Trusting Saudi Arabia

To be fair, this fellow posted his tweet on Monday, July 20.

I'll tell you what kind of Democratic Party I don't want. I don't want a Democratic Party that denies Israel's right to exist, supports Hamas and Hezbollah, questions Western values and engages in Kremlin apologia.
If my party starts hugging tankies and anti-Zionists, I am out. https://t.co/877P51Zval

— Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) July 20, 2026

Ben Rhodes probably doesn't care whether Israel comes or goes.  Melat Kiros, who defeated progressive incumbent Diana DeGette in Colorado for the Democratic nomination for US Senate, would like t see Israel evaporate. Dariza Avila Chevalier, the anti-Semitic, anti-interracial marriage, pro-Hamas Democratic nominee for the House of Representatives, would love to see both Israel and the USA destroyed.  Then there is Zohran Mandami, who on October 8, 2023 posted

I mourn the hundreds of people killed across Israel and Palestine in the last 36 hours. Netanyahu’s declaration of war, the Israeli government’s decision to cut electricity to Gaza, and Knesset members calling for another Nakba will undoubtedly lead to more violence and suffering in the days and weeks to come. The path to a just and lasting peace can only begin by ending the occupation and dismantling apartheid.

And he is the reasonable one, compared to Kiros,Chevalier, and a host of others. The day after Israel gets pummeled by terrorists who killed more than 100 people because the latter were Jewish, the man who would go on to become mayor of the largest city in the country condemns Israel. Hey, it's not Mamdani's fault those partygoers were Jewish!

The way things are going, Israel may not be around in twenty years. However, that's not because of anti-Semites of the left because, as was announced on Wdenesday

The Trump administration signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia to develop a nuclear program, even as the White House escalates its war in Iran aimed at destroying that it's nuclear capabilities.

The U.S. Department of Energy described the agreement as one that would allow Saudi Arabia to develop its civilian energy nuclear program and give U.S. companies "great access" to related commercial deals.

Few details about the arrangement, which Congress has not yet approved, have been made public. But former officials and members of the nuclear community said it is a major shift in U.S. policy and risks accelerating a nuclear arms race in an already volatile region. Here's what to know about the deal and its potential impact on the war in Iran.

The agreement may allow U.S. companies to build uranium enrichment facilities in Saudi Arabia to supply its nuclear reactors. U.S. companies would provide additional technical expertise. The deal could mean Saudi Arabia would not have to import its nuclear fuel and it could provide a pathway for it at a later date to enrich uranium on its own.

The agreement would last for 30 years. If enacted, it could make U.S. companies billions of dollars.

Enriched uranium can fuel power plants. It can also be used to make nuclear bombs. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the agreement upholds "the highest standards of nuclear safety and nonproliferation," but the deal abandons key nonproliferation benchmarks, including by limiting inspections by international nuclear experts.

Thomas Countryman, a former assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, said the deal "reverses 50 years of U.S. leadership in the global nonproliferation architecture."

Laura Kennedy, a former U.S. ambassador and acting U.S. representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned that the agreement "would set a dangerous precedent" across the region.

After Trump decided to give the Wahabbi regime in Saudi Arabia a thoroughfare to a nuclear weapon, thus gravely endangering Israel's long-term security , Wednesday brought better news as presidential presss secretary Karoline Leavitt declared "if they don't join the Abraham Accords, the deal is off."

Brainchild of the first Trump Administration, the Abraham Accords include Israel, the United Arab Emitates, and Morocco. Sudan, Kazakhstan, and Syria have expressed interest. So, too, did Saudi Arabia, at least until the Hamas-Israel war, whereupon the Kingdom decided that Israel would have to be serious at creating a Palestinian state before it would join. 

History, hopefully, won't repeat itself. But it's valuable to recall, as the Times of Israel reported last month, that

The Hamas terror group carried out its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel partly in order to thwart the Jewish state’s rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, according to seized documents.

The internal Hamas materials were published by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, a government-controlled think tank, and then aired by the Kan public broadcaster on Sunday.

In the years and months leading up to the attack, it was widely reported that the oil-rich kingdom was considering normalization with Israel, along the lines of the US-brokered Abraham Accords with other Arab states.

A Times of Israel report last year confirmed that, on the eve of the October 7 attack, Washington and Riyadh had already reached understandings regarding concessions Israel would have to make vis-à-vis the Palestinians for Riyadh to normalize relations with Jerusalem.

In a meeting held by Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip in February 2022, the Iran-backed terror group, which had long functioned as the enclave’s de facto government, decided to establish a new office, tasked with overseeing efforts to thwart normalization between Israel and its erstwhile enemies.

Hamas decided to heat up the conflict in Gaza as well as the West Bank and East Jerusalem, “in order to thwart the Saudi kingdom’s process of normalization,” according to the minutes of the meeting.

The terror group noted, as precedent for its campaign, that the Second Intifada – a deadly, years-long campaign of suicide bombings and other terror attacks in the early 2000s – was “one of the chief factors leading to the blow-up of the normalization process presented through the Arab Peace Initiative.”

In 2023, the group decided that its renewed attempt to stir disorder in the region was not bearing enough fruit. In late September, the group’s leadership held another meeting, chaired by Gaza chief – and October 7 mastermind – Yahya Sinwar….

On October 2, 2023, Sinwar told assembled leadership that, in light of the threat posed by normalization with Saudi Arabia, there was no way around what he described as “an exceptional action” by Hamas and its partners in the “Axis of Resistance,” referring to Iran and its regional proxies.

At this meeting, the Hamas leadership decided to move forward with the surprise attack on Israel.

Hamas deserves full blame for the terrorist attack of October 7, 2023. However, it would not have taken place- at least not at that time- had there not been a serious effort to bring Saudi Arabia into the Abrahma Accords. Nor would the time been ripe had not some one or ones in the Israeli government ignored the warning signals about an incipient attack from Hamas. 

Israel, and especially its Prime Minister, believe a nuclear armed Iran is a grave threat to Israel, and it probably is. However, that will probe to have been child's play- with or without the Abraham Accords- if Saudi Arabia, the largest country in the region by area, obtain weapons-grade uranium. If it begins to enrich uranium for weapons, Saudi Arabia could choose to drop out of the Abraham Accords. And irony triumphant, the threat posed by that nation would be at the initiative of Benjamin Netanyahu's bestie, one Donald J. Trump

.

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Rank Incompetence at Committing Genocide

As CNN would say, BREAKING NEWS: Israel has attacked Jordan from the air and the sea.

That's not true, of course. Nonetheless, that's what Bernie Sanders would have you believe. 

But first: second gneration British-American, Orthodox Jew and Trump supporter Alexander Shabbos Kestenbaum argues that Isael is not committing genocide because the allegation is "the whole point is to kill Palestinians."  However

- "after more than three years of fighting, Israel hasn't been able to kill more than 70,000 people," some of whom are Hamas terrorists; 

- "zero of the Palestinians in the West Bank have been touched";

- "two million Palestinian Arabs of Israel have full equal rights within Israel;";

- "the United Nations own estimates are over 1.4 million tons of food have entered Gaza since October 7, which actually exceed the pre-war daily averages," much of it hijacked by Hamas;

- the civilian to combatant casulty ratio (is) lower than any othe war fought in modern warfare";

- Israel is inoculating Gazan children against polio.

The idea that Gazans, one of the most radicalized groups of people on planet Earth, are experiencing a genocide, is detached from reality.

A mass psyop has convinced you it's true.

Figured I'd take 80 seconds to debunk it while overlooking the beautiful Tel Aviv beach! pic.twitter.com/y6oh03d1Or

— Shabbos Kestenbaum (@ShabbosK) July 20, 2026

Not only has no Palestinian in the West Bank, though the region is under Israeli occupation, "been touched."  Ramallah, according to Wikipedia, is the "financial and commercial center" of the Palestinian Authority and administrative capital of Palestine. The World Population Review estimates the population of "Palestine" to have been 5,069,692 in 2020; 5,692,790 in 2025; and 5,589,623 in 2026. The population of Palestine is increasing.  That's a heck of a bad job of genocide for any country but especially for a military power such as Israel.  A really miserable job.

Yet, at 1:36 in this video, Vermont senator Sanders asserts (emphasis his)

Israel suffered a terrible attack a number of years ago.  They had the right to defend themselves.  BUT they did not have the right to go to war against the entire Palestine population.

If Bernie Sanders mean what he says, he believes Israel has been attacking the nation of Jordan, which is approximately half ethnic Palestinian. He would be as ignorant as much of the well-meaning, ill-informed supporters at his rallies are.

However, Senator Sanders is not ignorant. He must have at least a clue of what constitutes "genocide" and that Israel's actions don't fall under that umbrella. Unfortunately, making a cogent, reasoned argument against the Netanyahu government is nothing which interests him. Chuck Schumer and Rahm Emanuel, who as with Sanders are non-young Jewish males, have done so, but Bernie Sanders cannot be bothered. 

Sanders, and others with even more hateful views toward our Mideast ally, are entitled to their viewpoint. They're entitled even to be wrong, bandying about the terms "genocide" and "Israeli apartheid," the latter smear all the rage a year or so ago. Nevertheless, the rest of us are entitled to inform them that they're ignorant, bigoted, or dishonest as the case(s) may be.

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Do It, but Do it Right

The typical daily question posed by Sirius XM and CNN guy Michael Smerconish is misleading, ambiguous, disingenous, or fails to be mutually exclusive and exhaustive. The one on Saturday did not disappoint, also because it was provocative.

The website asked "Do Democrats need a Sister Souljah break with democratic socialists?"   In short

Back in the summer of 1992, then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton criticized rapper Sister Souljah after she made offensive remarks about blacks killing whites instead of each other. The moment quickly entered the political lexicon as shorthand for a politician rebuking an extremist in his or her base in order to demonstrate to independents that they are not beholden to the party’s core special interests.

However, the there are two problems with the question: They are what "need" is and whether we're talking long-term or short-term; and on what issues the break would be. Those who themselves identify, or whom otheres identify, as democratic socialists break with mainstream Democrats on both economic issues, such as health care and the role of government in the private sector, and on Israel.

If someone is to do to democratic socialists what Bill Clinton did to Sister Souljah, it would have to be someone well respected across the Party. Neither Democrati leader- Hakeem Jeffries or Chuck Schumer- has that credibility, especially since the Platner disaster in Maine, where party leadership cleared the field to for Governor Janet Mills to run against the upstart. Mills ran a disinterested campaign, Platner was easily nominated, and his campaign proceeded to blow up.

The two most obvious candidates to take on this task have the same surname. However, Michelle Obama generally has been loathe to get intimately involved in politics, and her husband knows that he would be staking his reputation, possibly incurring a backlash, only for the benefit of his Party. Were he to take such a risk, he wouldn't be "Barack Obama." 

Of course, there is the matter of on what basis to condemn these controversial, divisive extremists. It could be on a) their embrace of economic populism; b) their embrace of "Palestine" and denunciation of Israel, or c) both.

Van Jones, with whom I've often disagreed, evidently would go with (b). Whatever the political wisdom- and that's very difficult to predict- the policy wisdom is right on target. In the tweet/video below, he points out

...if everybody could see a doctor when they got sick, get a good, free education and breathe clean air — would that represent progress? Yes. Those are PROGRESSIVE ideas.

They are NOT the same thing. And the difference matters.

Some defend the far left by claiming they only want Nordic-style social democracy. If that were true, I might applaud them. I want those policies, too! But what does universal healthcare have to do with Hamas? With abolishing all law enforcement? With erasing all borders? With treating every wealthy person as a villain? Ideas matter. And these are terrible ideas.

I'm tired of being told that, to be a progressive, I now must swear allegiance to crazy ideas.

I'm a strong Democrat, with a winning bipartisan track record. I'm rooted in progressive ideals and policies: criminal justice reform, Green New Deal, Medicare for All, free education,… pic.twitter.com/foPRXip7fb

— Van Jones (@VanJones68) July 18, 2026

That should get the ball rolling. However, it might be even better to distinguish between the haters of Israel who understand that the Democratic Party is necessary to advance progressive ideas and the haters who do not. 

The New York Times asked New York City mayor Zohran Mamdan if there is room in the Party for AIPAC and replied "If they are Democrats and they run as Democrats and they win as Democrats, then they should be part of the Democratic Party."  Asked on CNN about Mamdani's response, Abdul el-Sayed, running against Haley Stevens for the Democratic nomination for US Senate stated "I want our tax dollars spent in Michigan on our schools and on our health care. And the idea that somebody wants to vote to send that money away, to me, just seems -- seems to be an anathema."

You read that correctly. In el-Sayed's view, Israel is committing genocide and AIPAC is supporting that and responsible for failing schools and inadequate health care in Michigan. He also was joined on the campaign trail by the virulent American-hating anti-Semite Hasan Piker. A thought: people so blind with bigotry that they're unable to talk about the daily needs of Michigander cannot be reasoned with.

Times change, issues change, personalities are different, and 2026 is not 1992. It's complicated. Any effort to denounce individuals or groups which believe Israel is the devil incarnate would be perilous. But if, as appears likely, there must be a reckoning. Van Jones recognizes the side that must be taken.. 

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Giving Trump the Benefit of the Doubt

I guess it depends on the meaning of "pretty well".

BREAKING 🚨 Bill Maher: “We did the move in Venezuela, which that one you have to say worked pretty well.”

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA): “Yeah, well remember people lost their sh*t over Venezuela. Nobody talks about Venezuela anymore... We’re not talking about Gaza anymore, and… pic.twitter.com/i7oUOvAaI0

— Dr Charlie Ward (@DrcharlieWardQ) July 17, 2026

Nicholas Maduro was snatched from Caracas on January 3 and brought to Washington, D.C. to be prosecuted for being a "narco trafficker." He was replaced, as required by constitution in Venezuela and Donlad Trump, by Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who like Maduro has been a part of the Chavista regime, which has ruled the country for over a quarter century. The ousted president

was not the head of a drug trafficking organization, but rather the facilitator and protector of a corruption system that allowed generals and senior political figures to profit from the drug trade. That system – the Chavista regime – remains in place, although the architect of the hybrid criminal governance model is now on trial in New York.

Rodríguez, though outside the praetorian core of the Chavista regime and not facing any US indictments, is believed to have been involved in criminal activity, corruption, and even drug trafficking. The criminal dimension of the tightrope she is walking involves preventing public scandals of corruption and drug trafficking that might provoke further US intervention, while still allowing the flow of criminal rents to regime figures to preserve loyalty. 

That doesn't sound like "pretty well."  On a positive note, the Trump Administration has been assisting disaster relief in Venenzuela. However

David Smilde, a Venezuela researcher at Tulane University, said the earthquake has exposed a deeper weakness in the Venezuelan state.

“They’ve had the capacity to repress people and jail people,” Smilde said, “but they don’t seem to be in a position to offer even some of the most basic elements of disaster relief."

The military is one of the most powerful and well-funded parts of the Venezuelan state. But Smilde added that it has been shaped less around emergency response than around regime survival.....

Smilde said Rodríguez’s government moved quickly at first — declaring a state of emergency, communicating with allies and accepting aid offers from different countries, including former political foes. But what came after, he said, revealed a government with very little capacity to deliver basic disaster relief.

I don't attribute the view of Maher and Fetterman that things have worked out well in Venezuela to anything but ignorance.  There has been little attention paid to that nation since Maduro was arrested in what could be considered a law enforcement operation rather than an intervention in a foreign, sovereign state. No American life was lost and in our country, we would applaud anything the military does as long as Americans aren't killed.

But there is a lesson here. Maher referred to the $330 million for Donald's new ballroom as "couch money" and Fetterman quipped "if he came out for ice cream and lazy Sundays, we would f*ckin' hate it."  The Senator has stated "right now, our party is governed by the TDS (i.e., Trump Derangement Syndrome) and now it's made it virtually impossible without being punished as a Democrat to agree something's good, or I agree with the other side."

The Venezuelan operation, quick and dirty, painless and innocuous, was the foreign policy equivalent of ice cream and lazy Sundays, politically incorrect to question. Yet, it accomplished nothing of value and helped reinforce our nation's reputation as a malign bully.  It stands as an example of how the default position for a Trump action should be that it is self-serving and likely to harm ourselves and others. 

We need to replace  Trump Derangement Syndrome with Trump Is Deranged Syndrome.

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Now What?

So what are you going to do about it, big guy? DW, a "German state-funded television network and public service international broadcaster funded" by the federal govenment notes

US President Donald Trump delivered a primetime speech on Thursday assailing the country's voting system and making several unverified claims about the electoral process.

He touted new declassified evidence about alleged Chinese interference in the 2020 election, dredged up an old case in Michigan about voter fraud and repeated a campaign trail favorite: that noncitizens are illegally registered to vote.

The vast majority of it was untrue, misleading, or distorted again but this is Donald Trump, thus not unexpected.  Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night shall stay the President from strenuously trying to pull the wool over the eyes of American citizens. One of his more interesting claims was

Raw intelligence obtained by the FBI in 2020, yet buried by rogue bureaucrats, stated that China's activities even included an attempt to manufacture illegal ballots for Joe Biden. Documents show that during this period, dozens of significant CIA and NSA reports about China's election targeting were kept out of the presidential briefing.

These were briefings I would get almost every day; everything was kept out that was of importance. One email among intelligence analysts admitted that they had, quote, deliberately massaged the presidential daily briefing to withhold information regarding Chinese activities related to the election. Another official inside the FBI wrote that she was running, quote, a shadow government, unquote, to keep intelligence about China's election meddling from becoming known and to keep it away from the honorable press.

In an annotated transcript of the President's speech, Zachary B. Wolf and Annette Choi of CNN note "unverified intelligence is frequently incorrect" and "there's no evidence that China actually sought to manufacture ballots."

Moreover, "Trump is essentially alleging a coverup here. It will be interesting to see how or whether the administration pursues this inside the intelligence community."

The Administration is seeking indictments against six members of Congress, each of them "traitors to our Country," according to President Trump.  Reuters reported last November- a mere ten months into his second term

At least 470 people, organizations and institutions have been targeted for retribution since Trump took office – an average of more than one a day. Some were singled out for punishment; others swept up in broader purges of perceived enemies. The count excludes foreign individuals, institutions and governments, as well as federal employees dismissed as part of force reductions.

Promptly after Trump took office last year, at least a dozen members of the Justice Department who had worked on criminal prosecution of Donald were fired. Kash Patel, now the FBI director, took aim at the agency in a 2023 book. He named sixty individuals allegedly a part of an "Executive Branch deep state," and at least 17 have faced political retribution, fired and/or stripped of their security clearance. 

And now, the President is alleging a conspiracy right under his nose. Intelligence analysts who had "deliberately massaged the presidential daily briefing to withhold information regarding Chinese activities related to the (2020) election."  And there was an FBI official he claims admitted to "a shadow government" to keep intelligence about China's election meddling from becoming known and to keep it" hidden.

"It will be interesting," the CNN reporters write, "to see how or whether the administration pursues this." Interesting, too, it will be to see what the President drops on China after his strenuous, albeit dishonest, effort to convince Americans that mainland China has been "meddling" in our elections.

President Trump could re-impose tariffs on China. That would prompt retaliation and might not be beneficial- but when has that deterred Donald?

Chinese president Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit the White House on September 24. However, after they spoke at Xi's walled compound in May, Trump declared the two had "become really a friend"- and why interfere with such a lovely frienship?

The President also could encourage fellow Republicans to support the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) Online Act, sponsored by senators Scott (R-FL) and Baldwin (D-Wis), which would "ensure that all goods sold online list their country of origin."  This bill has the advantage that it wouldn't be (and wouldn't seem to be) a direct attack on China, but would remind consumers that many of our goods are manufactured there, and would steer a few buyers away from those and toward others.

Odds are that the President won't do any of this. In early 2025, then-DNI director Tulsi Gabbard reduced the Foreign Malign Influence Center, "the last U.S. federal government organ dedicated to tracking and analyzing State-sponsored efforts to interfere in U.S. institution, elections, and society." Additionally, the Adminstration "shut down related units at the State Department, Departmentof Homeland Security, FBI, and Department of Justice."

To be generous: Donald Trump is not at all interested in election security. To be realistic: Trump prefers to take the cops off the beat to encourage foreign interference in elections, as one leg in the stool to convince Americans that any election lost by Republicans is rigged. His speech of July 16 was a major part of that effort, but it's likely that far worse is yet to come.

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Eyes Closed Shut

Hey, everyone! You, too, can be as stupid as a bedpost and be a multi-millionaie many times over.

In the video attached to the tweet below, Bill Maher and Stephen A. Smith discuss how Donald J. Trump isn't really such a bad guy. Maher remarks   "... And also had some genuine black friends.  And black folks who like him.  Because it's complicated. Life is complicated." 

When one tries to tell us that evidence of friendship with black people proves that someone is not racist, one is very ignorant. The "some of his best freinds are colored" of Maher devolves into the "he likes sports, so he's not racist" of Smith. The latter responds to the host by stating

Trump and I werr friendly before he ran for President. He used to have me at boxing matches, particularly during the Tyson fights at Trump casinos. He would be at the Knicks game and stuff like  that.

O.K., O.K. If you like sports, you can't be racist. Got it. Smith contined

And if we were being totally  honest, all the brothers found him to be cool. They found  him to be very cool. So he knew his sports, alright, says what he feels. He bucked the establishment, which we loved, and we gravitated to that.

Oh, he knew his sports, alright.  In the early '80s, the United States FootballLeague had serious potential. Then when

Trump purchased the New Jersey Generals in 1984, it initially seemed like a typical vanity purchase by a wealthy businessman. He immediately made waves, signing Walker to a then-astronomical contract and filling sports pages with bold predictions.

But Trump had a problem: he didn’t actually want a spring football team. He wanted what he’d been denied multiple times—an NFL franchise. The NFL’s old-guard owners had repeatedly rejected his attempts to join their exclusive club, and that rejection gnawed at him.

So Trump developed a different strategy. If he couldn’t join the NFL, maybe he could force them to let him in....

His plan was audacious and, in hindsight, catastrophically flawed. He would push the USFL to abandon its successful spring schedule and move to the fall, directly challenging the NFL. The collision would either force a merger (giving Trump his NFL team) or create enough chaos that the NFL would buy out USFL franchises (also giving Trump his NFL team).

Most of the owners, who wisely were loathe to go up directly against the powerful NFL, resisted. However

Trump was persuasive and relentless. He painted a vision of major network television deals and packed stadiums. He convinced enough owners that the league voted to move to fall starting in 1986.

It was a decision that would kill the league.

But, hey, he liked the sports and "bucked the establishment," so all is cool.  Maher then remarks

And also of a cerrtain age, and there's like, a certain understanding that men- white men of that age, they're not- they're going to be a little grandpa. We don't say that anymore but was he really in his heart hateful? I don't think his motivation is "I don't like black people." His motivation is everybody must love me.

Well, yes, we all understand that Donald's concern never has been for others but for himself, and at the expense of others, which Trump views as proof that he is benefitting.  Donald has a sort of perverse appeal, yet as this period's most common cliche has it, "two things can be true at once."

MUST SEE 🚨: Stephen A. Smith and Bill Maher disputed the notion that Trump is a "terrible racist."

Smith: "If we’re being totally honest, all the brothers found him to be cool. They found him to be very cool. So, let’s be clear. Because he knew his sports, all right? He would… pic.twitter.com/kNCzLhTVNk

— Dr Charlie Ward (@DrcharlieWardQ) July 15, 2026

This is Donald J. Trump, raised in Queens, New York City, and heir to $413 million. He has bragged that he graduated first in his class at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and, though a lie, Trump did graduate from the prestigious Philadelphia institution.  This was no Roscoe P. Coltrane of Hazzard County, Kentucky or soemone's uneducated grandpa. Not everyone gets to experience an exceedingly privileged, urban background and exhibit behavior excused as "grandpa."

Donald has done everything he could for several years now to convince us that he is a racist, short of declaring "I am a racist," a declaration which thus far has proven a bridge too far even for him.  He did, however, channel the "blood poisoning" of Adolph Hitler's "Mein Kampf," when in an interview in December of 2023 he remarked of immigrants crossing our southern border 

Nobody has any idea where these people are comming from. And we know they come from prisons. We know they come from mental institutions and centters, islands we know they're terrorists. Nobody has ever seen anything like we're witnessing right now. It is a ver sad thing for our country. It's poisoning he blood of our country. It's so bad and people are coming in with disease, people are coming in with- with every posssible thing that you can have.

"Poisoning the blood of our country" is textbook racism, not even reducible to a "joke" the President claims to have made when he's called on something he has said. We learned years ago that "My New Order," a collection of speeches of the Third Reich's Strongman, was one of Trump's prize possessions. And more recently, when Haberman and Swan noted that the President compares himself to Mao,Stalin, Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan and, of course, Hitler. 

Combine all of the above with the President restoring Confederate names to nine military bases and his Administration removing slavery exhibits from Indepence Hall in Philadelphia and other efforts to erase black history, and the pattern is clear. The signs are flashing red. It's not only their problem, but our problem also, that individuals such as Bill Maher and Stephen A. Smith are color blind.

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A Foreign Policy Legacy

Jews, apparently in honor of Proverbs 10:7, say "may his memory be a blessing."  Christians often say "thoughts and prayers" etc.  The former being more sincere, I'll go with the former in regard to Lindsey Graham. Rest in peace, Senator.

But to the substance of the matter.  The South Carolina senator was a fierce advocate of  regime change in Tehran and was very effective in persuading President Trump to start the current war.  Moreover, as  Vivian Salama of The Atlantic wrote on July 13

Once the war began, he accused America’s European allies of expecting U.S. leadership without assuming enough risk themselves, a sentiment the president shared. After speaking with Trump about what Graham described as “our European allies’ unwillingness to provide assets to keep the Strait of Hormuz functioning,” Graham said on X in March that he had “never heard him so angry in my life.”

“The repercussions of providing little assistance to keep the Strait of Hormuz functioning are going to be wide and deep for Europe and America,” he added in that post. “I consider myself very forward-leaning on supporting alliances, however at a time of real testing like this, it makes me second guess the value of these alliances. I am certain I am not the only senator who feels this way.”

Steve Schmidt recognized the Senator found his "need for 'relevance'" as "a cast member in the most malignant reality show ever made." So as President Trump continued to criticize NATO, Graham began second-guessing the alliance. In an opinion piece appearing in The Washington Post, Fareed Zakaria argued that the President has "set off a chain reaction" by successfully leaning on our European allies to ramp up their defense spending. He notes

America’s dominance within NATO has given Washington enormous advantages. The U.S. has more than 30 military bases across Europe, and these have allowed it to project power not just in Europe but in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. U.S. operations in the Middle East, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and more recently with Iran, have depended heavily on access, basing and overflight rights in Europe. Often NATO countries have allowed the U.S. to use their facilities even when they disagreed with the war being waged. But as Europeans see that America is unreliable or even hostile, they will feel less need to accommodate Washington.

Zakaria explains that "Europe may refuse" if "Washington wants to relax pressure on Moscow in a bargain with" Putin or "hesitatie" if the President "wants to intensify pressure on Iran or China." And

For American defense companies, this could be a major loss. For American strategy, it could be larger still. Weapons sales are not just commercial transactions. They create habits of cooperation and shared strategy.

There is a final danger. We speak easily of “Europe” spending more, but defense budgets are still national. And most European governments are broke. As analyst Liana Fix notes in Foreign Affairs, the country with the greatest capacity to spend is Germany. And it is now beginning to do so on a remarkable scale.

This is necessary. Germany has been too passive for too long. It is a liberal democracy deeply embedded in Europe, and there is no reason to fear some aggressive impulse hiding in its political DNA. But size and power matter in international politics. A Germany that spends vastly more than its neighbors will inevitably create anxiety in France, Poland and the smaller countries around it.

The genius of America’s post-1945 strategy was that it solved this problem. It made it unnecessary for European countries to think and act like traditional great powers. Under the U.S. umbrella, France and Germany did not have to balance each other. The U.S. damped down the intra-European rivalries that had produced centuries of catastrophic war. It created a system that was stable, peaceful and pro-American.

Lindsey Graham supported Ukraine and Israel and was an unabashed "hawk" in an age, and with a President, which is not clearly defined by "hawk" vs. "dove."  The foundation of President Trump's foreign policy is not internationalism or isolationism. It is unilateralsim and a hostility toward nations whose leaders Trump is not personally fond of.  Lindsey Graham never really understood that, or is appetite for genuflecting to power was too much to overcome.

   

 

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Where 47 Equals 0

If this is the road Scott Jennings wants to go down, I'm all in. And so it was that

A fiery CNN panel discussion Thursday night turned into a full-blown MAGA-on-MAGA collision when Jennings and former Trump White House aide Caroline Sunshine squared off over Iran, military intervention, and whether America has effectively been in conflict with the Islamic Republic since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

The clash occurred during a debate on CNN’s “NewsNight with Abby Phillip” over whether Congress should impose additional restrictions on President Trump’s authority to conduct military operations against Iran.

Jennings, who has emerged as one of the most aggressive defenders of Trump’s recent military posture toward Tehran, argued that America cannot afford to view Iran through the lens of diplomacy alone.

“We can’t be all rainbows and unicorns with the Iranians,” Jennings said before making the comment that ignited the segment.

“They’ve been at war with us for 47 years. Forty-seven years!”

Sunshine immediately challenged the framing.

“Forty-seven years? Why did I learn about… I’m sorry, the first time I’ve heard about the 47-year Iran war was like this year,” she replied. “We don’t teach about the 47-year war with Iran in school.”

Jennings responded with a jab that quickly went viral.

“I’m sorry you don’t read much. Did you just start following the news this year?”

Evidently not, because it has been only since President Donald Trump started this war that we have heard this "at war with us for 47 years" fabrication.  Since then, however, we have heard it from many supporters of the regime. Continuing

From there, things only escalated.

Sunshine argued that describing decades of hostility with Iran as a continuous war diminishes actual military conflicts involving American troops.

“We don’t teach about the 47-year war with Iran in school. Like, it’s insulting to actual conflicts that we’ve been involved in,” she said.

And, as Sunshine probably meant, insulting to the men and women, living and dead, involved in those actual conflicts. Nonetheless

Jennings fired back.

“It’s insulting to your intelligence that you have no idea what the Iranians have done.”

The exchange exposed a growing divide inside the broader America First movement over foreign policy, particularly as President Trump intensifies pressure on Tehran following renewed attacks on commercial shipping and escalating threats from Iranian leaders.

While Jennings argued that Iran has spent decades killing Americans through proxy forces, attacking U.S. allies, sponsoring terrorism, and seeking nuclear capabilities, Sunshine questioned whether the current strategy risks drawing America into another prolonged Middle East conflict.

“How many Americans have they killed on U.S. soil in the 47 years we’ve been in the war?” she asked.

Jennings responded that Iran-backed activities have killed and maimed thousands of Americans over the years.

“They’ve killed thousands of Americans — they have maimed American soldiers,” he said.

O.K., now Jennings has approached the realm of reality, though his numbers still are way off. Thousands are a lot more than hundreds and even if including terrorist groups Iran directly or indirectly supported, the figure is well inflated. 

In June, 2025, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a neoconservative organization which has supported the current war against Iran, compiled a list of "Iranian and Iranian-Backed Attacks Against Americans" since November, 1979, when 66 Americans were taken hostage and held at the American embassy in Iran. (The word "Backed" is used very loosely.)

In all, 363 Americans, or 363 too many, were killed between 9/79 and 6/25, inclusive. From there (or something less comprehensive and accurate), Jennings gets his "thousands." The number does not include September 11, 2001, about which the Foundation notes

While the 9/11 Commission Report concludes that Iran had no foreknowledge of al Qaeda’s attacks on the World Trade Center, the report indicates that Tehran facilitated the travel of some of the terrorists. “In sum,” the report notes, “there is strong evidence that Iran facilitated the transit of al Qaeda members into and out of Afghanistan before 9/11, and that some of these were future 9/11 hijackers.”

Strong evidence. Facilitated. Transit. Into and out of Afghanistan (not the USA). Some of these. Compare that to another Middle East nation, which has been the subject of ongoing litigation by 9/11 fmilies. One individual has pointed out "There still remain all of these loose ends and paths that lead back to Saudi Arabia." Nonetheless, the centerpiece of President Trump's relationship with the Kingdom is "investments from, partnerships with, and high-value U.S. exports." Which is to say: the deaths of Americans in years past at the hands of a foreign nation or its proxies has nothing to do with Donald Trump's policy in the region.

Off-topic of this post but presented for full context

The most revealing moment may have come later in the exchange when Sunshine questioned both the costs and end goals of the administration’s approach.

“If we’re going to keep going, what’s your number? How many U.S. troops are you willing to expend to achieve your objectives and what amount of money?” she asked.

Jennings was unmoved.

“What amount of money am I willing to spend to keep the American people safe from the worst regime in the world? A fair amount.”

The debate has been building on the right for months.

One faction believes Iran’s rulers have spent nearly five decades waging a shadow war against America through terrorism, proxy militias, hostage-taking, attacks on shipping lanes, and threats against U.S. leaders. Another faction remains deeply skeptical of any policy that could lead to an open-ended military commitment overseas, even under a Republican president.

Jennings: Iran has been at war with us for 47 years.

Sunshine: The first time I've ever heard about the 47 year Iran war was like this year. pic.twitter.com/fo6ahm1sWV

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 10, 2026

If we are to believe that "they've been at war with us for 47 years," then in all fairness, Jennings should be charging a prominent American with treason for actions with repercussions in the years since. An 
open letter from 47 Republican senators in March, 2015 "marked anusually public and aggressive attempt to undermine" President Obama and other world powers "to limit Iran's nuclear programs." 

Believed to be the author, Arkansas' Tom Cotton warned of "two features of our Constitution- the power to make binding international agreements and the different charcter of federal offices- which you should seriously consider as negotiations progress." He said that these two meant

that we will consider any agreement regrding your nuclear weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei. The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of  a pen and futrue Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.

Cotton et al. were suggesting that Tehran shun the offer from the duly-elected president of the USA and five other world leaders. Bharging the Senators with treason would have been politically explosive and extremely divisive. However, the best legal reason not to do so would have been that a charge of treason would have been constitutionally dubious because this country was not at war with Iran.

Nor are we now at war with Iran- not now, not anytime in the past 47 years. Claiming that Iran has been at war with the USA for nearly the past half-century repesents an effort to convince voters that drastic action needed to be taken against the Mideast nation and that only President Trump had the courage and wisdom to do so, though it has made the region far more dangerous. It is an exercise in trying to make chicken salad from chicken-  well, you know.

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Good Work if You Can Get It

Have we gone blind?  Consider that

Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr., who represents New Jersey’s 7th District, voted in favor of President Trump’s immigration crackdown on March 5, but disappeared thereafter for almost four months.

During his absence, a spokesman said more than once that the Congressman was looking forward to getting back to work, but never offered an explanation for his absence or specified a return date.

Kean missed 140 votes before his return to Congress on June 30, when he announced during a short speech on the House floor that he was being treated for depression. After the speech, he declined to answer questions about why he vanished quietly, but said he is a private person. He also declined to discuss details about his treatment and hospital stay or why his expected return date kept changing.

(This is Kean's modus operandi, the video below from last September.)

 

I was born in July, but I wasn't born yesterday.  Kean missed 140 votes before his return to Congress.... Meanwhile, his "social media accounts continued to post in the first person" and he "digitally signed congressional disclosure documents about his stock trades."

Moreover, Kean has been able to maintain his modesty, boasting in his speech "asking for help is not a weakness. It is a strength."

Yet, we do not know that he asked for help. He entered a hospital, he claims, but doesn't say which hospital, for how long, or what form his "depression" took. (Have you ever not been depressed? If not, enjoy the extraorinarily exclusive club to which you belong.)

And there is something else we don't know. Included in those 140 votes were controversial votes on....?

We don't know because no one in the media has bothered to list those votes. That's because no one in the Democratic Party has bothered to raise the issue, notwithstanding that just as Kean returned to Congress, on the last day of June

According to an invitation shared with POLITICO, a reception in support of Kean, a top Democratic target this fall, has been scheduled for the evening of June 30. Few other details are known about the fundraiser; Kean’s spokespeople declined to comment, though they did not deny the event’s existence.

Kean also has at least four more fundraisers scheduled for later in the summer and fall, according to a schedule reviewed by POLITICO. That’s far from abnormal for a politician in a competitive race, but in the context of Kean’s lengthy absence, it’s an indication that the congressmember is indeed fully committed to his reelection campaign, as he’s repeatedly asserted.

In only a slight exaggeration, timing, it is said, is everything. Knowing when to go away and when to return can be key.

He is far more committed, evidenly, to his reelection campaign than he is to recovery from whatever depression he may be suffering from. And this is not trivial because the GOP controls the House of Representatives 219-212 with four vacancies, and Democrats hopeful about a majority following the November elections. New Jersey's 7th District is a swing district, one in which independent-minded voters would be prone to support a candidate who would not vote faithfully for President Trump's agenda, as does the incumbent. With Kean's extended absence, problem solved- votes were not cast.

Is he pulling a con? We don't know precisely because few details have been given. It has frozen Democrats in their tracks because they are afraid of the blowback if anyone even questions someone claiming to have an illness, which "depression" is reputed to be. 

It has not occurred to Democrats that voters would not be as tolerant of a GOP candidate who misses months of work, with no explanation at the time, as they themselves are. Would your job be waiting for you if you stayed away for four monts without telling anyone? But, no, we won't hear that- and Democrats will go on not understanding why they're considered "elitist".

Maine senatorial candidate or former candidate Graham Platner must be green with envy. He could have admitted having made mistakes and copped to being an alcoholic. But, no, he had to deny committing heinous acts to the disbelief of most voters.  Take it from Representative Kean: go with depression, alcoholism, anything which can be considered a disease, and let your political troubles melt away.

In only a slight exaggeration, timing, it is said, is everything. Knowing when to go away and when to return can be key. Privileged, with a sense of entitlement. That characterizes Tom Kean Jr., and New Jersey Democrats should find a way to make them define the congressman..

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Oh, But Platner!

Do you really want to go there, Scott Jennings?

NAILED IT: Scott Jennings: “[Graham Platner] was vetted. People knew all these things and a whole bunch of Democrats in Maine showed up and voted for him anyway. And a bunch of [people] from around the country sent him money anyway… What changed? Why are you bailing on Graham… pic.twitter.com/ufml9nRrIn

— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) July 7, 2026

A year ago, Illinois' senior US Senator wrote letters pertaining to the Epstein files to the FBI and the Justice Department in which

Durbin said his office had learned that after that, the “FBI was pressured to put approximately 1,000 personnel in its Information Management Division … on 24-hour shifts to review approximately 100,000 Epstein-related records in order to produce more documents that could then be released on an arbitrarily short deadline.”

“This effort, which reportedly took place from March 14 through the end of March, was haphazardly supplemented by hundreds of FBI New York Field Office personnel, many of whom lacked the expertise to identify statutorily-protected information regarding child victims and child witnesses or properly handle FOIA requests,” the letter said.

“My office was told that these personnel were instructed to ‘flag’ any records in which President Trump was mentioned.”

Well, of course, they were. Well before Trump was revealed to be Jeffrey Epstein's best friend, there were numerous incidents dating to 1985 in which Donald was accused of sexual misconduct.  In one of these instances, a civil court jury in the Southern District of New York in May of 2013 found Mr. Trump liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll many years earlier and for recently defaming her. He was found not liable for rape but presiding judge Lewis Kaplan

later clarified what the “not rape” finding actually meant. In denying Trump’s motion for a new trial, Kaplan wrote that the jury had “implicitly found that Mr. Trump deliberately and forcibly penetrated Ms. Carroll’s vagina with his fingers” — conduct that most people would understand as rape, even though it fell outside the narrow New York criminal statute requiring penile penetration.

Not surprising. Trump had previously inadvertently tipped us off to his modus operandi. The Access Hollywood video from 2005 had Donald bragging

I'm automatically attracted to beautiful women- I just start kissing them, it's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait.And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything (including) grab 'em by the p_ _ _ _."

Trump's sexually aberrant behavior is far more extensive and spans far more years. And notably- also in contrast to Platner- it includes a criminal conviction, in which Donald

was found guilty on 34 felony counts after prosecutors alleged that he engaged in a "scheme" to boost his chances during the 2016 presidential election through a series of hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, and then falsified New York business records to cover up that alleged criminal conduct.

That's our President! That's the guy Scott Jennings continually and consistently defends on CNN. It's the fellow who has been nominated by Jennings' party three times- not for US Senator from New York or Maine or anywhere else- but for President of the United States of America.

It's too easy to characterize Jennings as a bigot. Something larger is going on here. President Trump has reposted and promoted an Untruth Social post in which the tweeter approvingly compares the President to Alexander the Great, the Caesars, Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, Tamburlaine, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Hitler, Mao, and Stalin.

Trump, a longtime sexual predator and arguably pervert, is a "colossus in the Republican Party" who has "exercised total command of his party," as Jonathan Swan puts it.There is a Democratic Party which at this moment is actively trying to push a bad guy out of a Senate race, which will be a successful effort. And there is a Republican Party which has pulled a very bad guy twice into the presidency and given him the loyalty few of them would give Jesus Christ.

 

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Worthless Poll

There's something happening here. But what it is ain't exactly clear, wrote Stephen Stills in 1966.

Joe Walsh, former GOP member of the House of Representatives who has since become a Democrat, believes he knows what's happening here.

Hey Democrats, this isn’t good. I love this country, and I’m super proud to be an American, no matter who’s in the White House. I’m proud to be an American even tho we have a fascist in the White House. Hey Dems, if you wanna win, you better stop this unpatriotic shit. Now.👇 pic.twitter.com/d7aeVWekzA

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) July 5, 2026

It's clear only that Republicans feel more of what they believe is "pride" than do Democrats. It's a little difficult to understand when Republicans are led by, and idolize, a guy who in the first minutes of his first presidential term, targeted "American carnage" and whose words since reflect that view of this country. America as "rigged, corrupt, and evil" (10/22) and its people as "bloated, fat, and disgusting" (2/25).  In between, presidential candidate Trump

publicly urged Republicans to oppose a bipartisan border and immigration bill in early 2024, framing its passage as a political win for Democrats and inviting blame if it failed; multiple contemporaneous reports cite his speeches and social‑media posts urging GOP lawmakers to reject the deal […

News reporting from February 2024 documents that Mr. Trump used public remarks and social posts to tell Republicans not to support the bipartisan border bill, describing the legislation as a “great gift to the Democrats” and a “Death Wish for The Republican Party,” and urging GOP senators to oppose it so he could run on immigration in 2024, which led to Republican opposition and the bill’s collapse. These accounts record both direct public statements—remarks at rallies and posts on his platform—and the observed voting behavior of GOP lawmakers who rejected the measure after his pronouncements. The contemporaneous narrative frames the instruction as strategically motivated: Trump presented opposition to the bill as a campaign asset designed to keep border policy a central 2024 talking point, and he later publicly celebrated the bill’s failure, saying “I think it’s dead!”. The coverage treats his comments as influential on legislative outcomes, citing both public appeals and reported private directives that aligned GOP votes with his position.

      

Donald believed that President Biden's bill would help secure the border, hence national security. Nonetheless, for political advantage, he urged GOP members of Congress to oppose the legislation, thus dooming it.

Just kidding- the idea that it would help the USA was a bonus, the cherry on top.  Democrats and the media pretend that the one issue which doomed Kamala Harris was inflation, yet immigration- Biden's inability or unwillingness to seal the border- played roughly an equal role.

Democrats, for whatever reason(s), have chosen for years to ignore Donald Trump's evident disdain for this nation, and the media therefore has, also.  Casting Democrats as the doom and gloom party and Republicans as the party of patriots is a long and fruitful tactic of the GOP, from at least the "Democrats always blame America first" of 1984.

So in June someone at Gallup must have come up with the idea of asking respondents whether they are "extremely" or "very" "proud to be an American". The polling organizatio then summarized the results as "Democrat's Pride Swings with the President- Republicans' Doesn't."

The results, however, swing with how the respondents characterize "proud" because Gallup chose not to define or clarify the term.  Being proud is to have pride, "a feeling of pleasure and satisfactaction that you get because you or people connected with you have done or got something good."

So, this: Republicans may typically be proud of their country because they believe that they themselves (or their children or parents) are responsible for the greatness of the country. Democrats may- and probably- more often attribute the country's greatness to others- soldiers, health care or day careworkers, scientists or engineers doing important work for the nation, or others acting in the public interest. 

That's only speculation, of course, but reasonable, and more than Gallup chose to do. Similarly, the latter could have followed up with the obvious question as to what makes the individual extremely or very proud to be an American. In December, 2024 72% of Republicans supported President-elect Trump "pardoning those who forced their way into the Capitol," an attempted coup. That could have been a clue. 

The reasons individuals would have cited probably would have been enlightening. At the Great American State Fair celebration of King Donald in Washington, D.C.  

Crowds were building in the area several hours before the evacuation. Tina Hale, 58, of Cohoes, New York, watched three of her grandchildren children dip their hands into a pool of water near a museum. Hale pointed toward the sky and urged them to look up as three military jets roared above the crowd.

"If that doesn't make you proud to be an American," she said.

Kaboom! There you have it. Proud to be an American because we're the biggest, baddest badasses on the block. No one going to mess with us! And she speaks for a lot of Republicans. 

And many of them answered that poll, without Gallup asking what it means to be proud of were  Steve Stills understood what Gallup, Joe Walsh, or the Republicans exploiting the survey results don't: what it is ain't exactly clear. 

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It Exists

Let me help you, Abdul el-Sayed. The answer is "yes." As the video below shows, the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for the US Senate in Michigan, Abdul el-Sayed is confronted with a simple question. CNN's Kasie Hunt asks "Do you believe Israel have a right to exist?" El-Sayed responds

Now the question about a right to exist is interesting because nobody's ever asked me whether or not I believe Palestine has a right to exist. Israel exists. The question is whether or not we want a politics where our money is sent over to Israel to do genocide and apartheid, instead of investing in our own kids.

Hunt then properly responds "you say it exists. But does it have a right to?"  The guest replies

I didn't say that. I just said the question of Israel's existence is not a question. I'm not going to play the gotcha game about whether or not it has a right to exist.

The United Nations Resolution 181 in 1947 that established the nation of Israel. It doesn't seem as if asking whether that country exists is a "gotcha game."  El-Sayed then adds "the question is ultimately whether or not we want a politics that dignifies-

Realizing that the candidate is avoiding the question, Hunt wisely cuts him off, noting "you're not going to play the gotcha game but you're not going to say you think Israel has a right to exist." He replies"the question, Katie, we all ought to ask is does everybody have equal rights to self-determination?"

Hunt: Do you believe Israel has a right to exist?

El-Sayed: Now the question about a right to exist is interesting because nobody's ever asked me whether or not I believe Palestine has a right to exist. Israel exists. The question is whether or not we want a politics where our… pic.twitter.com/Utr3kRQKJd

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 2, 2026

Well, no, that isn't the question he should have been asked because we know that he believes there should be a Palestinian state and wants to end all offensive and defensive aid to Israel. And he never misses an opportunity, even when there is no opportunity, to attack AIPAC, as he did in this interview when he stated "AIPAC has become a big issue in this election because "AIPAC has already spent $30 million in this race."

Those numbers are very likely grossly inflated because on June 9, we learned

According to campaign filings, the United Democracy Project (UDP), the super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), has reserved approximately $2.33 million in television and digital advertising across Michigan to boost Stevens' Senate campaign.

Relatively little is said about donors to el-Sayed. However, we do know that his campaign "has accepted donations from the Dearborn Heights-based Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, who is known for chanting 'death to America.'"  He was "honored" to accept an endorsement from the Arab American Political Action Committee, whose leader in 2022 urged Arabs to fight against Israel with "stones," "guns," or "their hands" and who has reccommended Israel Jews be sent "back to Poland." Most famously el-Sayed has campaigned with Hasan Piker, the streamer who has declared Hamas to be "a thousand times better than" Israel.

Of course, that lie is nothing compared to the standard fib of the Israel-hating far left, which never fails to accuse Israel of genocide and apartheid, as el-Sayed did in this interview. Of course they do, because no interviewer wants to offend the guest by noting that Arabs in Israel have more rights than in most Muslim nations in the Middle East  and that Israel, reputed to be a nuclear power, could easily annihilate Gazans if it chose to do so. It's an updated, more diplomatic version of the blood libel, which is repeated ad nauseum.

Nonetheless I find the most intriguing portion of el-Sayed's strategy to be his statement "Israel exists."  This is reminiscent of those Republicans who, when asked the past few years whether Joe Biden won the 2020 election, respond "He is President."  Fortunately, the interviewer typically recognizes this as a dodge and asks the Republican again- after which, he or she dodges the question again. (This is what is typically called a "moderate" Republican.)

Of course, Israel exists. But there is a big and growing, disturbing conroversy about the form its existence should take in the future,  Much of it is prompted by anti-semitism, much of it not.

Were there a public argument in the Democratic Party about race and a few individuals were as antagonistic toward blacks as some now are toward Jews, Democrats would turn against the bigots within- and rightfully so. Yet, some far-left "progressive" Democrats rail against Israel, make false accusations against it, and lump every Israeli Jew in with the nation's current government.

That should be unacceptable, and eventually Democrats will have to deal with it.

                                               HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

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