I love this saying from one of my colleagues in the National Security field about the Middle East:
If you aren’t invited for dinner, you’re likely on the menu!
Oh how true it is.
It reminds me of a mother-in-law joke my father used to tell about this guy telling his friend:
Yeah, we had my mother-in-law for dinner. And boy was she good!
Anyway, no one can tell a joke like he did.
Last thing you want to be is on the menu. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
I thought this was a funny saying that my friend told me.
I’d agree with you but then we’d both be wrong!
He said that he actually liked it so much that he got a sign with it and put it in his office.
As they say, “Two wrongs don’t make right.”
If you think something is wrong, hold your ground–otherwise no one will be right. 😉
(Source Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 Let our nation operate
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 Fix our broken directorate
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s Doors
5-6-7-8 Better for us to negotiate
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 Get things done for Goodness sake
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 We have no more time to cogitate
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 Get the employees back to progress the state
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 Blaming each other only exasperate
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 Democracy means we must work it out
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 Polarized politics destroys our clout
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 The people are sick and tired of this useless way
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 Terms limits are needed to sway
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 Dysfunctional government can’t continue unabate
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 We’re sick and tired of ignoring realpolitik
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 Grow up and show some unifying leadership
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 Finally put people’s needs first
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 Stop playing with our country’s fate
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 National security and our economy depend on it
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 It’s time to get things done and not wait
1-2-3-4 Open up the government’s doors
5-6-7-8 Serve the people and cut out the hate
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
We are at a unbelievably critical moment in history.
North Korea and Iran have nuclear weapons capability and are threatening and maniacal enough to use them.
Negotiations, incentives, and phony deals have led to nothing but advancing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction with our enemies and their continued vows to kill us.
As Iran vows to annihilate Israel and chants:
North Korea vows a nuclear attack saying Washington will be:
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 72a) teaches the principle of self-defense:
Preemption is justifiable if the threat is real and imminent.
North Korea and Iranian threats are very real and getting ever more imminent as their capabilities increase–and if anything, they have been underestimated and underreported.
They have continued to build and test nukes and the missiles to deliver them to the U.S. and our allies, despite pleas as well as carrots and sticks to cease their menacing actions.
The prior administration’s position of “strategic patience” has meant nothing but indecision and a do nothing approach as things get worse and not better.
Now, we have the opportunity to destroy the deadly nuke sites before these despotic regimes hit us and our population of nearly 320 million people with a nuke first strategy!
We are a peaceful nation that believes deeply in freedom and human rights, but we cannot live under constant threat of nuclear attack on our cities and allies.
A preemptive strike is a very, very serious decision, but we cannot wait indefinitely and let ourselves become victims of the most horrific weapons and their destructive capabilities and aftermath.
What do we do if North Korea and Iran refuse their endless pursuit weapons of mass destruction and their threats to use them on us?
Perhaps, this is soon to be a rhetorical question if not the most dire of all decisions to make and the time to make them.
May G-d have mercy on us–if ever their was a time, now is the time to pray and mean it. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
A wonderful colleague sent me this really impressive photo.
This was one of my favorite of 3 aircraft carrier strike groups taken together (Abraham Lincoln, Kitty Hawk, and Ronald Reagan)–the 1st and the 3rd of which are Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarriers.
According to the slides, there were literally 4 four nuclear submarines standing guard in the waters beneath, as well as a B-2 stealth bomber flying overhead.
What I really liked the most though wasn’t even the photos, but rather the motto for the carriers of:
“Over 90,000 tons of diplomacy…wherever… whenever…”
Diplomacy can be listening, negotiating, and compromise, but it can also be through the projection of the ultimate national and human strength.
With a staggering rise in global terrorism, militaristic adventurism, and the proliferation of dangerous weapons of mass destruction, perhaps it’s time to harden up on some of the soft power, and demonstrate as well the very credible hard power and resolve we have for protecting American lives, freedom, and human rights. 😉
(Source Photo: here)
In negotiating an agreement with the West, Iran is masterfully eking out concessions, while we are threatened with the potential for another Holocaust:
– No more answering questions about their past nuclear WMD activities.
– No more gradual sanctions relief.
– No more giving up all their spinning centrifuges.
– No more anywhere, anytime inspections of suspicious military sites.
Actually, this is all quite amazing!
And at the same time as Iran doesn’t give a real inch toward what the West wants, their negotiators are now throwing in yet more of what they want and that includes doubling their oil sales immediately and the removal of the arms and ballistic missile embargo.
Hey, if you are the Iranians in the negotiations–ask and ye shall receive.
But what about what we should be asking for, but are not:
1) Iran needs to give up and dismantle their infrastructure for producing nuclear weapons–ALL of it, period. Isn’t it obvious that Iran having nukes is inevitable if they are allowed to continue to be permitted to have some nuke capability in plain sight and the rest conducted in hiding out of our limited inspections purview?
2) Iran must cease being the leading state sponsor of terrorism world-wide or for that matter any sponsor of terrorism–that is not how civilized nations behave! How can Iran be trusted on any nuke agreement as long as they continue to murder and terrorize innocents just as part of what they do. Just as an example, does anyone remember the 242 U.S. Marines killed in the Beirut barracks bombing. What happened to “We don’t negotiate with terrorists”?
3) Iran cannot continue their overt hatred of the West, while pretending to negotiate an end to sanctions. Chanting “Death to America” (and Israel), burning our flag and our President in effigy, calling us their worst enemy, and threatening to attack and annihilate them is not in spirit of negotiating an agreement, is it? Again, where is foundation for trust here to even make an agreement?
4) Iran can’t deny the truth of the Holocaust and the murder of six million innocent Jewish people in the most cruel ways just 70 years ago and simultaneously sit at the table today with world leaders in suits and ties and smiles, pretending to make a verifiable agreement that means anything.
While we all want true world peace, this leopard has not at all changed its stripes.
The words “Never Again” are not just an empty saying, but rather they are a commitment that all good and decent people must take upon themselves to ensure that hatred, terror, and evil are no longer permitted in the league of civilized nations.
The devil always presents himself in an appealing way, but as history has shown over and over again, he never fails to hurt those who try to appease him.
May G-d guide the leaders of this great nation with wisdom and to see those with whom they negotiate for who they really are–and may a true peace reign in our times.
(All opinions my own.)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So it is incredible how backward our current political situation is.
Get this…
When Israel was ready this past year to take out the Iran Nukes, who stopped them?
No, not the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
No, not any of the other Arab states or terror groups.
No, not Russia.
But rather, our President is reported to have threatened to literally “shoot down Israeli fighter jets” (those of our “Major Strategic Ally”) if they attempted to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities.
This at the same time that he is desperately seeking an agreement with Axis of Evil, Iran, who continues to threaten Israel and what Iran calls, “The Great Satan,” America.
While these “negotiations” are going into the home stretch (with one extension after another)…
– Iran destroyed a mock Nimitz class U.S. aircraft carrier in a missile attack, just last week.
– A senior Iranian cleric threatened our executive branch and vowed to “raise the flag of Islam over the White House.“
– In Iran,”Obama is being hung in effigy and the U.S. flag being burnt in Tehran.”
Are these the actions of a nation that the U.S. can trust to make an agreement with on nuclear weapons of mass destruction OR is this a deal with the devil?
As one Arab official stated: “We prefer a collapse of the diplomatic process to a bad deal.”
Why is this administration turning on Israel and our Arab allies and desperately pursuing a deal, “making ever more concessions” to the ever dangerous Iranian regime.
As Putin is alleged to have had Russian opposition leader, Boris Nemtsov killed last week, one has to wonder what is going on in our own backyard here in America, with worse yet, purported threats to shoot at our ally Israel.
G-d should give our leaders the wisdom to discern our allies from our foes, to treat them accordingly, and to secure a genuine peace with security.
(Source Photo: here with attribution to Mike Licht)
My wife and I decided after living in the same condo for the last 15 years that maybe it was time for a change.
There is a great area that we hang out in with workout, grocery, pharmacy, and–most importantly to my wife–Starbucks–all right there.
So my wife made an appointment for us to look at this rental right above all the action….
The apartment was nice, modern, and best of all in this vibrant neighborhood–but on the smallish side (we would definitely be cramped) and with a substantial monthly.
My wife, the perennial city dweller, loved it, and I didn’t.
Next, my turn up, we went with a real estate broker to see a charm of a house–this was the one we’d “been waiting for,” all these years.
Solid, roomy, castle-like…but it would have some ongoing house maintenance things and was a little distance from public transportation (i.e. we’d mostly have to drive).
This time, my wife hated it, and I loved it.
Back and forth–argue and debate–getting no where (this is a very egalitarian relationship–my wife tells me what to do!) 🙂
Thinking about this, I say “Okay, let’s compromise”–let’s look for a more upscale and roomy condo that we can make our own but in the neighborhood she really likes (and yeah, I like it too).
1-2-3, with a little searching, we find something online we like, and back to the real estate broker to make an appointment.
This story is not over in terms of where (or if) we are going to move to, but along the way we continue to learn as a couple to get along, love each other, and of course, compromise. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
In Washington, D.C., lobbying is a way of life.
Just walking from the State Department to the Metro means you’ll get accosted by somebody wanting action on some issue.
I took this photo in action today of this guy obviously not in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline.
He equates it with “Climate Chaos!”
He is holding a sign up to me and trying to hand me some literature.
Whether or not piping tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast is net good for the economy and national security or bad for the environment and global warming, is of course a matter of debate.
But like all issues, there are two sides to everything–so prove your case!
Maybe the point to free speech is that everyone can not only have an opinion, but also express it and advocate for it.
There can be open and amble discussion, vigorous debate, compromises, and ultimately a vote and decision–that hopefully gets us to the best course of action.
Unlike countries run by dictators or religious fanatics who attempt to quell all opposition–where bloggers are flogged and jailed and authors and satirists are threatened and murdered–we try to make our best case and not condemn those who simply think different than us.
In expressing ourselves here, someone may occasionally joke and say, “now don’t chop my head off for saying this,” but in other countries they really mean it!
Tyrannical dictatorships and Jihadists terrorizing and imposing their will on the masses just won’t cut it anymore. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
I took this photo from a sticker plastered on the street corner in Washington, D.C.
What I like about it, aside from it’s cute, is that I see a message here about good communications and conflict management skills.
Notice the eyes are different (one is green/yellow and the other is orange/blue)…like it’s two people.
But there is one mouth open, speaking between them.
This speaks to that while we may be talking to each other and even think we are saying the same thing (“violently in agreement”), we need to make sure that we are listening, understanding, and working through our differences–so at the end, we are both really “seeing eye to eye.”
While each of us is different, and we may never fully agree (and cabn “agree to disagree”), we can also negotiate and come to terms on a win-win course of action.
Talk it out, bridge the gaps, and get to a place where we not only are able to see eye to eye, but can then go forward together and make it truly work. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)