US opens embassy in Jerusalem

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s statement on the U.S. embassy opening in Jerusalem:

“Today I am proud to celebrate the opening of the United States Embassy to Israel in Jerusalem. This significant event fulfills a promise made by President Trump. As he proclaimed on December 6, 2017, “Seventy years ago, the United States, under President Truman, recognized the State of Israel. Since then, the State of Israel has made its capital in Jerusalem — the capital the Jewish people established in ancient times. It is therefore appropriate for the United States to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”

“We remain committed to advancing a lasting and comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

“I am delighted to have visited Israel on my first trip overseas as Secretary of State. I look forward to returning soon to visit our new US embassy and Ambassador Friedman in Jerusalem.”

Israel turns 70

Me and my buba on Yom Haatzmaut, the actual day, May 14, 1948.

And for some background on the day, this is fascinating: How Harry Truman Crossed His Own State Department to Recognize Israel. One of the few businessmen to have been an American president. Read it through. The Deep State has a long history.

And there is also this. From Instapundit

THE LATE 1940s SAW A LOT OF MAJOR MOVEMENTS OF REFUGEES:  In 1945, there were almost 1 million Jews living in Arab lands.  Within just a few years, that had changed radically.  When India was partitioned, 14 million were displaced. Large centuries-old German settlements in the Soviet Union, Poland and Czechoslovakia disappeared as ethnic Germans, were expelled or deported, fled or died. Only in the case of Palestinians is the refugee issue still alive, says Jeff Jacoby.

As I often ask, but with fewer with each passing year who even understand the question: where is Prussia today?

He just keeps rolling on

From The Diplomad speaking to us on diplomacy with an American perspective but outside the Deep State. All sounds good to me.

Trump Rolls On

OK. Are there any other world leaders out there? If so, they shouldn’t bother coming to work. Take a holiday. Enjoy the coming summer in the northern hemisphere and the coming winter in the south. Just go home. Relax. Trump’s got ya covered.

He does it, yet again.

He has killed the Iran nuclear “deal.”

Trump knows how to do foreign policy.  We’ve had to put up with decades of condescending lectures from the traditional foreign policy “elites” on how difficult foreign policy is; how it’s just more complex than YOU could ever understand; don’t try it at home; and just leave it to the experts. Seems that our President is following in the foot-steps of Ronald Reagan, and even blazing a few paths of his own when it comes to foreign policy. Amazing how a clear articulation of purpose, a demonstration of strength, and a refusal to accept the standard bromides produces different results. What’s that definition of crazy? Shall we say, President Trump is destroying the world order in order to save the world? Sounds good.

The mullahs in Teheran, the murderers in ISIS, Pyongyang and Damascus, as well as the virtue-signaling, pearl-clutching bien pensants in Hollywood, media, academe, and all the capitals of the Far Abroad, now know they’re dealing with a different sort of U.S. President. Thank the Lord this President has followed the Diplomad’s long-standing foreign policy dictum, “Do not listen to the Europeans,”

[T]he surest way to lose American lives and treasure is to listen to the Europeans. Europe has not gotten anything right on the world stage since, well, since . . . well, since at least the French Revolution.

Let’s not forget that since the USA became a significant player, the principal aim of European leaders has been to embroil the USA in Europe’s wars, have the USA fix the messes caused by European leaders, but have the USA take instructions from Europe’s leaders. Even Churchill, whom I admire immensely, was not immune; he desperately wanted the mighty US in WWII, but wanted to dictate the how and the where of the application of US power. We, of course, previously saw the same thing in WWI. In that conflict 100 years ago, the geniuses in the European high commands needed US troops to halt a resurgent Germany after the exit of Russia from the war, but did not want an independent US force. Vietnam and Libya were also two messes in which we became involved to bail out Europe. Pershing successful resisted them. Let us also not forget that the long years of the Cold War involved the US footing the bulk of the bill for defense, allowing Europe to maintain Legoland militaries and spend their own wealth building cradle-to-grave social welfare systems, which, of course, relied on the despised US military for protection.

It goes on and on . . uh, well, not any longer. Just as Reagan did before in rejecting European advice on how to handle the USSR, it seems that Trump has a very clear home-grown idea of how to do things in the interest of the United States. About time.

The “deal” with Teheran was a classic convoluted mess so favored by the Euros and their admirers such as John Kerry. I have written a great deal about that “deal” (hereherehere, and here, for example, and there’s lots more). Don’t want to repeat all I have said before except to restate that this was a classic con job.

Of course, the Iranians and the Europeans are upset over President Trump’s bold announcement that we are walking away from this “deal.” As I have noted before, the “deal” guaranteed Iran’s acquiring a nuclear weapon, while, mostly European and Russian companies make a lot of money off the Iranian regime whose bank accounts became flush with billions of dollars and euros magnanimously provided by the Obama misadministration in the dead of night.

As to American opinion, I conducted my own highly “scientific” poll. Yesterday, I was at my local gun store, doing a little shopping in the wake of having received my concealed carry permit. Four “customers” were siting in the back of the little semi-rural gun store (“Green Acres”!) when the president came on TV to announce the end of the Iran so-called deal. All four broke into spontaneous applause, with one elderly gent wearing a Korean War Vet cap, telling his wife, “The President has done a great thing!”

There the science is settled, and now . . .

Let the fainting begin!

We hear cries of outrage from Obama, Kerry, and Clinton, of course, who see their “legacy” coming apart. The Iranians are running to Russia and Europe trying to save a vestige of the “deal” to make sure the goodies keep flowing. Kerry, of course, is repeating his anti-American antics of decades ago: just as he did with the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong delegations in Paris during the Vietnam War peace talks, he has been in Europe trying to strike some sort of new “deal” with Iran to undermine the US president. Kerry does treason quite well.

Among the many curious things being said is that Trump’s walking away from this “deal,” imperils our ability to reach a deal with North Korea. Well, yes, it does imperil the ability to reach a “deal” like the one with Iran, but that’s what we don’t want! While the fainters fainted, newly minted SecState Pompeo flew into Pyongyang to set up the forthcoming meeting between Kim and Trump, and flew out bringing home three American hostages. Sounds like Kim is more than willing to deal, and Trump has his measure of the man.

Meanwhile, the US Embassy is opening in Jerusalem, and the pearl-clutchers can’t believe that the world has not come to an end, yet again. The Saudis and other Arabs are making friendly noises towards Israel, clearly seeking Israeli support against Iran, and have supported Trump’s move on the faux deal. They know from whence the threat comes, and it’s not from Tel Aviv Jerusalem. The mullahs are rightfully in panic mode.

I can’t wait for President Trump to turn his full attention to the threat on our southern border and put an end to Mexican interference in our politics.

Roll on!

How the Libs can win and where Labor will never follow

There are certain political observers who would have seen Labor elected in 2016 to teach the Libs a lesson, but I have to say the thought still terrifies me. There are then those in the Coalition who believe that their superior economic management will make all the difference, a notion so absurd I cannot believe that they actually believe they have their finger on the pulse of the nation. So let me draw their attention to the above, which I picked up via Steve Hayward on Powerline, who heads his post: Gee – I wonder if it might be immigration?

This is where their winning break can and will come from, and I am at least comforted that Peter Dutton is such an excellent Minister and is supported by the Prime Minister. And on this Labor will never follow, because their strategy is to bring in an entirely new cohort of citizens on whom Labor will be able to depend.

There but for the grace of God

A fascinating and terrifying story: Former NYC media player finds himself living in homeless shelter after life took ‘unfathomable’ downward spiral. The details are all too plausible and the outcome undoubtedly a nightmare. Life has no certainty and security is never guaranteed. Just a bit chosen almost at random:

He was at 30th Street for five weeks. His cell phone was stolen. On his 70th birthday, Sept. 15, Homeless Services staff told him he was moving to another smaller shelter in Brooklyn. They also told him he would have to get there by himself.

“I had two duffel bags,” he said. “I protested. They put me on a bus at 10 that night with three others. One was dropped at Wards Island. They dropped two guys in Queens. They dropped me off at 2 a.m.”

Jackson now found himself living in another dorm room within the 62-bed facility run by the non-profit group Camba. He says they promised he’d be out by Thanksgiving. He’s still there.

He is still sane and seems to have his senses together. Just every option seemed to close and no one could offer him a landing. The article is an attempt for him to find his way out, and there is a book in his experience that might even be more horrific than anyone would ever wish to read purely because there is no reason something like that could happen to everyone. The Count of Monte Cristo spend years in the Chateau D’If but Dumas has no story if he dies there. But in real life many do just that, if not actually most.

If you don’t think this is political genius you don’t know what political genius is

In line with keeping your enemies even closer, think of this: President Trump Wants Colin Kaepernick, Quarterback He Vilified, and Kanye West for Summit on Race. And while there may be votes in it – as there should be if this kind of thing turns out to make progress – the undoubted motivation is to try to alleviate an existing problem.

President Donald Trump has given the green light to multiple meetings with athletes and musical artists to discuss race, Cleveland-based pastor Darrell Scott, an outside adviser to the White House adviser, tells PEOPLE.

“He is 100 percent for it,” says Scott, who spoke with Trump for about 20 minutes in the Oval Office following an outdoor ceremony at the White House for Thursday’s National Day of Prayer. “He was very enthusiastic about it.”

Kanye West, who recently had a Twitter love-fest with Trump, has been invited, says Scott, along with former NFL star Colin Kaepernick and other athletes and musicians of multiple races and ethnicities. . . .

Scott expects Trump will be in attendance. “We don’t want to sanitize it. I want people from the left to attend. I want it to get heated but I want it to be respectful,” says Scott.

“I want them to see and know the Donald Trump I know and they will say, ‘This guy isn’t who I’ve been lead to believe he is.’”

He’s a fixer and a uniter and a problem solver, unlike say another previous president who was none of these.

For Hegel I would not give a bagel!

Born 200 years ago today

Karl Marx 001.jpg

Karl Marx in 1875
Born 5 May 1818
TrierKingdom of Prussia
Died 14 March 1883 (aged 64)
LondonEnglandUK
Resting place Tomb of Karl MarxHighgate Cemetery, London, England, UK
Residence Germany, France, Belgium, UK
Nationality Stateless after 1845
Spouse(s) Jenny von Westphalen (m. 1843d. 1881)
Children 7, including JennyLaura, and Eleanor
Parents
Relatives Louise Juta (sister)
Jean Longuet (grandson)

Philosophy career

Alma mater University of Bonn
University of Berlin
University of Jena
Era 19th-century philosophy
Region Western philosophy
School Continental philosophy
Marxism
Main interests
Politics, economics, philosophy, history
Notable ideas
Marxist terminologysurplus value, contributions to the labour theory of valueclass strugglealienation and exploitation of the worker, materialist conception of history
Signature
Karl Marx Signature.svg

Cannot think of a thing to say. So let me instead suggest you read Lewis Feuer’s brilliant and fun, The Case of the Revolutionist’s Daughter: Sherlock Holmes Meets Karl Marx. And then when you have read that, that you read anything else you can get your hands on written by Lewis Feuer. Feuer was the most outstanding anti-Marxist of my youth and I bring him up because I would rather that his name was remembered instead of Karl Marx’s. But like hurricanes, the only ones you remember are the ones that did the most damage.

From his NYT obit:

His interest in matters philosophical was matched by a fascination with Sherlock Holmes. He condensed it in a historical whimsy of a novel, ”The Case of the Revolutionist’s Daughter: Sherlock Holmes meets Karl Marx” (Prometheus, 1983), which remains in print. In it, Holmes is hired by Marx to investigate the disappearance of his daughter, Eleanor, who actually committed suicide in 1898.

After his own break with Marx, the philosopher, Dr. Feuer, according to his family, adopted a personal mantra, ”For Hegel I would not give a bagel!”

Anti-semitism and the death of the West

These are comments at Instapundit commenting on an article We need to talk about Muslim anti-semitism. Lots to be said but here I focus on the blindness of Jews to a massive problem that will blight their community as far into the future as we can see, in the same way it will blight the future of Christians, both actual and by national history, to an almost equal extent. This is the death of the West unless something can be done right now.

Europeans tolerate Muslims because Europeans have outsourced their anti-Semitism to Muslim immigrants.

I think you’re very close with that idea. The Islamic community makes regular antisemitism seem more acceptable.

The Europeans do not hate Hitler because he killed six million Jews. They hate him because he did not finish the job. They are now counting on their Muslims and a nuclear Iran to finish the job.

And so fanatic is their hatred, they do not care what type of nuclear retaliation Israel might do.

That’s a fact. Hatred by proxy. Well said.

“And the leaders of Islam have to take a stand.” Um, the leaders of Islam HAVE taken a stand about non-Muslims in general and Jews in particular: we are to be converted, enslaved or killed.

The one thing to know about antisemitism is to understand that those who espouse that it is all about Israel, it is never about Israel, it never was or will be. It is hatred of a dynamic and successful religion, usually by those who feel deprived of the very things they feel they’ve been denied by those who they claim to hate.

To their credit, some Jewish organisations have attempted to confront the problem of anti-Semitism among Muslims.

“To their credit…”?!? In any sane society, that would be the minimum, not something to be lauded.
“To their credit, they oppose Nazism.”
“To their credit, they oppose the eating of babies.”
“To their credit, they don’t leave a little in the water pitcher just so they don’t have to refill it.”

Until Muslim leaders call for the rejection of those tenets of Islam that insist on Muslim supremacy Islam should be treated like a toxic, political, movement and nothing else. Someone please explain how any belief system can be “tolerated” by any society that ENCOURAGES (if not demands) murder, misogyny and political supremacy?

Were Islam not some group that the left witlessly embraces they’d be no more acceptable in a society than the Klan or a Nazi movement.

Well, duh … when their very ‘religion’ cum ideology calls for the killing and harm to Jews, that’s what they do. At some point in time, the world is going to have to admit to itself that it is part of the Islamic religion to hate Jews. Why are people acting like they’re surprised at the obvious????

Ironic. Hitler wasn’t able to get rid of all Jews from Europe, but it appears the European Union has found another way to do it. Immigrate Jew hating Muslims to drive them out for them. Leave while you can would be my advice. Europeans do not have the stomach for the fight that is coming.

It won’t just be the Jews and synagogues. Notre Dame will be gone. St Peter’s, Windsor Castle, Versaille. The Louvre, the greatest art and music the world has ever known will all be gone.

He’s not wrong, but he’s very wrong about the possibility of there being any real dialogue about the Jew-hatred coming from Islam. That Jew-hatred is woven throughout the Q’ran, the Hadiths, and the history of Islam itself. It’s taught to Muslims by imams around the world and ingrained in their thinking from their earliest indoctrination into their faith. Of American Muslims, who are not generally regarded as the most observant of Muslims, fully 25% believe that violent jihad against the enemies of Islam is not only justified, but required of Muslims. In other places, that percentage is much higher.

“Last year, Amber Rudd, the UK home secretary, confirmed ISIS had specifically identified British Jewry as a ‘desirable and legitimate target’.” For some reason, this verbiage, coming from the home secretary, seriously creeps me out. So do the references in the article to “studying the problem”. Not a whole lot of study is required.

 

Why does anyone believe they have a right to enter the US?

The story begins:

Hundreds of Central American migrants from a caravan that crossed Mexico reunited in Tijuana on Wednesday and planned to cross the border together this weekend in defiance of threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to repel them.

The timing of the migrants arrival could compromise a flurry of talks this week to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Trump has repeatedly threatened to scrap if Mexico does not crack down on the flow of Central Americans through its territory.

Busloads of migrants began arriving on Tuesday at a shelter that was a five minute-walk from the border and within sight of a U.S. flag waving under an overpass connecting the two countries.

While many rested in tents after a month-long journey across Mexico, others wandered up to the border to contemplate the next stage in their journey.

“The wall doesn’t look that tall,” said Kimberly George, a 15-year-old girl from Honduras as she looked toward a stunted barrier a few feet away. “I really want to cross it.”

The question then becomes, why don’t they just stay in Mexico if they’re so worried about their own countries? As if we don’t know.

The left everywhere, utterly discredited and with no policies to offer of the slightest value if growth and prosperity are the aim, is trying to follow Brecht’s cynical advice by “dismissing the people and appointing a new one”. Once just meant ironically this is now the policy of every party on the left and the most immediate and present danger to the civilisation of the west. And the aim of those who pursue these policies? Political power for themselves and absolutely nothing else.