October 2022 – ahillwithaview.com

Democrat Voters: What’s Your Excuse?

Originally published October 20, 2022

https://queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/7400-democrat-voters-what-s-your-excuse

Kathy Hochul Says New York Will Remain an Abortion 'Safe Harbor' - The New York Times

I’m going to depart from my normal column format to speak directly to the readers of the Queens Jewish Link. I want to share some observations I have made of the electoral season ahead of the all-important midterms, both as a columnist and as an organizer.

For those who don’t know, I am a Committee Member of the West Hempstead Republican Club, and have worked to ensure that the residents of West Hempstead – and Nassau County writ large – are registered to vote and informed on the issues. In that capacity, I have had many opportunities to speak with people of nearly every imaginable demographic and party affiliation. The most recent such occasion was at a street fair in West Hempstead, where I was manning a voter registration booth.

This was no non-partisan booth, mind you. Campaign signs for the Republican candidates were prominently displayed and distributed to any interested recipient. GOP campaign materials were handed out. I’m well-known as a conservative for anyone who recognized me, and being part of a mid-sized community, that was itself a frequent occurrence. Despite the partisanship of the table, the registration and absentee ballot forms were for all, and we had an equal number of registered Republicans and Democrats fill them out. Granted, the actual forms were few, but the conversations were plentiful.

Most reactions were to the Lee Zeldin signs, which makes sense, as he is running for Governor and has the most name recognition of the other candidates. (Since I would never miss an opportunity to plug GOP candidates, the other signs we had were for Anthony D’Esposito for Congress and James Coll for State Senate. Unfortunately, we didn’t have Joe Pinion signs for the U.S. Senate or Michael Henry signs for Attorney General.) The first thing that stuck out at me was the enthusiasm of the Republican voters. Multiple people claimed that this was their first time voting Republican, or first time putting up a lawn sign. Many were highly motivated to get more involved.

The Democrat voters seemed, by my estimation, far less enthused. I had to make assumptions, as the most frequent response I got was a smile and a simple “no thanks, I’m a Democrat.” Some people, however, were a bit more confrontational. Being no stranger to controversy, I welcomed the challenge when I heard statements such as, “I would never vote for Zeldin.” I tend to be far more cordial in person than I am in the paragraphs of my columns, so I politely asked them, “Why not?” Among the answers, the ones that stuck out to me the most were four separate octogenarian women, who said, “abortion.”

As I’ve previously written, the Kathy Hochul campaign has had a laser-like focus on the abortion issue. Most of the campaign-related tweets from her accounts and every mailer that I have seen accuse Zeldin of “taking us backwards” on this issue, as if the Zeldin campaign is traversing the state with an animatronic infant that screams “please don’t kill me.” Zeldin, as far as I know, has zero interest in tackling abortion in the state. This makes sense, considering that even if he wins and the Republicans take the State Senate, there is zero chance they will take the Assembly. The abortion laws on the books are not going anywhere. As a vehement pro-lifer, this upsets me, but I am politically self-aware enough to know that New York, in 2022 at least, is as set in its stance on this issue as anyone could be.

I explained this to each of the women, saying that abortion as an issue is off-the-table in this election in this state, and that every other issue is still very much a factor. While some people listening to our conversations were nodding along, these Democrat voters remained unmoved. This brought me to an unfortunate conclusion: Kathy Hochul isn’t campaigning; she’s giving excuses.

Democrats have been in single-party control of this state since 2019, and single-party control of this country since 2021. Let’s observe how they’ve been doing:

Violent crime in New York City is up by double-digits since 2017. Inflation is at 40-year highs, while real wages are down 3%. In terms of unemployment percentage, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics as of August, New York ranks dead last of the 50 states. In terms of education, New York ranks 23rd in the nation in education results, yet in spending per pupil is number 1 at $22,231 each. By comparison, Florida is ranked 2nd in the nation and spends $9,176 per student (source: The American Legislative Exchange Council). Another area where New York is the top of the list (or bottom) is per capita taxes. We rank number 1, averaging $9,829. Floridians’ tax burden is a third of that.

So I’m asking all the Democratic voters out there, sincerely: What’s your excuse? When you walk into the ballot box and fill in the circles on the Democrat line, are you thinking about abortion, Trump, or some other irrelevant issue? As someone who cannot see voting outside my party for the foreseeable future, I understand the pull of party loyalty. But if there’s any year that the Democratic Party does not deserve your vote, it’s this one.

Tusi Gabbard put it very well when she announced that she’s leaving the Democrat Party. “I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are hostile to people of faith & spirituality, demonize the police & protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and above all, dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.”

“I believe in a government that is of, by, and for the people,” Gabbard continued. “Unfortunately, today’s Democratic Party does not. Instead, it stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite. I’m calling on my fellow common sense independent-minded Democrats to join me in leaving the Democratic Party. If you can no longer stomach the direction that so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country, I invite you to join me.”

Don’t allow your vote to become an excuse. I invite all New Yorkers to leave the Democratic Party and vote Republican up and down the line on November 8.

Moshe Hill is a political columnist and Senior Fellow at Amariah, an America First Zionist organization. Moshe has a weekly column in the Queens Jewish Link, and has been published in Daily Wire, CNS News, and other outlets. You can follow Moshe on his blog www.aHillwithaView.com, facebook.com/aHillwithaView, and twitter.com/HillWithView.

Is Hochul Running To Be Governor Of California?

Originally published October 5, 2022

https://queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/7364-is-hochul-running-to-be-governor-of-california

NY state to ban the sale of new gas cars and trucks by 2035

As leftwing and blue as New York is, New Yorkers could always look towards other states and say, “well, at least we’re not that crazy!” That excuse has been dwindling since 2019, though, when Democrats finally took over the last barrier for legislative dominance when they won a majority in the State Senate. The radical agenda hit New York with a force, and Kathy Hochul is running to be even more extreme.

Hochul’s main focus is a single issue: abortion. She tweets pro-abortion messages daily, and every attack on Congressman Lee Zeldin is abortion-centric. To hear Hochul say it, New York – the state with absolutely zero restrictions on abortion – is on the verge of becoming a theocracy ruled by Handmaid’s Tale-esque religious zealots. But as much as any pro-lifer may want some restrictions on abortion – even a European standard would be welcome – there is no chance that this will happen. Even if Zeldin does win, and the Republicans take the State Senate, the Legislature would still have to pass a bill through the Assembly, which will not overturn any abortion law. Essentially, Hochul is running on fear of a bogeyman who doesn’t exist.

It’s essentially a non-issue for the Zeldin team. Speaking to a Business Council convention, Zeldin said, “If you were trying to really get to the heart of why I’m even in this race, it’s because of the economy and crime above all else.” The real issues facing New York is not abortion – it’s not even in the top 10. Zeldin added, «I›m not standing here today at the Business Council of New York for anything that has anything to do with abortion. It has everything to do with making the life of our economy ripping.»

Hochul fancies herself a champion of women, yet she believes that the only issue women care about is the ability to get an abortion. Crime is a women’s issue. The economy is a women’s issue. Hochul’s record on these issues is abysmal.

Hochul has been enjoying her Empress role since she was elevated to it when Andrew Cuomo resigned. She kept her COVID emergency powers far longer than nearly any other Governor in the country, using it to help her political donors at the expense of the taxpayers by awarding a contract that had the state pay double for COVID tests. She rammed through a vaccine mandate that forced healthcare providers to resign, causing a massive shortage in the medical field. She refused to do anything about the soaring crime in the state, and has allowed the no-cash-bail system to let criminals run rampant in the cities. Now she’s pushing a regulation on automobiles which is sure to cripple consumers and the power grid.

From a statement on the Governor’s website: “Governor Kathy Hochul today commemorated National Drive Electric Week by directing the State Department of Environmental Conservation to take major regulatory action that will require all new passenger cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs sold in New York State to be zero emissions by 2035.” No act of legislature, no comment from the public – just a simple regulation that cripples 20 million New Yorkers.

A few weeks ago, California did the same thing. Without an act of the legislature, Gavin Newsom mandated that no new gas-powered cars would be sold in California. Days later, the energy grid was so depleted that California actually told people to not charge their electric cars. New York, which also inexplicably believes that solar and wind can legitimately replace fossil fuels as an energy source (it can’t), could be on the verge of similar problems. Rolling brownouts and blackouts could become the norm in New York if Hochul has her way.

California has decided that its homeless problem is of zero concern, leading to tent cities lining the highways in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Needles and human waste can be seen on every block. New York City is not that far behind, with the stench of fecal matter and marijuana present from the moment you step out of Penn Station. Lunatics are beating women in subway platforms and on the street. The latest victim was a 61-year old EMT, six months away from retirement, stabbed in Queens. Tents are being erected to house illegal migrants, with Eric Adams making a deal with Norwegian Cruise Lines to house people in the harbor until they figure out what to do with them. The policies that Hochul supports has led to over 2 million illegal border crossings in the past year.

Then there is the increasing issue on parental rights, an issue that the Left is demurring on. Hochul claims that Zeldin will bring “don’t say gay” to New York. What she is really concerned about is a push for parents to have a say in what their kids learn in school, especially if the education system diverges from the curriculum and ventures into topics promoting the LGBT agenda. Chris Rufo, an investigative reporter, just revealed a form that kids fill out in grades K-5 in San Francisco where they ask kids what name and pronoun they want to be called in class versus when speaking to their parents. The idea is that parents should be cut out of the loop regarding their own children because parents are the enemy, and the real friends of the children are the teachers and the government. Hochul agrees with this, and a bill that turns New York into a “trans refuge state,” a state that encourages minors to escape to, is in the Assembly. The other states to do this are Minnesota and, of course, California. For Hochul, parents are the enemy.

Hochul targets the religious community as well. While she boasts about raising Progress Pride flags at the state capitol for the first time, Yeshiva University is desperately trying to remain a Jewish institution that can abide by Jewish law. Synagogues in Brooklyn and Rockland county just filed suit against Hochul over the new gun law she pushed, which designated Houses of Worship as “sensitive areas,” turning them into gun-free zones. She is telling religious groups that they cannot exercise their Second Amendment rights because they are exercising their religious rights. This is blatantly unconstitutional. Meanwhile, her Department of Education has been trying to crack down on Jewish education – all Jewish education, not just Hasidim. While other states are working to help their non-public school students (most notably Arizona), New York continues to punish them.

Hochul must be defeated in November. This is no longer a political preference; it is a necessity to preserve New York State. New York has seen the second-most net reduction in population, after California, as people flee the state and its policies in droves for the freer pastures of Florida and Texas. If Hochul wins in 2022, New York may be unsalvageable for a generation. We have an opportunity, like New York City in the early 1990s or Virginia in 2021, to turn this around. There must be massive turnout to elect Lee Zeldin. If not, start looking into Florida real estate.

AG Letitia James Is More Worried About Trump Than Hatchet-Wielding Maniacs

Originally published September 28, 2022

https://queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/7325-ag-letitia-james-is-more-worried-about-trump-than-hatchet-wielding-maniacs

The People's Lawyers': Attorneys General Letitia James and Dana Nessel on Reclaiming and Rebuilding U.S. Democracy - Ms. Magazine

A hatchet-wielding maniac viciously and repeatedly demolished a McDonald’s in New York City – and was released on his own recognizance within hours. The New York Post has found 10 career criminals who racked up 485 arrests between them since the cash bail law was enacted, with most of them still out on the streets. Crime has skyrocketed, people are scared, and New York State is headed back to the crime waves of the 1970s and 1980s.

Where is Attorney General Letitia James? She’s out persecuting a personal vendetta against Donald Trump for the sole purpose of using Trump’s unpopularity in New York to propel her to re-election.

James is currently the only statewide candidate to be down in the polls to her challenger, Michael Henry. A Trafalgar Group poll has Henry edging out James 44.2 to 43, with 12.8% undecided. Voters are scared of the crime increasing in their neighborhoods, and James clearly has other priorities.

James is on a crusade to take down Trump, and has been for years. It’s well documented that James initially ran for Attorney General on the promise of suing Trump, embodying the Communist philosophy of “Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.” Prior to her election, she said, “what is fueling this campaign, what is fueling my soul right now, is Trump and his abuses, abuses against immigrants, against women, against our environment.” No word of a crime he committed – just a feeling of generic “abuses.” She also explicitly said that the law was her weapon. “As the next attorney general, I see the law as a sword and as a shield to protect those who are vulnerable, because no one is above the law, including this illegitimate president. And so, I look forward to going into the office of attorney general every day, suing him, defending your rights and then going home.” (Note that James referred to Trump as an “illegitimate president” in 2018, something she would call an “assault on our democracy” if said about Biden.)

So, after three-and-a-half years of investigations, she’s suing Trump in civil court. Not criminal court, civil court. Not for abuses against immigrants, women, the environment, or any other fictitious crime, but for vague business practices. And she’s out for blood.

“Today,” she wrote on Twitter, “I filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump for engaging in years of financial fraud to enrich himself, his family, and the Trump Organization. There aren’t two sets of laws for people in this nation: former presidents must be held to the same standards as everyday Americans.” Well, there clearly are two sets of laws, because James is specifically targeting Trump because he’s a Republican. She’s targeting Ivanka, Eric, and Don Jr. because they are associated with her political enemy. Hundreds of acts of violence are forgiven by James if the suspect possesses the proper intersectional qualities, but don’t dare be anywhere to the right of Stalin politically.

James outlined what she’s looking to accomplish: Make Trump pay $250 million, ban him from running businesses in New York, ban his company from buying property in New York for five years, and make a criminal referral to the DOJ. What is the alleged “crime”? The suit claims that his properties are overvalued. That’s it.

If this weren’t so serious it would be laughable. The fantasy of “getting Trump” has been the fever dream of many Democrats before Letitia James, and will continue to plague many who come after her. Russia-collusion, Mueller report, Ukraine phone call, COVID, January 6, and many other so-called “scandals” were all meant to be the silver bullet against the former president. Now James thinks that the thing that will finally take Trump down is the subjective world of real estate valuation?

As former Attorney General Bill Barr told Fox News, James is overreaching here. Barr, who has been vocally critical of Trump after the events of the 2020 election, said, “Well, for one thing, she brought this as a civil case. This is not a criminal case. To me, that says that she doesn’t have the evidence to make a criminal case. So she’s setting a lower bar and bringing this civil case. I don’t think it’s going to go any further.”

Barr continues: “Now, it’s over 200 pages long with a lot of details about the valuation of properties. But the fact of the matter is that real estate valuation of a complex real estate company like this is inherently very subjective. It depends what kinds of assumptions are used. Values can swing, depending on whether it’s viewed as a property that’s going to be split up or one that’s kept together and so forth. So it’s not an exact science. And the fact is that banks, sophisticated banks, don’t rely on every jot and tittle in the financial statements. They do their own assessments. They make themselves comfortable. Sometimes, they automatically discount that kind of submission. And they didn’t — no one — the loans were paid back. These were successful investments.”

“And the banks were paid back,” Barr concluded. “So, to have spent three years on this, seems to me, her trying to make good on a campaign promise that she was going to bring Trump down.”

Trump critics and James supporters won’t look at Barr’s words – on Fox News no less – as gospel. But any New Yorker who’s been looking around their state should view these actions and wonder if James, or any other elected Democrat, is up for the job of running New York. The final pitch before the 2022 election is…Trump? Trump, who’s not on the ballot? Trump, who’s obsolete in our state? Voters should not be worried about Trump. They should be worried about James, and Kathy Hochul, and Chuck Schumer, and the Democrats on the ballot who have led the state on the primrose path to devastation. When entering the voting booth, if a voter chooses to go with the Democrats because they hate Trump, they are inviting pain upon themselves.

YU Is On The Frontlines In Fight For Religious Liberty

Originally published September 21, 2022

https://queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/7289-yu-is-on-the-frontlines-in-fight-for-religious-liberty

The most recent term of the Supreme Court saw a bevy of wins for religious freedom in our country – a seismic shift from the previous generation of the court. In Maine, religious schools were told they could not be penalized by their state in terms of funding because of their inclusion of religion in their curriculum. In Washington State, a high school football coach was told he can pray on the field as he has done for his entire career. Yeshiva University may be the next landmark case that the Supreme Court chooses to use to protect religious freedom.

The legal battle, officially known as YU Pride Alliance v. Yeshiva University, began in 2020 when students tried to form an official LGBT club on campus. YU, being a religious institution, denied the student club, as such activities are expressly forbidden in Judaism. One can only assume that if a Culinary Club was formed that did not abide by rules of kosher observance, YU would not allow that club either. At the same time, YU has openly-gay students who are not subject to any discrimination, even though they are violating the religious views of the school. YU also does not penalize students for violating Shabbat rules or eating non-kosher. They have made a clear delineation between personal actions and student clubs with school approval. Nevertheless, in response to the rejection, students and alumni sued YU in April 2021.

Unfortunately for YU, the New York that existed when they formed in 1886 is not the New York of today, and a New York County Supreme Court ruled that “Yeshiva’s educational function, evidenced by its ability to now confer many secular multi disciplinary degrees, thus became Yeshiva’s primary purpose. Even if Yeshiva still “promote[d] the study of Talmud,” that does not necessarily make Yeshiva a religious corporation.” So because you can get a well-rounded education at Yeshiva University, they are not eligible to have their religious liberty protected.

At the same time, New York is cracking down on Jewish schools that don’t provide a well-rounded education. After a scathing New York Times article focusing on Hasidic schools, outsized attention has been focused on these yeshivot and their educational results. This report came at the same time that new regulations were passed by New York. According to NPR, “The new regulations will mandate that all private schools provide specific instruction in English, ensure teachers are competent in their subjects and require lessons in subjects like math and history.” These regulations and opinion pieces direct their ire toward institutions that are mostly funded privately, with some public funding going towards school bussing and the like. There is no such indignation for the New York City public school system, which routinely shows that less than half of its students are proficient in reading and slightly more than half are proficient in math.

So New York is demanding that yeshivot provide a well-rounded education, but if the school wants to adhere to its religious principles, it cannot do so because providing a well-rounded education means that it’s not a religious institution.

Is it any wonder that religious people feel under assault in this state?

Thankfully, YU is fighting back. After the Supreme Court – in a 5-4 decision with Justices Alito, Coney-Barrett, Gorsuch, and Thomas dissenting – denied the stay that would have allowed YU to reject the student club, YU is continuing its case in the appeals court. In the meantime, instead of allowing the club to form, YU disbanded all student clubs. YU’s legal team knows that once the club forms, any court will view it as a precedent, and use the club’s very existence as evidence that the club can remain in existence. They did the only logical thing: They put a pause on all student club activities until a court decision has been reached.

While there is a cacophony of discussion regarding YU’s actions in this case, there is little to no mainstream coverage of the actions of the plaintiffs, the YU Pride Alliance. Their decision to try and force a Jewish institution through the court system to violate Jewish law is nothing short of abhorrent.

When a Jew sues another Jew, it is proper and traditional to go to a Beis Din. The obvious reason is that if the issue could be resolved within the confines of a Jewish court adhering to Jewish law, that is a superior path to justice. Obviously, YU Pride Alliance knew that they would find no recourse in the Jewish court system, as the issue is clear. Knowing this, however, they decided to proceed. This is because they are part of competing communities: the LGBT community versus the Jewish community. While the Jewish community has been grappling with accepting members of the LGBT community, trying to find common ground when they can, the LGBT community views Judaism – and religious tradition generally – as the enemy. Judaism’s rules and strictures are anathema to the LGBT community, so instead of attending other colleges or waiting a few years until graduation, the Pride Alliance is all too willing to force the institutions of Judaism to violate their fundamental beliefs.

Is it still possible to be religious in the deep-blue sea of New York? Only if the religious among us are ready, willing, and able to fight and keep fighting for that religion – even when the forces of the media, the courts, and the activists are attacking you.

Kathy Hochul Flexes Her Dictatorial Muscles

Originally published September 14, 2022

https://queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/7236-kathy-hochul-flexes-her-dictatorial-muscles

Kathy Hochul is gaining confidence as her campaign to be elected to a full gubernatorial term marches forward. With less than two months to go, Hochul is leading challenger Lee Zeldin by 5-15 points, depending on the poll. Hochul may think this gives her a mandate to act as tyrannical or corrupt as she pleases, but her hubris should be her undoing.

Hochul wants private corporations to be her political henchman. She doesn’t hide this desire, openly tweeted about how credit card companies should target her political enemies: legal gun owners. “Everyone needs to do their part to combat gun violence,” she wrote. “[AmericanExpress], [Mastercard] & [Visa] should categorize firearm purchases & flag suspicious activity – just like they do for millions of other transactions. Together we can help stop gun trafficking & keep New Yorkers safe.” Hochul is expressly demanding that a private company do her bidding.

First, why is this so dangerous? Why shouldn’t gun sales be categorized the same as any other sales? The simple reason is the same as to why the Second Amendment is so important. The entire purpose is to prevent a tyrannical government from taking too much control over the people. Not hunting, like Democrats like to say, but because it is “necessary to the security of a free state,” as the amendment clearly says. If credit card companies can flag these transactions, they can easily provide that data to the government, thus creating a registry of who has what guns and where.

While Joe Biden claims that anyone who wants to defend themselves against the U.S. government would need an F-15, that is clearly false. He himself gave a country to a bunch of cave-dwellers with Soviet era rifles. Activists like Ammon Bundy held off the might of the U.S. government in 2014. And, according to Democrats, unarmed MAGA warriors almost overthrew the entire government on January 6. Then there’s the post-COVID reality. Australia banned guns, and the first moment they deemed it an “emergency,” they locked down their entire citizenry with severe consequences. Same is true for China, which has severe gun control and a bevy of human rights violations.

Then there’s the other issue with Hochul’s demand: the acquiescence of the credit card companies. Visa, Mastercard, and American Express all said they would start classifying gun sales. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) made the designation, and these companies were quick to adopt it. An organization that no one heard of, based in Geneva, Switzerland, with the backing of your credit card and elected officials like Kathy Hochul, just severely attacked the rights of a hundred million Americans.

But wait, there’s more! Kathy Hochul used the power of her office to give taxpayer money to her own campaign donors. COVID tests purchased from Digital Gadgets by the Hochul administration were twice as expensive as they should have been. The Times Union reported that “The price offered by Digital Gadgets founder and CEO Charlie Tebele was $13 per test, far steeper than what other companies were proposing for similar rapid antigen tests. Hochul’s administration had just approved a deal with another firm to buy 5 million tests for just $5 each. Still, the Hochul administration quickly agreed to pay $338 million to Digital Gadgets at the higher per-test price. The state Division of Budget and Hochul’s office signed off on the deal on Dec. 20, the same day Tebele made the proposition.” Tebele, according to the Times Union, donated at least $300,000 to the Hochul campaign, and he personally held a fundraiser for her in April.

Hochul had the authority to do this because she kept extending her emergency powers, month after month. Far after the waning of the Omicron surge, Hochul signed an executive order saying that she could keep her own powers granted by the state legislature for another 30 days. Now that she got her kickback, she finally allowed the emergency powers to expire.

Then there’s the issue of Hochul’s refusal to debate Lee Zeldin. Zeldin’s team has been trying to schedule a debate with the Governor for months, to no avail. Zeldin is forced to tweet daily just to call out to Hochul. “It’s September 13 and [KathyHochul] still has not accepted ANY debate requests,” Zeldin tweeted Tuesday morning. “This is not ok. The contempt Hochul has for being challenged should alone disqualify her. Absentee ballots start going out in 10 days. These debates need to start now before voting begins.” Hochul’s refusal to face her opponent on a debate stage undermines the democratic process.

Kathy Hochul has shown her willingness to use her office for political and personal gain. She bullies major corporations to do her bidding. She wastes taxpayer money to bribe political allies to kickback money to her campaign. She refuses to allow the voter to be informed on the differences between her and her opponent. All while presiding over the decline of the state of New York. Crime is up, the economy is in shambles, and she is failing at every turn. There is no telling what another four years will bring.

Election day is November 8. Fire Kathy Hochul.

What Is A MAGA Republican?

Originally published September 7, 2022

https://queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/7201-what-is-a-maga-republican

“Und hier ist meiner Meinung nach, was wahr ist: MAGA-Republikaner respektieren die Verfassung nicht. Sie glauben nicht an den Rechtsstaat. Sie erkennen den Willen des Volkes nicht an. Sie weigern sich, die Ergebnisse einer freien Wahl zu akzeptieren, und sie arbeiten gerade jetzt, während ich spreche, in einem Bundesstaat nach dem anderen daran, Partisanen und Kumpels die Macht zu geben, Wahlen in Amerika zu entscheiden, und Wahlverweigerer zu befähigen, die Demokratie selbst zu untergraben.”

– Joe Biden

This excerpt, in what one can only assume was the original German from which it was derived, was a call to arms by the President of the United States to excise a cancerous growth within the body politic of the nation. Biden calls them the “MAGA Republican.” So before we pick up the pitchforks and torches and chase the hideous monster to the cliff, maybe we should define what a “MAGA Republican” is.

Definitions are anathema to the modern Democratic Party. Words such as “marriage,” “life,” “men,” “women,” “equality,” and far more have had their definitions changed on a whim, for political purposes. It’s no surprise that Biden did not adequately define what a “MAGA Republican” is. So we must got through his speech to work out a definition of our own.

“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic.” Okay, so a MAGA Republican is someone who supports Donald Trump, either personally or politically. That’s a large group, which could be defined as the 74 million Americans who voted for Trump.

But Biden dismisses that immediately. “Now, I want to be very clear, very clear up front. Not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology.” Okay, so what ideology is he talking about? Well, he says, “I know, because I’ve been able to work with these mainstream Republicans.”

So a “mainstream Republican” is someone that Joe Biden is “able to work with.” So if you are not able to work with Joe Biden, then you are a MAGA Republican? Work with Joe Biden on what? The “American Rescue Plan” – which did nothing to rescue America – received no Republican votes. The “Inflation Reduction Act” – which did nothing to reduce inflation – received no Republican votes. Even bipartisan legislation like the infrastructure law was rejected by 60% of Senate Republicans and nearly all Congressional Republicans. Same is true with the gun legislation that was passed. Biden’s legislative agenda was passed despite next to no Republican support. So who, according to Joe Biden, are the Republicans he is “able to work with” who do not deserve to be labeled as “MAGA Republicans”?

“MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution,” says Joe Biden. Well, that is an interesting statement. Was it MAGA Republicans who try to use OSHA to mandate COVID vaccines on all Americans?

“They do not believe in the rule of law.” Was it MAGA Republicans who burned down major cities, causing dozens of deaths and billions of dollars in damage during the summer of 2020, while calling to defund the police?

“They do not recognize the will of the people.” Was it MAGA Republicans who insisted that the 2016 election was stolen, or that Stacey Abrams is the rightful Governor of Georgia?

“They refuse to accept the results of a free election, and they’re working right now as I speak in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself.” Wasn’t it Republicans in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Mike Pence himself who certified the election results in 2020, giving Joe Biden the Presidency?

“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards, backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love.” Strong words from someone who claims that it’s MAGA Republicans who don’t “respect the Constitution.” Where in the Constitution are any of these rights? They do not exist, and a simple recognition of that fact does not mean you “threaten the very foundations of our Republic.” Yet even if you agree with Biden on each of these issues, if you recognize the simple fact that the Constitution does not contain these “rights,” you are a “MAGA Republican”

So what’s the ask from Joe Biden? What is he trying to accomplish by branding at least half the country as “a threat to this country”? His goal is twofold. First, he’s undermining the results of the 2022 and 2024 elections before a single ballot is cast. “And they see their MAGA failure to stop a peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election as preparation for the 2022 and 2024 elections. They tried everything last time to nullify the votes of 81 million people. This time, they’re determined to succeed in thwarting the will of the people.” What if the will of the people is to send the Democrats packing? What if Republicans take not only the House and the Senate, but Democrat strongholds like the Governorship of New York? Joe Biden is saying outright that the results of the election are illegitimate, because the “MAGA forces” have been working towards this moment for years.

Then there’s the second ask: Act on behalf of Joe Biden. “But while the threat to American democracy is real, I want to say as clearly as we can, we are not powerless in the face of these threats. We are not bystanders in this ongoing attack on democracy. There are far more Americans, far more Americans from every background and belief, who reject the extreme MAGA ideology than those that accept it. And folks, it’s within our power, it’s in our hands, yours and mine, to stop the assault on American democracy.” How do you stop an assault? With action! With aggression! With political violence! Biden is telling his supporters, who, since Trump was elected, have displayed a penchant for violence, that they will not be subject to the same laws that those who walked into the Capitol on January 6 are subject to. The Vice President of the United States raised funds to bail out BLM rioters, while those who peacefully walked into the Capitol building and then peacefully left are rotting in solitary confinement. This is a two-tiered justice system.

Then there are the topics that Biden did not discuss. He didn’t mention the pro-life pregnancy centers that are being firebombed. He didn’t discuss the rise in crime in every major city in the country. He doesn’t talk about the economy, or inflation, or the border, or the attempted assassination of a Supreme Court Justice, or the leaking of a SCOTUS decision, or any of the dozens of other issues that energize his base of support to the point of violence. He doesn’t do anything to lower the political temperature of the country. He only increases it.

This is all about the content of the speech, because anyone who has actually seen images of the speech can conjure up a few descriptive words; evil, demonic, and fascistic are a few that come to mind. The blood-red background (which was muted to a lighter pink mid-broadcast on CNN), the flanking of the military, the rage that the words induced in Biden’s facial expressions and hand gestures – all of it painted the image of the authoritarian. This is consistent with Biden’s preferred method of governance: deep centralization of power in his own branch of government. Only such a dictatorial mindset would give Biden the gall to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to transfer the debt of his political allies to his political opponents, or sic the DOJ on his former (and possibly future) political rival.

Yet Biden’s gall knows no limit. Either that, or he is as blind, deaf, and dumb as his greatest critics accuse him of being. These are the only explanation for saying, without a hint of self-awareness, that it’s the MAGA Republicans who “promote authoritarian leaders, and they fanned the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country.” He doesn’t hear the irony when he says that “history tells us that blind loyalty to a single leader and a willingness to engage in political violence is fatal to democracy.”

Authoritarianism? Political violence? Does he own a mirror? Yes, these are terrible things, whoever is guilty of doing them. But the words sound hollow when uttered by a man who uses his pulpit to push the very thing he is calling out.

MAGA Republicans, by Biden’s own words, could be anyone. Even the next day, when asked if all Trump supporters are a threat to the country, he said, “I don’t consider any Trump supporter to be a threat to the country. I do think that anyone who calls for the use of violence, and fails to condemn violence when it’s used, refuses to acknowledge when an election has been won, insists upon changing the way in which the rules you count votes. That is a threat to Democracy.”

So when Maxine Waters tells her supporter to gather a crowd when they see any member of the Trump cabinet, when Eric Holder says, “when they go low, we kick them,” when Kamala Harris bails out rioters, when burning cities are labeled “mostly peaceful protests” by CNN, when Hillary Clinton declares that Trump is an illegitimate President, when states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, and others change their voting laws without going through the state legislatures and then count ballots behind closed doors – when all of these things happen, Joe Biden says that is a threat to democracy? Or does he mean when someone votes Republican?

Why should anyone believe that it’s the latter? Why should anyone find comfort in Biden’s words and feel they aren’t an enemy of the state? Biden has demonized hundreds of millions of Americans, yet claims to be a uniter. He must be called out for what he is: the Divider-in-Chief, the puppet of the far-left, and the Authoritarian of the United States Of America.

If Joe Biden’s enemies are the MAGA Republicans, count me as one.

Moshe Hill is a political columnist and Senior Fellow at Amariah, an America First Zionist organization. Moshe has a weekly column in the Queens Jewish Link, and has been published in Daily Wire, CNS News, and other outlets. You can follow Moshe on his blog www.aHillwithaView.com , facebook.com/aHillwithaView, and twitter.com/HillWithView.

Biden Uses Your Money To Buy Votes

Originally published August 31, 2022

https://queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/7162-biden-uses-your-money-to-buy-votes

President Joe Biden just announced the most expensive Executive Order in American history.

He announced that borrowers no longer had to pay up to $20,000 of that money back if they are earning up to a low six-figure income. Not all borrowers, though – just student loans, taken out the wealthiest, most privileged people in this country, will have their loans forgiven at the expense of those who could not or would not attend university. He decided to make truck drivers, plumbers, and those foolish enough to pay back student loans bear the burden for poor life choices of his core constituency so he can buy their votes.

With the wave of a magic wand, Biden unilaterally declared that half a trillion dollars worth of money owed to the government would magically be “forgiven.” Or maybe it’s more, or maybe it’s less – no one actually knows. Biden’s reasoning is so specious that given the space, every word of his speech announcing this debacle would be analyzed and rebutted. Unfortunately, only the truly egregious parts will be dissected.

Biden claims that “When America made 12 years of public education universal in the last century, we became — not figuratively, literally — the best-educated public in the world and better prepared than any other nation. And I would argue that it’s one of the reasons why we were so successful and have been so successful.”

This historical ignorance is astounding. The reason for America’s dominance in the latter half of the 20th century is because the rest of the world was decimated from two World Wars. It took decades to recover, and when they did, they modernized their education system. By contrast, we created the Department of Education under Jimmy Carter in 1980, which led to No Child Left Behind, Common Core, and other centralized tenets of the public education system, all of which had disastrous results. Instead of learning from those mistakes, Biden decides to double down on them.

He elaborates on the high cost of universities. “But here’s the deal: The cost of education beyond high school has gone up significantly. The total cost to attend a public four-year university has tripled — nearly tripled in 40 years — tripled.”

What happened at that time? The federal government decided to give loans to students, regardless of education path. This means that it didn’t matter to the lender if you got an engineering degree or a gender studies degree, despite one having a far greater return on investment. When that happened, colleges began raising costs, hiring more administrators, bolstering their liberal arts departments, and pushing more and more high school students into coming to their campuses. They made billions of dollars from the federal government. When Biden declares that the money that the federal government already paid to colleges does not need to be paid back, colleges will only increase their tuitions, because they have no reason not to.

Biden actually admits how useless a college degree has become, saying the quiet part out loud. “The burden is so heavy that even if you graduate, you may not have access to the middle-class life that the college degree once provided.”

This is because college degrees have become merely pieces of paper. Nearly every employer requires it, which drives the value of a diploma down. So the new standard becomes a college degree, instead of a high school diploma, and the new way to get ahead is a postgraduate degree. To teach kindergarten, you need a Masters degree! This is a recipe to drive up the debt, not down.

In one of the only questions Biden actually answered, he replied with something so morally reprehensible it boggles the mind. He was asked, “Is this unfair to people who paid their student loans or chose not to take out loans?” While leaving the room, he turned around and replied, “Is it fair to people who in fact do not own a multi-billion-dollar business if they see one of these guys give them all a tax break? Is that fair? What do you think?”

What Biden is saying is that if you are able to keep the money you earned, that is “unfair,” but if you are transferring your debt to those who did not incur it, that is “fair.” This is an upside-down mentality. It says more about how the government views the populace – as indentured servants who exist to give them funds to do anything they want.

Is this legal? According to Nancy Pelosi, it is not. “People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness,” Pelosi told reporters in July 2021. “He does not. He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power.” Yet Biden found a loophole in the HEROES Act of 2003 that says that he can forgive loans in the wake of an emergency. At the time, Congress meant something like 9/11. Biden is claiming that COVID is the emergency. He’s doing this while also saying that the federal government no longer has the ability to send out COVID-19 testing kits, will stop paying for COVID-19 vaccinations, no longer has to worry about COVID-19 on the southern border, and as his CDC is removing their guidelines left and right. So it’s not an emergency in any of those realistic scenarios, but is regarding student loan debt.

Then there’s the fiscal irresponsibility, which wouldn’t be as infuriating if the White House didn’t claim that this was a nonexistent problem. Biden’s policies caused an inflation and a recession, something that would have not happened if he literally did nothing when coming into office. Even the editorial boards of some of Biden’s most sycophantic defenders are astounded at the inflationary problems that this plan will cause (albeit in the most milquetoast manner possible). “Mr. Biden’s plan is also expensive — and likely inflationary,” write the Washington Post. Bloomberg says that “While loan forgiveness won’t put cash in borrowers’ pockets, it still risks fueling inflation by encouraging consumers to spend money they would otherwise have put toward paying off their debts.” The New York Times’ Paul Krugman says it won’t affect inflation, but he is historically wrong about nearly everything he’s ever written.

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had the audacity to claim that “the President’s record on fiscal responsibility is second to none.” She makes this claim because of “deficit reduction.” Basically, Biden didn’t spend as much as we did when the government shut down every business in the country and paid people anyway because of a global pandemic, so why are you complaining? Meanwhile, he’s spending nearly that much on his own political priorities, which are demolishing the economic recovery America was supposed to be having.

So why is he doing this? To buy votes. It’s as simple as that. Polling indicates that President Biden’s strongest base of support is college-educated white women. He’s bribing that group to turn up to vote in the midterms so he can hold onto power for a few more years. This cannot be allowed to happen. Everyone who is sick of the government taking their money and literally throwing it away, forcing the prices of goods up, destroying the supply chain, and hampering the economy must turn out and vote in November. It’s the only way to stop this madness.

Kathy Hochul Decides Who Is A ‘Real New Yorker’

Originally published August 31, 2022

https://queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/7146-kathy-hochul-decides-who-is-a-real-new-yorker

Kathy Hochul is on the campaign trail, and she is deciding who qualifies as a “real New Yorker.” In her mind, New Yorkers are docile, sheepish people who wait in breadlines for handouts and are desperate for direction and instruction. Anyone who can’t go along with her vision should simply get out of New York.

She said at a campaign event for Democrat Pat Ryan, “And we are here to say that the era of Trump, and Zeldin and Molinaro, just jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong, ok? Get out of town. Because you do not represent our values. You are not New Yorkers.” Ryan, who was running against Marc Molanaro in a special election, won that seat, propelling Democrats’ hopes that 2022 will not be the Red Wave pundits have predicted for months.

Hochul believes that the “real New Yorkers” are happy with the way Democrats have been running the Empire State for the past four years, since they finally took the State Senate and solidified their hold on Albany. Abortion on Demand, No Cash Bail Law, and some of the most restrictive COVID lockdowns in the country are just a few of the radical, extremist policies that the Democrats have put in place.

Siena College conducted a poll gauging New Yorkers’ Life Satisfaction and compared the results from 2018, the last year that Republicans held some power in the state. “Today, 27% of New Yorkers are more satisfied with their life than they were a year ago while 33% are less satisfied and 39% are as satisfied today as they were a year ago according to a new Siena College (SCRI) poll of New Yorkers.” the Press Release states. “When SCRI last conducted this survey in 2018, 44% reported being more satisfied with their life while only 17% reported being less satisfied.”

The poll tested 11 different areas of life in New York: Financial condition, Residence/location, Work, Current health and vitality, Recreation, Family relationships, Life partner relationship, World direction, Friends and acquaintances, Community, and Religion/spiritual life. In every single category, New Yorkers are less satisfied now than they were in 2018. Keep in mind, 2018 was the middle of the Trump Presidency, when Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate, which was, according to Democrats, supposedly the worst period in American history. If anything, those totals should be markedly deflated, with a significant rise now that Democrats not only have control of Albany, but Washington as well. Instead, life under Democrats has caused satisfaction with areas like “Financial condition” to drop to 49.5% and “World direction” to 29.7%.

Democrats core voters – women, poor, young, and people of color – are all the hardest hit. “Women also expressed less satisfaction than men with their financial condition, their work, their health, their relationship with a life partner and the direction of the world.” the report claimed. Siena College Research Institute Director Don Levy elaborated, “18-34 have the lowest overall satisfaction with each successive age group expressing greater overall satisfaction. And it does seem that money makes you more satisfied as those earning $100K or more are more satisfied than those earning less than $50K in not only the financial condition category but in every other category as well.

“The racial satisfaction gap is striking. Overall satisfaction among blacks at 59 percent is the lowest of any racial or ethnic group. Interestingly, while overall satisfaction among Blacks is unchanged and lower than that of whites or Latinos, satisfaction among Blacks did increase on the condition of the world from 21% in 2018 to 32% today and Blacks expressed increasing satisfaction towards their finances, recreation, community, and their health,” Levy said.

Democrats have some momentum right now, with the anger over the Dobbs decision and legislative successes still fresh in people’s minds. Yet in the next two months until election day, voters won’t run to the polls based on abortion (as abortion in New York isn’t going anywhere), and the economic effects of policy like the Inflation Reduction Act and student loan forgiveness will start to be felt. Voters will look at their wallet – and at their leadership – and demand a change. Then Kathy Hochul will learn what “real New Yorkers” think of her.

Institutionalized Racism Is Alive And Well In USA

Originally published August 24, 2022

https://queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/7128-institutionalized-racism-is-alive-and-well-in-usa

Hardly a week goes by without the claim being made that America is a systemically racist country to its core. Despite decades – centuries even – of Americans trying to live up to the Founding creed, there will be those who use the original sin of our nation as a weapon to earn power and superiority to others. They work to make sure that racism in America never dies.

The phrase “institutional racism” or “systemic racism” has replaced simple “racism” recently. The idea is to obfuscate the issue, to make it so broad, vague, and general that no clear definition could be made. It’s a phrase crested in the laboratories of the university system that has an academic definition so dense that even asking for an explanation earns a scoff and a shaking of the head. To define words is a grave sin in today’s society, because to define a thing means that the thing can be debated. Debate is discouraged.

Institutional racism can most simply be defined as disparate outcomes in any process between white people and people of color. It goes back to the fallacy of “equity,” that everyone must be able to reach the same goal, regardless of circumstance. As Kamala Harris recently put it, “So equity, as a concept, says: Recognize that everyone has the same capacity, but in order for them to have equal opportunity to reach that capacity, we must pay attention to this issue of equity if we are to expect and allow people to compete on equal footing.”

Think about that for a second. Everyone has the same capacity? That is clearly untrue. Physical strength, mental aptitude, height, weight, and even things like vision and hearing vary from person to person. For everyone to have the same capacity, we would, by definition, need to reduce individual achievement to the lowest common denominator. That is equity. Anything else is “systemic racism.”

This is used constantly by the Left. It’s an old joke that at the end of the world, The New York Times headline will be “World Ends – Women and Blacks Most Affected.” Even when everyone is on equal footing, the literal end of the world, the Left must always make it so someone is having a disparate outcome. So when Joe Biden, or Kamala Harris, or any number of politicians or pundits claim that America is guilty of “systemic racism” or “institutional racism,” many who reject the woke vocabulary instantly scoff. They have no definitions, no examples, nothing but a lack of equity that has another, likelier explanation than simple racism.

When you make a claim, the onus is on you to prove it. If you’re going to claim that America has institutional racism, you need to show which institution you are referring to. This country has countless institutions. Every school, police department, company, and government office can be considered an “institution.” In order to fight the scourge of racism, they must be identified and exposed if they are truly racist.

There are many institutions guilty of racism, and that racism is endemic to the institution itself. Yet these are not the examples that the Democrats want to focus on. This past week, a new contract for the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers was publicized, and it is systemically racist. The Minneapolis public school system is now an institutionally racist system.

There is a contract provision stating that in the event of layoffs in the school district, black teachers (or teachers of color) have higher priority than white teachers. Of course, they use flowery language to describe what is essentially a morally-bankrupt policy. “If excessing a teacher who is a member of a population underrepresented among licensed teachers in the site, the District shall excess the next least senior teacher, who is not a member of an underrepresented population.”

After backlash, the district and the union vehemently defended the provision. “To remedy the continuing effects of past discrimination, Minneapolis Public Schools and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) mutually agreed to contract language that aims to support the recruitment and retention of teachers from underrepresented groups as compared to the labor market and to the community served by the school district,” the district said. The president of the teachers union, Greta Callahan, called it, “just one teensy, tiny step towards equity.”

This language echoes the rhetoric of preeminent race hustler Ibram X. Kendi, who said, “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.” He added, “The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”

This is merely the latest in a long line of racist institutions. At the University of California, Berkeley, an off-campus housing co-op bans white students. When entering the 5-story, 30-room building, you must sign in your race and announce when you are bringing a white guest in. Washington University has segregated dorms for black people to keep them away from white people.

Then there are the corporations and non-profits that engage in this. Coca-Cola had a mandatory racial sensitivity training that included the phrase, “try to be less white.” The Smithsonian Museum put out a list of “white traits” that included things like hard work and timeliness. All in the name of “progress.”

There is literally no reason to believe that this won’t continue, and get worse over time. This country has had racist laws in the past, most famously the Jim Crow laws of the south. Democrats passed those laws, and they have the same mindset today. We could easily see laws discriminating based on skin color in the future as well, because the only way to remedy past discrimination is present discrimination. All for equity.