Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Once upon a time in Israel

Posted: October 10, 2023 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
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By Christopher Harper

It’s incredibly ironic and sad that the best chance for peace between Israel and the Palestinians happened almost 30 years ago.

I remember watching in the Rose Garden at the White House as Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin shook hands and signed the so-called “Oslo Accords” on September 13, 1993.

For many years, I reported on the Palestinians for Newsweek and ABC News. I spent a lot of time with Arafat and later met Peres. Both saw the accords as the best chance for peace. One U.S. expert wrote recently: “In many respects, the early years of Oslo were a U.S. negotiator’s dream. Israelis and Palestinians had finally done what we had been encouraging them to do for years: get together and work through their own problems themselves.”

What went wrong? The accords were an interim plan. Territory would be transferred gradually to the Palestinian Authority in exchange for its assumption of security responsibilities.

Essentially, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization had different interpretations of the final outcome. For Palestinians, that outcome was an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. For Israel, the government was unwilling to commit to two states. 

Both sides had complex constituencies. Arafat led an organization with so many factions that it was difficult to keep them going in the same direction. These groups include Fatah, Arafat’s group and the largest of the PLO. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was the second-largest faction, mainly because it launched the most effective terrorist operations. But there were groups allied with Iraq, Syria, the Muslim Brotherhood, and others. 

Israeli leaders had to govern a country with just as many factions as the PLO. These groups ranged from far-left socialists to conservative religious factions. 

As a result, both sides had to compromise with their constituencies before they could compromise with one another.

For example, Rabin had also locked himself into a public commitment not to dismantle any settlements during the interim period. The settlement issue came to a head when, just after the accords were signed, an Israeli settler killed 29 Palestinians in Hebron, and he did virtually nothing about it because of his promise.

Nevertheless, Rabin was one of Israel’s most sensible and influential leaders. His death in 1995 at the hands of an assassin who opposed any deal with the Palestinians finally put the final nail in the coffin of the agreement. 

The hopes and dreams on that sunny September day 30 years ago came crashing down, leading almost inevitably to the chaos and war that exists now. 

Arming our enemies: From scrap metal being sold to Japan before World War II to $6 billion for Iran

Posted: October 8, 2023 by John Ruberry in Uncategorized
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By John Ruberry

Here’s an almost forgotten slice of history.

In 1939, Chinese Americans protested the loading of scrap iron in Oregon on a ship bound for Japan.

As you’ll see the link, there is a photograph of the protest “This iron is for bullets” and “Your wives and babies may be next,” are among the messages on the picketers’ signs.

The protesters were right.

As you of course know, two years later, Japan not only attacked Pearl Harbor, but also Guam and the Philippines, both US possessions.

Before those attacks, Japan seized Manchuria and invaded the rest of China in 1937. The Japanese committed numerous atrocities against the Chinese during the Second World War, most notoriously the Rape of Nanjing.

Last month, on September 11 no less, the Biden Administration announced it was releasing $6 billion in frozen funds to Iran, that was part of swap of American hostages held by the terrorist regime in exchange for some Iranian prisoners held here.

Swap? I call it a ransom payment.

The appeasement-minded Biden administration at the time claimed that the $6 billion can only be used for humanitarian reasons. Even if that is true, which I doubt it is, the definition of charity in the West is remarkably different than how jihadists define it.

In 2008, five former leaders of the Holy Land Foundation, which claimed to be a charity, were convicted of sending $12 million to Hamas.

Okay, yeah, I get it, the $6 billion probably isn’t in the hands of the radical mullahs in Iran yet, but like someone who knows he’s about to collect a huge inheritance, Iran is now financially confident–and it’s emboldened by Joe Biden’s weakness.

Yesterday, Hamas, the Iranian-funded terrorist group, attacked Israel in the deadliest strike against the Jewish state since the Yom Kippur War.

The Iranian mullahs call Israel “the little Satan” and America “the Big Satan.”

America may be next.

UPDATE 6:00pm EDT:

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Iran greenlit and helped plan Hamas’ attack on Israel.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

Five Random Thoughts Under the Fedora: A Side Effect of Texas Success, An inconsistent COVID stat, Good Advice delivered the right way, The Three Second Solution and Groktoberfest Oct 28th

Posted: October 7, 2023 by datechguy in catholic, culture, medicine, opinion/news, personal, special events, Uncategorized
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There is a story about how the special rare style of eclipse that will be viewed from Texas is going to produce issues with Texas’ power grid renewable side because said eclipse will be so long.

This highlights one of the things that sane Red States need to address. As people flee to them the demand on basic services from Electricity to water are going to increase which means you have to build the infrastructure to handle said increases. This means power stations, dams etc which will mean some expense for state budgets.

Of course they might decide not doing this will keep the liberals out.

There was a story out of New Zealand that I referenced briefly yesterday that based on their specialties Doctors were given Covid Vaccine exemptions but only if they did not reveal said exemptions is yet another “post Christian” horror story where the general population was kept in the dark for fun and profit but there was a stat in the story that I must confess throws me off. To wit:

The most highly Covid vaccinated nations in the OECD are in order Portugal, Chile, Canada, Iceland, New Zealand, Spain and Australia. Their average percentage of the population vaccinated is 91 per cent. Their average rate of excess deaths so far in 2023 is 12 per cent above the five-year historical average.

The least Covid vaccinated nations in the OECD are Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Poland, Estonia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Switzerland. Their average percentage of the population vaccinated is just 63 per cent. Their average rate of excess deaths so far in 2023 is 0 per cent compared to the five-year historical average. In other words, they have averaged a normal death rate.

The great difference between excess deaths is not a surprise but the 0% figure from countries that have a 63% of the population vaxxed is. 63% is a solid majority of the population. I’m no doctor but the math seems inconsistent that there would be no statistical excess deaths given that more than 3 in 5 of the population took the jab if the jab is the cause.

I’d be interested in seeing the historical rates of some of the known COVID jab side effects pre-covid in those countries vs the others and I wonder what the booster rates were in those countries. That might be the difference.

Stacy McCain took on the Trevor Bauer story on great Major League pitcher who insisted on his innocence and had the courage and wisdom to hold out till said innocence could be proven.

While I suspect the lawsuit against MLB will be epic as his suspension cost him tens of millions of dollars the bottom line is that by not embracing the Church’s teaching on marriage and sex Bauer put himself in that situation. However as many young rich men won’t listen to that point Stacy pointed out some basic facts both about there statistical odds of a genital herpes but more importantly a basic fact of life that might make a more effective argument:

If a woman is very attractive, why is she still single at age 27? Why is she still in the dating market? What’s wrong with her?

Now if you’re date her for a while with the thought of Christian marriage you might be able to find out the answer to that question but if you’re out for a quick lay these are the risks you take.

God’s laws aren’t just the right thing they’re the smart thing.

Thursday I was at a stop light in Fitchburg with a large truck on my left next to me. The light turned green and because I was running early I paused before going because our two lanes were going to merge into one not wanting to bottle neck.

It’s a good thing I did because the very next moment a car from the lane whose light just turned red passed just in front of me at high speed, jumped the curb and crashed into a parked car at the bank parking lot where I had been five minutes earlier.

If I had been a second or two faster in moving forward that car would have hit my drivers door square and you would be reading something else this morning.

I seem to have run into a lot of things over my lifetime where the difference between life and death was a split second away. I guess all those Rosaries make a difference.

Finally if you are in the New England area on Saturday October 28th consider Groktoberfest put on by the good folks at Granite Grok .

It will be an excellent chance to meet up with other conservatives. There will be music, comedy, Local Groups and Vendors, food, beverages, Speakers and even a gun raffle. (Ruger 10-22)!

Tickets are on sale now here. I’ll be buying mine before the end of the week.

To win future elections Republicans must fight the Culture War

Posted: October 5, 2023 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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For far too long members of the Republican Party stood on the sidelines while the Democratic Party waged an all-out war on all aspects of tradition American culture.  The Republican establishment did not believe this was a war worth fighting.  They did not believe the culture war mattered at all.  They believed that it was a war they could not win. 

The sorry state our society is in is proof that that the culture war was most definitely worth fighting.

This article is proof that standing up for traditional American values against the Cultural Marxism of the Democratic Party will be a winning issue in 2024: Trans Mania, Culture Issues Top Concerns In New GOP Voter Poll (thefederalist.com)

A new poll out Wednesday reveals a major shift in Republican voters’ attitudes, emphasizing “culture war” issues such as the transgender craze instead of the “Old Right” consensus prioritizing taxes and trade.

According to an American Compass/YouGov survey of 1,000 Republicans who voted in the 2022 midterms, respondents overwhelmingly emphasized cultural issues as the most important challenges to face the nation. When asked to select at least two and up to five topics from a list as the most pressing problems of the day, voters were by far most concerned with cultural issues such as transgenderism, woke capitalism, and critical race theory, in addition to the border crisis and globalism. “Transgender activism” was selected the most, at 69 percent. 

Previous surveys this year have revealed a shift in opinion among the broader American public away from transgenderism. A Gallup poll in June found 55 percent of Americans believe it is “morally wrong” to attempt to “change” one’s sex, up from 51 percent two years ago. Overwhelming majorities opposed bending sex requirements for athletic competitions.

Because the Republicans have let the Democrats run the table on cultural issues Democrats have become emboldened.  They have used these cultural issues to amass massive amounts of political power.  Because the Democratic party has been taken over by radical Marxists, they seek to achieve complete control over the American people.  The culture war is the perfect vehicle for this, Almost Like Metaphysics: Democrats Use Issues to Push for Total Control – American Thinker

Climate change is useful because it is a planet-threatening problem that requires systemic change enforced by the government, requiring ever-greater government control over our lives, like the Covid pandemic. Transgenderism is another power play, an attempt to override reality by government fiat. It places the state in the middle of the family, giving the state the last word on the question of the human person, fracturing the natural power structure of the family, and establishing the state as a competing authority with parents.

Transgenderism is a step towards creating a competing power center within the family. If it succeeds, other “children’s rights” issues will emerge. The radical international left wants all people, beginning as children, to have their principal relationship with the state, which they are determined to control. Pitting children against parents or a parent against a parent is an attack on our civilization. Civilization is founded upon interlocking communities of mutual support. The family is the ur-community of civil society.

Unless Republicans take up the fight in earnest in time for the 2024 House and Senate elections it will be too late, Democrats Have Become The Party Of Authoritarianism (thefederalist.com)

Despite the outdated moniker of “social justice warrior,” leftist Democrats aren’t interested in real justice. They’re interested in gaining and using power. Once they have it, they’ll use it against their enemies. Appealing to their desire for civil comity is futile. They have no use for comity so long as they have power.

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