Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Autocracy is on the Horizon

We have elected an authoritarian, a liar, a womanizer, a tax evader, a sly manipulator, a con artist and a dishonest business man who obviously would like to be rid of the Press.

We live in a dangerous world full of eager and power-hungry leaders. We all know about Putin, of course, and his encroachment into Ukraine, but look at Assad of Syria, a butcher of his own people and publicly supported by Putin. Erdogan of Turkey, who promised to be a beacon of democracy in the Middle East is now cracking-down on the media, the intelligentsia, and throwing dissidents into jail, helter-skelter.

Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is craftily leading the Israeli people into an apartheid, by boldly allowing settlements to continue; recently he gave his blessing to allow 2500 new “outposts” in the West Bank and 566 settlements in East Jerusalem. All this activity is in response to a Trump presidency and perhaps to deflect attention from a series of recent interrogations by the police into allegations of bribery and graft. Will the settlements begin before he is asked to resign?

Conflicts of interest abound, accusations that he and his wife received expensive gifts and travel from businessmen whose purpose was to influence his decision making.  And, Sara, apparently likes pink Champagne – a lot.   

The cases against Netanyahu are numerous:  one of the charges of bribery results from two recorded phone conversations between him and the editor of one of the most respected newspaper in Israel – the Yediot Ahronot .  

According to an article by Ruth Margalit in The New Yorker, January 13, Mr. Mozes is  heard saying:    
          “I will do everything I can to keep you around for as long as you want.”

Apparently a deal was never agreed upon however, and Mozes continued hitting Netanyahu hard all during the campaign leading up to the election.  And as recently as last month, a headline in the Yediot Ahronot read, “Netanyahu Leads to Disaster.”

Nevertheless, it is obvious Netanyahu attempted to illegally entrap a rival and threaten him: According to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, Netanyahu was heard saying, 

“If you rake me over the coals before the election, I’ll deal with you.”   This is the prime minister of Israel threatening a representative of the free media in Israel. 

President Trump has only been in office for four days.  Already, he is excoriating our media from his podium and instructing his press secretary to mindlessly do the same.   If he is criticized, he will attack. If his ego is threatened, he will whine as he did in front of the CIA’s wall of honor. He is a disgrace to our country.   

And today: a media blackout was imposed upon the EPA and other federal agencies.  
The VOA (Voice of America) formerly broadcast to citizens outside the U.S. and an unbiased source of news, is now being managed by Trump’s pick for a CEO.  

As Israel Hayom is the voice of the Prime Minister of Israel, so are Breitbart News and Sean Hannity of FOX news, the voices of Trump’s nascent autocracy.

Dark clouds have already begun to obscure the sunshine.   


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