Nunes and he cannot perform his job functions.” Get that? The Intelligence Community and the Justice department—which have proven to be as political and devious as a Chicago ward boss—are the white hats and Nunes is the black hat.

That is not ignorance on Hennessey’s part: it’s calculated deception.

Fortunately, it’s unlikely that House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will heed an unreasonable demand from a political partisan tied to the left-leaning Brookings Institution. But it does unveil the latest tactic of the Left (and some on the Right) to discredit and ultimately oust Nunes, the only Republican on Capitol Hill who appears to have his act together when it comes to exposing the players behind the Trump-Russia election collusion scheme.

The Deep State Mob is continuing to squeeze the California congressman after he again threatened to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for ignoring congressional subpoenas and withholding crucial documents from Congressional investigators. Nunes has minced no words about how the Justice Department and FBI have been “stonewalling” his committee’s investigation for months. And as Nunes inches closer to revealing the stinking core of what is potentially the biggest political corruption scandal in U.S. history, the Deep State Mob is trying to close in on him first.

Senator Grassley appears to be preparing to bust the frame-up of General Flynn By Thomas Lifson

Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, the laconic Midwesterner with a steel trap mind, dropped a bombshell yesterday with a letter (the full letter appears below – pdf here) to Deputy A.G. Rod Rosenstein (who supervises the Mueller probe) and FBI director Christopher Wray. But in keeping with Grassley’s style, which has so often misled his opponents into overconfidence, you have to read between the lines to see where he is heading. The end point: uncovering the plot to frame General Flynn for lying to the FBI, including likely criminal acts by senior members of the FBI.

Recall that facing financial ruin, and threats to prosecute his son on unrelated charges, General Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, yet James Comey told the Grassley Committee in a briefing:

[T]he FBI agents who interviewed Lt. General Michael Flynn, “saw nothing that led them to believe [he was] lying.” Our own Committee staff’s notes indicate that Mr. Comey said the “agents saw no change in his demeanor or tone that would say he was being untruthful.” Contrary to his public statements during his current book tour denying any memory of those comments, then-Director Comey led us to believe during that briefing that the agents who interviewed Flynn did not believe he intentionally lied about his conversation with the Ambassador and that the Justice Department was unlikely to prosecute him for false statements made in that interview. In the months since then, the Special Counsel obtained a guilty plea from Lt. General Flynn for that precise alleged conduct.

Comey has since changed his tune, in “a Fox News interview in which he denied he ever told lawmakers that he did not believe Michael Flynn lied.”

General Flynn’s sentencing has been delayed repeatedly, as Judge Emmett Sullivan (who replaced Judge Contreras after he was removed from the case) has demanded that all exculpatory evidence be handed over to him.