Saturday, January 2, 2021

Georgia Senate Election: Conservatives Must Vote and Save the United States - Rovvy Lepor

 

​ by Rovvy Lepor

This January 5 should be viewed as a mandate to all conservatives and Republicans in Georgia to vote, not to simply reelect two Republican senators, but rather to vote to preserve freedom

The January 5 special runoff elections for the US Senate in Georgia will certainly be one of the most important in US history: It is a choice between maintaining a constitutional republic that values individual freedom or changing the USA into the USSA (United Socialist States of America).  This January 5 should be viewed as a mandate to all conservatives and Republicans in Georgia to vote, not to simply reelect two Republican Ssenators (David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler) but rather to vote to preserve freedom.  A loss of those Senate seats can lead to catastrophic harm that may well require a miracle to undo.

On January 5, 1967, in his inaugural address as governor of California exactly 54 years before the pivotal January 5, 2021 Georgia runoff election, Ronald Reagan warned the people of the United States that freedom can never be taken for granted.  If we do not fight for it, we effectively cede it.  In a real sense of the word, January 5, 2021 is Judgment Day for the United States, and each vote in Georgia for the Republican Senate candidates is a good deed that may prove pivotal in maintaining Republican control over the Senate.

As Reagan put it so effectively on January 5, 1967:

Perhaps you and I have lived with this miracle too long to be properly appreciative.  Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction.  It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people.  Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.

And in his famous 1964 speech, “A Time for Choosing,” Reagan said:

We're at war with the most dangerous enemy that has ever faced mankind in his long climb from the swamp to the stars, and it's been said if we lose that war, and in so doing lose this way of freedom of ours, history will record with the greatest astonishment that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent its happening…

We'll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.

President Reagan’s warnings ring more true now than ever for the January 5, 2021 Georgia Senate runoff elections.  At this critical moment in American and world history, in these pivotal runoff elections, every voter is a peaceful warrior in the fight for the soul of the United States of America.  It is because of this that no conservative and no Republican has a moral right to boycott this election.  A well-intentioned, but ill-advised, plan to protest Georgia voter fraud is a vote to cede control of the United States to the forces of liberalism and socialism, in effect, to cede freedom, the underpinning of this country.

Every vote in the Georgia Senate runoff elections counts in these two exceptionally close races that are well within the margin of error; as of December 31, the RCP (RealClearPolitics) polling average shows Republican Senator David Perdue trails by a razor-thin 0.8% margin and Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler trails by only 1.8%.  These margins demand a red-wave of Republican votes to counter and overpower any blue-wave of Democrat votes.  Unlike most swing states where polling averages have been way off in recent presidential election years, polling averages for Georgia have been relatively accurate.

Unfortunately, in protest of election fraud and questions about the reliability of the Dominion voting system, some conservative voters have decided to sit out the election and not vote.  According to a recent SurveyUSA election poll, 6% of conservative registered voters and 2% of liberal registered voters plan on not voting.  Such a significant gap in those who plan on not voting could certainly prove decisive in giving the Democrats the Senate, and the country, on a silver platter.

Some voices have called to sit-out and boycott the election unless important changes are made in how future elections are conducted.  Some of these voices are from conservatives, while some are undoubtedly from liberals who seek to, in effect, disenfranchise conservative voters by misleading them to think that a victory for Republicans in Georgia is impossible.

Notwithstanding challenges, Republicans have a real chance of holding two Senate seats, forestalling Democrat control of the Senate and the subsequent ability to ramrod destructive liberal legislation through a narrowly held House and Senate.  Republican control of the Senate with at least 51 seats will prevent Democrats from packing the Supreme Court, adding four Democrat Senate seats by making Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. into states, and from passing legislation to socialize healthcare, expand abortions, pass the Green New Deal, dramatically raise taxes, significantly limit the right to bear arms, and allow international foes to target the United States with impunity, to name a few.

Be assured that with their razor-thin majorities in the House (with 222 seats - 4 seats more than a bare majority) and in the Senate (with 50 seats), the Democrats will work doggedly to preserve their fragile grasp on power to try and ensure it will never be surrendered.

While it is right to protest widespread election fraud in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia and a number of other swing-states, there are other effective ways to do it to effect positive change.  However, a potentially self-destructive election boycott in Georgia must be avoided at all costs, because any supposed potential “gain” risks the loss of the constitutional republic of the United States.  An election boycott only benefits the leftist Democrats in their attempt to wrest control of the United States in perpetuity.

Instead of boycotting the election, those who oppose surrendering the country to full-Democrat control should look for other, more effective, avenues to achieve electoral change.  Republicans and conservatives should unite to demand state legislators in Georgia, and in all potential swing states, stop using Dominion voting systems, and any digital voting system.  In addition, a whole host of election laws should be instituted, such as voter ID laws and laws to ensure vote counts are conducted with proper scrutiny.

In light of the widespread discontent with the vote in Georgia and widespread coverage, particularly in conservative media, coupled with increased intensity by conservatives and Republicans to better ensure election fraud does not take place on January 5, it will almost certainly be much more difficult for the same degree of election fraud to occur.  And while election fraud will likely occur on a smaller scale, the best way to compensate for that fraud is to overpower the Democrat vote with record Republican vote turnout combined with engaging in meaningful observation of the vote counts.

The US Senate runoff elections in Georgia may well prove pivotal for the future direction of the United States and the world.  The threat of Democrat control of the Senate, and the havoc that the Democrats can wreak on the country with unfettered power, is something that must be prevented.  January 5, 2021 is Judgment Day not just for Georgia but also for the United States and, by extension, the world.  It is high time that all Republicans and conservatives in Georgia stand united and vote for a Republican Senate and the United States of America, for “united we stand, divided we fall.”

Photo credit: Tom Arthur  CC BY-SA 2.0 license

 

Rovvy Lepor  

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/01/georgia_senate_election_conservatives_must_vote_and_save_the_united_states.html 

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Trump, others linked to Soleimani killing ‘will not be safe on Earth,’ Iran official warns - Dom Calicchio

 

​ by Dom Calicchio

Sunday will mark the anniversary of the death of Iran's Gen. Qasem Soleimani in a military strike that President Trump reportedly ordered

President Trump and anyone else linked to the U.S. strike one year ago that killed a notorious Iranian general "will not be safe on Earth," a top official in Tehran warned Friday, according to a report.

Speaking in Tehran on Friday, Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s judiciary chief, said not even Trump was "immune from justice" for his role in the strike in Baghdad that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani, a major general in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Times of Israel reported.

"They will witness severe revenge," Raisi told the gathering at Tehran University, referring to Trump and U.S. military leaders. "What has come so far has only been glimpses."

"Do not presume that someone, as the president of America, who appeared as a murderer or ordered a murder, may be immune from justice being carried out. Never," Raisi reportedly continued. "Those who had a role in this assassination and crime will not be safe on Earth."

IRAN GENERAL WARNS US THAT IT'S READY TO RESPOND TO MILITARY PRESSURE

Sunday will mark the anniversary of the death of Soleimani, who was also the long-running leader of the elite intelligence wing called Quds Force – which itself has been a designated terror group since 2007. Considered one of the most powerful men in Iran, he routinely was referred to as its "shadow commander" or "spymaster."

U.S. officials have said President Trump ordered the U.S. military strike that killed the 62-year-old general on an access road to Baghdad International Airport. The same operation reportedly killed at least seven other people.

Ebrahim Raisi, head of Iran's judiciary, speaks during a ceremony on the occasion of first anniversary of death of late Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) general and commander of the Quds Force Qasem Soleimani, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 1, 2021. (Associated Press)

Ebrahim Raisi, head of Iran's judiciary, speaks during a ceremony on the occasion of first anniversary of death of late Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) general and commander of the Quds Force Qasem Soleimani, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 1, 2021. (Associated Press)

In addition, the Iran Foreign Ministry criticized the U.S. in a Twitter post on Friday.

"By committing a craven act of terror against Gen Soleimani, the US violated int'l law & the UN Charter in a blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty," the post said. " ... Iran won't rest until bringing those responsbile to justice."

 

Other top Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have previously spoken of retribution for the death of Soleimani, the Times reported.

President Trump reportedly ordered the military strike last year that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Iraq.

President Trump reportedly ordered the military strike last year that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Iraq.

At the same event Friday, Iranian Gen. Hossein Salami, the top commander of the Revolutionary Guard, said Iran was fully prepared to respond to U.S. military pressure as tensions remained high between Washington and Tehranin the final days of Trump’s term as president.

Chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Gen. Hossein Salami wearing a mask, attends a ceremony on the occasion of first anniversary of death of late Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) general and commander of the Quds Force Qasem Soleimani, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 1, 2021. (Associated Press)

Chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Gen. Hossein Salami wearing a mask, attends a ceremony on the occasion of first anniversary of death of late Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) general and commander of the Quds Force Qasem Soleimani, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 1, 2021. (Associated Press)

In a recent show of strength, the U.S. military flew two B-52 bombers on a mission in the Middle East earlier this week, marking the third time in 45 days that U.S. Air Force bombers had flown missions in the Persian Gulf region.

The U.S. bombers flew without incident with no immediately apparent Iranian retaliation.

 

Previously, just two days before Christmas, President Trump issued a stern warning to Tehran after several rockets were fired at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Dec. 20.

"Some healthy advice to Iran," the president wrote. "If one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible. Think it over."

Fox News’ Lucas Y. Tomlinson and Frank Miles contributed to this report.

 

Dom Calicchio is a Senior Editor at FoxNews.com. Reach him at dom.calicchio@foxnews.com.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/world/trump-others-linked-to-soleimani-killing-will-not-be-safe-on-earth-iran-official-warns 

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Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler pledges to 'push back harder' against Antifa after New Year's Eve riot - Adam Shaw

 

​ by Adam Shaw

Wheeler's zero-tolerance policy comes after a string of violent clashes in the city's downtown area

Portland declares riot as protests continue into new year

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler is promising to "push back harder" against anarchists and Antifa radicals after another riot rocked the city on New Year's Eve, admitting that months-long efforts to stem the violence have failed.

"My good faith efforts at de-escalation have been met with ongoing violence and even scorn from radical Antifa and anarchists," Wheeler said during a Friday news conference, according to KOIN. "In response, it will be necessary to use additional tools and push the limits of the tools we already have to bring the criminal destruction and violence to an end."

PORTLAND POLICE DECLARE RIOT AS CITY'S UNREST CARRIED INTO NEW YEAR 

Wheeler, a Democrat, was responding to the New Year's Eve riot near the downtown courthouse, which was the focus of months of violent disturbances last summer. Police said hoodlums on Thursday night threw "multiple firebombs" at cops and launched commercial-grade fireworks at the courthouse. 

Rioters also smashed windows and set fires in the area, KOIN reported, and police began using pepper spray or mace against the crowd, as well as what appeared to be rubber bullets or pepper balls.

 

Seven months after the first riots hit the city, Wheeler said that it was time to take further steps to quell the violence.

"Lawlessness and anarchy come at great expense and great risk to the future of our community," he said. "It’s time to push back harder against those who are set on destroying our community, and take more risks fighting lawlessness."

He also noted the demographics of the rioters, who often claim to be fighting for racial justice.

"Why would a group of largely white, young and some middle-age men destroy the livelihood of others who are struggling to get by?" he asked, before calling it the "height of selfishness."

Wheeler said it was hard for him and others "to accept the reality that there are just some people on this planet who are bent on criminal destruction; that there are some people who truly just want to watch the world burn."

Some of the enforcement actions he suggested were tougher penalties for rioting, as well as requiring offenders to do public service and meet the owners of the businesses they damaged.

PORTLAND POLICE AND PROTESTERS CLASH IN BROAD DAYLIGHT

Violence first tore through the liberal stronghold throughout the summer in the wake of the death of George Floyd by police officers in Minnesota. Wheeler, however, focused on the federal law enforcement officers sent in by the Trump administration, ostensibly to protect federal buildings -- accusing them of exacerbating tensions.

In July, he said his immediate concern was "the violence federal officers brought to our streets in recent days, and the life-threatening tactics his agents use." 

"We do not need or want their help," he said, a view that was echoed by the state's governor and congressional delegation.

PORTLAND MAYOR AUTHORIZES 'ALL LAWFUL MEANS' TO CLEAR PROTESTERS FROM HOME 

Wheeler even joined protesters outside the courthouse and tried to conduct a "listening session" -- before being hit by tear gas deployed by federal agents.

However, while some protesters were receptive, many others heckled and booed him, objecting to his refusal to back some of their demands such as abolishing the Portland Police Bureau.

"F--- Ted Wheeler!" one protester shouted. "He doesn’t get to speak, he’s a f---ing fascist."

Wheeler narrowly beat a left-wing challenger in November but has continued to deal with trouble from anarchists and Antifa violence.

In December, he authorized police to use "all lawful means" in ending an illegal occupation at a home in the city, in which protesters tried to declare an autonomous zone.

"There will be no autonomous zone in Portland," Wheeler said.

Fox News’ David Aaro and Dom Calicchio contributed to this report.

 

Adam Shaw is a reporter covering U.S. and European politics for Fox News. He can be reached at adam.shaw@foxnews.com.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/portland-ted-wheeler-pledges-antifa-riots 

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China: Paying US Media to Publish Propaganda - Judith Bergman

 

​ by Judith Bergman

'Borrowing a Boat to Go Out on the Ocean'

  • In June, China Daily filed a disclosure with the Justice Department showing that, since November 2016, it had paid $19 million to U.S. media outlets, including $12 million to newspapers such as the Washington Post and New York Times.

  • China Daily's ads -- in a strategy known as "borrowing a boat to go out on the ocean" -- come in the form of advertising supplements, inserts called China Watch... camouflaged to look like the other news content of the media outlets in which they appear.

  • The practice does not seem to have caused any sort of actual uproar in those media circles that engage in it... This reticence is odd... but because so many journalists and editors consider themselves as standing up against racism, ethnic and religious discrimination, and human rights abuses. Taking money from the Chinese Communist regime in exchange for spreading its propaganda would seem to indicate that this stance is simply empty posturing.

The Chinese government-controlled English language newspaper, China Daily, in 2020 paid a variety of US media outlets nearly $2 million for publishing propaganda from the Chinese Communist Party, according to a disclosure that China Daily filed with the US Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Pictured: The entrance to the offices of China Daily in Beijing, on January 18, 2007. (Photo by Voishmel/AFP via Getty Images)

The Chinese government-controlled English language newspaper, China Daily, in 2020 paid a variety of US media outlets nearly $2 million for publishing propaganda from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to a disclosure that China Daily filed in late November with the US Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), according to Daily Caller.

China Daily has reportedly been registered as a foreign agent under FARA since 1983, which means it is required to report its activities and financial transactions to the Justice Department.

In June, China Daily filed a disclosure with the Justice Department showing that, since November 2016, it had paid $19 million to U.S. media outlets, including $12 million to newspapers such as the Washington Post and New York Times. Other newspapers included the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Seattle Times, Houston Chronicle and Foreign Policy.

China Daily's ads come in the form of advertising supplements, inserts called "China Watch," in a strategy known as "borrowing a boat to go out on the ocean." According to Sarah Cook, Senior Research Analyst for East Asia, Freedom House, in 2017 testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission:

"This phrase refers to disseminating Chinese state-media content via the pages, frequencies, or screen-time of privately owned media outlets that have developed their own local audiences... In recent years, its robust expansion to English-language media has garnered much attention and public debate. One of the most prominent examples has been the emergence of China Watch — a paid insert sponsored by the state-run China Daily — that has appeared both in print and online in prominent U.S. papers like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal."

This form of advertising is sometimes also known as advertorials, or native advertising: the stories are camouflaged to look like the other news content of the media outlets in which they appear.

The Wall Street Journal's "China Watch" website, for example, has published a number of articles promoting China's handling of the pandemic, including articles with titles such as, "Apple CEO: China Getting Outbreak Under Control", "US Sister Cities Get Help From Chinese Friends in Virus Fight", "WHO Chief Highlights China-Africa Cooperation on COVID-19 Fight", and a number of articles criticizing the US for its questioning of China's handling of the pandemic, such as "Washington's Wuhan Travel Claim Rebutted" and "Trump's China Remark Rebuked".

China is not the only foreign government paying to advertise its national propaganda in the US. In 2007, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, a Russian government newspaper, began to publish its advertorials, "Russia Beyond the Headlines," in The Washington Post, although the ads reportedly disappeared from the newspaper in 2015. In the past, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reportedly also published Russia Beyond the Headlines supplements in The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

"China needs to strengthen media coverage...and use innovative outreach methods...to tell a good Chinese story and promote China's views internationally", Xi Jinping said at the National Meeting on Propaganda and Thought Work in August 2013. Since then, he has regularly repeated this message. "To present good images," Xi told an August 2018 National Meeting on Ideology and Propaganda, "we should improve our international communication capability, tell China's stories well, disseminate China's voice, show an authentic and comprehensive China to the world, and raise the country's soft power and the influence of Chinese culture".

As pointed out by James Fallows in The Atlantic back in 2010, when The Washington Post was already publishing China Watch, it is one thing when such a supplement is clearly labeled as a paid advertisement, but quite different when such ads are published online and made to look similar to the outlet's other news articles, that only "the tiny words 'A Paid Supplement to the Washington Post' in the upper right hand corner distinguish them from the rest of the content".

"Those who engage in this form of propaganda hope to exploit the higher credibility of the hosting media site to enhance the persuasiveness of their message", wrote researchers Yaoyao Dai and Luwei Luqiu, who did an online survey on the effect of China Daily's ads on American and British readers of The Washington Post and The Daily Telegraph. Their findings showed that readers actually struggled "to distinguish political advertisements from standard news stories regardless of their level of education and media literacy".

China does not lack for English language media giants of its own to disseminate the Chinese Communist Party narrative about China across the world. According to Professor Anne-Marie Brady, a fellow at the Wilson Center:

"In early 2009, Beijing announced that it would invest ¥45 billion (roughly US$7.25 billion) into its main media outlets in order to strengthen its international news coverage and global presence. As part of this campaign, known as 'big propaganda' (da waixuan), Xinhua News Service increased its number of overseas bureaus from 100 to 186. That same year, the Global Times (a popular tabloid with an international focus owned by People's Daily) launched an English-language edition. CCTV International also began broadcasting in Arabic and Russian, and in 2010 rebranded itself as CCTV News. China's massive investment in these media attracted considerable international interest and debate".

In a December 2018 report, "Assessment on US Defense Implications of China's Expanding Global Access," the Pentagon assessed China's media expansion:

"Xinhua News Agency, China's official state-run news agency, launched 40 new foreign bureaus and doubled the number of overseas correspondents between 2009 and 2011. Xinhua counted 162 total foreign bureaus in 2017 and aims to have 200 by 2020. China's expanding official media presence reflects a concerted effort on the part of its leadership to shape opinions about the country and promote China's view on key topics. President Xi Jinping urged China Global Television Network, Xinhua's international media service, to 'tell the China story well' and "spread China's voice... a 2015 Reuters report revealed that China Radio International (CRI), a Chinese state-owned entity, was using subsidiaries to mask its control over 33 radio stations in 14 countries, including the United States. These radio stations broadcast pro-China content but have not registered as agents of a foreign government under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)".

The reason China did not rely solely on its own state media, according to Brady, was because the strategy of using state media was "widely regarded by Chinese mass-communication experts as a failure. If foreign audiences know that a piece of information comes from an official Chinese media source, they are likely to interpret it as 'propaganda' rather than 'news.'"

With "social justice" having become something of a mantra across the Western mainstream media landscape, the promotion of Chinese regime propaganda to unsuspecting Americans constitutes an oddly incongruent and unethical business practice that the media industry does not appear to have reflected upon publicly, if at all. While several newspapers no longer engage in the practice – The Wall Street Journal, Washington Times and New York Times among them – the practice does not seem to have caused any sort of actual uproar in those media circles that engage in it, such as the Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy, the UK-based Financial Times, Chicago Tribune and Seattle Times. This reticence is odd, not so much because those newspapers want and need revenues, which is understandable, but because so many journalists and editors consider themselves as standing up against racism, ethnic and religious discrimination, and human rights abuses. Taking money from the Chinese Communist regime in exchange for spreading its propaganda would seem to indicate that this stance is simply empty posturing.

 

Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16865/china-propaganda-us-media 

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Trump Deservedly Tops Gallup’s Most Admired List - Joseph Klein

 

​ by Joseph Klein

A legacy of extraordinary accomplishments.

 


According to a Gallup survey released on December 29th, President Donald Trump is 2020’s most admired man living today anywhere in the world. President Trump beat out Barack Obama – 18 percent versus 15 percent. Last year, Trump and Obama were tied at 18 percent each. Joe Biden ranked a distant third at 6 percent in the 2020 survey. Trump also ranked ahead of Dr. Anthony Fauci, Pope Francis, the Dalai Lama, and the progressive left’s god like figure Senator Bernie Sanders.

The survey results were based on telephone interviews conducted December 1-17, 2020 with a random sample of slightly more than 1000 adults, ages 18+, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The results have a margin of error of ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. According to Gallup, the samples were “weighted to match the national demographics of gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, population density, and phone status (cell phone only/landline only/both and cell phone mostly).” 

Democrats and their progressive left base, along with their media shills, couldn’t care less about the Gallup survey, which, after all, is only a poll. The Trump-haters are chest-thumping over their success in using universal mail-in ballots and lax election security procedures to push Biden over the finish line in the presidential election. Trump-haters also take solace in the fact that Democrat respondents in the survey split their choices for the most admired male, which lowered Biden’s percentage, while Republicans were more solidly in Trump’s corner.

The critics can scoff at the relevance of the Gallop survey all they want. However, the survey data reveal some curious results that show the fragility of the coalition that Biden has been trying to build between the dwindling number of Democrat centrists and the party’s progressive base. Biden is also relatively weak among independents.

Obama has ranked consistently high in the Gallup survey’s admiration rankings for the last decade. Biden did not register above 1 percent during the same period, until after his election in 2020 when he managed to reach 6 percent. The only other male politician besides Trump in the top ten in 2020 was Democrat-Socialist Bernie Sanders at 1 percent.

In short, a former Democrat president out of office for four years achieved an admiration ranking more than twice that of the current Democrat president-elect. The one progressive in the top ten was trampled by Obama, not to mention by Trump.

It is also worth noting that among the respondents identifying themselves as independent, Trump was the most admired by 11 percent, the same as Obama. Biden was the most admired by only 3 percent of the independent respondents.

On the female side of the Gallup survey’s most admired list, former First Lady Michelle Obama ranked ahead of Vice-President Elect Kamala Harris – 10 percent versus 6 percent. The only other current female politician in the top ten was Democrat-Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. AOC and Hillary Clinton were each chosen as the most admired living woman by 2 percent of the respondents.

Republicans remain solidly behind President Trump. Democrats are split and looking more nostalgically to the past Obama era than to a cohesive vision for the future led by a president they can admire.

President Trump deserves to be on top of the admiration survey and should have been named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year instead of the Biden-Harris duo. In four short years, Trump crashed through the stale, politically correct political establishment and scored monumental achievements. He has kept many of his promises, something unheard of in the Washington swamp.

For example, regarding immigration, the massive flow of illegal immigrants coming from Central America through Mexico has been brought under control. The Trump administration has built or heavily reinforced over 300 miles of the wall at the U.S.-Mexican border. Mexico indirectly paid for it by taking on the cost of deploying thousands of troops at Trump’s request at its southern border to deter more migration caravans and by accepting many so-called asylum seekers from the U.S.

Rather than start more wars, President Trump has tried to end the ones already in progress for years and years, including most notably in Afghanistan. Instead of being the warmonger that many of his critics had feared, President Trump turned out to be a peacemaker. He thought outside of the box in the Middle East and brought about historic peace agreements between Israel and each of four Arab countries - the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Morocco, and Bahrain.

President Trump has also lowered tensions with North Korea. The North Korean regime had been building and testing nuclear bombs for years, as well as long range ballistic missiles, before President Trump met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. Since the first Trump-Kim summit in mid-2018, North Korea has not tested a nuclear bomb or ICBM. Obama could only dream of such an outcome with his failed policy of “strategic patience.”

Iran was on the way to a nuclear bomb long before President Trump came to office. Obama’s disastrous nuclear deal merely kicked the can down the road for a few years. Indeed, Obama has admitted that by 2028 or so, when the sunset provisions on uranium enrichment start to kick in, Iran would have nearly zero breakout time to develop enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon, assuming they hadn’t cheated beforehand. President Trump did not want to wait and risk the chance that Iran would be far better prepared to defend its nuclear weapons production facilities in 2028 than it could now. So, he acted to force Iran’s hand immediately, while depriving them of the money they would use to build up their military capabilities. President Trump also decided to take out Iran’s terrorist mastermind, Qassem Soleimani.

When President Trump took office, the jihadist terrorist group ISIS still controlled large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq, which it claimed as its caliphate. Trump removed the absurd constraints Obama had imposed on the U.S. military, which permitted our military forces in concert with our allies to put an end to ISIS’s territorial caliphate. Trump also approved a special operations raid that resulted in the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the ruthless leader of ISIS.

President Trump was the first president in decades to stand up to China with tough sanctions and insistence on more reciprocal trade. China has played successive U.S. administrations since its professed opening of its economy to global trade and investments. The Chinese Communist regime wants to replace the current rules-based international system with one dominated by China’s authoritarian model. To that end, the regime has been busy deftly exploiting multilateral institutions from the World Trade Organization to the World Health Organization (WHO) to the United Nations itself. President Trump instinctively understood what China was up to and took strong action to back up his tough words. After China used the World Health Organization, for example, to repeat its lies about the coronavirus pandemic, which started in China, President Trump first warned WHO to mend its ways and then pulled the U.S. out of the China-centric organization when it did not heed his warnings.

Talking about the coronavirus pandemic, the vaccines that the Trump administration managed to push forward in record time to the American people under Operation Warp Speed will most likely turn out to be President Trump’s most significant legacy. He used his business experience and contacts to forge a private-public partnership, including investing government risk money up front to incentivize the drug companies to quickly develop and manufacture the vaccines. The Trump administration cut through the bureaucratic red tape to secure regulatory approval and facilitated the distribution of millions of vaccine doses to the American people.

The pre-pandemic U.S. economy during President Trump’s watch saw record employment, a narrowing income gap, and historically low unemployment for African Americans and Hispanics. Trump achieved these astounding results by combining massive deregulation and tax cuts with shrewdly negotiated trade deals.

The current higher deficit and unemployment levels are the result of the pandemic and the severe economic disruption it caused. The Trump administration worked with Congress to address the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression in a bipartisan fashion. As a result, novel multi-billion-dollar programs were created to support businesses and their employees until the economy recovers, while the unemployed received supplemental unemployment benefits and needy Americans received direct government payments to help them stay afloat.

President Trump managed to get major criminal justice reform across the finish line, which has begun to undo the mass incarceration of African American males that the 1994 crime bill supported by Biden triggered. At the same time, Trump strongly supported law enforcement against calls to defund the police, and he confronted violent rioters with prudent shows of force.

Finally, President Trump kept his promise to place more conservatives who believe in interpreting the law as written on the federal courts, including three outstanding Supreme Court justices.

President Trump accomplished all this in the face of relentless attempts by Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media to delegitimize his presidency and have him removed from office.

Long after the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff, Maxine Waters, CNN’s Jim Acosta, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, and the rest of the Trump-haters fade into the mists of time, President Trump’s legacy of singular accomplishments on behalf of the American people will live on.

 

Joseph Klein  

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/01/trump-deservedly-tops-gallups-most-admired-list-joseph-klein/ 

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Gaslight with COVID: Joe Biden declares scaled down inauguration - Monica Showalter

 

​ by Monica Showalter

Hiding his fraudulent election behind a suddenly convenient mask of COVID.

How's this for never letting a crisis go to waste?  Or taking one festering problem and using it to solve another?  Or just a great gaslight?

Joe Biden has called for a scaled down inauguration, supposedly in the name of containing COVID.

According to Al Jazeera, which seems to be the only one doing straight reporting on this:

"I think you're going to see something that's closer to what the convention was like than a typical inauguration," Biden said earlier this month, suggesting the festivities will be mostly virtual, as was the case for the Democratic National Convention in August.

"First and foremost, in my objective, is to keep America safe but still allow people to celebrate – to celebrate and see one another celebrate," Biden added.

This week, workers dismantled the reviewing stand – the location in front of the White House where the newly sworn-in US president and vice president and their families take in the inauguration parade.

This is a load of gaslighting and hooey.

RedState's Nick Arama has a lede and summary I could not possibly improve on:

Let's just say it's hard to believe that somehow Joe Biden, who was never able to get any real numbers out for any rally, who barely squeaked by in the primary, could have not only gotten more votes than Barack Obama and Donald Trump, but the most in history. For a barely coherent uninspiring stand-in candidate.

The real reason Biden is scaling down his event is that he knows that very few people would even show up. 

It calls to mind the howling from the press over the size of President Trump's inaugural, claiming that it was small, while photos showed that actually, it was pretty big.  They used that argument to compare Trump unfavorably to President Obama, and now the shoe is on the other tootsie.  Obviously, Joe Biden knows he couldn't in a million years win in any such crowd contest, even if COVID were gone and the weather were 78 degrees.  When you are taking office by fraud, the crowds aren't there to be had.

Two things stand out from this.  One, where was Biden's condemnation of the blue-city celebrations of his electoral "victory" last Nov. 3?  Remember how Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot celebrated in the streets, claiming that containing surging COVID wasn't as important as celebrating fraudy Joe?

Yes, there are times when we actually do need to have ... relief and come together, and I felt like that was one of those times. That crowd was gathered whether I was there or not, but this has been a super hard year on everyone. Everyone feels traumatized.

Somehow, Joe didn't have much concern for COVID, either.  No calls to stay inside and celebrate on Zoom, no blasts at crowd irresponsibility.  But now that the inevitable comparisons to Trump's inaugural are sure to come out, Joe retreats behind the mask of COVID, adding a victim memorial segment as a means of blaming President Trump.

And speaking of Trump, here's the other reason he's hollering about staying home.  President Trump's supporters are planning massive "stop the steal" demonstrations, at least one on Jan.6 and another likely on Jan. 20.  Hotels are booking up, and people are making socially distanced travel plans.

The empty inaugural, accompanied by likely massive protests at the stolen election, stolen from the very people likely to be out on the streets calling for the real winner of the election, President Trump, to be inaugurated, present a significant threat to Joe Biden's prestige and legitimacy.  Because if a crowd of a very large size shows up and dwarfs the Biden inaugural, let's face it: it will be clearer than ever that something is wrong with even the existence of a Biden inaugural.  A fraudulently elected president is a new one for America; it's mainly been seen in places like Venezuela and Nicaragua.  Biden coming in and declaring himself president, while cheering crowds stay away, is a hell of a cold opening.

This is why Biden is using COVID.  COVID is the best friend a fraudulently elected president could ever have.  It cuts his need to campaign while the fix is in; it allows him to appear at tiny venues such as junior high schools, if not stay in his basement; it facilitates his walking away from reporter questions; and it enables him to claim he was legitimately elected.  We all know he's there by fraud.  That's his biggest reason for wanting no truck with any claim to crowds — either his own shriveled numbers or else President Trump's expanding ones.

 

Monica Showalter  

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/01/gaslight_with_covid_joe_biden_declares_scaleddown_inauguration.html 

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Germany's "Shameful" Two Years on the UN Security Council - Soeren Kern

 

​ by Soeren Kern

The record shows that during its stint on the UN Security Council, Germany voted for dozens of resolutions — many of which smack of anti-Semitism

  • A closer examination of Germany's voting patterns at the UN over the past several years, however, reveals a troubling double standard on a range of issues, especially on human rights, which the German government claims to be "a cornerstone" of its foreign policy.

  • The record shows that during its stint on the UN Security Council, Germany voted for dozens of resolutions — many of which smack of anti-Semitism — that singled out Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.

  • Moreover, Germany turned a blind eye as multiple serial human rights abusers, including China, Libya, Mauritania, Sudan and Venezuela, among others, were elected to the UN Human Rights Council, the UN's highest human rights body.

  • In 2020, Germany voted 13 times to condemn Israel, but failed to introduce a single resolution on the human rights situation in Cuba, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, Venezuela — or on 175 other countries, according to UN Watch, a Geneva-based, independent non-governmental watchdog group.

  • "While nearly all EU countries backed 13 out of 17 UNGA resolutions singling out Israel this year, they failed to introduce even one resolution for women's right [sic] activists jailed and tortured in Saudi Arabia, dissident artists arrested in Cuba, journalists thrown behind bars in Turkey, religious minorities attacked in Pakistan, and opposition members persecuted in Venezuela, where more than five million people have fled government repression, hunger and economic collapse." — UN Watch, December 16, 2020.

  • Germany pursued a similar policy of approving anti-Israel resolutions at the UN in 2018, 2017, and 2016, when Germany voted for an especially disgraceful UN resolution, co-sponsored by the Arab group of states and the Palestinian delegation, that singled out Israel as the world's only violator of "mental, physical and environmental health."

A close examination of Germany's voting patterns at the UN over the past several years reveals a troubling double standard on a range of issues, especially on human rights, which the German government claims to be "a cornerstone" of its foreign policy. Pictured: Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (left) and Ambassador to the UN, Christoph Heusgen attend a UN Security Council meeting on March 28, 2018 in New York. (Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

Germany's two-year term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council ended on December 31, 2020. The German Foreign Ministry, in a self-congratulatory compilation of its supposed achievements to "strengthen the international order," declared that Germany now deserves to obtain a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

A closer examination of Germany's voting patterns at the UN over the past several years, however, reveals a troubling double standard on a range of issues, especially on human rights, which the German government claims to be "a cornerstone" of its foreign policy.

The record shows that during its stint on the UN Security Council, Germany voted for dozens of resolutions — many of which smack of anti-Semitism — that singled out Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.

The anti-Israel resolutions supported by Germany were sponsored by mostly non-democratic Muslim countries including Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen, as well as by dictatorships such as Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela — and by Thailand on behalf of China.

Moreover, Germany remained silent as multiple serial human rights abusers, including China, Cuba, Libya, Mauritania, Pakistan, Russia, Somalia and Venezuela, among others, were elected to the UN Human Rights Council, the UN's highest human rights body.

Germany also voted for resolutions condemning the United States, which guarantees not only German but European security, stability and prosperity.

In 2020, Germany voted 13 times to condemn Israel, but failed to introduce a single resolution on the human rights situation in China, Cuba, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey or Venezuela — or on 175 other countries, according to UN Watch, a Geneva-based, independent non-governmental watchdog group.

One of the resolutions approved by Germany referred to Jerusalem's Temple Mount solely by its Muslim name of Haram al-Sharif. The executive director of UN Watch, Hillel Neuer, said:

"The UN today showed contempt for both Judaism and Christianity by passing a resolution that makes no mention of the name Temple Mount, which is Judaism's holiest site, and which is sacred to all who venerate the Bible, in which the ancient Temple was of central importance."

In a press release, UN Watch added:

"While nearly all EU countries backed 13 out of 17 UNGA resolutions singling out Israel this year, they failed to introduce even one resolution for women's right [sic] activists jailed and tortured in Saudi Arabia, dissident artists arrested in Cuba, journalists thrown behind bars in Turkey, religious minorities attacked in Pakistan, and opposition members persecuted in Venezuela, where more than five million people have fled government repression, hunger and economic collapse."

In 2019, Germany voted 15 times to condemn Israel, but introduced zero condemnations of human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Venezuela, according to UN Watch. One of the texts approved by Germany portray Israel as "occupying" the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem and the holiest sites of Judaism.

On November 15 — on just one day — Germany voted for seven anti-Israel resolutions and abstained but did not reject another. There were no condemnations of any other country in the rest of the world on that day. The texts condemned Israel for "repressive measures" against Syrian citizens in the Golan Heights, renewed the mandate of the corrupt UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and renewed the mandate of a UN special committee to investigate "Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people." None of the resolutions mentioned Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Neuer, provided context:

"The UN's assault on Israel with a torrent of one-sided resolutions is surreal. Days after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group assaulted Israeli civilians with a barrage of 200 rockets — while the UN's General Assembly and Human Rights Council stayed silent — the world body now adds insult to injury by adopting eight lopsided condemnations, whose only purpose is to demonize the Jewish state.

"While France, Germany, Sweden and other EU states are expected to support 15 out of a total of 20 resolutions to be adopted against Israel by December, the same European nations have failed to introduce a single UNGA resolution on the human rights situation in China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Cuba, Turkey, Pakistan, Vietnam, Algeria, or on 175 other countries.

"Four of today's resolutions concern UNRWA — yet none mentions that the agency chief was just fired after top management engaged in what the UN's own internal probe described as 'sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination and other abuses of authority, for personal gain.' All EU states are complicit in this conspiracy of silence.

"One of today's resolutions — drafted and co-sponsored by Syria — falsely condemns Israel for 'repressive measures' against Syrian citizens in the Golan Heights. It's obscene. The resolution condemns Israel for holding on to the Golan Heights, and demands Israel hand the land and its people to Syria.

"It's astonishing. After the Syrian regime has killed half a million of its own people, how can the UN call for more people to be handed over to Assad's rule? The text is morally galling, and logically absurd.

"Today's resolutions claim to care about Palestinians, yet the UN is oblivious to more than 3,000 Palestinians who have been slaughtered, maimed and expelled by Assad's forces.

"Today's farce at the General Assembly underscores a simple fact: the UN's automatic majority has no interest in truly helping Palestinians, nor in protecting anyone's human rights; the goal of these ritual, one-sided condemnations is to scapegoat Israel.

"The UN's disproportionate assault against the Jewish state undermines the institutional credibility of what is supposed to be an impartial international body. Politicization and selectivity harm its founding mission, eroding the UN Charter's promise of equal treatment to all nations large and small."

The vote came after German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas tweeted his supposedly unwavering support for Israel:

"FM @HeikoMaas on 70th anniversary of Israel's admission to the UN: We would like to reiterate once again today that Germany stands, also in the UN, shoulder to shoulder with Israel, whose security and right to exist must never be called into question by anyone anywhere."

Germany pursued a similar policy of approving anti-Israel resolutions at the UN in 2018, 2017 and 2016, when Germany voted for an especially disgraceful UN resolution, co-sponsored by the Arab group of states and the Palestinian delegation, that singled out Israel as the world's only violator of "mental, physical and environmental health."

Germany's anti-Israel voting record at the UN appears to have broad support among the German political establishment. In March 2019, the German Bundestag overwhelmingly opposed a resolution by the Free Democratic Party (FDP) to urge Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to reverse its anti-Israel voting record at the United Nations.

By a vote of 408 to 155 with 65 abstentions, the Bundestag rejected the FPD's call for the government to "clearly distance itself from unilateral, primarily politically motivated initiatives and alliances of anti-Israeli UN member states and to protect Israel and Israel's legitimate interests from unilateral condemnation."

Germany's anti-Israel crusade has been led by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who claims that he entered politics because of Auschwitz, the largest of the German Nazi concentration camps. At his inauguration as foreign minister, he said:

"For me, German-Israeli history does not only entail a historic responsibility. For me personally, it is a deep motivation of my political activity. With all due respect, I did not enter politics because of [former chancellor] Willy Brandt. I also didn't go into politics because of the peace movement or ecological issues. I entered politics because of Auschwitz. And that's also why this part of our work is especially important to me."

Maas had been aided and abetted by Germany's Ambassador to the UN, Christoph Heusgen, who was named by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in 2019 as one of the world's top ten anti-Semites.

Germany's largest-circulation newspaper Bild, asked, "Why does Germany repeatedly vote against Israel at the United Nations?" It answered:

"It is a shameful ritual: every year authoritarian states like Syria, Yemen and Saudi Arabia introduce numerous resolutions at the UN that are directed against one country — Israel. But the bitter thing is: The UN General Assembly is taking part and adopting almost all anti-Israeli resolutions.

"The Federal Republic also mostly votes FOR the resolutions — and thus AGAINST Israel. And this despite the fact that the federal government repeatedly emphasizes that it is on the side of Israel.

"Heusgen is considered a bitter critic of Israeli settlement policy — a legitimate position which, in Heusgen's case, seems to lead to complete lack of criticism towards the Palestinians, and to comparisons that cast doubt on his moral compass.

"Heusgen caused a scandal in March 2019 when he equated the rockets of the Islamist terrorist group Hamas with Israeli bulldozers, with which Israel tore down Palestinian and Israeli illegal houses. He did so in the very week that Hamas carried out massive rocket attacks on Israel and injured seven Israeli civilians.

"No criticism of anti-Semitic statements by Palestinian politicians, no criticism of pension payments for Palestinian terrorists — for Heusgen, the guilty parties for the messed-up situation are solely in Washington and Jerusalem."

The left-wing politician, Volker Beck, said about Heusgen:

"I am always careful with the label 'anti-Semite.' But one thing is certain: Anyone who bears responsibility for Germany's condemnation of Israel tens of times more often than all rogue states in the world at the United Nations applies double standards to the Jewish and democratic state and thus participates in an anti-Semitic campaign. With practical politics, Heusgen counteracts the unambiguous statements of the Chancellor to Israel's existence and security."

Frankfurt Mayor Uwe Becker added:

"The inclusion of Mr. Heusgen on the Wiesenthal Center's list is more than a yellow card for Germany's voting behavior at the United Nations. Germany must show more solidarity with Israel at the UN and consistently refuse anti-Israeli resolutions in future.

"The years of theater of political smear against Israel can only be countered with a consequent 'NO.' The comparison made by Heusgen between the actions of Israel and the terrorism of Hamas has damaged solidarity with Israel and is unfortunately suitable for promoting Israel-related anti-Semitism. Germany must not also be the keyword for Israel-related anti-Semitism."

In its most recent statement, the German Foreign Ministry declared:

"Germany wants to continue playing its part in preserving global peace — as a permanent member of the Security Council. 'We have shown over the past two years that we are capable of filling a seat on the UN Security Council in the long term,' said Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. 'We therefore want not only to stand for a non-permanent seat again in eight years' time, but also seek to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council before that date.'"

In a sign that German appeasement has failed to achieve its objectives, Russia and China have both questioned Germany's suitability for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Russian Vice Ambassador Dmitri Polyansky bluntly said: "We will not miss you." The Chinese representative Yao Shaojun added that the German path to permanent membership "will be difficult."

Heusgen, who plans to retire after more than 40 years as a German diplomat, appealed to China to free two detained Canadians for Christmas:

"Let me end my tenure on the Security Council by appealing to my Chinese colleagues to ask Beijing for the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Christmas is the right moment for such a gesture."

China's deputy UN Ambassador, Geng Shuang, accused Heusgen of abusing the Security Council to launch "malicious" attacks on other members "in an attempt to poison the working atmosphere." He added: "I wish to say something out of the bottom of my heart: Good riddance."

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Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16907/germany-un-security-council 

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Pollard and the Great Jewish Divide - Caroline Glick

 

​ by Caroline Glick

The main issue that separates Israelis from American Jews is the issue of exile.

 


The rift between Israeli and American Jews is palpable almost everywhere you turn today. The most glaring disparity surrounds how they view President Donald Trump. The vast majority of Israelis adore Trump. The vast majority of American Jews despise him.

But Trump isn’t the only thing or even the main thing that separates them. The main issue that separates Israelis from American Jews is the issue of exile. Israelis by and large hold to the traditional Jewish view that all Jewish communities outside of Israel are exile – or diaspora – communities. American Jews, by and large, believe that the exile exists in all Jewish communities outside Israel except in America. This disagreement is existential. It goes to the heart of what it means to be a Jew.

The divide between Israeli and American Jews is more apparent today than it was in the past but it has been around since the dawn of modern Zionism. But if one date marks the point it became an irreversible rift it was November 20, 1985, the day Jonathan Pollard was arrested outside Israel’s embassy in Washington, DC.

From the day of his arrest, Pollard became both the symbol and to a degree, the cause of the divide. That divide was unmistakable on Wednesday morning when the news broke that in the middle of the previous night, Pollard and his wife Esther had landed in Israel.

Israelis celebrated the Pollards’ arrival. Many wept watching the footage of Pollard kiss the ground on the tarmac.

In contrast, American Jews bristled both at the news and the happiness with which Israelis greeted Pollard’s arrival.

One writer angrily wrote on Twitter, “As an American Jew this isn’t a bit exciting. He spied on America. There’s no reason to celebrate this.”

Once Pollard’s parole restrictions were removed in November, it was a foregone conclusion that he would quickly make aliyah. Many Jewish officials in both the Trump administration and previous administrations expressed concern about the upcoming event that resonated with the angry poster on Twitter.

“I really hope you Israelis aren’t going to turn his arrival into a carnival,” one said recently, in a burst of frustration.

What explains their anger and frustration?

The facts of Pollard’s story are well known.

In 1984-85, as an intelligence analyst in the US Naval Intelligence, Pollard transferred highly classified information about the military capabilities of Arab militaries to Israeli intelligence officers in Washington.

After Pollard’s arrest, US and Israeli officials agreed to deal with the incident quickly and quietly. Pollard would confess in a plea agreement to transferring classified information to the US ally for the benefit of the ally. Israel would return all documents it received from Pollard. For their part, federal prosecutors would not request the maximum sentence for Pollard’s crime.

The plea bargain, both sides agreed, would save Israel and the US the embarrassing spectacle of a drawn-out trial. Pollard and the Israeli government were led to believe that he would serve something along the lines of the average prison term meted out for US citizens who transferred classified information to US allies – 2-4 years.

But after Pollard fulfilled his part of the bargain and pled guilty, and Israel returned the documents, then secretary of defense Caspar Weinberger changed the administration’s position on Pollard. In three secret memos to the sentencing judge, that last of which he delivered the morning of Pollard’s sentencing, Weinberger claimed Pollard had caused egregious harm to the US, endangered its forces in the Middle East and weakened its ties to Arab states. In his final memo Weinberger accused Pollard of “treason.” Since Pollard had waived his right to a trial, he had no meaningful opportunity to defend himself from Weinberger’s explosive claim.

On the weight of Weinberger’s accusation, the sentencing judge disregarded the recommendation for leniency and sentenced Pollard to life in prison.

In the decades that followed, several senior national security officials and lawmakers who reviewed Pollard’s classified file rejected Weinberger’s claims. They argued that based on the evidence, the initial plea bargain was accurate. While Pollard had helped Israel, he hadn’t harmed America. He had not committed treason. His punishment did not suit his crime. Weinberger himself admitted in a 2002 interview that the Pollard case was a “relatively minor matter” and “it was made much bigger than its actual importance.”

Most Israelis looked at these facts, and the vitriol with which Pollard was castigated by senior officials and concluded he was unjustly persecuted because he was a Jew who supported Israel.

In private conversations, many American Jews admitted the logic of the Israeli position and even agreed with it. But all the same, aside from a small minority of groups who worked tirelessly on Pollard’s behalf, keeping the story alive throughout the years, the community at large failed to demand justice for Pollard. Instead, they lashed out against him and against the Israelis who supported him.

They did this not because they were blind to the anti-Semitic nature of his treatment but because they were aware of it and feared it. They despised and resented Pollard because his plight reminded them of their weakness. The fact that he was unduly punished for passing information to the Jewish state brought home the fact that despite America’s warm welcome to the Jews, America wasn’t the new Promised Land. The Israelis had a point about the diaspora.

Even now, after Pollard has finally arrived in Israel, evidence abounds of the continued power and prevalence of the double standard. And to find it one need look no farther than the tragic tale of Larry Franklin.

Today, Franklin, a 74-year-old Irish Catholic lives in abject poverty with his invalid wife Patricia in West Virginia. Due to their indigence, they survive on food that Franklin finds in dumpsters behind local restaurants. Last month, the couple were hospitalized for several days after contracting food poisoning from spoiled scraps Franklin fished out of a trash bin.

16 years ago, as an Air Force colonel, Franklin served as the Iran desk officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In what became known as “the AIPAC spy scandal,” Franklin was arrested together with two AIPAC lobbyists. Franklin was accused of transferring classified information about Iran to the lobbyists. They were accused of transferring classified information to Israeli Embassy officials and to a Washington Post reporter.

The story was a bombshell. But once the dust settled, and the details emerged, it worked out that Franklin, a decorated intelligence analyst and operative, was the victim of an anti-Semitic plot. In 1999, the FBI opened an investigation of AIPAC employees and American Jewish Pentagon officials on suspicion of spying for Israel. The suspicions had no basis in fact. But that didn’t stop the investigators from searching under every rock to find a Jewish spy.

Franklin, who served as the Air Force attaché at the US Embassy in Israel in the 1990s, believed that Israel was the US’s most important ally in the Middle East. He viewed AIPAC, an organization dedicated to expanding the US-Israel alliance, as a positive force for good in Washington.

In 2003, Franklin became convinced that Iran was the primary threat to US forces in Iraq. He was concerned that the data he was seeing that led to his conclusion was not being adequately communicated to then-President George W. Bush. So he spoke of his concerns in general terms with the two AIPAC lobbyists and asked them to share them with their contacts at the National Security Council in the hopes that they in turn, would communicate those concerns to Bush.

There was nothing out of the ordinary about Franklin’s behavior. Government officials hold similar discussions with lobbyists, reporters and think tank scholars thousands of times a day, every day in Washington, DC. For government officials, such conversations are a legitimate means to advance their desired policies in the expansive process that surrounds American policymaking.

What Franklin didn’t know was that by speaking to the AIPAC lobbyists he had caught the eye of the investigators.

When FBI investigators first reached out to Franklin, he had no idea he had reason to worry. He met with them ten times without an attorney. But as the meetings proceeded, it dawned on him that the investigators were obsessive anti-Semites. One bragged that his uncle served as a Nazi general in World War II. Another insisted Hezbollah wasn’t a terror group.

And after he recognized he was sitting with stone-cold bigots, he also realized that they were waging a witch hunt against Jews in the Pentagon. They demanded that he help them “get the Jews.” When Franklin refused, they arrested him, along with his two colleagues from AIPAC.

Initially, AIPAC defended its employees. But after a threatening meeting with investigators, AIPAC crumpled. The pro-Israel lobby fired and denounced their long-serving loyal lobbyists.

It took a drawn-out, five-year battle, but in 2009, charges against both men were dismissed. Unfortunately, in the meantime, Franklin had already been destroyed.

Within a few months of his initial arrest, Franklin went bankrupt and had no option other than pleading guilty to something. During a search of his house, investigators found a classified document that he had brought home to work on while he cared for his wife. So he pleaded guilty to mishandling classified documents. As for his meetings with the AIPAC staffers, Franklin pleaded guilty to discussing a classified subject, (but not sharing classified information), with unauthorized persons.

“Crimes” like Franklin’s are committed thousands of times a day every day in Washington. Given their prevalence, the Justice Department’s decision to selectively prosecute Franklin for them was a gross injustice. All the same, the court initially sentenced Franklin to 12 years in prison. After the charges were dropped against the AIPAC staffers, his sentence was reduced to a 10-month suspended sentence. But Franklin was still undone. His felony conviction stripped him of his military and civilian pensions and barred him from working either in intelligence or in academia. Broke and denied all professional opportunities, Franklin was reduced to menial labor. He cleaned septic tanks, washed dishes, hauled furniture and parked cars. Now at 74, with his health failing and his wife incapacitated, Franklin has been reduced to eating scraps from dumpsters.

Last month, Franklin’s pro-bono attorney submitted a request for a pardon and restoration of his pensions to President Trump and his family and friends are praying Trump will grant it.

Franklin’s suffering is a product of the hostile climate that greets American Jews who support Israel in Washington, DC. The FBI’s ambush of a devout Catholic for his “crime” of not being an anti-Semite and for treating Jewish pro-Israel lobbyists as other lobbyists are treated, sends the message to Jews and non-Jews alike. Not only must they be careful of speaking with Israelis. They must be careful about speaking to American Jews who support Israel.

The Pollard saga, which finally ended this week, exposed a much larger tale. It is the tale of exile in America, the land that exile was not supposed to touch. And it is the tale of the divide between the Jews who accept this truth and those who do not.

Originally published in Israel Hayom.

 

Caroline Glick  

Source: http://carolineglick.com/pollard-and-the-great-jewish-divide/ 

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