“I don’t want any generals in here. I don’t want any officers,” Trump added. “I just want enlisted guys”

Posted on December 26, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

BUSINESS INSIDER
‘They lie to you’: Trump previously held private meetings with Navy SEALs to candidly discuss Afghanistan war
by David Choi
December 23, 2019

Months after taking office in 2017 and hoping to get a better understanding of America’s longest war, President Donald Trump began taking meetings with enlisted US service members who deployed to Afghanistan. “I want to sit down with some enlisted guys that have been there,” Trump told advisers, according to the national security journalist Peter Bergen’s latest book, “Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos.”…The meetings were intended for candid discussions about the war in Afghanistan, which was nearing its 16th year at the time, with US troops who served on the front lines. READ MORE

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The price of one-party rule: “Illinois politicians continue to categorically reject new laws that structurally change how this state works. Gov. J.B. Pritzker refuses to even consider an amendment to the pension protection clause”

Posted on December 26, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

WIREPOINTS
250 new laws will greet Illinoisans January 1, but none slow the state’s steep decline
by Ted Dabrowski
December 26, 2019

Do a quick scan of the 255 new laws taking effect in Illinois on January 1 and it won’t take you long to realize that Illinois pols have done nothing to fix the state’s broader mess. None of those laws stop the Illinois’ deep fiscal dive and the record flight of its residents. For sure, a few laws are easy to support, like the doubling of burial benefits for first responders killed in the line of duty. But the majority just take care of special interest groups or add mandates to Illinois’ already inefficient governments. And the stuff that affects everyone – from property tax relief to pension reform to local government consolidation – is nowhere to be seen. READ MORE

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Pompeo: “ICC unfairly targets Israel: Australia: ICC has no authority to discuss Palestinian issue

Posted on December 22, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

US DEPARTMENT OF STATE
The International Criminal Court Unfairly Targets Israel
Michael Pompeo, Secretary of State
December 20, 2019

Today, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, announced that she has concluded her preliminary examination into the so-called “situation in Palestine” and asked the ICC judges to confirm that the Court may exercise jurisdiction over the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. By taking this action, the Prosecutor expressly recognized that there are serious legal questions about the Court’s authority to proceed with an investigation. READ MORE

I24NEWS Jordan Valley annexation plans halted after ICC statement Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to annex the West Bank’s Jordan Valley have reportedly entered a ‘deep freeze‘ The first inter-ministerial meeting on securing Israeli sovereignty in the Jordan Valley, scheduled to take place last week, was abruptly canceled, according to several Hebrew media outlets after an ICC prosecutor decided to launch an investigation into war crimes allegedly committed in the Palestinian territories.

TIMES OF ISRAEL ICC reportedly spurned Israelis, met Palestinian group before probe decision The International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor reportedly met with a Palestinian group, but avoided meeting with Israeli organizations, before the court announced Friday that it was preparing to probe alleged war crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinians.

JPOST Naftali Bennett: The Hague’s ICC is home of modern antisemitism Bennett said the ICC comes from an antisemitic starting point, such that Israel will always lose because it is the Jewish State and Israel should not try to ingratiate itself to the court. “Every time the hypocritical world scolds us and we accept it, they want more. The Hague is the workshop of modern antisemitism. And now, when the picture is clear, we must treat them as such”

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Palestinian laws “used by the PA to punish Palestinians suspected of selling land and houses to Jews”

Posted on December 22, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JERUSALEM POST
Palestinian inmate who ‘sold land to Jews’ dies in Ramallah hospital
by Khaled Abu Toameh
December 22, 2019

A Palestinian prisoner who was accused of selling land to Jews died in a hospital run by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah. A PA court had sentenced the man to ten years in prison for his involvement in real estate transactions “with the enemy,” PA police spokesman Luay Zreikat said. The prisoner, whose identity was not released, was arrested in 2012 by PA security forces on charges of involvement in the sale of land to Jews. READ MORE

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Brad Schneider (IL-10) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) draft letter–signed by 25 Jewish House Democrats–accusing Jewish Trump Adviser Stephen Miller of supporting white nationalism

Posted on December 22, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Stephen Miller: ‘Deep vein of anti-Semitism running through Democratic Party’
by Paul Bedard
December 21, 2019 12:30 PM

Calling claims that he is a white nationalist “offensive” and “outrageous,” top White House aide Stephen Miller charged that attacks on him are driven by anti-Semites in the Democratic Party eager to “demonize” him because he is a Jew who works for President Trump…“Being pro-American to today’s Democratic Party is a thought crime. I will be clear… At issue are emails he traded with former Breitbart editor Katie McHugh on immigration and other issues. Reports said they included some sources critics call white supremacist organizations. READ MORE

READ JEWISH CONGRESSMEN’S LETTER URGING TRUMP TO FIRE MILLER

THE HILL Twenty-five Jewish lawmakers ask Trump to fire Stephen Miller over ‘white nationalist’ comments Twenty-five Jewish House members called on President Trump to fire Senior Adviser Stephen Miller over leaked emails showing he promoted stories from white nationalist media publications. “As Jewish members of Congress, we are calling on you to immediately relieve White House Senior Advisor Stephen Miller of all government responsibilities and dismiss him from your Administration,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter Friday.

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Adam Sandler film opens, a “curious intersection of Jewish jewelers and African-American musicians and NBA stars”

Posted on December 22, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Gritty new Adam Sandler film ‘Uncut Gems’ is aggressive, and aggressively Jewish
by Jordan Hoffman
December 23, 2019

…He [Sandler] works that curiously Jewish lane in midtown Manhattan, West 47th street, known by most as the Diamond District. He lives on Long Island’s north shore and keeps an Upper East Side high rise apartment with a younger (non-Jewish) employee/mistress. He’s always working the angles, always this close to a big score, he’s got a hundred calculations going on in his head at all times and it’s either about to come crashing down or he’s going to make it to the Promised Land. READ MORE

Uncut Gems scores 93% on Rotten Tomatoes

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Amnesty International campaigns neatly align with BDS goals

Posted on December 22, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JEWISH PRESS
Amnesty International’s Obsessive Anti-Semitic, Anti-Israel Hatred
by Arye Greene/TPS
December 22, 2019

Close scrutiny of dozens of social media accounts linked to Amnesty International and research of the output of over 40 of the organization’s staff and volunteers outlines the “extreme bias” against Israel in the posts and shows “there are clear political and discriminatory influences at work at Amnesty,” a new report on Amnesty’s approach to Israel shows. The report was written by David Collier, a British anti-Semitism researcher and commissioned by the Jewish Human Rights Watch. READ MORE

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Smoke dope, butcher a Jew and walk away a free man: “French court rules Kobili Traore can’t be held criminally responsible for #SarahHalimi’s killing because he was in a psychotic state from marijuana use”

Posted on December 22, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
Suspect in 2017 Paris killing of Jewish woman won’t stand trial
by Agencies and Staff
December 19, 2019

A man accused of murdering his Jewish neighbor in Paris will not stand trial after a French court ruled Thursday he could not be held responsible for the killing because he was in a psychotic state from smoking marijuana. Kobili Traore is alleged to have beaten his neighbor, 66-year-old Sarah Halimi, to death in 2017 while calling her a demon and shouting about Allah, before throwing her body from the window of her third-story apartment. The appeals court, whose decision Thursday ended Traore’s detention, ordered he be hospitalized or made to attend a drug rehabilitation program. READ MORE

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As of December 21, it’s official: Jerusalem to Tel Aviv in 30 minutes

Posted on December 22, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

JNS
Tel Aviv-Jerusalem fast train finally begins operations
December 22, 2019

After an 11-year delay, the new high-speed rail link between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem began running on Saturday night, Dec. 21. The rail line cost approximately NIS 7 billion ($2 billion) to construct, with some estimates ranging as high as NIS 9 billion ($2.6 billion). The Jerusalem station is 80 meters underground, making it one of the deepest railway stations in the world. Travel time on the new route is 30 minutes—a third of the time taken by the old Jerusalem-Tel Aviv railway line. READ MORE

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A Chanukah message from Boris Johnson to Britain’s Jews

Posted on December 22, 2019 by ArchitectGuy

“Britain would not be Britain without its Jewish community. And we will stand with you and celebrate with you — at Chanukah and all year round.”

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