Socialism continues to have a terrible effect in New York, this time under Zohran Mamdani

3 Democrat candidates for Congress in NYC who were endorsed by their first Muslim mayor, Mamdani, won primaries, including at the expense of an incumbent who's reportedly pro-Israel:

Zohran Mamdani’s growing influence over the Democratic party was on show in New York City on Tuesday as three congressional candidates endorsed by New York’s democratic socialist mayor won closely watched primaries, while voters in Maryland, Utah and South Carolina cast ballots in primaries and runoffs.

Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller who also ran for mayor last year before endorsing Mamdani, won his race comfortably, defeating the Democratic representative Dan Goldman.

Another Mamdani ally, Claire Valdez, a state lawmaker and former union organizer, defeated Antonio Reynoso, the preferred successor of retiring Democratic Representative Nydia Velázquez in New York’s seventh district, encompassing parts of Brooklyn and Queens. And in a stunning upset, the public defense investigator Darializa Avila Chevalier toppled Representative Adriano Espaillat, the powerful five-term incumbent who chairs the Congressional Hispanic caucus, in the state’s diverse 13th congressional district, which covers Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.

What makes this additionally disturbing is that Goldman was attacked in a social media post by Poetica Coffee, which is reportedly owned by Uzbek managers, for his pro-Israel positions. The DOJ opened an investigation into this incident, but sadly, the damage is done in more ways than one, given that Mamdani saw success with his repellent endorsements.

It would definitely seem much of NYC's residents are now revoltingly in favor of both socialism, and Islamism, if what Mamdani oversaw says anything. This is another terrible defeat for 911 Families, and also pro-Israel advocates.

The Islamic response to Charlie Kirk's murder was sadly predictable

In the few days now since the tragic murder of Charlie Kirk, it's been discovered, far from surprisingly, that Muslim activists have only responded to the terrible incident with nothing but hatred:

The warped but inventive minds that make up the U.S. Islamist movement have been busy the last few days, trying to get some traction on social media and pile on the hate for Charlie Kirk.

It's Islamists, so the very first thing that comes to mind is "conspiracy."

Daniel Haqiqatjou, founder of Muslim Skeptic, blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Kirk's death.

Haqiqatjou took the standard left-wing line that Trump was going to use Kirk's death as a sort of "Reichstag Fire" to begin a general crackdown.

Haqiqatjou added in another post that Charlie Kirk was murdered as a result of a "Zionist conspiracy." The nutcase failed to explain how Kirk, a huge supporter of Israel, as he pointed out earlier, could be a victim of "Zionists." [...]

The U.K. Islamist news outlet 5Pillars gloated over Kirk's death, criticizing him for his statement that Islamic values are incompatible with Western values, and asserting, “It’s not Islamophobia to notice that Muslims want to import values into the West that seek to destabilize our civilization.”

None of this is surprising, although the idiocy of positing Netanyahu's involvement in the assassination should disabuse those who believe Islamists are rational players who can live in peace with the West. Their notions of individual liberty are either absent or so skewed as to be unrecognizable. Their tolerance of other religions doesn't exist. And let's not even discuss the way they treat women like cattle.

This is all truly obscene, and decidedly calls for a lawsuit by the Kirk family against the Religion of Peace adherents who defamed the poor guy for daring to state facts. There've been a lot of leftists who lost jobs for making offensive comments about the Kirk murder, with one of the most prominent being Matthew Dowd, now formerly of MSNBC news. All responsible businesses in the USA and elsewhere who wish to retain a responsible image should also make sure to distance themselves from any Islamists who've done anything similar.

John Daniel Davidson's wrong about how the USA should deal with middle eastern issues

One of The Federalist's leading editors, John Daniel Davidson, has written a very sloppy and concerning take on Donald Trump's trip to Saudi Arabia, one that sounds like he doesn't think the USA should promote and demand civilized values in the middle east:

Not only did Trump lambast neocon “nation-building” in the region, he more or less vowed never to pursue the kinds of neocon misadventures that spilt American blood and treasure over the past 25 years in the insane pursuit of creating western liberal democracies in the Middle East.

In stark and unmistakable terms, the president reminded the world of the abject failure of decades of neocon and liberal interventionist U.S. foreign policy under both Democrat and Republican leadership. He specifically called out the trillions of U.S. tax dollars wasted in a totally unsuccessful attempt to turn Iraq and Afghanistan into western-style democracies as part of the global war on terror.

“In the end, the so-called ‘nation-builders’ wrecked far more nations than they built — and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves,” Trump said. “The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation-builders, neocons, or liberal non-profits like those who spent trillions failing to develop Kabul and Baghdad.”

Ahem. If we take Afghanistan as an example, they didn't even try to do that, and most importantly, refused to wean the country off of the Islamic religion. How does Mr. Davidson expect there to be any long range peace and quiet if there's a dominant ideology that leads to a boomerang effect, where years later, they can, much like a "sleeper agent", go right back to old and dirty tricks?

In other words, Trump’s vision of American foreign policy isn’t driven by a zeal to remake the world into some version of a liberal western democracy. In Riyadh, he was saying that Saudi Arabia and the other Arab states can just be Islamic monarchies, and as long as they present no threat to American interests, and as long as they promote peace and stability, then we can do business with them.

Well, this is telling something. So it's okay if Islam continues to govern such countries - and additionally chilling, if it ends up dominating Europe and the USA - so long as it supposedly doesn't affect the USA? Also, what's this about a "liberal" western democracy? Why not a conservative western democracy? This has got to be another chilling flaw in Mr. Davidson's argument. Something only somebody who doesn't value foreign lives as much as local ones could possibly write. He later says, very insultingly:

Critics will simply repeat platitudes like we fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them here, or that a world of liberal democracies is in the American interest. Maybe that’s true in theory, but in practice it amounts to a carte blanche to intervene anywhere in the world for any reason. What’s more, no one seriously believes that America has the ability or competence to plant stable democracies in Africa or Asia — or anywhere, for that matter. The reason for this is simple: stable democracies cannot be planted by any outside power, no matter how rich and powerful. They have to grow organically and domestically from the people themselves. We can applaud emergent democracies, we can do business with them, but there is precious little we can do to guarantee them, much less build them in the first place.

And not every nation has to be a democracy. The great lie of the Bush-era war on terror was that all people yearn for freedom and democracy. No they don’t. Some yearn much more for justice, or righteousness, or simply revenge. Some will be hereditary monarchies, or Islamic caliphates, or any number of other things. That’s fine. We shouldn’t be troubled by our differences with other nations, so long as they don’t threaten us. The idea that we could turn Afghanistan into a modern democratic state was perhaps the greatest delusion of the past quarter-century. As Trump said on Tuesday, “I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be very profound.”

Ahem. Maybe democracy isn't what every nation need be, but should any nation be a spot where barbarism, misogyny and racism can reign? Absolutely not. And it's unacceptable that any country have totalitarians savaging their own subjects. Similar points can be made about communism. Davidson's argument is defeatist in that it additionally refuses to recognize that indoctrination to evil is another grave wrong that can't go unopposed. And it goes without saying that said indoctrination is what's led to "honor murders" by Islamofascists. And it's insulting to Americans' intellects to say the USA doesn't have the ability to establish sturdy democracies on continents like Africa and Asia. By that logic, they didn't have what it took to tame Germany and Japan either.

And Adam Johnston isn't doing much better with his claim the USA shouldn't go to war with Iran, which has some strange descriptions of certain commentary figures:

Meanwhile, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is under fire from neocons after she recently testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee “that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not authorized [restarting] the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”

This caused neoconservative media personality Mark Levin and 2024 GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley to push back on Gabbard, both sharing an op-ed from former John Bolton Chief of Staff Fred Fleitz, who called the intelligence reports referenced by Gabbard “stupid intelligence.”

I can't currently recall Levin ever being described before as a "neocon". Is this some kind of absurd propaganda to undermine those who believe force is the only true way to defeat savage evil? And are the lives of innocent women in Iran persecuted for not dressing in abayas worthless? Well that's what Johnston runs the gauntlet of implying, and that's no improvement over Davidson's approach. Maybe the war in Iraq was unnecessary, but that's only if you fail to get rid of the Islamist indoctrination that since became more prevalent there. Same can be said about Iran. Are we to assume Johnston and Davidson also believe Lebanon should remain in the clutches of the Islamists too?

Yet under the growing influence of the more nationalist and non-interventionist America First movement, this longstanding alliance is beginning to fracture. A new generation of right-wing leaders — figures who are notably more realist and restraint-oriented, and less reflexively pro-Israel, such as Vice President J.D. Vance, Elbridge Colby, and influential media figures like Tucker Carlson — are questioning endless American interventionism in the Middle East and whether U.S. interests are always best served by unconditional support for Israel.

Wow, with this kind of mentality, we'd never have won WW2, let alone WW1. Interesting Carlson comes up in discussion here, because he's regrettably proven negative to Israel, and that's not good. Also, what's so wrong with being "hawkish"? Does that mean that when a left-winger is "dovish" that's a great thing? Forget it, these propagandists have gone too far, and the Federalist's just proven a most embarrassingly bad publication with this embarrassment.

Now in more news related to Trump's recent Saudi Arabia conference, Christine Williams has addressed the issue, and points to serious info on what crimes al-Sharaa's organization has done:

A MEMRI article entitled, “Qatar Continues To Finance Terror With U.S. Consent: Will Fund Syria’s New Regime, Led By HTS Terror Organization, Just As It Funded Hamas,” examined the terrorist history of Syrian leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who reverted to his original name Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, to create a false impression that he had changed, even though he remains dedicated to the jihadist cause, ie. to establish the Sharia.

Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) “was established in 2012 by Al-Sharaa (then known as Al-Joulani) at the behest of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, who would soon become the founder of ISIS. In 2013 the group became the official branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria after Al-Joulani broke with Al-Baghdadi and swore allegiance to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri.”

Al-Sharaa’s followers have slaughtered Christians, Alawites and Druze since toppling Al-Assad.

The MEMRI article also exposes the modus operandi of Qatar, “the world’s greatest financer of extremist Islamist elements such as the Muslims Brotherhood and jihadi terror organizations.”

[...] The fall of the al-Assad Syrian regime was bad news for its staunch ally, Iran, which was good news to America and Israel. But like the mujahideen of Afghanistan, Al-Sharaa is no friend to America and Israel, and neither is Qatar. In December, Qatar “rushed to position itself as a pivotal player in shaping Syria’s future” after the fall of al-Assad. Qatar was hand in hand with “its closest regional partner,” Turkey, which was responsible for facilitating and backing al-Sharaa before and after al-Assad’s fall.

Now al-Sharaa is making significant inroads, as his leadership is legitimized by Muslim Brotherhood-supporting Qatar (and Turkey), with new US support to boot.

Seriously, it's very sad and regrettable it's come to this, because not only does it not help Israel, it also does not help any innocent Druze, Kurds and Yazidis in the area. Williams does note though:

One thing for certain is that Trump inherited Joe Biden’s complete betrayal of American interests, both domestically and abroad. Biden left open borders, poured billions into the coffers of Iran, left billions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art military equipment in Afghanistan for free use by the Taliban, and virtually factored America out of the equation of any global influence. Biden left Trump to contend with a nuclear threshold Iran and a turbulent Middle East that saw America under the declining Biden as nothing more than a joke.

It’s also no secret that Qatar has been buying out American campuses, where pro-Hamas, intimidating protests proliferated, with little to no intervention by the campus administration.

The picture looks grim. But one needs to remember that Trump, not Biden, cracked down on campus antisemitism, which was disguised as “free speech” when it was really a promotion of jihad terror against Israel and Jews.

Yes, but that doesn't mean Trump should allow jihadism to gain footholds even abroad. As some conservatives may realize, the day will come when right-wingers will have no choice but to do battle overseas if that's what it takes to ensure future generations of decent folk everywhere will have a future. Let's also consider that Iran may not be the only Islamic regime with nuclear research in store.

Of course, the cautionary tale of the mujahideen in Afghanistan should be remembered. However, considering Trump’s past policies of protecting American borders from the worst criminals and jihadists, as well as his reinstatement of the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries of concern, it makes little sense to assume without further evidence that he would betray America to the jihadist cause. Let’s hope there is a method (and long-term results) to the madness — as appears to be the case even at this point. In the meantime, expect the inevitable media circus as America continues to emerge from disastrous, nightmarish Democrat rule.

Certainly it's important to protect USA borders, and to back Israel, but that doesn't mean we should turn our backs on any innocent souls in Islamic regimes who should be liberated from the Religion of Peace's tyranny. And even communist regimes are a bad omen. Mainly because of how they're more than perfectly willling to do business with the Religion of Peace, and maybe even sell out their countries to Islam in the end. Interestingly enough, Trump's deal with al-Sharaa in Syria doesn't seem to have met any opposition or complaints from the Democrats. Surely that's not telling something?

Then, here's some more observations about Trump's gamble on Syria:

“Obviously, it is a bit of a gamble,” Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, told the DCNF. “If you take a look at historical cases in which an entity has been on a terrorist list and then has transitioned towards becoming more acceptable as they become a political party or take over a country, whether it’s the [African National Congress], the [Irish Republican Army], or the [Palestinian Liberation Organization], it’s nevertheless been a process with specific demands and time in order to make sure that this is not just a temporary change of heart.”

What it really is, is taqqiya (deception). And vehement refusal by the PLO to abandon Islam only worsens the matter.

Al-Sharaa has attempted to distance himself from his jihadist past, but HTS still retains the salafist jihadist interpretation of Islam that al-Qaeda espouses, with the latter viewing HTS as traitorous.

Point: if we take the case of Egypt's past autocrat Anwar Sadat as an example, there are jihadists who won't accept that he pulled an act of deception of his own on Israel, and that's how Sadat was slain a few years after the Camp David accords. So it's no surprise if al-Qaeda doesn't accept al-Sharaa's own acts of deception regardless of his intentions. Either way, both al Qaeda and al-Sharaa are bad news, and nobody should have to make a choice between either.

More important information comes from Dr. Yehuda Balanga:

Last Wednesday, US President Donald Trump met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa (al-Julani). It appears Trump chose to ignore the fact that until that meeting, al-Sharaa had been a wanted terrorist in the eyes of the Americans. Overnight, he became wanted in Washington under very different circumstances. "A young and attractive guy," Trump said of al-Sharaa. "A tough guy with a strong background. A very strong background. A fighter." Notably, the American president failed to mention that this "fighter" he praised led a Sunni Islamist-jihadist organization that persecuted and killed men, women, and children during the Syrian civil war solely because of their religious beliefs or political affiliations. [...]

To date, no Islamist movement that seized power has ever abandoned its ideology. Quite the contrary - every past success has emboldened a wider Islamist surge. This was true in Iran after the 1979 revolution, and again after the Arab Spring, when Islamist movements, many tied to the Muslim Brotherhood, rose to power in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and now Syria. Given al-Sharaa's past in al-Qaida and Islamic State, a shift in worldview seems unlikely.

See, this is exactly what may be overlooked in this whole concerning development. Do MAGA supports and America Firsters intend to let this go without public comment?

Anyway, after discovering what the above writers/editors for the Federalist were using for apologia, I decided I'd had enough, and the time had come to remove them from my side menu. Even the Daily Caller so far hasn't written anything that foolish, which is amazing considering Carlson was one of their co-founders. The Federalist had turned out some very tasteless, disturbing and divisive op-eds before, and these latest are only compounding a very embarrassingly bad situation. We could decidedly do without their shoddy "opinions".

After October 7, some leftists hopefully changed their view of Muslims

In this Wash. Free Beacon article, they interview a leftist "peace activist" who appears to have changed after her experience with the jihadists from Gaza who also invaded her household on October 7:

Irit Lahav, 57, was a peace activist who believed in the decency of the Palestinian people. Then, on Oct. 7, ordinary Gazans joined in a terrorist attack that left more than one in four of her neighbors in Kibbutz Nir Oz dead or abducted.

For many members of Nir Oz and other Israelis, the atrocities of Oct. 7—and particularly the broad participation of the Gazan public in the day—destroyed their faith in coexistence with the Palestinians.

Lahav, a manager at a travel company, long participated in peace demonstrations. In recent years, she volunteered for an Israeli charity called Road to Recovery, driving Palestinian children from the border of the Gaza Strip, less than two miles from her home, to Israeli hospitals for life-saving medical care.

"We thought that Palestinians are good people. All they want is peace and prosperity," Lahav told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview from a hotel in this Red Sea resort city where she and most of her community were temporarily relocated. "It's just that Hamas is forcing them to be in this aggressive situation."

When terrorists first shook the door of her safe room on Oct. 7, Lahav was sure that she and her 22-year-old daughter were about to be killed. But a makeshift lock she had fashioned out of an oar and a vacuum cleaner thwarted three separate break-in attempts. The women lay in the darkened room for about 10 hours listening to sounds of automatic gunfire and grenade explosions. At one point, they heard a group of teenagers robbing their house.

Later, Lahav learned from other Nir Oz survivors that Gazan women and children as young as 10 years old had followed Hamas terrorists into the kibbutz, looting, helping the armed terrorists, and apparently enjoying themselves.

"Basically it was sort of an invasion of a community," Lahav said. "That's why for me, I cannot say this was a Hamas action. No, for me, this was a Palestinian action. A whole community had come to our kibbutz, took our things, stole stuff, killed people, and kidnapped others."

"Am I thinking about myself being foolish until now?" Lahav added. "Maybe. But more is that I'm disappointed in them, that they're so cruel, have no values, really lost their human values."

During Israel's ongoing war to destroy Hamas, 40 of the hostages taken from Nir Oz have been released, while 30 remain in Gaza. Several other hostages have been declared dead in recent weeks, bringing the total number of people killed from Nir Oz to 46.

While it's good to know she's changed her mind about what people like her still call a "palestinian people", it remains to be seen if any of these presumably no-longer-peace-activists recognize that Islam played a very horrific major role in the bloodbath of October 7. And what would Lahav say if "settlers" of background more religious than hers were the victims? Lahav should publicly renounce all associations with anyone who until now supported Islamic savages. And she'd do well to consider how many women in Europe, in example, have fallen victim to Islamofascism as well. Many on the left now owe a serious apology.

Judicial reform process delayed

This was probably to be expected, sadly enough, all because some leftists in establishment took it upon themselves to do everything they could to bring the country to a standstill:

The head of one of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Coalition partners, Otzma Yehudit, said on Monday he had agreed to delay the government's overhaul of the judiciary in exchange for a promise it would be brought after the upcoming parliamentary recess.

"I agreed to remove the veto to reject the legislation in exchange for a commitment by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the legislation would be submitted to the Knesset for approval in the next session," National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a statement. The statement also said that Netanyahu vowed that Ben-Gvir would get to head a new National Guard unit that would complement that Israel Police, for which he has no official jurisdiction over.

The statement said the legislation would be pushed to the next session of Israeli parliament in order to "pass the reform through dialogue," the statement said. Parliament will go on recess next week for the Passover holiday.

[...] As opposition spread, the head of the Histadrut labor union called for a general strike if the proposals were not halted.

Take-offs from Ben Gurion airport were suspended, while Israel's main seaports, banks and hospitals, and medical services were set to strike. Branches of Mcdonald's were also closed.

That the airport staff would allow this is severely disturbing. It just shows how the left has such astonishing influence here for the worst. One of the coalition MKs is furious over the situation:

MK Tally Gotliv (Likud) on Monday expressed outrage over the decision to pause the legislation of the judicial reform, but made clear she would not disband the coalition because of it.

"The decision to stop the legislation is shameful and disgraceful, it's shameful in several aspects," Gotliv told Israel National News. "Perhaps all my friends from the right should remember the words of the sages, 'Say little and do much' and not the other way around, and it is unthinkable that after we unilaterally surrendered last week [by agreeing to a softened version of the bill on the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee], and I said that the entire reform would be taken off the table, [that we agreed to postpone the legislation]. I also said that the demonstrations would not stop and I that it was a protection payment for violence and extortion through threats."

"After all, all that is on the agenda is changing the structure of the Judicial Selection Committee, which may affect the appointment of two judges in the next two years – 12 percent of the judges of the Supreme Court, and for that they are setting the Ayalon Highway on fire? So what do we say in response? That we surrender to domestic terrorism. We don't know how to govern," she added.

Gotliv is not convinced by the promise that this is only a short-term stoppage and claimed that it is a "one-sided surrender, a surrender to actual terror, to all this promiscuous anarchism. I prefer that they tell me that to my face and not shame the people of Israel."

She's right that it's not going to stop here. There will doubtless be more obnoxious demonstrations by the left, along with potential strikes to paralyze the country, and this cannot be allowed to go unopposed.

Update: David Harsanyi says the judicial system as it currently stands in Israel is exactly what the American left wants too. He also cites some of the country's unfortunate history:

But the nation’s judicial system is even worse. Israel’s political system was created by leftists who envisioned a one-party state. From its inception, the nation’s socialists suppressed — sometimes violently — political opposition. And in the 1950s, a ruling Labor Party preempted the opposition from infiltrating the courts by empowering judges to veto appointees to the bench. This created a self-perpetuating, generationally cocooned judiciary that functions without any set of cohesive legal principles or oversight.

That's the tragedy that's been around for much longer than one may think, and has damaged this country's modern inception, easily for years to come.

With his sordid record, Andrew Cuomo has no business establishing a "pro-Israel" movement

Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who led the state into an utter disaster 3 years ago during the Coronavirus pandemic, and was forced to resign following sexual misconduct scandals, is now establishing a supposedly pro-Israeli group meant to appeal to Democrats:

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has a new project, a year and a half after resigning amid a flurry of sexual harassment allegations: a pro-Israel organization targeting Democrats.

Cuomo delivered the message via video on Monday evening at an event at Carnegie Hall hosted by the World Values Network, the organization led by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach — an author, television personality and onetime Republican congressional candidate. Boteach organized the event in honor of the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and in memory of his recently deceased mother.

The launch of the organization, to be called “Progressives For Israel,” was first reported by Matthew Kassel at Jewish Insider.

While Cuomo provided few details about the organization, he said that it would call on Democrats to stand with Israel, “because silence is not an option.”

Putting aside for a moment that many leftists today are more hostile than ever to Israel, how can one truly give backing to a movement formed by a man whose record consists of sexual harrassment/abuse, and even went miles out of his way to impose LGBT ideology, among other woke elements, upon a now collapsing state? Boteach should also consider how embarrassing it is to associate with somebody like Cuomo, who didn't do any true favors for Jews in New York either, unless it's the Satmar we're talking about.

If Cuomo still retains the far-left ideological perspective he had before on issues like LGBT ideology and appeasing high crime rates in NYC, that's reason enough to reject whatever he's doing now, and Boteach would do well to distance himself from Cuomo too. NY's former governor is just not worth wasting time with.

Update: it's important to note that as of now, many more Democrats side with Islamists against Israel. Even if Cuomo weren't as corrupt as he is, the movement he's formed is bound to fail miserably.

37th Israeli government, and Netanyahu's 6th term as premier, is sworn in

Israel's 37th government has been sworn in at the Knesset, and this also marks the beginning of Benjamin Netanyahu's 6th term as prime minister:

Israel's 37th Government was sworn in on Thursday, with Benjamin Netanyahu beginning his sixth term as prime minister.

The swearing-in ceremony began at 11:00 a.m., during which Netanyahu presented his agenda to the Knesset plenum. These include stopping the Iran nuclear program, developing state infrastructure and restoring internal security and governance.

During his address, which was interrupted by members of the opposition, Netanyahu said "Losing elections isn't the end of democracy – it's the essence of democracy. In a democracy, we don't climb the fences of the Capitol, and we don't climb the fences of the Knesset."

Unfortunately, this is something the current leftist opposition in the Knesset no longer seems willing to respect, and likely never did. I guess that's why the sad part is how Yair Lapid, upon leaving office, refused to shake Netanyahu's hand:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the first to take the oath of office. Most of the heads of the opposition parties were present out of respect for the ceremony, but opposition leader Yair Lapid left the plenary hall even before Netanyahu was sworn-in without shaking his hand as is customary.

What really makes this sad is that it hints at where things are headed with the left, which is bad for democratic relations. It could take years to mend the damage Lapid's causing with his ostracizing approach. But, this does demonstrate why it's good he's now out of office. He was causing all the harm he's going to cause, even in the opposition.

So let's hope Netanyahu can handle all the trouble the left's already causing. What if they intent to do everything they can to sabotage his efforts to make peace with Saudi Arabia, for example? Regrettably, that's something they're more than willing to do, if reality says anything about their conduct.

Israel's LGBT activists have no issues with Islam's hostility to their ideology

As explained by Ruthie Blum, following a whole questionable controversy where the left assailed Avi Maoz for wanting to put a stop to LGBT propaganda being pushed in Israeli schools. First, here's what Orit Strook said on Twitter to clarify:

"You can calm down over the much ado about nothing," she tweeted on Sunday. "No one intends to discriminate against LGBT people because of their identity or identification – not in medical care or any other service. LGBTs are human beings who deserve respect and love just like everyone else … It's not at all about the identity of the patient, but about the essence of the treatment."

The idea, she added, is that "a religiously observant doctor will not be forced to provide a medical treatment contrary to halacha [Jewish law], regardless of the identity of the patient. Because in the State of Israel, which was established after 2,000 years of exile, thanks to Jews who gave their lives (who were literally slaughtered, hanged, burned at the stake and tortured to death) for observing the Torah, a believing Jew should not be forced to violate [its laws]."

She went on, "I'm sure a huge majority of the nation agrees with this simple truth and identifies with it, certainly on Hanukkah, the holiday that began with a rebellion against anti-religious coercion."

In conclusion, she suggested wryly that "those who still find it difficult [to accept] do a simple visualization exercise: apply this principle to your [coalition] partners from the Shura Council [the Islamist Ra'am Party]. You'll find that, suddenly, religious and faith principles become somehow easier to swallow."

Her dig at the double standard brings us to the second element of the distortion-hypocrisy couplet that characterizes Lapid's shaky, disparate bloc: the "do as I say, not as I do" practice at which Lahav Hertzanu has demonstrated exemplary skill.

Indeed, the gay parliamentarian denouncing the RZP for "homophobia" is more than tolerant of Ra'am, which labels LGBTQs as "perverts" with an "unnatural lifestyle."

When asked in July 2021 about Ra'am MK Walid Taha's statements to this effect, he replied, "Walid Taha is a member of Knesset who represents a sector. He's legitimate. He's a member of [our] coalition."

Pressed further on Taha's stance, he answered, "I understand it; I can't accept it."

Mere weeks later, he abandoned even that pretense of disapproval. Upon Taha's appointment to the chairmanship of the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee, the Yesh Atid "progressive" was positively effusive about and toward his Ra'am colleague, lauding him as a "sensitive, caring, committed elected official," and saying, "I'm very happy for your election and very much looking forward to working with you."

A few months after that, Taha attacked Labor MK Ibtisam Marana – also a coalition partner – for her efforts to establish a shelter for Israel's LGBTQ Arab citizens. His method of putting her down was to question whether she was really an Arab, after all.

He proceeded to point out to her that Ra'am follows Islamic law, "which considers same-sex relations to be [among] the most serious crimes in the eyes of Allah, because it is a violation of man's nature and a blatant defiance of Allah himself."

The Koran, he added, "recounts the case of Lot and the heavy punishment that Allah inflicted on the sinners, through their complete destruction with fire and brimstone. [And] the consensus among Muslim scholars [of Sharia] is that the punishment for those who have homosexual relations is execution."

Nary a peep from Lahav Hertzanu, Lapid or the rest of their liberal fellow travelers now carrying on about Strock. If they think that their behavior and bigotry of low expectations do the rainbow flag – or democracy – proud, they've got another thing coming.

So Yesh Atid's openly homosexual MK apparently has no genuine opposition to what Ra'am goes by. Which proves he's only following his lifestyle for the sake of harming the values of a civil society. This should be pointed out repeatedly to all the public who're being constantly told only Maoz and Strook are a problem.

Now, when it comes to healthcare exams, of course LGBT practitioners should be able to see doctors to check if they're suffering from illnesses, and also go to the dentist. But if it's businesses like bakers, they shouldn't be forced to do services for homosexual ideology any more than this Christian baker who was persecuted for years. If LGBT practitioners want services for their ideology, they must prove they can establish their own. If there's one part of being a doctor that religious or otherwise shouldn't have to adhere to, it's the horrific gender reassignment surgeries that're ruining children's lives, along with adults, in the USA and elsewhere now. That's something that should practically be barred from practice, because it risks hurting many people with the awful elements involved. Maybe that's what Strook was referring to? In which case, she'd be making an important case in defense of women and girls. That's something to think about.

New Israeli government formed

At nighttime, Benjamin Netanyahu announced his new coalition to president Isaac Herzog:

Israel has a right-wing government: Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu phoned President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday evening and proclaimed, “I have succeeded in forming a government”.

The phone call took place 18 minutes before the extension granted to Netanyahu from Herzog was set to expire at midnight.

Netanyahu told Herzog, "Dear President, thanks to the enormous public support we received in the last elections, I am informing you that I have been able to establish a government that will act in the interest of all the citizens of Israel."

And since we're on the subject, it was shameful how the New York Times predictably assailed Netanhahu and disrespected the electorate, even if it wasn't shocking. The Jerusalem Post editorial said in response that Israel's democracy is vibrant:

It is now bon ton to forecast the demise of Israel’s democracy.

Everyone is doing it: from august forums such as the New York Times editorial board, to blogs run by North American ex-pats now living in Israel, to Facebook groups set up by disgruntled Israelis encouraging emigration.

For instance, the web headline to a Times editorial on Saturday warning of the dangers of presumptive Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government read: “The Ideal of Democracy in a Jewish State Is in Jeopardy.” And the headline adequately reflected the spirit of the editorial.

The editorial said that Netanyahu’s government “is a significant threat to the future of Israel – its direction, its security and even the idea of a Jewish homeland.”

The credibility of the editorial was cast in doubt further down in the piece when the renowned paper inexplicably left out Palestinian terrorism as a reason why “hopes for a Palestinian state have dimmed,” writing instead that the reasons are “the combined pressure of Israeli resistance and Palestinian corruption, ineptitude and internal divisions.”

On this, why doesn't anybody call for a boycott of the NYT, and save a lot of money by not subscribing or buying them? They've been such an insufferable paper for decades on end, and are one of the worst of the USA's most dishonest media sources. What's the use? They insult the Israeli electorate along with the USA public, and it's time to stop buying them in any way.

Not improving matters is that fraud-in-chief Joe Biden's pseudo=administration wants to hold Netanyahu accountable for any directions they oppose:

Netanyahu’s successful welding together of Zionist and orthodox parties into a solid Right-Wing coalition was completed two days after Washington wired a warning, via Politico among other media outlets, that it would hold the Israeli leader personally answerable for any decisions or actions his new government might take that the US doesn’t like.

President Joe Biden and his secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, have not hidden their alarm over the political platforms of the most significant coalition partners – the Jewish Strength Party of Itamar Ben-Gvir, who will come in as Minister of National Security, and the Religious Zionist Party of Bezalel Smotrich, slated to receive ministerial authority over Judea and Samaria.

The two men’s combined goals are to strengthen Israel’s character as the Jewish state by taking steps, among others, to increase security against terrorism, as well as criminal violence, open the Temple Mount to Jewish worship and increase and consolidate the presence of Jewish residents in the towns and cities of Israel’s biblical heartland – Samaria and Judea.

All these aims fly in the face of America’s political intent which, along with that of the rest of the world, is to see the Jews removed from the “West Bank” and the Israel-hating Arab populace enabled to establish in their place a new state called Palestine: the “Two State Solution”.

Not just removed from Judea/Samaria/Gaza, but also from Israel entire. To remove Jews from the main biblical areas is just the beginning of the anti-Israelists' twisted goals. And it's shameful as it's repulsive. This is exactly why the Likud was elected.

HYPOCRISY ON DISPLAY

At the March 2014 National Young Feminist Leadership Conference, those claiming to be tolerant and inclusive bully female conservative reporter:

If Satan ever laughs, it must be at hypocrites; they are the greatest dupes he has; they serve him better than any others, and receive no wages. — Charles Caleb Colton (1780–1832)

THE NEXT STEP FOR PROGRESSIVE TAXATION?

Consider the following excerpt from Were your parents rich? Maybe you should pay more in taxes, published in the Washington Post on March 28, 2014, and written by Yo Jeremijenko-Conley, a freshman at Stuyvesant High School in New York City, and Dalton Conley, a professor at New York University:

...We need a tax policy that accounts for how economic benefits and disparities are passed down from generation to generation. To do that, we could calculate tax rates based not just on what people earn now — as traditional progressive taxation does — but also on the income their families brought in during their critical childhood years....

Let’s introduce the Great Gatsby tax rebate for upward mobility....

Read the entire essay HERE.

I can hear Obama now in his preacher's lilt: "It's the right thing to do!"

The Left will not be satisfied until taxation penalizes and thereby subjugates and impoverishes the wealthy in a collective manner — that is, by family.  The Left despises the very concept of the individual.

Also, remember this: who is "wealthy" is subject to interpretation, particularly when the word is interpreted on a global basis. Even the poorest in America are wealthy in comparison to most living in certain Third World countries.

Of course, the ruling elite will keep their wealth and live like kings while trampling everyone else into serfdom.

DETROIT: PROGRESSIVE "DREAM" REALIZED

Asylum Watch has an excellent comprehensive post on the plight of Detroit. Money quote from that post:

Detroit said Friday [June 14, 203] it would stop making payments on about $2.5 billion in unsecured debt and ask creditors to take about 10 cents on the dollar of what the city owes them in a move to avoid what bankruptcy experts have said would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Detroit used to be a city and region to which people went to fulfill the American dream. No more!

The same kind of thing may be in progress in California: San Bernardino, Stockton, and, possibly, Los Angeles.

Democratic Party control of a city or region is economic disaster — time and time again.

UPDATE (RELIAPUNDIT):

Footage That The Mainstream Media Will Not Air

Must-watch video:


One of America's biggest problems today: our leaders are Leftist loons.

HUMOR BREAK

Click directly on the image to enlarge it:


Of course, much about Occupy Wall Street isn't at all funny.

STARVE OUT THE RED STATES?

Thugocracy (hat tip to The Public Cause):



Obama and his cohorts will stop at nothing in their drive to get Obama re-elected in 2012.

This Way Lies Madness

The Left's grasping at opportunism is mind-boggling (first example) and disgusting (second example).

From Jonathan Alter's essay in Newsweek (hat tip to Weasel Zippers):

Can Obama Turn Tragedy Into Triumph?

Saturday’s shooting spree could prove a turning point in the Obama presidency. How the White House should talk about the tragedy.

...This horrific event offers the president a chance to show leadership qualities that he’s inexplicably hidden away in some blind trust. The shootings and the resulting debate over the climate of incivility play to his strengths as a calm and rational leader. Just as Bill Clinton’s response to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings helped him recover from his defeat in the 1994 midterms, so this episode may help Obama change—at least in the short term--the trajectory of American politics.

[...]

Whether or not he attends the funerals for the Tucson victims, Obama’s big chance to lead will come in his State of the Union address on January 25. He can both to speak to the moment thematically and confront the substantive concerns raised by the tragedy....

Some biographical information about Jonathan Alter, author of the above-cited essay, is HERE.

And more lunacy — or downright evil, if you prefer that term! Westboro Baptist Church (so-called church but really a hate group led by Democrat Fred Phelps) plans to picket the funeral of Christina Taylor Green, the youngest shooting victim of Saturday's murderous shooting spree in Tucson:

Christina Taylor Greene
September 11, 2001 - January 8, 2011

Yes, the Right can be shrill. I won't deny that fact.

But for downright insanity and meanness, the Left cannot be outdone.

REVEALING CAPITALIZATION

From this source quoting James J. Lee, who invaded the Discovery Channel's building today in Silver Spring Maryland, fired shots, and held hostages until the police shot him:

"Nothing is more important than saving ... the Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Sharks, Bears, and, of course, the Squirrels. The humans? The planet does not need humans.”

Read Lee's entire manifesto HERE.

And who awakened Lee to the plight of the Planet Earth?

Why, Al Gore, of course!

Lee said he experienced an ‘‘awakening” when he watched former Vice President Al Gore’s environmental documentary ‘‘An Inconvenient Truth.”

Gore awakened Lee, and Daniel Quinn's works were apparently the basis of Lee's activism.

DISSENTERS ARE "POLITICAL TERRORISTS"

(graphic courtesy of GM's Place - disseminate freely)
According to business columnist Steven Pearlstein, who wrote the following August 7, 2009 essay in the Washington Post:

Republicans Propagating Falsehoods in Attacks on Health-Care Reform

As a columnist who regularly dishes out sharp criticism, I try not to question the motives of people with whom I don't agree. Today, I'm going to step over that line.

The recent attacks by Republican leaders and their ideological fellow-travelers on the effort to reform the health-care system have been so misleading, so disingenuous, that they could only spring from a cynical effort to gain partisan political advantage. By poisoning the political well, they've given up any pretense of being the loyal opposition. They've become political terrorists, willing to say or do anything to prevent the country from reaching a consensus on one of its most serious domestic problems.

[...]

Health reform is a test of whether this country can function once again as a civil society -- whether we can trust ourselves to embrace the big, important changes that require everyone to give up something in order to make everyone better off. Republican leaders are eager to see us fail that test. We need to show them that no matter how many lies they tell or how many scare tactics they concoct, Americans will come together and get this done.

If health reform is to be anyone's Waterloo, let it be theirs.

As one who always reads Pearlstein's columns, which typically often sound financial advice, I have to say that I'm astounded as the position he has taken in this essay.

Those with concerns about ObamaCare are "political terrorists"? Perhaps Pearlstein is a covert disciple of Cass Suntein and Zephyr Teachout....

Read the rest at Always On Watch.

RUBIN: ISRAELI LEFT DOESN'T SUPPORT OBAMA OR A SETTLEMENT FREEZE

Barry Rubin at the Gloria Center says that things have been changing with the Israeli left, and that now, they're indifferent to the whole issue of a "settlement freeze".

ASKING FOR A HANDOUT

Even before the stimulus bill was signed into law, Virginia Governor Michael Kaine, devotee of BHO, was getting quite the avalanche of requests. Check out these two examples from today's Washington Post:

Eric Blow, a Fairfax County software development manager, asked for $50,000 so his wife could turn her fledgling cake-decorating business into a bakery. Ron Houser, a state investigator from south of Culpeper, asked for $50,000 to help send his oldest son to college. "His mother and I can contribute the remaining $13,200," Houser wrote.

And another:

Tony Barrix Jr., who lives in the Shenandoah Valley community of Bridgewater, asked for $2,000 to pay off a high-interest loan he took out using his car title as security. He offered this in the Project Description field online: "I just went and paid $380.00 for one month and not a penny went towards my 1500.00 loan. ive had the loan now for over a year and cannot get it paid off. If i get behind on my payment they are going to take the only way i can support my family. Please help me pay off this loan before we lose everything. Thanks soo much Tony Barrix Jr".

And perhaps the most absurd request of all given in the WaPo article:

On the day Kaine's effort was announced, a Fairfax man submitted two proposals totaling $5,000.

"I am seeking $1,000 to put hardwood floors in my house," read the first. It would cover 400 square feet, create one job and benefit the flooring company, he wrote. He also wants to improve his yard. "This project has been designed and is literally 'shovel' ready. I have selected a landscaping firm that needs the business but I just need the money."

"I just need the money"?

WHAT?

Hell, I need the money too, but I don't expect the stimulus bill to put a new roof on my house or to pay my heating bills and health insurance premiums.

But I see that some people (Were they always nuts or just got that way because of Obamamania?) actually seem to think that they deserve money for free — for whatever profligacy, luxury, or debt payment.

BHO, with all the campaign yapping of his, as well as with his statements as President, has actually led to people believing and nearly demanding that the government should take care of them — from cradle to grave.

I never thought that I'd live long enough to see Virginians swallow Marxism like this.

Now, how many other Americans out there are as deluded as the saps cited in the Washington Post article?