#IllinoisExodus “The typical family in Illinois making just over $79,000 would pay an additional $2,500 to $3,500 in income taxes in order to finance Pritzker’s spending promises”

Posted on October 14, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

ILLINOIS POLICY
Pritzker price tag: Candidate’s spending promises require doubling state income tax
by Adam Schuster
October 10, 2018

Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker has promised a number of new spending programs as well as closing Illinois’ current structural deficit. To finance these promises, Pritzker has proposed a progressive income tax hike. But how much would these promises cost? And how high would taxes need to be to finance them? Reasonable estimates show the cost of Pritzker’s spending promises demand an income tax hike of $13 billion to $18 billion. This would require approximately doubling the state’s personal income tax to 9.95 percent on the high end and 8.51 percent on the low end from the current 4.95 percent income tax rate. READ MORE

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EVENT: CAMERA in Chicago

Posted on October 14, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

CAMERA Chicago invites you to a
Gala Cocktail Reception and Buffet Dinner
Thursday, October 25, 2018, 6:30pm
Featuring
Moran Birman, Consul for Public Diplomacy, Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest
Eve Harow, Israeli Radio Personality, International Spokesperson and Passionate Advocate for Israel to discuss:
Is US Media coverage of Israel Biased ? The Israeli Perspective

Hosted by Gayle Landy
The Ballroom at The Carlyle
1040 North Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL

$72 per person. Space is limited, reservations required. Click here to register. For more information, contact Nadine Richterman nadine@camera.org Valet parking available.

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“Will the international community ever wake up to realize that Palestinian leaders are playing them for fools?”

Posted on October 13, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

GATESTONE
How Palestinians Lie to Europeans
by Bassam Tawil
October 11, 2018

…[PA Prime Minister Rami ] Hamdallah and his boss, PA President Mahmoud Abbas, believe that Israel has no right to defend itself against the campaign of terrorism waged by Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip. In their eyes, it is fine for Palestinians to throw explosive devices and firebombs at soldiers, but it is completely unacceptable for the soldiers to defend themselves. According to the twisted logic of the Palestinian leaders, it all started when Israel fired back…Those who sent the Palestinians to clash with the Israeli soldiers along the border with the Gaza Strip are the only ones who bear responsibility for killing more than 150 Palestinians and injuring thousands of others. READ MORE

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Federation member points out what many of us already know: Declining Democrat support for Israel is hardly a recent phenomenon

Posted on October 12, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

ABU YEHUDA BLOG
The war for the political soul of American Jewry
by Robert Vincent
October 10, 2018

I serve in a volunteer capacity on my local Jewish Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council in a Midwestern city, primarily in a role of Israel advocacy…While most of you know my political leanings as a Republican, what most of you don’t know is that I used to be a Democrat. I would say that I had been pretty solidly aligned with the Democratic Party since my grad school days in the late 80s until about 2006. And I have something of a “newsflash” for you: the Democratic Party’s “blanket” support of Israel ended in 2004, long before the present day. I was still a Democrat at that time, and in that election, I voted for John Kerry, albeit very reluctantly…READ MORE

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In show of strengthening ties between the two countries, Emirates’s Yousef al-Otaiba joins Ron Dermer at DC JINSA dinner

Posted on October 11, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

TIMES OF ISRAEL
UAE ambassador to US shares table with Israel’s US envoy at pro-Israel event
by Staff
October 11, 2018

In a sign of closer ties between Jerusalem and its Arab neighbors, the ambassador to the US of the United Arab Emirates shared a table with Israel’s ambassador at a public pro-Israel event in Washington, DC, on Wednesday evening. Israel’s envoy Ron Dermer was spotted by a reporter for the Haaretz daily sitting with Emirates Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba. They were attending a dinner for the pro-Israel Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), where US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was the guest speaker…The fact that the two envoys sat together publicly, knowing the event was being covered by journalists, appears to show that the two countries are increasingly prepared to acknowledge the growing connections between them. READ MORE

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“Turkey believes that Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered by a 15-person assassination squad sent into the country just for that purpose, according to reports. “It is like ‘Pulp Fiction,’” a senior Turkish official told the Times”

Posted on October 11, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Jamal Khashoggi crisis deepens: Alleged murder of dissident threatens to derail US-Saudi alliance
by Joel Gehrke
October 10, 2018

The alleged murder and dismemberment of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in an operation ordered by the top level of the kingdom’s royal court could have a “devastating” effect on U.S.-Saudi relations, according to a key Trump ally…President Trump has looked to Saudi Arabia as a Sunni counter to Iran’s regional aggression and Shia expansionism — a partnership that builds on the monarchy’s traditional role as an anchor of U.S. interests in the Middle East. In addition, Saudi Arabia has been supportive of pressuring Palestinians to enter into peace deal with Israel. READ MORE

SPECTATOR What the media aren’t telling you about Jamal Khashoggi The fate of Khashoggi has at least provoked global outrage, but it’s for all the wrong reasons. We are told he was a liberal, Saudi progressive voice fighting for freedom and democracy, and a martyr who paid the ultimate price for telling the truth to power. This is not just wrong, but distracts us from understanding what the incident tells us about the internal power dynamics of a kingdom going through an unprecedented period of upheaval.

JERUSALEM POST Khashoggi and the Jewish question Here’s the rule: If some major event happens in the Middle East, it will generally have an impact on Israel. The disappearance of Saudi government critic and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey – and the very real possibility that the Saudis either kidnapped him, killed him, or both – is no exception.

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#SwissAir CEO receives an interesting letter

Posted on October 11, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

Oct. 9, 2018
Thomas Klühr, CEO, Swiss International Air Lines

Dear Mr. Klühr

We found it very interesting that your onboard inflight map on your flight LX252 to Tel Aviv, removed the name of your destination replacing it with an Arab village Esh Sheikh Muwannis which has not been in existence for 70 years.

We think you are on to something. Replacing the names of present geographical locations with historical names of villages and countries from the past could be very educational and fun for your passengers. For example, while flying to Israel you could replace the word Israel with Judah which is what it was called thousands of years ago. You could add that the word Jew was derived from Judah. That is a fact that will excite trivia lovers. Even your own country Switzerland could be called by its original name, The  Roman Province of Raetia. Zurich could be called by its original Celtic name  Vicus Turicum and and so on.

Another Mideast country Jordan used to be called the Manluk Sultinate. Every other country in the region has borders drawn by France and the UK and all have names not related to their present names. Arab passengers will be thrilled to be informed about their county’s original names. The possibilities are endless. Germany could be replaced with the Third Reich and America by the name that its indigenous people used to describe it, Abya Yala which means “land in its full maturity”.

We hope you will consider our proposal. Please contact us if you want us to assist you to  implement this program. Always at your service.

Alfred Blitt
CEO Linguistic Deconstruction Corp.
Corona, California 92877 U.S.A.

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Leslie Cockburn, J Street-endorsed candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 5th district, has extreme views on Israel

Posted on October 11, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

CAMERA BLOG
Anti-Zionist Conspiracy Theories Seek the Mainstream
by Ricki Hollander
October 8, 2018

Anti-Zionist conspiracy theory literature is now once again in the news. A two-decade-old film and book by a husband-wife journalist team, Leslie and Andrew Cockburn, portrays the Jewish state as all-powerful and unscrupulous, entangled in global conspiracies, wars and influence-peddling. The Cockburns’ one-hour film, “Israel: The Covert Connection” was aired on PBS’ Frontline in 1989, followed by the book,  Dangerous Liaison: The Inside Story of the U.S.-Israeli Covert Relationship, which was published in 1991. But Leslie Cockburn’s anti-Israel charges and views are receiving new scrutiny and news coverage  because she is currently running as a candidate for Congress in the 5th District of Virginia. READ MORE

TIMES OF ISRAEL Israel’s DC envoy refuses to meet J Street, snubs other left-wing Jewish groups Unlike his predecessor, Ron Dermer steadfastly refuses to sit down with liberal advocacy organization, which accuses him of acting more like a GOP operative than a diplomat

FORWARD Israeli Nation-State Law Is ‘Apartheid,’ Says Democratic Congresswoman A Democratic congresswoman [Rep. Betty McCollum, MN-4] described Israel’s nation-state law as “apartheid” at a Palestinian rights event, Mondoweiss  reported last week. Accepting a leadership award at the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights conference on September 30, Rep. Betty McCollum said that Israel’s policies were “brutal” and “cruel”

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“Ten Jewish-American baseball players will become dual Israeli citizens partly to help the country’s team make the 2020 Olympics”

Posted on October 11, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

JTA
10 American Jewish baseball players to become dual Israeli citizens to boost nation’s Olympics bid
October 10, 2018

…Some of the players, who will visit Israel’s Interior Ministry next week to begin the process, also represented Israel in last year’s World Baseball Classic, where Team Israel shocked followers by reaching the quarterfinals. Jewish Baseball News first reported the development on Wednesday. While players in the World Baseball Classic only have to be eligible to be a citizen of the team’s country, players have to be actual citizens of the country they represent in the Olympics. READ MORE

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EVENT #StandWithUs Chicago 7th Annual Campus Champion Gala Sunday November 4

Posted on October 11, 2018 by ArchitectGuy

5:00 PM Sunday November 4, 2018
B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim (BJBE)
1201 Lake Cook Road, Deerfield, IL
Honoring Zahava Wein and David N. Jonas
Keynote Speaker Colonel Richard Kemp
Click here to register

StandWithUs is an organization that educates high school and college students about Israel in our increasingly anti-Israel world. They sponsor hundreds of pro-Israel events yearly on campuses around the country with regional staff providing support to students who need our help combatting BDS and the forces who delegitimize Israel.

StandWithUs, also known as the Israel Emergency Alliance, is a 501(c)(3) organization. Your gift to StandWithUs is fully tax deductible to the extent provided by law.

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