"We have the impression that [the] FBI, instead of fulfilling its main responsibilities in fighting crime, is fulfilling openly political orders." "It's coming from those forces that are continuing to fuel Russo-phobic hysteria [in the United States]." Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman, Russian Foreign Ministry
Maria Butina speaks at a Moscow press conference in 2013.STR/AFP/Getty
This is a quite impressive woman, Maria Butina, the young Russian woman who apparently enjoyed her freedom to bounce back and forth from Russia to the United States in pursuit of an agenda that, incredibly, revolved around the right to gun ownership. Doubtless she made quite an impression with the National Rifle Association. Her one-woman campaign to loosen Russian laws on gun ownership to make it more like the U.S., where people can avail themselves of guns quite readily, accounting in great measure for astonishing incidents of mass shootings, may even be popular in Russia.
What a resume this woman has acquired, not only in establishing her bona fides as an excellent entrepreneur, but as a quasi-political figure who has acquired some interesting contacts at elite political levels, both in Russia and the United States. And all by age 29. It's head-spinning, actually. She was obviously born to intrigue and manifestations of capability leading to trust and an unerring instinct to ingratiate herself with those capable of further advancing her remarkable career.
It is, unfortunately, a career put on hold, for the moment. She and her presence in the United States, have been seized upon as representing the damning issue of a dark power geared to penetrating government agencies and lead players for the unforgivable purpose of spying. Shucks, the United States has no agents installed in the Russian Federation or elsewhere for that matter, acquiring sensitive data useful to U.S. intelligence agencies -- perish the thought!
But relations between the U.S. and Russia are currently at a sensitive pitch of feverish accusations. Not so much Russia since it is held to be the aggressor, but the United States most certainly where denunciations of state interference in the last presidential election that saw the elevation of a most improbable candidate to the presidency, elected by quite a large margin of votes in a contest of two incompetent liars of low-to-absent principles, saw a man with a benevolent attitude toward a Russian president whose actions have been nothing short of alarming globally ascend to power.
Returning to Maria Butina, that enterprising woman of ambition and talent to match; born in the steppes of Siberia, she acquired a university education, opened a furniture store and in short order transformed one store into a furniture empire. But other options to spread her prodigious talent called and she entered the United States on a student visa to further her academic eduction there. In the process she acquired a fascination with guns and mounted a challenge in Russia to relax gun laws.
This young woman has been charged with conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of the Russian government to gather intelligence on American officials and political organizations. And get this: to work toward establishing back-channel communication lines for the Kremlin. Facilitating open communications between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin? Oh, dear! The Washington establishment will not, simply not have it! An enemy is not a competitor with whom one consults and exchanges views.
And when the U.S. views their president as having been Trumped by the slick imperturbable manner of a sly fox such as Putin they are enraged. Hatred, not a bland form of nation-to-nation communication is the order of the day this day in Washington. And plucking the presence of a Russian university student into the ambit of an FBI investigation of a woman who publicly posts social network updates on her travels between the U.S. and Russia offers speculative fodder for yet another threat emanating from Russia. "It's psychosis. A witch hunt", her father stated from her hometown of Barnaul, in Russia. She is on the cusp of graduating from American University with a master's degree in international relations, finishing with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. Smart woman, wrong place, right time.
Alexander Torshin, Scott Walker, and Maria Butina in April 2015.Maria Butina’s Facebook
"There are, today, children living on reserves in Canada who cannot
safely drink, or bathe in, or even play in the water that comes out of
their taps." "And for far too many Indigenous women, life in Canada includes
threats of violence so frequent and severe that Amnesty International
has called it 'a human rights crisis'." "We need women and girls to succeed, because that's how we grow
stronger economies and build stronger communities. That
is why our government will be moving forward shortly with legislation to
ensure equal pay for work of equal value." "For Indigenous peoples, it means taking a hard look at how they
define and govern themselves as nations and governments, and how they
seek to relate to other orders of government. Indigenous
people will decide how they wish to represent and organize themselves." Grovelling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, United Nations
This hair-shirt sacrificing, egocentric who basks in international praise as a sensitive and emotional liberator of women from the strictures of male domination, always ready and eager to indulge in preening selfies, brought to the United Nations today Canada's lamentable relationship with its Indigenous population. The speech could have come almost verbatim from Australia, New Zealand, or the United States, anguished breast-beating about human rights violations of the past and efforts in the present to make amends.
But, as of all matters of extreme importance, the devil is in the details, and the details are far too numerous, convoluted and dense to be discussed in such a forum. Making the issue under discussion by Mr. Trudeau perversely inadequate and from a canted perspective, leaving unwarranted impressions. For one thing, the violence that Indigenous women face emanates for the most part from their intimate others, and certainly from among members of their reserves and tribes. Details, details.... Nor was there either an inclination or time to detail the unwillingness of First Nations to fairly represent their peoples' needs other than a determination to keep them in thrall to 'tradition'.
The forum of the annual UN speeches is generally an event where heads of nations vent their opinions about the world order, about how their nations position themselves on issues of great international moment, of decrying the conditions prevailing in countries where destabilizing events take place, from natural disasters to civil wars and predatory acts of terrorism. When leaders of nations speak at the United Nations they mention their own countries more in passing than in totality of measure.
But Canada's prime minister has an agenda to restore Canada to the regular roster of revolving membership in the UN governing council, where the general assembly every two years nominates member-nations to sit on the security council alongside the permanent Security Council members, Britain, France, United States, China and Russia. Under the previous Conservative-led government it was made known that respect for the United Nations had been much diminished in reflection of its corruption, its surrender to dominating cliques' agendas, its focus on condemning one single state, ignoring the human rights violations of nations that commit atrocities against their own.
When Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister, he triumphantly declared on the world stage "Canada is back!", when he might have said, the ruling Liberals have returned to power with all their backroom tricks and self-entitlements, but Justin Trudeau promoted himself as a child of the sun whose smile would light up any chamber he entered and thus became adored of the socialist masses for cleaving to their view of world affairs. So, not for him to upset anyone by mentioning situations that would give offence to anyone. Every vote counts.
Trudeau's nimble and sometimes troublesome tongue could have spoken like a statesman, but he avoided any such thing deliberately. His sunny ways even extend happily to courteous meetings with the world's most human-rights defying regimes' representatives for there are votes to be had everywhere. So, from the lips of the clumsy, inarticulate buffoon who is the current American president came the statements and observations of great moment that needed to be stated before the world body.
Addressing the issues that bedevil the world, and as the world's super-power, the United States as traditional custodian of world security. The world had no need to hear of American domestic divisions in its political parties, but it did require that issues relating to global stability and security be addressed, and President Trump did not shirk, managing to present an address that made one wonder who among his advisers moved him to speak in an acceptable and needful tone of the miseries of the world and the atrocious leaders responsible.
The topic of North Korea was addressed, and attached to that was the assertion that the U.S. is prepared to take the lead to prevent a volatile conflagration lit by a juvenile delinquent in his guise as a mendacious tyrant. China did not escape criticism, but in the context of its sponsorship of the North. Cuba's lack of freedom, Iran's provocations similar to those of North Korea with which it pairs in its ICBM and nuclear files quest, alongside its support and incitement of terrorism was deplored, and Syria's "criminal regime of Bashar al-Assad" put on notice.
It remains to be seen in the long run whether America will have been well served by a man whose background and character register as totally unsuited to the presidency. For Canada, the future will also tell whether the political dynasty that brought Justin Trudeau to a position he too had no previous study for, given his work background of drama coach and snowboarding instructor, which in contrast to Donald Trump's business ventures suggests McDonald's server suitability.
"I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree. That was never our intent ... We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program." "It is in no way an endorsement of any person, party or policies. For years, people have called upon us to take a position on political issues, and we have steadfastly remained non-partisan and refused to comment on political matters." Scouts have continued to trade patches, climb rock walls, and share stories about the day's adventures. But for our Scouting family at home not able to see these real moments of Scouting, we know the past few days have been over-shadowed by the remarks offered by the President of the United States." Michael Surbaugh, chief Scout Executive, Boy Scouts of America
Still from video
Full transcript of Trump's words below. TRUMP: Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much. I am thrilled to be here. Thrilled. (APPLAUSE) And if you think that was an easy trip, you're wrong. But I am thrilled. (LAUGHTER) 19th
Boy Scout Jamboree, wow, and to address such a tremendous group. Boy,
you have a lot of people here. The press will say it's about 200 people. (LAUGHTER) It looks like about 45,000 people. You set a record today. (APPLAUSE) You set a record. That's a great honor, believe me. Tonight
we put aside all of the policy fights in Washington, D.C. you've been
hearing about with the fake news and all of that. We're going to put
that... (APPLAUSE) We're
going to put that aside. And instead we're going to talk about success,
about how all of you amazing young Scouts can achieve your dreams, what
to think of, what I've been thinking about. You want to achieve your
dreams, I said, who the hell wants to speak about politics when I'm in
front of the Boy Scouts? Right? (APPLAUSE) There
are many great honors that come with the job of being president of the
United States. But looking out at this incredible gathering of mostly
young patriots. Mostly young. I'm especially proud to speak to you as
the honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America. (APPLAUSE) CROWD: USA! USA! USA! TRUMP:
You are the young people of character, integrity who will serve as
leaders of our communities and uphold the sacred values of our nation. I
want to thank Boy Scouts President Randall Stephenson, chief Scout
executive Michael Surbaugh, Jamboree Chairman Ralph de la Vega and the
thousands of volunteers who made this a life-changing experience for all
of you. And when they asked me to be here, I said absolutely yes. (APPLAUSE) Finally
-- and we can't forgot these people -- I especially want to salute the
moms and the dads and troop leaders who are here tonight. (APPLAUSE) Thank you for making scouting possible. Thank you, mom and dad, troop leaders. When you volunteer for the Boy Scouts you are not only shaping young lives, you are shaping the future of America. (APPLAUSE) The United States has no better citizens than its Boy Scouts. (APPLAUSE) No better. (APPLAUSE) The
values, traditions and skills you learn here will serve you throughout
your lives. And just as importantly, they will serve your families, your
cities, and in the future and in the present will serve your country. (APPLAUSE) The Scouts believe in putting America first. (APPLAUSE) You
know, I go to Washington and I see all these politicians, and I see the
swamp, and it's not a good place. In fact, today, I said we ought to
change it from the word "swamp" to the word "cesspool" or perhaps to the
word "sewer." (APPLAUSE) But it's not good. Not good. And I see what's going on. And believe me, I'd much rather be with you, that I can tell you. (APPLAUSE) I'll
tell you the reason that I love this, and the reason that I really
wanted to be here, is because as president, I rely on former Boy Scouts
every single day. And so do the American people. It's
amazing how many Boy Scouts we have at the highest level of our great
government. Many of my top advisers in the White House were Scouts. Ten
members of my cabinet were Scouts. Can you believe that? Ten. (APPLAUSE) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is not only a Boy Scout, he is your former national president. (APPLAUSE) The vice president of the United States, Mike Pence -- a good guy -- was a Scout, and it meant so much to him. (APPLAUSE) Some
of you here tonight might even have camped out in this yard when Mike
was the governor of Indiana, but the scouting was very, very important. And by the way, where are our Indiana scouts tonight? (APPLAUSE) I
wonder if the television cameras will follow you? They don't doing that
when they see these massive crowds. They don't like doing that. Hi, folks. (APPLAUSE) There's
a lot of love in this big, beautiful place. A lot of love. And a lot of
love for our country. And a lot of love for our country. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is here tonight. Come here, Ryan. (APPLAUSE) Ryan is an Eagle Scout from Big Sky Country in Montana. (APPLAUSE)
The audience of 40,000 -- oops, scratch that -- oh it was only 40,000, not 400,000? Well, according to the Trump type of reckoning you've got to include the wider audience watching on closed circuit television beamed out to the proud homes of Scouters everywhere. So maybe we should put that figure at four million? In any event, from the transcript of the event everything that came out of U.S. President Trump's mouth quite obviously sounded like pure gold to his audience.
Isn't that what APPLAUSE is indicative of? Mind, the Boy Scouts had warned adult staff members to caution the audience that political chanting of any measure was to be discouraged in no uncertain terms. In no uncertain terms the audience appeared to echo back their chief patron's words of wisdom. The grand disregard for custom, integrity and neutral politics it seems, was trashed, not only by The Man Himself but by those in attendance whose position there it was to regulate proceedings.
West Virginia, perhaps is Trump country? West Virginia, where the Scouting jamboree took place hugely approves of the suave, cosmopolitan intellectual approach that their President brings to the office he holds, influencing, charming and astonishing the world at large with the level of his deep understanding of international affairs and his so very obvious willingness to work collaboratively with his nation's traditional allies. He has wowed them with his genius, and the Scouts have reason to be proud.
Evidently many in the audience found Mr. Trump's predecessor wanting. Demonstrating their respect for the office and the man who held it with two majority elections by booing on cue at the disparaging comments of this new president of unimpeachable integrity. "I saw nothing but roughly 40 - 45,000 boy scouts cheering the president on throughout his remarks. And I think they were pretty excited that he was there and happy to hear him speak to them", chided White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee in reaction to Mr. Surbaugh's apology.
Hear, hear. The man has demonstratively uparalleled skills at making friends and influencing people, preparing the new generation to take their place as proud Americans, using this estimable man's character as the benchmark for all future presidential position holders. God bless America and while he's at it, perhaps he could also protect it from itself....?
"In the past, for reasons I try to explain, I've often felt I had to be careful in public, like I was up on a wire without a net." "Now I'm letting my guard down." Hillary Rodham Clinton
"Now free from the constraints of running [?sic], Hillary takes you inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, exhilarating highs and infuriating lows, stranger-than-fiction twists, Russian interference, and an opponent who broke all the rules." "In these pages [forthcoming book, 'What Happened'], she describes what it was like to run against Donald Trump, the mistakes she made, how she has coped with a shocking and devastating loss, and how she found the strength to pick herself back up afterwards." Simon & Schuster publishing bumph
"Hillary Rodham Clinton has written a new book. Except maybe she hasn’t. It all depends on what the definition of 'written' is." "The former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state had some help on her new memoir, 'Hard Choices.' Clinton employed a phalanx of aides and associates in producing the volume, which is being released Tuesday." "But
don’t expect to hear much about Clinton’s 'book team', as she calls
those who helped her write the book, which carries her name alone on its
cover." "Clinton’s acknowledgment of her three-man team — Dan
Schwerin, a former Senate and State Department aide to Clinton; Ethan
Gelber, another State Department aide; and Ted Widmer, a Clinton adviser
and Brown University historian — appears in just a few sentences on
Page 597 of the 635-page book. Their exact contributions, however,
aren’t spelled out." "Such is the lot of the ghostwriter." Paul Farhi, The Washington Post, June 9, 2014
HiIlary Rodham Clinton listens before signing a
copy of her book, "Hard Choices" at Barnes and Noble bookstore in New
York. (Bebeto Matthews/AP)
On Thursday the announcement of this latest work of fiction from Hillary Clinton was made public.
Instant sensation. The title of her new book leaped forward from its position number 3,350 to 17 on Amazon.com. It is now the 'must-have' tell-all of the month, presumably. Ever hopeful, people who plan to read the exculpatory tome written by someone, certainly not Hillary Clinton, though viewed through her personal lens, will be treated to a version of events that put this woman in high dudgeon until she managed to recover, consoling herself with the assurance that it wasn't her fault.
That Ms. Clinton, the infamously famous woman who imagined herself entitled through a long apprenticeship to sit in the White House, not as a 'first lady' but a First Lady, wrote yet another book is a risible absurdity, and an insult to those who actually labour at the task of writing books. Her name is always front and center as the author of the books in her name, while sometimes the actual name of the person who wrote the book, like the writer of 'It Takes a Village', Barbara Feinman Todd, Georgetown University lecturer and writer who spent 7 months writing it, went unnamed.
These incidental oversights appear to be endemic to Hillary Clinton. She has a casual approach to so many vitally important nods to responsibility and honest revelations, with a penchant toward portraying herself as misunderstood and under-appreciated. Clearly she was misunderstood when she spoke of the type of wretched American voters to whom Trump appealed as presidential material. Just as she was massively under-appreciated when so many of the U.S. voting public felt her past performance revealed too much about her personal style that was unappealing to them as presidential potential.
And perhaps it somewhat stuck in the craw of the ordinary American who struggles to make ends meet living in a society that favours the enterprising and the wealthy -- a nation that prides itself on its exceptionality as a democratic republic that views all its citizens with equanimity in an equal light of opportunity, however disadvantaged a large demographic is when seeking health care, unable to afford what they need to remain healthy and able to maintain employment -- that this woman never missed an opportunity to enrich herself.
And good gracious, here she is, doing it again. Letting her guard down in a mission to explain her lapses in judgement, not those lapses that painted her as unlikely presidential material, but those in failing to understand and connect to the needs of those not as privileged as she. To whom her adversary did appeal and connect with, an issue that in the larger scheme of things, made all the difference. Her defeat at the polls, a 'stunning blow' to someone who expected to breeze into the Oval Office was definitely not her fault. Cue the Russian card. And then-FBI director James Comey; both scuppered her, undeniably.
She talked a good line in excusing herself, from her email server to her State Department response on Benghazi, and her embroideries about being under fire in a field of combat. The field of combat that really mattered to her might have seen a lot of people souring when word of her use of State Department contacts to embellish the charitable enterprise of her husband certainly did her no good. She has a certain way of evincing indignation at suspicions of her self-interested motivation; there we go again, misunderstood.
A flawed candidate in capital letters. In capital letters though she would not have enhanced the status of president while basking in the euphoria of representing the first American woman to hold that position, surely her win at the polls that fateful election day would have been preferable to the election of that uncouth, ignorant, vengeful, egotistical habitual liar whose lack of knowledge and certainty of his personal wisdom is destroying whatever is left of the dignity of political office in Washington.
President Donald Trump, in the Oval Office of the White House. He has
feuded with the Morning Joe hosts this week, who claim the White House
tried to blackmail them.
Photograph: UPI/Barcroft Images
"It's a sad day for Americans when the president spends his time bullying, lying and spewing petty personal attacks instead of doing his job." "Never imagined a day when I would think to myself, 'It is beneath my dignity to respond to the President of the United States'." Mark Kornblau, public relations chief, MSNBC
"I heard poorly rated @Morning Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!" U.S. President Donald J. Trump
Mika Brzezinski in the lobby at Trump Tower, in November after the election. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP
Uncouth, nasty, venal, vain and untruthful. That's a mouthful. They are adjectives to describe a person of low morals and bordering on sociopathic in attitude and presentation. Clearly that description fits someone whose nurturance went astray as a child, who was raised in an environment less than ethical let alone moral, whose acquaintance with self-discipline and responsibility to self and to others was sadly lacking.
To match those descriptions to a crude braggart who is a threat to public decency creates no imaginative difficulties. But to a President of the United States of America? In this sad instance it's a match made in the lower regions of Hades, but it's the shoe that fits and he wears it with smug arrogance while defying the conventions of social demeanor and the universal demands of personal decency.
This is a man who automatically responds with venom to anyone who fails to admire those qualities that he so ably demonstrates. Should any criticism come his way he reflexively spouts contemptible character assassination worthy of a sixth-grader heading toward juvenile delinquency. He is coarse and never anything but unpalatable to decent people who wince each and every time he expounds on how irresistible he is to women in particular.
Those who fear him and appreciate the opportunity to fill high office in the White House present him as a man dedicated to overturning convention, a bluff, no-nonsense, business temperament who sees through artifice and challenges it. That's a fairly workable Orwellian explication worthy of an expert spinner, but the truth is the man is incorrigibly unfit to be in polite company, much less to inhabit the White House.
Reputedly his impulsive Twitter spouts represent the source of his inane and offputting commentary. But it is a habit that has become ingrained in this man to simply spout, whether verbally or through fleeting thumb keyboarding the insipid and insulting thoughts that crowd his mind, seeking release through the influence of social media to appall his critics and entertain his supporters.
A Quinnipiac University poll recently released revealed that 61 percent of responders feel their president should refrain from tweeting through his personal account. Reputedly, his aides have made efforts to persuade him to surrender Twitter entirely and forego his addiction. Perhaps a pathology, which is likely to represent what he clings to, is harder to put an effective stop to than a mere addiction.
"Despite
their frustration with Israeli behaviour regarding the Palestinians,
the Gulf states recognize that Israel is a strong, advanced country with
a military that could act against their common foes and that has
intelligence capabilities that could mesh very well with the needs and
capabilities of Gulf agencies." Jason Isaacson, associate executive director, American Jewish Committee "This younger generation [of Gulf State leaders] sees Israel much more in terms of practical alliances." "So
suddenly Israel is not seen in that one-dimensional term of being the
occupier of Palestinian land, but rather as a potential partner against
the greater evil, if you will, which is Iran." Stephen A. Seche, executive vice-president, Arab Gulf States Institute, Washington
Suddenly -- as sudden as the change in administration of the United
States of America -- Saudi Arabia is happily basking in the limelight of
American trust and friendship again. In gratitude to the man who
swiftly reversed the collapse of U.S. support and allegiance with the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during President Obama's eight years in the
White House, on impossibly short notice, the House of Saud pulled out
all the stops to demonstrate their blissful satisfaction, welcoming U.S.
President Donald Trump as though he were the mountain moving to
Mohammad.
President Trump, it seems, feels that the Arab Peace Initiative which
the Kingdom had devised as a prod to solve the Israeli-Palestinian
impasse, signed by the 22 members of the Arab League in 2002 seems the
likeliest solution to settling disagreements, leading to a peace
agreement and a two-state solution. This is a warmed-up, cooled-down,
re-warmed and rejected 'plan for peace'. Calling on Israel to withdraw
to 1967 lines before it had gained the opportunity to reunite Jerusalem
after yet another combined Arab military attack which failed.
In exchange for peace between the Arab states and Israel, a Palestinian
state would be established in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. East
Jerusalem -- the Old City of Jerusalem, the jewel in Israel's crown of
its immemorial heritage, where its ancient Temples of Solomon stood and
the Ark of the Covenant was venerated holding the original tablets of
the Ten Commandments -- according to the Arab League plan, to be handed
over once again to Islamic stewardship (as it was when Jordan assumed that unauthorized role and Jews were not permitted entry).
This bas-relief image showing the Ark of the
Covenant being carried is from the Auch Cathedral in France. A newly
translated Hebrew text claims to reveal the locations of treasures from
King Solomon's Temple and discusses the fate of the Ark itself. Credit: Photo by I. Vassil
Also part of the onus of conditions to be met by Israel was a "just"
solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees -- the original 700,000 of
whom were said to have fled when Israel declared itself statehood after
the UN's offer of Partition -- now grown to over six million declaring
themselves Palestinian "refugees". That "just" solution has always been
seen as inviting the "refugees" to return to Israel, their presence to
obviously overwhelm in sheer numbers the existence of Israel as a Jewish
state.
Nothing in the Arab League peace plan addresses the forgotten issue of
the 800,000 Arab Jews who were summarily expelled, their properties
confiscated from Arab lands when the State of Israel came into being. No
compensation for them, no just solution considered, no invitation for
them to return and retake possession of all that had been taken from
them. The issue of the Jewishness of Jerusalem as the centre of life for
ancient Israelites has its counterpart in the second most sacred place
of Islam's heritage, Medina.
Medina was a place where ancient Jewish tribes had long been settled.
When Mohammad was exiled from Mecca and approached the Jews of Medina to
forsake Judaism for what he informed them was God's final iteration of
Monotheistic piety and convert to Islam, the Jews refused. In response,
Mohammad assembled his army of new-adaptees to Islam and besieged the
Jewish tribes, slaughtering many, banishing many others.
Is the Kingdom prepared to exchange Medina for Jerusalem, the latter of
which is declared the third most holy site for Islam? Where Islamic
rulers, after conquering the city from the Christians who held it and
who lived among the Jews who never left the ancient city, built their
Islamic structures signifying conquest over the ruins of the second
destroyed and looted (by the Romans) Temple of Solomon as though this
symbolic act transformed the nature and the presence of a city ordained
to Israel to one consecrated to Islam.
Under Jewish stewardship of Jerusalem, all faiths now have access to
their sacred places of worship. Israeli authorities have sacrificed the
right for Jews to pray at the Temple Mount to salve Muslim rage at any
Jewish presence. Under Islamic rule of Mecca and Medina -- and
Jerusalem, if the Arab League had its way -- only Muslims are permitted
to enter those sacred precincts; non-Muslims are strictly forbidden
entry.
Even as Saudi Arabia has been busy crassly destroying some of the
ancient monuments held to be sacred to Islam to make room for luxurious
new hotels and shopping malls.
When the Arab proposal was first announced in 2002, Israel saw no merit
in it. The Arab world from the inception of Israel's renewal as a Jewish
state to the present has always viewed Israel as an interloper in the
Arab world, an aggressor, an usurper of Palestinian 'rights'. For the
Koran states unequivocally that land once consecrated to Islam must
never be permitted to fall into the hands of non-Muslims.
As for Israel's rights, there are none, but those the Arab world is now
prepared, grudgingly, to permit Israel to assume, under Arab conditions.
"There is a growing realization among your Arab neighbours that they have common cause with you in the threat posed by Iran." "What's happened with Iran has brought many other parts of the Middle East towards [sic] Israel." "I had a meeting this morning with President Abbas and can tell
you that the Palestinians are ready to reach for peace. I know you've
heard it before, I am telling you, that's what I do, that they are ready
to reach for peace. And by meeting with my very good friend, Benjamin,
[I can say that] that he is reaching for peace, he loves peace, he loves
people, he especially loves the Israeli people. Benjamin Netanyahu
wants peace. Making peace will not be easy. But with determination,
compromise, and the belief that peace is possible, Israelis and
Palestinians can make a deal." U.S. President Donald Trump, Jerusalem, Israel
Jerusalem Post -- Trump and entourage; Netanyahu and entourage, before the Wailing Wall
President Trump was pleased to inform Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel that his august presence in the Middle East has paved the way for a final and lasting peace not only in the Middle East, but finally, between Israel and the Palestinians because at long last a master negotiator was present, and his very presence cast a great luminous light of peace and reconciliation over all belligerent parties to make of them a benevolent cast more than willing to set aside the petty differences that made them adversaries over the years.
The message to Israel in particular was that the Trump administration guarantees that the Islamic Republic of Iran will never attain a nuclear weapon, guaranteed. That being the case, as Iran remains the main irritant causing instability in the region Israel would do well to partner with its Arab neighbours in confronting the Islamic Republic. As though for the past 70 years and long before, Arab and Muslim nations hadn't one thing in common; hatred for the presence of Jews. As though the Arab League membership wasn't constantly at one another's throats. As though when expedience demands they will bow but when the situation changes, so do the attitudes.
Saudi Arabia's relaxation of its traditional hostility to Israel owes entirely to the fact that after a stream of conflicts from the combined armies of the Arab League led to humiliating failure where Israeli military skills outmatched those of the invading Muslim nations had them 'respecting' the Jewish state's conflict skills and fearing the consequences of continued violent hostilities. But if those formidable fighting skills could be turned against Aryan (non-Arab) Iran, it would be all to the good. The enemy of Sunni Islam threatens not only Arab primacy, but Jewish existence.
This is the juncture where the enemy of my enemy transforms the enemy capable of withstanding the onslaught of the enemy harbouring grandiose schemes of elevating its prominence, dominance and threat level to conquest heights, makes a friend whose resources of survival can be acceptable as long as it makes gains for the entire Arab world. And Prime Minister Netanyahu recognizes his nation's opportunity to influence its former adversaries in the mutual battle against a common enemy.
Yet that is a separate issue from the divisive one of mutual cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians simply for the reason that the Palestinians have gained the impression that much is owed them, and it is Israel that must make all the concessions, none required by the Palestinians. And there is this about the culture of the Arab Middle East; concessions are ultimately viewed as symptoms of weakness.
The greater the concessions the weaker those making them and the more demands can be made of them, until there is nothing left to demand and the command goes to the partner in the conversation who made demands that were agreed to by a reasonable wish to achieve peace. Peace to one negotiator is characterized by a cessation of violent acts against its people by perpetrators incited by its 'partner for peace'. While peace to the partner for peace is deciphered as having succeeded in obtaining all demands, leaving nothing whatever for the whimpering loser to collect and slink off with.
"This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects or
different civilizations. This is a
battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life and
decent people, all in the name of religion, people that want to protect
life and want to protect their religion. This is a battle between good
and evil." "That means honestly confronting the crisis of Islamic extremism and the Islamists and Islamic terror of all kinds." U.S. President Donald J. Trump, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
"This administration is committed to a 180-degree reversal of the Obama
policy on Iran." "They see the Iranian threat as fundamentally linked to
the nature and behavior of the regime and its revolutionary and
expansionist ideology." Mark Dubowitz, chief executive,
Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Washington
Saudi
Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, center, President Trump and others
during a sword dance Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Jonathan
Ernst/Reuters)
This new American president does nothing that previous American presidents newly installed in the White House have always done. Their first courtesy travels outside their nation have been to near neighbours as though to emphasize the diplomatic, social and trade relationships inherent in that neighbourliness. Instead, this new president put Canada and Mexico on notice that he is personally hugely dissatisfied with the trade relationship between all three in the North American Free Trade Agreement that served all three nations well, and integrated their economies.
While they're left confused and stewing in the wake of a man whose attention span and volatile attitudinal changes leave heads spinning everywhere, the new president decided in a whirlwind tour of the Middle East, the Vatican and Europe. Saudi Arabia is accustomed to other nations grovelling to it, but in this instance it was giant billboards with portraits of Donald Trump and fawning newspaper coverage of the First Lady that ingratiated the Kingdom to the American president; a billionaire-to-billionaire type of mutual admiration.
Old habits are hard to shake, and Saudi Arabia has been long accustomed to being the pet Middle East nation of America. When former President Obama shook his leg at Saudi clinging, preferring Tehran's cranky, nuclear-loving tyrants he pitted majority Sunnis against minority Shias and left traditional allies stunned. His successor appears to be reversing that trend. And calling on Saudi Arabia to rouse itself and its Sunni neighbours to form a Middle East-style NATO capable of facing Islamist terror and routing it.
Fact is, Saudi Arabia has assembled a Sunni coalition and it is humbling Yemen's Houthis in a proxy Saudi-Iran conflict battering the most impoverished of Arab Muslim countries. Fact is also that the Middle East already has its NATO. It's called the Arab League. It also has its Muslim United Nations, called the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which fairly well manages the United Nations, nudging it toward the OIC's point of view as Islam's interestsprevailing above all else.
While decrying the malevolent intent of the Iranian Ayatollahs, of Tehran's aspirations and support of terrorism as long as it expresses Shiite-Muslim interests, a blind eye as usual is turned toward Saudi Arabia's and Qatar's exportation worldwide of fundamentalist, destructive Wahhabist Salafist Islam breeding terrorist enclaves wherever oil wealth has invested in mosques and madrassas throughout North Africa, Europe and North America.
Donald Trump, American President, seems enamoured of Vladimir V. Putin's style of governance; he also assumes an attraction toward sharing intelligence with Russia, as a partner for peace in the world, and as a Utopian dreamscape, that's quite wonderful. On the other hand, naming Iran as the devil and once again courting Saudi Arabia, a proxy chess game appears to be unfolding, with the United States restoring its credentials with Sunni Islam, while Russia has firmly ensconced itself within the bosom of Shiite Islam, consorting with Syria and Iran.
There are so many levels of overlapping interests and confounding turnabouts with this new president who belabours the absurdity that he is the least bit interested in the man-on-the-street in America, putting the population to work again, restoring wealth that never left, and jobs that the man-on-the-street forfeited for the pleasure of buying cheaper products made in China, one's head spins.
So here we have it; no one produces more military hardware than U.S.-based arms-production multinationals, and the trip to Saudi Arabia came with a pricetag in the realm of an estimated $350-billion total of arms sales.
"Don't forget, when Jim Comey came out, he saved Hillary Clinton. People don't realize that. He saved her life, because -- I call it Comey won. And I joke about it a little bit. When he was reading those charges, she was guilty on every charge. And then he said she was essentially OK. But he -- she wasn't OK, because she was guilty on every charge." "Director Comey was very, very good to Hillary Clinton, that I can tell you. If he weren't she would be, right now, going to trial." "FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds! The phony .... " " ... Trump/Russia story was an excuse used by the Democrats as justification for losing the election. Perhaps Trump just ran a great campaign?" "We'll see what happens." U.S. President Donald J. Trump
Donald Trump soaks up the crowd at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.
By Win McNamee/Getty Images.
So what happened is that the man who absolved himself from any awkward responsibility in shaping the final outcome of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, feeling so badly that some might conceive of his having interfered with it, that it made him feel slightly 'nauseous', is now ready to join an unemployment line. He was indiscreet. He was careless. He made extremely questionable decisions. He was unprepared to defend the assertions he made at the very highest level, for the level of their unquestioned content. And now he's out.
Could he have been surprised? Hillary Clinton indulged herself in a little bit of scattering blame for her loss. Nothing to do with her own flawless performance as a candidate whose value to the American people no one but an utter dunce [your cue to stand erect, Mr. President] could possibly deny, but those awful Russian propagandists, and above all, the unwarranted intervention of someone who should have known better, the director of the FBI making news just before the election, casting doubt on her suitability....
That's the best she can do now, as a failed candidate; whine about the forces arraigned against her, from anti-feminists to Vladimir Putin's spite, to James Comey's unsurpassed traitorship. On the other hand, there is someone else who has incredibly to the point of utter incredulity on the part of most intelligent onlookers, inveigled his way into the vacated position of President of the United States of America, whom James Comey has pursued an investigation against, to determine the depth and extent of his relations with Moscow and Mr. Putin.
Not directly, granted, but tangentially, through his trusted lieutenants. Of course, in the process implicating Donald J. Trump from his dainty feet to his orange mop. On the other hand, what's so wrong about Washington conferring with Moscow? Two world powers, one ascendant the other descending; sometimes it's hard to know which belongs where. Those two leaders, Putin and Trump, after all, have much in common. Both intemperate, arrogant, unrepentant, ignorant narcissists. Grandly entitled to hold the world ransom to their ambitions.
Hillary Clinton demonstrated more than fulsomely that she was not a desirable candidate for the presidency. An entitled elitist, egotistical and self-assured that this was her time and she would be celebrated as the first woman to break the barrier as a female president of America the Great. Her ineptitude as Secretary of State was legendary, her tantrum over Benghazi as telling a sign as any even without her illegal use of a private email server leaving her position vulnerable to the kind of security breaches she accuses the Kremlin of.
Some choice the American public had; cutting the personalities down to their most elemental essence, a liar or a braggart, each of whom, excepting those monumental faults, being unequal to the gargantuan task of administering the affairs, internal and external, of a great nation. But Trump is what they opted for, and Trump is what they got. Former FBI director Comey appears a man of scant caution in publicly airing the FBI's investigations of these figures. He appears to have subconsciously wooed his own unemployment status.
Clearly, he too was inept. But is his ineptness, even given his status as FBI director, anything near comparable to that of the current President of the United States? Who has through his bungling incompetence roiled the world in concern over his erratic performances. A corrupt, thoroughly thuggish character, unfazed and unaware of his great moral and intellectual failings, but thoroughly convinced of his entitlements as President and Commander-in-Chief of his nation, to issue directives harmful not only to the United States but to the world at large.
It is as though he has set out determinedly to prove that there are no boundaries for him to wreak havoc on, that there exist no realities other than those he fabricates, that justice is whatever he considers it to be because he is, above all others, infallible. Venal and self-assured, he has set out to prove that gross stupidity and charlatanism becomes its own reward.
A Donald Trump supporter
holds a copy of a 1990 Playboy Magazine with Donald Trump and Playmate
Brandi Brandt on the cover at a rally Cincinnati, Ohio, March 13, 2016.Credit
Mark Makela for The New York Times
"The way a lot of people made money in the Klondike was not in digging gold out of the ground. It was in exchanging property." "It's the kind of speculation that Donald Trump is doing today as a real estate owner." Catherine Spude, biographer
"The only reason anybody's interested in it [Fred Trump's Yukon investments] at all is because his grandson is very prominent." "As far as I can tell, he was just one of a cast of thousands." "There was nothing particularly outstanding about him. Nothing extraordinary." Michael Gates, Yukon historian
The ‘Arctic Restaurant’ shop in
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The shop is in the same location that Donald
Trump’s grandfather Friedrich Trump owned and operated a hotel and
restaurant under the same name.
Photographer: Ben Nelms/Bloomberg
In 1897, suddenly everyone feverishly developed a hankering to go north,
really north, to the Canadian Yukon when it was rumoured that gold had
been discovered in the Klondike. Eager prospectors flooded to where the
gold was rumoured to be plentiful and the nuggets just waiting to be
picked up. A legend was born and a frontiers mentality of gold fields
waiting o be plucked and a fortune made, galvanized enterpreneurs
prepared to go to what must have seemed the end of the Earth to meet
their destiny.
Provincial Archives of Alberta / The Canadian Press The Arctic Restaurant and Hotel in Whitehorse (circa 1899) was co-owned by Donald Trump’s
grandfather, a German immigrant who began the family fortune with ventures in the Klondike gold rush.
Among them was a German immigrant to the United States whose name was
Friedrich Trump, born in Germany in 1969 and thirty years later prepared
to seek his fortune in the bleak Yukon, but not through the arduous
labour of panning for gold, but by "mining the miners",
as his biographer Gwenda Blair described his mission. Perhaps the
inspiration for that scheme to manipulate others to his profit is
inheritable, passed on through the generations through genetic
inheritance...?
Grandfather Trump was recorded as living close to Juneau in Alaska. He
evidently delegated travel to associates to register claims on his
behalf in the Yukon. He was also co-owner of a hotel in Whitehorse.
Documents appear to attest to the opening of the New Arctic Restaurant
and Hotel along the gold rush route to the Klondike in the summer of
1898. When Bennett was bypassed with a new railroad, Trump disassembled
his hotel and floated it downriver to be reassembled in Whitehorse.
And there, evidently, he served at the bar. Behind the bar curtained
areas behind which women serviced men became a specialty of the hotel. A
local newspaper took precautionary measures to ensure that no
respectable women accompanying their men to the hotel would be mortified
by what they might discover there. A letter published in the paper
warned it was best to give the hotel wide berth by women "as they are liable to hear that which would be repugnant to their feelings and uttered, too, by the depraved of their own sex".
As the gold rush began to wind down by 1901, Friedrich Trump decided to wind down his business in the Yukon as well "He was a guy who left the table while he was ahead. He was good at getting in and getting out",
noted an earlier biographer, Gwenda Blair. Since there was an estimated
100,000 prospectors who had set out to make their fortunes, only four
percent of whom actually managed to, Fred Trump had plenty of pockets to
pick, as it were, tired and thirsty men looking for a lift.
By the time Trump decided to travel on, his investment in the Yukon
finished, he was rich. He had gained considerable savings, said to be
the equivalent of a million dollars in the years he operated that Yukon
hotel. In New York, his profits initiated the Trump family's real estate
empire when the first residential investment was made, in the New York
area. And they never looked back. Friedrich Trump's son Fred Trump
carried on his father's real estate dream, and his son, Donald J., took
up where his father left off, from his grandfather's first investment
forward.
It seems evident enough that the man who in the most unlikely upset in
American political history became President of the United States --
proving that anyone could, irrespective of political experience, a
steady mind and a passion for the public weal, all of which was subsumed
by Donald J.'s love affair with himself -- inherited his casual
attitude toward ethics, morality and attitude toward women.
Even so, it's a sure bet that the sober-looking, paterfamilias that his
grandfather appeared as, would be hugely bemused at the fortune his
grandson amassed by means he might never himself have ventured, let
alone his audacity in presuming that he had the gravitas, intelligence
and discipline to administer the state affairs of the Republic of the
United States of America.
"Since the inauguration, it seems there has been something of a mainstreaming of his foreign policy." "I'm more optimistic than I think many in Washington are ... In many ways a number of things Trump has done already, including the Syria [missile] strikes, are an improvement over his predecessor." Matthew Kroenig, professor, Georgetown University
"[Trump -- pre-election prophecy] would be the most reckless president in American history." "Every president discovers that campaign rhetoric and campaign promises look different in the light of day than they did in the middle of the campaign." "No president gets to impose his or her vision of the world onto reality. You have to deal with reality as it exists." Peter Feaver, Republican foreign-policy expert
"This administration ... is running national defence and foreign policy a little like a pick-up team." "It looks, at least for the moment, ad-hoc. That tends to heighten those fears the anti-Trump crowd have about the impermanence and fickleness of their strategy." "It's not clear what the opposite of strategic patience is, in terms of what we're actually willing to do to compel the North Koreans to behave better." Ilan Berman, senior fellow, American Foreign Policy Council
The Islamic Republic of Iran better look out; President Donald J. Trump is on to its malevolent tricks, knows the Republic's insultingly snide rhetoric about American duplicity and intransigence, and knows also that Iran is the world's current headmaster of the very prestigious school of jihadi terrorism central, fomenting destabilizing currents worldwide and planning its very own private arsenal of nuclear-tipped warheads to complement its growing stockpile of powerful and far-reaching ballistic missiles verging on the cusp of intercontinentalism. Um, where's Iran again....?
U.S. President Donald Trump excels magnificently at confounding his advisers, his confidants and his detractors. Those in the first two categories are limited in number, while those in the latter are profuse; while continuing to be skeptical have also been intrigued by the fact that the man whose obtuse confidence in himself seems unable to recognize fully in himself what his response should be at any given time to circumstances he responds to. How he will respond seems to be based on how he feels at any particular time, and since his feelings change with mind-boggling speed and regularity, there is no way to confidently declare how he will react, since he hardly knows himself.
The travel ban from specific Muslim countries was the first to cause a collective intaking of breath and a loud lament from 'rights' groups that America the Good was abandoning civil rights under this leader. NATO, once proclaimed "obsolete" in its function and purpose has now been reassured that it is respected by Donald J. Trump. This man who is now president and commander-in-chief of the largest and best-equipped military on Earth has declared his nation will no longer intervene in foreign affairs, conflicts and concerns, concerning allies and disappointing challengers.
The foreign policy of George W. Bush revolving around preventive conflicts, superseded by the Obama doctrine that favoured wimpish negotiations and diplomacy over unilateral action to 'lead from behind', now trashed. Spokesmen for the Trump administration who repeat his assertions that isolationism is the new doctrine, even though Mr. Trump will not formalize a doctrine were themselves taken by surprise when though stating military action would only be taken when threats arose to American security, Trump authorized a barrage of missiles to be struck at a Syrian airbase used by Syria and Russia.
As for North Korea's Kim, that troublesome, irksome little popinjay has had his moments of celebrity and fame; now comes the time for a reckoning; diplomatic overtures having proven useless, that leaves military action as an urgent potential. Donald Trump-the-candidate's bad-mouthing of China has disappeared because suddenly China's leadership presents as an ally against North Korean ambitions, as seemingly concerned at the juvenile antics of the 'bad boy' as South Korea, Japan and the United States itself.
The musing love affair with the notion that a new partnership was in the offing between the United States and Russia because Washington suddenly loves Moscow and admires the unique steadfastness of Vladimir Putin in pursuing his very personal agenda of restoring world power status to Mother Russia absent its satellites demonstrated a quality that resonated with the doggedness in business achievement of a corporate deal-maker. Uh-oh, maybe not, after all.
Well, there's always trade, isn't there and free trade has suddenly a very pungent odour that President Trump in his great, good wisdom, knows has effectively victimized the United States. Manufacturing jobs gone, never to return, and everything is the fault of those dedicated to the goal of cheating the United States of its status as world financial leader whose corporate interests have been stifled by competitors who, under the guise of free trade, cheat, lie, subsidize and whine to benefit their industries.
But for impudence in misinterpreting the direct instruction of the U.S. Commander-in-Chief of the American Armed Forces, it appears that it is not particularly snarky little tyrants attempting to confound his orders, but those he directly commands himself. That soul-shaking threat of the imminent presence of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson leading a naval group to confront North Korea's aggression appeared to have been casually set aside in a 'to-do' bin.
It steamed instead toward its initial destination, toward an assignation for joint exercises with the Australian Navy. No insolence involved, dear no; a miscommunication, a minor misdemeanor speedily rectified. Training over, waving farewell to the Aussies the aircraft carrier group is prepared to head toward the geography that Kim Jong-Un's threats has been roiling with consternation over will he or won't he?
A photo published by the US Navy on April 15 showing the Vinson transiting the Sunda Strait on its way to drills with AustraliaCredit:
US Navy
"Speaking about Trump's original 'travel ban' on his CNN show, the respected commentator Fareed Zakaria explained that 'It violates the Geneva Convention [which] requires that you take in some refugees'. While this assertion is technically incorrect, its intended public message about the president's lack of compassion is clear." "Unfortunately, it misinforms about the actual law: The U.S. Supreme Court interprets the convention's limited rights as even allowing the Coast Guard to prevent refugees on a boat from approaching U.S. territorial waters." "The new U.S. 'travel ban' may be contrary to the humanitarian spirit behind the Refugee Convention, but it does not violate any of its specific provisions. As the U.S. Supreme Court explained when it authorized President Clinton's harsh treatment of Haitian boat people, which eventually led to the establishment of a large offshore refugee camp at Guantanamo: 'a treaty cannot impose uncontemplated extraterritorial obligations on those who ratify it through no more than its general humanitarian intent'. There may be moral or political reasons to oppose the new executive order, but not legal ones related to the Refugee Convention." Michael Barutciski, lawyer of refugee protection, Glendon College, Toronto
One may regard President Donald J. Trump as an uncouth and personally offensive man, but he holds the dignity of an office presiding over the executive function of the United States of America. This is a man -- unsavoury as he may seem to many within the American population, as well as the world outside the United States -- whose agenda succeeded in persuading enough American voters to bring him to the White House.
That there are some justices in the United States whose job it is in the real world to uphold American law, who take it upon themselves to chastise and block executive orders imposed by the President of the United States of America, makes a mockery of the law itself. President Trump's adversaries among the American people are numerous enough. But it is an amazing phenomenon that Americans choose to assault the new leader of the free world, rather than accept that there are sufficient restraints posed by their system of governance to ensure that his appointed leaders are more careful in their administration than the verbose and crude utterings of the president would suggest.
The grudging unwillingness of the American public who consider themselves democrats and liberals to give opportunity to their political adversaries in a political system where one or the other normally takes office, is no kind reflection of democracy in action. A majority of the vote required to bring either of two contestants for the American presidency prevailed for the election of Donald Trump, irrespective of how much he may be loathed by those who imagined that Hillary Clinton would make a fine president.
Surely Americans must be aware of the spectacle they make of themselves in their mass protests against the elevation of a man of business possessed of a sturdy ego and a twisted sense of self, as a reflection of their own commitment to democracy and the welfare of the public weal. The fractiousness that has developed and continues to wreak havoc in America does it little credit. The uproar over the new president's resolve to bring his campaign promises to fruition reflects the mindset of all new presidents.
The order that went out from the Oval Office was for a temporary suspension of the issuance of visas and refugee settlement for the reasonable enough purpose of scrutinizing screening procedures in place and which have failed all too often. Discretionary powers authorizing entry on a case-by-case basis for visa applications and refugees are also in place. As is the authorization to resettle up to 50,000 refugees to the end of the fiscal year, no mean intake at all.
The six Muslim-majority countries whose citizens have been temporarily restrained from immigration and refugee selection represent countries from which emanate threats both internally and internationally. Every country has a right and an obligation to itself and its citizens to ensure as much as is possible, that entry will be denied to anyone who presents a potential danger to the security of the country and its citizens. The kind of caution reflected in this order is simply good sense; temporary and preemptive.
As Mr. Barutciski points out, the posturing of Canada's Prime Minister that refugees could be assured that "Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith", is as ill-considered and egotistical as anything emitted from the Twitter feed of President Trump, since Canadian visa policy does not make it possible for people from the very countries designated by Mr. Trump to enter Canada legally. And as Chancellor Angela Merkel discovered to her consternation and political longevity, generously opening borders to floods of unaccompanied young males leads down the road to problems the German public discovers to be more than inconvenient.
"Their pungent language [Pope Francis and Donald J. Trump] reflects a shared mastery of the contemporary media environment, in which controversy and unpredictability are the great currencies." "Having people constantly asking 'Did he really just say that?' is the surest ticket to the world's attention." Ross Douthat, The New York Times
"[Those who oppose betray] a facile repetition of what is obvious or has already been said [of] burying their heads in the sand [of] indoctrinating [the Gospel] in dead stones to be hurled at others [of hiding] behind the Church's teachings or good intentions, in order to sit in the chair of Moses and judge, sometimes with superiority and superficiality, difficult cases and wounded families [of giving into] conspiracy theories and blinkered viewpoints." Pope Francis verbally thrashing cardinals and bishops
Pope Francis touches the wall that divides Israel from the West Bank in
Bethlehem, May 25, 2014. (photo by REUTERS/Mheisen Amareen)
This is a pope who likes to portray himself as a man of the people, a humble man, gracious in his inclusion of the unwashed of the world, whose feet he himself as the most powerful religious figure in the world would himself wash in a gesture of equality and humility, elevating the poor and the deprived to the status he himself occupies, if only for a second of limitless time. There is no human disfigurement that he does not invest with respect and empathy. There is no papal luxury that he will not deny for himself; not for him the sumptuous splendour of the office he holds.
He claims for himself that he will not sit in judgement of others who are forced by circumstances of life to make decisions that the righteous do not countenance, but he will and he does. He has room in his heart to be magnanimous to all. Which perhaps explains that he sees no difference between a wall erected in desperation to stop the anguishing bloody atrocities committed by Palestinian terrorists against Jewish civilians, and the wall the Nazis had erected in Warsaw to separate Jews from Poles until such time they could be conveniently extirpated from existence.
In a landscape where Christians are persecuted, their chambers of worship defaced and destroyed, their lives threatened, their numbers diminished through fear and migration, this generous man of god is understanding and pleased to treat all with equal respect, able to forego criticism of Muslims who hate Christians and who have through their unremitting hatred extinguished the existence of Christians from their ancient roots in the holy land once Judaic, later Christian, now consecrated to Islam.
The Pope is extremely fond of sermonizing and does so incessantly. He enjoys making speeches, making daily contact with his immense following. Each morning presents another opportunity for a homily which Vatican Radio is pleased to disseminate over the air waves so all may take advantage of the sage words and advice of a man of wisdom and grace. These are lengthy speeches and become increasingly more so, as Pope Francis loves to enunciate on any topic that comes to mind, and people gravitate to his grave messages of humanity's existence on Earth.
It may appear to the misguided, as was pointed out by the New York Time's journalist, that this great, good man has much in common with the new President of the United States, in their shared love of pontificating and releasing in their inimitable style, their learned impressions on every subject that can be broached to a listening public, however controversial. Their authority elevates the discourse and blesses the listener with newfound knowledge and the pride of knowing from whence it emanates.
Still, in the instance of U.S. President Donald J. Trump, his alarming utterances of unbridled opinion loosed on the public leave impressions that may not be entirely salubrious to the understanding of the state of this man's mental health. As for the Pope, his opinionated speeches on occasion alienate a good many of his flock resulting from his penchant to stray from historical Roman Catholic Gospel teaching, upending the lifetime belief and dedication of a huge number of faithful Catholics.
Some question that Pope Francis' liberal-to-libertine attitude toward sexual matters undermine the very structure of the Catholic Church, while his judgements ranging from poverty to climate change, immigration to politics constrain for many the respect in which his office is held. His sharp criticism of those who fail to agree with his messages sting when he seeks to denounce the motives of opponents and their basic character flaws leading many who hew to a different belief to distance themseves.
This represents a general opinion site for its author. It also offers a space for the author to record her experiences and perceptions,both personal and public. This is rendered obvious by the content contained in the blog, but the space is here inviting me to write. And so I do.
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