Obama Handcuffs Israel
Today President Obama is scheduled to sign a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the state of Israel. The 10-year agreement outlines the military aid commitment of the United States to the state of Israel.
Given President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran last year, many in Congress were insisting that the new MOU significantly increase our support to Israel. The agreement does include more money, but not as much as Congress wanted.
Moreover, it includes a bizarre provision, which, as the Washington Post put it, "cuts Congress out of the aid" process. Consider these excerpts from the Post:
"The Obama administration had been holding off on signing the deal until Congress reduced its funding to meet Obama's proposed levels, but Congress refused to do so. So the administration pressed Israel to promise not to lobby for additional money. Israel agreed, but that wasn't enough.
"In an unprecedented arrangement, the . . . Israeli government has signed a letter promising to return any money given by Congress above the MOU levels for two years [2017 and 2018]."
Think about this for a moment. The Obama Administration cut a nuclear deal with Iran WITHOUT the approval of Congress. It is literally giving Iran billions of dollars in cash, some of which is going to terrorist organizations. And yet it is demanding that Israel give back any additional resources that our elected representatives authorize with their votes.
Not only are Obama's foreign policy priorities wrong, but he is once again completely disrespecting our constitutional system of governance, the separation of powers and a co-equal branch of government.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, chairman of the appropriations subcommittee responsible for the foreign affairs budget, blasted the administration, telling White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, "I think y'all have lost your mind."
Graham later told reporters, "You know the White House pressured [Israel] into writing that letter. It is a level of antagonism against Israel that I can't understand."
Thankfully, Senator Graham isn't backing down. He reportedly plans to introduce an additional $1.5 billion aid bill for Israel next week, which he predicted would pass easily.
"A lot of members of Congress are going to see the benefit of a supplemental for Israel given what Iran's done . . . and I think there's a lot of votes in [the Senate] for a $1.5 billion appropriation."
Referring to Iran's aggression, Senator Graham added, "I think it's in our interest to send a signal to the ayatollah -- the more provocative you are ... the more helpful we're going to be. . . as you develop your missiles and as you do this and as you do that we're going to have more assistance to Israel."
Bathroom Battles
Thanks to Barack Obama, the culture war has now devolved into bathroom battles. Not content with redefining marriage, the left is enabling men to force their way into women's restrooms. And Obama Administration bureaucrats are forcing this radical agenda on our kids.
Now outraged parents are fighting back -- taking schools to court -- as their daughters are being reduced to tears.
Fox News reported recently that 11 families are suing a Minnesota public high school after a transgender "girl" (really a boy) sexually harassed numerous girls who were attempting to change in the girls' locker room.
Several girls complained to school officials about the student's offensive behavior, but their concerns were dismissed. Because in the politically correct pecking order, gender identity trumps just about everything else.
The female students were told to change somewhere else -- like the vacant boys' basketball locker room. Seriously? Now we are forcing girls who DO NOT identify as boys to use the boys' locker room.
But it didn't end there. Because we're dealing with "gender identity," guess what happened next? The "girl" changed "her" identity and followed the real girls into the boys' room, where he proceeded to drop his pants as the girls were changing.
Where does this nonsense end?
When we were fighting to preserve the meaning of normal marriage, many well-meaning people often said to me, "Gary, why should I care whether two men or two women get married?"
Well, did anyone two or three years ago imagine that we would be having THIS debate NOW?
If society does not begin to restore common sense and reliable standards of right and wrong, I shudder to think what we may be fighting over two or three years down the road.