05/23/15

Jade Helm – Reason for Concern?

By: T F Stern
The Moral Liberal

Jade Helm Crazy Cartoon

Conspiracy rumors abound as Jade Helm  military exercises begin to roll forward in various places of the United States.  Is there reason to be concerned or is this simply a chance for our military personnel to practice?

One factor to consider would have to be the public’s loss of trust towards those in government.

“A key component of the controversial Jade Helm military exercise set to take part in nine U.S. states this summer will involve soldiers operating “undetected amongst civilian populations,” to see if they can infiltrate without being noticed.”

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“Despite assurances that the training is to prepare troops for overseas missions, Army documents in the past have made clear that plans for martial law are in place for within the Continental United States (CONUS).

A leaked 2012 US Army Military Police training manual, entitled “Civil Disturbance Operations,” described how soldiers would be ordered to confiscate firearms and kill American “dissidents.” The manual also revealed that prisoners would be detained in temporary internment camps and “re-educated” to gain a new appreciation of “U.S. policies,” in accordance with U.S. Army FM 3-19.40 Internment/Resettlement Operations.”

I suppose we should trust the military; after all, they are paid to protect us…right?  President Obama trusts the military completely; that’s why when he ordered U.S. Marines to be disarmed during his Inauguration Parade.

“He’s gutted their healthcare, plans to cut their pay and apparently, doesn’t trust them either. David Codrea over at Gun Rights Examiner points out that Marines marching in President Obama’s second inaugural parade recently were caring rifles without bolts, meaning they were removed.”

President Obama should bear full responsibility for the public’s loss of trust.

Obama’s administration has shown time and time again its ineptitude and utter contempt for following limitations placed on government by the Constitution. I’d list them all here; but space being at a premium…Fast & Furious scandal, Solyndra loan/gift of taxpayer funds, Obamacare’s “You can keep your doctor”, NSA spying on Americans, IRS targeting political enemies of Obama, Benghazi, racially dividing the nation, Executive Orders to get around Congress on Illegal Immigration, supplying arms to the Muslim Brotherhood, apologizing to the world for America’s greatness at the United Nations…  Is it necessary to continue?

It wouldn’t be so bad if Obama’s administrators were simply inept; but their arrogance toward the public which employs them makes it even more difficult to excuse a total lack of respect for their stewardships.  When asked to justify their actions the general rule is to stonewall requested information, refuse to answer or plead the 5th in order to avoid prosecution for crimes against We The People.

When the largest military operation ever to take place on American soil during peacetime is being carried out with only Washington’s promise that it’s nothing out of the ordinary, there’s no reason to be concerned or the check’s in the mail…let’s just say a little skepticism is in order.

There was an old black and white movie made back in the early sixties, Seven Days in May, which dealt with the theoretical possibility of a military take over of the government.  The plot called for a group of upper echelon military to stage war games exercise and use that moment to remove the president from office under the pretense that he was unfit for office.

While the story line doesn’t match up, at least not entirely with today’s political setting, there are many similarities which are worthy of consideration. Seven Days in May, was a fictional story; however, think on this:

“President Kennedy had read Seven Days in May shortly after its publication and believed the scenario as described could actually occur in the United States.”

Obama has removed top ranking officers from the military, men who had not planned on retiring; men who have publicly stated that they could not and would not follow orders from the White House to fire on American civilians.

I have just been informed by a former senior military leader that Obama is using a new “litmus test” in determining who will stay and who must go in his military leaders. Get ready to explode folks. The new litmus test of leadership in the military is if they will fire on US citizens or not. Those who will not are being removed.”

Obama has scheduled Jade Helm as a military exercise to be carried out in several states, some labeled as “Hostile”, states which just happen to have voted against him and his agenda to transform America.

Is this a military take over, similar to the one in Seven Days in May, only in reverse; a president of the United States setting the stage for Martial Law?

Obama didn’t trust U.S. Marines to have loaded weapons during his Inauguration Parade, he doesn’t trust American citizens with weapons either.  Is Jade Helm the elephant in the middle of the room that nobody can see, Obama’s bold opportunity to seize American’s weapons via a supposed military exercise?

FEMA DomesAre those FEMA buildings what they purport to be or is there a more sinister, a dark side to their being located behind schools or on Wal-mart properties shut down for “emergency plumbing repairs”?

While we’re into making outlandish comparisons…didn’t Richard ‘I am not a Crook’ Nixon have plumbers… White House Plumbers to fix those who stood against him?  Maybe Obama has a team of plumbers going to fix what needs fixing and they’ll use Wal-mart as cover during Jade Helm.

Here’s my solution to restoring a smidgen of trust in our government at this time. Call off Jade Helm and put the public’s mind at ease. There’s enough unrest going on without pouring gasoline on an already smoldering fire.

Is there reason for concern regarding Jade Helm?  You don’t have to be into conspiracy theories to come up with…yes.


T.F. Stern

The Moral Lib­eral’s Senior Edi­tor, T.F. Stern, is a retired City of Hous­ton police offi­cer, self-employed lock­smith, and gifted polit­i­cal and social com­men­ta­tor. His pop­u­lar and insight­ful blog, T.F. Sterns Rant­i­ngs, has been up and at it since Jan­u­ary of 2005.

04/11/15

Mark Levin: Obama’s foreign policy doctrine

MARK LEVIN: Our country won’t be destroyed by Islamo-Nazis…it’s gonna COLLAPSE FROM WITHIN

Levin: We Are Witnessing ‘Complete Evisceration of American Citizenship’

01/6/15

Frenetic Pace

Arlene from Israel

Where to begin in these days of turmoil, both at home and abroad?

I think I’ll start at home, with the weather.  A major winter storm is due to start here within hours.  It is predicted that the north, Jerusalem, and high places in Judea and Samaria will see considerable snow between now and Friday.  In other places there will be torrential rain, hail, thunderstorms and flooding.

Credit: gopicpix

As long as I don’t lose my electric power, I’ll keep writing.

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From snow, to heavier issues regarding the Palestinian Authority:

The US State Department has criticized Israel’s declared intention to withhold collected taxes from the PA because of Abbas’s application for membership in the ICC. Spokeswoman Jen Psaki delivered one of her typical, vastly irritating statements: “We’re opposed to any actions that raise tensions. Obviously this is one that raises tensions.”

Translation: “Yes, I know the PA did something deplorable, but be nice. We don’t want to make them angry now, do we?”

Well, actually, yes, I think we do.

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I had alluded recently to the fact that while we are about to withhold PA tax money, the PA owes the Israel Electric Company enormous sums of money.  And now, lo and behold, the Israel Electric Company seems to have come to its senses.  Or, perhaps more accurately, I should say that they’ve been given a tacit nod from the government that allows them to take a necessary and sensible position.

Israel Electric Company CEO Eli Glickman has now sent a letter to Israel’s security chiefs, letting them know that there may be a certain amount of “unrest” in PA-controlled areas because a decision has been made to limit the supply of electricity in those areas.  That is because the PA and the Palestinian-Arab controlled Jerusalem District Electric Company owe the Electric Company 1.7 billion shekels (well over $400 million). The PA buys the electricity from IEC and then sells it to PA-controlled municipalities.

Glickman has written that, “the debt imposes a heavy burden on the company’s cash flow…” and IEC “as a supplier of an essential service that is committed to all its customers, is obligated to begin working in the coming days to collect [outstanding funds]” either by limiting supply of electricity or refusing to connect new customers.

At last!

Please do note that service will be reduced, not curtailed.  And I am quite certain that nothing has been initiated that would affect service during the predicted storm.

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It must be pointed out that the failure of the PA to pay this bill is not an indication of a simple lack of funds, but rather of a highly inappropriate utilization of funds.  There is, for example, the matter of “salaries” paid to the terrorists in Israeli jails (with the amount of the salaries higher for those who committed more heinous crimes).

And then, of course, there is the enormous corruption in the PA, so that, while the Palestinian Arabs receive the highest amount per capita in international funding of any group, a good deal of that money seems to “disappear.”

Please see, “The  10 year klepto-dictatorship of Mahmoud Abbas”:

“Like any dictator, [Abbas is] corrupt. His predecessor, Yasser Arafat, was accused of embezzling billions of dollars of money meant for the Palestinian people, with US officials estimating the man’s personal nest egg at between one and three billion dollars. In line with his role model, after whom he named his own son, Abbas has continued this ignominious tradition.”

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What must be asked, however, is why the Israeli government is not simply turning over to the Electric Company the money that is being withheld, so that a good part of the money owed by the PA for electricity would be covered.

The fact that this is not the case suggests that the government knows now that the money is being held only temporarily as a gesture, and that ultimately it will be given to the PA.  Or that there is at least the possibility of this decision being made, in response to international pressure.

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The PA application for membership in the ICC does not require the US to act – beyond, perhaps, closing a PLO office temporarily.  But, according to recently passed US legislation, no funding may be provided to the PA if “the Palestinians initiate an International Criminal Court judicially authorized investigation, or actively support such an investigation, that subjects Israeli nationals to an investigation for alleged crimes against Palestinians.”

Both Israel and members of Congress are watching the situation closely.http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-to-ask-congress-to-stop-funding-pa/

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When reports came out very recently indicating that non-governmental Israeli organizations might be the ones to pursue charges against the PA in courts outside of Israel, my thoughts went immediately to Shurat Hadin.  And here you are:

“Shurat Hadin said it would be sending copies of the ready-to- file complaints to Abbas, Mashaal, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, and many others so that they could see directly what they will face if they go beyond signing the Rome Statute and take the final step of filing war crimes complaints against Israelis.”

They’re fantastic.

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International lawyer Alan Baker, Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, has now drafted “Ten Points Regarding the Fundamental Breach by the Palestinians of the Oslo Accords.”


Credit: inthelastofdays

It is the considered legal opinion of Ambassador Baker that (emphasis added):

In “petitioning the UN, the International Criminal Court and international organizations to recognize them and accept them as a full member state, and by their unification with the Hamas terror organization, the Palestinians have knowingly and deliberately bypassed their contractual obligations pursuant to the Oslo Accords in an attempt to prejudge the main negotiating issues outside the negotiation.

“This, together with their attempts to delegitimize Israel among the international community and their attempted actions against Israel’s leaders, has served to frustrate any possibility of realization of the Oslo Accords, and as such the Palestinians are in material breach of their contractual obligations.”

“…according to the accepted and universally recognized laws of contracts and international agreements, a fundamental breach enables the injured party to declare the agreement void and is freed from any further obligations pursuant to the agreement or contract. Therefore the fundamental breach of the Oslo Accords by the Palestinians is indicative of their conscious decision to undermine them and prevent any possibility of their implementation. As such they have rendered the Accords void…Israel has the legitimate right to declare that the Oslo Accords are no longer valid and to act unilaterally in order to protect its essential legal and security interests.”

A very important legal opinion. But fairly meaningless if Israel does not act accordingly.

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Matters have not been exactly peaceful here in the political sphere, aka the “political circus.”  A few highlights:

There were some irregularities discovered in the voting in the Likud primary, which were challenged by Tzipi Livni.  After some re-counting was done, she found herself just 55 votes shy of taking the (realistic) 20th slot from Avi Dichter. She says she is not giving up yet.  There have been some other readjustments of slot assignments according to the recount.  But I will not report on details until it is all final.

Netanyahu made a statement regarding campaign plans for the Likud that involved some future legislation that would change electoral procedures.  But this is campaign talk.  If and when such legislation is proposed, I will write about it.

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For some many days the Herzog-Livni duo, according to the polls, was either slightly ahead of Likud or neck and neck with it.  Now polls are showing Likud pulling ahead.  Predictions are that a right-wing religious coalition might be composed of as many as 69 mandates.

At present, neither the newly founded party of Michael Ben-Ari nor that of Eli Yishai is shown to make the cut-off (3.75% of the vote)for getting into the Knesset.

Shas is, unsurprisingly, showing at only a fraction of its current strength.  A similar drop in mandates is showing for Yisrael Beitenu (Lieberman) and Yesh Atid (Lapid).

A word about Lapid here: He has admitted on IDF radio that he went into the Finance Ministry, “a bit power drunk…we should have listened to advice more.” He sure was power drunk, and he did damage in the process. Perhaps he thinks making this confession will square him with the voters, but I do not.

Moshe Feiglin has announced that he is leaving Likud.  His plans are a bit vague. Either he’ll start a new party (we need another party, yes?), in which case he recognizes that he will not be in the Knesset next time around. Or he’ll join with another nationalist party now, in hopes of securing a realistic place on a list.  Ben-Ari has invited him; it is not clear to me at all if Feiglin has sufficient voter influence to bring Ben-Ari’s party into the Knesset.

New people are joining parties at a rapid clip – including from the broadcasting world and the entertainment world.  Let’s see who makes the cut once lists are announced.  Up-coming soon is the Habayit Hayehudi primary; not every party determines its list via primary.

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I close with this upbeat opinion piece by Guy Bechor: “The Arab oil era is over.”

“As the Gulf states are left with no money to spend and are experiencing internal shocks, the era of destructive Arab power is coming to an end; the Israeli mind and innovation era, on the other hand, is just beginning.

“The most dramatic news in 2014 almost went unnoticed: The United States lifted the restrictions on American oil exports, and as of the first day of the new year it has begun exporting oil to the world.

“No one believed this would happen so fast, but the US is already the world’s biggest oil manufacturer, bigger than Saudi Arabia, thanks to the oil shale technology which changed the world of energy…

“As the year 2015 begins, we are facing a new world: A world of a revolution of information, mind, personal strength, innovation and inventions. And in this world, Israel is a real princess…

“Israel is becoming a close friend of countries which were distant in the past but are close today, like India, Japan, China and South Korea. They too understand that those who are not innovative and lack a creative mind will just not be. And in this field, Israel has a lot to offer them, just like they have a lot to offer in return.”

As I hear the wind howling outside my window, I am able to smile.