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The Latest: Trump Wins, NFL Caves (Updated)



The latest developments tell a simple story; President Trump wins, NFL Caves.

League commissioner Roger Goodell held a behind-closed-door meeting Tuesday night with NFL owners, league executives and select players to talk about the national anthem protests and especially, I'm sure, the effect its having on the bottom line.

There's been massive cancellations and refunds issued by major cable providers for 'season ticket' accounts, attendance and TV ratings are down to the point where it's becoming a problem, and fan anger is becoming palpable to the point where the networks are taking care not to turn the cameras on booing and gesticulating fans, although tuning out the sound of the booing and catcalls isn't possible. Long time NFL sponsors like Campbell's soups are facing boycotts from angry former fans.

While there were the usual innocuous remarks on the meeting, especially from the player reps who attended, it's obvious that Goodell and some of the owners now realize what a serious mistake they made letting their pampered employees alienate pro football's core audience.

The day after the meeting, Pittsburgh Steeler center Maurkice Pouncey announced that the entire team will stand respectfully for the national anthem this Sunday.

After facing backlash about standing in the tunnel during the national anthem last Sunday, Pouncey says the team will stand for the anthem.

“I promise you one thing, this week we will all be standing out there for the national anthem. Trust me,” Pouncey said. This comes after the entire team stayed in the tunnel when the national anthem was played. And after the one Steeler who did come out and stand respectfully for flag and country, former Army Ranger Alejandro Villanueva was viciously attacked by the Steeler's black head coach Mike Tomlin.

The Green Bay Packers tried to have it both ways, standing for the anthem and linking arms, a gesture used before by teams like the Patriots to show 'solidarity' with the black players protesting. The Packers also tried to get their fans to link arms and made the expected remarks about unity, but for the most part that was a dismal failure, as even ESPN admitted:

Michele Steele @ESPNMichele
Vast majority did not link arms but many sang along w the anthem. Right behind GB bench a sign: "Shame on the NFL. Vets stand for the flag"
Their opponents, the Chicago Bears tried the same linked arms tactic.It didn't go over much better.

The Dallas Cowboys are rumored to be the next team to stand for the anthem, although whether they'll do the linked arms choreography remains to be seen.

After what's already happened, I have my doubts most of the fans are going to put up with half measures. I'm not even sure reversing course and having players respect the flag and the national anthem can turn things around at this point, but we'll see.

At any rate, it appears that once again, President Trump has a lot better grasp on how his fellow Americans think than people who supposedly get paid to know this sort of thing.

Or to use the short version, Trump wins, NFL caves.

UPDATE: This is becoming a farce. After insulting flag and country by kneeling during the U.S. anthem but standing respectfully for 'G-d Save the Queen' during an exhibition game in the UK, New Orleans Saint's quarterback Drew Brees told the press that the Saints will all kneel first during the anthem and then stand up. "

As a way to show respect to all, our team will kneel in solidarity prior to the national anthem & stand together during the anthem.


Get a clue, Brees. By kneeling you're expressing solidarity with those who disrespect our country and our flag. And by standing afterwards, you are simply trying to appease enraged fans because the owners want to keep the money coming in. Do you really have such a low opinion of your fans? Do you really think they're that stupid?

I actually have more respect for the kneelers. They at least have the virtue of honesty in showing their contempt for America, which has given them everything. You and those of your teammates who participate in this nonsense show nothing but cowardice.

Don't even bother.

The EU, Jews And Hypocrisy

 

There's been a lot of talk by the EU's press and certain politicians about 'Nazis' during the recent EU elections, the rise of what's referred to as the anti-semitic right and how dangerous it is for EU Jews. And of course. the politicians now in power pledge to fight anti-semitism.

Let's see how that works in real life, shall we?

Yesterday in the Israeli town of Har Adar just northwest of Jerusalem, one of the Arabs whom call themselves Palestinians murdered three Jews in cold blood and critically wounded another in a shooting attack.

From left to right: Solomon Gavriyah, Youssef Ottman and Or Arish, three Israelis killed in a terror attack outside the settlement of Har Adar on September 26, 2017 (Courtesy)

Nimer Mahmoud Ahmed Aljamahad been given a job in Har Adar (so much for ideas of promoting peace by bolstering 'Palestinian' economy) and had an Israeli work permit, so he had access to the town. He simply brought his gun to work and shot the Israelis in the back from ambush. He was then shot and killed by security forces in the town.

United Hatzalah is a something of a unique organization in Israel and in some Jewish communities in the Diaspora as it mostly consists of volunteer emergency first responders. One of them, Moshir Abu Katish,from the Israeli-Arab town of Abu Ghosh, described the scene of the attack.

"I was alerted to the attack by the United Hatzalah dispatch center and I raced over to the scene [of the attack], which took place near the fence of Har Adar. Security forces had shot and killed the terrorist who had carried out a shooting attack against a group of Israelis who live in Har Adar.”

" Unfortunately, the three more seriously injured people in the attack were pronounced dead at the scene. A fourth person who was injured we treated at the scene before he was transported to the hospital for further treatment and observation."

Hamas, of course took credit fo rthe attack and celebrated this latest 'martyr.' So did Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas's party who runs the Palestinian Authority, the people Israel is expected to make peace with.



This is from Fatah's official Facebook page, which of course Facebook would never think of censoring or removing. It's a picture of the killer, Nimer Mahmoud Ahmed Aljamahad. The caption reads: "In the name of the Fatah movement, we share the sorrow of the family of the shaheed (holy martyr) Nimer Mahmoud Ahmed Aljamal who was killed in the operation today."

Fatah also wrote: "He who carried out the operation in Jerusalem is shaheed Nimr Mahmoud Ahmed Aljam"

The PA Ministry of Health claimed - wait for it - that Aljamal died because he was shot by 'occupation forces' of course not mentioning that he had murdered three Israelies. Needless to say, Aljamahad's family will now go on Mahmoud Abbas's payroll with a nice monthly stipend courtesy of all that donor aid money.

But now, let's looks at the reaction from the U.S and especially from the EU.

President Trump's Special envoy Jason Greenblatt condemned the deadly terrorist attack and criticized Hamas for praising it.

"My family & I are horrified by the attack in Har Adar. Shame on Hamas and others who praised the attack. All must stand against terror!" Greenblatt tweeted.

"We pray for the victims of today's attack at Har Adar, and their loved ones as well," he added.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman also condemned the attack, calling the shooting a “cruel” and “evil brutality” and an act of “unprovoked terrorism”.

“Once again, Israelis confront the cruel and evil brutality of unprovoked terrorism,” Friedman wrote on Twitter. “We pray for the victims at Har Adar and their families.”

The EU also formally condemned the attack.

“There can be no justification for such a crime and attempts by Hamas to glorify the attack are reprehensible. Violence and terror will only achieve more loss and pain and must stop,” said a statement from the EU spokesperson.

“The European Union offers its deepest condolences to the families of the victims of the shootings,” the statement added.

You'll notice that the EU condemnation doesn't mention Abbas and Fatah. In fact the only one who mentioned Hamas and alluded to 'others' without naming names was Greenblatt.

And now we get to the real meat of the story.

You see, Hamas and Fatah are in the process of coming to an agreement about putting a unity government in power, thanks to the aid shutdown to Gaza Abbas and Fatah were able to engineer among the donor nations. Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and other PA ministers announced a plan to take administrative control over Gaza, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' political leader, said Hamas was willing to cede control to the PA provided Abbas responds with what Haniyeh called 'practical steps.' Haniyeh is talking about Hamas retaining control of the Hamas police force (and of course, its military), retaining exclusive authority over the border crossings, and of course, an increased share of donor money. In other words, Hamas would retain practical control over Gaza using the western-backed Abbas as a shield and a cover for its activities.

Remember that Hamas is an officially designated terrorist group in both the EU and U.S. who just condemned their activities so heartily.

And here's the punchline...both the UN and EU have specifically offered help and assistance in putting these two terrorist groups together, as well as continuing to fund and empower them.

Which means you can take that 'condemnation' and flush it in the toilet for all it's worth in real terms. Apparently Hamas isn't so reprehensible to the EU after all.

Yes there's a lot of talk in the EU's media and from politicians like France's Macron and Germany's Merkel about the rise of the right and the danger to Europe's Jews. Some Jews are even gullible enough to swallow it. But here we see the reality of these same EU politicians ready, willing and able to help genocidal terrorist groups unify against Israel. And oddly enough for their supposed concern for Jews, conditions for the Jews in their countries continue to deteriorate, thanks to all the Muslims these politicians happily imported to their countries from the most anti-semitic countries on earth.

What a coincidence.

Say what you want. I certainly wouldn't imagine AFD, the Swedish Democrats, Geert Wilder's Partij voor de Vrijheid (Party For freedom) or Marine Le Pen's Front National sending money to these terrorist murderers. Or importing more of those Muslim 'refugees' who have made Jewish life in Western Europe so hellish.

No it's the Eu bureaucrats on the Left, the ones in power that do that sort of thing. They've conveniently forgotten that the Jews are just the canary in the coal mine, and figure that if they can just give the Muslims the Jews and lean hard enough on Israel, they'll have peace. But of course, it won't end there.

It never does.

When it comes to the EU, Jews and hypocrisy there are simply no limits.






Monday, September 25, 2017

The German Elections: Dead Man's Curve




The German Elections are over, and the German people mostly voted for the status quo. And in that word 'mostly' lies a possibility that rather than crashing and burning, Germany might just manage to avoid suicide and remain a western, European nation.

Angela Merkel did indeed win a fourth term, but with the worst result for her party, the CDU/CSU Union since 1949, and one that assures that in order to govern, she will need coalition partners. And that won't be all that easy to assemble. Even worse for her is a possible splintering of the long standing CDU/CSU party...and the surprisingly strong showing of the Right in the form of Alternative für Deutschland (AFD). Here are the numbers:



Mutti Merkel will need 316 seats to govern. Let's look at who these parties are...

The Union is the CDU (Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands, Christian Democratic Union of Germany) , in union with the CSU (Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern, Christian Social Union in Bavaria). The CSU is to the right of the CDU, although both are pro-EU. And the CSU is seriously talking about a split, since they're concerned how Merkel's stance on unlimited Muslim migration will effect them in their Bavarian stronghold. The CSU dropped from 49% to 38.5% thanks to Merkel, and have already announced a turn to the right, particularly regarding Muslim migration.

The SPD is the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, Social Democratic Party of Germany). It's a party of the Left that supports socialism, is pro-EU and has already said it will not join a coalition with Merkel. The Social Democrats and their candidate Martin Schulz came in a distant second, with a post-war record low of 21 percent.

Die Linke, as you can gather from its name is a far Left party that includes the former German communist party (PDS). They're an unlikely partner for Merkel.

Grüne (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Alliance 90/The Greens) is a very Left party with enviro-politics as their major focus. They might be prepared to do a deal with Merkel for the right price.

The FDP (Freie Demokratische Partei, Free Democratic Party) —are more centrist and champion free market economics and traditional classic liberal freedoms, but are also pro-EU. Again, a possible partner for Merkel for the right price.

And finally, AFD (Alternative für Deutschland, Alternative for Germany) — Anti-EU, nationalist and very much against Merkel's continued importation of Muslim migrants to Germany. This is the first them they have passed the threshold of votes needed to get them into the Bundestag, Germany's Parliament. and while the chart lists them last, in terms of seats they have now gone on to become Germany's third largest party. They not only won't work with Merkel, they have pledged to oppose her at every turn. As AFD Leader Alexander Gauland said last night when the returns came in, "We will chase Mrs. Merkel, and we will take our country and our people back!”

By gaining seats in the Bundestag, AFD has dramatically boosted its visibility and qualifies for state financing.

AFD's rise is even more astonishing when you realize that the party was essentially split between an unapologetic right wing party led by Gauland and Alice Weidel and a more moderate wing headed by Frauke Petry, who helped form the party in 2013. If AFD had been united, their results might have been even more stunning.



In fact, Frauke Petry announced just after the election that she would sit in the Bundestag as an independent in opposition AFD's future will depend on whether the party continues to splinter or is able to unify over its core issues without being distracted.



The Left's reaction to AFD's success was quite typical. Rent-a-mobs in Leipzig tried to storm the town hall, where votes were still being counted, and where the AFD was holding their election party.



The same thing occurred in Berlin where another AFD election party was being held, and elsewhere, with protesters screaming things like 'Nazis Aus!' waving signs, breaking windows and generally acting out.

Unsurprising, since the German press (largely Left leaning) branded AFD as Nazis, and even German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and other Merkelites made the idea of "real Nazis" entering the Bundestag a real issue during the campaign.

Are the AFD Nazis? While some of them likely lean in that direction and have questionable views on certain subjects, I'd have to say generally speaking that this is more a typical case of Leftist hypocrisy and frankly, projection. After all, there were no AFD brown shirts trying to violently storm CDU/CSU events! Nor does AFD regurgitate the Nazi's economic views, which were frankly socialist.

The election itself basically revolved around two main themes. Merkel is seen as the comfortable status quo. Germany is still prosperous, and a lot of its graying population (more than half of the 61 million voters are aged 52 or older) saw Merkel as a symbol of stability.

The other theme is the simple fact that many Germans feel unsafe in their own country. Women in particular are uneasy walking alone at night, riding the trains or using public swimming pools for obvious reasons. Whole areas in German cities are becoming no-go areas for non-Muslims, and the tax money needed to support the Muslim migrants is taking a huge bite out of German wallets. Many people are simply fed up, and the election results show that as well.

The German elections show a nation negotiating Dead Man's curve. If Germany continues its skid towards destruction, it will end up with Muslims ruling it under sharia as one of the most important countries in Europe literally falls to invasion. Ironically, given how Merkel touts it, that would also lead to the end of the EU, something that's pretty close to happening anyway since many nations in the EU aren't going along with the diktats of Merkel and her minions in Brussels when it comes to doing to their countries what Germany and Sweden have done to theirs.

If the Germans decide that enough is enough, if the AFD remains united and goes more mainstream, if Germany reaches a consensus on the harm Merkel's allowing a surge of Muslim migrants into Germany has done, they may yet make the turn on Dead Man's Curve and save their country.

In that case, this year's German elections may be the beginning of Germany's return to sanity.

And Mutti Merkel? She will likely end up a Chancellor again, but her term will be anything but smooth. I'd be very surprised if she finishes it.

Sunday, September 24, 2017

An American In Babylon - Trump's UN Speech

 

President Trump's UN speech attracted a fair amount of controversy among the chattering classes. It shouldn't have.

The United Nations has become a byword for useless, dysfunctional bureaucracy a mere 72 years after its founding.

Like Belshazzar's feast, it spends lavishly and conducts itself with opulence, but is rotted through with corruption and does little of any value while squatting in mordant self satisfaction.

Leave it to President Donald J. Trump to point out the wrong direction the UN has traveled since its founding in the aftermath of two devastating world wars, and to challenge it to change direction and become the force for good it was intended to be.



The president called for the UN and its members to reverse course, and to become what the UN was supposed to become on its inception...a group of sovereign, independent nations who prized freedom, democracy and peace and were willing to work together to promote them and to take action against rogue nations who threatened those ideals. If you read the original UN charter, you get a sense of just how far the UN today has removed itself from what it says.

Scandals like 'oil for food' where even the Secretary General's son was implicated in money laundering for Saddam Hussein to avoid UN sanctions abound. Countries like Iran routinely threaten genocide. And violate with impunity even UN Security Council series 7 resolutions like UNSC 1701, which called for the disarming of terrorist group Hezbollah and prohibiting UN members from rearming them. Iran and Syria rearmed Hezbollah without incurring any penalty whatsoever.

UN peacekeeping forces are more noted for trading food supplies for enforced prostitution, ignoring their supposed duties and allowing violence against civilians than for fulfilling their actual missions.

That's exactly why President Trump quoted Harry Truman, who stressed that the success of the United Nations depended on the “independent strength of its members.”

And unlike his predecessor, President Trump was unafraid to voice this simple truth;

“The United States of America,” Trump said, “has been among the greatest forces for good in the history of the world, and the greatest defenders of sovereignty, security, and prosperity for all.”

And our president was equally honest about confronting thoe rogue nations who threaten peace and security. He called out the disgusting regime of Kim Jong-un in North Korea, saying thatthe patience of the United States is great, but not inexhaustible. Asthe president explained, If North Korea persists in its policy of nuclear blackmail, the United States “will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.” He continued: “Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime.”

Needless to say, the Leftist press worldwide fainted away collectively at that. But what President Trump said was the simple truth. The same is true about what President Trump had to say about the equally rogue, criminal regime of Iran, one of the world's biggest sponsors of terrorism, a foe of America who was openly complicit in 9/11.

The UN's ignoring of the Iranian regime's march towards nuclear weapons is so ingrained that they aren't even making an attempt to have it look like they're doing something. Not only has Iran has prohibited the UN from any inspection of their military facilities where there's been clear indications of manufacturing and testing nuclear weapons components, but the IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog now allows Iran to self inspect their nuclear facilities that the UN is allowed to get a glimpse of. To accuse the IAEA and the UN of gross negligence whenit comes to Iran is a gross understatement.

You see, President Trump wasn't just giving a display of American resolve. This was a direct challenge to the UN, plain and simple. The UN, after all is supposed to be the forum where dangerous regimes like Iran and North Korea are supposed to be addressed and dealt with. While Trump was quite clear that America could handle these rogue regimes on their own, He said it would be far better if the UN actually did what it was supposed to do and dealt with these major threats to world peace. “If the righteous many do not confront the wicked few,” Trump said in another memorable line, “then evil will triumph.”

Trump even had the intestinal fortitude to address Socialism.

No ideology has ever been so discredited by the evidence of history, but like a serially cheating wife or husband still offers hope to a long suffering spouse that this time, it will really be different. Except, of course, it never is.

Trump used the UN's failure to address the human tragedy now going on in Venezuela, once one of the richest countries on earth where Maduro's socialist regime is literally starving its population to death. It wasn't so long ago the Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders and other Leftists were using Hugo Chavez and Venezuela as an example of how well socialism could work. Now, as the once rich country descends into poverty and chaos, they don't mention Venezuela any more.

“The problem in Venezuela,” Trump said, “is not that socialism has been poorly implemented, but that socialism has been faithfully implemented.”

So how did President Trump's speech go over? To most of the delegates of the UN, not very well. Being publicly unmasked like that is the last thing they wanted, let alone being challenged to make the UN what it was created to be. And of course, Trump's usual political enemies in the press and in the Democrat party went predictably ballistic. But as usual, the president has hit another bulls eye when it come to talking to the American people and to friends of freedom everywhere.

Speaking truth to power is a Leftist cliche', but that is exactly what President Trump's UN speech did, in one of his finest moments.

Tuesday, September 05, 2017

A Humane And Fair Solution For DACA

 Image result for dreamers demand their rights

DACA, as most of you might know, stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It was a policy President Barack Hussein Obama implemented by executive order. It allows allows illegal immigrants who entered the country as minors, to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and makes them eligible to legally work in the United States.

DACA was presented by the former president and his allies in the press as both just and humane. After all, these 'Dreamers,' to use the catchy label coined by the president and the policy's exponents, had come here as children, this was the only country they knew and of course they should be allowed to stay, shouldn't they?

But that was only the beginning. The president's next step, in November 2014 was DAPA (Deferred Action For Parents of Americans) which was supposed to give a similar de facto amnesty to parents of the Dreamers. That led to a major influx of unaccompanied minors coming across our borders, mostly male teenagers or in some cases older and posing as teenagers. The idea was to get here, get Dreamer or refugee status and then, send for the rest of the family including Auntie, Grandpa, distant cousins and pretty much anyone else thanks to America's very lenient family reunification programs.

DAPA was merely announced by President Obama. It wasn't even dignified by a Presidential executive order, nor even a regulatory ruling. The President may have misplaced his pen, because he simply announced it, and that was that,banana republic style. A few months later, in response to lawsuits from several states, an injunction was issued stopping the DAPA program in February 2015, and President Trump finally put an end to it in 2017.

So what is to be done about DACA?
The Pew Trust,whose numbers may be somewhat inflated says that 1.7 million people might be eligible, although U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) only has received about 850,000 applications. As an aside, each application costs $450, and that amounts to a total of $382,500,000. I'd certainly like to know where that money went, wouldn't you?

President Trump has announced he is considering ending DACA. Part of his motivation is an agreement he made with 19 State Attorney generals to postpone a pending lawsuit declaring DACA illegal and unconstitutional (which it actually is) and demanding redress from the Federal Government for state funds expended because of it. The president asked them to hold off until he has a chance to study the issue a bit more. But as these states have informed the president, their patience is running out.

There are several ways this could go. The President could keep the program in force in exchange for things he wants from congress like tax reform, and ObamaCare repeal and funding for his budget. But if he does, he will lose political support from his base and get no credit from the pro amnesty Left anyway, as well as dealing with that lawsuit. Or he can curtail it,in which case he loses nothing, because the pro amnesty Left and their RINO allies will throw a tantrum no matter what he does.

The fact is that DACA is illegal. It is yet another piece of fallout from America's refusal to protect its borders and base immigration on its needs rather than allowing a tsunami of illegal migration.

On the other hand, there undoubtedly are illegal migrants who were brought here as young children illegally and consider this their home. It would be tremendously unjust to give these migrants preference simply because of their proximity to our border over the many people who want to come here and are stuck in the bureaucratic nightmare that involves. An illegal migrant is still an illegal migrant, not an 'immigrant.'

Still, I think there's actually a solution to this problem that works as far as respecting America's migration laws, retaining fairness for legal migrants and addressing the humanitarian issue posed by some DREAMers.

First of all, DACA needs to be ended. There's no question that it's both illegal and unjust. And even worse, holds people in limbo, so it solves nothing.

Some of the DREAMers could be allowed to stay under certain conditions. They would have to be able to document 10 years residency in the United States from what I call unimpeachable sources; school records, health records, employment records, DMV records if available,tax returns, that sort of thing.

They would be of good character, have committed no crimes,not be members of any questionable groups or organizations,  have learned to speak English, and not be on public assistance. They would not be eligible for U.S. citizenship but would receive a special permanent residence permit that would allow them to live and work in America.The citizenship restriction would not apply to illegal migrants who have served in our military and who otherwise qualify.

And it should clearly be understood that this residence permit is a one time act of clemency, not an entitlement or precedent. If necessary, legislation would need to be passed clarifying this.

 Related image

As non-citizens, they would not be allowed participation in any family reunification program to bring relatives to America from overseas, to hold public office or to vote.

While it might be wise to put a numerical quota on these residence permits, I believe that anywhere from 30-50% of the DREAMers would qualify to stay in America should they choose to. It would mean they have forfeited certain rights given to legal migrants, but that they could continue to live in America.