Sunday, September 13, 2020

The Coronavirus One Half Year Later - Another Mideast Peace Deal, A Return of Quotas, BLM "Protesters," The Coronavirus and Other News

The latest peace deal between Israel and another Arab country is with Bahrain, a small island country in the Persian Gulf which is allied with Saudi Arabia. On its face, Israel's deal with the UAE seems more significant, with the UAE having a population of 9.8 million people (Israel has 8.6 million), and Bahrain having only just under 1.7 million people. However, given that the Saudis would have had to okay this deal with Bahrain, it is likely of greater significance. The Saudis are now allowing Israeli flights over their airspace to these two Gulf countries. Once again, notwithstanding the involvement of Trump and Kushner, the mainstream media was reluctant to give any credit to the President. Also approving of the deal was Egypt. Iran, Turkey and the Palestinians continue to object to any peace with Israel.

Joe Biden was good for a few laughs when he claimed Trump's foreign policy was a danger to Israel. He really did. Biden: "Trump's put Israel in danger by tearing up the Iran nuclear deal and replaced it with nothing." Excuse me? That was Obama/Biden that shipped $150 billion to Iran, the world's leading state sponsor of terror. And all the recent explosions in Iran? Might it be the Trump Administration and Israel working together to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons, something that Obama/Biden was enabling? Biden: "He's allowed Israel's foes to take residence in Syria, a dangerous power vacuum has formed." It was Biden's boss who drew a red line for Syria, and when they crossed it Obama did nothing. True, Trump withdrew troops from Syria, which I opposed; but he is not enabling Iran's reach throughout the Middle East as Obama did.

Biden: "He's undermined the stability of self-determination for the Palestinians, undercutting hope for a viable two-state solution any chance that he gets." Typical left-wing analysis. The ones undercutting any hope for self-determination for the Palestinians are the Palestinians. That would include Hamas and Abbas. As the New York Times reported on a comment by one Arab government official: "...they did signal a deepening impatience with what they saw as a dysfunctional and intransigent Palestinian leadership." On the other hand, President Trump moved the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, their capital city since their founding in 1948. Other countries have followed Trump's lead. Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the strategic Golan Heights. He stopped sending US dollars to the Palestinians while they continue to reward those who kill Jews. And he helped broker the peace deals with the UAE and Bahrain, bringing greater stability to the region, and an acknowledgement by Arab countries that Israel is there to stay. Finally, he did not sell Israel out at the UN like Obama/Biden, when they refused to veto a Security Council resolution giving the Palestinians a state based on the so-called 1967 borders. And Biden wonders why the Palestinians will not negotiate when, under that resolution, Israel has nothing left to offer in return. Biden as President would be for Israel yet another example (as was his boss) of "with friends like these who needs enemies."

Quotas anyone? At Cornell University, dozens of faculty, staff, students and alumni signed off on a letter seeking faculty racial quotas. "...every 'colorblind' event, mechanism and process at the university - from new faculty orientations to selection of endowed positions - perpetuates racial disparities and reinforces an unjust status quo." (As reported by Fox.) As this blog recently pointed out, the idea of a "colorblind" society is now deemed to be racist. The letter seeks to ensure blacks make up 7% of the faculty by 2025 and 10% by 2030. The writers also seek to have people of color make up 20% of the faculty by 2025 and 25% by 2030. Some of us know the history - and the danger - of any quota system. During the first half of the last century quotas were often used to limit the number of Jewish students who were admitted to major universities. In Canada, they were used at McGill University through the 1960's. They were also used at the University of Montreal and the University of Toronto.

In the US, some of the Ivy League schools were notorious for their use of quotas to deny admission to Jews and others. In 1935, this was from the Dean at Yale: "Never admit more than 5 Jews, take only 2 Italian Catholics, and take no blacks at all." (As reported on Wikipedia.) While Yale gradually increased the number of Jews who could be admitted (up to 10%) they kept that 10% limit up to the 1960's. Elsewhere on our esteemed university campuses, a proposal at the University of Michigan, Dearborn, was for the establishment of two separate cafes - a POC (people of color) cafe and a non-POC cafe. The idea was for POC to have "a space for students from marginalized racial/ethnic/cultural communities to gather and to relate with one another and to discuss their experience as students on campus and as people of color in the world." The University claimed that both cafes would be open to everyone. Right. Here's an idea. For all those minorities who hate this country and just want to live with their "own kind," let's give them a piece of the US to have their own country. All the rest of us (minority or not) who think these ideas are nonsense and dangerous get to stay in the USA. At Stanford University they has sessions on ending "racial terror." And students were told: "white supremacy so permeates our institutions, policies, practices, and ways of knowing that it is nearly impossible to think outside it."

In Rochester, NY, BLM protesters trashed a restaurant while people were dining. They threw chairs and smashed plates and glasses. One "protester" pushed all the food and plates off of a table while people were sitting and eating. Meanwhile, the crowd was shouting "Black Lives Matter." One protester yelled: "If you don't give us our shit, we'll shut shit down." Said another: "We tired of it. Black lives do matter, okay? We tired of these police killing people...we gonna put matters into our own hands if justice don't come. I'm being honest with you. We got a 100,000 deep, ready. Y'all need to know that." In Pittsburgh, BLM protesters marched and yelled things like "fuck the white people that built the system." And "fuck the police." One "protester" gave the middle finger to an older white couple just sitting outside at a restaurant. Then, one of these "protesters" picked up the man's drink and took a sip, while wearing a shirt that said "Nazi Lives Don't Matter." Rather ironic for people who were acting as fascists.

In yet another "breaking news" story about Trump, Carl Woodward reported that Trump knew the coronavirus was easily spread and was dangerous. In his defense, Trump said he did not want to cause a national panic. I spent 4 paragraphs in the last post discussing what anonymous sources claim Trump said about fallen soldiers. As I expect a minimum of one anti-Trump "breaking news" story each week until the election, do not expect me to comment each time when I have other things I wish to discuss. However, I will briefly remind everyone that people were panicking. Recall the empty store shelves. Trump, acknowledging the danger, shut down air travel from China on January 31, 2020, which Biden called "hysterical xenophobia and fear-mongering." And on January 30, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel (former adviser to Obama and current adviser to Biden) opined "take a very big breath, slow down, and stop panicking and being hysterical." And the virus will "go down as spring comes up." And on February 20, Emanuel said "warm weather is going to come and, just like the flu, the coronavirus is going to go down." And on February 24, Nancy Pelosi was suggesting that tourists "come to Chinatown" in San Francisco. And in March, Biden had indoor rallies. Okay, I'm done with that.

Speaking of the coronavirus, the US has 6,705,405 cases and 198,464 deaths. New York City, with a population of over 8.5 million people, has 237,558 cases and 23,743 deaths. Across the country in Los Angeles County (with an estimated population of just over 10 million people) there are 253,176 cases and 6,197 deaths. When looking at the rate of cases per 100,000 population, California comes in at a distant 23rd (when also counting Washington, D.C.). In absolute numbers, California is number one with over 735,000 cases. When looking at the death rate per 100,000 population, California comes in at 25 (again, including D.C.). The latest week's unemployment numbers show 884,000 new claims.

You may recall that when Harry Reid was Senate Majority Leader during the Obama Administration, he eliminated the Senate filibuster rule with regards to Senate approval of all federal court judges, except for the Supreme Court. When Mitch McConnell became Majority Leader he returned the favor and got rid of the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations. The filibuster rule is not in the Constitution. Rather, it is a Senate rule requiring 60 affirmative votes to allow a mesure to be voted on for passage. Voting to end the filibuster simply means a Senator is agreeable to a floor vote, not that they will vote to pass the bill in question. Now, multiple left-wing/Democratic groups have banded together in order to strategize on how best to get support for ending the filibuster. Why? Because they believe the Democrats will take back control of the Senate in November. Here's the retired Reid: "If @President Biden wants to get things done, he can't play around with the filibuster." The result would be that a Democrat controlled Senate would no longer need bipartisan support to bring a bill to a floor vote. Think about it. If the Democrats keep control of the House and take the Senate, then with Biden in the White House there is no left-wing agenda item they will not be able to pass. Want to make Washington, D.C. a state, and add two more Democratic Senators? Done. Not happy with the make-up of the Supreme Court? Expand the Court to add 3 or 5 new justices. Whether you are for or against the filibuster one thing is certain - the already hyper-partisan Congress would be even more so, as the need for bipartisanship would be gone.

This past Friday was the nineteenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America by Islamic terrorists. You might think that the NEW YORK Times, based in a city where nearly 3000 people lost their lives that day, might have a word or two in their Friday edition commemorating those lost. You would be wrong. That is a story that simply does not fit with their agenda. Islamic terrorists? No such thing. Besides, that's discriminatory. But, as we live in the era of many Democrats wanting to defund the police, it is a good reminder to us all that the people who rushed into those smoldering Towers were police and firefighters - heading into the danger in order to save lives while others ran the other way to save their own lives. Yesterday, 2 Los Angeles County Sheriffs were shot in cold blood while simply sitting in their patrol vehicle. They were rushed to the hospital and operated on, but both remain in critical condition, fighting for their lives. Incredibly, protesters showed up at the hospital in order to wish that these deputies die. These words could be heard: "Death to the police." "Kill the police." "I want to deliver a message to the family of the (inaudible) - I hope they fucking die." And: "Y'all gonna die one by one. This ain't gonna stop." Last night I prayed for the complete and speedy recovery of these deputies, and I will continue to do so. As for those pieces of garbage who showed up at the hospital wishing all police dead...well, you know what I am thinking.

No comments:

Post a Comment