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Joe Van Steenbergen's avatar

AIPAC's "thuumb" has grown into a "jackboot." Try getting out from under that.

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dissonant1's avatar

So what do you do when your Secretary of State, your National Security Director, and your CIA Director have been compromised by Israel and Israel wants war but you want peace? That's easy: send Witkoff! But I think Trump needs more than one of him. And it does beg the question of what good these other people are to him, other than superficially appeasing the Zionist lobby. Why didn't he just nominate Witkoff as SoS? OK - I know. Rubio is Neo-Connected. Sorry I temporarily lost contact with reality, there.

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Mark Wauck's avatar

And, no, these are not anti-Zionist types:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chabad#Political_activities

This guy will head the Trump inquisition.

Michael Tracey @mtracey

Trump's pick for "Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat anti-Semitism" is a Chabad Rabbi, fundraiser, and businessman, Yehuda Kaploun, whom he met through Miriam Adelson. Trump's political empowerment of "ultra-Orthodox" Jewish movements is a unique feature of his recent activities.

Kaploun says the situation of the Jews today is "similar to that of Jews in 1930s Germany, on the eve of Kristallnacht." Recently the Special Envoy role has expanded to include not just combatting anti-Semitism abroad, but domestically, so the Rabbi will have a lot on his plate.

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Joe's avatar

Most Americans are Against the Genocide

and Many in Israel are also

US and Israel atrocity is changing the way America Thinks

The survey by the Pew Research Center found that 62% of Americans oppose Trump’s oft-repeated proposal that the United States should take over Gaza — including 49% who strongly oppose the idea — while 15% support it. In the president’s own party, 44% oppose the idea and 27% support it.

Young people in both parties have relatively high unfavorables toward Israel: 50% of Republicans under 49, and 71% of Democrats in that age group, view Israel unfavorably.

https://jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com/most-americans-dont-want-the-us-to-conquer-gaza-pew-survey-finds/

Jewish Newspaper articles also stand against Genocide, unfortunately the US media does not appear to publish these stories

'Dead Children's Area': American Surgeons Return From Gaza and Can't Forget the Nightmare

https://archive.ph/XFXy8#selection-211.0-211.89

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Mark Wauck's avatar

Trump has to know all this.

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Joe's avatar

yeah - I imagine Trump also knows one effect may be that most countries will apparently try to do business elsewhere and just as the US population continues to change attitude toward supporting genocide, I imagine other countries too will find more and more others [ other than US ] to do business with them

destructing Gaza; destructing US trade [ tariffs aside because I'm kind of for them but not in the current institution methods - which are apparently changing quickly ]

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Cosmo T Kat's avatar

The Rabbi is full of shite. If they feel un comfortable they should do some self reflection and ask themselves, why is that. They ever admit the part they play in how the world views them. There’s a reason that is reflected in how their favorabilityhas slipped among most Americans.

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dissonant1's avatar

So I guess speech police are OK in America as long as they are "your" speech police. Sad! And very disturbing to say the least.

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Tamsin's avatar

When Democrats say "our democracy" they mean their bureaucracy.

When AIPAC says "our national security policy" they mean Israel's security policy.

Equivocation.

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SMH's avatar

Waay off topic, but I was hoping that you would have some comments on the appointment and apparent promotion of Steven Jensen over at the FBI, especially since he was so obviously prejudiced against Jan 6 participants and very outspoken about the fact. Puzzled how he could get promoted to be the FBI head of the District of Columbia, or did I miss something? I have been following the story on TGP and haven’t read anything to make this any less disturbing. Comments from anyone else here would be welcome as well, just doesn’t pass the smell test for me, but I’ve been patiently waiting for Peter Strozk (spelling) and his paramour to be disciplined-still waiting. I was thinking that past behavior might be properly handled with a new Director, not sure now. I know that a new broom is supposed to sweep clean, but if everything still winds up under the same old rug, seems kinda pointless.

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Mark Wauck's avatar

"haven’t read anything to make this any less disturbing."

Mt sentiments, too. Sends a disturbing signal.

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SMH's avatar

Ok, thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

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dpy's avatar

I was raised to not be racist or a bigot. However, as I grow old and have experience in the world......

I was also raised to be generous and caring. To be racist or bigoted would have been punishable. Now, we see more and more the "differentness" of a culture who we learn through somewhat muted channels have specific ehtos of NOT being generous or caring or sympathetic to the needs of other cultures. And of not blending in....of keeping apart and even scheming to take advantage from the generosity and caring of others.

Melting pot indeed. More like infiltration for the purpose of exploitation.

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Cosmo T Kat's avatar

Brilliant!

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ML's avatar

Infiltration - that’s the exact word. Boy are we in a fix…

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Cosmo T Kat's avatar

Yes, that's exactly my thought as well. Insinuate is a synonym for infiltration.

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Manul's avatar

A surprising number of evangelicals view support of Israel as a confession of faith, and it blinds them to an honest evaluation of what Israel is doing. Those evangelicals are dying out. Israel may have reached its high mark of support amongst the religious.

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Tamsin's avatar

So the focus shifts to colonizing tech, and the technological means of controlling people, especially young people. They won't need to own and operate Congress if they own and operate Silicon Valley, so to speak.

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TomA's avatar

Unbeknownst to himself, Trump is being managed by more than just AIPAC. Putin is masterfully managing Trump's ego in service to attaining its own goals with respect to Ukraine and diplomatic relations. The Russian military continues its advance and new commercial entanglements between the US and Russia (particularly O&G and mining) are now incipient. The price of this progress is temporal ranting by Trump, Rubio, and other minions. Ditto for Xi. The Chinese economy and growth marches on, and its ties to other nations strengthens with every wacky course change by Trump. Their interests are best served by letting Trump be Trump, who is only too happy to cooperate. The silver lining to all of this is that the US must hit bottom before real change occurs. Trump is cleverly making this happen faster than anyone can genuinely imagine. And this is a good thing. The American people need to wake up and roll up their sleeves, and sometimes that requires a 2x4 upside the head.

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Mark Wauck's avatar

Interesting view:

Why Trump’s Iran Diplomacy May Work

https://time.com/7276739/trump-iran-diplomacy-oman/

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dissonant1's avatar

Very well reasoned and presented by Parsi, providing hope of a long lasting accord between the U.S. and Iran independent of Israeli desires. Iran's goal of integrating American business interests into its economy is very wise and practical for long term peace, IMO. To me, the "bombshell" Parsi discloses is: "Teheran seems convinced that Trump genuinely wants a deal and is willing and able to offer sanctions relief to achieve it." I pray that this is true and they are not mistaken in their estimation of Trump's motives and means.

Thanks for the interesting and hopeful link.

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Its Just Me's avatar

Excellent explanation of the appellate process. Excellent observations about AIPAC.

Roberts claimed there are no Trump judges, and Obama judges. I'll append to Obama/Biden since Roberts' comments date before January of 2021.

To be fair to Roberts, whatever his personal beliefs, he has to appear as the "umpire", an above-the-fray, non-partisan, Chief Justice. Of course, he could've kept his mouth closed.

Stating up front that I have my own bias, it seems clear to me that some of these judges and justices don't like Trump and they make little effort to conceal their dislike.

Isn't a judge supposed to rise above the fray and provide wisdom, clarity, neutrality and justice? That is The Lord's model from the Old Testament.

As to AIPAC, this blog, the commenters, and a few other sites have awakened me to the negative effects of Zionism. I have previously commented that even when I was pro-Israel, I noticed how irrational normally sane Jewish conservatives became with respect to Israel and the Jews.

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dissonant1's avatar

All very good points, IJM! Thanks

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Mark Wauck's avatar

You've reminded me of something I meant to add. The Trump 1.0 strategy--a smart one--was to concentrate on filling appellate vacancies. That provides much more leverage than district court spots.

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Its Just Me's avatar

You made an astute observation, "The US constitutional order is like a super tanker—you don’t turn it on a dime, and you need to keep a sharp lookout for dangerous underwater rocks before you execute a change of course."

The same is true of educating, indoctrinating or brainwashing the People. The Leftists have been at it many years. Bringing the nation back to a proper view of the rule of law and restoring Christian morality won't happen overnight.

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