The Front Page Cover "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
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Featuring:
History Returns Violently
in the Mediterranean and Beyond
Michael Barone.
"Know who you are standing with"
"Show me your friends and I'll show you your future"
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SIXTEENERS AUDITION FOR GOP JEWS
NYT: “All 14 Republican presidential candidates will descend on Washington on Thursday for the Republican Jewish Coalition’s daylong 2016 forum, where terrorism and the Iran nuclear deal are certain to be the focus of the speeches. All of the candidates have been vocal in their support of the safety of Israel, the issue of premier importance to the coalition’s members. But the ability to sound knowledgeable on foreign policy at the forum will also be important. The terrorist attacks in Paris add a renewed sense of urgency, as well.” -Fox News 
NYT: “All 14 Republican presidential candidates will descend on Washington on Thursday for the Republican Jewish Coalition’s daylong 2016 forum, where terrorism and the Iran nuclear deal are certain to be the focus of the speeches. All of the candidates have been vocal in their support of the safety of Israel, the issue of premier importance to the coalition’s members. But the ability to sound knowledgeable on foreign policy at the forum will also be important. The terrorist attacks in Paris add a renewed sense of urgency, as well.” -Fox News
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The Judge’s Ruling: ‘spying on all people all the time’ Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano notes that the USA Freedom Act, which went into effect this week, purports to curb the government’s ability to get instant access to domestic emails and phones calls but does no such thing: “Both the Patriot Act and the USA Freedom Act…permit the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to issue warrants based on the standard of ‘governmental needs’ rather than probable cause. This is a profoundly unconstitutional standard, and one that has resulted in spying on all people all the time.” Read it here. -Fox News
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WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE
A discovery in Jerusalem marks a first for excavators, and draws new questions for Biblical historians. The Atlantic brings us the story: “On Wednesday, archaeologists in Jerusalem announced the discovery of a rare biblical-era seal. The mark of the seal is said to belong to King Hezekiah, who ruled in the Levant in the eighth-century B.C. and got a glowing review in the Book of Kings…According to Hebrew University, the inscription reads: ‘Belonging to Hezekiah [son of] Ahaz king of Judah.’ It also bears a ‘two-winged sun, with wings turned downward, flanked by two ankh symbols symbolizing life.’ As Reuters reports, excavators believe Hezekiah may have made the seal himself and that ‘the back side of the clay imprint of the seal had markings of thin cords that were used to tie a papyrus document.’ The seal is said to be the first mark from an Israelite or Judean king ever found during a scientific excavation, which is noteworthy because it links the artifact to the location.” -Fox News
A discovery in Jerusalem marks a first for excavators, and draws new questions for Biblical historians. The Atlantic brings us the story: “On Wednesday, archaeologists in Jerusalem announced the discovery of a rare biblical-era seal. The mark of the seal is said to belong to King Hezekiah, who ruled in the Levant in the eighth-century B.C. and got a glowing review in the Book of Kings…According to Hebrew University, the inscription reads: ‘Belonging to Hezekiah [son of] Ahaz king of Judah.’ It also bears a ‘two-winged sun, with wings turned downward, flanked by two ankh symbols symbolizing life.’ As Reuters reports, excavators believe Hezekiah may have made the seal himself and that ‘the back side of the clay imprint of the seal had markings of thin cords that were used to tie a papyrus document.’ The seal is said to be the first mark from an Israelite or Judean king ever found during a scientific excavation, which is noteworthy because it links the artifact to the location.” -Fox News
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Toomey goes on offense - National Journal: “Sen. Pat Toomey’s [R-Pa.] campaign released an opposition website attacking both former Rep.Joe Sestak (D) and former gubernatorial candidate Katie McGinty (D), the two leading Democrats seeking to take him on in November. The site asks which Democrat is worse, ‘Corporate’ Katie McGinty and Joe ‘SaysTax.’ The site claims McGinty benefitted from “lucrative revolving door deals” while serving as Pennsylvania’s secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. Sestak, it says, was an ‘avid supporter of huge tax-and-spend programs such as ObamaCare, Cap and Trade, and the bailouts’ during his time in Congress.” -Fox News
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Who Is Stealing Palestinian Land?
{Khaled Abu Toameh} ~ The beleaguered Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas, has found an original way to solve its financial crisis... The movement is now planning to pay its unpaid civil servants with former Israeli settlement land in the Gaza Strip. Abandoned by Israel in 2005 as part of the "disengagement" from the Gaza Strip, the land was supposed to provide a solution to the severe housing crisis in the Palestinian-controlled area. Back then, there was much talk about building new housing projects for thousands of Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli "disengagement" prompted some oil-rich Arab countries to propose plans to help solve the severe housing crisis in the Gaza Strip. The lands that once housed Jewish settlements were supposed to transform the Gaza Strip into the Middle East's Singapore. Instead, all the grandiose and ambitious plans went right down the drain when Hamas seized control over the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007. Since then, the entire Gaza Strip has been transformed into a base for various Islamist groups. In addition to suppressing and intimidating the local population, these groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other jihadi militias, have used the Gaza Strip to launch terror attacks against Israel and threaten Egypt's national security on the other side of the border. http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7002/stealing-palestinian-land.
Hilly Clinton Can’t Remember Her Plan To Deal With National Debt
{Kemberlee Kaye} ~ You would think someone who’s proposed at least $1 trillion in new debt would be able to answer questions about how she plans to manage the $18 trillion already outstanding... Alas... Speaking in New Hampshire Thursday afternoon, Democratic frontrunner Hilly Clinton was asked, “specifically, what will you do” about “our $18 trillion national debt?” Clinton couldn’t remember what she planned to do about the national debt, but she was happy to refer people to her husband’s 1990’s tax policies. I’m sorry, but who’s on the ballot again? http://legalinsurrection.com/2015/12/hillary-clinton-cant-remember-her-plan-to-deal-with-national-debt/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LegalInsurrection+%28Le%C2%B7gal+In%C2%B7sur%C2%B7rec%C2%B7tion%29.
Hilly Slept Through Security Meeting Following Benghazi Attack
{Fuzzy Slippers} ~ Judicial Watch today released a new batch of emails of former Secretary of State Hilly Clinton connected to the Benghazi attack... Included is an email chain showing that Clinton slept late the Saturday after the Benghazi attack and missed a meeting that her staff had been trying to set up about sensitive intelligence issues, including the Presidential Daily Brief, on a day she was to make a slew of phone calls to foreign leaders. There was also an interesting detail in an email concerning Bowe Bergdahl’s father’s concern over “Crusader paradigm.” The documents contain an email passed to Clinton in the days following the Benghazi attack in which the father of alleged Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl anguishes over the “‘Crusade’ paradigm” which he says “will never be forgotten in this part of the world.” You may remember Mr. Bergdahl from nObama’s over-the-top, tin-eared, and inappropriate Rose Garden ceremony announcing the exchange of Bowe Bergdahl, who has since been charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, for five top Taliban leaders..
Senate set to ignore nObama veto threat, targeting...
{Alan Fram} ~ Openly welcoming a preordained veto, Senate Republicans drove legislation toward passage Thursday aimed at crippling two of their favorite targets... President Barack nObama's health care law and Planned Parenthood. Senate approval, which the House is expected to rubber stamp soon, would for the first time put legislation on nObama's desk demolishing his 2010 health care overhaul, one of his proudest domestic achievements. Congress has voted dozens of times to repeal or weaken the law, but until now Democrats have thwarted them from shipping the legislation to the White House. .
Clinton Deported 4 Times as Many Illegal Aliens As nObama
{Daniel Horowitz} ~ nObama’s ICE Director, Sarah Saldaña, admitted to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday that she is derelict in her primary job of deporting illegal aliens, including criminal aliens, from the country... Despite the fact ICE’s budget for removals has increased from $2.6 billion in 2011 to $3.4 billion and they are privy to more resources and technology than ever before, deportations have plummeted by almost two thirds from 200,000 to 70,000. What’s worse, the deportation of criminal aliens dropped from 150,000 to just 63,000. There you have it. As Jessica Vaughn presented before the committee in painstaking detail, while overall deportations dropped dramatically, the decline in deportations of criminal aliens has been breathtaking. So the entire rationale for Obama’s amnesty and suspension of deportations – to focus on criminal aliens – has been proven false beyond a shadow of a doubt. .
GAO Faults Homeland Security for Lack of Asylum Fraud Controls
{JACK MARTIN} ~ The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report December 2 that faulted the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) branch of DHS for not having systematic controls against asylum fraud... It noted a case in 2014 in which more than 4,500 approved asylum applications that had been filed by one firm were found to be based on fraud. There are two sorts of asylum cases: aliens who arrive at a port of entry and ask for protection against being sent back to a homeland where they fear they will be persecuted are termed affirmative claimants. The other defensive claimants are persons already in the country seeking to avoid deportation because they are illegal residents. The latter cases that give rise to fraud claims. The illegal residents have recourse to legal representation from legal aid clinics and lawyers who coach applicants in what may convince an immigration judge to approve an application. In addition to the massive fraud case referred to above, other notable cases have documented fabricated stories of past or future persecution. The difficulty in evaluating unsupported claims means that the applicant often receives the benefit of any doubt. This means for immigration lawbreakers to avoid deportation acts as an incentive for others to follow the same path to legal residence. Over time, the asylum ground rules have broadened to include protection against abuse for sexual orientation, for spousal abuse, for tribal practices of genital mutilation, etc. And U.S. Foreign Service Officers, who have in-country experience regarding local conditions have been excluded from a role in routinely commenting on the likely veracity of the asylum claims..
Senate votes 52-47 to gut key parts of nObamacare
{SUSAN FERRECHIO} ~ The Senate approved a bill Thursday that would gut much of the Affordable Care Act, marking the first time both chambers of Congress have voted to repeal President nObama's signature health care law since it became law five years ago... The bill passed by 52-47 but will not head to the president's desk yet. While the House approved a similar repeal measure, the Senate amended it, which will require the House to vote on the bill passed Thursday by the Senate. While the House is likely to pass the Senate's version, the legislation will never become law. President nObama has promised to veto the bill, and Republicans lack a supermajority required to override his veto. But passage is a significant messaging victory for the GOP, which has been promising for years that they would send nObama a bill that repeals the law.
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Al Qaeda Hasn’t Been Neutralized
{Bill Roggio} ~ Secretary of State John haoi-Kerry believes that al Qaeda’s “top leadership” has been “neutralized” as “an effective force.”... He made the claim while discussing the administration’s strategy, or lack thereof, for combating the Islamic State (ISIS), which is al Qaeda’s jihadist rival. hanoi-Kerry believes that the U.S. and its allies can finish off ISIS quicker than al Qaeda. There’s just one problem: It is not true that al Qaeda or its top leaders have been “neutralized.” Dozens of senior al Qaeda terrorists, including of course Osama bin Laden, have been eliminated. But al Qaeda is not a simple top-down terrorist group that can be entirely vanquished by killing or detaining select key leaders. It is a paramilitary insurgency organization that is principally built for waging guerilla warfare. Terrorism is a part of what al Qaeda does, but not nearly all. And a key reason why al Qaeda has been able to regenerate its threat against us repeatedly over the past 14 years is that it uses its guerilla armies to groom new leaders and identify recruits for terrorist plots against the West. The summary below shows what al Qaeda looks like today – it is far from being “neutralized.” Instead, al Qaeda and its regional branches are fighting in more countries today than ever. They are trying to build radical Islamic states, just like ISIS, which garners more attention but hasn’t, contrary to conventional wisdom, surpassed al Qaeda in many areas..
Iran and the IRGC: Fueling Conflict in the Middle East
{Ali Alfoneh} ~ Iran’s regional goals remain inimical to U.S. national interests and the security of U.S. allies... The emergence of President Hassan Rouhani, his promise of engaging in bilateral talks with the United States, the nuclear agreement between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the P5+1, and the rise of the Islamic State have led some in the West to hope for a new alignment of strategic interests between Washington and Tehran. To this end, Secretary of State John hanoi-Kerry formally invited Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif to participate in negotiations at the end of October in Vienna to resolve the war in Syria. President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif, however, command little influence over the Islamic Republic’s regional policies. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) owns this portfolio, and beyond a fleeting tactical convergence of interests, the Revolutionary Guards and Washington do not have aligning strategic goals in Syria. Washington wants to resolve conflicts in the Middle East; the IRGC benefits most by seeing these conflicts continue. According to the recent testimony of Ambassador Anne W. Patterson, assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, the United States is pursuing four objectives in Syria:.
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History Returns Violently
in the Mediterranean and Beyond
Michael Barone.
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The subjects of the book, members of two intermarried Albanian families, the Bruni and Bruti, filled all those roles in the years from 1560 to 1600. They started off in Ulcinj, a small port on the Adriatic Sea in present-day Montenegro that in the 1560s was part of the sea-connected mercantile empire of the Republic of Venice.
The subjects of the book, members of two intermarried Albanian families, the Bruni and Bruti, filled all those roles in the years from 1560 to 1600. They started off in Ulcinj, a small port on the Adriatic Sea in present-day Montenegro that in the 1560s was part of the sea-connected mercantile empire of the Republic of Venice.
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The Bruni and Bruti got around. Giovanni Bruni was a Jesuit and archbishop who took a lead role in 1563 at the Council of Trent, which launched the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Gasparo Bruni was a Knight of Malta who fought the Huguenots in the papal enclave of Avignon in France.
The Bruni and Bruti got around. Giovanni Bruni was a Jesuit and archbishop who took a lead role in 1563 at the Council of Trent, which launched the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Gasparo Bruni was a Knight of Malta who fought the Huguenots in the papal enclave of Avignon in France.
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Bartolomeo Bruti soldiered for the Habsburgs' Holy Roman Empire and then, with the help of a grand vizier who was an Albanian cousin, administered the voivod of Moldavia, covering parts of current Romania and Moldova. Cristoforo Bruti spent his career as a dragoman (translator) in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople.
Bartolomeo Bruti soldiered for the Habsburgs' Holy Roman Empire and then, with the help of a grand vizier who was an Albanian cousin, administered the voivod of Moldavia, covering parts of current Romania and Moldova. Cristoforo Bruti spent his career as a dragoman (translator) in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople.
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Many family members met unhappy ends. Giovanni Bruni, as a galley slave in the Ottoman fleet, was killed in the 1572 Battle of Lepanto. Bartolomeo Bruti was tortured and murdered when, after his grand vizier (an Albanian cousin) was fired, he tried to high-tail it off to the Kingdom of Poland.
Many family members met unhappy ends. Giovanni Bruni, as a galley slave in the Ottoman fleet, was killed in the 1572 Battle of Lepanto. Bartolomeo Bruti was tortured and murdered when, after his grand vizier (an Albanian cousin) was fired, he tried to high-tail it off to the Kingdom of Poland.
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Standard histories depict this period as one of struggle between the Muslim Ottoman Empire and Christian Europe. But it was a good deal more complicated than that. France and, briefly, Elizabeth I of England sought alliances with the Ottomans against the Habsburgs who headed both the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Spain, plus the southern Italian Kingdom of Naples.
Standard histories depict this period as one of struggle between the Muslim Ottoman Empire and Christian Europe. But it was a good deal more complicated than that. France and, briefly, Elizabeth I of England sought alliances with the Ottomans against the Habsburgs who headed both the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Spain, plus the southern Italian Kingdom of Naples.
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The history maps showing clear national borders and a solid line dividing Christendom and Islam turn out to be misleading. The borders were porous; family and commercial ties often proved stronger than national or religious loyalty. Key Ottoman officials and generals were originally Albanian or Italian Christians. Some re-converted to Christianity.
The history maps showing clear national borders and a solid line dividing Christendom and Islam turn out to be misleading. The borders were porous; family and commercial ties often proved stronger than national or religious loyalty. Key Ottoman officials and generals were originally Albanian or Italian Christians. Some re-converted to Christianity.
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There was a constant trade in capturing and ransoming Christian and Muslim hostages, in which the families were active and lucrative participants. Both families made and, through military or political misfortunes, lost great wealth.
There was a constant trade in capturing and ransoming Christian and Muslim hostages, in which the families were active and lucrative participants. Both families made and, through military or political misfortunes, lost great wealth.
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This disorderly world in some ways resembles what is happening in and around the Mediterranean in our times. Sixteenth-century pirates were a constant threat to the forces of Spain, the Knights of Malta and Venice. Today we see smugglers ferrying thousands of people from the Middle East and North Africa to touch down with the bounds of the European Union.
This disorderly world in some ways resembles what is happening in and around the Mediterranean in our times. Sixteenth-century pirates were a constant threat to the forces of Spain, the Knights of Malta and Venice. Today we see smugglers ferrying thousands of people from the Middle East and North Africa to touch down with the bounds of the European Union.
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"Agents of Empire" can be read in tandem with Fernand Braudel's classic "The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II." Braudel depicted a zone in which physical facts and climate affected lives more than political or religious conflict. Noel Malcolm, through meticulous and astonishingly multilingual scholarship, shows how certain individuals could try and sometimes succeed in making a significant difference.
"Agents of Empire" can be read in tandem with Fernand Braudel's classic "The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II." Braudel depicted a zone in which physical facts and climate affected lives more than political or religious conflict. Noel Malcolm, through meticulous and astonishingly multilingual scholarship, shows how certain individuals could try and sometimes succeed in making a significant difference.
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My takeaway from Malcolm's book is that his disorderly Mediterranean world, where rules are flouted, boundaries are readily penetrated and allegiances are transitory, is similar in character today.
My takeaway from Malcolm's book is that his disorderly Mediterranean world, where rules are flouted, boundaries are readily penetrated and allegiances are transitory, is similar in character today.
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In contrast, northern Europe, after the horrifying Thirty Years' War was ended by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, was divided into relatively coherent nations, with cultures in which rules were established and mostly observed, so that commerce and industry boomed -- even during and after horrific wars from 1793-1815 and 1914-1945.
In contrast, northern Europe, after the horrifying Thirty Years' War was ended by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, was divided into relatively coherent nations, with cultures in which rules were established and mostly observed, so that commerce and industry boomed -- even during and after horrific wars from 1793-1815 and 1914-1945.
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To this model, offshore Britain and its American offshoot were a salutary variant, with their common law, religious toleration and parliamentary representation seeming to become a model for the world after the great victories of 1945 and 1989-1991.
To this model, offshore Britain and its American offshoot were a salutary variant, with their common law, religious toleration and parliamentary representation seeming to become a model for the world after the great victories of 1945 and 1989-1991.
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Now that model seems to be in danger of abandonment. The disorderly Mediterranean with its economic stagnation and rule-flouting culture seems to be infecting northern Europe as it is stormed by hundreds of thousands of refugees and Islamist terrorists with roots in the old Ottoman lands.
Now that model seems to be in danger of abandonment. The disorderly Mediterranean with its economic stagnation and rule-flouting culture seems to be infecting northern Europe as it is stormed by hundreds of thousands of refugees and Islamist terrorists with roots in the old Ottoman lands.
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Many of today's Brunis and Brutis are suffering the fates of their predecessors. And America is no longer safely offshore.
Many of today's Brunis and Brutis are suffering the fates of their predecessors. And America is no longer safely offshore.
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