December 14th, 2017
Breaking news:
U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, under fire over a sexual harassment lawsuit, will withdraw from the March 6 Republican primary.
Mike Bergsma, chairman of the Nueces County Republican Party, told the Caller-Times he was told this morning by Farenthold’s campaign team he will not seek re-election next year.
“It’s a damn shame,” he said. “He’s been an excellent congressman, and I’m sorry this has happened.
“One wonders whether anyone could have survived scrutiny that intense.”
A statement from Farenthold’s camp was expected later this morning.
News of Farenthold’s decision comes as two prominent Texas Republicans, one a sitting member of Congress and the other a former congressman and presidential hopeful, are supporting challengers to Farenthold in the primary.
Former Congressman Ron Paul, who retired after seeking the 2012 presidential nomination, said he is backing longtime Victoria Republican activist Michael Cloud.
“I know him to be a man of his word, principled, trustworthy and hardworking,” Paul said in a statement distributed by the Cloud campaign. “I hope my former supporters will get behind him because our country desperately needs leaders with integrity, courage and moral character. Michael Cloud is that kind of leader.”
U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, meanwhile, announced his support for Bech Bruun, the Corpus Christi native who last week resigned as chairman of the Texas Water Development Board to challenge Farenthold. Williams is the first member of the Texas GOP delegation in Washington to publicly break with the incumbent.
“Bech is exactly the kind of person I would be proud to call a colleague in the United States Congress,” Williams, R-Weatherford, said in a news release distributed by Bruun. “Bech knows what it means to be a good steward of your hard-earned tax dollars.”
Farenthold, who is seeking a fifth term representing the Coastal Bend, has been under intense fire since it was disclosed that he settled a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former aide with $84,000 in taxpayers’ money. He has said the settlement was a strategic decision to put the matter to rest even though he insists the charges are untrue.
It would have been better had Farenthold resigned ahead of the primary filing deadline, but since there were already six Republicans and three Democrats gunning for his seat, voters will not lack for choices…
Tags: 2018 Election, Bech Bruun, Blake Farenthold, Corpus Christi, Elections, Michael Cloud, Republicans, Roger Williams, Ron Paul, Texas
Posted in Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »
December 14th, 2017
Another Texas jihadi arrested:
A Texas man was arrested Friday for “unlawfully distributing explosive making information and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS),” according to the Department of Justice.
Kaan Sercan Damlarkaya, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen from Houston, engaged in online communications with undercover FBI agents and other sources he believed to be ISIS agents, according to charges outlined in a criminal complaint.
Damlarkaya is accused of starting the conversations in early August 2017 and saying he wanted to fight for ISIS overseas or commit an attack in the United States.
As part of the conversations, charges against Damlarkaya indicate he wanted to record a farewell video to help inspire others in the event an attack resulted in his death. Court documents also note he claimed in early November 2017 to have tried to get to Syria on two occasions but failed.
He is accused of sharing information on how to build an AK-47 or AR-15 rifle from readily available parts in order to avoid detection from authorities, and of providing a formula to alleged ISIS supporters for the explosive, Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), as well as instructions on how to use TATP in a pressure cooker device containing shrapnel.
He doesn’t sound like the sharpest knife in the drawer. And speaking of knives:
As an alternative to guns and explosive, Damlarkaya did not rule out the use of a machete or Samurai sword. The criminal complaint noted the Houston resident carried a knife on his person in the event of interactions with law enforcement and kept a machete under his pillow as he slept in case of a raid.
Going Full Martyrdom with a samurai sword is probably a common fantasy among teenage jihadis, but it seems a whole lot less practical that using a gun. Especially in Texas.
(Hat tip: Big Gator 5’s Twitter feed.)
Tags: FBI, Houston, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Jihad, Kaan Sercan Damlarkaya, terrorism
Posted in Crime, Jihad, Texas | No Comments »
December 13th, 2017
I was going to do one big roundup of competitive Texas U.S. Congressional races, but the more I started digging in, the more I thought each race deserved its own entry. So let’s start with the Second Congressional District.
Republican
This is the retiring Ted Poe’s seat in northern Harris County. It looks like an interesting race, because there appear to be several potentially credible candidates:
Houston businessman David Balat looks like he has the money to compete (he’s already raised $155,965) and has been lining up endorsements.
Ex-Navy SEAL Daniel Crenshaw is drawing some attention in his first race with a compelling personal story. Losing his right eye to an IED in Afghanistan, Crenshaw also has that Moshe Dyan visage thing going for him:
Another U.S. veteran is Jonny Havens, who’s also a lawyer, formerly with Baker Botts, one of the largest and most prestigious law firms in Texas. He might have enough money and pull to run a competitive race,
State representative Kevin Roberts has experience and name recognition. (Empower Texans is not impressed with his legislative record.)
Kingwood businessman Rick Walker. I actually received an email from his social media team touting his candidacy, so he has more campaign infrastructure than many candidates at this point.
Kathaleen Wall doesn’t seem to have a website up yet, but she’s well-heeled and well-connected, always a good combination, and was active into trying to take down Joe Straus lieutenant Charlies Geren. Plus I suspect 2018 will be a pretty good year for women running for office.
Just missing the cut: Justin Lurie. Venture capital background, so he could potentially raise the money necessary, but he’s a bit young and has more issues than endorsements or events at this stage.
Not a leading candidates: the guy who thinks he’s already running for President
Democrats
The clear Democratic favorite here is Todd Litton, because as a lawyer whose worked in investments he can scrape up the money for a competitive race, to which end he’s already raised over $200,000.
The candidate that ran against Poe in 2016 was Pat Bryan. He raised a whopping $4,465 in 2016. (Way to support your candidate, Democrats!)
It’s a heavily Republican district and none of the Democrats running look capable of flipping it. Keep in mind that the early fundraising totals may be misleading, since Poe only announced his retirement November 7. We won’t get a real bead on race finances until Q4 results are released in January 2018.
Tags: 2018 Election, 2nd Congressional District, Baker Botts, Charlie Geren, Dan Crenshaw, David Balat, Democrats, Jonny Havens, Kathleen Wall, Kevin Roberts, Republicans, Rick Walker, Ted Poe, Texas, Todd Litton
Posted in Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »
December 12th, 2017
Monday was the deadline to file for the 2018 Texas primaries. You have to give credit to whoever in the Texas Democratic Party was in charge of candidate recruitment: unlike many previous years, “Democrats put up candidates for every statewide elected post, except one open seat on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, an initial tally of filings showed Monday night.”
Here are my quick impressions of some of the more competitive statewide primary races to be fought between now and March 6.
Democratic Governor’s Race
See this post. The press is going to cover this as an Andrew White vs. Lupe Valdez race. I think there’s a 50% chance Grady Yarborough makes the runoff.
Republican Agricultural Commissioner’s Race
This race has already turned nasty, with incumbent Sid Miller and challenger Trey Blocker launching nasty Facebook attack ads at each other. One of Blocker’s consultants is Matt Mackowiak, who was just elected to a 2018-2020 term as Travis County GOP chairman unopposed, and whose Twitter feed I follow.
Republican Land Commissioner’s Race
Former Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson has filed to run against incumbent George P. Bush. Patterson is going to have a real uphill fight to unseat Bush, since Patterson lost badly in his last race for Lt. Governor, coming in fourth in a four man race, and the Bush family machine has a legendary fundraising network, having raised more than $3 million in a down-ballot race in 2014. But various Alamo controversies and the fact that Bush has never run in even a slightly competitive race might give Patterson a chance to make the race close. Even so, Bush is still the heavy favorite.
Tomorrow (hopefully): A look at competitive U.S. congressional district races.
Tags: 2018 Election, 2018 Texas Gubernatorial Race, Andrew White, Democrats, George P. Bush, Jerry Patterson, Lupe Valdez, Matt Mackowiak, Republicans, Sid Miller, Texas, Trey Blocker
Posted in Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »
December 11th, 2017
Good news!
In a resounding show of support for the Second Amendment, the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a legislative package that included H.R. 38, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, and H.R. 4477, the Fix NICS Act of 2017. The bipartisan vote of 231 to 198 advanced a measure that would allow law-abiding Americans who are eligible to carry a concealed handgun under the law of a state to do so in all other U.S. states and territories that recognize the right of their own residents to carry concealed. Without a doubt, this is the strongest piece of self-defense legislation to ever come before Congress. It would also help shore up the National Instant Criminal Background Check System used for licensing and retail firearm purchases by adding additional layers of transparency and accountability to the system.
“Bipartisan” is a bit of a stretch: 225 Republicans voted for the bill along with a measly 6 Democrats. 14 Republicans and 184 Democrats voted against it. All Republicans in the Texas delegation voted for the bill, and two of the Democrat yes votes were from Texas: Vicente Gonzalez of the 15th Congressional District and Henry Cueller of the 28th. Predictably, U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke voted against the bill. O’Rourke was the one setting up a live Facebook feed for the Democrats gun control sit-in stunt last year, so he appears to be all-in on gun control, an issue that is likely to place him strongly at odds with the majority of Texas voters.
Tags: Beto O'Rourke, CHL, Democrats, Guns, Henry Cuellar, national carry reciprocity, Texas, Vicente Gonzalez
Posted in Democrats, Guns | No Comments »
December 10th, 2017
After having secured the Syrian border, Iraq has declared the war against the Islamic State over. Syria strongman Bashar Assad’s patrons the Russians have likewise declared Syria liberated from the Islamic State as well. Both of these statements are slightly premature, but not by much.
Right now isis.livemap shows the Islamic State disjointed into five enclaves, two in sparsely populated desert areas in Syria, one similar area in Iraq, and two small enclaves along the Euphrates in Syria southeast of Deir ez-Zor, both of which are being systematically crushed by the forces of Assad’s Syrian government of the Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
Once those small pockets are crushed, the military war against the Islamic State is effectively won, though expect it to linger on as yet another international jihadist terrorist organization, a tiny shadow of its former self, until the last of it’s many affiliates are either crushed or pledge allegiance to another leader.
More Islamic State news:
Is would-be Islamic State caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi still alive?
Deradicalization efforts begin.
BBC roundup of all the territory the Islamic State has lost.
This Los Angeles Times editorial by Max Abrahms and John Glaser points out that many critics (from John Bolton to John McCain and Lindsey Graham) were wrong when they stated that Assad’s ouster was a precondition for the defeat of the Islamic State.
“Meet Mosul Eye, the secret chronicler of Islamic State ‘killing machine.'” Omar Mohammed spent years under Islamic State occupation documenting their brutality. Including this nugget of atrocity: “IS is forcing abortions and tubal ligation surgeries on Yazidi women,” he wrote in unpublished notes from January 2015. A doctor told him there had been between 50 and 60 forced abortions and a dozen Yazidi girls younger than 15 died of injuries from repeated rapes.”
“Why Did Islamic State Kill So Many Sufis in Sinai?” “Since declaring itself a caliphate in June 2014, the self-proclaimed ‘State’ has conducted or inspired over 140 terrorist attacks in 29 countries in addition to Iraq and Syria, where its carnage has taken a much deadlier toll. Those attacks have killed and wounded thousands of people.” Also how Sufism was the predominant mode of Islamic thought in Egypt before the rise of Salafism and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Tags: al-Baghdadi, Bashar Assad, Deir ez-Zor, Egypt, Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Jihad, John Bolton, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Military, Omar Mohammed, rape, Russia, Sufi, Syria, Syrian Democratic Forces, Yazidi
Posted in Foreign Policy, Jihad, Military | No Comments »
December 9th, 2017
After having gay leather bar owner Jeffrey Payne and perennial candidate Grady Yarborough as their ostensible gubernatorial frontrunners, Democrats finally seem to have lured someone who’s won at the county level to the race in the form of Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez. Valdez was elected to her current post four times, so she has as much electoral experience as Wendy Davis had in 2014. However, she lacks Davis’ celebrity status outside the state, so she’s unlikely to draw anywhere near Davis’ fundraising dollars, surefire donations from Emily’s and Annie’s Lists notwithstanding. Valdez is also a lesbian, so she might split the gay vote (small as it is) with Payne.
Also, Mark White’s son Andrew has thrown his hat into the ring as well. His myriad political experience includes…being Mark White’s son. That’s it. He’s also making all sorts of bipartisan noises, but when you read his positions, they’re thinly disguised Democratic Party boilerplate, such as supporting the DREAM Act and boosting “sanctuary cities.” He also trots out the “personally pro-life” and “safe, legal and rare” canards, which always amount to “bring on the partial birth abortions!”
The Texas Tribune has a modestly irksome roundup of the race up. I couldn’t help noticing that one candidate the Texas Tribune omitted a picture for was the only candidate who had previously made it to a statewide ballot in November: Grady Yarborough, who in his 2016 Railroad Commissioner run did not do any worse (38.3% of the vote) than most statewide Democrats did in 2014. And he, like fellow gubernatorial candidate Cedrick Davis Sr., former Mayor of Balch Springs (in Dallas County south of Mesquite), who’s photo is also omitted, is black, while they included the picture of another longshot, distinctly pale former congressional candidate Tom Wakely. Another longshot mentioned in the piece, Dallas investment adviser Adrian Ocegueda (who I’m fairly sure is the only candidate whose webpage talks about contracts in virtual reality), also had his picture omitted.
Other 2018 Texas Democratic Gubernatorial candidates not even mentioned:
Garry Brown, an assistant for Williamson County commissioner Terry Cook (and formerly for Rep. Lloyd Doggett)
Joe Mumbach
Lee Weaver
The press seems to want to this to come down to a White/Valdez race. My guess is they’re half right. I’m betting White does get into the runoff due to the electorate’s lamentable but demonstrated tendency to support political dynasties. However, right now I’d guess that, despite hostile press gatekeepers to the contrary, Grady Yarborough is more likely to make the runoff than Valdez…
Tags: 2018 Election, 2018 Texas Gubernatorial Race, Adrian Ocegueda, Andrew White, Cedrick Davis Sr., Democrats, Elections, Garry Brown, gay, Grady Yarbrough, Jeffrey Payne, Joe Mumbach, Lee Weaver, Lupe Valdez, Texas, Tom Wakely
Posted in Democrats, Elections, Texas | 1 Comment »
December 8th, 2017
Last night mother nature dumped a bunch of snow on Austin…very little of which stayed on the ground through this morning. Which is just fine for those of us who have jobs.
I’ll still sorting out the latest DOJ/FBI revelations to have them all filed in the next Clinton Corruption update, which should be ginormous.
California is on fire.
“Traffic through central Mordor is slow but steady.”
The Wisconsin Witch Hunt was even worse than even conservatives feared:
Wisconsin’s infamous John Doe investigation was more sinister and politically driven than originally reported.
A Wisconsin Attorney General report on the year-long investigation into leaks of sealed John Doe court documents to a liberal British publication in September 2016 finds a rogue agency of partisan bureaucrats bent on a mission “to bring down the (Gov. Scott) Walker campaign and the Governor himself.”
The AG report, released Wednesday, details an expanded John Doe probe into a “broad range of Wisconsin Republicans,” a “John Doe III,” according to Attorney General Brad Schimel, that widened the scope of the so-called John Doe II investigation into dozens of right-of-center groups and scores of conservatives. Republican lawmakers, conservative talk show hosts, a former employee from the MacIver Institute, average citizens, even churches, were secretly monitored by the dark John Doe.
State Department of Justice investigators found hundreds of thousands of John Doe documents in the possession of the GAB long after they were ordered to be turned over to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The Government Accountability Board, the state’s former “nonpartisan” speech cop, proved to be more partisan than originally suspected, the state Department of Justice report found. For reasons that “perhaps may never be fully explained,” GAB held onto thousands of private emails from Wisconsin conservatives in several folders on their servers marked “Opposition Research.” The report’s findings validate what conservatives have long contended was nothing more than a witch-hunt into limited government groups and the governor who was turning conservative ideas into public policy.
“Moreover, DOJ is deeply concerned by what appears to have been the weaponization of GAB by partisans in furtherance of political goals, which permitted the vast collection of highly personal information from dozens of Wisconsin Republicans without even taking modest steps to secure this information,” the report states.
Snip.
The Department of Justice, however, recommends the John Doe judge initiate contempt proceedings against former GAB officials and the John Doe probe’s special prosecutor for “grossly” mishandling secret evidence. Schimel also recommends that Shane Falk, who served as lead staff attorney in the John Doe probes, be referred for discipline to the Wisconsin Court System’s Office of Lawyer Regulation. Falk took a job with a private law firm in August 2014, just as allegations of investigative abuse began to surround the political investigation.
(Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Perspective: Nancy Pelosi seems to think the GOP tax bill is worse than the Fugitive Slave Act
Another sexual harassment followup on Democratic Rep. Ruben Kihuen: “Hey, Nancy Pelosi knew all about my sexual harassment charges last year, and threw money at me anyway. So why’s she getting her knickers in a knot now?”
“Eye Doctor Tied to Bob Menendez Case Convicted in $100 Million Fraud Scheme.” And Democrat Menendez is still, as of this writing, a Senator.
Months after the Las Vegas shooting, and there are still dozens of unanswered questions about what actually happened.
“92 percent of illegal aliens arrested this year had ‘criminal convictions, pending criminal charges, were an immigration fugitive, or were an illegal reentrant.'” (Hat tip: Director Blue.)
“Man Deported 20 Times Sentenced to 35 Years for Sexual Assault.” So when is San Francisco throwing him his parade?
“Swedish Government to Ban Websites that List Ethnic Origin of Criminal Suspects.”
Related: “Swedish lawyer Elisabeth Fritz claims that in the majority of rape cases she has had to work on the suspects have been individuals from migrant backgrounds.”
“Swedish Chief Prosecutor: No-Go Zone Rinkeby Is Like a ‘War Zone.'”
“You know who doesn’t have a refugee problem? Japan.” This year Japan has taken in three refugees. Last year it was 28.
Hmmmm: “A federal judge in Argentina indicted former President Cristina Fernandez for treason and asked for her arrest for allegedly covering up Iran’s possible role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85 people, a court ruling said.”
Arizona Republican Rep. Trent Franks to resign over asking staffers to consider being a surrogate mother for him and his wife? Franks, unlike Al Franken, has actually resigned, not merely promised to resign at some unspecified date in the future.
More on how Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman plans to revitalize the kingdom:
Last Sunday premiered the newly formed Islamic anti-terrorism coalition, putting together leaders from Sunni Arab nations to denounce and combat fundamentalist terrorism throughout the Middle East and the world. It was another bold initiative towards the West of the young and energetic Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, coming on the heels of other bold moves that have looked to consolidate political and religious power in the Kingdom.
Together, all of these initiatives couldn’t be more transparent. They represent a movement of the most economically powerful nation in OPEC towards social, cultural and economic change, the realization of the Saudi “Vision 2030”. It is a top-down Arab Spring movement that likely has a better chance of success than the populist movements that resulted in more chaos than change in 2010.
However, the ultimate success for Vision 2030 will rely upon achieving the main economic goal of this revolution – the divestiture of Saudi Arabia from the singularity of oil revenues. Because we know that ultimately money – and lots of it – will be needed to drive the engines for change, we get a far better picture of just how important these latest production extensions agreed to in Vienna were for the young Prince.
And here we’re brought back to the upcoming IPO of Saudi Aramco, still on tap for 2018.
Even the planned 5 percent offering of the Saudi state oil assets could yield an instantaneous $100 billion dollars, if the $2 trillion-dollar valuation of Saudi Aramco is accurate. That’s a lot of capital to start the process of rebuilding a Saudi economy from one that is now virtually completely reliant upon the State. 75 percent of the Saudi public is under 35 years old, and they are starving for a new economic infrastructure that will bring job opportunities, cultural diversity, music, education – global access of all kinds – the kind of freedoms that the 2010 Arab Spring uprisings were supposed to deliver. Only this time, the push for change is coming from the top down, not as a populist movement from the people upwards.
“Tesla – which lost $619 million in Q3 – delivered only 3,590 vehicles in November in the US, down 18% from a year ago.”
In a rare moment of sanity for Sports Illustrated, they named J. J. Watt and the Houston Astro’s Jose Altuve as co-sportsmen of the year. Next week I’m sure they’ll get back to their usual Social Justicing…
Texas writer Bill Crider enters hospice care. Bill’s not particularly political, but he is a friend of mine, and I have frequently stolen some of the lighter LinkSwarm items from his blog. He’s a prince among men and he will be missed…
You’ve got to admire the designers of http://www.theworldsworstwebsiteever.com for having the courage of their convictions.
“Opossum breaks into liquor store and gets drunk as a skunk.”
Hell to the no
A tweet that tells you all you need to know to evaluate forthcoming legislation:
A shot of yuletide Archer cheer:
Tags: Argentina, Arizona, Border Controls, California, Crime, Cristina Fernandez, Democrats, Foreign Policy, Houston, Iran, J.J. Watt, Japan, Jihad, Jose Altuve, Las Vegas, Mohammed bin Salman, Nancy Pelosi, Republicans, Rinkeby, Robert Menendez, Ruben Kihuen, Saudi Arabia, Scott Walker, Shane Falk, Sweden, Tesla Motors, Texas, video, wildfire, Wisconsin
Posted in Border Control, Crime, Democrats, Foreign Policy, Jihad, Republicans, Texas, video | 1 Comment »
December 7th, 2017
Democratic Sen. Al Franken finally bowed to the inevitable:
Sen. Al Franken said he would resign from the U.S. Senate on Thursday following mounting allegations of sexual harassment and loss of support by fellow Democrats, a stunning and rapid fall for a Minnesota politician who followed decades as a successful TV comic with a rise to the highest echelons of U.S. political power.
Note: “Would” resign. Franken hasn’t actually resigned yet. That’s coming…sometime?
Did Gropenfuhrer Franken admit to any sexual wrongdoing? Not so much.
“I know there’s been a very different picture of me painted through the last few weeks, but I know who I really am,” Franken said. Of the claims against him by more than half a dozen women, he said: “Some of the allegations aren’t true. Others I remember differently.”
Just for the record, here’s another woman who said she’d been groped by Franklin. “It happened at a Media Matters party during the first Obama inauguration.” That’s just too perfect. If I were writing this as fiction, an editor would have penciled “Too on-the-nose. Tone down!” in the margin. (But be aware that writer is pretty high on the “liberal drama queen” spectrum…)
Tune in tomorrow for more exciting congressional sexual harassment resignations!
Tags: Al Franken, Democrats, sex offender
Posted in Democrats | 2 Comments »
December 7th, 2017
Wednesday President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, finally fulfilling the terms of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995. (Trivia: It passed the Senate by a vote of 93-5. The only Democrat to vote against it? Sen. Robert Byrd.)
The usual idiots are in full poo flinging mode. “Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Mr Trump was ‘throwing the region into a ring of fire.'” Yes, because the Middle East was such a garden of peace and understanding before the announcement.
Those notorious peace lovers in Hamas stated that President Trump’s move had “opened the gates of Hell. Which is sort of their go-to move:
Maybe they can turn it into a tourist attraction: “Be there at sunset to see Hamas open the Gates of Hell!”
I guess we’ll have to live with Hamas abandoning the peaceful, reasonable, constructive engagement with Israel that’s been their hallmark.
And there’s the usual gnashing and wailing over the blow to the mythical “peace process” that’s all process and no peace.
As one official notes: “Delaying the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has done nothing to achieve peace for more than two decades.”
Naturally the Palestinians are rioting because it’s the only thing they’re good at. Maybe they’ll launch Intifada 3: Little Bombers. The Second Intifada did manage to ramp the annual deaths of Israelis into the low hundreds, but that was before Israel built most of its security wall. (They’re also far along in building an underground wall around Gaza to thwart those Hamas Peace and Happiness kidnap tunnels.) So the scope of Israeli killing they can accomplish is probably fairly constrained.
In the Netherlands, Muslims responded by smashing the windows of a kosher restaurant, trying to ensure those blintzes never oppress Palestinians again.
Meanwhile, a bill to cut off payments to the Palestinian government for supporting terrorism sailed through the House.
Being hypersensitive to the tender sensibilities of Palestinians and the “Arab street” has gotten the United States exactly jack over the years (unless you count dead ambassadors). Let the Arab street rage and boil over Jerusalem this week. Next week it will be something else. And the week after. And the week after. And the week after.
Tags: Donald Trump, Foreign Policy, Hamas, Israel, Jerusalem, Jihad, Middle East, Middle East Peace Process, Netherlands, Palestinians, Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Posted in Foreign Policy, Jihad | No Comments »