Israel knew even before the Egyptian draft resolution that the White House was planning an “ambush” and coordinating it with the Palestinians, said another Israeli official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal diplomatic conversations.
Israeli diplomats believe they were misled by the U.S. during a meeting last week between high-ranking Israeli and Obama administration officials in which the U.S. side offered reassurances about its efforts to support Israel but declined to explicitly state that the U.S. would veto such a resolution if it came up. The Israelis told their counterparts that “friends don’t take friends to the Security Council,” the official said.
So Much Winning!
Chuck Yeager is now tweeting F-35 replacement options at Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/nHrlm76Kyj
— Kelsey D. Atherton (@AthertonKD) December 23, 2016
♪ Muhammed, Take The Wheel ♫
Allahu Akbar! It’s the new cry for help.
Now, thankfully dead.
Left vs Right = Rhetoric vs Results
Dan Henninger has written a fascinating new column in which he digs deeper into something Michelle Obama said recently. Simply put, the Left appears to believe that “what you say” is what matters whereas others believe that actual results are much more important.
Michelle Obama and other Democrats disconsolate since the election about the loss of hope in American politics leave the impression they believe that giving people the rhetoric of hope, lifting them with words, is more important than delivering results, which some might call change.
For example, when Mrs. Clinton promised free public-college tuition, Democrats seemed to think this sort of inchoate, grandiose promise would somehow strike voters as “offering hope,” and that this impassioned commitment alone–to hope–should be enough to validate their politics. But it doesn’t, not anymore.
Once past the voting, politics is about public policies, whose real-world effects either sustain or diminish hope. Hope is the helium-filled balloon of politics. Governing in office is the gravity that pulls it back to earth.
Related: In this podcast, Henninger discusses his column with John Batchelor.
More Pavilions At Volkfest
Reader Tips
Via Rob H., The Pogues (Featuring Kirsty MacColl) — Fairytale Of New York
Near Xmas Greetings from SF
This is one of the most extravagantly decorated houses every year at Christmastime in San Francisco. I put together this video recently and thought you’d all enjoy it on this cold Thursday night.
The Sound Of Settled Science
Letter to Mark Steyn
It’s not clear whether one should laugh or cry:
Dear Mark,
Spot on. It reminds me of the old joke about the procedure for separating the sane from the insane, back when there were “mental asylums” and society tried to keep crazy people inside them instead of running the country.
The intake assessment involved giving each patient a mop and bucket, then locking them in a room and slowly flooding it with water.
As the water level rose, the insane went to work with the mop and bucket.
The sane located the valve and turned off the water.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Rick Darby
Oh, Shiny Librano!
You say po-ta-to, they say pota-to-play…
As part of an ongoing review of fundraising activities by the Liberal Party of Canada, The Globe and Mail spoke with invitees who described requests that suggest significant discrepancies between official ticket prices and the actual cost of entry.
One businesswoman, who splits her time between China and Canada, told The Globe she was invited to a May fundraiser by Chinese Business Chamber of Canada chair Benson Wong – an event billed as an intimate evening at Mr. Wong’s home with Justin Trudeau – at a cost of $4,500. She would only agree to be identified by her first name, Linda.
The Tolerant Left
Ivanka was on a JetBlue flight leaving JFK Thursday morning with her family when a passenger started screaming, “Your father is ruining the country.” The guy went on, “Why is she on our flight. She should be flying private.” The guy had his kid in his arms as he went on the tirade.
His Harvard educated professor husband was in on the action.
Here is professor @mattlasner's deleted tweet regarding the harassment of Ivanka Trump and her children on JetBlue @Hunter_College pic.twitter.com/FGG5DUaQk8
— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) December 22, 2016
Oh, Shiny Prime Minister!
Trudeau likes the idea of Canada. It’s just aboriginal Canadians that he largely hates:
A federal decision to stop issuing offshore oil and gas licences in the Arctic was made without consultation with the people whose economy stands to pay the price, Northwest Territories Premier Bob McLeod said Wednesday.
The leader of the territory south of the oil-rich Beaufort Sea said he heard about the new policy just two hours before it was made public Tuesday in a joint statement by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Barack Obama.
McLeod said he is disappointed by Ottawa’s “unilateral” move, which he said has set back recent initiatives by Ottawa to give Canada’s territories more autonomy.
“We need to have northerners making decisions about the North that affect them,” McLeod said in an interview.
Bill’s Wife
Still losing…
“It astounds me that the press still doesn’t get it, that my party (Democrats) are blaming everyone but themselves for a poor message, poor messenger and the responsibility she bears for placing her email security in jeopardy . . . it’s not Comey’s fault. It’s hers,” said Elizabeth who was sitting in the booth across the aisle.
Elizabeth voted for Clinton, but wasn’t sure she’d do so again. “The way everyone is acting now post-election shows that no one, no one, has learned anything. She is just proving she deserved to lose,” she said.
What the political class astoundingly still doesn’t get is that people, even those who supported Clinton, are tired of Trump’s win being blamed on fake news, the Comey letter and the Russians.
They’re tired of every story about the election beginning with “But, Hillary won the popular vote.” And they’re tired of protesters protesting something they can’t change.
And they’re clearly not alone.
In The Mail
| From SDA sponsor Susan Crockford*: “A versatile, full-color polar bear science summary appropriate for ages 7 and up: Polar Bear Facts and Myths. It’s laid out in a question and answerformat with language that’s straightforward but not condescending, making it a great polar bear book for adults and kids to read together.” |  |
*Sorry for the misspelling, Susan!
Reader Tips
Tonight’s thread is open for tips.
Mississippi Hoaxing
Another narrative goes up in flames.
Mississippi authorities have made an arrest in the burning of an African-American church spray-painted with the words, “Vote Trump.”
Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain says Andrew McClinton of Leland, Mississippi, who is African-American, is charged with first-degree arson of a place of worship.
Why the Millennials Will Get the Punishment They Deserve
“Coupled with the choir of worthless parents who pampered the genetic crap that resulted from their copulation, these veritable worthless human beings are incapable of self-supportation, independent thought, honoring the golden rule, sympathy, and respecting other people’s rights. And if they got their way, they would have enslaved the rest of us to pay for their parasitic lifestyles, while working crusaderishly to chisel away at freedom, democracy, and the United States.
However, they face one problem. Trump.”
Going Away President
Van Akbar!
Clearly we must step up efforts in the screening of foreign manufactured trucks.
Bill’s Wife
Behold, the Clinton archipelago…