Opinion

After the cataclysmic debacle of the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, Joe Biden took a break from his vacation to address the American people. In his speech, he blamed Trump and the Afghanis, but the blame is his. Then he refused to take questions from the media and went back on his vacation. America does not have a leader.

Last week’s political news understandably focused on Attorney General Tish James’ report on the allegations against Governor Andrew Cuomo. But for those of us interested in a strong US-Israel relationship, there was another political development of even greater importance.

The Chinese are known to celebrate their New Years by focusing on the character of a different animal or reptile at each New Year’s cycle. Sometimes it’s a dog, a dragon, a rooster, a horse, a snake, or even a pig. The year 2020 was The Year of the Rat.

 President John F. Kennedy once said: “Victory has a thousand fathers. Defeat is an orphan.” Human nature is to claim more than our fair share of credit when things go well, while avoiding responsibility for our failures.

The greatest lie that conservatives tell themselves is that “the desire for freedom resides in every human heart.” The events of this past year should have taught us that there are those in the bureaucracy who enjoy the power and attention they have garnered and will refuse to relinquish it.

 New York Senator Charles Schumer is probably the most cunning politician in the Senate today. I will not describe how I feel about him, however; this is a family paper. But he does have all the instincts necessary for political survival, even if he has very few core values.