Israel’s Elites Revolt Against Democracy

The Left have always been antidemocratic, as shown by their vast attempts at political censorship we are now seeing. Their ideal has always been revolution.

It's amusing that the Left often accuse conservatives of being anti-democratic. It's projection. To see what is true of them you just have to see what they say of others

In his New York Times opinion piece titled “The U.S. Reassessment of Netanyahu’s Government Has Begun,” Thomas Friedman wrote that he likes to say of his job that he is “a translator from English to English”: He takes complex things and renders them understandable. Israel, he explained, is turning its back on the shared values which have underpinned the friendship between the American superpower and the Jewish state. As Friedman explains it, the judicial reform proposed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition poses a grave threat to democracy because it would “change the long-established balance of power between the government and the Supreme Court, the only independent check on political power.”

It turns out that translating from English to English may not be the most useful skill when you need to understand something that is happening in Hebrew. Friedman is right that Israel’s democracy is in danger, but Netanyahu’s government is not the source of peril. The real danger comes from the court itself, which is now asserting a made-up “right” to remove a sitting prime minister—that is, to nullify the results of a legal election and eclipse Israel’s democratic politics and institutions through its own self-perpetuating fiat. The protest movement that arose to defend the court’s power (and its backers among the country’s economic and military elite) are together attempting to block the redemocratization of Israeli politics, as the reforms intended to do.

This is not some innovative hypothesis. If you read Hebrew, you can hear some protesters and their backers in the country’s establishments announcing their intentions more or less explicitly: Democracy is the very thing they are out to prevent. The movement’s ideologues are longtime staunch opponents of the democratic form of government who have devoted whole academic careers to opposing it; their political leaders in parliament and outside it use the term “democracy” in a deliberately deceptive way, as they sometimes admit; and their street-level ringleaders more or less openly confess disdain for the mass of enfranchised citizens. Most poignantly, when it comes to the rebelling IDF reservists—virtually all of them from elite unites, mostly in the air force—they don’t even bother with lip service to the idea of majoritarian decision-making. Rather, they express open contempt for the majority of Israel’s citizens, peppered with thinly veiled references to ethnicity, religiosity, and class.

At least some of this unabashed condescension must be fairly obvious, even to foreigners—especially those like Friedman who claim to be in touch with Israeli opinion. At around the time that Friedman wrote his piece, it seemed like a military coup against Israel’s democracy was in the making. News stories accumulated about more and more reservists declaring they wouldn’t report to duty unless the reform was shelved. Speculation about Israel’s battle readiness, or lack thereof, filled the news cycle. For the most part the media framed the issue as a story about heroic reservist martyrs determined to fight “the battle for democracy” rather than calling it what it was: a bunch of officers threatening to jeopardize Israel’s security if the parliamentary majority did not yield to their demands. As the title of one Haaretz piece read: “A Military Coup Is Underway in Israel—and It’s Completely Justified.”

Some writers were not content with cheering on the rebelling reservists. Sima Kadmon, a senior political pundit for the popular daily Yedioth Ahronoth, wrote a full-page piece on the paper’s prestigious page 3, calling on the brass to take command of the situation. The title said “Only They Can Make Him Stop” (July 19, 2023). The piece called on the IDF chief of staff, the head of Mossad, the chief of the National Police and the head of Shabak (Israel’s General Security Service) to walk into the prime minister’s office and tell him “Enough!” thereby forcing him to overturn his cabinet’s policy. In normal language, we don’t call that “democracy.” We call it a military coup.

Threats of a coup continued all the way up to the day of the Knesset vote on the first bill of the reform, a bill already diluted in the negotiations with the opposition, which nevertheless kept demanding more concessions. This was the by-now famous bill to limit the court’s use of the highly subjective “reasonableness” test. The vote was set for Monday, and on Friday a new petition of air force reservists was trumpeted in the press—1,142 signatories, or so we were told, all using only their initials, declared they would no longer report to duty if the bill was voted into law. Among them, we were told, were hundreds of active army pilots and navigators, along with air control officers and special air force personnel.

Shabbat was about to set in and there was no way to verify the initialed names in time for the vote, so nobody could tell how much of this was true and how much a publicity stunt. But that didn’t stop the mainstream press, along with the leadership of the protest movement and the opposition MKs, from rushing to deliver threats—thinly veiled as “warnings”—that Israel’s security would soon be dangerously impaired. Straight-faced pundits placed the blame on the government’s shoulders, attempting to justify the threatened mutiny based on a look-what-you-made-us-do argument. It seemed not to have occurred to most of these journalists that forcing a parliamentary majority to surrender before a group of army officers is the way democracies are generally destroyed, not saved.

The coalition, this time around, saw the coup for what it was and closed ranks, leaving aside the few disagreements that still remained about “reasonableness.” It kept negotiating with the opposition in an effort to reach wider agreement till the very last moment. Yet it still made it clear that with or without agreement the bill would pass because the Knesset would not bow down to threats from army officers. The opposition, for its part, led by Yair Lapid, refused to take part in a vote, and in yet another show of its anti-democratic spirit marched out of the chamber to leave the coalition to vote by itself.

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israel-elite-revolt-against-democracy

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A government agency that has lost sight of its duty to protect consumer health

It protects its own rules instead. Who cares about actual damage to health?

"They came with a search warrant," softly spoke Samuel B. Fisher, a mild-mannered cattle farmer operating a 100-acre farm tucked away in Virginia's heartland. Fisher's bread-and-butter, Golden Valley Farms, carves out the scenic countryside that's a hop, skip, and a jump away from historic Farmville, a postcard-perfect small Southern town with classical Main Street charm.

The father of five had graciously invited us down to his idyllic pasture to rehash the whirlwind of unforeseen events that unfolded over the cruel summer. It was a tumultuous time on the Fisher farm, an upheaval that threatened to upend the man's livelihood.

"Then, they tagged the meat, so that we can't touch it; we can't sell it; we can't feed our family with it," Fisher told Townhall.

There, we sat in Fisher's office on the periphery of a multi-purpose barn, surrounded by sparsely scattered cardboard boxes of farm-fresh squash situated across the concrete floor and vintage-style empty half-gallon glass jugs labeled with "Golden Valley Farms CHEMICAL FREE A2/A2 Goat Milk" stickers that lined the nearby shelves, awaiting to be filled and delivered statewide.

Moments earlier, upon our arrival, we were greeted by the welcoming committee: a trio of barefoot, dirt-covered kids holding four-week-old kittens, sized smaller than an ear of corn and clutching the children's arms for dear life. One of the young boys, sporting suspenders and a straw hat with an LED headlamp strapped to it, left to fetch his father—whose workdays begin before daybreak at 5:30 a.m. and end past sundown—from the fields. The other boy, his sandy-haired brother in a bowl haircut, asked if we'll "put it on the news." Now, the children were captivated by the camera, gathered wide-eyed around Fisher after dragging a handful of upside-down milk crates over to perch themselves upon. A little girl, draped in a sunflower-colored dress, bobbed in-and-out of frame to wrangle one of the family's dogs, as Fisher hushed her in Pennsylvania Dutch.

The firestorm of Big Government saber-rattling ignited in mid-June when an inspector with the Virginia Department of Agriculture (VDAC), without warning, paid the Fisher family a visit. To date, Fisher has no idea what could've prompted VDAC's impromptu inspection on June 14, except "maybe they just finally found us through word of mouth," the farmer speculated.

What was clear: The state sought to penalize Fisher for selling meat that was not processed by a USDA-inspected facility (U.S. Department of Agriculture). Fisher processes—an industry euphemism for butchering—his farm-raised meat on-site and sells it directly to his customers, feeding about 500 consumers and their families, who are part of a buying club. As members enrolled in the Golden Valley Farms program, they're buying into the herd of 100% grass-fed golden Guernsey cows.

"They own part of the business. They own some of the herd," Fisher explained. "My thinking was [...] We can butcher their cows, process it, and sell it to them. I told the state all of this, but they said, 'No, there's no way around that. You can't do that.' They asked permission to get in here" to search the farm, which Fisher denied. "And, they told me, 'We'll be back,' and left."

The next day, on June 15, the VDAC inspector did, in fact, return, this time with a Cumberland County sheriff's deputy to serve Fisher a search warrant. "They went through everything, house, every building, in the barn. They just raided through everything, put their nose in everything, and wanted to know every detail of everything. They went out back, trying to find all the failure they can find on a farm, which, of course, some of their stuff, which they think is wrong, is just normal stuff on a farm," Fisher stated.

"I wasn't on the farm at the time" of the full-scale raid that lasted approximately three to four hours, Fisher added.

Then, the state slapped a tag on Fisher's walk-in freezer, placing the meat under "administrative detainment" and declaring that he wasn't supposed to take any meat out of his own storage room. By the weekend, his kids were crying for scrapple, a mush of pork scraps and trimmings characteristic of Amish country, that sat behind the door on Fisher's property that should, otherwise, be open and easily accessible. The following Monday, Fisher "even made a special phone call," asking again, "if that's the way it is." And, as Fisher recounted, the VDAC inspector replied, "Yes, [you] cannot feed your family with it, cannot do anything with it."

There's "nothing illegal" about Fisher processing his own meat and eating it for his own consumption, asserted Mindy, the farm's officer manager, who oversees sales, handles email marketing, and fulfills online orders. "So, he decided he was gonna go and feed his family, and since he would most likely be fined for doing that, he decided to open up meat sales again. Because if he's going to be fined, he's going to be fined, and you might as well do it," she, wanting to go by "just Mindy," stated matter-of-factly.

"Anybody can go and raise animals for their own family to eat. That's where I got to the point: He [the VDAC inspector] crossed the line, so I'm going to cross the line," Fisher stated. "He crossed the line by telling me I cannot feed my own family with this meat. So, I decided I'm going to cross the line, I'm going to sell it. And that's why I didn't honor the state."

"This ain't right," Fisher decided. "We're going to feed our family. We're going to feed our customers [...] We did not honor that tag. We sold some meat out of there, whatever customers ordered. Then, the state came back and saw what we did."

"They really gave me a mouthful for doing that," Fisher said. That's when the state took Fisher to court.

After photographing every inch of the farm, stockpiling pictures as evidence that the Fishers were slaughtering and selling raw meat, which the Commonwealth of Virginia claimed was "mislabeled, uninspected, and possibly unadulterated," the state summoned the farmer to a hearing on July 18 in Cumberland County Circuit Court to try the civil case. At its conclusion, a judge authorized the state to seize and forfeit Fisher's products.

Later that day, the state wasted no time pouncing on the court's order with glee. Within hours, two men backed a U-Haul truck right up to Fisher's door, cleared the premises of Golden Valley Farms meat products, and hauled it all to the dump for disposal.

Fisher was also criminally charged, accused of violating state law, Virginia Code 29.1-521(A)(10). And, on Aug. 3, Fisher was found guilty of "unlawfully possessing, selling, and/or transporting animals," a Class 3 misdemeanor, and forced by a Cumberland County criminal court to pay a fine as punishment.

Though the future is uncertain, Fisher is considering next steps, including consulting with attorneys, if the state seeks to continue targeting him and Golden Valley Farms. Fisher is one of many targets in the government's wars of attrition that drag fiercely independent farmers through shock-and-awe judicial proceedings.

Unsanitary conditions were not found at the farm and no one has ever been sick from the meat. Quite the opposite. Fisher calls the meat "medicine." Customers with allergies and medical conditions claim that their ailments are alleviated when switching to a chemical-free, certified organic diet. Fisher's food appeals to that need.

Backed by a loyal customer base, Fisher has received an outpour of support from consumers, who've written testimonies attesting to the high-quality of his products. Fisher once sold USDA-inspected meat, but that was before the government-mandated shutdowns, when access to the nearest USDA processor became burdensome during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The drive was hours away and the cost was hefty. Plus, the pandemic meant "you'd have to schedule your animals around eight to 12 months ahead of time," Fisher said, making the timing hard to predict. "So that's when the trigger pushed us to do it ourselves [...] We put an addition to the building and made a processing room and we certainly like it now," Fisher stated.

"Amish people—They don't follow the rules. That's the point," Mindy said. "So, it shouldn't be a surprise to somebody that an Amish person is not following the rules. They opt out of everything. They don't send their kids to school. They don't have to be involved in the [military] draft. They don't pay into the Social Security system and they don't receive money from the Social Security system. Why would anybody think it'd be a stretch that he wasn't getting his meat inspected by the government, too?"

"He thought he can do it himself, so why not do it himself?" Mindy questioned. "And, you know, these people that are buying from him, they're choosing to not buy USDA-inspected meat. That's their choice. They're adults. They can make choices like that."

In fact, a survey was sent to Fisher's customers, asking if they'd prefer the meat to be USDA-inspected or processed here himself. The poll came back overwhelmingly in support of the latter—92% of customers wanted Fisher to process on the farm.

Asked why he's become the consumer go-to source for meat over big-box retailers, Fisher responded: "Oh, because it's a huge differs. When you go to the store, you don't know what's in your food." Fisher went on to describe how whole carcasses of animals are often shipped into assembly-line warehouses. Though they're partly rotten and emit a putrid odor, factory workers dip the meat into some kind of preservatives, be it sodium chloride or another nitrate, to manufacture a red, pinkish "fresh look."

"And they send it off to the people. They don't care if people get sick or what happens because you can't track it," Fisher explained. "If you buy stuff from a store, you can't track where it comes from [...] So, that's why I say if you buy food from a farmer, go to that farm, ask the farmer you want to see their animals, you want to see the farm, you want to know where your food comes from. You do have the full rights. Ask for that. If you are not given it, take it as a warning," he advised.

"I want this world to have the opportunity of finding raw real food, because I've seen what you're buying at the store," Fisher said.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/miacathell/2023/08/18/golden-valley-farms-n2627121

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Descendants of famous 19th century Leftist will apologise for his links to slavery on trip to Caribbean

The family of legendary reforming Prime Minister William Gladstone plan to travel to the Caribbean to apologise for slavery.

Six descendants of the 19th century politician who served as PM four times have made an official apology and are traveling to Guyana on Thursday.

William Gladstone was elected Tory MP for Newark in December 1832 at 23-years-old, his education and career was funded by his father's links to slavery.

The former Prime Minister's father owned or held mortgages over 2,508 enslaved Africans, who worked on his sugar plantations in Guyana and Jamaica. Early in his career, William spoke in parliament in defence of his father's involvement in slavery and spoke out against the abolition of slavery.

John Gladstone was compensated £106,000 when the Slavery Abolition Act was passed in 1833, making him the fifth largest beneficiary.

Charlie Gladstone, 59 - who describes himself as an entrepreneur, author, husband, father of six and grandfather of three - said John Gladstone was a 'vile man'. He lives in in Hawarden Castle, the home of his great-great grandfather William, and said: 'John Gladstone committed crimes against humanity. That is absolutely clear.

'The best that we can do is try to make the world a better place and one of the first things is to make that apology for him.'

Charlie, who owns a restaurant, pub, and holiday rental operation, added that John Gladstone was 'greedy and domineering'.

It has been 200 years since the Demerara rebellion by around 13,000 Africans - which began on one of John Gladstone's plantations. It was led by Jack Gladstone, who was first to take his owners name, and his father Quamina.

More than 300 Africans died as a result of the uprising.

Charlie said much of his family's privilege stems from John Gladstone. They have agreed to pay reparations to fund further research into the impact of slavery.

Some on social media have branded the family's decision as 'pathetic' and 'more woke nonsense'.

One user said: 'The idea of guilt based on genes is nuts.' Whilst another questioned what the family were apologising for.

Another user said: 'More woke nonsense, slavery in the UK ended roughly sixty years before Gladstone took office as PM.'

The 21st century Gladstones are members of the Heirs of Slavery - a group of families who can trace their ancestors back to the enslavement of Africans.

They will make their apology at the launch of the University of Guyana's International Institute for Migration and Diaspora Studies - to which they have given £100,000.

Eric Phillips, chair of the Guyana reparations committee and vice-chair of the Caricom Reparations Commission, said the Gladstone's apology was 'an example to others' and means a great deal on the anniversary.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12425095/Family-legendary-reforming-Prime-Minister-William-Gladstone-travel-Caribbean-apologise-slavery.html

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The Aboriginal reality

This week, Aboriginal children will walk into the store at Warburton in Western Australia and purchase the typical fare of an Aboriginal diet. On the same latitude as the border of Northern Territory and South Australia, Warburton is as remote as it gets. But cake, Coca-Cola, and energy bars are all available, and expensive. For adults, throw in smokes. These are typical purchases. Week in and week out. Eating and drinking junk foods, not working, and having no purpose in life other than consumption, is a death sentence.

And then there is the violence by children, women, and men.

My mate in Warburton texted this: –

8pm at night here and 6-year-olds are wandering the streets throwing fireworks into our and others yards. Why? Because the 6-year-olds today told us to Get F….d because we were F…..g white trash C…s. 6-years-olds. What hope is for them?

Another day in Paradise. Two women fist-fighting and hitting each other over the head with Coke bottles. Roll on my plane on Tuesday please.

Shop was open for an hour today, before a local man ran in with an iron bar, and started smashing the shelves and walls, calling us f…..g white trash c….s.

Closed now for the day. We fly out in an hour…

No Voice, no committee, no treaty, no ‘truth-telling’, no Makarrata can save these people.

Aboriginal people are a modern people. In Warburton, mobile phones are commonplace. Electricity keeps the food and drink cool. Without the paraphernalia of the modern world there would be no Warburton, it would have closed decades ago. Aboriginal people rely on modern means to survive. Most have no idea how it is made. This is cruel.

And yet, too many legal professional associations are for the Voice, medical professional associations are for the Voice, the Australian Academy of Science is for the Voice. Why is it that these professional associations would cast their lot with an industry that refuses to release its own most vulnerable people into the open society? What is it that keeps these poor souls locked into an ancient and ignorant world? The very antithesis of the professionals, the brilliant and trained minds, condemn their objects of concern to a life of ignorance and violence.

Not only professionals are being taken for a ride, but shareholders are also being taken for a ride, as are donors, trade unionists, sports fans and taxpayers. Egotistical professional leaders, CEOs, charity leaders, trade union leaders, sports administrators, and politicians, foolish enough to forsake their duty and send other people’s money to the referendum Yes case, are doing harm. A majority of their members and funders are against the proposition. They are not as foolish as their leaders.

Leaders who think that a solution to Aboriginal despair lies in permanent government intervention in the lives of those few Aborigines who are failing in this modern society should think again. It is not all about government. Changing the constitution does not change behaviour. Changing the constitution will not get children to attend school. Changing the constitution will not stop the grog, or the abuse, or the awful habits that cause early death.

The task of leaders is to have every child understand how it is that the mobile phone and electricity that makes their food and shelter available comes into being. Government may be the provider, but it is not the maker. Government makes nothing, it merely covers the indignity of woeful ignorance. Why do governments refuse to teach their citizens how their lives have been degraded to the point of begging? This referendum proposal is no gracious gift; it is stealing the future of these people. It is an abandonment of leadership.

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My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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