The Picower/Madoff settlement: Fooling some of the people all of the time…

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Basically, my headline The Picower Madoff settlement: A $7.2 Billion Whitewash is proving correct. As I write this, the 5th most popular article on the webzine of influential Jewish periodical The Forward is In New Madoff Filings, Largest Beneficiary of Fraud Was Possibly Unaware of Ponzi Scheme by Josh Nathan-Kazis December 22, 2010

Jeffry Picower, the late investor who earned more than even Bernard Madoff did from the fraudster’s huge Ponzi scheme, has long been accused by the court appointed trustee in the Madoff case of knowing the operation was a fraud. But a new filing by the trustee following his settlement with the Picower estate suggests that Picower may just have been an innocent Madoff victim after all. Read more

The Wilders Syndrome: Jews, Israel, and the European Right

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I have an article, “The Wilders Syndrome: Jews, Israel, and the European Right” posted at Alt Right.  The bottom line is that I think the progress of these  parties bodes well for a European revival. However, these parties will not be effective in recruiting Jewish support because they quite rightly fear a slippery slope that ultimately questions the legitimacy  of Judaism. Nevertheless, the philo-Semitic rhetoric of these parties may well be useful in convincing non-Jews that voting for these parties is not an affirmation of National Socialism, anti-Semitism, or racialist sentiments. And because of the abject terror that most Whites have of being associated with those ideas, it may well be an effective strategy that could, in the long run, lessen the inhibitions that Europeans now have about preserving Europeans and their culture. “As tensions with Muslims continue to mount and as Europeans see that they really must choose between expelling Muslims and preserving a livable society, Jews may be powerless to stop the ultimate success of these parties.”

The Evil Among Us: Liam Neeson in “Taken”

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Israel is (in)famous for its “false flag” operations, covert provocations meant to create blame for innocent parties or nations. For instance, in the 1950s Israelis propagated the Lavon Affair, in which Jewish operatives in Egypt attempted to blow up American- and British-affiliated buildings and place the blame on Egyptians. In theory, this would have compelled the Americans and British to take punitive action against Egypt. As it turned out, the agents were captured before the bombs went off.

A far more subtle technique aimed at achieving goals surreptitiously is called “laying the mental threads” for a form of unconventional warfare employing game theory to get others to fight your enemies for you. Relentlessly, people’s minds have been exposed to scenarios of Arab enemies and terrorists, a signal example being the broad attention given to Harvard historian Samuel Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” thesis. A major element of that clash is the West’s struggle against Muslims. America’s (mistaken) response to 9/11, some have claimed, illustrates this. Read more

Christmas Phobia in Israel

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It’s well-known that Jewish groups and activists have been the main force behind the war on Christmas and in generally getting Christianity out of the public square. So it’s no surprise that in Israel, Christmas fares even worse. In Jerusalem a large group of Heredim are threatening to boycott a fancy shopping mall. Why? Because it looks too Christmasy.

The ads – titled “Is Jerusalem becoming Christian?” – were signed by the Rabbis’ Committee for the Sanctity of Jerusalem. They stated that “if this idol worship is not removed immediately, we will declare a consumer boycott against the mall …”

The location of the mall near the Western Wall forces passersby to “real paganism”. Read more

Merry Christmas from the Folks at TOO!

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The Picower settlement: Racketeering Rewarded

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At The Daily Beast Allan Dodds Frank has supplied a valuable perspective on the Picower settlement – although you need to be alert to see it.

“Payday for Madoff Victims” (December 18 2010) first of all refutes Barbara Picower’s tendentious assertion:

“I want to underscore the fact that neither the Trustee nor the U.S. Attorney has charged him with any illegal conduct.”

Picower could not be charged for a simple reason — he conveniently died.

Asked about Picower’s role in Madoff’s scheme and whether the settlement cleared Picower’s name, U.S. Attorney Bharara said, “Mr. Picower passed away a year ago and so the question of whether he had a role—as a criminal matter—is now moot.” Bharara refused to say more… Read more

George Bush: “The First Jewish President”

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Michael Kinsley’s review of Bush’s memoir has this tidbit:

When Bush called for a new Palestinian leadership, Barbara Bush the elder (“Mother,” he invariably calls her) rang up to say, “How’s the first Jewish president doing?” Maybe I’m deficient in humor, but I don’t see why this is funny, as her son clearly believes it to be. I might even find it alarming if Bush didn’t crowd this book with ­maybe-you-had-to-be-there witticisms.

Philip Weiss writes that the comment is

a little window into the important mystery of how the realist [G. H. W] Bush absorbed the shocking reality of his neoconnized son — after all, a question of huge historical import. I.e by gentle ribbing, in the hope that it might eventually make a difference. Perhaps it even did; Bush didn’t attack Iran. Jeffrey Goldberg reported that he began to call Kristol and Krauthammer “the bomber boys” in the last years of his presidency. I’m a little surprised that Kinsley would have thought it alarming. Read more