The Front Page Cover
2016 The truth will set you free
Featuring:
The Holocaust and the Jewish identity
Charles Krauthammer
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OPINION IN BRIEF
Jeff Jacoby: "Early-voting laws were promoted as democratic and efficient; make voting easier, advocates argued, and voter turnout will rise. They were wrong: The data suggest that early-voting options decrease turnout. ... But the real downside to early voting, especially in a volatile primary campaign like this year's Republican presidential competition, is that voters come to the ballot without having equal access to relevant information. ... Campaigns relish early-voting laws because it enables them to 'bank' votes — early voters who have second thoughts are stuck, even if Election Day is still days or weeks away. And it stands to reason that at least some voters do have second thoughts: In Louisiana's primary this month, slump-Trump overwhelmingly carried early voters, but narrowly lost to Cruz among voters who waited until Election Day. The whole point of having staggered primaries is to allow later voters to take account of new developments and fresh information, yet that's exactly the benefit that early voting undercuts. The transformation of Election Day into Election Month has proved one of our less successful democratic experiments. Voting works better when we do it together — not when each of us decides that we don't feel like waiting any longer." -The Patriot Post
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Supreme Court Calculus
The political implications are "yuge." On Wednesday, Barack nObama nominated Merrick Garland to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Antonin Scalia. Bill Clinton nominated Garland to the DC Circuit Court in 1995, and nObama insists he's "uniquely qualified." (It may be politically incorrect to say so, but we're somewhat surprised nObama nominated an old white guy.) "This is precisely the time when we should play it straight," nObama said, claiming Garland should be acceptable to Republicans in the Senate — in part because seven of them voted to confirm him (two years after his nomination) in 1997. Then again, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCon-nell and Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley opposed Garland 20 years ago.
Garland certainly isn't as far left as nObama could have gone with his pick, but is he anything like the originalist Constitution-defender that Scalia was. (Too few are.) While he didn't take part in the ruling that eventually brought us the Supreme Court's Heller decision on guns, he did vote for a full-court rehearing of the case — implying he thought both the DC Circuit and the Supreme Court were wrong to acknowledge the Second Amendment's individual right to keep and bear arms.
McCon-nell issued a statement holding his ground: "The next justice could fundamentally alter the direction of the Supreme Court and have a profound impact on our country, so of course the American people should have a say in the court's direction. The Senate will continue to observe the loose lips-'Biden Rule' so the American people have a voice in this momentous decision. The American people may well elect a president who decides to nominate Judge Garland for Senate consideration. The next president may also nominate somebody very different. Either way, our view is this: Give the people a voice in filling this vacancy."
That brings us to an enormous political calculation for both sides, but primarily Senate Republicans. So far, they've rhetorically held the line, saying, "No nObama nominees will receive a hearing." But that's different from actually holding the line. And right now Republicans must be asking themselves this question: "Do we take nObama's bait — a.k.a. the "moderate" white guy nominee — while we control the Senate, or do we risk Hilly Clinton fast-tracking a leftist through a Democrat Senate if Donald slump-Trump loses?" In our estimation, they should hold the line, and then fight like hell to ensure the second scenario doesn't happen. It's about time the legislative branch stood up to executive overreach.
-The Patriot Post
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How Can Hilly Take on slump-Trump? We've written on more than one occasion that Donald slump-Trump is the weakest GOP contender in a head-to-head match-up with Hilly Clinton. The reasons are simple: slump-Trump has deep and faithful support, but it's not wide, and his opposition is just as deep and faithful. Voters view him more negatively than any other presidential contender since such things were tracked. He's going to lose blacks and Hispanics — the latter maybe worse than Mitt Romney did.
But there's a wild card: disaffected white Democrats. We've also noted that many Democrats are crossing the aisle to vote for slump-Trump. It's possible that some number of them are doing so because they want to help choose a beatable opponent for their own incredibly weak frontrunner. Yet there have to be a large number of blue-collar Democrats who don't want Clinton's job-destroying policies, and who just plain don't trust her.
More important, though, is this essential question: How can Clinton successfully attack slump-Trump?
What's she going to hit him with? His marital history? His ethics? His honesty? His wealth? His Wall Street connections? His politically incorrect ways? On every one of those issues, one of two things applies: Her record is either as bad as or worse than his, or he's managed to turn a "weakness" into a strength. Nothing may typify the latter better than his politically incorrect demeanor. Surely vast swaths of working class Democrats are tired of bowing to Clinton-style "progressive" thought control, and they find slump-Trump's unfiltered presentation a breath of fresh air. We have to admit — a slump-Trump-Clinton debate would be reality TV worth watching.
On a final note, we guarantee Democrats aren't going to underestimate slump-Trump the way establishment Republicans did. -The Patriot Post
Trey Gowdy Scolds Elijah Cummings-Sets Up New
Rules To Prevent Benghazi Leaks
Jeff Dunetz
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Bassem Tamimi is Lying About his
Visa Revocation
Steven Emerson
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{investigativeproject.org} ~ Last week, Palestinian activist Bassem Tamimi published a letter on his Facebook page showing that his visa to come to the United States was revoked on March 1... In a story published Wednesday, the Palestine News Network (PNN) continued to push his claim that the U.S. action somehow was in retaliation for a civil lawsuit he and others filed against dozens of Israeli supporters and companies doing business there. "To stop our effort against the Israeli occupation, the American consulate revoked my Visa," Tamimi wrote March 8. The whole story is a lie. Tamimi would have us believe that American bureaucracy is so efficient, so nimble, that it processed a visa revocation overnight. The lawsuit was filed March 7 in Washington, D.C. district court, the day before Tamimi published it. In addition, the visa revocation letter is dated March 1.
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Barack nObama Just Raised The
Cost Of Gas At The Pump!
Kosar
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{thepoliticalinsider.com} ~ If you thought low gas prices were too-good-to-be-true… then get ready for this! In a shocking announcement, President Barack nObama is reversing the decision to drill for oil along America’s Southeast Atlantic coast... nObama caved to liberal environmentalists, and this big move will directly affect the cost of gasoline at the pump: When the nObama administration unveiled a proposal in January 2015 to open the southeastern Atlantic coast to oil and gas drilling for the first time, environmental advocates were shocked and enraged — and the oil industry was delighted. The emotions were the same, just on opposite sides of the energy-environmental divide, when the Interior Department announced Tuesday that the administration was yanking Atlantic drilling off the table. And almost everyone was shocked. http://www.thepoliticalinsider.com/breaking-barack-obama-just-raised-cost-gaspump/utm_source=SailThru%26utm_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TPI%20Newsletter%2003-17-16%20Curated/Horizon%20TIer%201&utm_term=Tier%201
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nObama's Supreme Pick
Tied to TWA 800, OKC Bombing
JACK CASHILL.
{wnd.com} ~ Da Noive! President Barack nObama has chosen to nominate United States Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court... We are told he is a “moderate,” but we know how that works. The other “moderates” on the high court somehow manage to march their way in lockstep to the officially designated liberal position on every single major case. Can anyone name an exception? But that is the least of my objections. Whatever his merits, Garland served as Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick’s “principal deputy” during the two most corrupt years in American political history – the years leading up to Bill Clinton’s reelection in 1996 – and that service alone should kill his candidacy. http://www.wnd.com/2016/03/obama-court-pick-tied-to-twa-800-okc-bombing/.
Benghazi 13 Hours Hero On Clinton’s
“Didn’t Lose A Single Person” Libya Remark
Rick Wells
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State Arms Official Accused of Misleading Congress
on Russian Treaty Breach
Bill Gert
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Rose Gottemoeller
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Prosecutor in Pollard Spy Case
Predicts Espionage Act Charges in Clinton Email Probe
Alana Goodman
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nObama Playing Political Game With Supreme Court Pick
Rick Wells
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slump-Trump’s Pro-Russian Policy Threatens Israel
Cliff Kincaid
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Misdiagnosing the refugee crisis
Daniel Hannan
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The Holocaust and the Jewish identity
Charles Krauthammer
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“No,” answered Sanders: “I am very proud to be Jewish.” He then explained that the Holocaust had wiped out his father’s family. And that he remembered as a child seeing neighbors with concentration camp numbers tattooed on their arms. Being Jewish, he declared, “is an essential part of who I am as a human being.”
“No,” answered Sanders: “I am very proud to be Jewish.” He then explained that the Holocaust had wiped out his father’s family. And that he remembered as a child seeing neighbors with concentration camp numbers tattooed on their arms. Being Jewish, he declared, “is an essential part of who I am as a human being.”
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A fascinating answer, irrelevant to presidential politics but quite revealing about the state of Jewish identity in contemporary America.
A fascinating answer, irrelevant to presidential politics but quite revealing about the state of Jewish identity in contemporary America.
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Think about it. There are several alternate ways American Jews commonly explain the role Judaism plays in their lives.
Think about it. There are several alternate ways American Jews commonly explain the role Judaism plays in their lives.
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1. Practice: Judaism as embedded in their life through religious practice or the transmission of Jewish culture by way of teaching or scholarship. Think Joe Lieberman or the neighborhood rabbi.
1. Practice: Judaism as embedded in their life through religious practice or the transmission of Jewish culture by way of teaching or scholarship. Think Joe Lieberman or the neighborhood rabbi.
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2. Tikkun: Seeing Judaism as an expression of the prophetic ideal of social justice. Love thy neighbor, clothe the naked, walk with G0D, beat swords into plowshares. As ritual and practice have fallen away over the generations, this has become the core identity of liberal Judaism. Its central mission is nothing less than to repair the world (“Tikkun olam”).
2. Tikkun: Seeing Judaism as an expression of the prophetic ideal of social justice. Love thy neighbor, clothe the naked, walk with G0D, beat swords into plowshares. As ritual and practice have fallen away over the generations, this has become the core identity of liberal Judaism. Its central mission is nothing less than to repair the world (“Tikkun olam”).
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Which, incidentally, is the answer to the perennial question, “Why is it that Jews vote overwhelmingly Democratic?” Because, for the majority of Jews, the social ideals of liberalism are the most tangible expressions of their prophetic Jewish faith.
Which, incidentally, is the answer to the perennial question, “Why is it that Jews vote overwhelmingly Democratic?” Because, for the majority of Jews, the social ideals of liberalism are the most tangible expressions of their prophetic Jewish faith.
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When Sanders was asked about his Jewish identity, I was sure his answer would be some variation of Tikkun. On the stump, he plays the Hebrew Bible prophet railing against the powerful and denouncing their treatment of the widow and the orphan. Yet Sanders gave an entirely different answer.
When Sanders was asked about his Jewish identity, I was sure his answer would be some variation of Tikkun. On the stump, he plays the Hebrew Bible prophet railing against the powerful and denouncing their treatment of the widow and the orphan. Yet Sanders gave an entirely different answer.
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3. The Holocaust. What a strange reply — yet it doesn’t seem so to us because it has become increasingly common for American Jews to locate their identity in the Holocaust.
3. The Holocaust. What a strange reply — yet it doesn’t seem so to us because it has become increasingly common for American Jews to locate their identity in the Holocaust.
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For example, it’s become a growing emphasis in Jewish pedagogy from the Sunday schools to Holocaust studies programs in the various universities. Additionally, Jewish groups organize visits for young people to the concentration camps of Europe.
For example, it’s become a growing emphasis in Jewish pedagogy from the Sunday schools to Holocaust studies programs in the various universities. Additionally, Jewish groups organize visits for young people to the concentration camps of Europe.
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The memories created are indelible. And deeply valuable. Indeed, though my own family was largely spared, the Holocaust forms an ineradicable element of my own Jewish consciousness. But I worry about the balance.
The memories created are indelible. And deeply valuable. Indeed, though my own family was largely spared, the Holocaust forms an ineradicable element of my own Jewish consciousness. But I worry about the balance.
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As Jewish practice, learning and knowledge diminish over time, my concern is that Holocaust memory is emerging as the dominant feature of Jewishness in America.
As Jewish practice, learning and knowledge diminish over time, my concern is that Holocaust memory is emerging as the dominant feature of Jewishness in America.
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I worry that a people with a 3,000-year history of creative genius, enriched by intimate relations with every culture from Paris to Patagonia, should be placing such weight on martyrdom — and indeed, for this generation, martyrdom once removed.
I worry that a people with a 3,000-year history of creative genius, enriched by intimate relations with every culture from Paris to Patagonia, should be placing such weight on martyrdom — and indeed, for this generation, martyrdom once removed.
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I’m not criticizing Sanders. I credit him with sincerity and authenticity. But it is precisely that sincerity and authenticity — and the implications for future generations — that so concern me.
I’m not criticizing Sanders. I credit him with sincerity and authenticity. But it is precisely that sincerity and authenticity — and the implications for future generations — that so concern me.
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Sanders is 74, but I suspect a growing number of young Jews would give an answer similar to his.
Sanders is 74, but I suspect a growing number of young Jews would give an answer similar to his.
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We must of course remain dedicated to keeping alive the memory and the truth of the Holocaust, particularly when they are under assault from so many quarters. Which is why, though I initially opposed having a Holocaust museum as the sole representation of the Jewish experience in the center of Washington, I came to see the virtue of having so sacred yet vulnerable a legacy placed at the monumental core of — and thus entrusted to the protection of — the most tolerant and open nation on earth.
We must of course remain dedicated to keeping alive the memory and the truth of the Holocaust, particularly when they are under assault from so many quarters. Which is why, though I initially opposed having a Holocaust museum as the sole representation of the Jewish experience in the center of Washington, I came to see the virtue of having so sacred yet vulnerable a legacy placed at the monumental core of — and thus entrusted to the protection of — the most tolerant and open nation on earth.
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Nonetheless, there must be balance. It would be a tragedy for American Jews to make the Holocaust the principal legacy bequeathed to their children. After all, the Jewish people are living through a miraculous age: the rebirth of Jewish sovereignty, the revival of Hebrew (a cultural resurrection unique in human history), the flowering of a new Hebraic culture radiating throughout the Jewish world.
Nonetheless, there must be balance. It would be a tragedy for American Jews to make the Holocaust the principal legacy bequeathed to their children. After all, the Jewish people are living through a miraculous age: the rebirth of Jewish sovereignty, the revival of Hebrew (a cultural resurrection unique in human history), the flowering of a new Hebraic culture radiating throughout the Jewish world.
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Memory is sacred, but victimhood cannot be the foundation stone of Jewish identity.
Memory is sacred, but victimhood cannot be the foundation stone of Jewish identity.
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Traditional Judaism has 613 commandments. The philosopher Emil Fackenheim famously said that the 614th is to deny Hitler any posthumous victories. The reduction of Jewish identity to victimhood would be one such victory.
Traditional Judaism has 613 commandments. The philosopher Emil Fackenheim famously said that the 614th is to deny Hitler any posthumous victories. The reduction of Jewish identity to victimhood would be one such victory.
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