Israel: The Way Forward
Posted By: 4250Luis, 11/12/2024 7:37:52 AM
Fortunately for Israel, former US President Donald J. Trump was just re-elected to serve a second term. Within hours, Hamas indicated that now might be a good time to talk about peace. Qatar, perhaps concerned that its days of double-dealing might be coming to an end, announced it would be "stalling" its role as a mediator between the US and Hamas. The landslide victory of Trump in the US election this week appears finally to be restoring deterrence. Israel's society is politically and ideologically split. On one side are Israelis who understandably want their relatives back, and have been hoping for a ceasefire.
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A CIA official has been charged with leaking highly classified US documents about Israel’s potential plan to strike back against Iran over a missile attack.
Asif W. Rahman, who worked overseas for the agency and held a top secret security clearance, was arrested by the FBI in Cambodia on Tuesday over the leaks, the New York Times reported.
CIA
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The official was charged with leaking highly classified documents about Israel’s plans to strike Iran.
His arrest comes after the top secret materials started circulating online last month detailing Israel’s apparent intention to retaliate after Iran launched a barrage of missiles back on Oct. 1.
About 100 miles west of Washington DC, at the nexus of quiet country roads, sits a network of bustling small businesses and community connections that helped deliver the swing state of Pennsylvania for President-elect Donald Trump.
For nearly a decade, with the smells of fresh manure and homemade shoofly pie in their nostrils, GOP operatives have worked diligently to register an under-courted voting bloc — the Amish.
Despite their efforts, attendance at the polls was long lagging, for a reason that escaped outsiders but was obvious to locals: Election Day falls on a Tuesday — but for many Amish, so does wedding day.
Israel: The Way Forward
2 replies
Fortunately for Israel, former US President Donald J. Trump was just re-elected to serve a second term. Within hours, Hamas indicated that now might be a good time to talk about peace. Qatar, perhaps concerned that its days of double-dealing might be coming to an end, announced it would be "stalling" its role as a mediator between the US and Hamas. The landslide victory of Trump in the US election this week appears finally to be restoring deterrence. Israel's society is politically and ideologically split. On one side are Israelis who understandably want their relatives back, and have been hoping for a ceasefire.
America Failed Kamala
20 replies
Americans had the opportunity to elect Kamala Harris. And we had failed to live up to her.
[A]s Michelle Obama told us, we were not good enough for her.
Perhaps one day we will be. And Harris, along with Hillary Clinton, can wait in the wings, sipping chardonnay and listening to selections from Oprah Winfrey's book club until we show that we are ready for them to finally come and save us from ourselves. Decades may pass. Even centuries. But surely one day Americans will finally be ready for a completely inept president.
On Day One, President Trump must take immediate action to protect migrant children by completely overhauling the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the Department of Health and Human Services. The current catastrophe has resulted in thousands upon thousands of children vanishing into the unknown, many into the hands of traffickers. The true number remains unknown as the government has lost track of so many of these vulnerable souls. Those in the current administration who have deliberately weakened or eliminated crucial sponsor vetting procedures must be removed. The safety of vulnerable children cannot be sacrificed for administrative expediency.
At times like this, it’s tempting to gloat, but conservatives must be gracious winners. We must be courteous to our defeated opponents even though they would not have shown us the same respect had Kamala Harris won. We must resist the temptation to revel in their misery.
With cordiality and sophistication in mind, I’ll use the most dignified analogy I can think of in describing what Democrats are going through at this very moment. When I was in fifth grade, some kid pooped himself while doing pull-ups in gym class. He was mortified. I’ll never forget the look on his face. For more than 30 years after that moment,
Democrats bet big on “reproductive rights” this election cycle, with Planned Parenthood even offering free abortions near their national convention. But the strategy didn’t pay off. Not only was abortion a flop with the electorate, it was Republicans—not Democrats—who pushed the winning women’s-rights issue: fighting the encroachment of biological men into women’s spaces and sports. “We will get. . . transgender insanity the hell out of our schools, and we will keep men out of women’s sports,” Donald Trump said to roaring applause at his Madison Square Garden rally a week before the election.
Over the last quarter century, progressives argued that we should decriminalize drugs, stop enforcing laws against nonviolent crimes, and radically reduce the number of people in prison. This softer approach to crime, addiction, and homelessness was demonstrably more effective and compassionate than tougher models, they said. Hundreds of articles, books, documentaries, TV segments, and fact sheets all buttressed this worldview.
We all needed more empathy for those committing crimes, more empathy for drug dealers, the activists said, and soon the politicians did, too. In that frenzy of compassion, it wasn’t the criminals who were demonized, but the victims.
The election of Republican Kelly Ayotte as New Hampshire’s governor means 13 women will serve as a state’s chief executive next year, breaking the record of 12 set after the 2022 elections.
Governors hold powerful sway in American politics, shaping state policy and often using the experience and profile gained to launch campaigns for higher offices.
“It matters to have women in those roles to normalize the image of women in political leadership and even more specifically in executive leadership, where they’re the sole leader, not just a member of a team,” said Kelly Dittmar, director of research at the Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics.
Elections often tell you less about the winners than the losers. Victory has many fathers, as the saying goes, but defeat shows you exactly what went wrong.
Pennsylvania’s 2024 results offer a master class in Democratic collapse: while Trump edged out Kamala Harris by 2 points in the presidential race, Republicans romped to victory in every down-ballot statewide contest.
Dave McCormick pulled out a narrow victory over three-term Senator Bob Casey; Dave Sunday trounced Eugene DePasquale by 5 points in the attorney general race; and incumbent Tim DeFoor beat Malcolm Kenyatta by an even wider margin for auditor general.
A part of me wonders if Joe Biden was more cogent than he let on in public. It’s not exactly like that classic SNL skit with Phil Hartman, who played an aloof Ronald Reagan in front of the cameras but a commanding political force behind the scenes around the time Iran-Contra was in the news. For sure, he’s lost more than a step, but this seems to be a tale of the ultimate political revenge. Three sources close to Harris are expressing concern that Harris’ path to victory may be too narrow to overcome.
Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger (IL) said he has “no fear” about president-elect Trump’s second term in office .
“Can I be clear about something? I have absolutely no fear of Trump. Honest to God,” the anti-Trump Republican posted on Instagram Threads.
“This narrative that his opponents are intimidated is what MAGA wants to believe. No, we are REINVIGORATED,” he added.
Kinzinger has been known for his critical comments about Trump and notably served on the House Committee designated to review the January 6 Capitol insurrection.
As the former president returns to office, he has threatened to use military force on those who are openly against his decisions.
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Hollywood star Jamie Lee Curtis, who endorsed Kamala Harris’ unsuccessful bid for the White House, is the latest left-wing elite to quit X/Twitter following President-elect Donald Trump’s resounding victory on election day.
Jamie Lee Curtis appears to have nuked her X account early Wednesday. The actress posted a screenshot of the deactivated account to her Instagram profile. (X) Curtis didn’t provide a reason for quitting X. Instead, in her Instagram post, the actress quoted from the Serenity poem. “God, grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change. Courage to change things I can. And the wisdom to know the difference,” she wrote.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is reportedly doing “terrible” after President-elect Donald Trump’s victory and Republicans taking the Senate and retaining the House majority.
CNN’s Manu Raju asked the 84-year-old California lawmaker how she is doing, to which she replied, “Terrible.” (X) Pelosi’s apparent dour mood comes one week after Trump’s historic comeback victory, sweeping all seven swing states as well as winning the popular vote.
“THANK YOU GOD!” Trump said in an all caps post, this week, walking through his stunning victory stats.
Thune elected Senate majority leader
25 replies
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) has been elected Senate majority leader, setting the stage for him to replace retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has held the top Senate GOP leadership job for the past 18 years.
Thune has served as Senate Republican whip, the No. 2-ranking position in the Senate GOP leadership, since 2019, and largely managed operation of the Senate floor since McConnell suffered a concussion from a fall in 2023.
Thune beat Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) by a vote of 25 to 24, according to two sources familiar.
Britain’s top left-wing newspaper, The Guardian, has announced it will no longer post on Elon Musk’s X social media platform over “far-right conspiracy theories and racism” and Musk’s decision to campaign for Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election.
The international pushback against Elon Musk following Donald Trump’s victory last week went into full swing on Wednesday, with The Guardian quitting the X platform, claiming that its “resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere.” In a blog post pinned to its X profile, which boasts nearly 11 million followers, the left-wing establishment paper wrote: “We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives.”
Diesel motorhome sales are set to be halted in several states at the start of next year due to a new climate rule from California being enacted, according to RVtravel.
Motorhome sales are being prevented in California, Washington, Oregon, New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey if the vehicles do not meet certain emission requirements based on regulations from the California Air Resources Board (CARB), according to RVtravel. CARB amended its Advanced Clean Truck regulations on Oct. 24, which require all vehicles over 8,500 pounds to produce zero emissions.
The actress playing the title role in Disney’s upcoming live-action “Snow White” reboot posted a lengthy anti-Trump rant on Instagram in response to the election results.
Actress Rachel Zegler wrote, “May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace.”
In the post, she complained that her infant daughter may never get to have an abortion.
“I find myself speechless in the midst of this. Another four years of hatred, leaning us towards a world I do not want to live in. Leaning us towards a world that will be hard to raise my daughter in.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.— President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will nominate Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as his attorney general, putting a loyalist in the role of the nation’s top prosecutor.
In selecting the congressman, Trump passed over some of the more established attorneys whose names had been mentioned as being contenders for the job.
“Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department,” Trump said in a statement.
This is a developing story.
A CIA official has been charged with leaking highly classified US documents about Israel’s potential plan to strike back against Iran over a missile attack.
Asif W. Rahman, who worked overseas for the agency and held a top secret security clearance, was arrested by the FBI in Cambodia on Tuesday over the leaks, the New York Times reported.
CIA
4
The official was charged with leaking highly classified documents about Israel’s plans to strike Iran.
His arrest comes after the top secret materials started circulating online last month detailing Israel’s apparent intention to retaliate after Iran launched a barrage of missiles back on Oct. 1.
Multiple outlets say, based largely on claims from CNN via anonymous sources, that President-elect Donald Trump intends to nominate South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as his Homeland Security secretary. While Noem is certainly skilled at promoting herself, she doesn’t have the courage required for this role.[snip] Noem has an undeserved reputation for courage because she was the only governor not to shut down her state in the name of Covid. But that reputation is completely undeserved. The truth is, she attempted to get the power to shut down South Dakota, but the state legislature refused to give it to her.
Special counsel Jack Smith reportedly plans to retire before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, denying the incoming president a chance to fire him.
Smith, who oversaw the federal criminal cases against Trump related to the 78-year-old’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election and the hoarding of classified documents, is wrapping up his work ahead of the 47th president’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, the New York Times reported.
Smith’s plan is to get ahead of Trump’s promise to “fire” the special counsel within “two seconds” after being sworn in, sources told the outlet.
[Now we must focus on the very important chairmanships of the senate committees that John Thune will decide.]
In the first ballot the results were: Thune 23, Cornyn 15, Scott 13.
Scott was removed and the Senators went to the second ballot between Thune and Cornyn.
As expected, the Scott coalition split 50/50. Thune picked up 6 votes from Scott’s group. Cornyn picked up 7 votes from Scott’s group.
Final Vote: John Thune 29, John Cornyn 24.snip)If we want to change the dynamic, we must repeal the 17th amendment and return to the original constitutional construct: Senators appointed to represent the interests of each state, by State Legislature.
Is Chuck Schumer Serious With This Speech?
16 replies
Outgoing Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor Wednesday and called for bipartisanship after falsely claiming the 2024 elections were "close."
"To my Republican colleagues: I offer a word of caution in good faith. Take care not to misread the will of the people and do not abandon the need for bipartisanship. After winning an election, the temptation may be to go to the extreme," Schumer said. "It's consistently backfired on the party in power." [Tweet, video]
A reminder of Schumer's hardline, partisan behavior in recent years. [Tweets, video]