T. Belman. To implicitly compare Pres Trump’s fitness to command with that of Queeg’s is ridiculous. Pres Trump has an impressive list of accomplishments to his credit. That in itself proves his competance. It is scandelous that the Democrats say otherwise.

Also Greenwald’s argument that past accomplishments or acts should entitle Queeq to unquestioned support is also ridiculous.

The 25th Amendment to the US Constitution got a little inspiration from a passionate Jewish lawyer in ‘The Caine Mutiny’

By Ron Kampeas, JTA

[..]

Herman Wouk’s 1951 novel is about a group of Navy officers who remove a volatile captain from his command of a minesweeper when he freezes up during a typhoon. The officers are tried for mutiny and acquitted. The Pulitzer Prize-winning book, the subsequent play and the 1954 movie made “Captain Queeg” a byword for erratic leadership.

Humphrey Bogart earned an Oscar nomination for his performance as Queeg, who nervously spins a pair of ball bearings in his hand and obsesses about missing strawberries before breaking down on the witness stand.

Jose Ferrer, left, portraying Lt. Barney Greenwald, Van Johnson, center, as Lt. Steve Maryk, and Humphrey Bogart, as Captain Philip Francis Queeg, appear in the 1955 Hollywood movie ‘The Caine Mutiny.’ (AP Photo)

Read more…

T. Belman. For those unfamiliar with +972, it is virulenlty anti-Israel

Whether European states follow through on their threats and warnings over the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar will determine a great deal about the EU’s relevance and its ability to influence Israeli policy vis-a-vis the Palestinians.

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, +972

Palestinian, foreign, and Israeli activists try to block an Israeli bulldozer preparing for the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar, July 4, 2018. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

European powers are going to have to make a crucial choice in the coming week. Two months after five EU states reportedly warned Israel that the demolition and forced displacement of Khan al-Ahmar would trigger a reaction from its allies, the Israeli Supreme Court on Wednesday gave its final stamp of approval for the demolition to go ahead.

Along with the southern West Bank hamlet of Susya, the EU has touted Khan al-Ahmar as one of a few, seemingly arbitrary red lines in Israel’s decades-long policy of demolishing Palestinian homes and expanding its settlement enterprise in the occupied territory (for an explanation why, read Edo Konrad’s interview with Jerusalem expert Daniel Seidemann). Diplomats arrive in convoys whenever the small, dilapidated villages in ‘Area C’ are on the verge of being destroyed. Statements of condemnation, and occasional warnings, are fired into the ether.
Read more…

Anne Marie Waters censored after saying more attention should be paid to child abuse than ‘offensive tweets’

By Paul Joseph Watson, INFOWARS |  SEPTEMBER 14, 2018

UK political party leader Anne Marie Waters was permanently banned by Twitter after she questioned why a police force was wasting its time monitoring offensive tweets when it should be prosecuting Muslim grooming gangs.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warns that countries, especially in Europe, have already seen the ramifications of engaging with the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.

BY JACKSON RICHMAN, JNS

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses reporters at the State Department on Sept. 14, 2018. Credit: Jackson Richman/JNS.

WASHINGTON – Ahead of the second round of American sanctions on Iran in November since the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned on Friday that those measures will drastically change the way any business is done with the regime.

“Make no mistake, come November 4th, there will be a fundamentally different set of rules on anyone who deems it necessary to engage in economic activity with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said.

Pompeo added that countries, especially in Europe, have already seen the ramifications of engaging with the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.
Read more…

There has never been a more predictable, more steadfast or more constant president than Donald J. Trump

By Lawrence Solomon, NATIONAL POST

U.S. President Donald Trump’s critics — these days led by Anonymous, author of a New York Times op-ed and Bob Woodward, author of a new Trump book — accuse him of being an “erratic,” “unpredictable leader” who inhabits “an alternate universe” that will destroy the economy, end the Western alliance and start World War III.

What planet do these critics inhabit? There has never been a more predictable, more steadfast or more constant president than Donald J. Trump. In public policy, he is the gold standard in staying the course.
Read more…

T. Belman. And I thought the American elections were always about the economy.

THE INDEPENDENT UK

Republicans could be swamped by a “blue wave” in Congress, according to a clutch of polls which show double-digit leads for Democrats in November’s midterm elections.

Midwest voters are fuelling a growing gap between the two parties as support for Donald Trump wanes in key states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, one pollster said.

“Every way we are looking at the data, the same general pattern is emerging,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, whose latest survey showed a 12 percentage point lead for the Democrats.
Read more…

By Ariel Kahana, ISRAEL HAYOM

 By Ibrahim Hamidi, Asharq Al-Awsat

A US document, seen by Asharq Al-Awsat on Thursday, said Damascus needed to cut its relations with the Iranian regime and its militias and to introduce a series of reforms to its Constitution, as part of a set of preconditions required to reach a solution to the conflict in Syria.

The document said the war-torn country should also “amend the President’s authorities,” and allow more powers to the Prime Minister.

In addition, it should give a greater role for the civil society to introduce reforms to the security apparatuses and follow a decentralizedsystem.
Read more…

The US promised to hold Iran accountable for attacks on US facilities in Iraq. But does the US still have any power in the area?

By Yochanan Visser, INN

More than two weeks after the Trump administration announced it would keep its current force of between 7,000 and 9,000 US soldiers in Iraq and dispatched Brett McGurk, the presidential envoy for the global coalition against ISIS to Baghdad in order to prevent an Iranian takeover of the country, it is becoming increasingly clear the US is losing Iraq.

On Thursday, pro-Iranian political factions finally reached an agreement about the forming of a new government, four months after May 12th’s parliamentary elections.
Read more…

By MARTIN SHERMAN

The Left in Israel is behaving like a person who cannot accept that the object of his love has chosen another in his stead

…unrequited love does not die; it’s only beaten down to a secret place where it hides, curled and wounded… [and] turns bitter and mean…? Elle Newmark, The Book of Unholy Mischief

…love is a scary thing. If not reciprocated, it can turn a person into a monster. ? Michele Young-Stone, The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors

It is, of course, undisputable that a good portion of what is dubbed as the Israeli “Left” have entrenched reservations as to the concept of a Jewish nation-state. Indeed, many even harbor resolute resistance to the validity, legitimacy and/or desirability of the idea. Actually, for all intents and purposes, such rejection is the central plank in their openly declared anti-Zionist political credo. Accordingly, they have little desire to see it develop and prosper.

Read more…

By Vic Rosenthal, ABU YEHUDA

Hating Jews is a big topic of discussion these days. They’re talking about it in the UK, where Jeremy Corbyn can’t understand why so many are making such a big deal about what he sees as merely a principle of his proposed foreign policy. And they are talking about it in the USA, where 21% of American voters said they had at least a “somewhat favorable” impression of Louis Farrakhan (that was in March, and I would be surprised if the percentage wasn’t greater today).

I should note that I’m trying to stop using the word “antisemitism,” a word invented by 19^th century German Jew-hater Wilhelm Marr to make his Judenhass more scientific-sounding. Marr also wanted to express his idea that the problem with Jews was more than just a religious, economic, or national issue: it was biological, racial. Of course this implies that Jewishness cannot be fixed. Even if a Jew got himself baptized, stopped being a money-lender, had German citizenship, or served with distinction in the German army, he was still corrupt and dangerous. We all know where this idea led.
Read more…

T. Belman.  “Half of Palestinians under 30 were unemployed.” This is very good news for Israel. The Deal of the Century provides for job creation and free housing in Jordan.  These are the people who will emigrate to Jordan for the jobs.

Unemployment in the Palestinian territories was the highest in the world in 2017, reaching 27.4%, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report finds • UNCTAD chief Mahmoud Elkhafif says Israeli restrictions on work permits partially to blame.

Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

U.N. Conference on Trade And Development Coordinator of ?Assistance to the Palestinians Mahmoud Elkhafif  Photo: Reuters

Palestinian citizens are trapped in an economy of jobless growth with no prospects, especially in Gaza, which is undergoing “de-development,” the United Nations trade and development agency said in an annual report published on Wednesday.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report said unemployment in the Palestinian territories was the highest in the world in 2017, at 27.4%, while agricultural production fell by 11%. Half of Palestinians under 30 were unemployed. The economy grew 3.1% but was flat on a per capita basis.
Read more…

DEBKA

Shared mechanisms for beating US sanctions against Iran may be built into Syria’s massive post-war reconstruction program, DEBKAfile’s exclusive sources report. This plan was approved by Presidents Vladimir Putin, Hassan Rouhani and Tayyip Erdogan at their Tehran summit on Sept. 7. It topped their agenda, in addition to coordination among Russian, Iranian and Syrian forces in their coming offensive for demolishing the last Syrian rebel stronghold in Idlib. The pause in launching ground operations in Idlib is accounted for by two major hurdles:

Read more…