CNN Debate: Winners and Losers (Mommy Is It Over Yet?)

Somewhere in the middle of last night's debate I began to feel like a five-year-old on a long drive in the back of my parent's car, "mommy, mommy is it almost over?"  One thing can be said about the CNN debate....it was looooong.

The clear winner of the night was Carly Fiorina, other winners were Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, and Chris Cristie. The biggest losers were Ben Carson, Scott Walker, Rand Paul and CNN.

It was clear within the first moments of the "Happy Hour Debate" that someone at CNN decided that the entire debate night would be about Donald Trump. CNN decided that with almost every question they would pit one candidate against another. But then gave moderator Jake Tapper no help in controlling the answers, no buzzer, horn or any other sound.  It hurts me to say this because I am a huge Tapper fan but almost from the beginning it was clear that the very polite Jake Tapper could not control the format. It's not that the "fight" mentality of the debate was wrong but Tapper needed help as a referee. Also they had one of the media's best questioners sitting next to Tapper Hugh Hewitt and he was way, way under-utilized. 

Getting to the candidates, during the first debate Carly Fiorina was the clear winner even though she was at the "children's table." Fiorina had the most to lose because she fought so hard to be there, she took that opportunity and nailed it. She showed herself to be knowledgeable, unshakable, and gave crisp decisive answers. Her two best moments were:

• When the CNN moderators asked her about Trump’s Rolling Stone insult (“Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!"), she coolly responded: “Women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said". A red-faced trump Trump responded by saying, "she’s got a beautiful face and she's a beautiful woman,” which seemed to make it worse.

• In what seemed to be the best applause line of the night, Fiorina spoke passionately about the Planned Parenthood’s treatment of fetal tissue. " As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it’s heart beating, it’s legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us"

Because of the format in order to speak many times Chris Christie had to fight his way into the conversation. Like the time Fiorina and Trump were set up to argue about each others' business history and Christie angrily interrupted and this exchange was his best of the night.

Christie: Jake listen. While I’m as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly’s career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn’t have a job, who can’t fund his child’s education, I’ve got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let’s start talking about that on this stage and stop playing — and stop playing the games. Stop playing —

Kaisch: There’s a —

Christie: John — I’m not done yet, John.

Fiorina: A track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election.

Christie: Stop — and stop playing — and Carly — Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you’re not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don’t want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You’re both successful people. Congratulations. You know who’s not successful? The middle class in this country who’s getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let’s start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you.

Marco Rubio did very well, although (and most disagree with me) I felt he took too many opportunities to talk about his family history. His best moments were about foreign policy. He rattled off a list of threats: North Korean missiles, Russian incursions into the Ukraine, and Chinese cyberattacks. And when asked about whether Trump had the required knowledge of foreign policy, he refused to bite:

Well, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day.

Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can’t predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it.

And it is the most — the federal government does all kinds of things it’s not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities.

But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office.

Jeb Bush had a good night also. The former Florida governor needed to prove to voters that he was willing to pick up the energy after a "meh" first debate and he did it. He definitely did it enough to stop his slide, whether it was enough for him to start picking up votes is a different thing. A few minutes into the debate, he launched a prepared attack against Trump’s long-ago attempt to influence Bush to allow casinos in Florida with campaign donations. And while Bush was telling the truth, Trump seemed to win the exchange.

Bush hit Trump for insulting his wife Columba in a tweet a few weeks ago. Bush, polite to a fault, demanded that his opponent apologize directly to her; Trump refused the offer, but his face reddened. Bush was more passionate in defending his brother’s legacy after Trump ripped Bush #43's low approval rating when leaving office:

You know what? As it relates to my brother, there’s one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don’t know if you remember…you remember the — the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe.

The format was awful for Dr. Ben Carson, being the ultimate gentleman, he couldn't bring himself to butt into the answers of the other candidates which at times seemed to be the only way to get word in.

Scott Walker had to give a great performance last night, and it's not that he gave bad answers But he disappeared for long stretches. Actually Ted Cruz disappeared for to long of a time last night also. The Texas senator's answer about Justice Roberts seemed to be a tap dance, but he impressed near the beginning when he was asked about tearing up the Iran deal:

Well, let’s be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he’s run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty.

And, so, if there’s anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they’re giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that.

Rand Paul seemed to give up any pretense of foreign policy moderation and went back to his semi-isolationist points of view.

Huckabee gave great answers on religious freedom and strongly defended his idea of replacing the income tax with a sales tax.  But he did not really stand out either way.

Then there is the 800lb gorilla in the room, Donald Trump.  At the beginning of the debate he seemed sharp calling Rand Paul ugly, and bashing Scott Walker's performance as governor.  But when things turned to specifics sometime in hour 20 2 Trump began to fade away and seemed out-matched.  Not in a way that he would lose support, but I don't believe he gained any either.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Fiorina pick up a lot of support probably from Ben Carson. Look for Rubio and Christie pick up a little support but not nearly to the extent of Fiorina. Jeb Bush may have stopped his decline but I cant see him growing in support, and as for the Donald, I can't see his support growing based on last night, but he will not lose support either.

The next debate is in five weeks at CNBC, I strongly recommend a buzzer, bell, giant guy with a gong or sword, anything to help the moderator control the debate.

Bush Was Right About Trump Lobbying For A Casino

One of the Trump/Bush battles in Wednesday's debate was over whether or not Trump gave money to Jeb Bush's campaign to try to influence him to allow casino gambling in Florida. Bush said yes, Trump no.  A report published by CNN on September first indicates that Jeb Bush's version of the story was correct.

In 1998, Trump held high-dollar fundraiser for Bush's gubernatorial campaign in Trump Tower and shelling out $50,000 to the Florida Republican Party. When Bush was inaugurated in 1999, he maintained his hardline stance against gambling in the state, "delivering a death blow to Trump's hopes of building out a multi-million dollar casino endeavor with the Seminole Tribe of Florida and prompting him to abandon those plans."

"It certainly had a chilling effect," Doug Guetzloe, a Florida political consultant who worked for the gaming giant Bally Entertainment in the '90s, said of Bush's election. "Gov. Bush made it clear to everyone that he was not interested in having casinos in the state of Florida ... the word definitely went through." 

(...) when Bush was elected in 1998, he made clear none of that would happen on his watch.

"I am opposed to casino gambling in this state and I am opposed whether it is on Indian property or otherwise ... The people have spoken and I support their position," Bush told the St. Petersburg Times, now Tampa Bay Times, in 1999, referencing the three failed referendums to approve casino gambling.

Trump did not personally lobby Bush for the gambling, he hired someone to do it for him.

Trump abandoned his hopes to expand the casino business in Florida not long after Bush's election. Mallory Horne, a former Florida statehouse speaker and Senate president whom Trump had hired to lobby on his behalf of his gambling interests in the state, told the magnate that those prospects were dead, according to legal filings obtained in 2005 by Bloomberg Business in connection with a lawsuit Trump filed against a former associate.

 So the evidence shows that Trump tried to buy Jeb Bush's support on casinos and Jeb said no.

Hillary's Server Guy Took 5th Because Was Afraid He'd End Up Like Vince Foster

When appearing that before the House Select Committee on Benghazi, Hillary Clinton's "server dude," Bryan Pagliano exercised his fifth amendment rights by not answering questions. While most people assumed his silence was based on not wanting to incriminate himself, Newsbusted Anchor Jodie Miller (see video below) suggests there may have been something else in play. apparently the server dude was afraid he would end up like Vince Foster, Deputy White House Counsel during the first few months of President Bill Clinton's administration. Before that he was a partner at Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, Arkansas, and a colleague and friend of Hillary Rodham Clinton who supposedly committed suicide in 1993.

Other items included in Newsbusted the weekly faux news feature from Newsbusters.org
(embedded below) include; the Iran Nuke Deal, Iran's continued threats against the United States and Israel,  Bobby Jindal's campaign tactics, and much, much more.

Please make sure you watch the video below because something bad always happens to the people who don't. Last week Jeb Bush forgot to press play and he continues to sink in the polls. So if you don't want lousy poll numbers you better press play.

Oh, and if you can't see the video player below please click here

McConnell's Iran Vote Plan Is Cowardly, Ineffectual & Invites Anti-Semitism It's Time To Go NUCLEAR

This is a perfect example of why many Republicans are angry at party leadership.

Last night Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell came up with what he probably thinks is a bold 'Plan B' for the Iran vote, it's actually an act of cowardice. McConnell announced that if Democrats continue to filibuster, he will offer a new amendment on the President’s deal with Iran. This one will say that the President can’t go forward with the sanctions relief to Iran unless or until the Iranian regime releases American prisoners held in Iran AND Iran recognizes Israel as a state.

While I agree with the sentiments, the idea is not smart.  Firstly it encourages the anti-Semites in this country who believe that the Jewish Lobby controls everything and the only reason to oppose the Iran deal is to protect Israel---which is loads of nonsense.  It is true that a nuclear Iran threatens Israel, but the Ayatollah's lemmings are also screaming "death to America!"  That is the primary reason the senate should be trying to kill the deal. Iran doesn't need a ballistic missile program to nuke Israel its to reach the United States.  Iran did not encourage Hezbollah to build a terrorist network throughout South America to attack Israel, it is to attack the United States.

So now the Majority Leader will give the Democrats a chance to filibuster the question whether or not American prisoners should be released and Israel recognized as a state before billions of dollars are released to the Iranian regime. In other words a giant plate of nothing.

As usual leadership is ignoring the bold step the Democrats would take if they were in power the "nuclear option." Make it a no filibuster vote. Last week on the Hugh Hewitt show John McCain said it should be considered and Marco Rubio supported the Idea:

We are debating an issue that’s existential to allies of our, that ultimately imperils the security of the world. And if ever there was a time where you would consider something like that, it would be this. Now you still have the veto power problem, and that is Constitutional. You still have to be able to overcome a presidential veto. But that remains an impediment to ultimately stopping this. But look, I’m open to all those options, but I think the best way to bring this deal to an end is to, in about 14-15 a months, elect a president that will end this deal on their first day in office.

And Charles Krauthammer suggested it on Fox News last night:

“Look, the whole idea of any of this is to get on the record, for the future, what the vote is on this treaty, which will live for a very long time, so that any future president will have an easier time getting out of it,” Krauthammer said on Tuesday’s Special Report. “It’s to delegitimize it.” “The Democrats want to hide that by not having a vote,” he continued. “That’s why they’re filibustering.” “McConnell wants to put them on the record about something about Israel,” Krauthammer said. “I don’t think that’s the wisest move.” Instead, Krauthammer suggests the Senate follow the House strategy: “You want to put them on the record? Introduce an amendment that says what the House bill does; that the treaty was never submitted as required because it doesn’t include all of the documents — meaning, the secret IAEA deals, which allow Iran to inspect itself.” He then went further, asking why McConnell isn’t invoking the nuclear option. “If Harry Reid applied it so he could get 2-3 judicial appointments through the Second Circuit, then why not do it over the most important treaty of our time?”

If Mitch McConnell really believes getting the Democrats on record will influence the vote, or help in years to come, then its time to throw away the cowardice, and be the leader you promised to be, get rid of the filibuster for this Iran vote.

Fiorina Pokes The Bear, "Mr. Trump's Going To Be Hearing Quite A Lot From Me."

It was Carly Fiorina's turn to sit down with CNBC's John Harwood over lunch, the two met in New Hampshire  on Sunday for an interview released on debate day Sept. 15.  And the former Hewlett Packard executive proved she has no fear of Trump and indicated that Trump should be a bit nervous over her.

Wednesday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Fiorina will come face to face with the Republican front-runner who has attacked her record as Hewlett-Packard CEO, mocked her appearance, and declared that even the sound of her voice gives him "a massive headache." In a predebate Speakeasy interview, Fiorina warned with a chuckle: "Mr. Trump's going to be hearing quite a lot from me."

Fiorina started by going after Trump's business record including that he sometimes exaggerated the value of his real estate because as he said, "Who wouldn't?" She continued by explaining why her estimates had to be honest.

"Donald Trump and I are in totally different businesses," she said. "He's in the entertainment business. And he's also in a privately held business.

"In the business I was in, we had to report our results publicly, as you well know, in excruciating detail, quarter after quarter after quarter," she added. "And if I misrepresented those results or those projections I could be held criminally liable. If I had done it, I could have gone to jail. Those are his standards. I think my standards are what the American people would appreciate politicians or people running for office being held to."

Fiorina also doesn't buy Trump's explanation of his involvement in bankruptcy cases by saying he was making strategic use of the law. "If you file for bankruptcy four times," she said, "I think it suggests either lack of judgment or lack of discipline."

Raising Trump's sexism Fiorina said, "Donald Trump has said many things about other candidates," Fiorina concluded. "But he has not talked about their appearance."

It will be interesting to see how Trump, the counter puncher reacts to Carly Fiorina's digs at tonight's debate because he will react.  Apparently this is what she is looking for, Ms. Fiorina's job tonight will have less to do with Trump's words but how she answered them. Tonight may turn out to be a heck of a street fight between the two.

Debate # 2 Preview: What To Look For? Who Goes After Who?

The "battle" will be joined again.  Tonight eleven Republican candidates will face off in Ronald Reagan presidential library in the Air Force One Pavilion on a stage in built to show the former president's airplane in the background.  Before the main contest four other candidates will battle in the "happy hour" debate.

The main debate will be an interesting contest, Jake Tapper (a personal favorite) will moderate and will be joined by CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt the best radio interviewer in the business. Look for all three to follow up their questions, demanding answers, fend off the inevitable Trump whining about unfair questioning, and try and make the candidates confront each other. But keep in mind all three of them are professionals, they will do their best NOT to become part of the story, but to keep the attention on the candidates. Warning to Donald Trump, know something about Ohio-class sub­mar­ines.  It's one question that Hewitt has asked pretty much every candidate except for you. Everyone else has had an answer.

With the possible exception of Ted Cruz, all candidates will be going after Donald Trump, who has been growing constantly since the August 6 Fox News debate.  Cruz has avoided going after Trump with the hopes that as an outsider he will get the leader's votes when he starts to fall. But he hasn't begun to fall yet, so will this the time for Cruz to go on the attack? Probably not.

Look for Carly Florina to go after the Donald also, It will be interesting to see if she will be able to do as good of a job as she did in the Happy Hour debate last time.   The Prediction here is that she will.  Florina is in a unique position, because of her gender she is most able to attack Hillary Clinton. She is also the only GOP candidate who got Trump to walk back a charge.  He didn't apologize after the "look at he face claim," but he did try too get everyone to believe he wasn't talking about her looks.  Carly is good at making digging attacks without making it look like an attack.  If she goes after the GOP leader Trump, while maintaining her "classy" posture she may be the first candidate to put a dent into "the Donald's poll numbers.

Dr. Ben Carson has been the biggest surprise over the past few weeks. His debate performance last time was "meh" until he cracked a joke during his closing statement. He's made a point to do a lot of national media interviews in the past month and it has helped him immensely.  Growing twelve percentage points in the RCP average. Two things to watch about Carson tonight.  Will the ultimate "nice guy" be able to attack Trump? And as the new #2 in the polls will the other candidates go after him? The prediction here is no on the first and yes on the second.  Carson is a very bright man and a quick learner, but he will need to exhibit some cajones tonight or he may fall back quickly.

To many Jeb Bush is supposed to be the leading candidate as he is the favorite of the GOP establishment and has tons of cash. However in a year where voters are revolting against the status quo, Jeb is going to have to have a great debate, not just his answers but he need to show voters that he is not just than "more of the same." Look for Bush to go after Trump hard. But its hard to see a scenario where he comes out of tonight's debate picking up support.  It's hard for him to get beyond his last name.

Kasich is a conundrum. Despite the fact that he was a congressman and governor (with a stint at Fox in-between) Kasich is considered an outsider.  Like Trump he is a man who doesn't hold back his criticism (although he does it in a much classier way). Despite the fact that he doesn't always follow the pure conservative position, the Ohio governor is a conservative. The question is will he be hit with his breaks from orthodoxy or will that wait until (if) he rises in the polls.  Kasich had a good debate in August, and may shine again tonight.


Governor Walker did a stint as leading in the early primaries, but his initial weeks as a candidate were filled with gaffes and his in-artful campaigning since has driven his numbers into the low single digits, if Walker doesn't stand out at the CNN debate his money may start to dry up. Walker has recently gone after Trump hard, but few have noticed. 

A year and a half ago, Chris Christie was the hands-on choice to be the establishment candidate for the GOP nomination.  That was before "bridgegate." Even though he has been totally absolved from the scandal he has never recovered. Christie's thing was always "straight-talk," but Trump has that position.  Christie is another candidate who may find himself running out of funds very quickly if he does not pick up lots of support after today.

Marco...what ever happened to Marco?  With no visible gaffes no one can figure out why the young conservative who is a brilliant orator has gained little ground since the last debate, and has dropped since he entered the race. After tonight it may be time for Marco to switch his efforts to a reelection to the senate campaign.  Perhaps it's just wishful thinking, but it looks like his chances for the nomination are diminishing and it would be a tragedy for him to be out of national politics after 2016.

The moment Obama started screwing up the fight against ISIS, and started pushing the Iran deal, Rand Paul's fortunes began to fall drastically.  His foreign policy ideas just don't work in this environment of terrorist fears. He will always have the die-hard libertarians, but the broader appeal he showed a year ago has all but dissipated. It is hard to believe that his performance tonight will change, even if he has another battle with the NJ Gov. like last time.

Huckabee is a decent man but he has the same problem as Santorum. He did well in 2008 because he was the last guy left not named McCain, just like Santorum was the last non-Romney standing. Huckabee seems like his only issues surround social conservatism, but most of the competition is also pro-life and support traditional marriage. These issues will not win him the nomination.


The happy hour under-card will feature fewer candidates than a month ago, Carly Fiorina was promoted to the main stage, Rick Perry dropped out of the race, and Jim Gilmore didn't receive the 1% minimum to qualify to make this sub contest.

The Fox version of the Happy Hour contest was actually an interesting debate especially because of Carly Fiorina's strong performance.  While this happy hour debate will give these four candidates much more time to shine because each will have much more time, look for this one to be a real sleeper.  Former Penn. Senator Rick Santorum will emphasize that he had only 2% of the vote before the 2012 Iowa caucus (true but it was a much lighter field) therefore he sill has a great chance to win and he may whine that he isn't in the main debate. Lindsey Graham will attack Trump, Rand Paul and anyone else John McCain tells him to, and George Pataki will talk about being governor during 9/11 makes him the best candidate (but sadly for him it was Rudy Giuliani who got the press and credit nine years ago).

An interesting anecdote about Bobby Jindal comes from my wife whose interest in politics is non-existent. She asked me yesterday if Jindal is the guy who made that lousy response to the State of the Union Address years ago?  There's part of Jindal's problem, a very successful governor, perhaps the smartest guy running for the GOP nomination and the number one thing he is remembered for is that "lousy" response to the SOTU address a few years ago.  Jindal is not only fighting the other campaigns but his lousy 2009 performance. He needs to be as dominating tonight as Carly Fiorina was a month ago, otherwise he will be gone before the next debate.

Realistically there is a good chance that all four of these candidates will be gone before the October 28th CNBC debate, well--- except for Rick Santorum who was "dead" in 2012 a long time before he decided to fall down.

In the end there is only one thing 100% sure about tonight's debate. At the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, the majority of Republicans will be ignoring the Gipper's famous 11th commandment; thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.

So get the big bag of popcorn and fasten your seat belts, it is going to be a very bumpy flight.
 

Side Effects of Iran Deal: Must Watch Video By David Zucker

"Hollywood comedy legend David Zucker (“Airplane,” “Scary Movie,” “Naked Gun” films among many others) has written and produced this hilarious spoof on the disastrous Iran Nuclear Deal. In his trademark style, Zucker skewers the deal’s primary architects – President Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry warns of the possible “Side Effects” that may result from the absurd agreement."

This is a must watch video:

Baby Eyes and Gonads: Planned Parenthood Nailed For Selling Baby Parts Again

The10th video by The Center for Medical Progress features several top-level Planned Parenthood executives discussing the organization’s secretive practices around selling baby body parts. The video includes comments from Deborah VanDerhei, the National Director of the organization’s Consortium of Abortion Providers, describing the harvesting of body parts of aborted babies as “donation for remuneration.”

The video highlights conversations with Dr. Carolyn Westhoff, Senior Medical Advisor for PPFA; Dr. Vanessa Cullins, Vice President for External Medical Affairs for PPFA; and Deborah VanDerhei, National Director for the Consortium of Abortion Providers (CAPS) at PPFA.

“We’ve just been working with people who want particular tissues, like, you know, they want cardiac, or they want eyes, or they want neural,” says Dr. Westhoff to a prospective fetal organ buyer. “Certainly, everything we provide–oh, gonads! Oh my God, gonads. Everything we provide is fresh.” Westhoff continues, “Obviously, we would have the potential for a huge P.R. issue in doing this,” before offering to introduce the buyers to “national office abortion people” from Planned Parenthood.

Deborah VanDerhei is the National Director for CAPS, an influential committee within Planned Parenthood that drives abortion policy across the organization. VanDerhei refers to payments for fetal tissue as “donation for remuneration,” which carries the connotation of financial reward or benefit without regard for actual expenses. VanDerhei explains, “I have been talking to the executive director of the National Abortion Federation, we’re trying to figure this out as an industry, about how we’re going to manage remuneration, because the headlines would be a disaster.”

“Is this really worth getting–I don’t even know what in general, what a specimen generally brings in?” VanDerhei later asks a prospective buyer. When she is told $100 per specimen, she remarks, “But we have independent colleagues who generate a fair amount of income doing this.” VanDerhei suggests that Planned Parenthood goes to great lengths to avoid leaving a paper trail about their fetal tissue activity: “It’s an issue that you might imagine we’re not really that comfortable talking about on email.”

In a conversation recorded between VanDerhei and Vanessa Russo, Compliance Program Administrator for Planned Parenthood Keystone in Pennsylvania, Russo argues, “A company like this that wants to give our organization money for the tissue–I think that that’s a valid exchange, and that that’s okay.” VanDerhei nods her head up and down and affirms, “Mhm.”

Vanessa Cullins, the Vice President of External Medical Affairs, seems fully aware of the criminal exposure that fetal body parts sales present to Planned Parenthood: “This is important. This could destroy your organization and us, if we don’t time those conversations correctly,” she tells a prospective buyer.

Watch the video below:

Look What Iran Found--A Giant Uranium Reserve

While the Democratic Party has been busily selling out future American generations by guaranteeing the implementation of the crap sandwich known as the P5+1 agreement with Iran, the Iran regime contends it has found an unexpectedly high reserve of uranium, following assessments that the country is running low on the nuclear raw material. And surprise, surprise, it happened to have been announced after the Senate Democrats used a filibuster to prevent a vote---what a coincidence (if you believe in coincidences).

The discovery was reported first by Reuters and based on comments made by Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi to the state news agency IRNA.

"I cannot announce (the level of) Iran's uranium mine reserves," Salehi was quoted as saying. "The important thing is that before aerial prospecting for uranium ores we were not too optimistic, but the new discoveries have made us confident about our reserves."

The international deal with Iran, largely brokered by the Obama administration, slows the country’s nuclear development for nearly a decade in exchange for the lifting of billions of dollars worth of crippling economic sanctions.

Well it slows the development in the sites the IAEA is allowed to inspect. Iran has free-reign in the military sites which with the exception of one (Parchin) cannot be inspected. Parchin will be inspected by the Iranians themselves.

The remarks by Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, could not be found Saturday morning on the IRNA website. But another story had him as saying the deal -- reached in July and officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action -- will not slow the pace of Iran’s nuclear program.

“The official said the restrictions which the JCPOA entails are by no means the ones which would restrict Iran in its nuclear activities,” reads one line in the story.

Several other news-gathering agencies have either picked up the Reuters’ story or cited it in their own version.

(...) Salehi reportedly said uranium exploration had covered almost two-thirds of Iran and would be complete in the next four years.

Uranium can be used for energy production and scientific purposes but is also a key ingredient in nuclear weapons.

Some Western analysts have previously said that Iran was close to exhausting its supply of yellowcake -- or raw uranium -- and that mining it domestically was not cost-efficient, according to Reuters.

But it's longer exhausting the supply with the latest discovery. Its amazing how that can happen don't you think?

What An A-Hole (Literally)

Okay folks this is one of those strange stories that are odd but true and happen to tickle my funny bone driving me to share it, this comes from UPI and tells the tale of a woman who stole a 6-carat diamond ring by swallowing it.

A six-carat diamond worth about $300,000 was surgically removed from the intestines of a Chinese woman who swallowed it in an alleged smuggling attempt in Bangkok, Thailand.

Jiang Sulian, 30, allegedly stole the diamond from the M.Tarun Diamonds Company during the Bangkok Gems & Jewelry Fair on Thursday. Authorities said she was recorded by security cameras stealing the diamond and replacing it with a fake gemstone.

Sulian was arrested on Saturday at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. She initially denied the accusations, but an X-ray showed the diamond was in her intestine.

Attempts to free the diamond by giving Sulian laxatives failed. A 12-minute colonoscopy was performed to extract the diamond. She was arrested along with Hae Ying, an alleged male accomplice.

Sulian will recover at a hospital before she is sent to jail. She later will appear at the Nonthaburi Provincial Court.

To give you a better idea of what was in her body, the below is a picture of a six-carat diamond ring (but not the crappy one that was removed from in Jiang Sulian's colon).

Marco Rubio: Senate GOP Should Take "Nuclear Option" To Force Iran Deal Vote

The senate filibuster is not in the constitution, it is simply a rule of the senate, The nuclear option or Reid Rule allows the senate to vote on an bill or appointee with a simple majority and no worry of filibuster. Senators are very reluctant to resort to the nuclear option, because of the fear that while it is used when they are in the majority, they wont always be in the majority and breaking the long tradition of filibuster protection of the minority may very likely be used against them.

That's why it was such a surprise on Hugh Hewitt's radio show on Friday when first John McCain and then Marco Rubio said this may be the time to break the Reid Rule:

Hewitt: Now I talked to Senators McCain and Graham last hour, and I was shocked when Senator McCain said he is open to invoking the Reid rule to break the filibuster in order to bring this one of a kind deal to the floor. He hasn’t decided that, and he said if he does it, he knows he’s open to the charge of hypocrisy because he condemned the Reid rule when they broke the filibuster. But he’s thinking about it, because it’s so important. What do you think about breaking the filibuster in order to send this deal to the President’s desk?

Rubio: Yeah, I mean, the filibuster’s not constitutional. It’s a rule. It’s not, I’m not saying it’s unconstitutional, but it’s a rule. It’s not something that’s better than the republic. It’s a rule that the Senate established, and it largely serves to protect the minority. And in the past, it’s been useful. It’s kept Harry Reid from doing something that they would have rammed down the throat of the American people at one point if they didn’t need the 60 votes. If you recall, that’s why the Scott Brown election was so important back then. But here’s my point. if ever you were going to say this rule isn’t working anymore, it would be on issues like this. I mean, we’re not debating a transportation bill here.

Hewitt: Right.

Rubio: We are debating an issue that’s existential to allies of our, that ultimately imperils the security of the world. And if ever there was a time where you would consider something like that, it would be this. Now you still have the veto power problem, and that is Constitutional. You still have to be able to overcome a presidential veto. But that remains an impediment to ultimately stopping this. But look, I’m open to all those options, but I think the best way to bring this deal to an end is to, in about 14-15 months, elect a president that will end this deal on their first day in office.

The Jewish High Holidays Are All About Conservative Principals

With the setting of the sun on Sunday, Jews across the world will begin the observance of the "Yomim Noraim "(Days of Awe), a ten-day period that is book-ended by the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This year’s High Holiday period like the six before it come at an interesting time for America as the president and his party are pushing all Americans toward a reliance on government, rather than personal responsibility.

The High Holiday period is all about personal responsibility. All the prayers and readings are just tools to help us look inward, formulate a personal accounting of our deeds over the past year, good and bad, and to understand what we have learned or need to learn to correct.

Even the method of atoning for our sins goes against progressive values. Jews are taught that our Maker is not a big massive government that will fix everything for us. For earthly-type mistakes we must first approach the people we harmed to request forgiveness and if necessary, make restitution to them. Then we must discover what led us to behave that way and correct the flaw catalyzing such behavior. Only then can we approach God for absolution.

It’s not that God cannot fix everything but his direct involvement would destroy the delicate balance he set up during creation.

The creation narrative in Genesis explains that man is created in God’s image. With those words, the Torah is not teaching us that we are all dead ringers for the “big guy upstairs.” If that were the case everyone’s driver’s license would have the same picture, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue would seem a bit creepy, and crimes would go unsloved because eyewitness testimony would be useless and everyone would have the same DNA.

The idea of being “created in God’s image” is supposed to teach us that just as God acts as a free being without prior restraint to do right and wrong, so does man. Our Maker performs “good” as a matter of his own free choice. And because we are created in his image man also has the opportunity to do the right thing as a matter of free choice. Only through free choice, can man truly be “in the image of God.”

That is why God created a world where both good and evil can operate freely. The Rabbis explain this when they said; “All is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven” (Talmud, Berachot 33b). In other words, God controls all the options we have, but it is up to man to pick between good and bad.

Free will is the divine version of limited government. God picks the winning direction but does not choose winners or losers. Neither does he interfere with the process of learning through repentance and understanding one's actions. We are not divinely perfect nor are we meant to be. We are only supposed to be closer to that perfect divine-ness when we leave this world than when we entered it.

Because we all are created in God’s image we believe that all men are created equal. But this does not mean what progressives tell us, that when it comes to talents, looks, preferences, or natural abilities we are all equal. Nor does it mean we all should have big screen TV, wireless Internet, cookies and cream ice cream, or savings account balance.

What is actually meant by "all men are created equal" is that we all have the same ability to be infinitely good or wicked; we all have the same ability to forge a relationship with God regardless of our intellectual capability, social background, physical strength, golf handicap wealth, etc. It's kind of like the U.S. Army Commercials, "be all you can be." During the High Holidays, we evaluate how well we have used the “lot we have been given” for good deeds and forging that heavenly relationship.

Unlike progressivism, Jewish tradition respects economic success, so long as it is obtained honestly, and proper respect is shown for the social responsibility that comes with it. That social responsibility is much different than what President Obama and his supporters would describe. It is a personal duty and a job for the community led by its religious leaders, not the government. That doesn't mean it's wrong for the federal government to provide a safety net, but the primary responsibility is the individual and the local community.

The Hebrew word for charity, "tzedaka," has in its root the word "tzedek," which means righteous, because we are taught that personally giving charity is one of the keys to being righteous.

Some of the ancient sages have suggested when God created the world; sparks of his holiness were spread across the earth. Every time that a person makes the choice of performing a righteous act (such as giving charity) one of those sparks is purified and sent back to heaven. Through that process we become closer to God.

President Obama, the progressive Democrats, and the nanny-statists of all political persuasion take away that choice. They believe that if the choice were to be left up to the individual, that individual would do the wrong thing. Therefore government needs to take an omnipotent God-like role and control our decisions.

People who support progressivism are rejecting the free will given to us by our Maker and handing it over to the government. Thus they are retarding their spiritual development, and as a result, canceling an opportunity to get closer to God. In a progressive society, the ten “Days of Awe” are not necessary; there is no introspection needed, because government makes their choices for them.

In an English dictionary the word sin is defined as:

Any act regarded as such a transgression, esp. a willful or deliberate violation of some religious or moral principle.

There is no word in Hebrew matching that definition. Instead the word used on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is “chet”. It is an archery term referring to an arrow that “missed the target.” The person who missed the mark is considered to have made the mistake due to a lack of focus, concentration or skill. The purpose of the High Holidays is for each of us to determine why they missed the mark. The answer cannot come from someone else or from the government. It has to come from inside each person.

In the same vein, the Hebrew word commonly translated as repentance, “teshuvah," actually means return. In other words, we have returned to the correct path. It's true meaning is much more than just repentance, which implies simply feeling sorry for what you have done. Teshuvah involves changing what it is inside you that led you to go off-course, (a concept that many politicians should adopt).

The Rabbis tell us the only way to do "Teshuvah" is by undergoing personal reflection and personal choice (as opposed to governmental regulation). God gives us a road map in the Torah, Prophets, Psalms and other sacred texts; he even gave us coaches (Rabbis), but to truly change ourselves and ultimately to truly change the world, we have to discover for ourselves the best way to read the road map.

In its purest essence the Jewish High Holiday period is the antithesis of the various forms of liberal and progressive government. We learn from the “Ten Days of Awe” that we must be honest with ourselves and rely on our own introspection to find the right path. We learn that while God may be evaluating the path we take, and he provides a road map to the right way, he does not nor will not make the decisions for us. Progressive and leftist governments take free will away; they make the decisions, determine the path, eliminate the need for introspection and the opportunity for each one of us to find those sparks of God in the world.

What progressive/liberal governments take from their citizens is the greatest joy of all--- finding for themselves the path that will draw them closer to God and becoming feeling that closeness with every Mitzvah.  Finding that path is what the "Yomim Noraim" are all about

The Iran Vote: Possibly The Most Aggressive White House Arm Twisting Of All Time

At the end of July the White House was worried that members of his own party would revolt and and deliver President Barack Obama a devastating blow on the international stage.  But as CNN tells the story the White House began the possibly the most aggressive arm-twisting effort of all time.

Last month Harry Reid secretly assured Secretary of State John Kerry that he would back the deal but he would keep quiet about it:

He promised to help deliver critical information about which Democrats to target -- but Reid himself needed to let about a dozen friends, supporters and donors who were sharply critical of the deal know why he was backing it before his position became public.

What ensued was perhaps the most aggressive and coordinated lobbying drive ever to take shape between congressional Democratic leaders and the Obama White House -- which have frequently been at odds over strategy and tactics. It was a strategy that focused exclusively on House and Senate Democrats, ignoring Republicans altogether. And it underscored how sensitive the deal was to a number of Democrats, who feared a sharp backlash from pro-Israel voters and their Republican foes.

The effort succeeded because the focus was entirely on the Democrats first to guarantee a veto would be sustained, then as it became apparent that goal would be reached to generate a filibuster so the president and the Democrats would be absolved from committing this grave mistake.

For a president often criticized for being detached from Congress, Obama aggressively used his bully pulpit to win over his party, contacting 125 Democratic House members and senators since July, many of them repeatedly, according to Democratic sources.

Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, the GOP chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and an opponent of the deal, said his Democratic friends reported to him that the White House was "breaking arms and legs" to prevent Congress from voting down the deal.

 We know that worked as on Thursday Senate Democrats filibustered a vote on the deal.

To quell a Democratic uprising, the White House, Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi traded key intelligence about uneasy Democrats, dispatching powerful Cabinet officials to lock down support. Over the August recess, Pelosi gave the White House 57 names of House Democrats who were wobbly on the Iran pact; Obama called all of them, including 30 calls to Democratic lawmakers in between rounds of golf during his Martha's Vineyard vacation, according to Democratic sources.

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin called almost everyone in his 46-member caucus, interrupting a family vacation in Oregon to lobby skittish Democrats. On a jaunt to Florida last week where he talked about his presidential ambitions, Vice President Joe Biden made a side trip to help woo and eventually win over Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, an influential Jewish Democrat who was facing fierce protests, including from some activists who charged that she should "go to the oven," a reference to the Holocaust.

Senior administration officials made 250 calls to House members and senators, sources said. That includes Jack Lew, the Treasury secretary and an Orthodox Jew, who was dispatched to help alleviate concerns of Jewish lawmakers, and Kerry, a former senator who relied on his longstanding Hill connections to push his party to back the deal.

There is more to the story which I recommend to get some inside Washington scoop. Its interesting that by concentrating on his party alone, the Obama administration sold in the crap sandwich known as the P5+1 nuclear agreement. Also notable is that with the success of his arm twisting effort Obama becomes the most partisan president in history. He has sold in his two biggest programs, Obamacare and now the nuke deal relying on just his party.  I guess he turned not to be the post partisan president he promised to be.  

Fourteen Years After 9/11/01 Too Many of Us Have Forgotten

George W. Bush At Ground Zero 9/14/01

Everyone remembers where they were when they found out about the attacks on 9/11. But what many of us have forgotten the collective pain, the reasons we were attacked, and the appeasement that made the terrorists strong.  Our government has returned to the pre 9/11 mindset of treating terrorist acts as crimes and the terrorists as criminals who can be rehabilitated. Most importantly we've forgotten that the hateful ideology, the malignancy of their terrorist tactics is still alive and very well.

It was fourteen years ago but I still remember driving into the city at six a.m. that day as I did every day, but for some reason as my car made its way over the bridge which led to the midtown tunnel, my eyes looked downtown at the two towers of the World Trade Center and thinking that it was a particularly beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. Little did I know that just a few hours later the towers would fall and the sky would be totally black filled with the black smoke of terrorism.

Three hours after leaving my house, I was sitting in my office at Nickelodeon (I was the publisher of Nickelodeon Magazine) working on 2002 projections when I received an AOL IM from my brother "hey Jeff some idiot just flew a plane into one of the trade center towers."

Working for a TV Network had its advantages, I had a TV hooked up to cable in my office. I quickly grabbed the remote, and turned on MSNBC (it was a news network back then). As soon as the set turned on, it showed a plane flying into one of the Trade Center towers. At the time I thought it was an instant replay of what my brother messaged me about, but it was the second tower being hit.

The same thing happened later when the impossible occurred; one of the towers collapsed, then the other.

It was all so surreal running through my mind was this couldn't happen didn't they know this was the United States of America. But it was happening and only a mile and a half from where I sat. Eventually we learned it also happened at the Pentagon the home of our military, and the passengers of a fourth plane attacked the terrorists who crashed their plane preventing it to be flown into the capital building.

Much of the rest of the morning is a blur, my staff crowded into my office we watched in horror as people jumped off the burning tower to their deaths.  Then again as we saw the smoldering Pentagon building and finally as each tower collapse. We even heard rumors of a fourth plane that was shot down over Pennsylvania (in actuality Flight 93 was purposely crashed by the Hijackers because the brave passengers had decided to take control of the  plane back).

At twelve noon there was an announcement the East River crossings were once again open allowing people to travel back to Long Island. I called my wife to tell her I was coming home, she begged me not to fearing another attack, but I had to get home and see my family.  I raced for the garage and began a 40 mile drive that took way over four hours.

Outside my office less than two miles from the now smoldering ruins of the towers one could taste the air. Breathing felt strange because the air had a texture it felt like particles of glass were mixed in with the oxygen, and the air tasted almost like burning rubber.

Manhattan had always seemed larger than life, but that day it seemed small and vulnerable. Actually it wasn't just Manhattan all of a sudden the most powerful nation on Earth, the shining city upon a hill, the United States that seemed vulnerable.

As my car crawled its way across the 59th Street bridge it looked like  a scene from a bad "Godzilla" movie...crowds of shocked people were on the bridge, crossing on foot to make sure they got off that tiny island as soon as possible. It was a scene duplicated on the other NYC bridges.

But this was not "Chiller Theater" it was unbelievably  real.  Looking out my car window toward downtown Manhattan, the beautiful skyline and cloudless sky noticeable during the drive westward a few short hours before was replaced by an impenetrable curtain of black over the East River. The aroma of the invigorating autumn air was replaced by a noxious burning smell seeping into my car through the air vents.

Escaping Manhattan on 9/11/01 Via The Brooklyn Bridge

Everyone was trying to use their cell phones at the same time, so cells were overwhelmed and service was non existent. Three hours into my drive I finally reached my wife now frantic because I was out of touch for so long.

Finally my car made it out of the borough of Queens and into Nassau County and onto the Long Island Expressway, sometimes known as the world's largest parking lot...but it wasn't a parking lot that day.

The traffic wasn't just light, it was eerily non-existent (especially on the west bound lanes which lead back into the city). At every single exit Nassau County police cars were blocking the west bound on ramps. The message those police cars were sending was very clear, people were free to leave New York City but no one was getting back into Manhattan until the authorities knew for sure that this first foreign attack on the continental US since1814 was over.

After finally reaching home, I spent the rest of the day watching the first reports of heroism, or the serendipitous reports of people who were delayed from being at their offices in the towers on time---saving their lives.

At 7:45 pm I  drove to my Synagogue for the evening minyan. Usually we had a group of 15-20 people at evening prayers, but this day was different. People began to filter into Shul in groups, fellow congregants who's Synagogue appearances are usually limited to the High Holy days showed up to pray. Each one (like me) had a dull shocked look on their face, slowly walking into the Sanctuary. Our normal crowd of less than two dozen was more than three hundred, desperate to appeal to God for the safety of their friends and family whose fates were still unknown and for the success of their country in the war they knew would follow.

This scene was duplicated in Houses of God, for many faiths from 'sea to shining sea."

September 11 was not the first terrorist attack against the United States, the attack was foreshadowed by incidents such as the First Trade Center bombing and the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen. And those attacks came after years of world-wide appeasement of other terror, especially in Israel but instead of heeding those warnings we were told slogans like one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

It was only after 9/11 that this country realized that there was a worldwide network of people willing to kill themselves to bring down our way of life. Only after 9/11 did we stop searching for "criminals" and begin a war against Islamist Terrorists (at least for a little while) at least until the 2006 midterm elections, when the Democratic Party was rewarded for treating the war on terror as a political issue with large gains in congress.  But it was not just the Democrats, President Bush opened the door to the criticism by launching a second war, this time into Iraq which at first had the support of both parties but after ousting the tyrant Saddam Hussein, the war was mismanaged by the president, and it took a surge operation which finally provided the necessary manpower and tools for our brave heroes to finally win this war (at least until the next president decided to pull out all the troops and pull defeat out of the jaws of victory).

Despite president Obama says, we are fighting a war against Islamists who use terrorism, or whatever the Department of Homeland Security wants to call it this week, to destroy the the West our freedoms and lifestyle. People who want to use violence to establish a worldwide Islamic caliphate. Theirs is a very patient ideology that will wait centuries if necessary to kill the evil "great Satan." That is their advantage, we are a culture who demands immediate gratification, instant victory.

In 2008 we elected a President who refused to recognize our enemy. An attack on our heroes by an Islamist terrorist at Fort Hood was called "work place violence." In 2012 when a terrorist attack killed four brave Americans at our mission in Benghazi, Libya we were told it wasn't terror it was just a mob angry about a lousy video on Youtube. When the Boston Marathon was attacked we called it terror but "lone wolf" type terror, not attacking those who radicalized the two murders.

Today we are still fighting terror, but our battle against a newer group ISIS is being fought tepidly, almost as our objective is to contain the terrorists rather than to destroy them. Terrorists have taken over Libya, most of Syria, and part of Iraq. This summer the president negotiated an agreement with Iran, the world's largest sponsor of terrorism which will give them $100-150 billion more to attack people in the western world.  Despite the fact that two thirds of the country objects, member of the president's party have forgotten 9/11 and support that awful Iran treaty.

And on 9/11/15 for the first time since that day which changed the world a U.S. President was not at the ceremony at Ground Zero nor the one at the Pentagon. He did have a moment of silence at the White House, but absent from the site of the attacks.

Pushed by the Democratic Party we are balancing the bloated federal deficit by gutting our nation's defenses. Whether they mean to or not, these cuts make it more likely that America suffering through the horrors of 9/11 again and again.

Far too many people have forgotten the taste of the air, the curtain of black smoke, the scenes of horror, acts of bravery everything associated with that horrible day that changed our lives.

Fourteen years after that horrible Tuesday morning for too many the answer to Darryl Worley's epic song "Have You Forgotten?" is yes (the song is embedded at the bottom of this post).

May we never forget the evil that attacked us on 9/11 even if our leaders do.  May God continue to comfort the bereaved and May the memories of the dead always be for a blessing. 

Lord who grants salvation to kings and dominion to rulers, Whose kingdom is a kingdom spanning the entire universe and all eternities; Who places a road in the sea and a path in the mighty waters - may you bless the President, the Vice President, and all the constituted officers of government of this land. May they execute their responsibilities with intelligence, honor, compassion and love for the constitution wonderfully crafted by our founding fathers. May you grant them the understanding that the threat of terrorism still exists, and the knowledge of how to eradicate it from the world you created. May you always bless these United States and provide our leaders with the comprehension of your role in making this republic the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Front Page of "The Jewish Star" Before The [Iran] Fall- Reflexive Jewish Support For Dems

One of the Cover stories of this week's Jewish Star is a piece written by me called "Before The Fall:Reflexive Jewish Support for Dems."  It talks about Jewish Organizations failure to be bi-partisan as one of the causes of the Iran deal being on the prescience of victory.

The article is an updated version of a post I did last week, however it focuses the blame squarely where it belongs on the leadership of Major Jewish Organizations, so I thought I would share, oh and because it is almost impossible to cut and post the piece from the newspaper, underneath the title from the paper, I posted the text of the article:

Now that Obama has enough senators that a veto of the anti-Iran deal bill cannot be overturned the postmortems have started, some blame the President, others blame the Democratic Party. I would argue that they are both partially correct but they’re omitting the biggest enabler, the Jewish community itself, especially the “Jewish leadership.” You see thirty years ago James Baker famously said, "F**k the Jews they won't vote for us anyway." But because of a blind loyalty to the Democratic Party by the Jews today Democrats Party politicians act as if their stance is, "F**k the Jews they will vote for us whatever we do!"

In 2008 despite all the warnings, despite the fact that Barack Obama sat in a church listening to anti-Semitic sermons for two decades, despite the fact that he was a close friend with Palestinian Liberation Organization spokesman Rashid Khalid the mainstream media and the Jewish community ignored the warning signs. Even before the election the Jewish community knew about the 2003 event honoring Khalidi, where Obama had made a toast that was so anti-Israel that the liberal L.A. Times hid the tape. Before the 2008 election Obama had already surrounded himself with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel advisers. Ignoring all that, the Jewish community gave Obama 78% of the Jewish vote. The leadership of certain major Jewish organizations despite their phony claims of bi-partisanship had a blind allegiance to the Democratic Party. That allegiance was so strong that when the Democratic Party demanded that V.P. Candidate Sarah Palin's invitation to speak at an anti-Iran rally be rescinded these major Jewish organizations rushed to comply.

During his first term President Obama proved to be the most anti-Israel president since the modern state of Israel was created in 1948. But it shouldn't have been as surprise.

Michael Oren wrote in his book “Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide “ that At the very beginning of his administration Obama met with his hand-picked members of Jewish leadership (he included J Street and discarded the ZOA). Obama told that Jewish leadership that one of his goals was to drive a wedge between the US and Israel. “When there is no daylight,” the president told American Jewish leaders in 2009, “Israel just sits on the sidelines and that erodes our credibility with the Arabs.” The explanation ignored Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza and its two previous offers of Palestinian statehood in Gaza, almost the entire West Bank and half of Jerusalem—both offers rejected by the Palestinians. Those “Jewish leaders” were silent about the inclusion of an anti-Israel group J Street in those meetings, and they were silent about the president’s words about pulling away from Israel. Instead of organizing their membership to protest they began to teach the Democrats they would follow obediently without a complaint.

Obama even foreshadowed the Iran deal during his first months in office. During his 2009 speech in Cairo he said, “No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons,” which foreshadowed his future negotiations with the rogue Iranian regime. Many heard him say that and warned what it may mean---“Jewish leadership” was silent.

During the his first term Obama continued to surround himself with anti-Israel and anti-Semitic advisers even including Al Sharpton who led two anti-Jewish riots in NYC from the supposed Jewish leadership just smiled and stayed silent.

During his first term when Obama constantly announced anti-Israel policies, not one of these Jewish leaders opened their mouth. Not one of those leaders called on those silent Congressional members of the Democratic Party who claimed to be “supporters of Israel” to criticize this president. Perhaps because of all the support they got from the “Jewish leaders” despite their silence not one of those congressional Democrats complained, empowering Obama to continue his anti-Israel behavior.

Despite an anti-Israel first term as the 2012 election neared, The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the American Jewish Committee in a joint statement asked their fellow Jews to pledge not to criticize Obama's anti-Israel policy. They said it was to keep the issue bi-partisan but it was really because their leadership was very partisan. Under Abe Foxman’s leadership the ADL allowed Obama to run rampant and instead spent time on liberal issues such as late-term abortion, amnesty for illegal immigrants. Another of those supposedly "bi-partisan" leaders Jack Rosen of the American Jewish Congress actually had fundraisers for the president in his home, ignoring his anti-Israel and anti-Semitic stances.

On Obama's direction, the Democrats removed four pro-Israel planks from their party platform in 2012. After this reporter discovered the change and the mainstream media picked up the story the convention tried to add one (Jerusalem as capital of Israel) back. The rank and file Democrats at the convention voted no, but the embarrassed leadership lied and said it was passed (to the boos and catcalls of the convention). The planks about not returning to the 1949 armistice lines, not negotiating with Hamas, and insisting the Palestinian refugees will return to Palestinian territory as opposed to Israel were never put back and our “Jewish leadership” said nothing.

When the USCJ and JTS leaders met with Obama and allowed

When the Jewish DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz kept praising Obama as having a wonderful pro-Israel policy, not one of the supposed “Jewish leaders” said, “Hey we understand you have to support Obama but don't lie about his Israel policy.” After all they had a blind loyalty to the Democratic Party.

With the help from the Jewish leadership, this anti-Semitic, anti-Israel president received 69% of the Jewish vote.

And it continues, when President Obama rushed to condemn Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for statements taken out of context, the leadership of Conservative Jewry’s Rabbinical Assembly followed up by condemning Netanyahu also despite the fact they admitted they didn’t read Bibi’s statement.

Now Obama has done what he promised back in 2009 when he met with the “Jewish leadership” he drove a wedge between the U.S. and Israel, he's done what he said he would do in Cairo, he created a deal which will allow Iran to get a bomb. He has surrounded himself with anti-Semites and anti-Israel advisers just as he did during his campaign he’s done all of it and nothing but silence from “Jewish leadership.”

Two weeks ago when they interviewed the president for a teleconference seen by Jewish community, the head of he Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations and the head of the Jewish Federation didn't challenge him about the deal. I’m not saying that they should have been rude, but instead of asking specific questions about the side deals, or about the fact that the U.S. is obligated to protect Iran's nuclear plants, or the paragraph which allows Iran to take the money and then leave the deal, or any other specific questions worrisome parts of the deal, these two supposed asked softballs like, "Can the U.S. Israel relationship be repaired?" Or when the president lied during his opening statement, they didn't question him about it. Perhaps they didn't read the agreement, perhaps they were trying to protect the president, but it was just another way the “Jewish leaders” enabled the Democratic party to ignore the Jewish voters.

Now everyone is surprised how so many Democrats chose loyalty to their party over rejecting an obviously lousy Iran deal. Strangely most of them began their expressions of support by listing the all the reasons the deal stinks, but then went ahead by saying here was no better choice. That's the political version of everyone gets a participation trophy, and ignores the foreign policy people in France and Great Britain who have said if Congress kills the deal a better one can be negotiated.

People shouldn't be surprised. By remaining silent about the anti-Israel policies of a president who surrounded himself with anti-Semites, and then publicly supporting the Democratic Party our supposed leaders betrayed the Jewish community (and their vows of bi-partisanship) and at the same time they taught the Democrats they could do anything to the Jews and we will give them our campaign donations and we will give them our votes.

Here's a little secret, the way people vote influence candidates positions. Progressives are not pro-Israel and the Jews don't care so why should the Democrats support Israel? On the Republicans side the reason many GOP candidates are pro-Israel is the evangelical vote that is a major part of their base. But if the very pro-Israel evangelicals ever lose their influence in the party, only then will Jewish issue be truly bi-partisan.... both parties wont care about them.

Obama didn't defeat the "Jewish Lobby” as some have claimed, any influence they ever had was defeated by a blind allegiance to the Democratic Party by our leaders and by Jewish voters. The only way we will ever get it back is first, to start voting for the other party--not blindly, but look at Republican candidates with an open mind.

The other thing the Jewish community has to do is stop financially those Jewish organizations whose leadership blindly supports progressive politics and parties. There are plenty of Jewish charities, Only by moving our money away from Democratic/ progressive organizations masquerading as Jewish ones will we be able to make both parties fight for our support by backing those issues important to the Jewish community. Only then will we be able to prevent the next P5+1 agreement with a country bent on destroying the Jews.

Dept. Of Justice Covers Up For Hillary Clinton In Federal Court

During the Obama presidency we've gotten used to a Justice Department that makes all their decisions on what's best for the President Obama and the Democratic Party. Many of us however though things would change now that Eric Holder has been replaced by Loretta Lynch--no such luck.  On Wednesday the Justice Department old a federal court that Hillary Clinton was within her legal rights to use of her own email account, to take the messages with her when she left office and to be the one deciding which of those messages are government records that should be returned.

According to the Washington Times:

In the most complete legal defense of Mrs. Clinton, Justice Department lawyers insisted they not only have no obligation, but no power, to go back and demand the former top diplomat turn over any documents she hasn’t already given — and neither, they said, can the court order that.

The defense came as part of a legal filing telling a judge why the administration shouldn’t be required to order Mrs. Clinton and her top aides to preserve all of their emails.

“There is no question that Secretary Clinton had authority to delete personal emails without agency supervision — she appropriately could have done so even if she were working on a government server,” the administration lawyers argued. “Under policies issued by both the National Archives and Records Administration (‘NARA’) and the State Department, individual officers and employees are permitted and expected to exercise judgment to determine what constitutes a federal record.”

The legal brief said that means employees are required to “review each message, identify its value and either delete it or move it to a record-keeping system.”

The Justice Department didn't mention whether they are allowed to delete those messages after  they are under subpoena, or the U.S. Code of federal regulations on handling electronic records as updated in 2009 “Agencies that allow employees to send and receive official electronic mail messages using a system not operated by the agency must ensure that Federal records sent or received on such systems are preserved in the appropriate agency recordkeeping system.” The responsibility for making and preserving the records is assigned to “the head of each federal agency.” 

The head of that agency which just so happened to be Hillary Clinton was supposed to "ensure that Federal records sent or received on such systems are preserved in the appropriate agency recordkeeping system." In other words there needed be a back up copy of everything collected by the state department.

Judicial Watch filed a brief opposing the DOJ's claim

“Indeed, the State Department’s own rules specify that personal records of a departing presidential appointee may not be removed from the government until the State Department ‘records officer in cooperation with the S/ES or appropriate administrative office’ approves of the removal, a process which ‘generally requires a hands-on examination of the materials,’ ” Judicial Watch said in a reply brief. 

To say that Hillary Clinton got to decide what was business and what was personal on her personal server is 100% true under federal regulation, however the head of the agency (Hillary Clinton) was charged with ensuring that there was a backup for the federal records. And if that backup contained personal records, well she should have had a personal account for her personal emails. Other than her disregard for the classification of the emails on her insecure sever, the only legal exposure for Ms. Clinton involves when she "wiped" her server clean.  If it was done after the subpoena for the emails was issued it may be a problem.

Of course none of this changes the fact that she spent months lying about her server and/or that she had three different versions of the classification story

1. I did not send or receive classified information.
2. I did not send or receive emails that were classified at the time they were on the server.
3. I did not send or receive emails that were marked classified at the time they were on the server.

In the end truth about how she treated classified information will determine if she is the 2016 Democratic standard bearer and if she is will she be a damaged candidate in the general election.

Trump's Latest: How Can People Vote For Carly Fiorina? She's Ugly

Donald Trump has proven again that his dialog has no boundaries.  In a Just published article in Rolling Stone who was allowed to follow the billionaire bloviator of birtherism around for a few days, Trump said nasty things about most of his opponents, but some of his opinions had nothing to do with policy, positions, or politics. Especially his comment about Carly Fiorina which began, "Look at that face!" he cries. "Would anyone vote for that?"

With his blue tie loosened and slung over his shoulder, Trump sits back to digest his meal and provide a running byplay to the news. Onscreen, they've cut away to a spot with Scott Walker, the creaky-robot governor of Wisconsin. Praised by the anchor for his "slow but steady" style, Walker is about to respond when Trump chimes in, "Yeah, he's slow, all right! That's what we got already: slowwww." His staffers at the conference table howl and hoot; their man, though, is just getting warm. When the anchor throws to Carly Fiorina for her reaction to Trump's momentum, Trump's expression sours in schoolboy disgust as the camera bores in on Fiorina. "Look at that face!" he cries. "Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!" The laughter grows halting and faint behind him. "I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not s'posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?"

Er...Donald, this isn't one of your beauty contests, this is a presidential campaign..

Okay I know I am going to serious hate mail from the Trumpsters, calling me a RINO and a protector of the GOP establishment (neither one is true), but I have been called much worse (you should see what my liberal cousins call me at thanksgiving).

The truth be told this is what you get with Trump, yes it's true he says what's ever on his mind, but that's not always a good thing, he picks fights with anyone who pisses him off not by arguing facts but by calling people names like a baby, Megyn Kelly was a bimbo, Hugh Hewitt was a third-rate announcer (Hugh who has a sense of humor about it insists he is second not third rate). And now Fiorina is ugly.


Can you imagine the diplomatic incidents he can cause, "Hey Angela Merkel you gotta do something about the bags under your eyes they are disgusting." Or visiting Saudi Arabia and telling King Salman, "Come on you are the king and you are rich, who do you have such ugly wives."

I don't know about you folks, but when I vote for president it will have nothing to do with their looks, heck Ronald Reagan the best president in my life time did not make me tingle all over.

When I vote in the NY State Primary on April 19th depending on who is still in the race, it will not be an establishment Republican no matter how they look. It will also not be Donald Trump. While I like someone who speaks their mind, I prefer someone with basic interpersonal , someone who can argue without making childish personal attacks. Someone with a thicker skin who does not act like Barack Obama, blaming everything on others and making personal attacks on people who disagree with him...we just went through that and while its good blogging copy its not good for America.

To The Non Jews From The Guild Of Jewish Mothers About The Upcoming Holidays

Well folks it's that September time of the year again and beginning Sunday night with Rosh HaShanah (Translated as Head of the Year) there are seven days we cannot work in a twenty-two day period.

Many in "our tribe" will be away from our computers for two and a half days Sunday night, all day Monday and Tuesday until an hour after sundown.

Along with being the celebration of the Jewish New Year and the creation of the world by God, Rosh Hashanah begins the Yamim Noraim, the ten days of awe (that's awe as in being God's presence, not awwwww as in what you say when seeing an ugly baby but you don't want to insult the infant's grandparents who are showing you pictures while you are trying to pray during the High Holiday services).

The ten days between the first day of Rosh Hashanah ending with the final blowing of the Shofar ending Yom Kippur is a time for serious introspection, a time to consider the sins of the previous year and atone for our wrongs.

Now while we are gone, allow me to remind you that we've built a nice little internet here, so please behave yourselves while we are gone.  A few rules to consider:

• Don't talk about us while we're gone. You know that stereotype about the Jews owning all the bank?  That means with one phone call any of us can shut down your cash card and empty your bank account. 

• Don't make a mess of the place, the cleaning lady was just here.

•  No guests while we're gone. We've marked the liquor we know how much is in every bottle.  Remember, we can treat you like adults or we can treat you like kids...the choice is yours.

•  We left some brisket and kugle in the fridge in case you get hungry. 

• If you eat the brisket and/or kugle please remember not to go swimming for at least an hour.

• And for God's Sake!!! Please put the brisket and/or kugle back in the fridge when you are done eating. Brisket makes great leftovers don't spoil it for the rest of us.

• Please stop slouching. 

•  Don't run with scissors!

• We left the phone number of where we'll be on the side of the fridge. 

 Oh and one more thing...summer is over put on a sweater and a hat.

Thank you for understanding.

And to all my friends, Jew or Gentile

"L'shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem!"

May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.