WORLD V ISRAEL – A STANDOFF
NEWS COMPILATION AND OPINIONS
BY LUCY M. WARNER
DECEMBER 31, 2016


The fact is that the war between the Palestinians and the Israelis, despite the events of the 1967 War and Israeli claims of victor’s rights, is an ancient feud beyond human ken, and yet as recent as today, and as full of virtuous sounding group passion as a split in a Primitive Baptist church, and as dirty on each side as the interactions of the US Republican/Democrat relations. This furor in the Conservative and traditional elements especially, is a continuance of their hatred and rivalry more than an intellectual discussion of proper Middle Eastern politics. The book of Genesis gives a version of the split of the desert dwellers from the Hebrews which may not be believed as history today, but it is clear to me from the evidence of my eyes that those who are now mostly Islamic in the Holy Land are very close relatives genetically to the Jews, so it’s really like cousins fighting each other. That’s a real shame.

Having said that, in order for that rancorous land ownership/occupancy issue to continue on forever and ever as it has, despite numerous attempts by the UN and others to mediate and achieve an agreement which is sufficiently beneficial enough to both to succeed, is to a great measure due to Israeli bullying in my view. On the other hand, the equally stubborn Palestinian refusal to move over and give them a seat at the family table, while backing that up by guerilla style fighting is also despicable. They’re like the South in the Civil War. They just haven’t stopped fighting at all, really, with the result that our most recent emergence of White Nationalism is approaching a physical crisis, I’m afraid. Nobody is in a position of Right in my opinion, and I’m personally sick and tired of all of them. A young man I worked with, a few years ago, went over to his Middle Eastern country to get married to his parentally chosen bride. When he came back he said, “Somebody ought to pave over the whole place and turn it into a parking lot.”

Their problem is traditional and tribal thinking instead of individually melding themselves into a society of differences which are respected by all and cemented with equal rights. There’s nothing like a good constitutional democracy, which I concede isn’t followed perfectly here by any means, but when it is, it really improves the situation. It’s too bad that such a thing is so difficult to maintain once it is achieved at all. It requires a philosophy of producing “law and order,” without the use of fear and suppression of groups or individuals. Russia and China’s communism isn’t the worst thing about them. It’s their unwillingness to allow human variance within their ranks, or so I have been taught. Our society in its’ beginning was based on cultivating a will to do good rather than merely the will to become ever more rich and powerful.

I believe that is true, of course, because that’s what we were taught when I was in school, but obviously “the poor” have “by the sweat of their brow” and more importantly perhaps, by the stubborn and, yes, sometimes violent group activity to exert some power, such as the way labor unions have managed to dig out a place in which a real middle class could grow. They literally turned their lowly labor jobs into a power house to finance home building and college tuition by refusing to work for the low pay scales. In the 1950s when I was young that Middle Class was powerful; but their place in society is being eroded now to a frightening degree. That’s a shame, because the Middle Class rather than the wealthiest people was the true stabilizing force in America. Bernie Sanders wants, by a modified form of socialism, to reestablish that strength which we had then.

If those White Supremacists we have today had kept their good factory and construction jobs – no treaties like those that have recently turned the Wealthy away from being a producer of jobs for local workers into nothing but an oligarchy – I believe strongly that more of them would be willing to be good citizens and true believers in honor, empathy and fairness under the law rather than a band of vicious criminals. The conflict of JEALOUSY between rich and poor, White and Brown, would be there, but it wouldn’t be the tinderbox of hatred that it has become today. To get a very good picture of life when I was growing up, see the movie “The Help.”

There was malice, human greed and injustice, but not open warfare in the city neighborhoods as we have now. It wasn’t good, but it was BETTER. I can only hope that the emergence of groups like Black Lives Matter will bolster the work of the ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, etc. with their demonstration of potential power, will continue to chip away at the wall of disrespect for Blacks, Browns, and Asians of all types. The human heart cannot be made clean, but perhaps it can be made reasonable. The kinds of relationship problems that are built into human society simply can’t really be cured by physical force, but if no Alt-Right group gains ultimate power here, I think we can continue to work for justice, but and even a kind of LOVE between groups based on our membership in the human species. I have been forming personal relationships with people of other races for most of my life, and it broadens my perspective, fulfills my desire for companionship, and cheers me up about the possibilities of our country. I don’t want perfection, but we must have some progress in this country. Life in a good society should go forward and not backward. It’s like rowing a boat with a hole in it.

We claim to have done those things here in the US, but we still have much too much internal cultural conflict that the Civil War and the Civil Rights laws didn’t solve, and all because individual humans in their little groups continue to hate and behave despicably toward each other. The tit for tat behavior that we tend to follow with each other keeps the hatred new and active. In our ancient past when a group of people would be composed of perhaps a few extended families in number, the fear of the stranger made real sense -- giving a unified fighting unit or, later in the Neolithic, a cooperative group to do something like build Stonehenge in thanks for the harvest -- was clearly a good thing. Now what we need is well educated and trained individuals to fit each into his/her cell in the colony hive, go out for nectar and pollen, etc. – each doing his simple but necessary work so the whole will survive. One difference between us and bees, however, is that bees have no individual will or even a sense of identity, and their miraculous cooperation is totally hard wired in their instincts. The ability to make an individual choice gives us a chance to innovate, but also a responsibility to do what is fair and good. Bees don’t make choices. Unfortunately, I for one do hate that absolute requirement to cooperate, and I yearn often times for my beehive hut in the forest to perform my daily scriptural studies and meditate on the beauties of nature. (For the origin of that obscure reference, go to this website: http://prayerfoundation.org/irish_monk_beehive_shaped_stone_huts.htm.)

Our group instincts, however, are not suited to massive cities where nearly everyone is a stranger to most others whom we meet and therefore an unknown quantity to be feared; but without birth control we will tend to bring forth 12 or more children per couple and the population continues to grow. Religion is the excuse usually given to prevent birth control and particularly abortion, no matter how practical a solution it might be. If a woman can stop a pregnancy at a time of particular financial or psychiatric need, perhaps she can avoid becoming driven almost crazy by her many children, so that she beats them in anger rather than loving them in a useful physical way with warm hugs and patient teaching. It would be better for them to be less perfectly behaved than stripped of their ability to deal with life, unable to find joy, unproductive as an individual.

We need sane, intelligent, self-confident and strongly “individuated” people in a democracy. The Christianity that I was taught in our community church fostered those things. We didn’t have that intense emphasis on “emotional” religious experiences and total obedience. We were taught “do unto others,” and LOVE thy neighbor as thyself. Nobody ever totally succeeds in those things, but that is a better DIRECTION for religious belief to follow in my not too humble opinion, than “attack thy neighbor and take his lands and possessions,” as we are approaching again today. The teachings of Jesus have faded into the background as the “Prosperity Gospel” has gained strength. For some fascinating reading, go to Wikipedia at “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology.” To me it borders uncomfortably closely with the “love of money” which Jesus spoke so forcefully against, and it is the only really philosophical backing for our total belief in Capitalism unmodified by a required contribution to the society as a whole and our environment. We can say, “we tithe,” but I doubt that very many Christians actually give 1/10 of their income. I personally wouldn’t be able to do that, but it is clear that severe poverty is overtaking us as we move forward and a rebalancing of the relative wealth between our groups is really needed. Don’t look behind you – you might see the dangerous enemy which our too often self-satisfied Middle/Upper Middle Classes failed to notice until it was too late. Yes, I do mean this 2016 election.

It is my opinion that for the most part, wherever human gentleness and communication are really needed, we tend to substitute some dogma or behavioral rule, rather than the true warm feeling of healthy human love that we say we have for others, and, of course, especially for our children. That’s a large part of the reason why so many people in very poor communities end up in jail by the time they are twenty (plus innate racism in the legal system these days.) A kid who grows up without love has a very poor chance of survival, or at any rate, success in life. They are too often emotionally warped and literally trained to be violent by their environment. If the only source of love for a young kid is a street gang, society has a major problem.

Before focusing entirely on the poor, however, we should remember that in wealthy families both parents are often absent and unavailable to the children, which also produces emotional disturbance in the kids. Check out the extraordinary motion picture, “Ordinary People,” from the ‘80s. All of the actors were excellent, but to me the standout was the young Timothy Hutton. He may have gotten Oscar for his performance, it seems to me. This is the basis of the disgustingly termed “affluenza” defense that has been used by lawyers in at least one case that made news of a wealthy teen committing a crime that would have put a darker skinned kid into prison or worse. Disgustingly, the judge gave the kid a lighter sentence, I suspect, because his family had influence in the community. That’s the social thinking pattern of the human creature, unfortunately. “To the victor go the spoils.” For some great information on that, perhaps too often quoted phrase, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoils_system. It isn’t taken from the Greek classics, but rather from something much closer to us today – American party politics.

If we would always remember that “saying” we love our kids is no substitute for “showing” our love, we could have a healthier society. Most studies of societal disorders like these speak of poverty and lack of education, which are certainly problems, but a loving and attentive mother and father can produce a lovely flower in any weed patch; and in my opinion, all or most human progress is created by those strong “individuals” – usually that occurs within a society, yes, but the characteristics of the individual are primary. It takes more than a privileged background. “Individuation,” is what it is called. Any person who joins a group to hurt or intimidate a victim lacks proper and healthy “individuation,” and those who stand by and watch are equally as guilty. It isn’t just ordinary timidity which causes that phenomenon, but a true participation in the crime.

Our White Nationalists today want to see an all-white US, as though that would solve the problem of our too frequently vicious conflicts here in the US, and that frigid withholding of empathy for others. People talk of love, but to me that is a philosophical concept, while “empathy” is a highly motivating emotion. That is what makes a “harmless” citizen into a hero. Ireland is composed of mostly white people, but they have fought for other reasons these last 500 years or so, as rancorously as the citizens of Palestine and Israel do today. Groupism, territorialism, general viciousness laced with insanity and ignorance – those are the causes, and it is built into us genetically as a species. Jesus, Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi have taught ways to extricate ourselves mentally from the unhealthy entanglement in societal groups which produces pogroms rather than another Stonehenge. Of course, that I’m sure it’s here to stay as a philosophy, but it just doesn’t touch all citizens. A widespread inability to read, for instance, really blocks the path to a civilized citizenry. Tribal rules are all those people have to hang onto. We must have our diplomatic corps nation by nation, just to keep the lid on it all and prevent, for perhaps as long as 100 years if we’re lucky, an ever-new outbreak of violent warfare. This really is a damned depressing subject for those of us who would like to see some real progress.

I personally believe we need relief from the ongoing poverty that drives most of our social anger, and then we need a much better level of education, especially in the field of human relations and psychology. Our country has produced a tuition free public school system, an economic social safety net of sorts, but too often the conservatives in places of power withhold the money from those legitimate public needs in order to give it to those who are already doing fine and just don’t need another million dollars. This is such a foolish path for us to follow, not to mention deeply unjust and lacking in empathy or cooperation. Unfortunately, of the wealthy around the world “just don’t give a damn,” as Rhett said to Scarlet.

So, whatever Obama and the peace seeking people in this country – the diplomats and the Progressives -- try to do, it will be scorned by some, feared by others, but praised by those whom I consider to be “enlightened.” I hope to be in that number, but it is my experience and observation that it takes work. I want to be serene enough to really be productive, but I just can’t quite get to the point that Slim Pickens reached in that wonderfully humorous and gripping satirical movie, “Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” I still worry.


SEE MORE ON ISRAEL BELOW, AND THE ONLY HOPE FOR TRUE PEACE, IN MY VIEW – THE TWO STATE SOLUTION

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/israeli-officials-slam-john-kerry-upcoming-pathetic-ignorant-speech-settlements/

Israeli officials slam Sec. John Kerry's upcoming "pathetic," "ignorant" speech
CBS/AP December 28, 2016, 7:42 AM

Photograph -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry attends a meeting with several Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia December 18, 2016. REUTERS/FAISAL AL NASSER


JERUSALEM – Several Israeli officials are lashing out at U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry ahead of his planned policy speech about peace prospects with the Palestinians.

The Israeli government is angry the U.S. allowed a resolution to pass in the U.N. Security Council calling settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank a “flagrant violation” of international law.

How U.N. resolution against Israel will impact U.S. relations
Play VIDEO
How U.N. resolution against Israel will impact U.S. relations

With the U.S. expected to participate in an international peace conference in France next month, Kerry is planning a final policy speech Wednesday to address the issue.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Kerry’s planned speech Wednesday on the Israeli-Palestinian issue is a “pathetic move” and “anti-democratic.”

Erdan told Israel Army Radio that if Kerry lays out principles for a peace deal, as he is expected to do in his speech, it will limit President-elect Donald Trump’s ability to set his own policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Erdan said Obama administration officials are “pro-Palestinian” and “don’t understand what’s happening in the Middle East.”

He said the Obama administration’s refusal to veto a recent U.N. Security Council resolution, which calls settlements a flagrant violation of international law, “threatens the security of Israel.”

Play VIDEO -- Israel points finger at U.S. over U.N. resolution

Oded Revivi, chief foreign envoy of the Yesha Council, which covers Jewish settlements, called Kerry “a stain on American foreign policy” and “ignorant of the issues.”

Revivi made the remarks ahead of Kerry’s speech.

Revivi said Kerry is “the worst secretary of state in history” who “chose to stab his closest ally in the back” and knows little about the realities of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Although the U.S. has long opposed Jerusalem settlements, it has generally used its Security Council veto to protect its ally from censure. On Friday, it abstained from a resolution calling settlements a “flagrant violation” of international law, allowing it to pass by a 14-0 margin.

While the Palestinians hope to capitalize on the momentum of the U.N. vote, it appears Israel’s nationalist government is allowing its relationship with the Obama administration to sour and banking on the incoming Trump administration to undo the damage with redoubled support.

Mr. Trump appears to support the notion that he will be friendlier to the Netanyahu administrations policies, and as recently as Wednesday morning expressed disdain for the Obama administration’s handling of Israel.

Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but.......
9:19 AM - 28 Dec 2016
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Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (U.N.)! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!
9:25 AM - 28 Dec 2016
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In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Kerry would lay out his vision for Israeli-Palestinian peace in the speech Wednesday. “He feels it’s his duty in his waning weeks and days as secretary of state to lay out what he believes is a way to a peaceful two-state solution in the Middle East,” Toner said.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-are-people-so-upset-over-the-latest-united-nations-resolution-about-israel/

Why are people so upset over the latest U.N. resolution about Israel?
CBS News/ December 28, 2016, 6:00 AM

Photograph -- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power at the U.N. Security Council meeting on Dec. 23, 2016.
Play Video -- U.S. refuses to veto UN vote on Israeli settlements
Play Video -- U.S., Israel at odds after U.N. vote condemning settlements


The Obama administration’s decision to not veto [sic] a United Nations resolution sharply critical of Israeli settlements continues to stir debate. But was it really all that different than prior U.N. resolutions that criticized Israel that the U.S. let pass?

The U.N. resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity passed the Security Council last week after the U.S. declined to use its veto power to stop it. Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., instead cast the sole abstaining vote. All other nations on the Security Council voted in favor.

The resolution called for Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.”

East Jerusalem, which contains some of the holiest sites in Judaism, was seized by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967. In a speech before the chamber, Power insisted that her vote did “not in any way diminish the United States’ steadfast and unparalleled commitment to the security of Israel.”

Conservatives and pro-Israel advocates say the resolution signals a major and damaging reversal of U.S. policy in the region. “The White House has abandoned any pretense that the actual parties to the conflict must resolve their differences,” John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Monday.

But Democrats have argued that conservative criticisms of the White House are unwarranted. As political consultant Mark Mellman pointed out on Twitter, for example, previous administrations have declined to exercise veto powers when it comes to resolutions critical of the Israelis.

“Acting like this is some brand new policy or action just isn’t consistent with reality,” Mellman told CBS News. “Right or wrong, good or bad, since 1967 American policy has been that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza are occupied territories whose final status must be determined by the parties. And the U.S. has consistently opposed Israel’s settlement policy.”

Critics of the resolution argue that it’s been decades since the U.S. allowed a U.N. resolution to pass that says East Jerusalem and other lands taken in the 1967 war are occupied Palestinian territory. Previous resolutions the U.S. allowed to pass have instead tended to condemn specific actions of Israelis or the Israeli government, such as the bombing of an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981.

In another example, a U.N. resolution condemning the 1994 massacre of Muslim worshipers by a Jewish terrorist was passed only when Madeleine Albright, then the U.S. ambassador, demanded a paragraph-by-paragraph vote on it to strip out language implying that Jerusalem was occupied territory.

“[W]e oppose the specific reference to Jerusalem in this resolution and will continue to oppose its insertion in future resolutions,” Albright said at the time.

“We simply do not support the description of the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 war as ‘occupied Palestinian territory,’” Albright said.

Albright’s comments run counter to a 1980 U.N. resolution – supported by the U.S. – that did refer to Jerusalem and other lands taken by Israel in 1967 as occupied territory. But that position was in a sense reversed by Albright’s comments in 1994.

“It’s true the U.S. has not allowed a U.N. Security Council resolution to that effect to pass since 1980, but U.S. policy has been consistent under every Democratic and Republican administration to date. Moreover, the U.S. has allowed other anti-Israel resolutions to pass on a number of occasions before and after 1980. President Obama was the first president to adopt a policy of vetoing all anti-Israel U.N.S.C. resolutions – until now,” Mellman said.

“So not vetoing this resolution is a bit of a punch in the gut, but not a very hard one. It is in no way a change in U.S. policy about the conflict.”



THIS PROBLEM BETWEEN JEWS AND ISLAMIC GROUPS WILL NEVER BE FULLY SOLVED, JUST AS THAT OF THE WHITES VERSUS "BROWN" PEOPLE WON'T, BUT IN A BETTER SOCIAL BALANCE THAN WE HAVE HAD SINCE PRESIDENT OBAMA "OFFENDED" CERTAIN WHITES BY SUCCEEDING IN THE 2008 ELECTION I HAVE HOPE. IN THE 1980S I HAD A LUNCH BUDDY WHO WAS BLACK, AND NOBODY SEEMED TO BE ANNOYED WITH US FOR IT. BUT OF COURSE,THAT WAS CHAPEL HILL, NC. ON RACE RELATIONS, I DO TWO THINGS. I READ, WRITE, LISTEN TO PEOPLE OF NATIONAL INFLUENCE AND SOMETIMES (CAREFULLY) DISCUSS THE ISSUES WITH ACQUAINTANCES THE RACIAL ISSUES WE FACE. THAT IS A KIND OF SELF-EDUCATION FOR ME AND AN ATTEMPT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IF SOCIETAL ATTITUDES, NOT SO MUCH TO ARGUE ABOUT IT BUT TO EXPLORE IT. I AM FIRMLY CONVINCED THAT THOSE WHO ARE "DIFFERENT" FROM EACH OTHER WOULD BLEND REASONABLY WELL TOGETHER IF IT WEREN'T FOR OUR CLASS CONSCIOUS ATTITUDES HERE, AND THAT NOT KNOWING ANYONE OUTSIDE OUR LITTLE CIRCLE PERSONALLY IS THE DEEPEST CAUSE OF THE TERRIBLE RELATIONSHIPS THAT ARE HAPPENING HERE FROM POLICE/NEIGHBORHOOD PROBLEMS TO BLACK PEOPLE BEING FOLLOWED AROUND IN STORES BY SUSPICIOUS WORKERS. WE ALL NEED TO "LOOSEN UP AND LIGHTEN UP" AND START FROM THERE.

I WISH BLACKS AND WHITES WOULD GO TO CHURCH TOGETHER. THAT SHOULD BE A "NEUTRAL TERRITORY," AFTER ALL. ALSO, JUST BECAUSE THERE IS CRIME IS NOT A GOOD REASON TO BE FRIGID TO EVERY STRANGER WE MEET RATHER THAN GIVING THEM A SMILE, AT LEAST. THE MORE "CONSERVATIVE" WE ARE, THE MORE UNFRIENDLY WE TEND TO BE, AND THAT CREATES EVEN DEEPER ILL WHICH WILL START TO GROW. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ME AND LOTS OF WHITES IS THAT I AM NOT USUALLY "AFRAID" OF STRANGERS UNLESS THEY DO BEHAVE IN A DANGEROUS OR THREATENING WAY, AND I DON'T BELIEVE THAT JUST "BEING BLACK" IS "DANGEROUS." THERE WAS A REALLY GREAT PSYCHOLOGICAL ARTICLE ON THE NET THIS YEAR ABOUT THE PERSONALITY TRENDS AMONG CONSERVATIVES AS COMPARED TO LIBERALS. CONSERVATIVES TEND TO BE CLASS CONSCIOUS, SUSPICIOUS, AND JUST GENERALLY CLOSED. THEY FIND NEW IDEAS THREATENING OR DOWNRIGHT HOSTILE. IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT THEY WANT TO SET UP A WHITES ONLY COUNTRY HERE IN SOME CASES. YES, THAT HAS ACTUALLY BEEN IN THE NEWS RECENTLY. THAT GROUP WAS DESCRIBED AS "WHITE NATIONALISTS" INSTEAD OF "WHITE SUPREMACISTS." THEY SAY THAT THEY THINK BLACK PEOPLE MAY NOT BE "INFERIOR," BUT THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH THEM ONE TO ONE. TOO MANY OF TRUMP'S FOLLOWERS SEEM TO BE OF THAT STAMP.

I ALSO CONTINUE TO INCLUDE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS OF A DEEPER LEVEL THAN COCKTAIL PARTY CONVERSATION WITH BLACKS IN MY LIFE. I DO TRULY BELIEVE THAT IF MOST, NOT JUST A FEW INDIVIDUALS WOULD INTERRELATE WITH THEM MORE, THERE WOULD BE A MUCH BETTER ATMOSPHERE IN WHICH WE LIVE. ONE THING NORTHERNERS TEND NOT TO DO IS SPEAK TO STRANGERS, BUT SOUTHERNERS MORE OFTEN DO. BY THAT I MEAN MEET THEIR EYE AND SAY HELLO AND GOOD MORNING. IN THE GROCERY STORE IF I CAN'T FIND AN ITEM I HAVE OFTEN ASKED ANOTHER SHOPPER IF THEY HAVE SEEN IT, AND OF COURSE I USE A PLEASANT VOICE AND SMILE. THAT'S A SMALL MATTER, BUT IT DOES CREATE A LITTLE WARMTH BETWEEN US. DEALING PERSONALLY WITH BLACK PEOPLE IS SOMETHING I ENJOY, AND I AM CONVINCED THAT IF THE GENERAL POPULATION HERE WOULD FEEL THAT WAY ABOUT THE MATTER WE WOULD HAVE PROBLEMS ONLY WITH THOSE WHO ACTUALLY DO STEAL FROM US, MAKE AN UNWANTED SEXUAL PASS, OR ANY OTHER DELIBERATE RUDENESS OR ASSAULT. THAT TO ME IS LEGITIMATE REASON FOR ME TO BE LESS THAN FRIENDLY WITH THEM.

FIRST, I DO TEND TO LIKE BLACKS PERSONALLY, AS THEY ARE NOT "CLASSIST" IN THEIR VIEWS OF SOCIETY AND TEND TO BE MORE OPEN THAN SOME WHITES ARE. TOO OFTEN WHITES ARE,TO USE AN OLD WORD, "SNOOTY," WHICH IS WHAT TURNS ME OFF MOST WHEN I FIND IT IN PEOPLE. WE AREN'T PLEDGING OUR LIFE TO THEM IF WE ARE FRIENDLY AND PLEASANT TO SOMEONE. THE BLACKS WHOM I HAVE KNOWN, ONCE THEY ARE AT EASE WITH ME, OFTEN HAVE OPINIONS MUCH LIKE MINE, LOOK ATTRACTIVE, HAVE LOTS OF "GOOD SENSE" IF NOT ALWAYS AS MUCH FORMAL EDUCATION OR THE PREFERRED ACCENT, AND SEEM TO CARE ABOUT ME IN RETURN AS A HUMAN BEING. THAT'S WHAT I NEED IN ORDER TO FORM FRIENDSHIPS WITH PEOPLE. WITH FRIENDS -- A TERM THAT DOES NOT INCLUDE ALL ACQUAINTANCES -- I DO OPEN UP AND SPEAK MY MIND. I DON'T WANT AN UP CLOSE RELATIONSHIP OF ANY KIND IN WHICH THAT JUST ISN'T SAFE FOR ME TO DO. I REALLY MUST BE ABLE TO TRUST AN INDIVIDUAL IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN MUCH IN THE WAY OF A RELATIONSHIP. THAT IS BECAUSE I'M AN "INTROVERT." IT'S NOT THAT I DON'T "LIKE PEOPLE." IT'S THAT I DON'T LIKE UNTRUSTWORTHY PEOPLE. I DO MAINTAIN CORDIAL BUT MORE DISTANT SPEAKING RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS, AS WELL, AND I'M NOT "ANTISOCIAL." LET'S FACE IT, WE AREN'T REALLY GOING TO PERSONALLY "LOVE" EVERYONE, BUT WE CAN HAVE PEACEFUL RELATIONS WITH MOST, AND THE DIFFERENCES SHOULD NOT BE BASED ON "SEXUAL PREFERENCES, EDUCATION AND WEALTH, RACE, CREED OR COLOR."

WHAT HUMAN BEINGS REALLY NEED FROM EACH OTHER IS WARMTH, INTEREST AND A BASIC RESPECT. BY THAT I AM NOT REFERRING TO WHAT MY OPINION OF THE PERSON IS, BUT MY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF HIM AS A MEMBER OF THE HUMAN RACE AND THEREFORE DESERVING OF DECENT TREATMENT BETWEEN US. THAT'S "RESPECT," NOT WHETHER I WANT TO INVITE HIM TO MY NEXT DINNER PARTY. WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO ACHIEVE THAT, BECAUSE IT IS A VERY BASIC THING, WITH MEMBERS OF OTHER GROUPS AS WELL AS OUR OWN. HAVING A BLACK PRESIDENT OR BOSS OR CLASSMATE SHOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM TO ME AND VICE VERSA. THERE ARE CHARACTERISTICS I WON'T CONDONE OR SUPPORT, AND BULLYING OR OTHER MALTREATMENT I BELIEVE STRONGLY IN DEMOCRACY, SOCIALLY AND FINANCIALLY. THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO CONTINUE TO SEE HERE IN THE USA AS OUR SOCIETAL GOAL, AND NOT A NATION THAT EXCLUDES OUTSIDERS MERELY ON THAT BASIS. I GREW UP WITH ALL THOSE PROBLEMS IN THE SOUTH AND HAVE HAD TO BECOME CONSCIOUS OF WHAT THE TERM "WHITE PRIVILEGE" REFERS TO. IT'S THE THING THAT KEEPS ME FROM BEING ARRESTED FOR A BROKEN TAILLIGHT.

I TRY NOT TO DISRESPECT ANYONE ELSE'S RIGHTS, BUT I DON'T LET THEM DO IT TO ME WITHOUT SPEAKING OUT, EITHER. THIS CURRENT VIEW THAT WE SHOULDN'T DEFEND OURSELVES OR OTHERS IS TO ME SIMPLY UNWISE, AS IT OPENS UP THE DOOR TO BULLYING. IT'S "BAD PSYCHOLOGY." I WILL ALSO STAND UP FOR OTHERS MORE OFTEN THAN MANY IN THIS COUNTRY WILL. MOST OF US IN THIS COUNTRY BELIEVE IN NON-INTERFERENCE TO A NEGATIVE DEGREE, IN MY OPINION. AN ADULT SHOUTING AT OR HITTING A CHILD, OR A MAN ABUSING A WOMAN IN PUBLIC SHOULD BE OPPOSED IN SOME EFFECTIVE WAY, OFTEN BY CALLING THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. EVEN A STRONG, STERN VOICE WILL BREAK UP THAT KIND OF THING, HOWEVER, IN MANY CASES. IT WON'T CHANGE A BULLY'S INNER HEART AND MIND, BUT IT CAN MAKE HIM STOP THE ASSAULT. MY GOAL IS TO MAINTAIN AS MUCH ASSERTIVENESS AND INDIVIDUALITY IN THIS COUNTRY AS I CAN WITHOUT BEING AN AGGRESSOR, AND IN GIVING COMFORT TO THE UNDERDOG UNLESS THEY REALLY ARE DANGEROUS PEOPLE. IF MY SOCIETY WILL CALL ME A "NIGGER LOVER" OVER THAT, OR A "RACE TRAITOR," WHICH IS THE POPULAR TERM ON THE INTERNET THESE DAYS, I AM NOT ASHAMED OR ABASHED, BECAUSE I BELIEVE THOSE PEOPLE WHO DO THAT ARE IN THE WRONG RATHER THAN JUSTIFIED.

BUT I BELIEVE IN BOTH FIGHTING AGAINST THE ABUSE OF PEOPLE, AND WORKING IN OTHER WAYS TO ELIMINATE IT. GROUP MARCHES OVER ISSUES ACTUALLY ARE USEFUL AND NOT USUALLY VIOLENT. THAT'S HOW WE CAN LIVE UP TO THE HIGH PRAISE OUR MORE "PATRIOTIC" CITIZENS GIVE THIS COUNTRY. ACTUALLY I'M QUITE PATRIOTIC, BUT ABOUT THE COUNTRY WE ARE WORKING TOWARD AND SHOULD BE, RATHER THAN THE CLASS-RIDDEN PAST, THE TENDRILS OF WHICH WE JUST CAN'T SEEM TO DISENTANGLE FROM AROUND OUR NATIONAL THROAT. NONETHELESS, I CONTINUE TO HOPE AND BELIEVE IN INCREMENTAL CHANGE AS A NATURAL PROCESS. IT'S HAPPENING, HERE, IN EUROPE AND IN THE MIDDLE EAST BY CONSCIENTIOUS INDIVIDUALS, LAWYERS, GOOD HONEST PROGRESSIVE POLITICIANS. THERE WILL NEVER BE PERFECTION, AS I SAID EARLIER, BUT NOT DOING THE GOOD THINGS THAT REQUIRE PERSONAL COURAGE IS THE INVITATION TO THE END OF THIS SOCIETY AS A SAFE PLACE FOR THE INNOCENT TO LIVE. THAT'S WHY I SUPPORT AND SALUTE BLACK LIVES MATTER, THE ACLU, GOOD AND HONEST POLICE OFFICERS, THE RELIGIOUS WHO ARE NOT FOCUSED ON WHETHER OR NOT SOMEONE IS GAY, BUT WHAT THEIR GOALS AND ACTIONS TOWARD SOMETHING POSITIVE ARE. I JUST HAVE TO SEE TO IT THAT I AM ON THE SIDE OF GOOD IN MY HEART AND AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, IN MY ACTIONS. I DON'T MIND BEING A SOLDIER IN A WAR OF MINDS, I JUST WANT TO SEE THE GOAL AS BEING USEFUL AND HONEST. THIS TALK ABOUT "THE RACE WAR" WHICH HAS POPPED UP ON THE INTERNET IS REALLY HORRIFYING TO ME. PEOPLE WHO ARE WILLING TO SEE SUCH A SITUATION REALLY ARE, OF COURSE, IN THE MINORITY RIGHT NOW, BUT THE VERY MENTION OF IT DISTURBS ME AND I'M SEEING MORE AND MORE OF IT. IT'S LIKE AN EPIDEMIC OF ILL WILL. EVIL IS CATCHING! HUMANS BEING WHAT WE ARE, I FEAR THAT SUCH A THING AS HAPPENED IN GERMANY COULD OCCUR HERE. I WISH I THOUGHT THAT "TOO MUCH FOCUS" ON THESE PROBLEMS MAKES THEM WORSE. IT'S CLEAR TO ME THAT PAYING NO ATTENTION TO THEM HAS ALLOWED THE BAD GUYS TO TAKE OVER, AND THAT IS BECAUSE WE "COMFORTABLE" MIDDLE CLASS WHITES DIDN'T LOOK AT IT ALL, MUCH LESS LOOK AT IT AS "MY PROBLEM." TIME TO READ JOHN DONNE'S "FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS" AGAIN.

THE UNABASHED OVERTNESS OF FASCIST THINKING NOWADAYS
COMPILATION AND COMMENTARY BY LUCY M. WARNER
DECEMBER 30, 2016


IT SEEMS THAT THOSE OF US WHO DO ANGRILY, PERSISTENTLY AND BOLDLY STAND UP FOR WHAT IS GOOD OVER WHAT IS EVIL ARE THE “FANATICS.” I HAVE NOTICED, THOUGH, SINCE THE TRUMP ELECTION -- WHICH WAS BROUGHT ABOUT BY OUR DELIGHTFUL ELECTORAL COLLEGE OVER THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE DUE TO ONE OF THOSE “CONSTITUTIONAL” REFUSALS OF JUSTICE IN THIS COUNTRY – THAT MANY OF OUR CITIZENS ARE TRULY UP IN ARMS, AND I BELIEVE WE WILL REMAIN SO AS LONG AS THIS OUTRAGEOUS POLITICAL GROUP REMAIN IN POWER. TRUMP MAY HAVE WON, BUT HE ISN’T GOING TO HAVE FUN IN HIS PRESIDENCY, I FEEL SURE. EVERY TIME SOMEBODY OPENLY CRITICIZES HIM HE SENDS OUT ONE OF HIS TWEET BARRAGES. HE DOES THAT BECAUSE IT HURTS HIM THAT SO MANY PEOPLE DON’T WORSHIP HIM AS HE FEELS WE SHOULD.

IF HE TRIES TO USE TIENANMAN SQUARE STYLE ACTIONS AGAINST HIS DISLOYAL SUBJECTS, I AM FAIRLY SURE THAT SOMEONE WILL ASSASSINATE HIM. I’M NOT RECOMMENDING THAT, OF COURSE. IT’S NOT WHAT I BELIEVE IN AND IT USUALLY LEADS TO A VERY SIMILAR SITUATION OR EVEN WORSE. I’M THINKING ABOUT THE REIGN OF TERROR AFTER THE FIRST PART OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION SUCCEEDED. IT REMINDS ME OF JESUS’ IMAGERY OF THE “NEW WINE BEING PLACED IN OLD WINE SKINS.” IT IS ALSO QUITE POSSIBLE THAT TRUMP WILL BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE BY THE LEGISLATURE OVER HIS MISDEEDS, IF THEY HAVE THE COURAGE TO DO THAT. I DO HOPE THEY ARE NOT TOO TIMID OR COMPLICIT IN HIS ACTIONS TO DO THAT. TO SEE AGAIN THE NOW FAMOUS IMAGE OF THAT CHINESE HERO AT TIENANMAN SQUARE, GO TO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFzeNAHEhU. TRUMP HAS ALREADY SHOWN HOW HEAVY-HANDED HE IS PREPARED TO BE AND HE ISN’T EVEN IN OFFICE YET. PARDON ME FOR NOT FEELING PASSIVE, COMPLACENT OR LADYLIKE ABOUT THAT. COMPLACENCY IS THE NATURAL CONDITION OF THE FINANCIALLY WELL-OFF, BUT IT IS ALSO ONE OF THE TRUEST FORMS OF STUPIDITY. DON’T GIVE IN TO IT! GO TO THE NET AND LOOK UP THE NEWS FOR YOURSELF, AND DON’T FEAR THE “PROGRESSIVE” SITES! OFTEN THOSE ARE THE ONLY PLACES WE WILL FIND THE “TRUTH” THAT WE MOST NEED TO READ.



THE CAUSE OF THE SITUATION

The Mass Psychology of Fascism

https://www.laprogressive.com/trump-triumphant/

When the Beast Goes Wild: What a Person Can Do to Regain Influence
BY DORIS WOLZ-COHEN
POSTED ON DECEMBER 24, 2016


What turns natural human instinct into a distorted cruel beast that is willing to destroy others of the same species is that beast’s master. Program natural instinct to serve human Ego, and it will turn against others who look and think differently. Program–or reprogram– it to serve humanity’s universal Self or Soul, and it will serve and seek to protect the lives of all humans. Not only that, it will propel a person to individuate and drive humanity to evolve.

Who can lead us out of cruelty, when the beast goes wild? Not a leader who sees the world through Ego’s eyes. He will only deceive, distort, bully, entice and mislead human instinct further. The way out of darkness is not by projecting the hero, or the anti-hero, onto an authoritarian leader such as Donald Trump; it would merely energize him; the way out is by gaining insight into the three layers of human character Wilhelm Reich discovered in “the average individual.” Reich wrote in The Mass Psychology of Fascism,

“Extensive and conscientious therapeutic work on the human character has taught me that, in judging human reactions, we have to take into account three different layers of the biopsychic structure. …In the superficial layer, the average individual is restrained, polite, compassionate and conscientious. There would be no social tragedy of the animal, man, if this superficial layer were in immediate contact with his deep natural core [core Self]. His tragedy is that such is not the case. The superficial layer of social cooperation is not in contact with the biological core of the person, but separated from it by a second, intermediary character layer consisting of cruel, sadistic, lascivious, predatory and envious impulses.”

To become fully human and naturally social, Reich recognized that a person has to eliminate “the false, sham-social surface,” penetrate through “this second, perverse and antisocial layer,” and arrive at the “natural core.”

Whether our thinking is liberal or conservative, if the first character layer (root of liberalism) is not in contact with the third character layer (seat of humanity’s universal core Self), it likely means that we were raised in an authoritarian system where we learned to participate in creating the “cruel” second layer of instinctual rebellion and reactionary social ideas (root of fascism). Reich understood that, “A mechanistic authoritarian civilization only reaps, in the form of fascism, … what it has sown. [This is why] there is… not a single individual who does not have the elements of fascistic feeling and thinking in his structure. … One cannot make the Fascist harmless if, …one does not look for him in oneself; if one does not know the social institutions [or family systems] which hatch him every day.”

We are in the middle of a reactionary movement right now. Reactionary movements appear revolutionary but aren’t, because they are supported and energized by distorted instinct gone wild.

We are in the middle of a reactionary movement right now. Reactionary movements appear revolutionary but aren’t, because they are supported and energized by distorted instinct gone wild. Deplore and keep instinctual impulses down! Unfortunately, that’s what many of us learned. And every time we oppress our instinctual self, we deny its intelligence and feed an antisocial beast.

Today, we are caught in its claws and the only way forward is to change our relationship with it and heal the oppressor/oppressed split.¹ Reich gave us a key: if we make contact with the third layer of character and let our universal Self inform and lead us, we can become genuinely honest and cooperative human beings, ”capable of love and also of rational hatred.”

We can beat fascism by connecting to our “natural core,” which in turn makes us willing to understand and care about each other. There is a beautiful Zen teaching that invites us to seek “the truth” and represent all sides:

“If you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against.
The struggle between “for” and “against” is the mind’s worst disease.”
—Seng-ts’an, c. 700 C.E.

What is “the truth?” From an Ego-centered place, “the truth” is that the oppressor (Ego) and the oppressed (natural instinct) are separate. But if viewed from a Soul-centered place, the oppressor and the oppressed are both aspects of the same universal core Self. When we take sides, we deny this truth, which reinforces the split between the first and the second character layer. Reich felt that this is precisely what keeps us from connecting with our core. When we energize human Ego by either idealizing or fighting authoritarian leaders, we forget that the Soul alone can restore the beast’s intelligence and lead us out of darkness.

During much darker times, Reich urged people “to become absolutely clear that fascism is not the deed of a Hitler or Mussolini [or, as many fear today, Donald Trump] but the expression of the irrational structure of the mass individual.” When we stop energizing an authoritarian leader with idealization or devaluation,² we can then allow instinctive rebellion against “the false, sham-social surface” to alert us, and make arriving at the natural core our goal.

Some people turned away from Hillary Clinton because of her political correctness and lack of authenticity. Some are trying to stop Donald Trump because of his dangerousness. As Charles Eisenstein pointed out in his article The Election: Of Hate, Grief, and a New Story, “Normal is coming unhinged…the wolf in sheep’s clothing [got rejected] in favor of a wolf in wolf’s clothing.” Ultimately, faux liberalism and dangerous animal impulses represent Soul disconnection every human being—in the process of individuation—must confront.

Until we realize that we are both, human as well as animal, we will fall short of creating systems that include both aspects, and where both are working together and helping us to evolve and thrive. It’s time to honor our natural instinct and to allow the Soul to lead us out of darkness. As Reich wrote, “Your basic error is that you deny or ridicule the mind which moves everything, instead of comprehending it.”

Doris Wolz-Cohen
Soulful Relating in Psychotherapy


[1] In authoritarian systems, children are taught to distrust and oppress natural instinct and obey Ego direction. This creates a split between Ego (oppressor) and natural instinct (oppressed). Instead of working together, Ego and instinct learn to oppose each other.

[2] Idealization and devaluation is a splitting defense mechanism employed when a child can’t integrate the fact that authority figures are both good and bad. In early trauma cases, these defenses may persist into adulthood.



>EXCERPT – “[1] In authoritarian systems, children are taught to distrust and oppress natural instinct and obey Ego direction. This creates a split between Ego (oppressor) and natural instinct (oppressed). Instead of working together, Ego and instinct learn to oppose each other. [2] Idealization and devaluation is a splitting defense mechanism employed when a child can’t integrate the fact that authority figures are both good and bad. In early trauma cases, these defenses may persist into adulthood.”


When these two things happen, a crowd can become a mob, a lonely man can become a rapist, a religious believer can become an ultraconservative fanatic. We are closer to being over the edge of the cliff psychologically as a people now than I have ever seen it, but this trend goes back into my earliest memories to a recognizable degree. The cynical maneuvering of David Koch’s Tea Party and Donald Trump’s quest to be the ruler of the world has turned our society not merely upside down, but inside out as well. Things which used to be the inner devil have become the outer evil. I have always hated and feared “group think”, which is NOT a healthy cooperation but the willful or uncontrolled subjugation of our own mind and sense of rightness to those of others. This is not a future peril, but the present day, and now our cultural and political Progressives, all true religions of humanistic beliefs and whose God is Love, all minority groups, not merely the often feared and hated “activists” like BLM but the true man on the street, rich and poor, old and young must “mobilize,” as Bernie Sanders said in November the day after the 2016 election. That is most often used these days to mean that our “team” needs to get together and make a touchdown, but it is originally a military term, and I believe that is what Bernie was talking about. He of all people –religiously and philosophically an innately endangered minority member – is well aware of the true potential of the situation in this the land of the free and the home of the brave. Our time to prove our personal courage and goodness has come. We need to pray, plan, communicate frequently and act. Heaven be with us.



THE LATEST FRIGHTENING EXAMPLE OF SURPRISINGLY INTENSE NEGATIVITY – CARL PALADINO

PALADINO’S MOST TOUCHING WORDS: “"And yes," he concluded, "it's about a little deprecating humor which America lost for a long time. Merry Christmas and tough luck if you don't like my answer."


http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-ally-carl-paladino-slammed-racist-wish-list-obamas-n699621

Politics
Dec 23 2016, 3:28 pm ET

Trump Ally Carl Paladino Slammed for 'Racist' Wish List for Obamas
by Erik Ortiz

Image: President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Meetings At Trump Tower
Photograph -- Carl Paladino, former New York gubernatorial candidate, speaks to reporters in the lobby at Trump Tower on Dec. 5, 2016 in New York City. Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Play video -- Michelle Obama at DNC: 'When They Go Low, We Go High' 1:26

Carl Paladino, the brash Buffalo businessman who served as a co-chair of Donald Trump's campaign in New York, is facing backlash and calls for his resignation for crude comments disparaging the Obamas.

Paladino, an elected city school board member, took part in a survey by the Artvoice weekly newspaper in which Buffalo residents were asked what they wished for in 2017. In answering what he'd like to happen most next year, the former New York GOP gubernatorial candidate replied:

Obama catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Herford. He dies before his trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to [senior White House advisor] Valerie [Jarrett], who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady cell mate mistook her for being a nice person and decapitated her.

And when asked what he would most like to see go in 2017, he responded:

Michelle Obama. I'd like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.

Buffalo School Board President Barbara Seals Nevergold said Paladino is known for his controversial rhetoric.

"What was surprising though were the direct attacks on the president and the first lady in such demeaning ways, in such tone that many have described as racist and as sexist," Nevergold told reporters, "and so those are the comments I am most concerned about because of the messages they send to our children."

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said in a statement that Paladino must resign.

"While the First Amendment of our Constitution protects the right of free speech, no matter how deplorable it may be, there can be no room in our civil discourse for such hate and anger," said Poloncarz, a Democrat. "These comments harken back to the darkest days of racism in our nation's history. Anyone who has these beliefs is unfit to hold public office and especially unfit to oversee the education of children."

But in a lengthy response sent to the media on Friday, Paladino said his comments have "nothing to do with race."

Related: Nonprofit Head Who Wrote Racist Michelle Obama Post to Return to Job

"It's about 2 progressive elitist ingrates who have hated their country so badly and destroyed its fabric in so many respects in 8 years," he wrote.

He added that the president was "demeaning and weakening" the U.S. military and sniped at him for being a "yellow-bellied coward who left thousands to die in Syria and especially Aleppo."

He also said Michelle Obama "hated America before her husband won."

"And yes," he concluded, "it's about a little deprecating humor which America lost for a long time. Merry Christmas and tough luck if you don't like my answer."

Paladino could not immediately be reached for further comment Friday.

The 70-year-old real estate company chairman was re-elected to the Buffalo Board of Education in May, edging his rival by four percentage points.

In 2010, he lost the race for New York governor against Democrat Andrew Cuomo, after the Paladino campaign was mired in a scandal involving racist and sexually explicit emails, according to The New York Times. One message included a video of dancing Africans in traditional garb entitled, "Obama Inauguration Rehearsal."

Cuomo said in a statement Friday that Paladino's latest comments were "racist, ugly, reprehensible remarks" against the Obamas, and added that "he has embarrassed the good people of the state with his latest hate-filled rage."

Paladino, who was spotted at Trump Tower earlier this month, was one of the president-elect's earliest supporters.

He took heat in July for reportedly sending an email to a female anti-Trump Utah GOP delegate saying she should be "hung for treason" and promised to "be in your face" at the convention.

Erik Ortiz



http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/you-re-fired-buffalo-school-board-moves-oust-trump-ally-n701296

NEWS DEC 29 2016, 6:53 PM ET
You're Fired: Buffalo School Board Moves to Oust Trump Ally Carl Paladino Following Racist Comments About Obamas
by CHELSEA BAILEY


Photographs:
Image: President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Meetings At Trump Tower
Carl Paladino, former New York gubernatorial candidate, speaks to reporters in the lobby at Trump Tower on Dec. 5, 2016 in New York City. Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Related: Trump Ally Carl Paladino Slammed for 'Racist' Wish List for Obamas
Related: Analysis: The Vengeful World of Donald Trump, and Why It Matters


A Trump ally who made strikingly offensive remarks about the Obama family last week was on Thursday told to resign immediately from his position on a Buffalo, N.Y., school board.

In a 6-2 vote, the Buffalo County School Board gave controversial businessman Carl Paladino 24 hours to resign his seat, or the decision would go to the Department of Education. Paladino was absent from the meeting.

Paladino, an outspoken ally of President-elect Donald Trump, came under fire last week for his racist response to a local survey on New Year's wishes, telling the paper that he wished President Obama would die of mad cow disease and for the First Lady "to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe."

His remarks were greeted by swift outrage, with protesters around the country demanding his resignation. The board's decision Thursday was greeted by a loud and sustained standing ovation from the school board chambers.

Paladino, who was chair of Trump's New York campaign before the election, also once sent an email to a female anti-Trump Utah GOP delegate saying she should be "hung for treason" and promised to "be in your face" at the convention.

In a closing statement before the vote was held, district President Barbara Nevergold said Paladino had failed the students under his care — especially those who are minorities — by reducing their role models to "depraved individuals."

"Words matter Mr. Paladino," Nevergold said. "As a sitting board member you have amassed a record and established a pattern of behavior that is equally egregious and violates your oath of office and professional ethics as a board of education member."

Nevergold went on to describe hundreds of "incredulous" complaints she and fellow board members said they'd received since Paladino's statements were made public.

"They would like me to tell you, 'You're fired,'" she said to applause. "But those are not my words. So I'm asking you to do the right thing and resign."

Paladino apologized somewhat for his remarks in a statement Tuesday, telling the Buffalo News that he'd mistakenly sent the responses to the outlet — he meant to only share the outlandish racism with his friends — and didn't intend for them to hurt the "minority community."

But he also remained defiant, vowing not to leave the school board in the face of backlash from what he called, "vanquished progressive haters."

"I don't intend to yield to the fanatics among my adversaries," he said. "I certainly am not a racist."

But for many members in both the board and the community, Paladino's apology wasn't enough.

View image on Twitter
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NYS Education Dept ✔ @NYSEDNews
Statement by Emily DeSantis, State Education Department Spokesperson on @BuffCitySchools Board of Education actions:
3:43 PM - 29 Dec 2016
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http://jezebel.com/trump-ny-chair-carl-paladino-told-to-resign-immediately-1790615908

Trump NY Chair Carl Paladino Told to 'Resign Immediately' Following Very Racist Comments About Obama
Megan Reynolds
Yesterday 12/30/16

Photo: AP

Last week Donald Trump New York campaign chair Carl Paladino gave astonishingly racist comments about the Obamas to Artvoice, an alt-weekly paper out of Buffalo, NY. As a result of those comments, which included his wish for Barack Obama to succumb to mad cow disease after “being caught having relations with a Herford” and for Michelle Obama to “return to being a male,” his employer, the Buffalo County School Board, has called for his resignation.

ABC News reports that Paladino has been given 24 hours to resign from his position on a Buffalo County school board. If he does not comply with the request, the decision will be raised to the Department of Education. The decision to ask Paladino to resign was made in a meeting that Paladino did not attend and was greeted with “a loud and sustained standing ovation,” which is the correct way to respond.

As a result of Paladino’s disgusting remarks, board members have been overwhelmed with complaints. District President Barbara Nevergold addressed the absent Paladino during the meeting, saying “Words matter, Mr. Paladino.” She also said that by reducing President Obama and FLOTUS to “depraved individuals,” Paladino failed in his responsibilities to the students under his care.

“As a sitting board member you have amassed a record and established a pattern of behavior that is equally egregious and violates your oath of office and professional ethics as a board of education member,” she said, before asking him to “do the right thing” and resign.

In a mealy-mouthed and half-hearted apology, Paladino told the Buffalo News that he hadn’t intended to send his answers to the paper, but to his friends instead and partially blamed his response on heightened emotions after listening to President Obama speak on Aleppo.

“I’m certainly not a racist,” he wrote. I’m sorry to say, bud, but yeah, you are!



http://artvoice.com/2016/12/27/carl-paladino-apologizes/

Carl Paladino apologizes to ‘minority community’ for Obama remarks; explains motivation
December 27, 2016 Jamie Moses 33 Comments

‘I certainly am not a racist’
By Carl Paladino;

To Artvoice:

I never intended to hurt the minority community who I spent years trying to help out of the cycle of poverty in our inner cities. To them I apologize. I thought about them every day as I fought against unqualified and incompetent superintendents, administrators, teachers and School Board members, unfair union contracts, broken homes and children who can’t get the education they need to break that cycle of poverty because our school system is a failure, for reasons that needn’t be. I have shown those who chose not to watch but to enter the arena how to fight the demons. Nevertheless, I won’t be judged by those timid souls who sit unbloodied in the gallery always prepared to criticize. Nor do I have any respect or regrets for the insane education activists who hover over and defend the dysfunction of the BPS.
I received your emailed survey at an emotional moment after I had just listened to Obama’s statement that he regretted the slaughter in Aleppo that, in fact, resulted from his failed and cowardly foreign policy, a policy to look the other way while innocent people were murdered and starved. I view Barak Obama as a traitor to American values. We don’t stand down and leave soldiers to die on a battlefield when we can send help. We don’t lie to the American people and the parents of our fallen to get re-elected. Obama has not led America to a better place by disregarding the rule of law and standing with his elitist brethren as above the law nor has his wife Michele Obama who told our children and the world after the election that now “there is no hope for America.”

Your survey questions provided me with the spark to vent and write deprecating humor about a bad President for whom the main stream media continues to seek an undeserved legacy. I wanted to say something as sarcastic and hurtful as possible about the people so responsible for the hurt and suffering of so many others. I was wired up, primed to be human and make a mistake. I could not have made a worse choice in the words I used to express my feelings.

It’s all too easy to make mistakes when you’re emotional about the riggedteachers’ contract by an incompetent Board of Education majority who sold out the school district as payback to teacher’s union leader Phil Rumore for his election support. They couldn’t care less about the children of Buffalo. And I’m bewildered about the Supreme Court Judge who tried to dismiss a lawsuit to recover $450 million fleeced from the children of Buffalo by LP Ciminelli during the $1.4 billion schools building project.

I publicly took responsibility for what I said and confirmed those were my answers, but believe it or not, I did not mean to send those answers to Artvoice. Not that it makes any difference because what I wrote was inappropriate under any circumstance. I filled out the survey to send to a couple friends and forwarded it to them not realizing that I didn’t hit “forward” I hit “reply.” All men make mistakes.

What is horrible is explaining to my 17 year old daughter how her hero could be so stupid.

What is horrible is watching my family and friends react to the rabid hordes of attacking parasites we now call activist progressives.

It’s been a sick, combative year for America. We changed the direction of our country and beat back the demons for a few decades. I am proud to have been a part of the making of history.

As for the vanquished progressive haters out there spewing their venom at anything that is a reminder of their humiliating defeat, irrelevance is tough to chew on.

For the mean spirited disoriented press trying to find grounding and recover legitimacy on my back, pray that you still have a job next year because you have lost all credibility with the people.

No, I’m not leaving the school board, not when it’s time to help implement the real choice elements of Trump’s plan for education reform. I’ve spent years dedicated to the mission to defeat the thought that the liberal progressive elitist establishment can continue to hold our minority children captive in the cycle of poverty simply to provide their voting base. I don’t intend to yield to the fanatics among my adversaries. I certainly am not a racist.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.



I HOPE TO SEE A TIME WHEN PEOPLE WHO SAY THESE THINGS WILL UNDERSTAND THAT THEY NEED TO APOLOGIZE TO THE HUMAN RACE RATHER THAN TO “THE MINORITY COMMUNITY.” WE’RE IN THE SAME BOAT, BROTHER!! LMW.



Artvoice
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Artvoice is a free weekly newspaper based in Buffalo, New York, distributed on Thursdays. Artvoice writes on arts, theater, music, food, sports, and politics in the Buffalo region. It was first published in June 1990. In 2010, Artvoice celebrated its 20th anniversary in its June edition with a time frame of the history of the publication.[1] It also celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2015 with a party celebrating performing and visual arts.[2]

Artvoice releases its content at its website, Artvoice.com. Some content is available online only. For many years, it was the only professional print competition to The Buffalo News distributed throughout the Buffalo area. Each year Artvoice awards the "Arties", celebrating excellence in local theater. Artvoice also runs an annual "Best of Buffalo" competition where readers are able to nominate and vote for their favorite individuals, groups, or companies in dozens of categories including food, people, theater, fine art, and retail.

In 2014, many of the staff of Artvoice, including Editor Geoff Kelly, left Artvoice to launch a competing weekly newspaper, The Public. Since that time, both publications have competed and existed side-by-side.[3] In 2015, Artvoice announced a joint venture with the Niagara Falls Reporter. The papers will combine certain business services while maintaining independent editorial control.[4]
As of October 2015 the weekly distribution of Artvoice was 45,000 copies with plans to increase to 50,000 through the partnership with the Reporter.[5]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_newspaper

An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting local people and culture. Its news coverage is more locally focused and their target audiences younger than those of daily newspapers. Typically, alternative newspapers are published in tabloid format and printed on newsprint. Other names for such publications include alternative weekly, alternative newsweekly, and alt weekly, as the majority circulate on a weekly schedule.

Most metropolitan areas of the United States and Canada are home to at least one alternative paper. These papers are generally found in such urban areas, although a few publish in smaller cities, in rural areas or exurban areas where they may be referred to as an alt monthly due to the less frequent publication schedule.

Alternative newspapers represent the more commercialized and mainstream evolution of the underground press associated with the 1960s counterculture. Their focus remains on arts and entertainment and social and political reportage. Editorial positions at alternative weeklies are predominantly left-leaning, though there is a contingent of conservative, and libertarian, alt-weeklies. Styles vary sharply among alternative newspapers; some affect a satirical, ironic tone, while others embrace a more straightforward approach to reporting.

Columns commonly syndicated to alternative weeklies include "The Straight Dope," Dan Savage's "Savage Love," Rob Breszny's "Free Will Astrology," and Ben Tausig's crossword puzzle "Ink Well." Quirky, non-mainstream comics, such as Matt Groening's Life in Hell, Lynda Barry's Ernie Pook's Comeek, Ruben Bolling's Tom the Dancing Bug, and Ted Rall's political cartoons are also common.

The Village Voice, based in New York City, is one of the first and best-known examples of the form.

The Association of Alternative Newsmedia is the alternative weeklies' trade association. The Alternative Weekly Network and the Ruxton Group are national advertising sales representatives for alternative weeklies.



I HOPE TO READ VERY SOON THAT THIS MAN IS NOT ONLY OFF THE SCHOOL BOARD, HAS LOST WHATEVER PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIALS WHICH HE POSSESSES, AND IS "FIRED" BY DONALD TRUMP AS WELL.

December 29, 2016


News and Views


WORLD V ISRAEL – A STANDOFF

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/israeli-officials-slam-john-kerry-upcoming-pathetic-ignorant-speech-settlements/

Israeli officials slam Sec. John Kerry's upcoming "pathetic," "ignorant" speech
CBS/AP December 28, 2016, 7:42 AM

Photograph -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry attends a meeting with several Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia December 18, 2016. REUTERS/FAISAL AL NASSER


JERUSALEM – Several Israeli officials are lashing out at U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry ahead of his planned policy speech about peace prospects with the Palestinians.

The Israeli government is angry the U.S. allowed a resolution to pass in the U.N. Security Council calling settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank a “flagrant violation” of international law.

How U.N. resolution against Israel will impact U.S. relations
Play VIDEO
How U.N. resolution against Israel will impact U.S. relations

With the U.S. expected to participate in an international peace conference in France next month, Kerry is planning a final policy speech Wednesday to address the issue.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Kerry’s planned speech Wednesday on the Israeli-Palestinian issue is a “pathetic move” and “anti-democratic.”

Erdan told Israel Army Radio that if Kerry lays out principles for a peace deal, as he is expected to do in his speech, it will limit President-elect Donald Trump’s ability to set his own policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Erdan said Obama administration officials are “pro-Palestinian” and “don’t understand what’s happening in the Middle East.”

He said the Obama administration’s refusal to veto a recent U.N. Security Council resolution, which calls settlements a flagrant violation of international law, “threatens the security of Israel.”

Play VIDEO -- Israel points finger at U.S. over U.N. resolution

Oded Revivi, chief foreign envoy of the Yesha Council, which covers Jewish settlements, called Kerry “a stain on American foreign policy” and “ignorant of the issues.”

Revivi made the remarks ahead of Kerry’s speech.

Revivi said Kerry is “the worst secretary of state in history” who “chose to stab his closest ally in the back” and knows little about the realities of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Although the U.S. has long opposed Jerusalem settlements, it has generally used its Security Council veto to protect its ally from censure. On Friday, it abstained from a resolution calling settlements a “flagrant violation” of international law, allowing it to pass by a 14-0 margin.

While the Palestinians hope to capitalize on the momentum of the U.N. vote, it appears Israel’s nationalist government is allowing its relationship with the Obama administration to sour and banking on the incoming Trump administration to undo the damage with redoubled support.

Mr. Trump appears to support the notion that he will be friendlier to the Netanyahu administrations policies, and as recently as Wednesday morning expressed disdain for the Obama administration’s handling of Israel.

Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but.......
9:19 AM - 28 Dec 2016
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Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (U.N.)! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!
9:25 AM - 28 Dec 2016
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In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Kerry would lay out his vision for Israeli-Palestinian peace in the speech Wednesday. “He feels it’s his duty in his waning weeks and days as secretary of state to lay out what he believes is a way to a peaceful two-state solution in the Middle East,” Toner said.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-are-people-so-upset-over-the-latest-united-nations-resolution-about-israel/

Why are people so upset over the latest U.N. resolution about Israel?
CBS News/ December 28, 2016, 6:00 AM

Photograph -- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power at the U.N. Security Council meeting on Dec. 23, 2016.
Play Video -- U.S. refuses to veto UN vote on Israeli settlements
Play Video -- U.S., Israel at odds after U.N. vote condemning settlements


The Obama administration’s decision to not veto [sic] a United Nations resolution sharply critical of Israeli settlements continues to stir debate. But was it really all that different than prior U.N. resolutions that criticized Israel that the U.S. let pass?

The U.N. resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity passed the Security Council last week after the U.S. declined to use its veto power to stop it. Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., instead cast the sole abstaining vote. All other nations on the Security Council voted in favor.

The resolution called for Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.”

East Jerusalem, which contains some of the holiest sites in Judaism, was seized by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967. In a speech before the chamber, Power insisted that her vote did “not in any way diminish the United States’ steadfast and unparalleled commitment to the security of Israel.”

Conservatives and pro-Israel advocates say the resolution signals a major and damaging reversal of U.S. policy in the region. “The White House has abandoned any pretense that the actual parties to the conflict must resolve their differences,” John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Monday.

But Democrats have argued that conservative criticisms of the White House are unwarranted. As political consultant Mark Mellman pointed out on Twitter, for example, previous administrations have declined to exercise veto powers when it comes to resolutions critical of the Israelis.

“Acting like this is some brand new policy or action just isn’t consistent with reality,” Mellman told CBS News. “Right or wrong, good or bad, since 1967 American policy has been that the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza are occupied territories whose final status must be determined by the parties. And the U.S. has consistently opposed Israel’s settlement policy.”

Critics of the resolution argue that it’s been decades since the U.S. allowed a U.N. resolution to pass that says East Jerusalem and other lands taken in the 1967 war are occupied Palestinian territory. Previous resolutions the U.S. allowed to pass have instead tended to condemn specific actions of Israelis or the Israeli government, such as the bombing of an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981.

In another example, a U.N. resolution condemning the 1994 massacre of Muslim worshipers by a Jewish terrorist was passed only when Madeleine Albright, then the U.S. ambassador, demanded a paragraph-by-paragraph vote on it to strip out language implying that Jerusalem was occupied territory.

“[W]e oppose the specific reference to Jerusalem in this resolution and will continue to oppose its insertion in future resolutions,” Albright said at the time.

“We simply do not support the description of the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 war as ‘occupied Palestinian territory,’” Albright said.

Albright’s comments run counter to a 1980 U.N. resolution – supported by the U.S. – that did refer to Jerusalem and other lands taken by Israel in 1967 as occupied territory. But that position was in a sense reversed by Albright’s comments in 1994.

“It’s true the U.S. has not allowed a U.N. Security Council resolution to that effect to pass since 1980, but U.S. policy has been consistent under every Democratic and Republican administration to date. Moreover, the U.S. has allowed other anti-Israel resolutions to pass on a number of occasions before and after 1980. President Obama was the first president to adopt a policy of vetoing all anti-Israel U.N.S.C. resolutions – until now,” Mellman said.

“So not vetoing this resolution is a bit of a punch in the gut, but not a very hard one. It is in no way a change in U.S. policy about the conflict.”


The fact is that the war between the Palestinians and the Israelis, despite the 1967 War and their claims of victor’s rights, is ancient beyond human ken and yet as recent as today, as full of virtuous sounding group passion as a split in a Primitive Baptist church, and as dirty on each side as the interactions of the US Republican/Democrat relations. This furor in the Conservative and traditional elements especially, is a continuance of their hatred and rivalry more than an intellectual discussion of proper Middle Eastern politics.

Having said that, for that land ownership/occupancy issue to continue on forever and ever is nothing but Israeli bullying in my view; and the equally stubborn Palestinian refusal to move over and give them a seat at the family table while backing it up by guerilla style fighting is also despicable. They’re like the South in the Civil War. They just haven’t stopped fighting at all, really. Nobody is in a position of Right in my opinion, and I’m personally sick and tired of all of them. A young man I worked with, a few years ago, went over to his country to get married to his parentally chosen bride. When he came back he said, “Somebody ought to pave over the whole place and turn it into a parking lot.”

Their problem is traditional and tribal thinking instead of our individually melding ourselves into a society of differences which are respected by all and, cemented with, equal rights. There’s nothing like a good constitutional democracy, which isn’t followed perfectly here, but when it is, it really improves the situation. It’s too bad that such a thing is so difficult to maintain once it is achieved at all. It’s a philosophy of producing “law and order,” without the use of fear and suppression of groups or individuals. It is based on the will to do good rather than the will to become rich and powerful. We claim to have done that here in the US, but we have too much internal cultural conflict that the Civil War and the Civil Rights laws didn’t solve, and all because individual humans in their little groups continue to hate and behave despicably toward each other. In our ancient past when a group of people would be composed of perhaps a few extended families in number, the fear of the stranger made sense -- giving a unified fighting unit or, later in the Neolithic, a cooperative group to do something like build Stonehenge in thanks for their harvest -- was clearly a good thing. Now what we need is well educated and trained individuals to fit each into his/her cell in the colony hive – doing our simple but necessary work so the whole will survive. One difference between us and bees, however, is that bees have no individual will or even a sense of identity, probably. Unfortunately, I for one do hate that kind of life and I yearn often times for my beehive hut and my scriptural studies. For that obscure reference, go to this website: http://prayerfoundation.org/irish_monk_beehive_shaped_stone_huts.htm.

Our instincts, however, are not suited to massive cities where nearly everyone is a stranger to most others that we meet and therefore an unknown quantity to be feared; but without birth control we will bring forth 12 or more children per couple and the population continues to grow. Religion is the excuse given to prevent birth control and particularly abortion, no matter how practical a solution it might be. If a woman can stop a pregnancy at a time of particular financial or psychiatric need, perhaps she can avoid becoming driven almost crazy by her many children, so that she beats them in anger rather than loving them in a useful physical way with warm hugs and patient teaching. It would be better for them to be less perfectly behaved than stripped of their ability to deal with life, unable to find joy, unproductive as an individual. We need sane, intelligent, self-confident individuated people in a democracy. It is my opinion that for the most part, wherever human gentleness and communication are really needed, we tend to substitute some dogma or behavioral rule rather than feeling that healthy love that we say we have for others, especially for our children. That’s a large part of the reason why so many people in poor communities end up in jail by the time they are twenty. They are emotionally warped.

Our White Nationalists today want to see an all-white US, as though that would solve the problem of our too frequently vicious conflict here in the US, and that frigid withholding of empathy for others. Ireland is composed of all white people, but they have fought for other reasons as rancorously as in the citizens of Palestine and Israel do today. Groupism, territorialism, general viciousness laced with insanity and ignorance – those are the causes, and it is built into us genetically as a species. I’m sure it’s here to stay. We need our diplomatic corps just to keep the lid on it all and prevent, for perhaps as long as 100 years, an ever-new outbreak of violent warfare. This really is a damned depressing subject for those of us who would like to see some real progress. I personally believe we need relief from the ongoing poverty that drives our social anger, and then we need education especially in the field of human relations and psychology.

So, whatever Obama and the peace seeking people in this country – the diplomats and the Progressives -- try to do, it will be scorned by some, feared by others, and praised by others, such as myself. I just can’t quite get to the point that Slim Pickens reached in that wonderfully humorous and gripping satire, “Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.”


SEE MORE ON ISRAEL BELOW, THE ONLY HOPE FOR TRUE PEACE, IN MY VIEW – THE TWO STATE SOLUTION

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/mideast/john-kerry-warns-israel-two-state-solution-now-jeopardy-n700781?cid=eml_nnn_20161228

John Kerry Warns Israel: Two-State Solution Is 'Now in Jeopardy'
by CORKY SIEMASZKO
NEWS DEC 28 2016, 4:21 PM ET


Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday the Israeli refusal to stop building Jewish settlements on Palestinian territory is undermining any attempt to achieve a lasting peace in the region.

"The settler agenda is defining the future of Israel, and their stated purpose is clear," Kerry said. "They believe in one state: greater Israel."

Play -- Kerry Defends Two-State Solution as the 'Only Way to Ensure Israel's Future' 1:33

In an often-harsh, 70-minute plus speech, Kerry said the two-state solution that President Obama and his predecessors have been pushing for is "now in jeopardy" and the continued settlement building by the Israelis is cementing "a one-state reality that nobody really wants."

If Israel keeps annexing Palestinian territory, Kerry said, "it can be Jewish or Democratic — but it can't be both."

The current course also poses an existential threat to Israel, Kerry said.

"With all the external threat Israel faces today ... does it really want an intensifying conflict in the West Bank?" he said. "If Israel goes down the one-state path, it will never have true peace with the Arab world."

EXCLUSIVE: John Kerry: Our Allies Won't Be Swayed by Trump Tweets

In what's likely to be his final public address as Secretary of State before Donald Trump's administration takes over, Kerry called for "both sides to take significant steps on the ground to reverse current trends."

Kerry said the Palestinians have also been an impediment to the peace process by glorifying terrorists, trying to "delegitimize" Israel, and failing to control Hamas, "who have a one-state vision of its own."

Kerry spoke five days after the U.S. abstained when the Security Council voted to condemn the Jewish state for continuing to defy the world body by building new homes for Jews on Palestinian territory. The U.S broke with its longstanding policy of diplomatically shielding Israel on such matters.

Play Kerry: With One State, 'Israel Can Either be Jewish or Democratic--It Cannot Be Both' Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed
Kerry: With One State, 'Israel Can Either be Jewish or Democratic--It Cannot Be Both' 0:49

The UN vote infuriated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long had a tense relationship with President Obama — and who had taken the unusual step of trying to get President-elect Donald Trump to help scuttle the vote.

"We reject the criticism that this vote abandons Israel," Kerry said, noting that the U.S. and 'virtually every country in the world opposes the settlements besides Israel."

Kerry also took direct aim at Netanyahu's crack that "friends don't take friends to the Security Council."

"Some seem to believe that the U.S. friendship means the U.S. must accept any policy, regardless of our own interests, our own positions, our own words, our own principles — even after urging again and again that the policy must change," he said. "Friends need to tell each other the hard truths, and friendships require mutual respect."

Before Kerry spoke, Trump weighed in on Twitter, bashing the Obama administration and the Iran nuclear deal that both he and Netanyahu oppose.

"We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but.......not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (U.N.)! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!"

Netanyahu Tweeted back his thanks to Trump and mentioned Trump's daughter Ivanka and son Donald Jr.

Follow
Benjamin Netanyahu ✔ @netanyahu
President-elect Trump, thank you for your warm friendship and your clear-cut support for Israel! 🇮🇱🇺🇸@IvankaTrump @DonaldJTrumpJr https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/814114980983427073 …
10:24 AM - 28 Dec 2016
15,053 15,053 Retweets 32,064 32,064 likes

After the UN move, Netanyahu accused Obama, currently on vacation in his home state of Hawaii, of being behind the historic vote.

Not true, Kerry reiterated Wednesday.

"The United States did not draft this resolution," he said. "Nor did we put it forward."

Kerry's remarks echoed earlier statements in which he defended the U.S. decision to abstain saying it could not "stand in the way of a resolution at the United Nations that makes clear that both sides must act now to preserve the possibility of peace."

The outgoing Secretary of State also reminded the Israelis that they have never had a better friend than the Obama administration.

Play Israeli UN ambassador sounds off on Kerry speech Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed
Israeli UN ambassador sounds off on Kerry speech 5:59

"No American administration has done more for Israel's security than Barack Obama's," he said. "Time and again we have demonstrated we have Israel's back... More than half our global military financing goes to Israel."

Netanyahu disagreed. He said he was "disappointed" by Kerry's speech and said the Palestinians' refusal to recognize the existence of Israel — not the the building of settlements — was the reason for the years of conflict.

"No one wants peace more than the people of Israel," he said. "Israel looks forward to working with President-elect Trump... to mitigate the damage this resolution has done."

Netanyahu also repeated his claim that the Obama administration behind the UN resolution and said he will present to his proof to the Trump administration. He did not elaborate.

"Some of it is sensitive," he said. "It's all true."

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak praised Kerry's speech as "powerful" and "lucid."

Follow
אהוד ברק ✔ @barak_ehud
@JohnKerry Powerful, lucid speech. World & majority in Israel think the same. Bibi, on verge of messianic abyss, determined to go forward
2:13 PM - 28 Dec 2016
548 548 Retweets 909 909 likes

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, called Kerry's speech "at best a pointless tirade in the waning days of an outgoing administration."

"I support a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians," he said. "But this solution is simply not possible at this time because Israel has no viable partner for peace."

Like his White House predecessors, Obama pursued an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal that called for two independent states living side-by-side. And like his predecessors, Obama's attempt ended in failure.

Kerry's last ditch attempt to keep the process going is not likely to find much favor with the incoming Trump administration. The President-elect has already angered the UN by pledging to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and he has picked for ambassador a lawyer named David Friedman who is a strong supporter of the Jewish settlements.

Play Rep. Smith: 'Two-state solution is the only way' Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed
Rep. Smith: 'Two-state solution is the only way' 5:43

But by laying out a framework for a possible peace deal, Kerry appeared to be trying to box Netanyahu in even more with the UN, which long ago lost patience with the Israeli settlement building.

Still, ahead of Kerry's speech, Netanyahu — in a move aimed at reducing tensions with Washington — prevailed on Jerusalem's municipal government to cancel a scheduled vote the approve the building of 492 new housing units of annexed territory.

Israel has for decades pursued a policy of building Jewish settlements in defiance of the rest of the world, which views them as an obstacle to peace. Washington also considers the settlement activity illegitimate.

Israeli hardliners, however, say they have a Biblical right to the lands they call Judea and Samaria and contend a Palestinian state would pose a security threat.

Currently, some 570,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem among more than 2.6 million Palestinians.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-elect-donald-trump-twitter-foreign-policy-breaking-tradition/

John Kerry on Donald Trump: U.S. allies won't be "intimidated by a tweet"
CBS NEWS
December 29, 2016, 7:00 AM

Play VIDEO -- Secretary of State Kerry's speech on Israel prompts fiery response



President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration is about three weeks away, but his Twitter account has already ruffled feathers at the White House. The latest flashpoint came Wednesday when he condemned a U.N. vote critical of Israeli settlements.

The U.S. has only one president at a time, responsible for setting foreign policy. To avoid confusion during the transition, incoming presidents usually avoid those topics, but not Mr. Trump. Twitter has given him a 24-hour megaphone, reports CBS News correspondent Jan Crawford.

From his Florida estate, Mr. Trump’s 140-character proclamations reverberate in capitals around the world. A flurry of tweets has promised changes to Middle East policy when he takes office in January, prompting this response from Secretary of State John Kerry:

“I think it’s having some impact, obviously, on allies who are questioning, you know, what’s going on. But they have their own policies. They’re not going to be swayed and intimidated by a tweet,” Kerry said on MSNBC.

Wall Street Journal White House reporter Carol Lee says Mr. Trump has done away with the notion that the sitting president should be the one speaking on behalf of the nation – and not the president-elect.

“It’s another instance in which Donald Trump is re-writing the rules and breaking with tradition,” Lee said. It has caused “a lot of friction,” she also said.

This month, Mr. Trump suggested he will expand the U.S. nuclear arsenal and made overtures to Taiwan, angering officials on the Chinese mainland.

Like President Franklin D. Roosevelt did through radio, and President John F. Kennedy with television, Mr. Trump’s tweets can dominate a news cycle.

He spoke to “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl about the power of his Twitter account last month.

“When you give me a bad story or when you give me an inaccurate story or when somebody other than you and another network, or whatever, because of course, CBS would never do a thing like that right? I have a method of fighting back,” Mr. Trump said.

Aides say Trump will continue to tweet when he moves into the White House.

“I think that his use of social media… is going to be something that’s never been seen before, he has this direct pipeline to the American people,” Mr. Trump’s incoming press secretary Sean Spicer said.

Others will be listening too. The tweeter-in-chief’s new followers will likely include hostile governments and foreign spies.

“Intelligence agencies all over the world sift through social media. They love social media. It’s a great way to get insight,” said James Lewis, the Center for Strategic & International Studies’ director of the Strategic Technologies Program.

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump turned his Twitter account on President Obama, accusing him of setting up roadblocks.

Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks. Thought it was going to be a smooth transition - NOT!
9:07 AM - 28 Dec 2016
27,849 27,849 Retweets 97,125 97,125 likes

In the closing days of his administration, Obama officials have been trying to cement his legacy and ensure his policies can’t be easily reversed when he leaves office.



Republican lawmakers tried so hard to charge Clinton with a crime for using her own personal email server, and now Trump uses a method that is outrightly visible to the world at large to discuss state related matters in a careless and totally public way, and of course he persistently uses totally informal words to express himself. He isn’t exactly a private citizen anymore, after all, and he isn’t our President yet, either. Trump is complaining that Obama is trying to preclude his turning back the clock on many issues which are of importance with one tweet after another. I, however, applaud the Obama administration for trying to prevent the devastation of a structure of dos and don’ts which really is important. Kings want government by decree, and citizens in a country like this want discussion and deliberation. It’s a very different viewpoint on how to make things “better.” Of course, Trump’s view is that he personally should come in like Hurricane Andrew and fix it all “the way it should be.” That offends a lot of Americans, including myself, and I believe in the very least that his word should not be considered “the word of God.” He also is not given to taking time to get things right before he proclaims his will. It isn’t all going to be possible, much less legal, as has already been shown by his withdrawal of several of those statements. If only he would accept guidance in the beginning, I would feel better about him.

In addition, his use of words when he is speaking is often difficult to decipher. I often can’t tell from reading it exactly what he is trying to say. His mind wanders to something else sometimes and he fails to use detailed examples. The following is one such statement: “When you give me a bad story or when you give me an inaccurate story or when somebody other than you and another network, or whatever, because of course, CBS would never do a thing like that right? I have a method of fighting back,” Mr. Trump said.” He talks just like most Americans do in casual conversation, which often isn’t very clear, but after all, they aren’t the President. It doesn’t matter so much what they say. What he says and how he says it does matter.

I think he loves to get on his Twitter account and do what I call “wise off,” but unfortunately that is inappropriate for a head of state in talking about real world affairs or other official business. There’s a reason for diplomacy. He has angered the government of “Mainland China,” as we used to call it, which has control legally of Taiwan now, I thought, but it is very complicated and not at all clear. China claims to essentially “own” Taiwan now, but Taiwan (Republic of China) respectfully disagrees. That’s why he needs to let the State Department guide what he says at least to a sufficient degree that he doesn’t step into these verbal pit traps, and especially on things that he declares to be policy promises. Perhaps Obama is too careful sometimes, but Trump really should study his thinking patterns as compared to his own.

To make this more complex and yet also more clear, I searched the term Taipei because I saw it used above as the synonym for ROC at one place and Taiwan in another. According to Wikipedia in the article “Chinese Taipei,” gives Taiwan as the name for a section of Taipei only. I hope Mr. Trump will either let his diplomats be his guide on these and even weightier matters, because it really sounds confusing to me, and wherever one is at the time in China, the faction there may be prepared to get irate about a matter of imprecise language use. On Sep 3, 2016 in China, at a friendly visit by Obama, there occurred what Politico called the “tarmac altercation,” which I took to be a misunderstanding that got out of hand and included some minor physical assault. That really isn’t good.

See the summary of the legal relationship(s) between Taiwan and the Mainland in the following Quora answers on the current legal status of Taiwan. Commenters there, giving answers on the “true” status of Taiwan, vary considerably in terms of how they understand the question, where their passions lie, and how much detail they include. One of the best, by Michelle Zhou, takes it back to 10,000 BC. Wow! I’m including only snippets here, and then not from the entire 100 comments. Too much for one day. It’s like the question of what language is “Chinese” actually? The answer is one, but many, many including dialects, and they are often so different that dwellers in one area may be unable to understand those in a nearby region. “www.alsintl.com/blog/spoken-chinese” is a good source for that. The Quora comment by Jay Hao-EnLiu is the best overview on political status, I think. The quick and dirty version of that, by Charlie Cheever however, gives the info that Trump and others may need to use in order to avoid offending either ROC or PRC. I will leave it to you to find and read them for yourselves, along with the 98 others.


https://www.quora.com/Is-Taiwan-part-of-or-separate-from-China

100+ Helpful Answers

Jay Hao-En Liu
Jay Hao-En Liu, Taiwanese. Tells it as it is.
Updated Jun 17, 2015
To properly answer this question, one needs to be able to make a distinction between:
--- China, the cultural-historical civilization
--- Taiwan, the contemporary geographical territory
--- Mainland China, the contemporary geographical territory
--- R.O.C., the political entity
--- Taiwan (R.O.C.) or R.O.C. (Taiwan), the unofficial designation now commonly used by Taiwan
--- P.R.C., the political entity
Many of these terms are used interchangeably, which makes it very difficult to understand the intricacies of the situation.

To begin with, one must first understand the cultural-historical entity of China. This refers to the concept of "China," an ancient civilization which began 5000 years ago.

The borders and territories of this civilization have seen constant change over these five millenia, dramatically growing and shrinking as different socio-political entities take power, form alliances, break apart, or conquer new territories, etc. Wikipedia has a great animated GIF showing the evolution of the territory of China.

Over the centuries, countless political entities have ruled over China, sometimes in succession, and sometimes concurrently (e.g. during the warring states period). The last in the long line of succession of these entities have been the ROC, which overthrew the Qing dynasty in 1912, and the PRC., which in turn overthrew the ROC regime in 1949, forcing it out of the mainland Chinese territory and onto the island of Taiwan. To put it simply, the ROC and PRC both refer to political entities that have ruled over the territories (or part of the territories) of the historical civilization known as "China." Once you grasp this, you will understand how asking whether the ROC is independent or part of the PRC is like asking if the Qing dynasty is independent or part of the ROC. It is inherently unanswerable. Asking whether Taiwan, the territory, is independent or not is a different question.

The current reality is that the ROC was overthrown but not eliminated by the PRC in 1949, and continues to exist and control territory on Taiwan. Officially, both political entities claim to be the lawful government of all of "China," the cultural-historical entity. However, that position has become increasingly untenable for the ROC government, as it no longer has de facto control over most of that territory, and is unlikely to ever regain it. The ROC has thus refrained from pressing that claim for several decades now, even though constitutionally it has never renounced it. You can see here in this old photo the logo of the now defunct ROC Goverment Information Office depicting a map of the ROC, which actually includes not only mainland China (which the PRC controls), but also territories the PRC does not claim (most notably, the entirety of outer Mongolia).

That is in fact still the official territory of the ROC according to the constitution, because said constitution ordains that the nation's territory cannot be changed unless unless authorized by the National Assembly, and such an authorization has never occurred.

Unofficially however, the ROC government has made several efforts to distance itself from that claim, attempting to tie the ROC moniker to the territory of Taiwan, and exclusively to Taiwan. Hence, you will see many instances of the term Taiwan (ROC) or ROC (Taiwan) in use. These terms, however, are unofficial, and have no legal basis in the ROC constitution. The official territory of the ROC still covers the entirety of contemporary mainland China, and more.

So, back to the question: "Is Taiwan (ROC) an independent country or a part of China(PRC)?" There are several ways to frame this.

1. Is the ROC an independent country or part of the PRC?

They are two entirely separate political entities whose territorial claims overlap. The PRC claims to be a successor, while the ROC claims not to have been succeeded. The reality is somewhere in ... (more)
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Charlie Cheever
Charlie Cheever, lives in Palo Alto, CA

Written Oct 22, 2009 · Upvoted by Marc Bodnick, Former Stanford PhD student in Politics
Unclear. The short answer is de facto, separate, but in terms of formal recognition by other governments, part of China. Both the ROC and PRC governments claim that they govern all of China (including both the mainland and Taiwan,) but the ROC only controls Taiwan and the PRC only controls mainland China.

Basically "The political solution that is accepted by many of the current groups is the following perspective of the status quo: that is, to unofficially treat Taiwan as a state and at a minimum, to officially declare no support for the government of this state making a formal declaration of independence. "

There is a lot more detail here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pol...
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Michelle Zhou
Michelle Zhou
Updated Aug 13
Originally Answered: When has Taiwan become part of China? Any proofs?
Taiwan Timeline:

~10,000 B.C. - Taiwan was joined to the mainland in the Late Pleistocene until sea levels rose. [1][2][3]
6,000 B.C. - Research suggests Taiwanese aborigines arrived in Taiwan 8,000 years before a major Han immigration began in the 17th century. [w]
13th century - Han Chinese began settling in the Penghu islands.[w]
1622 - The Dutch East India Company attempted to establish a trading outpost on the Penghu Islands, but were militarily defeated and driven off by the Ming authorities.
1624 - The company established a stronghold called Fort Zeelandia on the coastal islet of Tayouan, The Company began to import laborers from Fujian and Penghu, many of whom settled. [w]
1662 - Following the fall of the Ming dynasty, Zheng Chenggong, a self-styled Ming loyalist, arrived on the island and captured Fort Zeelandia, expelling the Dutch Empire and military from the island.

1662~1683 - Zheng Chenggong established the Kingdom of Tungning, with his capital at Tainan.
1683 ~ 1760 - the Qing government limited immigration to Taiwan. Such restriction was relaxed following the 1760s and by 1811 there were more than two million Chinese immigrants on Taiwan.
1875 - Taipeh Prefecture was established, under the jurisdiction of Fujian Province.

1887 - the Qing upgraded the island's administration from Taiwan Prefecture of Fujian to Fujian-Taiwan-Province, the twentieth in the empire, with its capital at Taipei. This was accompanied by a modernization drive that included building China's first railroad.[w]
1884 - During the Sino-French War the French attempted an invasion of Taiwan during the Keelung Campaign. Liu Mingchuan, who was leading the defence of Taiwan, recruited Aboriginals to serve alongside the Chinese soldiers in fighting against the French.
1895 - As part of the settlement for losing the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing empire ceded the island of Taiwan and Penghu to Japan. The loss of Taiwan would become a rallying point for the Chinese nationalist movement in the years that followed. Japan ruled the island for 50 years until its defeat in World War II. [w]
1951 – In the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty between Japan and the Allied Powers, Article 2(f), states: “Japan renounces all right, title and claim to the Spratly Islands and to the Paracel Islands.” This renunciation of the two island groups, and of Taiwan itself, was confirmed in the U.S.-brokered 1952 peace treaty.
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Daniel Shi
Daniel Shi, Chinese American. Lived in Beijing for 3 years.
Written Jul 14, 2010 · Upvoted by Marc Bodnick, Former Stanford PhD student in Politics
It depends.

Politically

On paper: YES
In reality: NO
When I visited Taipei, it clearly had an entirely separate government and political system from the Mainland. And if you ask any right minded person in Beijing, they'll feel the same way. That having been said, it's one of those things you just don't talk about.

Economically

No. Taiwan and China are now thoroughly linked together economically.

The bulk of Taiwanese manufacturing is now done in mainland China. Foxconn, which is the biggest company in Taiwan has tens of thousands of employees in Shenzhen and other parts of China. China Mobile recently had a high profile executive trip to Taipei to sign cooperations with Taiwanese carriers. Many big companies in mainland China are headed by Taiwanese executives.

Cross strait relations are HUGE. $150 BB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco...) out of a GDP of $380BB

Culturally

Yes, but changing. Of course there has been big fragmentation since the split. And actually, I think Taiwan has stronger ties to traditional Chinese culture (pre-CCP) than even the mainland. In recent years, there have been a number of traditional Chinese wedding planning shops popping up in Mainland China, mostly run by Taiwanese.

On the other hand, there is also the Taiwanization movement going on. But while I was there, I didn't notice such a huge difference between Taiwan and Beijing, culturally speaking.

Also, Taiwan has a strong influence from Japan that is absent from the Mainland due to their differing experiences during occupation.

It's a complex issue.
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Andy Lee Chaisiri
Andy Lee Chaisiri, a fan of the swords
Written Feb 12, 2015
You can tell if a mainlander really considers Taiwan a part of China by their reaction to Taiwan sports wins

Taiwan scores historic basketball win over China

Back in 2013, the Republic of China (Taiwan) defeated mainland China in basketball. Many of my mainland co-worker friends were quite shocked and felt defeated. But I was there to reminded them:

"Hey, Taiwan is a part of China, you should be happy that China won the Asian championship!"

As someone of Chinese ancestry who grew up in the US I like seeing the Republic of China and People's Republic of China alike do well in sports (and as an Asian-American, any Asian country really). But on to more political matters...

It's perfectly normal for there to be multiple feuding dynasties of 'China' in China

China, China, and China fight for supremacy in China

Whenever a mainlander or Taiwanese asks me my thoughts on "is Taiwan a part of China", I just ask them what their favorite three kingdoms leader is. Then we go eat Chinese food (such as KFC) and peace is maintained for yet another day.

. . . . “