Will the the 21st Century See The Dismantling Of Centralized Power?

“The story of the 21st Century will be the dismantling of centralized power.“ : Richard Bledsoe

I can’t think of any evidence for this. Are there any governments on earth which are smaller than they were ten years ago? Is Google’s power shrinking? Amazon’s? Big banks? Has Giant Faceless MegaCorp decided to break itself up into independent twenty employee segments?

We have seen in the last couple decades the creation of a global surveillance state of intertwined governments and private businesses which not even the Stasi could have dreamed of in their wildest drug induced fantasies.

We in the US have evolved from a nation of independent small business owners aka farmers and artisans, into a nation of employees trained to take orders. Our fundamental mindset has changed from that of owners into obedient order takers.

I see no evidence whatsoever that anyone in either major American political party would even consider overturning the foundation of the modern regulatory state -Wickard vs Filburn (look it up)- much less return our government to only those activities authorized by the Constitution.

The UN and leading politicians around the world are working openly to end national sovereignty, criminalize free speech including criticism of Islam and of immigration. Merkel may lose her office, but she has succeeded beyond the dreams of the mullahs in Islamizing Germany, and those people are not going to leave. Nor are those in France, Britain, Holland, Spain, or Italy.

Islam is hardly a force for decentralization, nor is the wave of socialism sweeping Americans who have been taught to despise individualism, capitalism, and the bourgeoisie.

Quite the contrary to decentralization: I think we are far more likely to see the complete politicization of economic activity coupled with a surveillance state like the world has never seen.

White and Black, Jews, Nazis, and Enemies

There was a good, if somewhat rambling columnabout the difference between US and British views on race and Jews by Robert Koerner at the Foundation for Economic Freedom site, to which I replied. It got marked by someone as spam, perhaps by accident or perhaps to hide it, but I asked it be revealed. we’ll see. In any case, my comment:

That was a thought provoking column. Thank you.
“And no, I’m not your enemy, whatever you tell me.” I’m not sure that I agree with that.

At one level it makes sense, in that German Jews/Jewish Germans weren’t enemies of Germany: they were Germans. Same with Austrians, Poles, Dutch, French Jews. However, the Nazis didn’t allow them to be other than enemies, and it didn’t matter as a practical issue if the Jews didn’t consider themselves enemies of the the Nazis.

I was in a voluntary organization many years ago in which two rival factions were running things. The arguments between them were largely over ideological purity vs political practicality. The practical faction considered the pure faction impractical and personally abusive, both of which had some truth to them. The pure people considered the practical people evil, and were quite outspoken about that.
I wanted to stay on the sidelines on that debate, but the pure people would not allow that. One was either on their side or an enemy. Take your pick, but those were the only options. No Sidelines Option was available. Ally or enemy. Take your pick.

While I eventually decided to simply leave the organization, I did decide that while people may not want to be other’s enemy, the decision is not up to them: it is up to those who demand all be either allies or enemies.

So, it seems to me that if BLM, the DNC, the RNC, or any other group declares me to be an enemy, then I am in fact their enemy. It doesn’t matter that I don’t want to be their enemy: it isn’t my choice. It’s theirs.

European Jews of all nationalities WERE enemies of the Nazis, not because they wanted to be but because the Nazis designated them as such. It wasn’t in the Jews’ power to not be enemies. It simply wasn’t up to them. It was up to the Nazis.

It also seems to me that one of the biggest failures of European Jews was the majority’s failure to understand that, internalize it, and act on that sad realization, either by fleeing or taking up arms and fighting their genocidal enemies.

There may not be much we can do to lessen the power or growth of the virulent racists on the left. Apologizing, self-flagellation, and submitting will be no more effective than it was for European Jews.

We can keep an eye on them, and we can in most states consider arming ourselves against overt violence. I think we should do so, because the time to prepare against assault is not after the assault has taken place but before. Steve Scalise was prepared with armed guards, and that preparation saved not only his own life, but those of the other Republicans at that soft ball practice.

Think of the so-called protests in Portland a few weeks ago, in which leftists blocked traffic, re-directed vehicles, and beat on vehicles. Suppose it had gone a bit further, and people were dragged from their cars and beaten. Would the time to prepare be the next day? Ask Reginald Denny after he was dragged from his truck and a cement block dropped repeatedly on his head. Minding his own business, until he was surrounded by people who designated him their enemy.

I don’t know how violent these leftists will get, nor how many allies they will attract, but it does seem important to keep an eye on them, and to prepare for worse violence than they are now committing, because at some point it may be too late to prepare. We won’t have the option of not being their enemy. It will be their decision, and by their own statements they have already made it.

On Recognizing Jerusalem As The Capital Of Israel

I see the Arabs and Europeans are denouncing our recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, claiming it will affect peace negotiations. A problem I have with that assertion is that I don’t think the Arabs have ever negotiated in good faith, nor do they intend to do so. Ever.

If you haven’t read the Hamas Covenant of 1988, still in effect, doing so may enlighten you. The Covenant states that Hamas exists for the purpose of wiping Israel from the face of the earth and exterminating the Jews. Their founding document says so in as many words. They also plan on retaking all the lands once taken by the sword. Read Spain and Eastern Europe. They also plan on extending sharia to the rest of the world: again, they say so in as many words, Angela Merkel, et al.

Quote: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it"

Quote: “This Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS), clarifies its picture, reveals its identity, outlines its stand, explains its aims, speaks about its hopes, and calls for its support, adoption and joining its ranks. Our struggle against the Jews...is a step that inevitably should be followed by other steps. The Movement is but one squadron that should be supported by more and more squadrons from this vast Arab and Islamic world, until the enemy is vanquished and Allah's victory is realised.”

Quote: “The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine”. Doesn’t sound like they intend to leave a lot of room for Israel. At least not to me it doesn’t.

Quote: “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.” So kill the Jews or else.

Quote: “The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. ...

This is the law governing the land of Palestine in the Islamic Sharia (law) and the same goes for any land the Moslems have conquered by force, because during the times of (Islamic) conquests, the Moslems consecrated these lands to Moslem generations till the Day of Judgement.”

I hope you’ll pardon me for thinking that Hamas has no intention whatsoever of leaving Israel in existence. Nor the Iberian Peninsula as a non-Muslim land. Nor Eastern Europe. Hi Angela Merkel, et al.

Quote: “Any procedure in contradiction to Islamic Sharia, where Palestine is concerned, is null and void.” No negotiating in good faith for the continued existence of Israel. Or Europe.

Quote: “Nothing in nationalism is more significant or deeper than in the cse when an enemy should tread Moslem land. Resisting and quelling the enemy become the individual duty of every Moslem, male or female.” Remember: Spain and Eastern Europe are Muslim land, folks. Once conquered, always consecrated. Just like Israel.

Quote: “There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with.”

Aka negotiating in good faith is a waste of time.

Quote: “The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.”

Moslem land: all of Israel, all of Iberia, all of Eastern Europe, and eventually all of the world, Angela Merkel.

There is lots more, but if you read this far you probably get the idea: there never was and never will be any negotiating in good faith. They intend to not merely exterminate Israel but retake all parts of Europe once under their control, and to extend that control to the entire world.

So the assertion that our recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will impede negotiation is a joke upon the credulous, Angela et al.

You can find the entire Hamas Covenant at the site of the Yale Law School Library. HERE.

Bernie Sanders' Daily News Interview

I've read several times that Bernie Sanders' Daily News interview was a disaster for Sanders. I disagree only because almost no one will read it.

Bernie Sanders' depth of ignorance on his own key issues is abyssal.

His vague responses to the questions about the banking industry are downright Trumpian: We will hire the best people to figure that out. The banks must have broken laws, I have no idea which laws they broke but they must have broken them. I know it. So we would prosecute them. And break them up. I don't know how we would do that, or what they would look like afterwards, but they are destroying America so we would break them up. It's fair.

One of Bernie Sanders' points on guns, which he should know something about since it is a major issue with Democrats:

"What we do is do away with the straw man provision, where you can buy a gun legally and then sell it to somebody who's a criminal. "

This is the kind of ignorance of existing law which is worthy of a professional gun banner. It is a felony to buy a gun for the purpose of selling it to a prohibited person. If a person who is allowed to buy a gun does so for the purpose of selling or giving it to a felon, the purchase itself is not legal: It is already a felony.

So Bernie thinks that straw man purchases are legal, when they are already a federal felony. Selling it to a felon is a separate felony. The felon taking possession is a separate felony. Providing ammunition to a felon is a separate felony The felon possessing ammunition is a separate felony. Bernie, however, apparently thinks that buying guns and ammunition for the purpose of providing them to prohibited persons is perfectly legal under "the straw man provision"...and probably because of the evil influence of The Protocols of the Elders of the NRA.

If this guy's supporters stay politically engaged, I look forward to the US achieving the economic fairness and prosperity of Venezuela: No gas, no toilet paper, shutting down all businesses for a day a week because there is no electricity, bread lines, and raids on newspaper offices.

Quite lengthy, and damning if anyone reads it: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/transcript-bernie-sanders-meets-news-editorial-board-article-1.2588306

Much shorter is the paper's commentary about the interview: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/james-kirchick-bernie-stoner-college-roommate-article-1.2591052

"But ask him a real question? Nine times out of 10, the wind-up doll has no answer. When Sanders did occasionally muster coherent answers to questions, he was usually wrong."

Jimmy Carter On The Charlie Hebdo Slaughter

Mr. Carter was on Jon Stewart's comedy show:

...former President Jimmy Carter asserted that the recent violence in France could be attributed to the failure to reach a solution to the Palestinian problem and the terror attacks are a reflection of and a reaction to how Arabs are treated in Israel. He also blamed unemployment in Islamic countries....

His formula, he said, is for Israel to give up the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem and for the Palestinians to promise Israel security.t (sic) should be noted that the terrorists who perpetrated both of the attacks had absolutely no connection with Palestinian organizations, nor did they express any outrage towards Israel.

In light of Mr. Carter’s comments, it might also be noteworthy that he turned ninety-years old last October.

Of course, Jimmy Carter also has said Hamas should be recognized as 'legitimate': :

Former president and international peace activist Jimmy Carter is urging the U.S. government to recognize Hamas as a “legitimate political actor”

Just why is such a position an obscenity? Why does his position put Jimmy Carter squarely on the side of anti-Jewish genocide? Because the genocide of the Jews is exactly the stated purpose for the existence of Hamas.

Think I'm a nut case? Of course you do. How could Hamas be in favor, much less dedicated to, genocide? How could Jimmy Carter call them 'legitimate'?

Read the Hamas Covenant, available at the web site of the Yale University Law School Library, and then tell me I'm a nut. Until you have read Hamas' founding document, which is still in effect, you might think they are legitimate.

And that is exactly what genocidal anti-Semites want you to think.

Hi, Jimmy.

PS: My comments on excerpts from the Hamas Covenant are here.

Matti Friedman on News Coverage of Israel

Matti Friedman has a long essay on news coverage of the Jewish/Muslim conflict.

The volume of press coverage that results, even when little is going on, gives this conflict a prominence compared to which its actual human toll is absurdly small. In all of 2013, for example, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict claimed 42 lives—that is, roughly the monthly homicide rate in the city of Chicago. Jerusalem, internationally renowned as a city of conflict, had slightly fewer violent deaths per capita last year than Portland, Ore., one of America’s safer cities. In contrast, in three years the Syrian conflict has claimed an estimated 190,000 lives, or about 70,000 more than the number of people who have ever died in the Arab-Israeli conflict since it began a century ago.

News organizations have nonetheless decided that this conflict is more important than, for example, the more than 1,600 women murdered in Pakistan last year (271 after being raped and 193 of them burned alive), the ongoing erasure of Tibet by the Chinese Communist Party, the carnage in Congo (more than 5 million dead as of 2012) or the Central African Republic, and the drug wars in Mexico (death toll between 2006 and 2012: 60,000)

The numbers are odd compared to the relative amount of coverage. Maybe something else is going on.

The Hamas charter, for example, calls not just for Israel’s destruction but for the murder of Jews and blames Jews for engineering the French and Russian revolutions and both world wars; the charter was never mentioned in print when I was at the AP, though Hamas won a Palestinian national election and had become one of the region’s most important players.

Friedman is here referring to Article Seven of the Hamas Covenant, which says that the Day of Judgement shall not occur until the Muslims kill the Jews.

There has been much discussion recently of Hamas attempts to intimidate reporters....as an editor on the AP news desk. During the 2008-2009 Gaza fighting I personally erased a key detail—that Hamas fighters were dressed as civilians and being counted as civilians in the death toll—because of a threat to our reporter in Gaza. (The policy was then, and remains, not to inform readers that the story is censored unless the censorship is Israeli.

So, reporters know that Hamas is committing war crimes by dressing as civilians, but the AP and other "news" organizations refuse to report those crimes, preferring instead to describe them when killed as dead civilians. How charming.

The fact is that Hamas intimidation is largely beside the point because the actions of Palestinians are beside the point: Most reporters in Gaza believe their job is to document violence directed by Israel at Palestinian civilians. That is the essence of the Israel story.

Is that properly described as reporting, or creating propaganda for an organization openly dedicated to genocide?

White people in London and Paris whose parents not long ago had themselves fanned by dark people in the sitting rooms of Rangoon or Algiers condemn Jewish “colonialism.” Americans who live in places called “Manhattan” or “Seattle” condemn Jews for displacing the native people of Palestine. Russian reporters condemn Israel’s brutal military tactics. Belgian reporters condemn Israel’s treatment of Africans.

One must expiate one's sins by condemning others for the same ones.

Understanding what happened in Gaza this summer...requires us to understand what is clear to nearly everyone in the Middle East: The ascendant force in our part of the world is...an empowered strain of Islam that assumes different and sometimes conflicting forms, and that is willing to employ extreme violence in a quest to unite the region under its control and confront the West. Those who grasp this fact will be able to look around and connect the dots.

Islamists see themselves as on the rise, and that gives them strength. The West sees itself as failing, as it well should, and that weakens us. Those of the far left, who have worked so long and so effectively to destroy western self-confidence are still ascendent. Hence the election of an utterly un-vetted leftist hack to the presidency of the United States, and European inability to even contemplate the possibility of halting Muslim immigration lest they be called racist. Islamists have openly declared their intention of re-taking the once conquered lands of Europe, and of doing so by conquest.

When the Night of the Long Knives finally arrives, it will be the people with confidence in their own righteousness who are likely to triumph. You could not pay me enough to live in Europe when that day comes.

The Hamas Covenant: Exterminate the Jews

Ron Rosenbaum has a column in Slate on the people who are actually intent on genocide in the conflict between Israel and Hamas: Hamas. They said so in their founding document of 1988, and have never renounced it. Genocide against the Jews is their reason for existence. What more does one need to know?

What it represents is Hamas’ own self-definition. Its articulation of its sacred mission...which reads:

"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory)."

There is no equivocation. There is just "obliteration." Not explicitly genocidal, it could be argued that it's just metaphorical—that the destruction of Israel will somehow not involve any harm to the vast majority of 5 million Jews there

There is more, of course:

OK, let's concede that metaphoric possibility. But then we must contend with the...explicitly genocidal—element of the Hamas Covenant: Article 7. The article that is an explicit call for the extermination of all Jews. An explicit call for genocide.

Here is how it reads in English:

"… [T]he Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas] aspires to the realization of Allah’s promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:
“The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."

...The language calls for the mission of Hamas to be to seek out and find every Jew wherever they may be hiding and kill him or her. No Day of Judgment until that is done.

It continues to shock me that a group with an overtly genocidal mission written into its covenant for a quarter century now, is somehow treated as a legitimate participant in the world’s diplomatic processes. A potential “partner for peace.” Talk about a flawed moral equivalence.

I guess some people just prefer to ignore the obvious, even when the murders declare their intentions in writing.

In Their Own Words: Excerpts From The Hamas Covenant of 1988

The Yale Law School has a translation of the Hamas Charter, aka the Hamas Covenant. It's pretty interesting. You can find the complete thing here.

Article Seven:...the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah's promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.

So Hamas aspires to realize Allah's promise that once the Muslims kill all the Jews, the Day of Judgement shall come about? That sounds remarkably like proposing genocide. Or am I missing something here? Hamas did, after all, choose this specific saying to put in their covenant.

Article Eleven:

...This is the law governing the land of Palestine in the Islamic Sharia (law) and the same goes for any land the Moslems have conquered by force, because during the times of (Islamic) conquests, the Moslems consecrated these lands to Moslem generations till the Day of Judgement.

So, am I to take it that Spain and all of that part of Eastern Europe once conquered by the Religion of Peace remains consecrated to Islam, and must fall again to the swords of the conquerors?

Article Twelve:

Nationalism, from the point of view of the Islamic Resistance Movement, is part of the religious creed. Nothing in nationalism is more significant or deeper than in the case when an enemy should tread Moslem land. Resisting and quelling the enemy become the individual duty of every Moslem, male or female. A woman can go out to fight the enemy without her husband's permission, and so does the slave: without his master's permission.

Sounds like Spain and Eastern Europe are in trouble...I mean, scheduled for liberation. If I read this correctly, the mere fact of their being non-Muslim in once Muslim lands makes the inhabitants enemies.

Article Thirteen:

Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion. Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. For the sake of hoisting the banner of Allah over their homeland they fight. "Allah will be prominent, but most people do not know."

Now and then the call goes out for the convening of an international conference to look for ways of solving the (Palestinian) question. Some accept, others reject the idea, for this or other reason, with one stipulation or more for consent to convening the conference and participating in it. Knowing the parties constituting the conference, their past and present attitudes towards Moslem problems, the Islamic Resistance Movement does not consider these conferences capable of realising the demands, restoring the rights or doing justice to the oppressed. These conferences are only ways of setting the infidels in the land of the Moslems as arbitraters. When did the infidels do justice to the believers?

"But the Jews will not be pleased with thee, neither the Christians, until thou follow their religion; say, The direction of Allah is the true direction...There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with.

So much for peaceful solutions.

It strikes me that Hamas finds it unacceptable that Jews or Christians will "not be pleased" until all convert, but that these Islamists will not be pleased until Jews and Christians convert to Islam.

Article Fourteen:

... liberation of Palestine is then an individual duty for very Moslem wherever he may be. On this basis, the problem should be viewed. This should be realised by every Moslem.

That sounds like "Israel Must Be Eliminated."

Article Fifteen:

The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem.

There goes Iberia. And Eastern Europe.

Article Seventeen:...

The enemies (give) these attempts constant attention through information campaigns, films, and the school curriculum, using for that purpose their lackeys who are infiltrated through Zionist organizations under various names and shapes, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, espionage groups and others, which are all nothing more than cells of subversion and saboteurs. These organizations have ample resources that enable them to play their role in societies for the purpose of achieving the Zionist targets and to deepen the concepts that would serve the enemy. These organizations operate in the absence of Islam and its estrangement among its people. The Islamic peoples should perform their role in confronting the conspiracies of these saboteurs. The day Islam is in control of guiding the affairs of life, these organizations, hostile to humanity and Islam, will be obliterated.

Freemasons and Rotary Clubs: Lackeys of Zionism. They will be obliterated.

Article Twenty-Two:

For a long time, the enemies have been planning, skillfully and with precision, for the achievement of what they have attained....With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others....They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests. With their money they were able to control imperialistic countries and instigate them to colonize many countries in order to enable them to exploit their resources and spread corruption there.

...They were behind World War I, when they were able to destroy the Islamic Caliphate, making financial gains and controlling resources. They obtained the Balfour Declaration, formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains by trading in armaments, and paved the way for the establishment of their state. It was they who instigated the replacement of the League of Nations with the United Nations and the Security Council to enable them to rule the world through them. There is no war going on anywhere, without having their finger in it.

The Joos are always to blame. They instigated World War Two to make a profit. I guess they installed Hitler to turn a profit. How well did that work out for them? Could it be that the Joos aren't so all powerful? Oh, wait: the Holocaust never happened. I do wonder what happened to those 6,000,000 or so who stopped collecting their bank dividends, though.

Article Twenty-Four:

The Islamic Resistance Movement does not allow slandering or speaking ill of individuals or groups, for the believer does not indulge in such malpractices.

Except of course Jews, and Christians, and Hindus, and some others.

Article Twenty-Seven:

The Palestinian Liberation Organization...Because of the situations surrounding the formation of the Organization, of the ideological confusion prevailing in the Arab world as a result of the ideological invasion under whose influence the Arab world has fallen since the defeat of the Crusaders and which was, and still is, intensified through orientalists, missionaries and imperialists, the Organization adopted the idea of the secular state. And that it how we view it.

Secularism completely contradicts religious ideology. Attitudes, conduct and decisions stem from ideologies.

That is why...we are unable to exchange the present or future Islamic Palestine with the secular idea. The Islamic nature of Palestine is part of our religion and whoever takes his religion lightly is a loser....

The day The Palestinian Liberation Organization adopts Islam as its way of life, we will become its soldiers...

So: the PLO: Ideological wimp sell-outs to Western secular infiltrationists. Glad to get that clarified.

Article Twenty-Eight:

The Zionist invasion is a vicious invasion. It does not refrain from resorting to all methods, using all evil and contemptible ways to achieve its end. It relies greatly in its infiltration and espionage operations on the secret organizations it gave rise to, such as the Freemasons, The Rotary and Lions clubs, and other sabotage groups. All these organizations, whether secret or open, work in the interest of Zionism and according to its instructions. They aim at undermining societies, destroying values, corrupting consciences, deteriorating character and annihilating Islam. It is behind the drug trade and alcoholism in all its kinds so as to facilitate its control and expansion.

I had no idea the Freemasons, The Rotary and Lions clubs were all Zionist stooges. And drug dealers to boot.

Article Thirty-One:

The Islamic Resistance Movement...care of human rights and is guided by Islamic tolerance when dealing with the followers of other religions....

Under the wing of Islam, it is possible for the followers of the three religions - Islam, Christianity and Judaism - to coexist in peace and quiet with each other....
It is the duty of the followers of other religions to stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region

OK, so we can be at peace, if we would only just submit. Sort of like good slaves submitting to the yoke. Accept that Islam is the Master, and the heathens will be accepted. As inferiors.

Article Thirty-two...

The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion"

The Protocols. Check!

The Zionist plan is limitless, unlike the Islamist plan.

Oh, wait...

But not too long.

I wonder what John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama would say if pressed for their opinions about the Hamas Covenant.

Forty Questions About Gaza

Here. I doubt that any will be asked aloud, much less answered honestly.

White Male Princeton Freshman "Checks His Privilege"

Apparently we white males are supposed to feel guilty about being white and male, although so far as I can figure, only racists and sexists could consider it a crime to be a particular race or sex.

Some commenters shriek and froth at the mouth at his temerity.

More here.

"This is America" Is Not A Magical Incantation

In 1913, what sane German would have claimed that within the remaining lifetime of a middle-aged person the German government would build extermination factories and use them to murder millions?

The time to resist despotic government is not after you have smugly eliminated all of your children's options. It is time to resist when the smug try to eliminate your options, and all of your children's options, and your grandchildren's. The intent of those eliminating options for resistance is irrelevant. Their intentions can be the very best, the most benign possible. All that matters in the future is the effect.

All of this debate about banning assault rifles is over sad circumstances, but the numbers pale beside what unleashed governments can do. Look at the FBI homicide data for 2011. All homicide deaths by rifle (All, not just "assault rifles"): 323.

Source: FBI Expanded Homicide Data for 2011.

How does one say "It cannot happen here" in German? In Polish? In Chinese? In Khmer? Who are we to say it cannot happen here? Cannot? "This is America" is not a magical incantation.

This Land Is Mine!

Purty much 'bout right:

CNN & MSNBC "Journalist" Vandalises Poster in Name of Free Speech

Columnist Mona Eltahawy was videoed vandalizing one of the pro-Israeli posters in the NCY subway system.

Funny how left-wing "journalists" think they have a right to suppress other people's speech in the name of freedom.



She repeatedly tells people she is engaging in non-violent protest. I doubt the owners of the defaced poster agree.

Tim Graham has more at News Busters.

A bit more here.

Romney's "Culture Counts" Speech

HuffPo actually has a decent article about the so-called "racist" comments Mitt Romney made in Israel. I'm not sure why some idiots consider them wrong, much less racist (since when is Palestinian a race?), but he was correct: culture counts.

Compare the Palestinian refugees and their treatment by their host governments with the Cuban refugees and the treatment afforded them by the US.

In three generations the Cubans are completely Americanized, hard working, productive contributors to society. In four generations the Palestinians have given the world the Munich Massacre and the bomb belt.

Why the difference: Our government, after the Bay of Pigs idiocy, worked at assimilation, allowing refugees to become Amercian citizens and their children born here to be Americans. We allow them to pursue grievances against Cuba in court, but no longer allow them to use the US for staging attacks on Cuba.

The Arab governments, on the other hand, delight in fomenting hatred against the Israelis to distract their subjects from their own governments' oppression. Unlike America, which has welcomed Cuban refugees as full citizens, able to work and to own their own property.

So one country has productive citizens of Cuban descent, while the others have destructive, genocidal descendents of refugees who are themselves considered refugees.

Culture counts, and it is long past time we realize that. Our culture is better at assimilating diverse groups and turning them into productive citizens. Arab culture is better at fomenting multi-generational genocidal hatred. One culture chooses to let past injustices stay in the past, while the others does everything in it's considerable power to keep them festering.

UPDATE: For a sniggering take on Romney's statements, see the New Yorker, formerly a serious magazine, which has John Cassidy's column. He suggests that the lack of economic development is a result of

a lack of capital, the economic blockade of the Gaza Strip, or the presence in the West Bank of Israeli settlers and military forces.

For some reason Mr. Cassidy fails to mention just why the Palestinians suffer a lack of capital, an economic blockade, or military occupation. Could it have something to do with a culture of bomb belts, exploding donkeys, shooting rockets indiscriminately, car bombs, making sale of land to a Jew a capital crime, and the sworn goal of exterminating the Jews?

Far better to be an American of Cuban descent than a fourth generation Palestinian refugee. American culture is better than Arab culture at getting on with life. Romney has nothing to apologize for.

Some Jews Rethink Gun Control and Gun Ownership

The reason is sad, but the response is appropriate. Jared Silverman, writing in the New Jersey Jewish News, rethinks gun control after a series of anti-Semitic acts, including a firebombing. Among the comments is one that the attitude that one should rely on the police amounts to saying:

“Don’t strike me or I’ll beg you again!”

As another said about gun and gun owner registration:

As another commenter has pointed out, the people who came for the Jews in Germany were the police. And they came first for those Jews who had registered their firearms in accordance with the laws of the Weimar Republic. Why would you demand that your name be put on a list before you exercise your rights? This isn’t Schindler’s List, it’s the Gestapo’s list.

Why trust the government to protect you when it was the government which came for your grandparents?

Paul Robeson High School for Business and Technology

Last night I saw a sign in the background of a news clip which threw me for a bit of a loop: Paul Robeson High School for Business and Technology. According to WikiPedia, it is part of the New York City Department of Education.

My recollection of Paul Robeson and his politics was pretty hazy, but my impression was pretty strong that he was a communist. He seemed like an odd person to honor by putting his name on a school of business in the United States. So this morning I looked him up.

Robeson claimed to not be a member of any communist party. OK. And he clearly was on the right side in the civil rights struggles of the day. In fact, he seems to have been one of the giants in such basic fights as stopping racist lynchings and legal segregation. On those issues he was on the side of the angels.

On the other hand, while he may never have written a dues check to any communist party, it is hard to imagine he wasn't a communist. And that makes it a bit weird for any pro-capitalism group to name a business school in his honor. Of course, one might reasonably question whether the New York City Department of Education is pro-capitalism.

Without getting into the curriculum or politics of the staff, the school's mission statement can hardly be faulted. It concludes with "We will prepare our students to use business and technology to achieve their personal best, to fulfill their responsibility to their community and to positively influence the course of events in the 21st century." But a Paul Robeson School of Business? How about a Typhoid Mary School of Public Health?

From WikiPedia:

Commenting in 1935 to the Daily Worker on the execution of several peoples as counter-revolutionary terrorists, Robeson said: "From what I have already seen of the workings of the Soviet Government, I can only say that anybody who lifts his hand against it ought to be shot!"

And:

By December 1937 Robeson...spoke out in favor of the emerging Communist revolution in China

Further:

At a Bill of Rights Conference in New York in July 1949, Robeson denounced a motion, which called for the freeing of nineteen members of the Socialist Workers Party convicted in 1941, calling the imprisoned Trotskyists- who were at odds with the Soviet leadership-"the allies of Fascism who want to destroy the new democracies of the world...let's not get confused, they are the enemies of the working class. Would you give civil rights to the Ku Klux Klan?"

Robeson apparently considered Joe Stalin a great guy:

In April 1953, shortly after Stalin's death, Robeson penned a eulogy entitled To You Beloved Comrade, praising Stalin as being dedicated to peace and a guidance to the world: "Through his deep humanity, by his wise understanding, he leaves us a rich and monumental heritage."

To Robeson, the good old Soviet Union was a bulwark against capitalism:

Robeson is on record many times as stating that he felt the "existence of a major socialist power like the USSR was a bulwark against Western European capitalist domination of Africa, Asia and the Caribbean." At no time is Paul Robeson on record of mentioning any unhappiness or regrets about his support for the Soviet Union and his hopes for socialism in Africa and Asia.

Helen Thomas on Israel

Refreshingly frank:



In the future, her coverage of Israel, Gaza, and the Palestinians should perhaps be read with this in mind, though.

Blame

Blaming others is bad for you.

When people blame others for their mistakes, they learn less and perform worse," note the paper's co-authors, Nathanael Fast of the University of Southern California and Larissa Tiedens of Stanford University. "The problem is magnified when blame becomes embedded in the shared culture of groups and organizations."

That sounds like the entire Arab world: The Man did it to me. For "the Man", read "the Jews," of course. The Democrats are good at the blame game too, The Cult of Victimhood had robbed a couple generations of welfare recipients of the belief that they can succeed, so indeed, many don't.

Funny thing: the Cuban refugees, who really were victims of the communist revolution, were treated as potential American citizens, and then as citizens, as are their kids born here. Once we got over the mistake of letting them use the US as a staging area for attacking Cuba they got on with their lives in their new country, and became healthy, happy, productive citizens.

Contrast that with the way the Arab governments treated the Palestinians who they had encouraged to flee during the planned destruction of Israel: the refugees never became citizens of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, or any other of the Arab countries, nor are their children or grandchildren allowed to: they all live under UN refugee passports, forever stateless. Forever used as pawns, forever told they are victims of the Jews, who are the only reason that the fourth generation lives in poverty. Or so they are told.

Imagine if we had treated the Cubans the same way.

The UN "Human Rights Council" votes for banning free speech

In general, banning criticism of religion. Specificly, criticism of Islam. No word on exceptions made for, oh, say Judaism or Christianity. I guess those are assumed.

Thanks to PowerLine for the tip.

UPDATE: Since this was introduced by Muslim states, an exception for Judaism has to be assumed, and Christianity as well.

All other religions, in fact. Else how to square banning criticism of religion with making it a capital offense to proselytize any religion save Islam in Saudi Arabia? How to square it with making it a capital offense for a non-Muslim to enter the city of Mecca? How to square it with making a capital offense to convert from Islam to any other religion? How to square it with official Saudi school text books calling Jews apes and pigs? How to square it with the Palestinians in Gaza making sale of land to a Jew a capital offense?

I guess prosecuting and executing people doesn't count as criticism, so long as they aren't Muslims, nor does calling people pigs and apes, so long as they are Jews.

Rupert Murdoch buries his lede

But at least he had one:

But I am curious: Why do we never hear calls for Hamas leaders to be charged with war crimes?

Why, for example, do we hear no calls for human rights investigations into Hamas gunmen using Palestinian children as human shields? Why so few stories on the reports of Hamas assassins going to hospitals to hunt down their fellow Palestinians? And where are the international human rights groups demanding that Hamas stop blurring the most fundamental line in warfare: the distinction between civilian and combatant?

I suspect the answer has to do with the same grim logic that leads Hamas to provoke a military battle it knows it cannot win. Whether Israel is ever found guilty of any war crime hardly matters. Hamas gets a propaganda win simply by having the charge made often and loudly enough.

While he suggests an answer to why they commit war crimes, he never really answered his own question of why aren't they charged with same. Still, it's worth a read.