Happy, Healthy & Safe 2025, till next year...
Eight residents have filed paperwork to fill Seat 4 on the Miami Lakes town council.
The seat formerly held by Josh Dieguez became vacant when he was elected mayor on Nov. 26.
Dieguez, Vice Mayor Bryan Morera and council members Angelo Cuadra Garcia, Juan Carlos Fernandez and Steven Herzberg met at Town Hall on Dec. 23 to discuss the applicants.
One applicant, Nayib Hassan, attended the public meeting.
Dieguez has until Dec. 27 to nominate a candidate from the pool of eight. The town council will vote on the choice during the Jan. 21 municipal meeting.
If the council does not approve Dieguez’s nominee, a special election will be held to fill the seat.
"First and foremost, I want to thank everybody that applied," Dieguez told The Miami Laker.
"We had a lot of very qualified people that stepped up including those who have run before and newcomers who have decided to increase their involvement with the town.
"Beyond that, I am going to take a few days to consider my options and the feedback from my colleagues and a decision will probably come sooner than Friday and it will likely come on the 26th and certainly be someone who shares my vision and will put Miami Lakes first," he said.
The applicants are: Esther Colon; Nayib Hassan;
William Garciga; Mario Pinera; Pedro “Michael” Proenza;
John Rogger; Alejandro Sanchez and Enrique Suarez.
Miami Lakes Mayor Josh Dieguez chose Alejandro Sanchez as his nominee to fill vacant Council Seat 4.
Sanchez, 40, is an associate at a commercial property group and serves on the Planning and Zoning Board.
“I am head and shoulders beyond the moon,” Sanchez said Friday. “I have served my nation since I was 19 years old, since I enlisted in the Navy in 2003, and it’s been a lifelong commitment for me to continue serving.”
Seat 4 was formerly held by Dieguez and it became vacant when he won election to town mayor on Nov. 26.
Sanchez, a decorated U.S. Navy veteran, was one of eight residents who sought the seat on the dais.
Dieguez discussed the candidates with the rest of the council during a meeting at town hall on Dec. 23. Per charter rules, if a majority votes for Sanchez during the Jan. 21 council meeting, the town will avoid a delay in filling the seat and the costs of a special election.
The other candidates were Esther Colon; Nayib Hassan; William Garciga; Mario Pinera; Pedro “Michael” Proenza; John Rogger and Enrique Suarez.
In a Dec. 27 memo to the council posted that afternoon on the town’s website, Dieguez said a factor that led to his choice included someone who would put “the interests of the town above political considerations.”
Dieguez praised those who put themselves forward. He wrote that he was concerned about nominating someone who had previously run for office but had not won, though he said the council agreed it was “commendable that they threw their hat in the ring and demonstrated ‘tough skin’…
He also wanted a person with a history of service to the town who would work well with staff. In addition to his service on the PNZ, Sanchez has volunteered as chair of the town’s Veterans Committee; Neighborhood Improvement Committee and the Town Manager Selection Committee, Dieguez said.
“Of all the applications we received … his application notably included the most letters of recommendation from everyday town residents,” Dieguez said.
Sanchez included 16 letters in his application written by friends and neighbors, and did have some heavy hitters in the package: Former Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas, Miami-Dade County Public Schools Board Member Roberto Alonso; former town Mayor Ceasar Mestre; former vice mayors Luis Collazo and Nelson Rodriguez and current Planning and Zoning Board Vice Chair Fred Senra, who are all residents.
He also complimented Sanchez’s candid presentation of his background, which included a brush with law enforcement.
Fourteen years ago, Sanchez reported that was arrested on suspicion of committing felony battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest without violence and a misdemeanor disorderly conduct. Sanchez blamed the incident that happened at a comedy club on “seizure medication” and pleaded not guilty to the charges. He reported that he was “never convicted.” The misdemeanor charge was not prosecuted; the felony charge was reduced to a misdemeanor offense, which was also not prosecuted, court records show.
“Now to have this honor bestowed upon me and hopefully be made official with the votes on the 21st of January, it means the world to me,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez was the 2016 Volunteer of the Year, awarded by the mayor, and the 2014 Grand Marshal of the Veterans Parade. He is pursuing a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Miami and expects to graduate in 2025.
Town of Miami Lakes Memorandum
To: Honorable Council Members
From: Honorable Mayor Dieguez
Mayor’s Memorandum 2024-02 December 27, 2024
Council Members:
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and as we wind down the clock on 2024, I wanted to take some time to announce two important decisions.
The first announcement will be my nomination to fill the Seat 4 vacancy which we will vote on at our next Regular Council Meeting taking place on January 21, 2025.
The second announcement concerns my new assistant who will be my right hand at Town Hall as I fully begin my duties as Mayor.
Council Vacancy – Seat 4 Before I name my nominee to fill the vacancy in Seat 4 caused by my resignation to run for Mayor, I wanted to take some time to clear up any potential confusion regarding my decision to make a nomination.
First and foremost, Section 2.5(c)(ii) of the Town Charter requires that the Mayor make a nomination within thirty calendar days following the occurrence of the vacancy.
Said nomination is then voted on by the Town Council and the nominee is either confirmed or rejected.
Earlier this year, I joined two other colleagues in voting against the prior Mayor’s nominee to fill the vacancy caused in Seat 6 by the resignation of former Vice Mayor Alvarez.
The reasons for doing so are on the record for all to see.
However, I want to re-emphasize my decision on the special election at that time and draw a contrast with why I believe an appointment is more appropriate in this instance.
In my remarks this past January, I stated that my vote was based on an evaluation of what I believed the Town needed at the time of making an appointment and the history of those appointments.
I joined many residents in stating that I believed what the Town needed most then is continuity.
I recounted how in every other instance of an appointment for the Town Council, there was no shortage of experienced council members to guide the new member being appointed.
I also pointed out the unprecedented situation of potentially being as many as 5 new members of the Town Council with no prior public budgeting experience and that any nominee would only serve until November and yet make decisions that impact the Town well beyond that time.
Combined with the prior Mayor’s nominee stating she would not run for a full term, this created a situation that was unacceptable to me as it would be detrimental to the Town’s long term best interests.
Accordingly, a special election was more appropriate because, by doing so, the eventual winner would serve for two years and would likely be someone committed to running for re-election—the sort of individual who is better suited to making long term decisions.
Additionally, the eventual winner would immediately start immersing themselves in the budget process and, because of the longer term, would retain that knowledge on the dais to help out the new council members just elected this past November.
In short, in light of the circumstances that existed at that time, I made a decision consistent with my belief that what the Town needed most was continuity and the outcome of a special election was the only way to achieve that result.
Unlike last January, there is no immediately pending election in which (as a result of term limits) as many as 5 entirely new members of the Town Council would be elected.
In fact, all members of this Town Council are committed to serving for the long term—including the nominee I have selected.
Further, there are now three members of the Town Council who have experienced at least one budget cycle instead of just two members.
Additionally, unlike in years prior, this nomination follows a public and open call for applications for the appointment and consultation with you, my colleagues, on what they would like to see in a nominee at our recent Sunshine Meeting.
To summarize, none of the circumstances existing in January 2024 that led me to decide a special election was more appropriate at that time are present in this case.
Now turning to my selection, my overriding goal was to select a candidate who I believed would join me and you in putting the interests of the Town above political considerations.
I wanted someone with a history of involvement in the Town and someone who would work well with us and town staff.
I shared with you my concerns in nominating someone who had previously run for office unsuccessfully since voters had clearly indicated a preference not in their favor although we all agreed it is commendable that they threw their hat in the ring and demonstrated “tough skin” by doing so.
Taking these considerations and others into account, I have decided to nominate Alejandro Sanchez for the Seat 4 vacancy and ask that you support his nomination.
Alejandro, or simply “Alex”, is a sixteen-year resident of the Town of Miami Lakes and a decorated veteran of the United States Navy.
His public service in the Town of Miami Lakes includes service on the Planning and Zoning Board, Veterans Affairs Committee, Neighborhood Improvement Committee, and Town Manager Selection Committee.
Of all the applications we received for the Seat 4 vacancy, his application notably included the most letters of recommendation from everyday town residents.
His policy and budget priorities also are similar to the priorities many of us have identified as our own with a decidedly local focus on the Town.
Although Alex previously filed to run in the 2016 election for Town Council, he ultimately withdrew and therefore voters have not yet weighed in on his candidacy.
However, he has committed to running for re-election for a full term in 2026 when voters will then get the opportunity to weigh in on his record at that time.
Alex has also demonstrated a great level of transparency and candor during this application process, which I know is the sort of personal character we all appreciate in a colleague.
I sincerely wish to thank all the applicants who put their names forward.
They were all highly qualified individuals with commendable service records and deserve praise for being willing to increase their involvement in making our Town a better place to live, work, and play.
I fully expect we will continue to see them actively involved. Mayor’s Assistant Turning to my second announcement, I am pleased to announce that I have selected Joshua Villorin to serve as my assistant.
We’ll have to work out a nickname for him to avoid confusion with me when someone is trying to get our attention, but I’m sure we’ll work that out in due time!
In the meantime, I’ll go with JV.
JV is a young energetic Marketing Communications Coordinator for Greenspoon Marder, LLP where he was responsible for a variety of tasks including research and analysis, drafting press releases and newsletters, and providing support in the development of requests for proposals.
Previously, JV served as a Staff Assistant to Congressman Mario Diaz- Balart and as an intern for former Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales where he developed an interest in public service and was responsible for constituent services—an area that will be top priority for me during my time in office as Mayor.
JV will officially join the Office of the Mayor beginning January 21, 2025 and will not only be my assistant but also a trusted confidante and gate keeper to ensure I carry out my various priorities.
Sincerely, /s/ Joshua Dieguez Josh Dieguez Mayor
David Mamet speaks. Has he found his inner Popeye when it comes to treatment of Jews. "That's all I can stands, 'cause I can't stands no more." Or has he found his inner Ze'ev Jabotinsky, “There is no mightier weapon than indifference, you will never conquer it.”
Jared Silverman, Email: ajs@e-counsel.com
The Jews Are the World’s Foster Children
The liberal strategy has been one of cooperative passivity. But maybe the time has come to grow up.
David Mamet, Dec. 25, 2024
The foster-care system is notoriously insufficient, inefficient and often corrupt. Many may foster out of benevolence, many for the government stipend, some for nefarious reasons, and who will watch over the custodians? [Playwright Mamet's Hat Tip to the 1st–2nd century Roman poet Juvenal who posed the eternal question "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" ["Who will watch the watchmen?"] in his Satires.]
We Jews have been the world’s foster children—homeless for 2,000 years, and thus powerless but to accept whatever measure of protection (real, imaginary or probational) the fostering country offers. In some we were slaves, in some tolerated as second-class. In no country were we accepted as full citizens, without that hyphen that is always an asterisk.
The child in a moderately happy home isn’t continually required to reassess his security. He is free to use his energies elsewhere, even in rebellion. But the stepchild or adoptee must first and always consider his existential safety in an unhealthy home, whose full inhabitants, at any moment, may remind him of a status as designated victim.
Every family member discovers and crafts his identity in the group: the clown, the long-sufferer, the sage, the peacemaker, the beauty, the troublemaker. The Jew-as-stepchild has, since the fall of the Temple, identified as the default villain. [Consider the role of Emmanuel Goldstein i 1984.]
Batesian mimicry in animals is the adoption of coloration outline and behavior mimicking more-savage creatures. The liberal Jewemploys an opposite tactic: He performs cooperative passivity, demonstrating his lack of demand for full citizenship. [Consider the sycophnacy of Rabbi Stephen Wise to FDR over European Jewish refugees and Jewish concentration camp prisoners.]
Diaspora Jews were, and now are again, bluntly reminded that we exist on sufferance, which might be withdrawn if we don’t acknowledge it and make obeisance to the host—including, if required, indictment and sacrifice of our like. [“Eliminate the Diaspora, or the Diaspora will surely eliminate you.” Jabotinsky] This is the engine of liberal Judaism’s dedication to a Democratic Party, whose sole benefit (to Jew and non-Jew) is staying the threat of exclusion. Jews have an unfortunate cultural sensitivity to the threat, which is why we are one of the last identity groups to remain Democratic. [Churchill's warning to neutral countries is applicable here, "Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last."]
Christianity is devotion to a Man who to Christians is God. He was born without human intercession, as was his mother, Mary. He is the aspirational figure of a human free of sin. But Christ wasn’t a Christian—he was a Jew.
Isaac, the son of Judaism’s founder, was conceived miraculously, in Sarah, our first matriarch. Abraham whored her out to Pharaoh, in return for his safety. The mother of the Jewish nation was a victim of sex-trafficking.
We Jews hold that the Messiah hasn’t come and await his arrival, as a descendant of King David. David’s ancestress was Ruth, a Moabite. They were descendants of Lot, and Lot’s daughters, conceived through incest with their father. David’s line continued with Solomon, who was conceived through David’s adulterous relationship with Bathsheba. That is the line of the Messiah.
Some Christians believe that although Jesus descended from David, the tainted lineage was broken through immaculate conception. Observant Jews hold that eventual human salvation must come from one descended from sinners—like you and me and our offspring.
The acculturated Jew may observe humanity’s inherent sinfulness. Unlike his Christian brothers, he is unaware of the analgesic. For them it is submission to Christ; for him, the biblically mandated repentance, charity and prayer. “Good works” aren’t part of the prescription, for the flawed human mind is imperfect at determining their identity. The Jew, however, is susceptible to fascination by that group promising to spare him the trouble.
The rabbis suggest we should act as if the world is balanced evenly between good and evil people, with oneself the dividing factor. One should understand that one’s own life is equally balanced, and the complexion of the world will depend on one’s next act.
The frightened, homeless stepchild might mime “goodness” till the end of time, and accept any indignity rather than risk a tenuous momentary acceptance. He has no voice at the kitchen table. Like him, the acculturated liberal Jew can’t criticize the protective entity. That is the reserved province of the full citizen.
There is no such thing as a “step-adult.” The mature individual, Jew or non-Jew, is one who recognizes childhood is over; that his life and fate will now be the results of his actions, and that his next act is all he can control of the world. His thoughts, feelings, intentions and explanations count for absolutely nothing—he can’t change the past, and the future is unknowable. The future, that is, including both his next act and its repercussions.
Theodore Herzl was an assimilated Jew. He saw the degradation of Alfred Dreyfus and reasoned his way to “The Jewish State,” the book that inspired the founding of modern Israel.
Chuck Schumer, a Jewish senator from New York, blocked a resolution that would have prevented the Biden administration from blocking military aid to Israel and another to censure the International Criminal Court for indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Perhaps it is Mr. Schumer’s destiny, like Herzl’s, to bring Jews to their senses. [What say you Schumer the Shomer?]
Mr. Mamet is a playwright, film director and screenwriter.
This included $4.8 million on influencers, $2.1 million for Paraguayan border security, a $12 million Las Vegas pickleball complex, and $32,596 on breakdancing.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) released on Dec. 24 his annual “Festivus” list of wasteful government spending in the past year.
“Festivus” is a reference from the iconic TV show “Seinfeld” where the late Jerry Stiller celebrated a holiday of grievances during the Christmas season.
“Last Festivus, we bemoaned the national debt nearing $34 trillion. In just a year, Washington’s career politicians and bureaucrats have managed to push it beyond $36 trillion—unsurprisingly, with hardly a second thought,” said Paul in the report.
STANLEY KRIEGER SHARES THE FESTIVUS REPORT 2024
The Festivus Report 2024
Happy Festivus!
How is 2024 already wrapping up? It feels like we blinked, and history dumped a year’s worth of plot twists on us. Donald Trump dodged two assassination attempts, Vice President Kamala Harris ousted President Biden from the presidential race last minute only to fail spectacularly, the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris captured global attention with a brilliant display of breakdancing from our friends in Australia, and November handed control of Congress to the Republicans. Yet, even amid these seismic events, one issue remained unchanged—the ever-mounting national debt.
Last Festivus, we bemoaned the national debt nearing $34 trillion. In just a year, Washington’s career politicians and bureaucrats have managed to push it beyond $36 trillion—unsurprisingly, with hardly a second thought.
Who’s to blame for our crushing national debt? Everybody. This year, members of both political parties in Congress voted for massive spending bills, filled with subsidies for underperforming industries, continued military aid to Ukraine, and controversial climate initiatives. As Congress spends to reward its favored pet projects, the American taxpayers are forced to pay through high prices and crippling interest rates.
The same big spenders teamed up, yet again, to continue sending Americans’ hard-earned money to foreign countries, funding endless wars, all while STILL ignoring our wide-open southern border.
And our mountain of debt will continue to pile even higher. The Congressional Budget Office predicts we will add an average of $2.1 trillion in debt annually for the next decade. According to a July House Budget Committee Report, the U.S. government will add over $6.4 billion of debt every single day for the next ten years, borrowing over $268 million every hour, $4.5 million every minute, and over $74,401 every second.
This year, I am highlighting a whopping $1,008,313,329,626.12. That’s over $1 trillion in government waste, including things like ice-skating drag queens, a $12 Million Las Vegas pickleball complex, $4,840,082 on Ukrainian influencers, and more! No matter how much money the government has wasted, politicians keep demanding even more.
As always, taking the path to fiscal responsibility is often a lonely journey, but I’ve been fighting government waste like DOGE before DOGE was cool. And I will continue my fight against government waste this holiday season.
So, before we get to the Feats of Strength, it’s time for my Airing of (spending) Grievances!
I have a lot of problems with federal spending, and now it’s time to hear all about them!
Ghost Towns on the Government's Dime: The federal government spent $10 billion on maintaining, leasing, and furnishing almost entirely empty buildings
A Pandemic Plunder: A Florida man stole $8 million in COVID-19 Relief funds to buy an island and more Your Tax Dollars at Play: The Department of the Interior (DOI) spent $12 Million on a Las Vegas Pickleball Complex
Taxpayers Fund a Disinformation Index: The Department of State (DOS) wasted $330,000 to fund censorship of non- liberal and conservative media
Snack Attack: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded a $2 million grant to study kids looking at Facebook ads about food
Taxpayers Dollars Down the Drain in Nevis: The Department of State (DOS) spent $108,272 on a non-functioning hotel Direct File Fail: Congress spent $15 million to turn the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) into an unconstitutional force to
prepare, file, and audit your hard-earned money
Oh Rats! HHS Spends Nearly Half a Million on a Depressing Study of Lonely, Starved Rats: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spent $419,470 to determine if lonely rats seek cocaine more than happy rats
Hold on to Your Steering Wheels: The Department of Energy (DOE) spent $15.5 billion to push Americans toward electric vehicles they don't want
The Influencer Effect Hits Foreign Policy: The Department of State (DOS) squandered $4,840,082 on influencers
Cirque du Taxpayer: The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) spent $365,000 to promote circuses in city parks
Girls Just Wanna Have Funds: The Department of State (DOS) spent $3 Million for ‘Girl-Centered Climate Action’ in Brazil
A State Department Production Featuring Your Hard-Earned Money: The Department of State (DOS) paid the Royal Film Commission $873,584 for movies in Jordan
Goalposts and Grandstanding: The Department of State (DOS) spent $345,434 on football engagement to counter terrorism
When Bailouts Go Bust: The United States Department of the Treasury (USDT) granted a failed trucking company a $700 million pandemic-era loan
Flocking Together! DEI Takes Flight: The National Science Foundation (NSF) spent $288,563 to ensure bird watching groups have safe spaces aka “Affinity Groups”
Interest-ingly Wasteful: Americans are paying $892 billion in fiscal year 2024 on the interest on Uncle Sam’s Credit Card Hashtag to Handouts in Ethiopia: The Department of State (DOS) spent $500,000 to expand the U.S. Embassy in
Ethiopia’s #USInvestsInEthiopians social media campaign to a larger national public relations campaign
Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, There Goes Your Tax Dollars Too! The federal government spent $7,026,689 on various magical projects
Because Who Needs a Secure U.S. Border, Anyway? The Department of State (DOS) spent $2.1 million for Paraguayan Border Security
3
The High Price of High Line Art: Since 2015 the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has awarded $385,000 for art displays on the High Line
Money to Manure: The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is spending $20 million on the Fertilize Right Initiative to advance fertilizer use in Pakistan, Vietnam, Colombia, and Brazil
Fauci Funded Feline COVID Experiments: The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) spent $2.24 million on COVID experiments
Going Viral for World Peace: The Department of State (DOS) is spending $123,066 to teach Kyrgyzstan youth how to go viral
Spinning Kittens for Science and Motion Sickness: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent $1,513,299 on a study of waste and cruelty
Cat-Stipated?: The Department of Defense (DOD) spent $10,851,439 on Orwellian cat experiments More Ducking Waste in Mexico: The Department of the Interior (DOI) spent $720,479 on wetland conservation projects for
ducks in Mexico
Big Bird Goes to Baghdad: The Agency for International Development (USAID) is spending $20 million on “Ahlan Simsim” a new Sesame Street show in Iraq
News We Wish Was Fake: The Department of State (DOS) sent $253,653 to Bosnia to fight “misinformation” Abandon Ship: The Navy Sinks Billions on LCS Vessels: The U.S. Navy is set to waste almost $90 billion on ineffective
Navy vessels
Dragging Tax Dollars onto Thin Ice: The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded the Bearded Ladies Cabaret a $10,000 grant to support a cabaret show on ice skates focused on climate change
Taxpayers Get Spun: The Department of State (DOS) allocated $32,596.12 for breakdancing
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.): Paul highlighted more than $1 trillion in wasteful spending that included $10 billion on leasing, maintaining, and furnishing almost entirely empty buildings; $4.8 million on influencers; $2.1 million for Paraguayan border security; a $12 million Las Vegas pickleball complex; and $32,596 on breakdancing.
It also consisted of $345,434 on football engagement to counter terrorism; a $700 million COVID pandemic-era loan to a failed trucking company; and $10,000 for an ice skate cabaret show centered on climate change.
“Who’s to blame for our crushing national debt? Everybody,” Paul said.
The national debt is more than $36 trillion.
“This year, members of both political parties in Congress voted for massive spending bills filled with subsidies for underperforming industries, continued military aid to Ukraine, and controversial climate initiatives,” Paul said. “As Congress spends to reward its favored pet projects, the American taxpayers are forced to pay through high prices and crippling interest rates.”
The incoming Trump administration will have an outside group called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to advise the White House on cutting wasteful spending and regulations in the federal government.
“As always, taking the path to fiscal responsibility is often a lonely journey, but I’ve been fighting government waste like DOGE before DOGE was cool. And I will continue my fight against government waste this holiday season,” Paul said.
While he has yet to comment on the report itself, Musk highlighted Paul’s work by sharing posts about it on X.
Donald Trump is The Gladiator - Parody Trailer: With Gladiator II becoming available on various streaming services this week, take a look at this politicized trailer.
MEMRI: Jordanian-Palestinian Journalist In Christmas Day Column: Jesus, 'The First Palestinian Martyr,' Was Killed By A Jewish-Roman Colonialist Conspiracy
Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past. - George Orwell, 1984. History is written by the victors. - Attributed to Winston Churchill
The history of Israel, Jews and Christianity is being rewritten. Who is controlling the present and who are the victors?
From MEMRI -
In his Christmas Day column in the Palestinian daily Al-Quds, Jordanian-Palestinian journalist and writer Hamada Fara'neh, who is a member of the PLO Palestinian National Council, wrote that Christianity belongs to the Palestinians and that Jesus was "the first Palestinian martyr." He stated that "those who conspired with the Roman colonialism" against Jesus (i.e., the Jews) continue to commit crimes against the Palestinians, thus creating a link between the ancient antisemitic accusation that the Jews killed Jesus and the contemporary Palestinian narrative that describes Jesus as a martyr who died as part of the Palestinian national struggle. Fara’neh expressed hope that Christmas will herald the "hoped-for day" on which the descendants of the Palestinian refugees will return to their land and their cities inside Israel: "Lydda, Ramla, Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Safed and Beersheba."
But you have similar thinking from a theologian who should know better.
Vatican nativity scene showing baby Jesus on a keffiyeh removed after backlash - Times of Israel, 12/11/24
A seasonal nativity scene at the Vatican has been removed after backlash over its depiction of the baby Jesus lying on a keffiyeh, the traditional scarf used by Palestinians as a national symbol, Catholic media outlets reported Wednesday.
The keffiyeh-draped cradle, which was displayed in the Paul VI Hall, was one of a series of nativity scenes collectively titled “Nativity of Bethlehem 2024,” designed by artists Johny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi, both Palestinians from Bethlehem, according to Vatican News.
At the inauguration of the scene on Saturday, Pope Francis called on believers to “remember the brothers and sisters, who, right there [in Bethlehem] and in other parts of the world, are suffering from the tragedy of war.”
According to the Crux news outlet, the Vatican did not offer a reason as to why the scene was removed and did not respond when asked whether its removal represented a political statement.
The creation and display of the scene was organized by the Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine, an organ of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the Palestinian embassy to the Vatican, along with several local institutions in Bethlehem.
It was not the main nativity scene displayed in St. Peter’s Square.
The unveiling of the provocative nativity scene came after a series of statements by the pope about the ongoing war between Israel and various Iranian proxies, which have angered some Jews and Israelis.
The nativity scene is also suggestive of the trope that Jesus was a Palestinian, which drew anger from Israeli officials in 2013, when invoked by Mahmoud Abbas.
Jared Silverman Email: ajs@e-counsel.com
In his Christmas Day column in the Palestinian daily Al-Quds, Jordanian-Palestinian journalist and writer Hamada Fara'neh, who is a member of the PLO Palestinian National Council, wrote that Christianity belongs to the Palestinians and that Jesus was "the first Palestinian martyr." He stated that "those who conspired with the Roman colonialism" against Jesus (i.e., the Jews) continue to commit crimes against the Palestinians, thus creating a link between the ancient antisemitic accusation that the Jews killed Jesus and the contemporary Palestinian narrative that describes Jesus as a martyr who died as part of the Palestinian national struggle. Fara’neh expressed hope that Christmas will herald the "hoped-for day" on which the descendants of the Palestinian refugees will return to their land and their cities inside Israel: "Lydda, Ramla, Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Safed and Beersheba."[1]
It should be noted that last year Fara’neh wrote a similar article titled "They Stole Christianity from Us," in which he called Jesus the first Palestinian fida’i (self-sacrificing fighter) and stated that the West stole Christianity from the Palestinians just as it stole their homeland and settled it with Jews. He wrote further that, just as Jesus was a victim of a conspiracy between "Roman colonialism" and Judah Iscariot, the Palestinians today are victims of the alliance between Israel and the West, led by the U.S.[2]
Christmas cartoon in Palestinian daily: Santa Claus refuses Israel’s demand to condemn Hamas (Al-Quds, East Jerusalem, December 25, 2024)
The following are translated excerpts from Fara’neh’s recent article:[3]
"Today the Christians mark the anniversary of the birth of the Lord Messiah [Jesus] in Bethlehem, on Palestinian soil... By every legal, geographical and human criterion, he was born on the blessed soil [of Palestine]. That is why the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, [all of them] on Palestinian soil, have become the three holiest churches for Christianity. This means that Christianity belongs to us [to the Palestinians]. It was born in our land and its gospel spread from here...
"The Christians are celebrating the birth of the first [Palestinian] martyr, who paid with his life and was crucified while believing [in the gospel] that was revealed to him before the people of corruption plotted against him and conspired with the foreign Roman colonialists [and then] tortured and crucified him… He went down [in history] as a martyr [who went to his death] with open eyes, and whose gospel and followers spread throughout the world… Those who conspired with the Roman colonialism against the first Palestinian martyr… continue to commit crimes against the original owners of the land: the Palestinian Arab people of the homeland, both Muslim and Christian…
"The racist colonialist expansion enterprise – the Israeli colony – murders anything that isn’t Jewish and destroys every Muslim and Christian site, whether it is a mosque or a church. They murder and annihilate the people and [even] the trees and the stones in an attempt to erase and eliminate the blatant [Islamic and Christian] characteristics [of the land], so that Palestine will become a homeland only for the foreign Jews who were brought [there from abroad]. This will never happen, no matter how much [they] develop and expand the methods of committing crimes against the Palestinians, for the [Palestinians] have [always] stood fast and paid the price for staying in their homeland, their only homeland…
"We commemorate the birth of the Lord Messiah [Jesus], the first Palestinian martyr, and perhaps his birthday heralds and promises the imminent arrival of the hoped-for day on which the Palestinian refugees will return to their land and their cities: Lydda, Ramla, Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Safed and Beersheba. For [the Palestinians] paid a heavy price and continue to pay it since the Nakba of 1948…"
[1] Palestinian writers often draw a link between Christmas and the struggle against Israel. For example, on December 23, 2024, journalist Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul wrote on his Facebook account that “the Zionists and their American masters continue to this very day to crucify the Lord Massiah [Jesus], the first Palestinian fida’i… (Facebook.com/OmarElghoulOfficial, December 23, 2024), and in 2019 he published another article in the same vein. See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 7825 - Palestinian Authority Daily On Christmas 2018: Jesus Was 'The First Martyr And Fidai,' 'The Loyal Son Of Palestine,' Symbol Of The Palestinian National Struggle Against The Distorters Of Judaism, Who Was Persecuted And Crucified By Them – January 2, 2019. Another example is a December 24, 2024 article by former Palestinian minister Issa Qaraqe’ in which he envisioned Jesus returning to save ”his people” from the “genocide” perpetrated by Israel and being arrested by Israeli soldiers who want to crucify him “a second time.” Al-Quds (East Jerusalem) December 24, 2024.
[2] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11050 - Palestinian-Jordanian Journalist: The West Stole Christianity From Us, Just As It Stole Palestine; Jesus Was The First Palestinian Fida'i – December 29, 2023.
[3] Al-Quds (East Jerusalem), December 25, 2024.
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The Wall Street Journal:
Israelis See Chance to Remake Middle East in War’s Wake
From the WSJ -
Since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has dealt a series of damaging setbacks to its most dangerous regional adversaries. It has hobbled Hamas in Gaza, severely damaged Shiite militia Hezbollah in Lebanon and fended off missile salvos from Tehran while landing its own blows in Iran.
Israel’s military operations—especially its conduct of the war in Gaza, where local authorities say more than 40,000 Palestinians have died—have hurt the country’s international standing. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for its prime minister and former defense minister.
But Israel’s leaders say the military gains are worth the trade-off in reputational damage and argue that the country’s stronger strategic position opens the door for diplomatic gains in the future as Arab countries look for partners to keep Iranian power at bay.
“For the first time in the history of Zionism, there is an opportunity for Israel to be a regional power,” said Avner Golov, a former senior director at Israel’s National Security Council, who is now a vice president at MIND Israel, which advises governments on national security.
It won’t be an easy feat to pull off, especially as public opinion across the Arab world has soured on Israel because of the Gaza war. But with the world’s eyes focused on the horrors emerging from the wreckage of the Assad regimeand a Gaza cease-fire potentially on the horizon, Israel might be in a position to repair its international image and diplomatic standing.
Current and former Israeli officials are pushing for aggressive steps to build an Israeli, American and moderate Arab alliance that includes Saudi Arabia and is aimed at checking Iran’s influence. The re-election of Donald Trump, who confronted Iran in his first term and is returning to the presidency next month, has raised hopes for such an alliance, said Golov.
Jared Silverman Email: ajs@e-counsel.com
Israelis See Chance to Remake Middle East in War’s Wake
Despite criticism over conduct of Gaza war, some see new diplomatic opportunities
Dov Lieber, Dec. 26, 2024
TEL AVIV—Since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has dealt a series of damaging setbacks to its most dangerous regional adversaries. It has hobbled Hamas in Gaza, severely damaged Shiite militia Hezbollah in Lebanon and fended off missile salvos from Tehran while landing its own blows in Iran.
Israel’s military operations—especially its conduct of the war in Gaza, where local authorities say more than 40,000 Palestinians have died—have hurt the country’s international standing. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for its prime minister and former defense minister.
But Israel’s leaders say the military gains are worth the trade-off in reputational damage and argue that the country’s stronger strategic position opens the door for diplomatic gains in the future as Arab countries look for partners to keep Iranian power at bay.
“For the first time in the history of Zionism, there is an opportunity for Israel to be a regional power,” said Avner Golov, a former senior director at Israel’s National Security Council, who is now a vice president at MIND Israel, which advises governments on national security.
It won’t be an easy feat to pull off, especially as public opinion across the Arab world has soured on Israel because of the Gaza war. But with the world’s eyes focused on the horrors emerging from the wreckage of the Assad regime and a Gaza cease-fire potentially on the horizon, Israel might be in a position to repair its international image and diplomatic standing.
Current and former Israeli officials are pushing for aggressive steps to build an Israeli, American and moderate Arab alliance that includes Saudi Arabia and is aimed at checking Iran’s influence. The re-election of Donald Trump, who confronted Iran in his first term and is returning to the presidency next month, has raised hopes for such an alliance, said Golov.
The Gaza war set in motion a sequence of events that has helped lay the groundwork, said Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations. Israel has weakened Iran by largely incapacitating its military allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Those successes triggered the recent fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, a key Tehran ally. Israel has also decimated Iran’s air defenses in two rounds of tit-for-tat airstrikes, leaving Tehran vulnerable in any future confrontation.
“We expect our determination and strength shown over the past year will lead to more regional stability,” said Danon.
Sharren Haskel, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, said that, because Israel is on the front lines and has shown its military prowess, “many more countries are realizing that we need to work together in collaboration.” Deepened ties, including normalization with Saudi Arabia, would further isolate Iran, she said.
The two countries were close to such a pact before the war, but Riyadh has since become highly critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza and elsewhere. Yet the kingdom has retained its prewar stance that normalization is possible if Israel agrees to resolve the issue of Palestinian statehood.
Israelis overwhelmingly oppose a Palestinian state now, but Israel could give Palestinians a clear road map to self-governance in Gaza and the West Bank, Golov said. It is unclear whether Saudi Arabia would accept such a compromise.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would struggle to pass such measures with his current coalition, analysts say, because it relies on far-right parties who want to tighten rather than loosen Israeli control over the Palestinian territories. Netanyahu himself has stressed since the current war began that he would oppose a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu recently told The Wall Street Journal opinion page that there is optimism for normalization with Saudi Arabia once Israel secures a deal to release hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and pause the fighting there.
Not everyone agrees Israel’s military achievements have made itself or the region safer, and there are risks that the war’s trade-off could still prove costly to Israel.
The widely televised devastation in the Gaza Strip and the rising death toll there have sowed the seeds for future conflicts between Israel and its neighbors, said Hussein Ibish, senior resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute, a think tank in Washington.
Israel’s military victories, Ibish added, have created a situation in which it will need more soldiers to guard its borders with Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip—as well as in the West Bank, which is partially occupied by Israel.
“It is really surrounded by bitter enemies who have much more reason to be bitter enemies today than they did on Oct. 7,” he said.
Across the Middle East and in many developing countries, meeting with Israeli leaders has become taboo, stifling future cooperation, said William Wechsler, senior director of Middle East programs at the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington.
Israel has faced diplomatic blowback in the past. Itamar Rabinovich, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and adviser to several prime ministers, thinks it will wane. Israel is a magnet for such criticism today, he said, but that will decrease over time once the war ends.
“Israel enjoys massive unquestionable U.S. support not just because of the need to respond to a Hamas attack or Hezbollah, but the sense that there are important U.S. interests at stake,” said Rabinovich.
The current Middle East conflict, for example, has wider significance as Iran develops closer ties with Russia, which is in turn close to countries that are competing with the U.S. and its allies, Rabinovich said. “It’s not just a regional conflict, but a global one, against the Russia, China, North Korea coalition.”
From the start of the war, one of the key questions for Israel in weighing the war’s trade-offs was whether it would have a free hand to pursue its military goals before the diplomatic consequences became overwhelming, said Micah Goodman, an Israeli author and philosopher.
“We needed to restore deterrence—and in order to restore deterrence, we needed to do things that reduce our legitimacy,” Goodman said. But on balance, he added, “I think Israel managed to pull it off.”
‘We have offered our assistance to that investigation, should they need it,’ said White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby.
The White House National Security Council announced there are early indications that the crash of Azerbaijan Airlines flight 8243 on Dec. 25 was caused by Russian air defense systems.
“We … have seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by Russian air defense systems,” White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told members of the press on Dec. 27. “That said, there’s an ongoing investigation right now. Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are conducting this jointly. We have offered our assistance to that investigation, should they need it, should they want it, but we’re gonna ... respect that process.”
This position follows a statement made by Azerbaijani Transport Minister Rashad Nabiyev on Dec. 27, announcing that a preliminary investigation determined that the airliner experienced an “external impact” before the crash. Nabiyev did not identify a suspected weapon or where it came from.
“Preliminary conclusions by experts point at external impact,” Nabiyev told Azerbaijani media. “The type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the probe.”
Flight 8243, operating the Brazilian-built medium-range Embraer 190 airplane, was en route to Grozny, Russia, from Baku, Azerbaijan, on Christmas Day when it was forced to make a crash landing near Aktau, Kazakhstan. The resulting crash killed 38 of the 67 passengers onboard.
Ukrainian defense official Andriy Kovalenko immediately accused Russia of shooting down the aircraft after failing to close its airspace around Gronzy, an area that faced a Ukrainian drone attack amid this flight’s arrival.
“Russia should have closed the airspace over Grozny but failed to do so,” Kovalenko said on X on Dec. 25, highlighting what he considered as shrapnel damage on the aircraft. “The plane was damaged by the Russians and was sent to Kazakhstan instead of being urgently landed in Grozny to save lives.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared on Russian state media on Dec. 26, requesting a crash investigation take place before any conclusions are made.
“It would be wrong to build any hypotheses before the panel of inquiry presents its conclusions,” he said. “Of course, we cannot do that. No one should do it.”
Several others have also begun to come forward after coming to their own conclusions regarding the cause of the crash.
“It looks like the tail section of the plane was damaged by some missile fragments,” said Yan Matveyev, an independent Russian military expert, suggesting the damage shown in images of the crash was compatible with shrapnel from a small surface-to-air missile.
Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said on Dec. 27 that a Ukrainian drone attack had been underway in the Grozny area as the Azerbaijan Airlines plane was preparing to land in thick fog.
Authorities, he said, were prompted to close air traffic in the area by the drone attack. He also said the captain of the aircraft made two unsuccessful landing attempts and decided to fly across the Caspian Sea to Aktau despite being offered two alternative airports.
As to the claims the plane was hit by anti-aircraft or anti-drone fire, Yadrov did not comment.
Chris Summers and Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.
Azerbaijani Transport Minister Rashad Nabiyev said on Dec. 27 that a preliminary investigation determined that an airliner that crashed on Wednesday experienced an “external impact” before the crash.
The Embraer E190 plane, which was flying from the Azeri capital, Baku, to the Russian city of Grozny, was diverted to Aktau in Kazakhstan and crashed upon landing, killing 38 people. Another 29 people survived.
“Preliminary conclusions by experts point at external impact,” Nabiyev told Azerbaijani media. “The type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the probe.”
On Wednesday, Azerbaijan Airlines suspended flights from Baku to Grozny and Makhachkal. On Friday, the airline said in a post on social media platform X that it was suspending flights to eight more Russian airports, citing safety risks.
It added Mineralnye, Sochi, Volgograd, Ufa, Samara, Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod, and Vladikavkaz to the list.
The airline said in a statement that the decision was made in accordance with the Azerbaijan State Civil Aviation Authority and based on “the preliminary results of the investigation into the crash of the Embraer 190 aircraft operating the Baku-Grozny flight J2-8243 of Azerbaijan Airlines due to physical and technical external interference and considers potential risks to flight safety.”
The company will continue to fly to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, and three other Russian cities.
An Azeri lawmaker, Rasim Musabeyov, told the Azerbaijani news agency Turan that the plane was fired on over Grozny, and urged Russia to apologize.
“The aircraft was shot down on Russian territory, in the skies over Grozny. And it is impossible to deny this,” Musabeyov said. “Those who did this should be held criminally liable, compensation must be paid for the deaths and victims.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Musabeyov’s statement.
“The air incident is being investigated, and we don’t believe we have the right to make any assessments until the conclusions are made as a result of the investigation,” Peskov told reporters in a conference call.
On Friday, Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said a Ukrainian drone attack had been underway in the Grozny area as the Azerbaijan Airlines plane was preparing to land in thick fog. The drone attack prompted authorities to close the area to air traffic, Yadrov said.
Yadrov said that after the captain made two unsuccessful landing attempts, he was offered alternative airports but chose to fly across the Caspian Sea to Aktau in Kazakhstan. It crashed two miles from Aktau.
He did not comment on claims the plane had been hit by anti-aircraft or anti-drone fire.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan said in a statement that Azeri investigators were working in Grozny as part of a tri-national investigation.
Cellphone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before crashing into the ground.
Several experts who have analyzed footage of the crash have suggested the plane was hit by a weapon.
Mark Zee of OPSGroup, which monitors the world’s airspace for risks, said the airliner was almost certainly hit by a surface-to-air missile (SAM).
He said, “[There’s] much more to investigate, but at [a] high level we'd put the probability of it being a SAM attack on the aircraft at being well into the 90-99% bracket.”
Ukrainian drones had previously attacked Grozny and other regions in the North Caucasus, and Russian air defenses used SAMs to shoot them down.
Yan Matveyev, an independent Russian military expert, said images of the crashed plane’s tail suggested damage compatible with shrapnel from a small SAM, such as the Pantsyr-S1 air defense system.
“It looks like the tail section of the plane was damaged by some missile fragments,” Matveyev said.
There have been several incidents over the years of civilian airliners being accidentally shot down by military forces in various parts of the world.
In January 2020, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps acknowledged it accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jet that had just taken off from Tehran airport, killing all 176 people aboard.
In July 1988, the U.S.S. Vincennes, a warship on duty in the Persian Gulf, mistakenly shot down an Iranian airliner, killing all 290 on board.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
"Repeated damage to Baltic Sea infrastructure signals a systemic threat, not mere accidents," Estonia's President Alar Karis said.
Finnish authorities have detained a vessel associated with neighboring Russia in order to determine whether it damaged a Baltic Sea power cable and several data cables. This is the most recent incident to disrupt critical infrastructure in the region, AP reported.
The Estlink-2 power cable, which transports electricity from Finland to Estonia via the Baltic Sea, experienced an outage on Wednesday. The incident occurred subsequent to the damage of two data cables and the Nord Stream pipelines, both of which have been classified as acts of sabotage.Helsinki Police Chief Jari Liukki told reporters at a Thursday press briefing that Finnish police and border guards boarded the Eagle S and took over the command bridge. The cables are believed to have been damaged by the Eagle S's anchor, as indicated by police statements.
The Eagle S, which is registered in the Cook Islands, was identified as a component of Russia's shadow fleet of petroleum tankers by the European Union's executive commission and Finnish customs officials. These aging vessels that have unclear ownership were reportedly acquired by Russia to circumvent Western sanctions during the conflict in Ukraine and are not insured under Western regulations. Due to the vessels' age, Russia's utilization of them has increased environmental concerns regarding potential catastrophes.
Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, said in a statement that the incident was "the latest in a series of suspected attacks on critical infrastructure," explaining that the ship "is part of Russia's shadow fleet, which threatens security and the environment while funding Russia's war budget."
We will propose further measures, including sanctions, to target this fleet," said Kallas, who commended the Finnish authorities "for their swift action in boarding the suspected vessel."
Click to read the Joint Statement by the European Commission:
Joint Statement by the European Commission and the High Representative on the Investigation into Damaged Electricity and Data Cables in the Baltic Sea
26.12.2024 EEAS Press Team
Yesterday’s incident involving undersea cables in the Baltic Sea is the latest in a series of suspected attacks on critical infrastructure. We commend the Finnish authorities for their swift action in boarding the suspected vessel. We are working with the Finnish authorities on the ongoing investigation. We stand in full solidarity with Finland, Estonia, and Germany.
We strongly condemn any deliberate destruction of Europe’s critical infrastructure.
The suspected vessel is part of Russia’s shadow fleet, which threatens security and the environment, while funding Russia’s war budget. We will propose further measures, including sanctions, to target this fleet.
In response to these incidents, we are strengthening efforts to protect undersea cables, including enhanced information exchange, new detection technologies, as well as in undersea repair capabilities, and international cooperation. We remain committed to ensuring the resilience and security of our critical infrastructure.
At present, there is no risk to the security of electricity supply in the region.
This change in Social Security has got people asking questions.
Congress just passed a law that will give me (and millions of people like me) extra Social Security benefits that we simply do not deserve and haven’t earned.
To understand what is going on, here is a quick history lesson: The original Social Security Act included unintentional and overly generous benefits for government employees. These were benefits that no other Americans could get. About 50 years ago, a more responsible Congress recognized this and created two laws to correct this mistake. The Windfall Elimination Provision (WPO) said that Social Security retirement benefits for government employees should be figured in the same way as those for all other senior citizens. The Government Pension Offset (GPO) law said that government pensions should offset any Social Security spousal benefits potentially due, just as Social Security retirement benefits have always offset those same spousal benefits.
But now, bowing to relentless pressure from government employee unions and advocacy groups, a more naive and vote-seeking Congress has repealed the WEP and GPO. So once again, government retirees like me will get overly generous Social Security benefits that no other senior citizens in the country are eligible for. And by so doing, they have put a $200 billion hole in an already rapidly deflating Social Security budget balloon.
To explain why repealing the WEP and GPO is a wrongheaded boondoggle, I will use myself as an example. But first, you need to know a basic tenet of Social Security: Benefits have always been skewed to give lower-paid workers a better deal than their more highly paid counterparts. Very low-paid workers could get a Social Security benefit that represents up to 90 percent of their preretirement earnings. This percentage is known as a “replacement rate.” People with average incomes (the middle class) generally get a 40 percent replacement rate.
So now back to me. I spent the bulk of my career working for the federal government. While working as a fed, I paid into the Civil Service Retirement System, not Social Security. (Things have changed since I was hired in the early 1970s; all federal employees hired after 1984 pay into Social Security.) But I also did pay into Social Security at a few jobs I had in high school and college and at other jobs I’ve had since I retired from federal government work. I have about 15 years of earnings that were covered by Social Security.
So when the Social Security computers looked at my record when I applied for Social Security benefits, they assumed that I must be poor. After all, I had all of those years with no earnings. That record didn’t show that I actually was working all that time for the government and earning a civil service retirement pension.
And because the Social Security system thought I was poor, it was programmed to give me that 90 percent poor person’s benefit rate. In other words, I would have been getting an undeserved windfall from Social Security. And that’s where the “Windfall Elimination Act” came in. It correctly recognized that I wasn’t poor, and it gave me the same 40 percent rate that all other average-income Americans get.
And it did the same for all other workers who spent the bulk of their careers in jobs not covered by Social Security. These are primarily teachers, police officers, and firefighters in certain states. (Why those groups don’t pay into Social Security is a subject for another column.)
For the past half-century, union officials representing these groups have been pressuring Congress to eliminate the WEP because they wrongly think that the law cheats their members out of Social Security benefits they are due. And in each of those years, a bill to eliminate the WEP has failed to get approved. But in this wacky political year, things were different. So even though almost all of you reading this column are getting the proper 40 percent Social Security benefit rate, Congress has now decided to eliminate the WEP to give me (and all those other government employees like me) the 90 percent rate—boosting our Social Security checks by a couple hundred extra bucks per month. What a sham and what a shame!
But it gets even worse. As I said, the other law that the misnamed “Fairness Act” eliminated is called the Government Pension Offset.
To explain what is going on here, I will once again use myself as an example. Before the GPO law came into effect, I would have been able to get my government pension retirement check and I would have been due a “dependent” husband’s benefit on my wife’s Social Security record. Why? Because of those Social Security computers that think I’m a poor old guy with just a small Social Security check. So I was deemed financially dependent on my wife and granted spousal benefits on her Social Security record. But the GPO law came along and recognized that I worked for the government and get a civil service pension check. And just like a Social Security retirement check offsets any spousal benefits that might be due, my civil service pension check would also offset those potential dependent benefits.
But by eliminating the GPO, Congress is giving me (and all of those millions of other government pensioners) unintended benefits from our spouses. Think about that. Almost all of you reading this column cannot collect your own Social Security retirement check and at the same time get some extra benefits from your spouse’s account. But now I and other government pensioners will do just that.
And so if you believe that repealing the WEP and GPO makes sense, write your member of Congress and tell him or her that you think the “Social Security Fairness Act” was a great idea. But if you don’t think it’s fair, then write your member of Congress and say: “Shame on you! I thought you were supposed to be saving Social Security, not squandering its funds on greedy government retirees!”
Dear Readers: We would love to hear from you. What topics would you like to read about? Please send your feedback and tips to features@epochtimes.nyc.
The Epoch Times Reporter: Tom Margenau worked for 32 years in a variety of positions for the Social Security Administration before retiring in 2005. He has served as the director of SSA’s public information office, the chief editor of more than 100 SSA publications, a deputy press officer and spokesman, and a speechwriter for the commissioner of Social Security. For 12 years, he also wrote Social Security columns for local newspapers, and recently published the book “Social Security: Simple and Smart.” If you have a Social Security question, contact him at thomas.margenau@comcast.net
Milei cut 10 government agencies, fired 34,000 public employees, and cut spending by 30 percent—and the Trump transition team is taking notice. By Kevin Stocklin, December 24, 2024
On his first anniversary as president of Argentina, Javier Milei announced the initial results of his relentless campaign to cut government spending, eliminate regulations, and pare back the country’s administrative state.
“Today, with pride and hope, I can tell you that we have passed the test of fire,” Milei told Argentinians last week. “We are leaving the desert, the recession is over, and the country has finally begun to grow.”
When Milei took office in November 2023, Argentina, once one of the world’s 10 richest countries, was in a dysfunctional state. Having defaulted on its sovereign debt three times since 2001, it was on track to do it again.
Its annual inflation rate was approaching 200 percent, its poverty rate was above 40 percent, its growth rate was negative 1.6 percent, its fiscal deficit was 15 percent of GDP, and it was running a chronic trade deficit.
Argentinians wanted change and voted the self-proclaimed libertarian into office with the largest majority a presidential candidate has received since free elections were reinstated in 1983, taking 55.7 percent of the vote over his opponent, incumbent economy minister Sergio Massa, who received 44.3 percent.
Over the past year, Milei eliminated 10 of Argentina’s 18 government ministries, capped the salaries of top bureaucrats, and fired 34,000 public employees, cutting government spending by 30 percent.
After the U.S. election in November, Milei was the first foreign leader to meet with Trump, and members of the incoming Trump administration are tracking Milei’s progress.
“A reasonable formula to fix the U.S. government: Milei-style cuts, on steroids,” Vivek Ramaswamy, co-head of the soon-to-be-created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), stated on social media platform X.
Out of the Blocks
Upon taking office, Milei’s administration operated as if it were in a race against time, scrambling to deliver some sign of a brighter future before voters’ patience ran out.
During his first month in office, Milei issued a “mega-decree” that included 366 regulatory reforms, according to a report by Cato political analyst Ian Vasquez and Human Freedom Index co-author Guillermina Sutter Schneider.
By the end of his first year, that had climbed to 672 regulatory reforms enacted, along with the elimination of 331 regulations and modification of 341 others.
These included actions such as eliminating import licenses and lifting rent controls. These acts ultimately led to a 35 percent reduction in the price of home appliances and a 20 percent reduction in the cost of clothing, the authors write, as well as a sharp increase in available rental apartments in Buenos Aires that brought a significant drop in rent prices.
Dismantling a Centralized System
“When Milei took up residence at the Casa Rosada [presidential offices], he faced a daunting task: dismantling Argentina’s illiberal, fascist economic system—a system that has been built up since the 1930s and one in which every activity of individual Argentines is subject to the omnipotent dictates of the state,” said Steve Hanke, professor of economics at the Johns Hopkins University and an adviser to former Argentine President Carlos Menem.
The president’s rhetoric and achievements have “put the idea of free markets back on the lips of the chattering classes,” Hanke told The Epoch Times.
Milei, an economist, author, and former soccer player and rock and roll singer, sometimes campaigned with a chainsaw in hand, pledging to slash government bureaucracy in a country he has said had “embraced socialist ideas for the last 100 years” and was now eager to shake them off.
“Liberalism is a natural form of rebellion against the system,” Milei said in a 2023 Tucker Carlson interview. One of his campaign slogans was “Viva la libertad.” (“Long live freedom.”)
PERHAPS MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, and beyond economics, Mr. Milei has jump-started a cultural shift away from socialist ideals! Peter Marie, economist, American Institute for Economic Research
Argentina’s extensive system of government control earned it a lowly 159th place out of 165 countries on the Fraser Institute’s 2022 Economic Freedom Index, nestled between Iran and Burma, also known as Myanmar. But Milei’s campaign against socialism concerns more than economic freedom.
“Perhaps most important of all, and beyond economics, Mr. Milei has jump-started a cultural shift away from socialist ideals, championing civil society and principles of liberty and personal responsibility,” Peter Earle, an economist at the American Institute for Economic Research, told The Epoch Times.
His presidency echoes predecessors including Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who in the 1980s introduced a then-radical program of tax cuts, privatization, and deregulation, while reforming the country’s trade unions and health and education systems.
With its sense of urgency, it is also reminiscent of many of the former Soviet countries in Europe, which rushed to get market-based, democratic structures in place while they dismantled sclerotic, centrally controlled systems.
Devaluing but Keeping the Peso
Milei’s administration also devalued the peso by half to bring its official exchange rate inline with market exchange rates, halted government infrastructure projects, and cut fuel subsidies.
He had proposed eliminating Argentina’s national currency altogether, replacing it with the U.S. dollar. But he has not done this, jeopardizing his fight against inflation, some experts say.
“Milei’s Achilles’ heel will be the peso,” Hanke said. “Milei won the election because he promised to mothball the central bank and the peso.”
He has failed to do so, while also leaving capital controls in place, Hanke said.
“If Milei would have dollarized as he promised to do ‘on day one,’ inflation would now be dead as a doornail and capital controls would be history,” he said.
Milei has also worked to reorient Argentina’s economy, which he deemed unbalanced with too much of its GDP coming from government spending and personal consumption, and too little from private investment and exports.
He appears to be succeeding in this, turning the country’s trade deficit into a trade surplus this year. Argentina is rich in commodities like lithium and copper, which are essential to building electric batteries and transmission lines for electric grids, and has abundant fertile lands for agriculture, according to the World Bank.
Emerging From Painful Transition
Changes of this magnitude are often painful, as Milei warned they would be. But signs indicating better days ahead are also emerging.
According to a World Bank report, Argentina’s GDP is estimated to have contracted by 3.5 percent this year “due to the stabilization plan that includes the realignment of relative prices and the elimination of fiscal and external imbalances,” and partly due to severe drought that hit its agricultural industry hard.
Personal consumption rates appear to have fallen as Argentines, like many Americans, continue to struggle to make ends meet. Beef consumption in Argentina, a country famous for its beef, fell during the first six months of this year to its lowest level in 13 years.
Argentina’s poverty rate increased from 42 percent to 53 percent during Milei’s first six months, the country’s highest level since 2003. It is now trending down, falling to 49 percent in December.
Inflation shot up to 280 percent in April, according to Statista, largely due to the devaluation of the peso. The monthly inflation rate fell from 25 percent a year ago to 2.4 percent as of December, with both government and trade balances shifting from deficit to surplus.
Government spending has been cut by almost a third.
In November, Argentina announced its ninth consecutive month of government budget surpluses. And with inflation below 3 percent per month, Argentina’s central bank cut interest rates from more than 100 percent a year ago to 36 percent as of the end of November.
In September, Argentina’s rate of wage growth, which was 4.7 percent, exceeded the inflation rate for the first time in years, according to Trading Economics.
The World Bank projects that Argentina’s GDP will grow by 5 percent in 2025.
A December Gallup poll reports that 41 percent of Argentines say their economy is getting better, up from 25 percent in 2023, and 53 percent of Argentines now say their standard of living is getting better, the first time a majority responded positively since 2015.
Still, 35 percent said they continue to struggle to afford food, and 69 percent said they struggle to find work.
Overall, Milei’s reforms have received grudging approval, with 43 percent of Argentines expressing confidence in his administration. While that is less than half, it is still up significantly from the 24 percent who expressed confidence in his predecessor, President Alberto Fernandez. And in some recent polls, Milei’s personal approval rating topped 50 percent.
43%: A poll found 43 percent of Argentines expressed confidence in Milei's administration, up significantly from the 24 percent for his predecessor.
Lessons for Trump Admin
Earle said if the Trump administration wants to take a leaf out of Milei’s book, it has to hit the ground running “given the lag times in economic policies.”
“In view of the rapidity with which he has built his Cabinet and begun drawing plans up, it’s quite clear that President Trump has every intention of starting to tear away constricting regulations and wasteful spending on his first day in office,” Earle said.
He said the Trump administration must also be willing to consider cuts in areas such as the military, education, Social Security, and Medicare, and be “immune to the criticism” that will inevitably follow.
The United States is not experiencing many of the crises that Argentina has faced, but many economists predict dire consequences if federal spending continues at the current pace.
America has run up more than $8 trillion in federal deficits between 2020 and 2023, and the national debt, which exceeded $36 trillion, is costing Americans $1.8 billion in interest payments per day.
Inflation, which was largely driven by government spending, has been brought down from its peak of over 9 percent in 2022 to 2.7 percent today. The recent rise in inflation indicates that it remains a threat and underscores the need to get spending under control.
In his first term, Trump cut taxes and approved trillions in new government spending, to which President Joe Biden added more trillions.
“If there are tax cuts but no spending cuts, deficits will widen,” Earle said. “The administration and its policies may lose credibility if—after being elected on the basis of being better on economic issues—U.S. debt and deficits, as well as inflation, worsen.”
And Trump may not be as dedicated to free markets as Milei.
While Milei liberalized trade, bringing the cost of many imported essentials down, Trump has threatened numerous tariffs—which some said would lead to higher prices—with the goal of protecting U.S. industries.
Reuters contributed to this report.
President-elect Donald Trump issued a Christmas message on Truth Social that once again reiterated his stance on resecuring the Panama Canal, turning Canada into America’s 51st state, the annexation of Greenland, and President Joe Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences of nearly 40 prisoners.
“Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal (where we lost 38,000 people in its building 110 years ago),” his address on Truth Social began, adding that the United States was always expected to spend billions for repairs without getting a say in “anything.”
Republican lawmakers like Sen. Marco Rubio and former Rep. Matt Gaetz have previously expressed concern for the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) growing influence around the canal. A Hong Kong-based company Hutchison Ports PPC has been the operator of Balboa Port on the Pacific side and the Cristóbal Port at the Atlantic entrance of the canal since 1997 and is contracted to continue to do so for another 20 years. The Latin American nation also joined the CCP’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2017.
Trump also announced Kevin Marino Cabrera, a Miami-Dade County commissioner and vice chairman of the International Trade Consortium, as his nominee to be the U.S. Ambassador to Panama.
“Few understand Latin American politics as well as Kevin,” Trump said on Truth Social. “He will do a fantastic job representing our Nation’s interests in Panama!”
Trump then wished a Merry Christmas to the Canadian prime minister, whom he once again called “Governor Justin Trudeau.”
“If Canada was to become our 51st State, their Taxes would be cut by more than 60 percent, their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other Country anywhere in the World,” Trump wrote.
He also proposed that professional ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky should become Canada’s next prime minister.
Trump also extended Christmas wishes to the people of Greenland, an island that he echoed is needed for U.S. national security purposes. He said the people of Greenland want the United States to be there.
Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen announced a new $1.5 billion defense package for the arctic territory on Dec. 24, adding that the timing of the boost in relation to Trump’s comments was “ironic.”
“We have not invested enough in the Arctic for many years. Now, we are planning a stronger presence,” he said.
Turning to the homefront, the president-elect then wished a Merry Christmas to the “Radical Left Lunatics,” who he said were trying to obstruct the nation’s court system and elections, and “are always going after the Great Citizens and Patriots of the United States but, in particular, their Political Opponent, me.”
There was one group Trump refused to wish a Merry Christmas: the 37 federal death row inmates whose sentences were commuted by Biden on Dec. 23 and will now serve life in prison.
“To the 37 most violent criminals, who killed, raped, and plundered like virtually no one before them, ... I refuse to wish a Merry Christmas ... but, instead, will say, go to hell!” Trump wrote.
“We had the Greatest Election in the History of our Country,” he concluded. “A bright light is now shining over the U.S.A. and, in 26 days, we will, make America great again. Merry Christmas!”
Frank Fang and Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.