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Thursday, January 25, 2018

Is This a Skit on SNL?

Today in Davos, President Trump held meetings with other world leaders.  At his session with the Israeli Prime Minister, President Trump repeated that the USA would no longer just send aid to the Palestinians unless they return to serious peace negotiations.  The President had announced a few weeks ago that the USA would cut its funding to UNWRA, the agency that supports Palestinian "refugees" from the 1948 Israeli-Arab war.  Remember, that war ended about 70 years ago, so there aren't many still alive who were affected by it.  Nevertheless, UNWRA still classifies the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the Arab affect at the time as refugees and supports them.  Basically, it's like a right to perpetual income for them and their heirs.

When President Trump announced that the USA would cut about $200 million from its UNWRA contribution, the Palestinian Authority denounced the move and said that it would leave children starving.  That was less than a month ago.  Today, the same Palestinian Authority announced that they had just purchased a private jet for use by president Abbas.  The jet cost over $70 million.  That's equal to more than a third of the funding cut off by the USA.  It makes one wonder whether the Palestinian leadership cares at all about children needing food.

Then there's another story from yesterday.  Former secretary of state in the Obama administration, John Kerry, met with president Abbas and, according to people familiar with the conversation, told Abbas to hold out and not to give in to President Trump's demands.  Think of that.  Kerry is a private citizen now, and he is engaging in foreign policy as if he were still the head of the State Department.  That's a clear violation of the Logan Act which prohibits private citizens from engaging in diplomacy.  More than the illegality of it, consider that we now have a former Democrat presidential candidate who is taking the anti-Trump hysteria to a point that he is trying to undermine the official foreign policy of the USA because it involves President Trump.

These are the sorts of things that no one would normally believe.  They sound more like a parody on Saturday Night Live than actual events.  But they are real!  Amazing!

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