Saturday, June 30, 2018

Intro to JW’s ‘Exposing the Deep State’

Intro by John R. Houk
© June 30, 2018


I received an email from Judicial Watch wanting to take a look at their 3-minute video on the Deep State. The email says the video is four minutes long but really the actual time is 3:02. The email is dated 6/28/18. The most interesting part for me was the link attached to phrase, “Read more about the Deep State”. That link goes to a 64-page PDF called a JW special report entitled, “Exposing the Deep State”.

I encourage to read the Deep State report that includes an appendix of documents won by JW use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Naturally, in the name of National Security many of those documents are redacted.

To inspire you to read the whole report I am cross posting the Executive Summary and Introduction. I am also including the Conclusion section. Here is the Table of Contents so that know which sections are missing in my cross post:

Table of Contents

Executive Summary-3

I.       Introduction and Background-5

II.  Four Case Studies-8

Case Study # 1: The Environmental Protection Agency-8

Case Study # 2: The Internal Revenue Service-13

Case Study # 3: Outside Organizations, Inside Operations-16

Case Study # 4: The Intelligence/Law-Enforcement Community-19

III. Conclusion-37

IV. Appendix-41

And here is the text of the email:

Announcing a compelling new short-form video:
On Issue – “Inside the Deep State!

Dear Editor/Broadcaster,

I am pleased to announce that Judicial Watch is now launching an exciting new educational, cutting edge video series I believe many in your audience will find captivating and informative...

And, the first, 4 minute edition is now available HERE!

 It’s called On Issue  – “Inside the Deep State”…

And it provides vital insights into a topic that grows increasingly salient with every passing day.

Fast-paced and fact-filled “Inside the Deep State,” features JW’s highly respected Director of Investigations, Chris Farrell, laying it all out – in his own captivating and highly informative style.

And he does it all in just under four minutes!

Click here now to watch Inside the Deep State…

And then please feel free to use it however you wish to keep your audience On Issue!

Sincerely,

Carter Clews


Posted by Judicial Watch
Published on Jun 25, 2018

The Deep State is comprised of legions of political appointees, career civil servants and powerful private contractors who run the government--no matter who sits in the Oval Office--no matter which political party controls Congress--and no matter what is the will of the American people.

No matter who’s in power, they exert control.


And now – the Deep State analysis.

*************************
Exposing the Deep State


September 2017

Judicial Watch Logo

Executive Summary

“They pride themselves on operating below the radar – and above the law”

We face a crisis of the Deep State – “Alt-government,” I sometimes call it. The actions of the Deep State constitute a direct challenge to our republican form of government. Working primarily through the intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, the Deep State is actively engaged in subversive measures designed to delegitimize Donald Trump, cause the American people to lose faith in their president, destroy the Trump presidency and eventually impeach him or put him in jail. -- Judicial Watch President, Tom Fitton

This Judicial Watch Special Report analyzes the Deep State, which comprises legions of political appointees, career civil servants and powerful private contractors who run the government no matter who sits in the Oval Office. No matter which political party controls Congress. And, no matter what is the will of the American people. No matter who’s in power, they exert control. Oftentimes, the liberal media effectively operates as the propaganda arm of the Deep State.

The shadowy world in which Deep State actors maneuver is characterized by three disturbing proclivities: Secrecy, surveillance and subterfuge.

The operatives manning and manipulating the Deep State demand an activist, interventionist government, both domestically and internationally. Importantly, their worldview often rejects the beliefs and values of a majority of patriotic Americans.

As time goes on, the disparity between the values and beliefs of the people and those of the Deep State becomes cumulative, and no matter whom the people elect to public office, the Deep State takes the nation in a direction that increasingly diverges from where the people desire to go.

Sometimes, as it has with the Trump presidency, the Deep State rises to the surface in rebellion, taking aggressive, seditious measures against a president whose election it opposed and who it perceives to be a threat to its own agenda and, perhaps, its very survival. As already is clear with the Trump presidency, the Deep State can turn on any president that threatens its interests and survival. And left unchecked, it may illegally destroy him.

This Special Report explores the workings of the Deep State through four case studies, in each of which Judicial Watch is involved in investigative action and litigation:

§  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), involving three JW Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits. One lawsuit focuses on the efforts by agency political officials and civil servants to hide their communications and circum-vent the Federal Records and Freedom of Information Acts. The second law-suit demands to see documents surrounding the EPA’s cost-benefit analysis of the Clean Power Plan, which Judicial Watch suspects to be “fake science” used to justify the Obama EPA’s health claims in the Clean Power Plan, a scheme to end coal energy under the guise of combatting alleged global warming. The third lawsuit is aimed at EPA’s efforts to propagandize the American People illegally to promote its power grab over a clean water rule it was attempting to promulgate at the time.

§  The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), involving four JW FOIA lawsuits focusing on the political targeting of President Barack Obama’s political enemies, including conservative non-profit organizations and individuals, and the unlawful collusion among the IRS and other agencies of government, such as the Justice Department, the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services, to spy on innocent American citizens, propagandize them and bring criminal charges against political enemies of the Obama administration and/or the Deep State.

§  United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Soros Open Society Foundations, involving two JW FOIA lawsuits focusing on the Soros Open Society Foundations’ use of U.S. taxpayer money channeled through USAID to destabilize and overthrow the democratically elected governments of Macedonia and Albania.

§  The Intelligence/Law-Enforcement Community, involving six JW FOIA law-suits, an additional FOIA request and an advisory/demand letter, all focused on the surveillance, unmasking and illegal targeting of President Trump and his associates during the government’s investigation of purported Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election and alleged collusion with the Russians by Trump and his team. The Special Report examines the flood of leaks and innuendos coming out of the government surrounding Trump and his associates, including the Gen. Michael Flynn episode; the Obama administration’s misuse of the NSA database of surveillance intercepts to target and unmask the identities of Americans; the Trump Dossier and the FBI’s involvement in it; along with James Comey’s purloined memoranda and the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Trump and his associates, including unsubstantiated accusations of obstruction of justice by the president when he allegedly ask Comey to shut down the Flynn investigation. The Report assembles the evidence at hand and finds it supports the conclusion that the Deep State, working primarily through the intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, is actively engaged in subversive measures (a “soft coup”) designed to delegitimize Donald Trump, cause the American people to lose faith in their president, destroy the Trump presidency and eventually impeach him or put him in jail.

At the beginning of this Special Report, it is observed that the Deep State is not monolithic but it shares a common mindset and worldview, and it is characterized by three disturbing proclivities: Secrecy, surveillance and subterfuge. Secrecy catalyzes and enables surveillance and subterfuge. The only way to observe and evaluate the workings of the Deep State is to penetrate the veil of Deep State secrecy that shields the actions of political appointees, career civil servants, private contractors and their relationship with the media and outside agents of influence that comprise the Deep State.

This Special Report concludes that it is time to tear down the wall of secrecy surrounding the Deep State. President Trump should order federal agencies to stop the stalling and start obeying the nation’s open-records laws. Until they do, the dangerously malignant Deep State will continue to grow and undermine American democracy.

Exposing the Deep State

“They pride themselves on operating below the radar – and above the law”

We face a crisis of the Deep State – “Alt-government,” I sometimes call it. The actions of the Deep State constitute a direct challenge to our republican form of government. Working primarily through the intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, the Deep State is actively engaged in subversive measures designed to delegitimize Donald Trump, cause the American people to lose faith in their president, destroy the Trump presidency and eventually impeach him or put him in jail.Judicial Watch President, Tom Fitton

I. Introduction and Background

There is a deeply embedded shadow government in the United States running the affairs of state – The Deep State or Alt Government, as Judicial Watch President, Tom Fitton describes it. This shadow government is not monolithic. But, it does not have to be. Its operatives share a common mindset and worldview. They travel in the same social circles. And, they walk the same corridors of power.

No matter who’s in power, they’re in control.

They pride themselves on operating below the radar – and above the law. And, the shadowy world in which they maneuver is characterized by three disturbing proclivities: Secrecy, surveillance and subterfuge.

In the words of Judicial Watch Director of Investigations Chris Farrell, the decidedly left-leaning Deep State is “quite comfortable exercising all of the levers of the organs of the state.” Farrell explains:

They come from a Franco-Germanic political philosophy that, historically, has always placed the state over the citizenry. They derive their power and exercise it vigorously through the state.

As time goes on, this disparity between the values and beliefs of the people and those of the Deep State becomes cumulative, and no matter whom the people elect to public office, the Deep State takes the nation in a direction that increasingly diverges from where the people desire to go.

Deep State operatives are ensconced in every agency of the government; they have their own agendas; and many of them think they don’t have to answer to an elected president, the rule of law or the American people. They also are enmeshed in and interface with outside networks of organizations, media companies, universities, think tanks and corporations that share their views, help shape their views and exert enormous influence on policy and its day-to-day implementation. The “military-industrial complex” President Dwight Eisenhower warned about is a reality but it is not the only complex providing the architecture of the Deep State; there are several of them: the intelligence/security-industrial complex, the environmental/academic-industrial complex, to name but two.

The American media complex effectively operates as the propaganda arm and transmission belt of the Deep State. In a 2013 article (updated in 2016), former State Department foreign service officer and congressional policy adviser and analyst, James George Jatras, explains:

American media increasingly have operated uncritically in conjunction with the bipartisan Washington political establishment…Among the key features of such cooperation…are:

§  Deficiency of geographic and historical knowledge as the American norm (the less people know the more likely they are to believe what they are told, with the least informed most persuaded of the need to “do something”);

§  Reliance on government sources, “ventriloquism,” and “information incest” (unknown to the public, much media “information” comes from government sources);

§  Centralized corporate ownership (official policy imperatives interface with ratings dollars for six giant corporate conglomerates);

§  “Para-journalism,” “infotainment,” and “atrocity porn” as a war trigger (atrocities appear seemingly on cue and then receive saturation coverage);

§  Demonization “Hitler” memes and “weaponization” of media (compromise and negotiation have no role in confronting absolute evil – war is the default option);

§  America and the “international community,” the “Free World,” and American “exceptionalism” and “leadership;” disregarding “alternative” media, Ameri-can samizdat (accurate information is available in “alternative” media, but the major[s] still decide if it exists or not);

§  “We never make mistakes,” “stay the course,” and “MoveOnism” (U.S. policy has no rearview mirror);

§  Authors of past blunders are not discredited, while those who said “tolya so” are ignored).

§  In turn, media themselves are an integral part of a multifaceted, hybrid public-private entity with broad range and depth. Variously known as the Establishment, the Oligarchy, or the Deep State, this entity includes elements within all three branches of the U.S. government (especially in the military, intelligence, and financial sectors), private business (the financial industry, government contractors, information technology), think tanks, NGOs, the “Dem intern,” both political parties and campaign operatives, and an army of lobbyists and PR professionals.

§  Looking into the future in light of 2016 anti-Establishment challenges from Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, the shortcomings of Barack Obama’s policies in Libya, Syria, and Ukraine on top of those of George W. Bush in Iraq and Afghanistan, shrinkage of the American Middle Class, and increasing public skepticism of the “MSM” in favor of digital “alternative media,” both the Washington-based oligarchy and its media component show signs of losing their grip.

§  The possibility exists for a peaceful evolution to a less warlike posture (impacting media as well) that would refocus on America’s domestic needs. Alter-natively, the existing order could risk a major war in a desperate bid to save its wealth, power, and privileges – with unforeseeable consequences for America and the world.

The operation of the Deep State is not a meticulously organized conspiracy, mastermind-ed and controlled by any central authority operating out of a fortified bunker. Nor does it need to be. The agendas of the politicians, bureaucrats and contractors that populate the Deep State are frequently the same, or complementary, and the huge sums of taxpayer money involved tie them together inextricably. And, they ineluctably travel in the same, invariably elitist circles. Rather, the Deep State is like a systemic disease of run-away cells, replicating and metastasizing to serve their own interests and survival. In short, a cancer.

The Deep State has a life of its own, independent of whoever is president or whichever political party controls the Congress. Though it prefers to operate through sleight of hand, with smoke and mirrors, at times it may rise to the surface and become the handmaiden of overzealous and overreaching presidents who serve its interests – as it did when Barack Obama weaponized the permanent bureaucracy inside the IRS, the FBI and other intelligence and regulatory agencies against the American people and his (and the Deep State’s) political opponents.

Most frequently, the Deep State recedes back into the shadows where its agents quietly advance their own agenda and obstruct troublesome elected officials (and the public that supports them) in a million different ways, large and small, deliberate and devious. Sometimes, of course, it rises to the surface in rebellion – as it has with President Donald Trump, taking aggressive, seditious measures against a president whose election it opposed and who it perceives to be a threat to its own agenda and, perhaps, its very survival.

The Deep State is more insidious than mere partisanship, and it is more dangerous because it is permanent. While presidents and Members of Congress come and go, the Deep State remains permanently, growing ever more powerful – and predatory. As already is clear with the Trump presidency, the Deep State can turn on any president that threatens its interests and survival. And left unchecked, it may destroy him.

III. Conclusion

Professor Patrick H. O’Neil of the University of Puget Sound, in a January 2015 article, “The Deep State: An Emerging Concept in Comparative Politics,” concisely elucidates the underlying foundation of the Deep State (p.4):

… as a foundational logic, the deep state justifies its existence through the necessity of tutelage over both state and society. The deep state views itself guardian of national values against internal and external foes. In short, the deep state does not necessarily trust the government, state (perhaps even military) or society to pre-serve the nation. Accordingly, actors within the deep state can justify an array of actions against the government, society, and state as necessary to defend against “traitors” to the nation and national ideology. The amorphousness of the deep state is accompanied by the belief that its members are the symbolic core of the nation. (Emphasis added.)

At the beginning of this Special Report, it was observed that the Deep State is not monolithic but it shares a common worldview and is characterized by three disturbing proclivities: Secrecy, surveillance and subterfuge. Secrecy catalyzes and enables surveillance and subterfuge. The only way to observe and evaluate the workings of the Deep State is to penetrate the veil of Deep State secrecy that shields the actions of political appointees, career civil servants, private contractors and their relationship with the media and outside agents of influence that comprise the Deep State.

That’s why Judicial Watch is in court day after day shining the light on the activities of the Deep State. It is time to put an end to the obsessive, oppressive and destructive secrecy in government. If the rule of law is to survive, if America’s constitutional protections are to endure, it is essential to roll back the sinister secrecy that allows, indeed encourages those operating in the Deep State to hold themselves above the law and beyond the Constitution.

There is a way to rein in the Deep State but it requires a commitment to extreme transparency by elected officials. It requires determined leadership from the White House and serious bi-partisan action on the part of a committed Congress to expose the goings on inside the permanent D.C. bureaucracy and the connections between the Deep Staters, the media and the outside agents of influence.


There is plenty of blame to go around for the transparency failures that foster the Deep State, most recently the Obama administration’s executive over reach and the veil of secrecy President Obama pulled over his administration to hide it. And now, unbelievably, those same secrecy policies seem to be on auto-pilot in the Trump administration. Thank-fully, though, when it comes to sunshine actions, the Trump White House has a solution at hand – if only it would use it – that is both elegantly simple and breathtakingly radical. The Freedom of Information Act allows for the executive branch to make “discretionary disclosures.”

As Judicial Watch Director of Investigations, Chris Farrell has noted:

“In plain English, that means President Trump and his cabinet secretaries can release whatever they want—whenever they wish to do so. They can exercise their discretion to release records that are of broad general and news media interest concerning important policy issues and/or the operation of the federal government. These discretionary disclosures take nothing more than the stroke of a pen.”

Beyond the “discretionary disclosures” provision of the Freedom of Information Act, Executive Order 13526, signed by President Obama in 2009, and the Supreme Court ruling in Department of the Navy v. Egan (484 U.S. 518 (1988)) confirm that under the Constitution, as chief executive, the president has the legal power to declassify information immediately, on his say so alone. As the Court stated in Egan:

The President, after all, is the “Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States.” U.S. Const., Art. II, 2. His authority to classify and control access to information bearing on national security…flows primarily from this constitutional investment of power in the President and exists quite apart from any explicit congressional grant.

During the presidential campaign, Candidate Trump pledged to drain the swamp. There is no better way to drain the swamp than to impose extreme transparency on the Deep State where the swamp festers and putrefies. Regrettably, however, instead of applying the transparency remedy, as JW’s Chris Farrell reports, “The Department of Justice under Attorney General Sessions is currently making the exact same legal arguments as the Obama administration—and using all the double-talk and excuses from the Obama era, too.”

Freedom of Information Act officers in the executive branch are over-worked and under-appreciated, a situation that has severely restricted the effectiveness of the law. But it doesn’t take congressional action or a spending increase to change that. President Trump could trigger a FOIA revolution simply by ordering a new era of extreme transparency and discretionary disclosure.

Micha Morrison said it perfectly in Judicial Watch’s Investigative Bulletin:

“Extreme transparency could bring huge benefits. Swamp draining would get super-charged boosters. The president could seize the moral high ground in the Russia-connection case with the re-lease of his tax returns and all relevant White House documents. On the Judicial Watch docket, among the records that could be quickly produced are: the Comey memo; records related to former National Security Adviser Susan Rice and the “unmasking” controversy; re-cords related to the so-called “Russian dossier;” records relating to the controversial “tarmac meeting” in Arizona between former Pres-ident Bill Clinton and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch; FBI and intelligence community files on the Hillary Clinton email investigation; never-revealed draft indictments of Mrs. Clinton in the Whitewater investigation; and notes and reports to then-Secretary of State Clinton in the Benghazi affair.”

Beyond the president’s imposing extreme transparency through discretionary disclosures, immediate action also is needed to pave the way for activist citizens and outside watchdogs, such as Judicial Watch, to investigate and expose corruption and malfeasance within the government.

§  President Trump not only should use the power of discretionary disclosures, he also should commit to a revolution of “extreme transparency” and set it in motion by issuing an executive order to break the logjam of FOIA requests he inherited from President Obama and which are now piling up under his own administration.

§  Congress should join the revolution by reforming the Freedom of Information Act and giving private citizens, the press and watchdog groups stronger and better tools to hold the government to account.

§  Congress and the president together should seize the opportunity when the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act comes up for reauthorization later this year and:

1.   Provide for greater public access to government records inside the intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, and especially the proceedings in and opinions of the FISA Court; and

2.   Place new limits on the NSAs authority to conduct warrantless searches and restrict other agencies’ authority to use NSA intercepts to conduct domestic surveillance on Americans.

It’s time to tear down the wall of secrecy surrounding the Deep State. President Trump should order federal agencies to stop the stalling and start obeying the nation’s open-re-cords laws. Until they do, the dangerously malignant Deep State will continue to grow and undermine American democracy.
______________________
Intro to JW’s ‘Exposing the Deep State’
Intro by John R. Houk
© June 30, 2018
_______________________
Exposing the Deep State

If you would like additional copies of the report please contact:

Judicial Watch 425 Third Street, SW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20024

Member Services: 1 (888) 593-8442 FAX: (202) 646-5199




Friday, June 29, 2018

A Tale of Two Deep States



Daniel Greenfield writes “A Tale of Two Deep States”. Interesting scenario – Two Deep States. Greenfield tells us both Deep States are against the Trump Administration. The Greenfield labels are the Obama Deep State and the Russian Deep State. Intrigued? Read the Greenfield essay.

JRH 6/29/18
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A Tale of Two Deep States

By Daniel Greenfield
June 28, 2018

“Why the hell are we standing down?"

That was the question that the White House's cybersecurity coordinator was asked after Susan Rice, Obama's national security adviser, issued a stand down order on Russia.

Testimony at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings on Russian interference in the election once again raised the central paradox of the Russia conspiracy theory. If Russian interference in the election represented the crisis that we are told it did, why did Obama fail to take any meaningful action?

The White House’s own cybersecurity people wanted an aggressive response before being told to stand down. Obama issued a bloodless warning to Russia while his people deliberately crippled our offense.

Democrats and the media blamed the Russian hacking on Trump. But it was Susan Rice who had told the cybersecurity team to “knock it off” and Obama’s people who hadn’t wanted him to be “boxed in” and forced to respond to Russian actions. Was this just the usual appeasement or was there more to it?

Why didn’t Obama and his team want to stop Russian hacking? Because they needed the Russians.

The 2016 election is really the story of two deep state intelligence operations that dovetailed neatly with each other. One was an ongoing Russian operation that took advantage of a weak president to sow chaos in America and Europe. The other was a domestic political operation utilizing counterintelligence resources in the United States and Europe to spy on, undermine and try to bring down Trump.

Contrary to claims made by Obama operatives, the Russian operation was not new. Russian hackers and spies had done enormous damage to America’s intelligence community. But they had succeeded so well because the mission of the intelligence community had shifted from deterring foreign adversaries to suppressing domestic political opponents. And this new mission made the Russians attacks irrelevant.

The Russian attacks on the formerly formidable NSA were so easy to accomplish because it was no longer countering the Russians. Instead Obama viewed it as a police state tool for spying on pro-Israel activists, members of Congress and Trump campaign officials. The NSA’s opposite numbers in Russia, posing as rogue hackers, were no longer hammering rivals, but a twisted and crippled organization.

Obama didn’t want to fight the Russians, but the Russian attacks were very useful because they justified the NSA’s powers, which he was abusing not to go after the Russians, but after American political rivals. And the Russian election hacks played perfectly into his hands by justifying the counterintelligence investigations supposedly aimed at the Russians, but really aimed at domestic political opponents.

The Mueller investigation is only the latest of these disguised counterintelligence police state gimmicks.

Without the Russians, Obama’s people would have just been nakedly abusing their powers to spy on Americans. But as long as the Russians were active, his deep state had the excuse that it needed.

The two intelligence operations, the Russian one and the Obama one, were interdependent. Their deep state symbiosis was possible only because neither side threatened the core interests of the other.

The Russians were a national security threat, but Obama’s people didn’t care about national security. And Obama’s counterintelligence operation was aimed at domestic political opponents rather than the Russians. It’s still unknown if the Russians and Obama’s people actively colluded in these operations, but it’s likely that seasoned professionals on both sides had a quiet understanding of their respective roles.

The Russians had not set out to alter the outcome of the election. Nor did they have that capability. Their attacks followed the pattern of the Dulles Plan, a fictional piece of Soviet propaganda which attributed any anti-Soviet activity to an American conspiracy to undermine Communism. The KGB veterans running Russia as an actual deep state sought to undermine the American political system by feeding extremism, creating panic and discrediting elections. And that also fit the Obama agenda.

Obama’s people had spent eight years dismantling political norms and undermining America. The KGB deep state conspirators in Russia and their leftist counterparts in Washington D.C. had emerged from the same ideological school. Their aims and allegiances had diverged, but the ex-Communists in Moscow and Adams Morgan Socialists in Washington D.C. shared a common hatred for America and its values.

There was no reason to interfere with the Russian interference. Obama and his people did not believe that the Russians would significantly affect the election. But if his efforts to eavesdrop on Trump officials came to light, the Russians had provided him with an alibi. Susan Rice, as national security adviser, was at the center of the eavesdropping effort and had every reason to protect the Russian operation.

Protecting the Russians also protected the Obamas.

Nor did the Obama deep state have any particular allegiance to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The Obamas and the Clintons loathed each other. Though both factions were leftists, their approaches were as much at variance as Bolsheviks and Trotskyists. Obama had been forced to make a deal with the Clintons to secure his hold on the Democrat operation. But his support for Hillary Clinton was only an endorsement of the lesser evil. Her defeat left him and his political allies in total control of the Democrat operation.

And the chaos and violence of his anti-Trump resistance achieved his goal of radicalizing the Democrats.

The Russians didn’t hack the election. That conspiracy theory remains wishful thinking. But the allegation proved very useful in enabling everything from the pre-election eavesdropping on political opponents to the post-election sabotage of the Trump administration to the move away from electronic voting to paper ballots which enable the old-fashioned kind of Democrat ballot stuffing.

But like an iceberg, the most troubling development of the Russian conspiracy is mostly underwater.

After 9/11, the intelligence community was revived with a new purpose. That purpose was fighting Islamic terrorism. During Obama’s two terms, the intelligence community was compromised, crippled and transformed into a domestic deep state aimed at suppressing the political opposition. Tragically, it came to resemble the KGB, with its domestic surveillance and investigation of political opponents.

This transformation of law enforcement and intelligence agencies did not emerge out of thin air.

The Founders were rightly cautious of the power of a strong central government. And a national law enforcement and intelligence infrastructure was always ripe for the worst big government abuses.

The FBI’s record of political tampering under Hoover was no secret. And it didn’t end there. Everything in Washington D.C. is political. Especially the apolitical. Its engine of careerism runs on networking and connections. The apolitical bureaucracy is a buzzing hive of ambition and backstabbing. Every agency has its own Machiavellian subcultures with courtiers, saboteurs, spies and manipulators. And every agency culture has a leftist ideological component, among its other agendas, some more than others.

The Obama years politicized everything from the food you ate to the clothes you wore. Certainly no arm of government survived those terrible two terms without being substantially transformed.

As the cold winter sun set on another year in Washington D.C., the deep state was reborn.

The Democrats have spent two years accusing Republicans of colluding with Russia. But as usual they were accusing their political opponents of their own crime. Republicans had not undermined national security. The Democrats did. A Republican president hadn’t sat across from Putin’s agent and assured him that he would have more flexibility to make deals after the election. A Republican president hadn’t let the Russians hack our national security secrets to provide a casus belli for targeting his opponents.

That was all Obama.

Barack Obama and Susan Rice sabotaged efforts to stop the Russians because their deep state domestic spying program depended on Russian collusion, both the reality and the allegation. Everything from the original allegation, Clinton campaign opposition research which drew on claims by a Russian intelligence operative, to the Mueller counterintelligence investigation, which has done nothing to actually stop the Russians, but has gone after Republican campaign pros, needed the Russians as its stalking horse.

Russian hacking didn’t change the election. But Obama’s exploitation of Russian hacking nearly did. We still don’t know what materials were gathered by the eavesdropping operation. Or who saw them. Information is the ultimate weapon in national security and election campaigns. Obama used the former to tamper with the latter. And all these years later, we still don’t know what damage was done.

While Mueller prowls around pursuing Hillary Clinton’s conspiracy theories, those crimes remain unexplored. But we do know that the Russians didn’t do anything that Obama didn’t allow them to do.

Any serious effort to investigate Russian election hacks must begin with the man who let them to do it. 
___________________
Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine.

More details on Daniel Greenfield.


Thursday, June 28, 2018

The La Reconquista?



Intro to J.O. Smith’s ‘The La Reconquista?’
Intro by John R. Houk, Editor
© June 28, 2018

About a week ago I posted the title, “Isn’t the Key Word ‘ILLEGAL’ in Illegal Immigration?” That is the stark truth that No-Borders Democrats would have you believe is irrelevant. If crossing the border without U.S. permission is illegal, then it is a CRIME. If illegal criminal adopts bring their children or another’s children uninvited across the U.S. border illegally, those children may not be criminal by virtue of being too young to be accountable. HOWEVER, those children need to be detained until their idiot parents are deported or granted some kind of refugee status.

And speaking of deportation, the legal system determining deportation or refugee status needs to be streamed to days instead of months or years.

Justin Smith writes about how illegal immigration will change the nature of American heritage (which the Dems continuously advocate). As the Hispanic people become on pare to the heritage Americans still honoring the off-shooting from the Mother Culture of the British Monarchy, the Hispanic Culture that influenced the Latin Americas will come into a Multicultural confrontation.

I guess confrontation is no big deal to the idiocy of diversity-thinking Dems. The opposite of diversity is E PLURIBUS UNUMOut of many, ONE.

************************
The La Reconquista?
Rid America of Illegal Aliens 

By Justin O. Smith
Sent 6/27/2018 11:39 PM

Illegal immigration is immoral, and President Trump, like any good, decent and patriotic American, has rightfully stated that anyone attempting to cross the border illegally should be marched straight back across the border, once it is determined they have crossed illegally, bypassing port of entry stations where they could have registered for either asylum or legal immigration status. He should have also added that these people are not conservatives or just like regular Americans, and as such, before we see one more American dead by the hands of an illegal alien, we must do all within our power to ensure that the border is secured and all illegal aliens deported, along with any children verified to be their own, in order to save our Republic from an ultimate destruction.

President Trump stated on Wednesday, June 20th, 2018, "If you're really, really pathetically weak, the country is going to be overrun with millions of people", which makes it double troubling that he would follow this on the same day with an executive order that caves to the leftist false narrative surrounding illegal alien families and allows them to stay together, which adds more costs to the U.S. tax-payer. Now America must find or build new facilities capable of meeting this new demand.

People ask many conservatives "Don't You care about the children?" Yes! Most, if not all do. We care enough to allow them to be detained together long enough to see them deported. It is not child abuse to send them back to Mexico or wherever they originated, with their parents, who had every chance to first apply for legal immigration. 

We should ask the Democrats, "What about the children of low-income American workers who experience lower wages due to illegal aliens working for cash and off the books?" And, what about the children of legal immigrants who have been waiting patiently in line for years, for their opportunity to come to America? What about other migrants attempting to escape violence, who have properly asked for asylum but are seemingly punished for following the rules, like Chaldean and Assyrian Christians?

Most truly conservative Americans could care less that these people are largely Hispanic coming across the southern border. What concerns conservatives most is the real differences in ideologies, between them and these illegal aliens. And they are right to  be concerned. Anybody who believes in the U.S. Constitution and the Founding principles had better be getting plenty damned worried and acting to stop these invaders.

At no point in U.S. history has the majority, or even a significant portion, of our Hispanic population voted Republican in any national election, with the trend becoming increasingly Democrat. In 1960, the Hispanic population in America was approximately six million and it has now reached about 60 million; and it is projected to reach 110 by 2048 on its current trajectory. This puts the Hispanic population on track to being one of the most influential in future elections.

A Cato survey from 2017 reveals seventy-two percent of Hispanics agreed with the phrase "hate speech is an act of violence," and sixty-two percent agree that "people who don't respect others don't deserve the right to free speech." The majority of Hispanics have no real understanding of the concept of "free speech". How will that change the face of America once Hispanics become a majority in America? They also believe that gun control in society is more important than protecting the right of everyone to keep and bear arms. And only nineteen percent favored a smaller government with fewer services over a big government option.

While the Heritage Foundation and writers like Israel Ortega contend that Hispanics, for the most part, hold values consistent with conservative principles, nothing could be further from the truth, and the GOP, in this sense, is misguided in ever believing that this demographic will be anything more than a boon for gun control, the welfare state and more big government bills, projects and spending. Americans should also consider that within just a few short decades our first two amendments could be in real danger of being repealed by a demographic that largely aligns itself with the illiberal, anti-Constitution and anti-American segments of our country.

Later in the day of June 20th, President Trump appeared at a rally in Duluth, Minnesota, where he told the crowd: "Democrats don't care about the impact of uncontrolled migration on your communities. Democrats put illegal immigrants before they put American citizens."

Where is the outrage over Ms. Laura Wilkerson's son, Josh, being brutally tortured to death and set afire by an illegal alien MS-13 gang member? Where is the outrage over Christy Sue Pina, daughter of Juan and a U.S. citizen, being kidnapped, strangled, stabbed and raped and left dead in an artichoke field, by an illegal alien? And the list is long and grows more horrific as the numerous stories were told to the President at the White House on June 22nd.

The President noted during his June 22nd meeting with these 'Angel Families', that "in Texas alone within the last seven years, more than a quarter million criminal aliens have been arrested and charged with over 600,000 criminal offenses". He added, "I always hear that, 'Oh, no, the population is safer than the people that live in the country'. ... It's not true."

Our leaders must regain the strength and the political will to uphold the rule of law, the same strength that Andrew Jackson had to run the Spanish out of Florida and Sam Houston had in winning the day for Texas against Santa Anna's army, if our nation is going to succeed in halting it's decline, into nothing more than the "polyglot boardinghouse" for the world that Theodore Roosevelt warned against. They must not force this generation to bear witness to our great American Southwest being reconquered through a deliberate policy of the Mexican regime, that seeks to aid the La Reconquista movement and the detachment of our lands ethnically, linguistically and culturally. A firm and vigorously enforced plan to rid America of illegal aliens and secure our borders must soon be pursued, since tens of millions more potential illegal aliens are poised at the Southern border ready to end the legacy of Jackson and Houston and a host of American patriots, an American legacy, our Republic.

By Justin O. Smith
_________________________
Edited by John R. Houk
All sourced links are by the Editor.

© Justin O. Smith


Tuesday, June 26, 2018

5 Justices Stick to Constitutional Originalism


John R. Houk
© June 26, 2018

Well-Well. It looks like five Justices of the Supreme Court still adhere to the U.S. Constitution. At the same time it is evident there are four Justices that take to the fallacy of a Living Constitution, meaning activist Judges can interpret the Constitution according Leftist ideology rather than the Original Intent of the letter of the law.

1. SCOTUS rules Pro-Life facilities cannot be forced to share information of State options to kill unborn babies.

2. SCOTUS rules that the Office of President has the Constitutional ability to limit travel from nations that a National Security issue is apparent.

Both decisions were decided by a 5-4 vote.

Below are two Fox News stories with the details.

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Supreme Court rules in favor of pro-life crisis pregnancy centers in fight over California law


June 26, 2018

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in favor of pro-life crisis pregnancy centers that counsel pregnant women to make choices other than abortion, invalidating a California law requiring them to prominently post information on how to obtain a state-funded abortion.

The court, in a 5-4 ruling, said the state law likely violates the First Amendment. The court also cast doubts on similar laws in Hawaii and Illinois.

The state regulations, targeting centers that provide counseling-related services with the goal of helping women make choices other than abortion, demanded such centers prominently post information on how to obtain abortion and contraception.

The law also required unlicensed, non-medical facilities to inform clients that they are not licensed medical providers. If pregnancy centers fail to comply with the law, they’re fined $500 for a first offense and $1,000 for each subsequent offense, according to the law.

Pro-life groups had challenged the regulations, arguing that they violated their free speech rights under the First Amendment. Supporters of the law said that it was necessary since many women were unaware of the options available to them.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected both arguments and upheld the law -- arguing that the state could regulate professional free speech and the law protects public health interests. The Supreme Court reversed that judgement.

Justice Clarence Thomas said in his majority opinion, "California cannot co-opt the licensed facilities to deliver its message for it." He also called the regulations for unlicensed facilities "unjustified and unduly burdensome."

Thomas was joined by fellow conservative justices John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch. Dissenting were liberal justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Breyer, in his dissent, said among the reasons the law should be upheld is that the high court has previously upheld state laws requiring doctors to tell women seeking abortions about adoption services. "After all, the law must be evenhanded," Breyer said.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra called the ruling "unfortunate."

“When it comes to making their health decisions, all California women -- regardless of their economic background or zip code -- deserve access to critical and non-biased information to make their own informed decisions,” Becerra said in a statement.

“Today’s Court ruling is unfortunate, but our work to ensure that Californians receive accurate information about their healthcare options will continue.”

Fox News’ Bill Mears, Madeline Farber and The Associated Press contributed to this report
 
Adam Shaw is a reporter covering U.S. and European politics for Fox News. He can be reached here.

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Supreme Court upholds Trump travel ban on some Muslim-majority nations

June 26, 2018

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld President Trump’s controversial travel ban affecting several mostly Muslim countries, offering a limited endorsement of the president’s executive authority on immigration in one of the hardest-fought battles of this term.

The 5-4 ruling marks the first major high court decision on a Trump administration policy. It upholds the selective travel restrictions, which critics called a discriminatory “Muslim ban” but the administration argued was needed for security reasons.

In a written statement, Trump called the ruling "a tremendous victory for the American People and the Constitution." As critics continued to decry the policy as "xenophobic," Trump described the court decision as "a moment of profound vindication following months of hysterical commentary from the media and Democratic politicians who refuse to do what it takes to secure our border and our country."


At issue was whether the third and latest version of the administration's policies affecting visitors from five majority Muslim nations – known as travel ban 3.0 – discriminates on the basis of nationality and religion, in the government's issuance of immigrant visas. 


Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the conservative majority opinion, wrote that the order was “squarely within the scope of presidential authority” under federal law.

“The sole prerequisite set forth in [federal law] is that the president find that the entry of the covered aliens would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. The president has undoubtedly fulfilled that requirement here,” he wrote.

Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor was among the court’s four liberals that wrote a dissent.

“This repackaging does little to cleanse [the policy] of the appearance of discrimination that the president’s words have created,” she said. “Based on the evidence in the record, a reasonable observer would conclude that the proclamation was motivated by anti-Muslim animus.”

She and Justice Stephen Breyer took the unusual step of reading their dissents from the bench.

While the policy was upheld, the case was sent back to the lower courts, which were told to rely on the Supreme Court’s interpretation of executive authority.

It was the first significant legal test so far of Trump's policies and power and could lead to a precedent-setting expansion on the limits of presidential authority, especially within the immigration context.

Federal appeals courts in Virginia and California in recent months had ruled against the administration. The San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court last December concluded Trump's proclamation, like the two previous executive orders, overstepped his powers to regulate the entry of immigrants and visitors.

But the justices had allowed the current restrictions to be enforced at the Justice Department's request, at least until the case was fully litigated.

The Trump administration also seemed to enjoy a favorable reception before the court during arguments in April. Associate Justice Samuel Alito, during those April arguments, noted that of the 50 or so mostly Muslim majority countries, only five were on the current banned list.
The White House had framed the issue as a temporary move involving national security.

A coalition of groups in opposition called the order blatant religious discrimination, since the countries involved have mostly Muslim populations: Iran, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Chad was recently removed from the list after the administration said that country had beefed up its information-sharing.

A major sticking point for the justices was navigating how much discretion the president really has over immigration. Courts have historically been deferential in this area, and recent presidents from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama have used it to deny entry to certain refugees and diplomats, including nations such as Iran, Cuba and North Korea.

A 1952 federal law -- the Immigration and Nationality Act, passed in the midst of a Cold War fear over Communist influence -- historically gives the chief executive broad authority.

It reads in part: "Whenever the president finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may, may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate."

The administration strongly denies this is a "Muslim ban," but federal judges across the country cited statements by then-presidential candidate Trump and his advisers, including a December 2015 campaign press release calling for such restrictions and citing "hatred" by "large segments of the Muslim population."

The high court’s majority downplayed Trump's campaign statements as a major factor in its decision.

"The issue before us is not whether to denounce the statements," wrote Roberts. "It is instead the significance of those statements in reviewing a Presidential directive, neutral on its face, addressing a matter within the core of executive responsibility. In doing so, we must consider not only the statements of a particular President, but also the authority of the Presidency itself."

Sixteen state leaders led by Texas were among a number of coalitions backing the Trump administration. But Hawaii officials, who filed the appeal contesting all of the president's orders, said the president's policies violate the Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom: 

"Any reasonable observer who heard the president's campaign promises, read his thinly justified orders banning overwhelmingly Muslim populations, and observed his administration's persistent statements linking the two, would view the order and each of its precursors as the fulfillment of the president's promise to prohibit Muslim immigration to the United States."

Trump's first executive order was issued just a week after he took office, and was aimed at seven countries. It triggered chaos and protests across the U.S., as some travelers were stopped from boarding international flights and others detained at airports for hours. Trump modified the order after a federal appeals court refused to allow the ban to be enforced.

"This is not about religion -- this is about terror and keeping our country safe," the president said on Jan. 29, 2017.

The next version, unveiled weeks later, dropped Iraq from the list of covered countries and made it clear the 90-day ban covering Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen didn't apply to those travelers who already had valid visas. It also got rid of language that would give priority to religious minorities. Critics said the changes did not erase the legal problems with the ban.

When that second temporary travel ban expired in Sept. 24, it was replaced with Proclamation 9645 -- what the administration said was a country-by-country assessment of security and cooperation with the U.S.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 
______________________
5 Justices Stick to Constitutional Originalism
John R. Houk
© June 26, 2018
____________________
Supreme Court rules in favor of pro-life crisis pregnancy centers in fight over California law

And

Supreme Court upholds Trump travel ban on some Muslim-majority nations

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2018 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

[Blog Editor: I did not ask permission to share the Fox News posts. If requested I will remove them.]



Monday, June 25, 2018

GoFundMe - Odelia, Lisa & Gal Shor's Daughter



When I had need for extra funding for double-eye cataracts surgery, Ari Bussel was a primary contributor. I mention Ari’s generosity because helping to raise funds for his friends’ daughter Odelia to attend IDC Herzliya located in Israel. In checking out the situation the opportunity for Odelia is both educational and cultural relating to building a Jewish heritage connected to the Land of Israel.

Be sure to read Ari’s heartfelt promotion for funding an American Jewish gal to Israel, but below is the text from Odelia Shor’s GoFundMe page which I highly encourage readers (especially those that feel a connection to Israel) to visit and donate:

My name is Odelia Shor and  I have recently had the privilege of being accepted into a three year BA Program in Communications at one of the finest universities in Israel, Raphael Recanati International School IDC Herzliya. This is an amazing opportunity for me to move forward with my goal of becoming a spokesperson for Israel. Having the experience of living in Israel while studying in this program will provide me with the tools to find positive and creative ways to benefit Israel and other worthy causes.

To pursue this dream is a huge financial undertaking for me and my family, but I believe it will make all the difference in the outcome of my life.  If your heart is inclined towards Israel, as mine is, I humbly ask that you consider sowing seeds of faith towards my endeavors.

From the beginning, my Jewish identity and the Land of Israel have been ingrained into my life and etched in my soul. My name – Odelia – translates from our ancient language, “give thanks to God.” I am so thankful for my faith and rich heritage.

I grew up with an unwavering sense of self in supporting Israel. My parents’ lives revolve around their love and appreciation of Israel. My father is a journalist and the editor of an Israeli newspaper in Los Angeles. My mother works with a non-profit that raises support for the IDF, under-privileged children, victims of terror, as well as encouraging Christian support of Israel.

I love Israeli roots, history, and culture. I stay up to date on what is going on with current events in the arts and entertainment as well as the political situation. I sing, play piano, guitar, and perform Israeli music. One of my favorite things to do is capture footage and edit together short film and I have recently had the privilege of working on the set of a major Israeli TV production in L.A.

Some of the classes that will be available to me at the IDC include Culture and Society, News Media, Digital Storytelling, TV Production, and Radio Broadcasting. With media being a strong force in the future, I will gain the skills to create media content that reflects the beauty and the truth that is the state of Israel.

Currently, I am working as a receptionist at About Space Interior Design in El Segundo and attending classes at my local community college.

If given the opportunity, I will gain the knowledge,  wisdom, and experience that will assist me in playing a part in a bright future and the chance to become an example of Israeli excellence. 

With love and appreciation,

Odelia Shor

,
באהבה
אודליה שור


JRH 6/25/18
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GoFundMe - Odelia, Lisa & Gal Shor's Daughter

Sent by Ari Bussel
Sent 6/24/2018 6:04 PM

I copied you here first to see and recognize and know, then if you can and would like, to act (and donate).

At the very least, I hope it will be an interesting reading, a tiny gift from me to you for having spent the time!

In last week’s issue of the Beverly Hill Courier was the insert Summer 2018 Beverly Hills Style.  There, on p. 34, Dina Leads, Bel Air philanthropist, born in Egypt and raised in West Hollywood, who is often seen on the pages of the paper in her role supporting Rabbi Mark Borovitz's Beit T’Shuvah, is quoted:

"When anybody tells you what his or her charity is doing, if you’re human, it’s impossible not to have a heart for it.”

Why do we give?  Some (many in our community) give because they need to do so for tax reasons.  Most give for something close to their hearts.

There is not a university in Israel, or a hospital or even one of the major museums that does not show the name of a member of the Beverly Hills community.

And then, especially (but not only) in Beverly Hills, one gives because her friends ask her to give, and then - as the world turns around - she asks them to give.

Most known of all is likely Stanley Black, who along with a group of friends (Max Webb and others) constantly give; so people for very many years became accustomed to going to see them on Sunday morning and pitching for their projects at Cantor’s, the deli on Fairfax.  (Since, members of the group passed away, others moved and the rest are not young any more.  But fear not, money keeps flowing, and SB opens his estate on a regular basis for various charities as well as political endeavors.)

Let us turn to the case on hand.  My very dear friend and the editor of the largest circulation Hebrew paper in Greater LA and his wife are struggling to send their second daughter to college.  The first left a year ago to Israel to study at the IDC [See Also HERE], and now her sister is following suit.

Although the daughters are extraordinarily nice young women, full of the joy of life and passion and enthusiasm, they are part of a generation that is accustomed to getting everything, a generation that expects everything and is willing to assume little if any responsibility.

I come from a generation that had to do with what it had, had to work hard for everything it earned and knew to tighten the belt and to do with less, as circumstances may have dictated.

We also had dreams and aspirations, and as children we wanted a lot; more than our parents could afford.

I remember my greatest disappointment, when I could not go with a group of students from Beverly to the trip to Europe with Mickey Freedman and Dr. Henry Dersch of blessed memory.  It was 1985 and the group went to the Soviet Union.  One of the students was the daughter of the personal assistant to Armand Hammer of Occidental Petroleum.  (We all know the Oxy building in Westwood, with the top double glass-floor and the Armand Hammer Museum at the bottom.)

Hammer was the only person in the West who had complete access to the Soviet Union, having years earlier spent his money to send ships full of grain to the starving Soviets.

And thus, the students and teachers were treated to some places that only a handful of people ever saw or visited before, and that the chances that any of us would see in our life time was de minimis at best.  Who could have foreseen, who could have expected that not even a decade later the Soviet Union will collapse, and that the places visited would become accessible to all?!?

Life laughed with me about a dream that did not materialize, yet an opportunity that has not vanished!

Life; a most interesting concept.  I and others blind copied on this e-mail, dedicated two decades of our lives to serving in an organization founded by the late Gen. Shimon Erem, the Israel Christian Nexus.  After millennia of persecution, after the Destruction of the Temple, the Expulsion from the Holy Land, the Inquisition and dispersal throughout the Ottoman Empire, and most recently the Holocaust, Jewish-Christian relations were strained.

We, the Jewish People, murdered the Son of God, and for some two thousand years we suffered as a result of the notion that we were responsible; that we deserve punishment.

It is in this framework that Israelis and Jews on one side and Christians on the other did not trust one another, and still have deep feelings and issues.

In the midst rose a branch of Evangelical Christians who love, support and bless Israel and the Jewish People.  They believe in God and Country, family values and integrity and honesty.  They subscribe to the notation of what God wants from us:

Micah Chapter 6 מִיכָה

ח  הִגִּיד לְךָ אָדָם, מַה-טּוֹב; וּמָה-יְהוָה דּוֹרֵשׁ מִמְּךָ, כִּי אִם-עֲשׂוֹת מִשְׁפָּט וְאַהֲבַת חֶסֶד, וְהַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת, עִם-אֱלֹהֶיךָ.  {ס}
8 It hath been told thee, O man, what is good, and what the LORD doth require of thee: only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. {S}

Into an unchartered territory came in a knight on a white horse.  A very stubborn and determined knight, one of the founders of the modern Jewish State of Israel.  Of course - he was Jewish, and the Jews have a tendency to be a very stubborn and stiff-necked people.

Shimon Erem established, long before Pastor John Hagee of CUFI (Christians United For Israel) and others more known today, an organization that set out to build bridges between Jews and Christians, for we must stand united.

It was Gal’s mother-in-law, Polly Pauline Grimes, who introduced Shimon z”l to the idea of working with the Christians.  We were all the beneficiaries, humble servants in this great army of people determined to work together, determined to protect and safeguard the tiny Jewish county, the fate of the 14 million Jewish people in the entire world.

Genesis Chapter 12 בְּרֵאשִׁית

ג  וַאֲבָרְכָה, מְבָרְכֶיךָ, וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ, אָאֹר; וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ, כֹּל מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה.
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.'

So now we close a circle.  Mrs. Grimes’ daughter converted to Judaism, together with her husband Gal they had two daughters, the youngest who is 20 just completed her first year at the Interdisciplinary Center IDC Herzliya (sister city of Beverly Hills).  Now her older sister wants to do the same.

Not everything in life happens as we plan, wish or want; but in this case, we can all do our part to help.

Ecclesiastes Chapter 11 קֹהֶלֶת

א  שַׁלַּח לַחְמְךָ, עַל-פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם:  כִּי-בְרֹב הַיָּמִים, תִּמְצָאֶנּוּ.
1 Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days.

Not every dream should [be]come a reality, so easily just for the asking.  I have seen firsthand how an American young woman, who speaks very little Hebrew is flourishing and changing as a result of being and studying in Israel.  

During my generation, instilling a Jewish and Israeli identity happened by serving in the IDF.  The entire Lone Soldiers framework was recreated as a result of collaboration between a Minister of Defense (Rabin z”l), a local Consular Consul (Moshe Peer [?]), a colonel in charge of recruiting in the IDF (Tziko Oren) and a local father (my father, Dr. Bussel).  I was the test case.  

Not enough went to Israel, and so American Jewry (not including Orthodox Jews) managed to lose the next generation.  They do not speak, read or write Hebrew.  They do not really know what to do in a synagogue.  They celebrate some of the holidays, and mix them with the culture around.  They intermarry.  And most regrettably, they do not see Israel as crucial to their existence any more.  

Little do they understand that without a Jewish homeland in the Land of Israel, the Holocaust is bound to repeat itself.  That no Jew is safe anywhere around the world; current comforting appearances to the contrary.

Then came a program called Birthright Taglit, that exposes young Jews to the notion and meaning, beauty and existence of Israel.  It has successfully exposed Israel to this generation that has otherwise disconnected itself from Israel.

Living in Israel, be it for school or otherwise, makes one dedicated to Israel; and then that person continues serving this tiny-mighty country, the only Jewish Homeland in the world - our home and shelter and very essence - for the rest of one’s life.

So if you can, and if you are so inclined, be it at a most modest or a more substantial amount, or in some other manner, in a prayer or a blessing, please join and help:


SHALOM!

Always,
Ari Bussel

bussel@me.com
________________________
Edited by John R. Houk
Text enclosed by brackets and links hopefully providing clarity are by the Editor.

© Ari Bussel