Saturday, December 31, 2016

https://theintercept.com/2016/12/31/russia-hysteria-infects-washpost-again-false-story-about-hacking-u-s-electric-grid/

Articles: Obama Administration’s Attack on Russia

Putin chooses not to respond to Obama sanctions, diplomat expulsion - Business Insider

Something About This Russia Story Stinks - Rolling Stone

The Fight to Rein in NSA Surveillance: 2016 in Review

The Death of Clintonism - POLITICO Magazine

The Coming Assault on Social Security

Two Simple Suggestions for George Soros | naked capitalism

The List 2017

https://www.washingtonpost.com/classic-apps/the-list-2017/2016/12/28/3a80fb1c-c88b-11e6-85b5-76616a33048d_story.html?utm_term=.c2788499ab80&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1

China Is Building a Robot Army of Model Workers

Can China reboot its manufacturing industry—and the global economy—by replacing millions of workers with machines?

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601215/china-is-building-a-robot-army-of-model-workers/

Basic Income: A Sellout of the American Dream

Schemes for giving everyone a guaranteed income are gaining momentum in Silicon Valley and throughout Western Europe. It’s a great idea, until you look closely.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601499/basic-income-a-sellout-of-the-american-dream/

Bishop Barron's Daily Gospel Reflection December 31, 2016

Your daily Advent reflection...

Saturday, December 31, 2016

The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas, Year I

John 1:1-18

Friends, today we reprise the prologue of St. John’s Gospel, which we read on Christmas. The Word became flesh “and we saw his glory.” All the ways that the Old Testament spoke of God’s involvement with the world come together in this description of Jesus Christ. He is the powerful Word that will not return without accomplishing his purpose.

Now what is his purpose? Look to the prophet Isaiah. “The Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations. All the ends of the earth will behold the salvation of our God.” Saying that Yahweh has bared his holy arm means that Yahweh is rolling up his sleeves to get on with the work.

Now take a look now at the manger at Bethlehem. Perhaps we see a tiny arm reaching out at random from the manger. “The Lord has made bare his holy arm.” And this anticipates another baring of that holy arm, when it is stretched out on the wood of the cross, revealed to all nations, just as Isaiah said. God’s power would be revealed in the powerlessness of love unto death. This is what became flesh on Christmas day

Friday, December 30, 2016

Anthony Bourdain Slams "Privileged" Liberals For Their "Utter Contempt" Of Working-Class America

anthony-bourdain-slams-privileged-liberals-their-utter-contempt-working-class-americ

These Are The Most Expensive Zip Codes In America

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-30/these-are-most-expensive-zip-codes-america

Has Russian President Putin 'Outfoxed' President Obama On The Alleged Hacking Scandal?

http://warnewsupdates.blogspot.com/2016/12/has-russian-president-putin-outfoxed.html

White House On The Defensive As More Evidence Indicates That They Are Responsible For Last Week's Anti-Israel UN Action

http://warnewsupdates.blogspot.com/2016/12/white-house-on-defensive-as-more.html

Creator of NSA’s Global Surveillance System Calls B.S. On Russian Hacking Report

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/12/creator-nsas-global-surveillance-system-calls-b-s-russian-hacking-report.html

Experts Aren’t Convinced by FBI and Homeland Security Report on Alleged Russian Hacking

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/experts_arent_convinced_by_fbi_and_homeland_security_20161230

Next Big Future: Reviewing Energy and the Next Big Future of Energy

John McAfee: 'I Can Guarantee You, It Was Not the Russians'

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-30/john-mcafee-i-can-guarantee-you-it-was-not-russians

Here comes the iPhone apocalypse and the end of Apple as we know it | ZDNet

2017: Here's what you should be paying attention to | ZDNet

WPR Articles Dec. 23 — Dec. 30

A ‘Clash Of Civilizations’ Strategy Could Isolate the U.S. and Strengthen Extremists

By: Steven Metz | Column

This week brought further evidence that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is open to the clash of civilizations idea, even if not fully committed to it. If Trump does embrace the approach, the results would lead to the most far-reaching transformation of U.S. strategy since the outset of the Cold War.

Why Abe’s Attempts to Woo Russia Haven’t Paid Off For Japan

By: J. Berkshire Miller | Briefing

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had hoped that his dogged approach to engage with Russia might help reach a long elusive deal on the disputed Southern Kurile Islands. Abe’s optimism seemed misplaced, as Russian President Vladimir Putin poured cold water on the idea of a breakthrough at their recent summit.

With Attacks in Turkey, PKK Sends a Message to Erdogan—and to Trump

By: Hannes Cerny | Briefing

Two recent bombings in Turkey suspected to be carried out by an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were a grim reminder that the PKK is far from broken. In fact, it appears that the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States has made a bad situation even worse for the PKK.

Trump’s Supply-Side Economics Have Little Chance of Working in 2017

By: Robert Looney | Briefing

President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign promises and tax cut plans show him partial to Reagan-era supply-side economics—a commitment confirmed by his early Cabinet appointments and proposed increases in defense spending. Is there any reason to believe these economic policies would be effective today?

Will Social Mobility Be a Casualty of Brazil’s Higher Education Cuts?

By: The Editors | Trend Lines

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and senior editor, Frederick Deknatel, discuss Turkey’s agenda in the Syrian civil war. For the Report, Ciara Long talks with Peter Dörrie about the impact of austerity on higher education and social mobility in Brazil.

Why a Crisis Over Cameroon’s Marginalized Anglophone Regions Could Deepen

By: Robbie Corey-Boulet | BriefingProtests in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions against the use of French in courts and schools and the marginalization of the minority Anglophone population have revived a decades-old source of tension. But President Paul Biya’s government has responded with symbolic half-measures and a deadly crackdown.

Oil Auction Brings Some Good News to Mexico, and China Is Eager to Capitalize

By: Jerónimo Mohar | Briefing

On Dec. 5, Mexico held its first-ever auction for deepwater oil blocks in the Gulf of Mexico, which brought some much-needed economic relief. Mexico faces the most severe crisis originating in the United States since the 2008 financial meltdown, in the form of Donald Trump’s presidency.

2016 in Review

By: The Editors | Trend Lines

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, senior editor, Frederick Deknatel, and associate editors, Maria Savel and Karina Piser, discuss the biggest events of 2016, including the rise of populism, China’s growing assertiveness, and the election of Donald Trump.

Demystifying Trump’s Confounding Statements About Nuclear Weapons

By: Andrew Futter | Briefing

While often inchoate and contradictory, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s recent comments about nuclear weapons have caused great concern among observers, not to mention many within the U.S. government. It is worth demystifying some of what Trump has said and putting this nuclear debate in context.

The Reason for Israel’s Hysterical Response to the UN Security Council Resolution | The Nation

Trump Should End President's Daily Brief | The Huffington Post

Trump Should End President’s Daily Brief

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-fein/trump-should-end-presiden_b_13895860.html

Why Obama waited 8 years to take on Netanyahu

http://mondoweiss.net/2016/12/obama-waited-netanyahu/?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=f4975c8e5d-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b86bace129-f4975c8e5d-398529325&mc_cid=f4975c8e5d&mc_eid=8d56ed3dc5

Why Obama waited 8 years to take on Netanyahu

Philip Weiss on December 29, 2016

Yesterday was one of the most dispiriting days in the history of U.S. foreign policy. In a long valedictory speech, secretary of state John Kerry told Americans what was preventing peace in the Middle East: unending Jewish settlements in the fragment of historic Palestine that Palestinians accepted as theirs. The speech was more blunt than any earlier pronouncement from this administration about the end of the dream of a Palestinian state; afterward people praised Kerry’s passion and personal engagement, and a leading editor said he should receive the Nobel Prize.

Carrie Fisher on Sharing Her Private Life, and on Her Mother, Debbie Reynolds : Longreads

OxyContin goes global — “We’re only just getting started” - Los Angeles Times

Top-Secret Snowden Document Reveals What the NSA Knew About Previous Russian Hacking

The Devastating Transformation Of Work In The US

https://economicfront.wordpress.com/2016/12/28/the-devastating-transformation-of-work-in-the-us/

We Do Not Live in “Post Truth” World, We Live in a World of Lies and We Always Have

by Robert Fisk

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/30/we-do-not-live-in-post-truth-world-we-live-in-a-world-of-lies-and-we-always-have/

Martin Bogdanovich launches an empire in Fish Harbor

http://blogs.dailybreeze.com/history/2015/11/07/martin-bogdanovich-launches-an-empire-in-fish-harbor/

War News Updates: Edward Snowden's Leaked Documents Reveals What The NSA Knew About Earlier Russian Hacking

The Invention of the White Working Class | naked capitalism

Putin Stunner: "We Will Not Expel Anyone; We Refuse To Sink To 'Kitchen' Diplomacy" | Zero Hedge

The Devastating Transformation Of Work In The US | Reports from the Economic Front

The whole Democratic Party is now a smoking pile of rubble - Vox

The Two-State Solution: What It Is and Why It Hasn’t Happened - The New York Times

World War Three, by Mistake

News Desk

World War Three, by Mistake

Harsh political rhetoric, combined with the vulnerability of the nuclear command-and-control system, has made the risk of global catastrophe greater than ever.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/world-war-three-by-mistake

Bishop Barron's Daily Gospel Reflection December 30, 2016

Your daily Advent reflection...

Friday, December 30, 2016

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Year I

Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Friends, in today’s Gospel we see Joseph receiving the Lord’s direction for his care of Mary and Jesus. Joseph listens to God’s word in a dream. Dreams play a very interesting role in the Bible. In the Old Testament Joseph is an interpreter of dreams and successfully reads the dream of Pharaoh; the wise men in the New Testament are redirected to their homeland because an angel appeared to them in a dream. In one of the psalms, we find this line: “even at night, he directs my heart.”

What does it mean that Joseph is willing to listen to the wisdom of a dream? It means that he is willing to go beyond the strictures of the rational mind. Not repudiating them, but going beyond them, thinking in new ways, entertaining unexpected possibilities, plumbing deeper and richer dimensions of his soul. When Joseph and Mary bring the infant Jesus into the temple, therefore, we are meant to appreciate that the prophecy of Ezekiel is being fulfilled. The glory of Yahweh is returning to his favorite dwelling. And this is precisely what Simeon sees.

Are we stymied sometimes because we cannot think out of the box? We can’t expect the impossible? We can’t dream? And is our openness to God’s direction not dependent upon just this capacity? That God becomes one of us in order to save us from our sins. Who would ever even consider this possibility? What an absurdity! Only dreamers.

Israel First or America First | Patrick J. Buchanan - Official Website

The End of the Old Israel

The End of the Old Israel; Equality and American Democracy; The Case for Offshore Balancing
December 30, 2016

People wave flags at a convoy transporting the body of an Israeli woman killed in the recent violence between Israelis and Palestinians, near Efrat, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, January 2016.

The End of the Old Israel

How Netanyahu Has Transformed the Nation

By Aluf Benn

Obama administration shutters Russian retreat on Eastern Shore in Maryland

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-russian-hacking-maryland-base-20161229-story.html

Will the Syria Ceasefire Last?

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/will-the-syria-ceasefire-last-18893?page=2

Will the Syria Ceasefire Last?

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Russia’s Post-Soviet Journey

Russia’s Post-Soviet Journey

Dmitri Trenin, Director, Carnegie Moscow Center

Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, has been with the center since its inception. He also chairs the research council and the Foreign and Security Policy Program.

Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, has been with the center since its inception. He also chairs the research council and the Foreign and Security Policy Program.

Summary: A quarter-century after the dissolution of the Soviet Union Russia has moved away from Europe. Russian leaders regard their country as a self-sustained civilization related to Europe yet clearly separate from it.

Those That Bless Israel Will Be Blessed And Those That Curse Israel Will Be Cursed – So Now America Is Greatly Cursed

War News Updates: Will President Obama's Foreign Policy Legacy Be Remembered As One Big Mess?

What The Russian Hacking Report DOESN'T Say

Cardinal Timothy Dolan to participate in Trump inauguration | National Catholic Reporter

US Retaliates Against Russia For "Hacking The Election": Expels 35 Diplomats, Unveils Sanctions

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-29/us-announces-sanctions-against-russia-expels-35-diplomats-retaliation-election-hacki

FBI, DHS release report on Russia hacking

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/312132-fbi-dhs-release-report-on-russia-hacking

The Unpleasant Ancestors of Christmas

Tamar, Judah, Solomon, and company are not exactly the ideal ancestors of the King of Kings; but in this video, Fr. Mike Schmitz shows how God can write straight with crooked lines, even when the line happens to be Jesus’ blood line. Join Fr. Mike in this Christmas special, wherein he makes the monotonous genealogy of Christ in Matthew’s Gospel more intriguing than an epic movie trailer.

http://ascensionpresents.com/video/the-unpleasant-ancestors-of-christmas/?mc_cid=b247ccbdf7&mc_eid=2bb902f84a

NRC gets an ‘incomplete’ at Pilgrim

Posted on December 29, 2016 by djysrv

Reports about a recent series of incidents involving the Pilgrim Nuclear plant in Massachusetts indicate that given a choice to communicate with public officials, the NRC refused to do so.

https://neutronbytes.com/2016/12/29/nrc-gets-an-incomplete-at-pilgrim/

Duke Energy doesn’t owe Westinghouse disputed $352 million, judge rules

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article123312599.html

Tomgram: William Astore, All the President's Generals

Tomgram: William Astore, All the President's Generals

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176224/tomgram:_william_astore,_all_the_president's_generals/

Ray McGovern talks to RT Intl

From Ray McGovern

Have we seen this before? Informed by the same intelligence officials of ill repute who were responsible for the fraudulent evidence concocted to explain the need for war on Iraq, the U.S. is preparing to “retaliate” against Russia for leveraging Donald Trump into the presidency. The difference this time around is that the deluge of evidence-free, pre-retaliation propaganda has been so effective that those lusting for “retaliation” are getting a totally free pass in virtually all U.S. media. The government is not required (or even asked) to provide ANY evidence – real or fraudulent – beyond what anonymous CIA officials whisper to tame media stenographers. Yesterday, Ray discussed media reports of imminent U.S. “retaliation.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjIsjF_JG9s&feature=youtu.be

Kerry's Blunt Words for Israel Denounced by Lawmakers in Both Parties

http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/kerrys-blunt-words-for-israel-denounced-by-lawmakers-in-both-parties

How Facebook Learns About Your Offline Life

You probably know that social network uses your profile to serve ads it thinks you’ll like—but it also draws on a lot of information it gathers from offline data brokers.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603283/how-facebook-learns-about-your-offline-life/?utm_source=MIT+TR+Newsletters&utm_campaign=f97b342bc6-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-f97b342bc6-153856085

Fukushima nuclear disaster: This is how US is affected by Japan's nuclear leak

Family Security Matters

Battered Toshiba out of easy options to plug nuclear hole

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN14I12J

Circle January 15th: 70 Nations Will Gather In Paris To Discuss The Creation Of A Palestinian State

Breaking Report: John Kerry Is Working On Another UN Resolution That Would Officially Recognize A Palestinian State

The UN Security Council Has Just Officially Given Every Inch Of East Jerusalem To The Palestinians

Obama Betrays Israel At The United Nations – Is America’s Reprieve Now Over?

Has Obama "Betrayed" Israel at the UN? | The National Interest

How Donald Trump Should Transform America's Middle East Policy | The National Interest

Excerpts from John Kerry’s Speech on Israel-Palestine « LobeLog

Trump's Pentagon Budget Time Bomb - YouTube

The Congressional Budget Office has some bad news for Obamacare repealers - Vox

How the U.S. came to abstain on a U.N. resolution condemning Israeli settlements - The Washington Post

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

The Golden Gate

Is Netanyahu sacrificing Israel on his crusade against Obama?

ISRAEL PULSE

ישראל פולס

Is Netanyahu sacrificing Israel on his crusade against Obama?

Summary⎙ Print Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows that Israel will pay, diplomatically and politically, for its over-the-top response to the anti-settlement UN Security Council resolution, but it seems he doesn't care.

Author Ben Caspit (Translator Danny Wool)

December 27, 2016 | http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/12/israel-netanyahu-obama-un-security-council-resolution.html#ixzz4UAP2r3ma

Sierra Sage online news magazine | Energy

The New Normal 'Safety Net': Surging Disability Benefits Claims | Zero Hedge

How NOT to hack an election: Russian Hack EXPOSED as Hoax | Zero Hedge

Look at All the Former Anti-Trump Republicans Lining up to Lick the President Elect's Boots

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/look-all-former-anti-trump-republicans-lining-lick-boots-president-elect

10 Reasons Trump Won't Lead A Nuclear Renaissance | OilPrice.com

Russia "Tired Of Obama Lies About Hackers", Vows Response To Any New Sanctions | Zero Hedge

Mining 24 Hours a Day with Robots

U.S. appeals court revives Clinton email suit | Reuters

Fr. Bob Warren's Week Reflection on Christmas

Father Bob's Reflection on Christmas

If we were asked to explain Christmas, we would probably have to think for a while, then we would say something about Jesus being born in Bethlehem. Perhaps the best explanation of what Christmas is all about is given by St. Paul, in the briefest, simplest form. "He was rich. He became poor for your sake." He goes on, "Though He was in the form of God, He did not deem equality with God as something to be grasped at, rather He emptied Himself and took the form of a slave being born into the likeness of men." At one point in history, at one place on earth, He made himself known to us in a form that we could grasp.

If there were no Christmas, our idea of God might be a God of power and might. A God who only revealed himself in suns and star systems. He would be a remote God, never intimately near, never close by. It is true there is a revelation of God in nature, but often nature conceals as much as she reveals. A writer once wrote how he had spent the day in the Canadian Rockies. The scenery was so magnificent that he could not put it into words. So majestic that it was indescribable, but he said he felt very small and insignificant. When he returned home, his wife welcomed him with a kiss. His children gave him a big hug. Then he knew what had bothered him about his day on the mountain. Yes, he had felt God in nature, but he had wanted something more. Amidst all that grandeur, he had wanted a touch. He had wanted to be noticed. He had wanted some human contact. That is what the incarnation means. That is what the birth of Christ is all about.

The glory of God comes into our human nature, and it speaks to us within intimacy which it is not within the power of sea or sky or mountain to convey. In Jesus Christ, God is made clear and concrete. He is made available so that we can grasp Him when we fall; bow before Him when we want to adore; kneel to Him when we want to pray; live in communion with Him.

Jesus became poor for our sake. Born in a borrowed barn, His teaching and preaching was done on foot. If a feast had been set before Him, it was in another's house. He had no home of His own. When He died, He was buried in the tomb of another. He laid aside His omnipotence, Creator of all, He became like one of His creatures.

There is all through the bible a kind of Cinderella theme in the story of God's dealing with us. Again and again, it is the lowly and despised, the unlikely and insignificant people, from whom light and salvation come. And so it is with the Christmas story. A teenage girl living in a small corner of the world is told that she is to be the mother of God. Then we have shepherds, not as the painters and poets have idealized them, but rough, uncultivated, boorish and despised as outcasts. But it was to them the angels came. These men who were looked upon as sinners and outcasts by the religious establishment, only they had their ears attuned to the music of the angels singing "Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth Peace." And as St. Paul tells us, it was for your sake that this all happened, the self-emptying God.

It meant a laying aside of glory. A voluntary restraint of power. Acceptance of hardship. Isolation. Ill treatment. Malice and misunderstanding. All for your sake, that by His poverty you might become rich.

Because of Mary, Bethlehem was a place of birth, but each heart is a Bethlehem, is a place of birth. And each heart can be a Calvary, a place of death. It's up to you whether your heart is a place of birth or death, whether you allow God to come to you and live in you. You have the free will to accept God or reject him.

What then is the purpose of Christmas? What was Christ's own Christmas dream? Simply this. Christ was born to bear other Christs. Christmas is meaningless, unless it means not merely God in a stable, but God in a heart. In your heart.

Christmas is the birth of the Son of God on Earth and yet only the first Christmas took place in a stable. Every Christmas since then has taken place in human hearts. Only the first Christmas recorded the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. Every Christmas since then is significant in so far as it records the birth or the rebirth of Christ in us.

St. John tells us the word was made flesh. That line takes the human beauty of the Christmas story and links it with the Divine, it puts God in the straw, and the hands that hold Him are those of a human who is the mother of God, and caroling angels are the servants of the Child. And the shepherds were made by Him. The Christmas star is His toy, and He alone is true King. We can see our God in a child because the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

The birth of Jesus is not only an event which happened in the past at a certain time and place. It is also an experience which is capable of unlimited repetition. It we want to carry the spirit of Christmas into the whole year, then Christ must be born anew in us, that we may say with the Apostle Paul, "It is not I that live, but it is Christ that lives in me, then there will be peace on earth and peace in our hearts.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Robert Warren, S.A.

Spiritual Director

www.AtonementFriars.org

GRAYMOOR P.O. Box 301, Garrison, NY 10524

For more information, call us at 888-720-8247.

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Saturday, December 31, 2016

You are the racist, actually, not me

The List 2017

China Is Building a Robot Army of Model Workers

Basic Income: A Sellout of the American Dream

Friday, December 30, 2016

Anthony Bourdain Slams "Privileged" Liberals For Their "Utter Contempt" Of Working-Class America

These Are The Most Expensive Zip Codes In America

Has Russian President Putin 'Outfoxed' President Obama On The Alleged Hacking Scandal?

White House On The Defensive As More Evidence Indicates That They Are Responsible For Last Week's Anti-Israel UN Action

Creator of NSA’s Global Surveillance System Calls B.S. On Russian Hacking Report

Experts Aren’t Convinced by FBI and Homeland Security Report on Alleged Russian Hacking

John McAfee: 'I Can Guarantee You, It Was Not the Russians'

WPR Articles Dec. 23 — Dec. 30

Trump Should End President’s Daily Brief

The Devastating Transformation Of Work In The US

Martin Bogdanovich launches an empire in Fish Harbor

World War Three, by Mistake

Harsh political rhetoric, combined with the vulnerability of the nuclear command-and-control system, has made the risk of global catastrophe greater than ever.

Obama administration shutters Russian retreat on Eastern Shore in Maryland

Will the Syria Ceasefire Last?

Thursday, December 29, 2016

US Retaliates Against Russia For "Hacking The Election": Expels 35 Diplomats, Unveils Sanctions

FBI, DHS release report on Russia hacking

The Unpleasant Ancestors of Christmas

What’s Next In The Decommissioning Of San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant

Toshiba plunges 26% after rating downgrades

Duke Energy doesn’t owe Westinghouse disputed $352 million, judge rules

Ray McGovern talks to RT Intl

Kerry's Blunt Words for Israel Denounced by Lawmakers in Both Parties

How Facebook Learns About Your Offline Life

Battered Toshiba out of easy options to plug nuclear hole

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

ISRAEL PULSE

ישראל פולס

Is Netanyahu sacrificing Israel on his crusade against Obama?