Biden and Harris Own Their Failures, Not Trump!
Dear Editor:
Fellow letter writer Yaakov Ribner wrote another interminably long letter last week criticizing columnist Moshe Hill while attempting to tie Donald Trump to the worst foreign policy decision this country has ever made: the Afghanistan withdrawal. Ribner predicates his thesis on the fact that Trump, while President, presided over the Doha Agreement, which was supposed to facilitate the evacuation, and Biden ostensibly had his hands tied and was compelled to evacuate from Afghanistan. I have a few issues with Ribner’s thesis.
Number One, why did Biden feel compelled to follow through on anything Trump initiated? He showed no hesitation reversing a slew of Trump’s policies on his first day in office, showing zero deference to the former President. He had no issue on Day One in office reversing all of Trump’s rollbacks of burdensome regulations on the oil/gas industries, which soon led us to $5/gallon gas. He had no issue on Day One reversing all of Trump’s successful immigration policies, including “Remain in Mexico,” which led to the largest influx of millions of illegal immigrants, including criminals and terrorists, into this country. Ribner’s argument that Biden’s hands were tied on Afghanistan is revisionist history and just not true.
Even more damaging to Ribner’s argument is the House Foreign Affairs Committee report on the failed Afghanistan withdrawal that was released this past Sunday. The report lays out how Trump reached the Doha Agreement in 2020, whereby the US would withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, contingent on the Taliban meeting certain obligations. The Taliban subsequently failed to meet the conditions of the agreement, yet Biden had already decided he wanted what he thought would be a political victory for himself by having all the troops withdrawn for the 20th anniversary of 9/11. The report details that the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Commander of US Central Command, the Secretary of State, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Commander of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission and United States Forces-Afghanistan all advised against withdrawing all US troops from Afghanistan. That’s a heckuva lot of people to ignore.
Ribner further criticizes Moshe Hill for not explaining what Trump would have done differently from Biden. Did it ever occur to Mr. Ribner that once the conditions of the deal for withdrawal fell apart, Trump simply would have walked away from the whole thing and killed the deal? The reason why Trump was successful at foreign policy while Biden is an abject failure is because Trump is perceived as tough, irrespective of whether Mr. Ribner believes Trump is actually tough. Moreover, while Trump preferred to leave Afghanistan, only someone as naive as Mr. Ribner would believe that given the choice of maintaining a skeletal military crew on hand of about 2,500 troops to keep the peace with no fatalities in several years vs. commandeering a disastrous pullout, that Trump would have chosen the latter.
The Afghanistan disaster, the Russia invasion, and October 7 all occurred on the Biden/Harris watch and were all directly or indirectly the results of their failed foreign policy decisions. Mr. Ribner trying to tie Trump into any of these colossal failures is simply sour grapes.
Avi Goldberg
Sad State of Affairs
Dear Editor:
Multiple reports have indicated that President Trump is being advised not to mention anything publicly about Willie Brown, especially in the debates. For those unfamiliar with Mr. Brown, 30 years ago he was a San Francisco kingmaker. Kamala Harris, who at the time was a 29-year-year-old no-name, jump-started her political career by having an affair with Willie Brown, a married man 30 years her senior. He rewarded her with lucrative board appointments and helped launch her career as a District Attorney. There are many metrics to measure the decline of our country under the Biden/Harris administration. Perhaps the saddest one of all is that it is now considered a bigger misstep to mention the Kamala Harris/Willie Brown affair than it is to actually commit the affair!
Jonathan Goldgrab
Kamala Doesn’t Care About Jewish Lives
Dear Editor:
Joe Biden recently came back from a 17-day vacation at the beach when the media asked him if Netanyahu was doing enough to secure a “peace agreement.” Biden, who looks like he has one foot in the grave, answered with one word: “No.” Putting aside the optics of the President sunning himself for two and a half straight weeks in the midst of a hostage crisis that included a few American citizens, did Biden ever consider whether he, as the supposed leader of the free world, has done enough?
Moreover, did Biden ever consider that the hostages are being held in a complex web of tunnels built with money Biden foolishly gave to Iran that was then funneled to Hamas? Self-reflection was never a strong point of Biden’s, even before his brain gave out and I suspect choosing a successful path out of this is a bit beyond the grasp of someone who’s days have been relegated to choosing between chocolate and vanilla and watching Matlock reruns vs. watching The People’s Court.
But for those supporting Kamala Harris in this presidential race, how do you justify her inactions in the midst of this crisis? What’s her excuse? She can trot out her ethnically Jewish husband as a prop every once in a while, for street cred with the political ignoramuses in the Jewish community, but when the chips are down, we no longer need to speculate on where Kamala stands when it comes to protecting Jewish lives. She couldn’t care less.
Jason Stark
Kamala Has No Idea
Who She Is
Dear Editor:
Kamala Harris is an empty pantsuit. She stands for nothing, has no core principles, will say whatever she has to, to ingratiate herself to others, and has been propped up for decades by her handlers and now the obedient mainstream media.
There has been much speculation over why she has refused to do sit-down interviews and has now gone so far as to pretend that she is on the phone when she exits her vehicle to avoid any media questions. She has to go to these lengths because it’s very difficult to answer unscripted questions without first knowing what you stand for.
Her pick for running mate is indicative of her flaws as a person. She eschewed the much more accomplished Josh Shapiro for another corrupt, soulless, moral coward in Tim Walz. Part of the reason for not picking Shapiro may have been the problem a Jewish Democratic candidate would present for her, given the overt anti-Semitism embedded in the Democratic Party. If this were the case, I wouldn’t blame her for taking a pass. But a more likely explanation for the snub is that Shapiro is a talented politician, is good in front of the camera, and would definitely leave party operatives wondering how they ended up with such a dullard in the number one position while relegating the talented Shapiro to the number two spot.
Walz does not present any of these issues for her. He, too, is an empty suit who seems very unsteady about what his political positions currently are. And like Kamala, he is a coward. He abandoned the hundreds of soldiers he was in charge of when they deployed to Afghanistan. He cowered in the face of three days of violent riots in Minnesota and, instead of protecting law-abiding business owners, he allowed local thugs to burn down their businesses along with much of the city for three days as a tikun for the holy neshamah of career criminal George Floyd.
His cowardice was again on full display this week when, at a campaign stop, he was asked by a reporter for his reaction to the murder of the six Jewish hostages in Gaza. Walz’s response was to say: “Okay, thanks everybody,” as he turned around and ran off. Putting aside politics for a second, you really have to be a bottom-of-the-barrel lowlife to not be able to conjure up an unscripted “I feel terrible for what happened and my thoughts are with the victims and their families” type of response to a question about the Hamas murder victims.
The guy the phony media is playing up as a great dad, a high school coach, and someone so empathetic to issues on trans, gay, and “reproductive rights” is incapable of uttering an unscripted response to the media on six brutal murders.
He really is the yin to Kamala’s yang. They are tied at the hip in more ways than just on the Democratic ticket. They are both untalented, undeserving, vapid repositories of nothingness.
Doniel Behar
Counting
Dear Editor:
There are no more Olympics, political conventions, or US Opens to spend hours watching. (Okay, there is the NFL season, but I don’t watch that.) Now, we just have the continual countdown to the next election. You would think the media is doing its version of S’firah. Oh, yeah, you transplanted Floridians: Don’t forget to run back and count your six months and one day residency rule.
Counting is very important, not just to the Sesame Street character, but to each of us. We have S’firah counting, aveilus counting, taharah counting, and minyan counting (though you’re not supposed to do that using numbers). But do I really need to know how many days are left until the election or to the next inauguration? Is it essential for us to know how many days Joe Biden has spent on a beach? Give the guy a break! First, we didn’t want him to run for the presidency, and now we don’t want him to take it easy. It’s hard to please 330 million Americans (and who knows how many illegal immigrants).
Then, there’s Chodesh Elul. Trust me. I need the entire month to prepare for the Yamim Tovim. (I never could understand the term “High Holy Days.”) First of all, my davening could use some more kavanah. Then, my mouth could use some taping. I most definitely could be doing more mitzvos. Each of these itemized items could easily fill a 30-day calendar. However, if I succeeded to some degree in accomplishing one of the aforementioned, I’d be a happy camper.
So, my fellow readers, choose at least one area in which you can strive to excel (Forget geometry or basket-weaving). Take this month to achieve that goal. You will be a better person and a better Yid for it.
Debbie Horowitz
Dear Editor:
A cat has nine lives, and so it seems does the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. Twenty-three years later, after 9/11, since its subsequent founding, and $2.8 billion dollars later, LMDR should have completed its mission years ago. Are there political motivations for Governor Kathy Hochul, State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Steward Cousins, State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and New York City Mayor Eric Adams for defending keeping this agency open? It is time to shut the LMRC office lights, close its doors, and have its remaining staff find gainful employment elsewhere.
Sincerely,
Larry Penner
Satansophie Choice 2024
Dear Editor:
Bargaining with Hamas is bargaining with Satan himself. They have not sane demands but demonands.
Follow the trajectory of their demands. Every item, every word, is a stab in the neck to Israel and to moral civilization.
A morally sane person cannot “negotiate” with this. The only option is to summarily end negotiations, shift to merciless threats, impose our own demands.
Trading dozens of dead and live hostages for thousands of terrorists means, unboundedly tragically, trading dozens of living and dead hostages for thousands of future dead Israelis, hostage Israelis, human shield Israelis, and human rights viciously violated Israelis. And citizens of nations other than Israel, too.
This is horrific. But in the real world, in the world of life and death realpolitik, it is common sense, it is the excruciating balance of saving vs. risking lives. Such are the responsibilities of morally sane world leaders.
End the negotiations. Go full assault into Gaza to rescue hostages and silence the Mephistophelean words and deeds of terrorists.
And Israel can no longer morally afford to not have the death penalty for terrorists!
And Israel has her own imprisoned terrorists. She can now newly term them “hostages” and wisely leverage them for the return of her sons and daughters. Turn the game board over. Demand 50 hostages for half a captured or soon to be captured terrorist.
Unambiguously remove Hamas’ options, render Hamas isolated and hog-tied in their own machinations – yes, even at bitter cost to us.
And maybe there’s a morally sane world leader (I can think of potentially one, DJT) who will read the decree: Harm one hair on another hostage and all hell will break loose over you and Hezbollah and Iran and all your beloved possessions, physically and financially.
And then rain down upon their capitals all the photos of their heads and their beloved possessions. Just like DJT did with the Taliban.
We must be fearless, bold, and willing to courageously meet the satanic challenge of sacrificing dozens to save thousands.
It’s a satansophie choice 2024.
This is what I would slam down on the table if I was a world leader.
#trump2024nowmorethanever
Howard Neiman, PhD
Dear Editor:
In October 2020, President Trump introduced Schedule F, a new category of federal employee. These people would be political appointees, loyal to his party, and not picked by merit and qualifications. The other employees could be easily fired if they were not deemed to be supportive of President Trump. This would mean that civil service would go back to the 1800s, when jobs were given out by patronage and party loyalty.
When Biden took office in January 2021, he immediately eliminated Schedule F and everyone forgot about it. Everyone, that is, except for Trump. If he is elected again, he will reintroduce Schedule F, and this time there will be nobody to stop him. I was a proud government employee for over 40 years. I am horrified by what will happen to civil service under a Trump administration.
Trump admires dictators and would like to emulate them. Don’t think this can’t happen here. Read your history books and see how a single person can destroy a country. Look at Russia, North Korea, China, and Iran. Trump thinks the dictators there do a great job. He famously said that Russia could do whatever it felt like in Ukraine. He wants the USA to be a white Christian country. He is an isolationist and does not care about having allies or NATO. He calls the convicted criminals from the January 6 uprising “hostages,” and plans to pardon them all on his first day in office. What impudence this is when the real hostages are being killed by Hamas in Gaza.
It is being said by many people that democracy is at stake in this election. Believe me, it is true. If you love this country, with its many problems and flaws, but believe that it is still the best form of government available, you will not vote for someone who denies an election that he lost, has no empathy, and cares only about himself. We need a leader we can be proud of, who will be respected by the other nations in the world, and who will treat war heroes with the respect they deserve, especially the ones who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country.
Deborah Turner
Dear Editor:
Most normal Americans can agree that saying school shootings “are a fact of life” is, at best, weird. We should all agree that saying that we have to just “get over” mass shootings is heartless. Americans of all stripes should be able to agree that saying “childcare is childcare” is an inadequate statement on how to address an issue that affects so many families.
And everyone should be able to agree that any candidate who says it is safer in Caracas, Venezuela, (where a dictator is arresting opponents after losing an election rather than turning over power to his duly elected successor) than in the USA (where crime has dropped from the record highs under Trump to record lows under Biden/Harris) is so demented that they should be kept as far away as possible from the Oval Office.
But that first heartless statement is what we have heard from J.D. Vance after two students and two teachers were murdered in Georgia by an AR-15 that he has refused to do anything to control, who with only 1.5 years of experience in the Senate, now has risen from his couch to serve as the Vice-Presidential candidate to the oldest nominee ever, Trump, who made the other insane comments.
Unfortunately, fellow reader Doniel Behar refuses to accept either these realities, the fact that the US Supreme Court is a radical right-wing group masquerading as justices, or the fact that the Project 2025, which was a radical right-wing agenda up by Trump advisers with a weird foreword by Vance, is a blueprint to make us a White Christian Nationalist dictatorship. You can read about it at kamalaharris.com/project2025 and make your own decision. As to the reality that Doniel has made racist comments, the facts speak for themselves and perhaps it is he that should seek psychiatric treatment to deal with his own irrational fears about electing an undeniably intelligent and fully qualified Black and Asian woman as our next President.
As for fellow reader Jonathan Goldgrab, who made medical comments despite the fact that he is apparently not an MD, while ignoring the clear mental and physical decline of Trump and excuses Trump’s clear violations of the Logan Act, which clearly prohibits him from interfering with foreign policy by preventing a deal to release innocent Israeli hostages before our November elections, I’m sorry if he is sick and tired of hearing irrefutable facts, but I will once again remind him that Vice President Harris, who is married to the man who will hopefully become our First Mentch in January, lives in The Naval Observatory, where they put up the first mezuzah and lit their menorah. She has repeatedly stated that she wants the hostages released as soon as possible as part of a ceasefire deal. To say otherwise is a lie.
Shalom Markowitz ignores a few facts. First, he ignores the 25th Amendment of the Constitution, which should have been previously invoked against Trump for his clear mental issues that prevented him from faithfully seeing that the laws be faithfully executed while he was repeatedly breaking said laws. That’s why he was convicted of 34 felonies and still faces dozens of other felony charges that include his participation in the violent seditionist domestic terrorist attack on our Capitol on January 6. As to Trump’s disgraceful desecration of the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery to illegally conduct a political stunt, I have to ask Shalom if he has ever been insane or sociopathic enough to trample upon the graves of other veterans to pose with a MAGA family while ghoulishly smiling and holding thumbs up. My veteran father-in-law and my beloved mother-in-law are buried at Calverton National Cemetery, and I can assure you that my family has never posed in such a disrespectful fashion. We respected the solemnity of the site and moment because, unlike Mr. Bone Spurs, who refused to attend funerals of dozens of soldiers who died while he defiled the White House, we don’t view veterans as “suckers” and “losers.”
Given all of this, there is only one choice for any fair Queens Jewish Link reader who believes in continuing a democracy that includes Jewish Americans, and that is to elect the highly qualified and experienced team of Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz as our next President and Vice President, respectively.
And if you cannot agree with a Democrat like me, then just listen to conservative Republicans like former Vice President Dick Cheney, his daughter/former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, and former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who along with many other former Trump administration officials have all decided that his anti-democracy beliefs render Trump disqualified. They have all agreed that they are voting for Kamala Harris to save democracy.
David S Pecoraro
Former Vice President
Rosedale Jewish Center
