“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: may they prosper who love you.” Psalm 122: 6
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Linda Feldmann—What midterms? Obama treats State of the Union as a victory lap:
“The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong,” a triumphal President Obama declared to the nation Monday night in an address bracing for its confidence and liberal promise.
Amid signs that the economic recovery has firmly taken hold, Mr. Obama took a victory lap of sorts in his sixth State of the Union message, as he laid out an agenda of higher taxes on the wealthy and greater spending aimed at helping the middle class. Topping the list is free community college for most students and tax breaks for parents and married couples.
It was almost as if the Republicans’ crushing victory in last November’s midterm elections – a sharp repudiation of Obama and the Democrats – never happened. But the reality of Obama’s final two years in office sat squarely before him in the Capitol Monday night: the largest Republican majority in Congress in decades.
And in a remarkable piece of political showmanship, Obama by turns yearned for “a better politics” of bipartisan cooperation even as he promised sharp contrasts with his Republican foes through vetoes and executive action.
The president also framed his message as a form of personal vindication.
“At every step, we were told our goals were misguided or too ambitious, that we would crush jobs and explode deficits,” Obama said, reviewing the course of his presidency to date. “Instead, we’ve seen the fastest economic growth in over a decade, our deficits cut by two-thirds, a stock market that has doubled, and health care inflation at its lowest rate in 50 years. The verdict is clear.”
Obama also tucked a bit of news in an otherwise heavily telegraphed speech: He called on Congress to authorize the use of force against the Islamic State, after months of resisting such a request.
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SnyderTalk Comment: President Obama’s message to members of Congress, even Democratic members of Congress, has been the same for 6 years: “I’m president. You will do what I want or I will do it myself unilaterally.”
For the most part, Democrats have fallen into line, and he has made absolutely no attempt to come to terms with his political opponents. It’s Obama’s way or the highway.
The principle reason that our founding fathers created 3 separate but equal branches of government is that they believed no one person had a monopoly on knowledge and understanding. They knew from experience that dictatorships and monarchies fail because they rely on one person who for all practical purposes becomes a god.
Congress has allowed Obama to become something like a dictator/monarch by not challenging his executive overreaches. He isn’t called a king, but he sure acts like one.
I’m concerned because Obama has proven over the last 6 years that he is petty, that he is not very knowledgeable, that he is intellectually lazy, and that he refuses to accept facts if they challenge his deeply held beliefs. Nowhere is this problem more evident than in his rejection of the notion that Islamist terrorists are Muslims. His view on that issue has shocked some members of his own party—the decent ones.
ISIS is a problem. We have to combat it, but it’s just one of many Islamist terrorist organizations. When one is crushed, another one pops up overnight. Like molten rock beneath the earth’s crust, it explodes to the surface at weak spots in the mantel.
Islamism is the problem. Some people call it political Islam. We must address it effectively and win, or we are in trouble.
Are we better off today than we were 6 years ago when Obama took office? The answer is painfully obvious: NO! In fact, we are much worse off and President Obama led the way for the growth of Islamism from Day One in his presidency. Today, Islamism is exploding across the globe.
See “Both Al-Qaeda and Islamic State Threaten the West”. That’s true, but al-Qaeda and ISIS are just two of the many Islamist terrorist organizations that threaten the West. Islamism is the real problem.
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Roi Kais: Yemen, Iran and death to Israel—The leader of the Shia Houthi rebels, who on Tuesday took control of the presidential palace in Yemen, delivered an address on television later that day and accused Yemen President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who may soon be deposed, of lending a hand to acts of corruption and refusing to deploy Yemen’s army in the fight against al-Qaeda. Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi was speaking in the wake of two days of intense fighting between the Shia rebels and government forces that culminated that afternoon in the battle at the presidential palace. He said that the operation carried out by his forces was designed to thwart a plot to annul the agreement on political reform and to divide Yemen.
Jerusalem Post Editorial: ISIS in Israel—The Shin Bet’s feat in ferreting out an Islamic State cell training for jihad in the Galilee failed to stay in the headlines for long. But the fact that such a cell organized, drilled and attracted recruits inside Israel is something that ought to rob us of peace of mind. This is nothing to belittle and consign to the category of occasional oddities. Neither should the security forces’ achievement this time put our minds at ease. Each success per force raises the question of what other nefarious activity under our noses escapes under the radar. The very fact that Islamic State and allied radical Islamist outfits entice disciples within our borders should ring all our alarm bells. This underlines the fact that we face much the same problem as do Europe, America and all Western democracies with large Muslim minorities.
William Young: ISIS Aims to Occupy Mecca— The recent early morning clash between a Saudi border patrol and extremists trying to enter Saudi Arabia from Iraq appears to be the latest indicator of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) intent to expand its influence and control from its stronghold in Syria and Iraq south into Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the rest of the Arab Gulf where there is oil and what ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his followers would consider the ultimate prizes: the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The armed engagement dovetails with al-Baghdadi’s call for increased attacks inside the Saudi Kingdom. It is likely he realizes that no one can claim to be the Islamic State without controlling the holy sites in and around Mecca and Medina and the wealth that comes with them. In recent months, al-Baghdadi has issued calls for attacks inside Saudi Arabia. Violence against Shia residents in the Eastern Province town of al-Awamiya in Saudi Arabia confirms that Sunni extremists in this area have heard al-Baghdadi’s message. The Eastern Province is home to the majority of Saudi Shia and most of the Saudi Kingdom’s oil.
Billy House: Boehner Invites Netanyahu to Address Congress Weighing Iran Bill—House Speaker John Boehner invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of the U.S. Congress next month as lawmakers weigh legislation that would tighten sanctions on Iran. The invitation to Netanyahu comes hours after President Barack Obama said in his annual State of the Union address that he would veto any bill that increases penalties on Iran because such legislation risked collapsing international talks aimed at curbing the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions. In a news release accompanying a copy of the letter, released on Wednesday by Boehner’s office, the Ohio Republican cited the threat to national security from Islamic extremism and Iran. The letter invited the Israeli leader, who has warned against concessions that would allow Iran to maintain some nuclear capabilities, to speak on Feb. 11. Also see “US Congress invites Netanyahu, Obama blindsided”.
James Kirchick: Israelis in Berlin— Israelis in Berlin: Is anything cooler, more postmodern, more transgressive, more emblematic of our hip, new borderless world? In October, New York Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief Jodi Rudoren wrote of an Israeli “Exodus” to Germany spurred by rising rents and prices of consumer goods in the Jewish State. Not to be outdone, the Washington Post chimed in the following week with a similar story about the “waves of young Israelis” bringing “the long-lost scent of freshly baked rugelach and hamantaschen cookies back to the streets of Berlin.” Meanwhile, the Economist asks, “Is Berlin the new Jerusalem?” There’s not much new to report about Israelis in Berlin, which has been a “thing” for years. Fania Oz-Sulzberger, the daughter of Israeli novelist Amos Oz, wrote a book about the phenomenon, straightforwardly titled Israelis in Berlin, nearly 15 years ago. Modern Hebrew, she pointed out to me in a recent phone interview, was spoken in Berlin in the early 20th century, long before it became the official language of the Jewish State. In the 1960s, around the time that official diplomatic relations were established between the postwar Federal Republic and Israel, a “trickle of Israelis” began returning to West Germany, many of them German Jews “who couldn’t live with their longing,” for the land of their birth, as well as “hard-core socialists” who moved to the German Democratic Republic in the East.
David Horovitz: The AMIA Bombing Case Was Solved: Iran Ordered It, Hizbullah Terror Chief Imad Mughniyeh Arranged It—The 1994 AMIA Jewish community center bombing case that killed 85 innocents was solved by Alberto Nisman. An Iranian government committee headed by supreme leader Ali Khamenei and then-president Hashemi Rafsanjani commissioned the attack at an August 1993 meeting. The attack was arranged by the late Hizbullah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh. Despite Nisman’s efforts, the Iranian conspirators have not been indicted, tried and jailed – in good part, because of the duplicity of Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. This is a supreme and terrible irony, given that it was her own late husband, Nestor Kirchner, who appointed Nisman a decade ago precisely to get to the truth and air it.
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed: How Did We End Up Cheering for Israel?—Many on Arab social networks have cheered the Israeli strike on Sunday that killed six Hizbullah members and a general in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps who were secretly present in Syria’s Quneitra region. Hizbullah, and also Iran, have lost the respect and status they’ve always enjoyed. Hizbullah’s biggest fall came after its members joined the terrible war in Syria, which has killed more than 250,000 people in what is surely the most shameful crime in the history of the region. In my opinion there’s no doubt that if a confrontation occurs between Israel and Hizbullah, or between Israel and Iran, many Arabs will pray for the defeat of Hizbullah’s militias and the generals of its Iranian ally.
Hisham Melhem: The Time of the Assassins—A murderous, fanatical, atavistic Islamist ideology espoused by Salafi Jihadist killers is sweeping the brittle world the Arab peoples inhabit, shaking it to its foundations. On the day the globalized wrath of these assassins claimed the lives of the Charlie Hebdo twelve in Paris, it almost simultaneously claimed the lives of 38 Yemenis in their capital Sana’a, and an undetermined number of victims in Syria and Iraq. The devil’s rejects of this ideology engage in wanton ritualistic beheadings while intoxicated with shouts of Allahu Akbar, oblivious to the fact that most of their victims are Muslims. The time of the assassins is upon us, and the true tragedy of the Arab and Muslim world today is that there is no organized, legitimate counterforce to oppose these murderers.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Hamas Forms “Liberation Army” in Gaza, Thanks to EU Support— Buoyed by the recent decision of the EU’s top court to remove Hamas from the EU’s list of terror groups, the Palestinian Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip has intensified its efforts to achieve the destruction of Israel. Hamas has further been emboldened by the International Criminal Court’s [ICC] latest decision to launch a preliminary examination into alleged Israeli “war crimes” in the Palestinian territories. Hamas has obviously interpreted these two decisions – by the EU court and the ICC – as a green light to proceed with its plans to eliminate Israel. Hamas is convinced that these decisions will bring it closer to achieving its goal. That is why Hamas has now begun recruiting thousands of Palestinian youths to its new “Liberation Army” in the Gaza Strip. The Hams campaign, entitled, “Vanguards of Liberation,” is aimed at recruiting young men whose ages range between 15 and 21.
Shoshana Bryen: The West Bank Army of the “State of Palestine,” Thanks to the United States— Last week, officials from the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem attended a Palestinian protest over Israel’s removal of olive trees illegally planted in the West Bank. Coordinated with the Palestinian Authority [PA] but not Israel, the Consulate personnel ended up clashing with Israelis living nearby. It was, perhaps, the quietest international almost-incident you never heard of. This week, with the focus off Paris, the Middle East Quartet (the U.S., EU, Russia & the UN) plans to meet. The U.S. Consulate’s determination to provide the trappings of Palestinian statehood to the PA outside the negotiating process should come under scrutiny.
Yvette Alt Miller: 8 Myths about the Terror Attack in France— In the media coverage of the terror attacks that rocked France, killing 17 people – five of them Jews – at Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher grocery store in Paris, some key facts have been distorted. Here are eight myths that have evolved about the attacks – and the truth behind them. 1. Myth: Paris’ Great Synagogue closed on the Shabbat after the attacks – the first time it shut its doors since World War Two. Fact: The media got it wrong. Paris Great Synagogue – the Grande Synagogue de la Victoire opened for Friday night Shabbat services only hours after a siege at a kosher grocery store in Paris left four Jews dead and others seriously wounded – and remained open throughout Shabbat. Amid heightened security, the Synagogue welcomed more worshippers than any time in recent memory, as Paris’ Jews flocked to synagogue to express their solidarity. 2. Myth: France and other nations won’t bow to terror threats after the horrific attacks in Paris.
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Report: Mossad undercuts Netanyahu, warns US Congress against more Iran sanctions
Israel source says leaked report of Netanyahu-Mossad rift on Iran sanctions is ‘Obama’s revenge’
Analysis: ‘Explosive’ Iran sanctions bill from Congress? None of this matters
Analysis: Yemen falls into Iran’s orbit as region caught asleep at the wheel
Hamas’ Deif reportedly tells Hezbollah’s Nasrallah: Let’s unite against Zionist enemy
Iranian vice president under Ahmadinejad jailed for five years
IDF launches overnight raids on Tulkarm, the city from which Tel Aviv terrorist came
At the scene: A brief, vicious brush with terror
Police free two settlers under investigation for shooting two Palestinians
Muslim preacher indicted for Temple Mount speech calling ‘to slaughter Jews’
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Iran: We Will Continue Arming Terrorists
‘EU Only Wakes Up When Non-Jews are Killed’
‘I Am Knife’: Twitter Users Praise Palestinian Terrorist Stabber
‘Leave Canada’ Spray-Painted on Synagogue
Clock Ticking for Japanese ISIS Hostages as Deadline Looms
Obama Signed Charlie’s Death Warrant in 2012
Is the Middle East on the Verge of Exploding?
Indyk: Democrats Should Invite Herzog
Left to Prevent Broadcast of PM’s Congress Speech
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Eight Israelis still in hospital after TLV bus stabbing
Survey finds 24% of young Brits expect another Holocaust
Canada’s FM: A Jewish state today is more important than even a few years ago
In strike on Syria, disturbing echoes of 1992
Iran vows to keep fighting Israel after general’s death
Argentina prosecutor’s ex-wife: He didn’t kill himself
Police commissioner urges restraint as Bedouin city burns
Car of Auschwitz-trip Palestinian professor torched
Abbas: Israel must choose between settlements and peace
In State of the Union, Obama reiterates vow to veto Iran sanctions bills
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Boko Haram Embraces Islamic State Model for Extremist Jihad
Boko Haram and the Future of Nigeria
Bus Driver, Prison Guards Prevented Greater Bloodshed in Tel Aviv Terror Attack
ISIS’ Japanese hostage video raises new questions about ‘Jihadi John’
US, Cuba clash over immigration at start of historic talks
Yemen leader ready to accept demands of Houthis after his guards defeated
Never mind Iraq, the real scandal is Britain’s forgotten war
Four cups of coffee a day could save you from skin cancer
Using X-rays, scientists read ancient, volcano-charred scrolls
House GOP leaders cave on abortion bill
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Anger in Turkey over police sentences for Gezi death
Former Miss Turkey arrested for criticizing President Erdogan online
EU rapporteur calls for opening of Chapters 23, 24 with Turkey
Empty words? Iran and Hezbollah jointly threaten Israel with ‘devastating thunderbolts’
Iranian Jews see improved conditions under Rouhani
The need to stand firm on Iran
Ukraine accuses Russia of sending more troops across border
Kiev: Russia Has 9000 Troops In Ukraine
US Unable to Confirm Recent Reports of Russian Troops in Ukraine
New flashpoint in eastern Ukraine
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Genesis 45: 16-20
16 Now when the news was heard in Pharaoh’s house that Joseph’s brothers had come, it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. 17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go to the land of Canaan, 18 and take your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you will eat the fat of the land.’ 19 Now you are ordered, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come. 20 Do not concern yourselves with your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”
SnyderTalk Comment: Read His Name is Yahweh.
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His Name is Yahweh explains why the Name of God, Yahweh, is so important. It’s available in eBook format and in paperback. It’s also available for free in PDF format.
- God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This [Yahweh] is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” (Exodus 3: 15)
- “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My name is Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 16: 21)
- “Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘Yahweh our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23: 5-6)
- Yeshua said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8: 58)
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Making the Transition May be Difficult for Some Preachers
Click here to download the entire audio presentation for free and with no strings attached. Share it as often as you want.
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Blessings in the Book of Revelation is a book that you need to read, especially now. There are blessings throughout the Scriptures but Revelation is the only book in the Bible actually containing a specific blessing for reading it. It’s repeated twice, once at the beginning and again at the end. This is the reason that I believe Revelation should be the first step toward studying biblical prophecy. Though not easy to do, Revelation can be broken down and understood by anyone, not just the academic elite. So, Revelation’s blessings are for everyone. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
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Other Books by Neil Snyder
- Stand! is a suspense novel that exposes the lies, corruption, and greed underlying the theory that man-made CO2 emissions are responsible for global warming. Professor Wes Carlyle and Karen Sterling, his research collaborator, carefully scan the audience for their would-be attacker—a member of the enviro-gestapo who has been following them for days. Wes spots his man in the back of the room leaning against the wall. Suddenly, another man in the audience steps forward and moves toward Karen at a menacing pace. With a vicious stroke, he swings a billy club at her head. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
- What Will You Do with the Rest of Your Life? deals with a question that every Christian has to consider: what should I do with my life? Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
- Falsely Accused is a true story about a young woman who was accused of committing a double homicide. It’s about a travesty of justice, and it reveals Yahweh intervening in the life of a believer to rescue her from danger in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Everyone will enjoy the book, but young people in particular need to read it because the mistakes made that led to the problem could have been avoided. They were the kinds of mistakes that young people are prone to make. As they say, forewarned is forearmed. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
