Tuesday, February 18, 2020

A Mike Warren Ticket



Right now it is looking like it is going to be a Mike Bloomberg and Elizabeth Warren ticket, and it will be a fair ticket, fair in that Warren represents the Bernie wing of the party and Mike represents moderates like Pete and Klobuchar, and it is going to be a strong ticket because I trust Warren more than Mike on being able to go toe to toe to the inevitable pettiness of Donald Trump. With Mike Bloomberg clocking at 20% to Bernie's 30, for the first time I am breathing easy that Trump will be out. The fucker lacks basic decency. Get him out. (Robert De Niro on Trump has been one of the great comedies of the past four years.)

Right now the arithmetic is in Mike's favor. Even in the best-case scenario, even if he leads, Bernie is looking at 25% of the delegates at the convention. He is going to do worse this time than last time when he lost. And that is assuming Mike stays at 20 and Bernie at 30. That needle will move. It is easy to imagine a scenario where most of the non-Bernie delegates switch to Mike and he clinches the nomination.

I thank Bernie. Four years ago Mike Bloomberg was worried the country might not be ready for a "Jewish divorcee." Bernie put that to rest. His Einstein hairstyle gives away his Jewishness. And he is right up there on the Trump scale on divorces and remarriages. Bernie pushed Mike into the ring and I thank him for that.

I wrote a 20-page memo late in 2015 that I hand-delivered to the Bloomberg Foundation Offices urging Mike to run. He did not. He did the Elizabeth Warren thing of thinking that was Hillary's year. And so it would be fair to blame Mike for Trump. Will you please wipe away this mess you gave to us? The blame is on you.

The big news today is not climate change. The big news today is the Age Of Abundance that is right around the corner. 2,000 years ago (and every year since) Jews rejected Jesus because they had been waiting for a messiah who would sit on a throne like David and usher in an Age Of Abundance. Like a rabbi said recently about that abundance, "I look outside my window, I don't see it!" Instead they saw a guy helplessly dangling from a cross.



Mike deserves to win because he is the only Steve Jobs in the race. And I mean that literally. He is not as big as Steve Jobs, but he is like Steve Jobs. He is a tech entrepreneur. It was a West Coast East Coast thing like among rappers. The Bloomberg Terminal has a PC form, and the PC form while pedestrian today was cutting edge when it came out. To start from zero and take it to 50 billion is something.

Some people ask, how old is Mike? Well, how old is Donald? How old is Bernie? Moses had seniority, so does Mike.



Mike Bloomberg has been spending a lot of money. Is that a billionaire buying an election? If it is, it is at least a self-made billionaire. But this is not a billionaire buying an election. This is someone who believes in campaign finance reform so much he is taking zero special interest and lobbyist money.

Mayor Mike was a Republican. But before that he was a Democrat. He saw what a mess the Democratic primary was going to be, and so he ran as a Republican and served three terms: best business move he ever made. It is the power of branding that the market value of his company went up substantially when he was doing nothing at the company except being in news all day long. That brings me to why Warren needs to be on the ticket. She understands the power of branding. She has been speaking for some of the same things as Bernie, but nobody can call her a socialist. I don't know what it is about this country, but the word socialist is toxic. It is like the gun laws. People in other countries scratch their head.

Mike was a partner at a firm on Wall Street. And his partners kicked him out. The guy was a troublemaker, always coming up with new ideas, giving everyone headaches. So they kicked him out. He did not choose to launch Bloomberg. He was forced into it. But that is not my favorite Bloomberg story. My favorite story is, after he had managed to build the Bloomberg Terminal, he needed people to buy them. So he would show up. But you can't get into those tall buildings unless you work there. And so he would buy coffee. When some of the top guys came along, he would say, "I bought you coffee." And I guess free coffee is appreciated in all income brackets. He would sneak into those buildings with them to sell his Bloomberg Terminals.

When he was Mayor I was in the city. What was most perplexing to me was Al Sharpton never saw a white politician he did not suspect. But here was Al getting along just fine with Mike. What is going on, I thought.



Stop and frisk is controversial because racism is America's original sin. Okay, so I have been stopped and frisked. I speak from experience. This was in Ridgewood, Queens. It was not even that late. I was walking from a friend's apartment to mine. Just when I crossed the street, I heard the police car siren and saw the flashing light. I turned around on instinct before I could figure out what was going on. A young, good looking woman police officer came straight towards me and reached for my pant pocket. She pulled out the pen. "Oh, it is a pen?" She thought the flash was that of a knife. She gave it back to me and equally swiftly went back to the older male police officer waiting by the car.

Better stop and frisk than shoot and kill. Because before Bloomberg, there was a Giuliani, and it was shoot to kill. Giuliani's slogan was, "We own the night."



It has to be situational. Great effort has to be made to make sure the sting of racism is taken out of the equation. It has to be data based. Collect all crime data in the country. And go by the crime rate. At particular crime rates, stop and frisk would make sense. On the other hand, that same community, once the crime rate has gone down enough shoud no longer be seeing stop and frisk.

Not to say there were not excesses. But let that who has not sinned cast the first stone. Who would you rather have? A guy who will apologize? Or some dude who never once apologized for his relentless racist comments? And is in the White House. Donald Trump is racist. Mike Bloomberg is not racist. I went to school in the South. There racist meant you said bad things about people like Mike.

When you are Mayor, even of NYC, it is not about ideology. It is about management. Mike brought good management skills to the table. His first act was to rearrange the furniture. The setup he asked for was more like Mark Zuckerberg has at Facebook. Anyone can readily come over to the boss.

This country has become so divided and hyperpartisan that alone might be a big enough reason to elect Mike. This guy is officially bipartisan. He was a Republican Mayor. Now he is a Democratic candidate. What do you do after you have held the second most visible political office in the land? You go for the most visible one.

Who conducts foreign policy as Mayor? This guy has. He got together lots of Mayors around the world on climate.

Talking about climate, I think a big part of the solution is that we need 10 Elon Musks. When Trump heaped praise on Musk about how he was a great American entrepreneur, Musk shot back: "I am from South Africa, you idiot." Musk is likely to see a fellow entrepreneur in Bloom and respect him. Only Kanye thinks Donald Trump is some sort of an entrepreneur.

A country where the Chancellor of Trump University can become president is not a country that is doing well. The guy is a scam.

Full disclosure: I have applied for a job as a political strategist. I have met Mike in person.









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Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Trump's Map For Palestine



Trump peace plan: Palestinian state, Israeli control of settlements

Trump's peace plan is a realistic vision Trump has shown a propensity to violate accepted norms. And when you have a conflict that has existed for so long, with all the players refusing to deviate from many assumptions - you need a leader who can operate outside those lines. ..... Trump has approached the conflict through a sober lens rooted in reality. ..... If the Trump plan is even partially embraced, this would demonstrate that the Israeli public has completely moved on from the failed thinking of the last many decades, pushed by the DC/European based peace process industry. ....... The key to actually ending the conflict is having the bravery to live in reality and allow any peace process that is proposed to be based on that truth. It is that need for courageous action that has stymied every US President - until now.

The international community should say no to the Trump plan runs counter to previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements and understandings on core issues of the conflict: borders, settlements, Jerusalem, and even refugees. It serves a right-wing political ideology and electoral goals, while distancing peace. ...... endangers Israel’s future in the Middle East rather than improves it. ..... ....The administration adopted a series of measures that affected the situation on the ground and, in fact, promoted the principles of the plan even before its publication.

Why the Palestinian leadership should not reject Trump’s peace plan We are hopeful that many Palestinians will see the advantages of counting to 10 before officially reacting to the proposed peace plan and the vision it contains for both Palestinians and Israelis............. it would not surprise anyone if the Palestinian Authority’s first reaction will be outright rejection of the plan without even reading it. ....... what of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad? One does not have to wonder what their likely reactions will be. ....... review the plan, study it and systematically outline its objections to it ....... Palestinians can keep waiting for a better deal, but in all likelihood, it may never come........ Palestinians should recognize what is possible and refrain from being driven solely by what they view as just. ....... The likelihood of another presidential term for President Trump is extremely high......... A main Palestinian objection to their participation in the Bahrain Economic Conference held in 2019 was the introduction of the economic portion of the peace plan prior to the political portion. With the release of the political portion of the peace plan, Palestinians can now understand the tremendous advantages of the economic benefits that a signed peace agreement can provide to all Palestinians.......... Within a decade’s time, Palestinians can become economically successful, trading freely and securing investment from all over the world. There is no reason why Palestinians cannot become another “start-up” society. ......... Americans and Israelis, among so many others, can be trading with and investing with Palestinians...... Palestinians have much to lose if they reject the proposed peace plan.

The PLAN

Trump unveils Middle East peace plan with two-state solution, tunnel connecting West Bank and Gaza "This is a great deal," Trump said. "And the Palestinians may not have this opportunity ever again." ...... The Israeli leader added that past deals had not had the "right balance between Israeli security and Palestinians aspirations." ....... Under the plan, the Palestinians would have to reach certain benchmarks to achieve a state. Those benchmarks include rooting out terrorism, stopping what they call “pay to slay,” implementing steps toward free speech, and other political reforms. ...... The plan is a basis for negotiations with Israel, Trump officials said, claiming many of the Palestinians' red lines are met, including their calls for a Palestinian state and a capital in parts of East Jerusalem........ The vision calls for more than doubling the amount of territory the Palestinians control. ...... This is the first time Israel has agreed to a Palestinian state with defined borders. ...... A small strip of land between the Egyptian border and the proposed land swap areas south of Gaza would remain Israeli territory and be subject to Israeli security control. This was requested by Egypt as a buffer against cross-border terrorism. ...... As part of the plan, Israel has agreed to halt settlement construction for four years. But in one detail sure to provoke Palestinian objections, the plan recognizes Israeli sovereignty over major settlement blocs in the West Bank.....

Both Netanyahu and his political challenger, Benny Gantz, have agreed to implement this plan, regardless of the outcome of the upcoming March 2 election.

........ the Trump administration’s moves to relocate the embassy and recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan were important confidence-building measures that led to this plan. ........ While Trump and Netanyahu were giving their comments, Palestinian leaders were meeting in the West Bank to discuss the plan....... Hamas, the Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist militant organization that has waged war with Israel for decades, rejected the plan and called it a "theatrical presentation to sell illusions" in a comment to Fox News.

Arafat rejects Clinton peace plan The US president-elect, George W Bush, said that Mr Clinton was "giving it the very best shot he can, and I certainly hope it works".

Arafat didn't negotiate - he just kept saying no The true story of Camp David was that for the first time in the history of the conflict the American president put on the table a proposal, based on UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, very close to the Palestinian demands, and Arafat refused even to accept it as a basis for negotiations, walked out of the room ......... The proposals included the establishment of a demilitarised Palestinian state on some 92% of the West Bank and 100% of the Gaza Strip, with some territorial compensation for the Palestinians from pre-1967 Israeli territory; the dismantling of most of the settlements and the concentration of the bulk of the settlers inside the 8% of the West Bank to be annexed by Israel; the establishment of the Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem, in which some Arab neighborhoods would become sovereign Palestinian territory and others would enjoy "functional autonomy"; Palestinian sovereignty over half the Old City of Jerusalem (the Muslim and Christian quarters) and "custodianship," though not sovereignty, over the Temple Mount; a return of refugees to the prospective Palestinian state though with no "right of return" to Israel proper; and the organisation by the international community of a massive aid programme to facilitate the refugees' rehabilitation.......

Arafat said no. Enraged, Clinton banged on the table and said: "You are leading your people and the region to a catastrophe." ...... Today Barak portrays Arafat's behaviour at Camp David as a "performance" geared to exacting from the Israelis as many concessions as possible without ever seriously intending to reach a peace settlement or sign an "end to the conflict"....... "He did not negotiate in good faith; indeed, he did not negotiate at all. He just kept saying no to every offer, never making any counterproposals of his own"

...... He seems to think in terms of generations and hesitantly predicts that only "80 years" after 1948 will the Palestinians be historically ready for a compromise. By then, most of the generation that experienced the catastrophe of 1948 at first hand will have died; there will be "very few 'salmons' around who still want to return to their birthplaces to die". ....... Barak recalled seeing David Ben-Gurion, Israel's founder and first prime minister (1948-53 and 1955-63), on television in June 1967 arguing for the immediate withdrawal from all the territories occupied in the six-day war in exchange for peace, save for East Jerusalem........ "Many of us - me included - thought that he was suffering from [mental] weakness or perhaps a subconscious jealousy of his successor [Levi Eshkol, who had presided over the unprecedented victory and conquests]. Today one understands that he simply saw more clearly and farther than the leadership at that time."



Trump plan will 'finish off Palestinian cause', PM warns US president's proposal will dash hopes for an independent state, Palestinians officials say. ....... Palestinian leaders say they were not invited to Washington and no plan can work without them. ..... Shtayyeh said Trump and Netanyahu were using the proposal as a distraction from their domestic troubles. ........ "This plan is to protect Trump against being impeached and to protect Netanyahu from going to jail, and it is not a peace plan," Shtayyeh said at a cabinet meeting in Ramallah.

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