The Front Page Cover
The Events of the Week -- Featuring:
Less Frank Costanza, more Mike Pence
by Jeff Jacoby
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Team Trump's Latest Additions
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley accepted Donald Trump's appointment of ambassador to the United Nations. While some have questioned both Trump's offer and Haley's acceptance, it may best be described as a mutually beneficial agreement — or as Trump would say, a "good deal." Haley is a rising star in the GOP and this appointment would give her more national notoriety. In other words, for the term-limited governor, this move is a logical next step for her career. For Trump, this move should be encouraging to those conservatives who are still hesitantly supportive, as this is yet another solid choice. It's also a sign of his magnanimity after Haley's thinly veiled criticism of Trump in her State of the Union rebuttal.
Trump also tapped Betsy DeVos as his secretary of education. DeVos didn't support Trump during the primaries, and said of him in July, "A lot of the things he has said are very off-putting and concerning." She was also a delegate for Ohio Gov. John Kasich at the GOP convention. But she obviously warmed to Trump. DeVos, a former Michigan Republican Party chairwoman, has been a strong advocate for school choice for over 20 years, helping to push through Michigan's charter school bill in 1993. Trump stated upon nominating her, "She is passionate about the prospect of making sure that every child in every family, regardless of their economic circumstances, has an opportunity to go to a good school." Interestingly, she's the mother of four children, none of whom attended public school.
With both appointments, Trump has shown the ability to look beyond past disagreements in order to find those he believes will be best for the job. This may be one of the strongest qualities he has displayed thus far. ~The Patriot Post
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OPINION IN BRIEF
Peggy Noonan: "For half a century Donald Trump has devoted all his professional energies to money, profit, the deal. That is how he thinks: It's his deepest neural pathway. He's a free-market capitalist who started with a lot and turned it into more. He created jobs, employs many. Good! But that's his mind: money, profit, the deal. He has brought up his children to enter his business. Whatever else they do, they have surely absorbed the family ethos. And now, for the first time in his life, money, profit, the deal is not his job. He will be president of the United States. He can't help the family business as president. He can't help his children make a living as president. He has to be losing money as president and putting personal profit motives behind him. Which means putting the ways and habits of a lifetime behind him. Because he's entered something much bigger: the presidency. History. The welfare of the republic. ... It would be a painful act, selling the business he loves and around which he has ordered his life. But there would be comfort in this: In doing the right thing, in denying his opponents a sword, in enhancing his stature and demonstrating that yes, he will sacrifice for his country. That's pretty great comfort. You've made your money. Now go be a patriot. That's his job now, and it requires sacrifice." ~The Patriot Post
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Trump to Meet Petraeus as Secretary
of State Fight Continues
by Kevin Cirilli
{bloomberg.com} ~ President-elect Donald Trump is considering retired General David Petraeus to be secretary of state and plans to meet with the former CIA director Monday in New York, according to a senior official with the transition... The celebrated four-star general, who left government under a cloud for sharing classified documents during an extramarital affair, is sitting down with the president-elect amid infighting among Trump’s advisers about who to pick for the post. The possibility that Trump might instead tap former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who is scheduled to meet with the president-elect again Tuesday, has fueled an extraordinary public lobbying campaign against him...
VIDEO: http://bloom.bg/2fWVsqX
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liar-nObama Accused of Helping
Iran Ship Arms to Terrorists
by shawn
{totalconservative.com} ~ Republican senators are urging the liar-nObama administration to reconsider giving Western airline companies clearance to sell jets to Iran, which they say is helping the Islamic Republic ship arms to terrorist organizations like Hezbollah... According to lawmakers, new intelligence shows that Iran is using commercial airliners to smuggle high-tech weapons to terrorist groups operating in Syria, an operation that will only be aided if Boeing and Airbus start selling planes to the Iranian government. Sen. David Perdue (R., Ga.), have been pushing liar-nObama administration officials to explain why they are helping airline manufacturers Boeing and AirBus sell planes to Iran, despite clear evidence that Tehran is using its commercial airline as cover for its continued terrorist operations across the region. As with multiple other congressional investigations into the liar-nObama administration’s efforts to roll back economic sanctions and conduct secret dealings with Iran, officials have stonewalled Perdue, refusing to answer key questions about the motivation for aiding Tehran’s pursuit of planes that could be used to further its terrorist enterprise... http://totalconservative.com/obama-accused-helping-iran-ship-arms-terrorists/
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Texas governor pledges to ban
sanctuary cities in the Lone Star State
by Tré Goins-Phillips
{theblaze.com} ~ Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott took to Twitter late Sunday night to announce his plan to ban sanctuary cities in his state while other governors and mayors across the country vow to continue protecting illegal immigrants from deportation... The governor’s push to outlaw sanctuary cities in the Lone Star State, as well as his executive order to cut funding to such municipalities, follows a comment from a Twitter user wondering what Abbott planned to do about Travis County’s newly elected Democratic sheriff, Sally Hernandez, who has vowed not to cooperate with federal officials on immigration issues. Such a move would make Austin, which is located in Travis County, the state’s first true sanctuary city. On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to crack down on illegal immigration was one of his foundational promises. In an interview earlier this month on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” the billionaire businessman said he plans to deport illegal immigrants with criminal records:... http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/11/28/texas-governor-pledges-to-ban-sanctuary-cities-in-the-lone-star-state/
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The death of 'Women's issues'
by
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Pivotal Odeh Hearing Canceled
{investigativeproject.org} ~ A federal judge in Detroit on Monday canceled a hearing which was expected to help determine whether convicted Palestinian bomber Rasmieh Odeh receives a new trial for naturalization fraud... Jurors convicted Odeh in 2014, but the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Gershwin A. Drain last February, ruling he erred when he precluded testimony that Odeh suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which may have caused her to provide false answers to immigration officials about her terrorist past. Odeh spent 10 years in an Israeli prison after confessing to her part in twin 1969 bombings in Jerusalem – one at the British Consulate and one at a grocery store that killed college students Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner... http://www.investigativeproject.org/5707/breaking-news-pivotal-odeh-hearing-cancelled#
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Less Frank Costanza, more Mike Pence
by Jeff Jacoby
{jewishworldreview.com} ~ Of the prayers that observant Jews recite each day, the one I appreciate most is offered before going to bed. Here is how it begins:
"Master of the universe, I hereby forgive anyone who angered or antagonized me or sinned against me - whether physically or financially or through disrespect, or in any other matter affecting me; whether involuntarily or willfully, carelessly or deliberately; whether by word or by deed. I forgive every person: let no one incur punishment because of me."
One of the rules I try to live by is not to take offense when no offense is intended. A corollary to that rule is to presume, whenever possible, that no offense was intended. This is not, I admit, a discipline I've mastered perfectly. But it's not as hard as you might think. Make a daily point of affirming that you harbor no ill will, and you tend not to smolder with resentment and unresolved umbrage. At a time when Americans by the millions seem to go out of their way to keep themselves in a state of high dudgeon, choosing not to be offended can be wonderfully refreshing.
Not taking offense isn't the same as not having pet peeves. (I've got a bunch of those.) Nor does it mean never condemning shameful, foolish, or destructive behavior. (Where would newspaper columnists be if we never uttered any criticism?) It does mean recognizing that being offended is always a choice, and that other people's words and views can bend you out of shape only if you choose to let them have that effect.
This isn't a column about politics, but during last week's "Hamilton" kerfuffle, Vice President-elect Mike Pence provided a pitch-perfect demonstration of how not to take offense. Rather than bristle and fume when he was booed by audience members and pointedly addressed by the cast during the curtain call, Pence took it all with gracious equanimity. "I wasn't offended," he said afterward. He praised the "great, great show" and the "incredibly talented" cast, and made clear that actor Brandon Dixon's impassioned statement from the stage didn't trouble him or require any apology.
"I nudged my kids," Pence told Fox News, "and reminded them, 'That's what freedom sounds like.'"
And that, in turn, is what a mature emotional perspective sounds like. It would be nice to encounter more of it in our national discourse.
Unfortunately, picking at scabs has become a national pastime. Americans have lost their ability to shrug off other people's obnoxious comments or insensitive gestures or politically incorrect views. Instead of rolling their eyes and letting it pass, they proclaim: "I'm offended." They demand apologies. They insist on "trigger warnings" and "safe spaces." They howl about "microaggressions" and whinge about "mansplaining" and compile lists of banned words. When they get offended, they expect heads to roll or companies to be blackballed. They even take offense on behalf of people who don't take offense.
Remember Frank Costanza? He was the character on "Seinfeld" who invented Festivus, an idiosyncratic family holiday commemorated with a dinner, an aluminum pole, feats of strength, and - the high point - an Airing of Grievances. "I got a lot of problems with you people!" bellows Costanza to those at his Festivus table. "And now you're gonna hear about it!"
It was funny as a sitcom shtick. As a national pastime, perpetual outrage is exhausting and debilitating. America could do with a little less Frank Costanza and a little more Mike Pence.
Waxing wroth when we're offended may feel temporarily satisfying, but the weight of all those chips on our shoulders does long-term damage. "In my work treating alcoholics," writes Abraham Twerski, a psychiatrist and founder of the renowned Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Pittsburgh, there is "great emphasis on divesting oneself of resentments," since "resentments are probably the single greatest factor responsible for relapse." Twerski quotes one recovering alcoholic's insight: "Carrying resentments is like letting someone who you don't like live inside your head rent-free." No lasting benefit comes from that, but all kinds of misery do.
In a society that often seems to thrive on taking offense - just turn on talk radio, or read an online comments section, or follow Donald Trump and Elizabeth dinky-Warren on Twitter - it can't be overemphasized that nursing a grievance is always optional. You may not be able to control other people's opinions, ignorance, bad jokes, or political loyalties. But you alone determine how you react to them.
Everyone knows the biblical injunction to "love thy neighbor as thyself." Less well known is the first half of the verse: "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge."
"Master of the universe, I hereby forgive anyone who angered or antagonized me or sinned against me - whether physically or financially or through disrespect, or in any other matter affecting me; whether involuntarily or willfully, carelessly or deliberately; whether by word or by deed. I forgive every person: let no one incur punishment because of me."
One of the rules I try to live by is not to take offense when no offense is intended. A corollary to that rule is to presume, whenever possible, that no offense was intended. This is not, I admit, a discipline I've mastered perfectly. But it's not as hard as you might think. Make a daily point of affirming that you harbor no ill will, and you tend not to smolder with resentment and unresolved umbrage. At a time when Americans by the millions seem to go out of their way to keep themselves in a state of high dudgeon, choosing not to be offended can be wonderfully refreshing.
Not taking offense isn't the same as not having pet peeves. (I've got a bunch of those.) Nor does it mean never condemning shameful, foolish, or destructive behavior. (Where would newspaper columnists be if we never uttered any criticism?) It does mean recognizing that being offended is always a choice, and that other people's words and views can bend you out of shape only if you choose to let them have that effect.
This isn't a column about politics, but during last week's "Hamilton" kerfuffle, Vice President-elect Mike Pence provided a pitch-perfect demonstration of how not to take offense. Rather than bristle and fume when he was booed by audience members and pointedly addressed by the cast during the curtain call, Pence took it all with gracious equanimity. "I wasn't offended," he said afterward. He praised the "great, great show" and the "incredibly talented" cast, and made clear that actor Brandon Dixon's impassioned statement from the stage didn't trouble him or require any apology.
"I nudged my kids," Pence told Fox News, "and reminded them, 'That's what freedom sounds like.'"
And that, in turn, is what a mature emotional perspective sounds like. It would be nice to encounter more of it in our national discourse.
Unfortunately, picking at scabs has become a national pastime. Americans have lost their ability to shrug off other people's obnoxious comments or insensitive gestures or politically incorrect views. Instead of rolling their eyes and letting it pass, they proclaim: "I'm offended." They demand apologies. They insist on "trigger warnings" and "safe spaces." They howl about "microaggressions" and whinge about "mansplaining" and compile lists of banned words. When they get offended, they expect heads to roll or companies to be blackballed. They even take offense on behalf of people who don't take offense.
Remember Frank Costanza? He was the character on "Seinfeld" who invented Festivus, an idiosyncratic family holiday commemorated with a dinner, an aluminum pole, feats of strength, and - the high point - an Airing of Grievances. "I got a lot of problems with you people!" bellows Costanza to those at his Festivus table. "And now you're gonna hear about it!"
It was funny as a sitcom shtick. As a national pastime, perpetual outrage is exhausting and debilitating. America could do with a little less Frank Costanza and a little more Mike Pence.
Waxing wroth when we're offended may feel temporarily satisfying, but the weight of all those chips on our shoulders does long-term damage. "In my work treating alcoholics," writes Abraham Twerski, a psychiatrist and founder of the renowned Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Pittsburgh, there is "great emphasis on divesting oneself of resentments," since "resentments are probably the single greatest factor responsible for relapse." Twerski quotes one recovering alcoholic's insight: "Carrying resentments is like letting someone who you don't like live inside your head rent-free." No lasting benefit comes from that, but all kinds of misery do.
In a society that often seems to thrive on taking offense - just turn on talk radio, or read an online comments section, or follow Donald Trump and Elizabeth dinky-Warren on Twitter - it can't be overemphasized that nursing a grievance is always optional. You may not be able to control other people's opinions, ignorance, bad jokes, or political loyalties. But you alone determine how you react to them.
Everyone knows the biblical injunction to "love thy neighbor as thyself." Less well known is the first half of the verse: "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge."
That's excellent counsel, for believers and nonbelievers alike.
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