“Tim Kaine Will Be the Jewiest Vice President”

Forward, “5 Reasons Tim Kaine Will Be the Jewiest Vice President Pick for Hillary Clinton,” 22 July 2016:

Tim Kaine is Hillary Clinton’s pick for Vice President, somewhat to the chagrin of the Democratic Party’s left wing and the — somewhat premature — excitement of Wikipedia. He has one of the longest records of service in politics among the people on Clinton’s shortlist, going back to his 1997 election as the mayor of Richmond, Virginia.

Kaine has also been a friend to the Jewish community for about as long as he’s been in public service. During his various campaigns, Kaine has repeatedly reached out to the Jewish community, conducted interviews with Jewish leaders and spoken about America’s relationship with Israel.

“He made himself very available to the Jewish community,” said Ron Halber, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington. “He took the Jewish community very seriously as a constituency,” even though it only represented a small portion of the Virginia electorate.

But Kaine is connected to the Jewish community in several other ways, as well. Here are five facts about Tim Kaine’s relationship to Judaism and Israel.

1. He supports a two-state solution even when others don’t.

Kaine is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East, Central Asia and terrorism, and held the chairmanship of the committee for two years. In March, he signed a letter, along with twenty-six other senators, urging President Obama to continue his support for the two-state solution. His predecessor as chairman of the subcommittee on the Middle East and terrorism, Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, didn’t sign the letter.

Kaine’s decision to skip Bibi Netanyahu’s speech in Congress in March 2015 was also widely noticed throughout Washington. It was a clear message: Kaine did not agree with the timing of the talk, and Netanyahu’s perceived political motivations for delivering it before the Israeli elections.

“I’m not dumb, I knew not going to the speech might make some folks mad with me — there would be a political price, but I felt so strongly as a matter of principle that this was done in an entirely inappropriate way,” Kaine told the Forward.

Ron Halber, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, said that it would be “a foolish mistake” to interpret Kaine’s move as being in any way unsupportive of Israel.

“He is keenly aware of the security challenges” in the region, Halber said.

2. He’s a religious Catholic, so he understands the imperatives, and difficulties, of observance.

Kaine is a dedicated, practicing Catholic who represents the Democratic party at the Senate’s weekly prayer breakfast on Wednesdays. He is also a member of a “reflection group,” along with six other senators, that holds faith-centered discussions. Though he does not personally agree with abortion, he sees a woman’s right to make decisions about her body as an important right, and does not support anti-abortion legislation. As a Catholic he’s used to being viewed as an outsider by white Protestants.

When Kaine found himself living in D.C., away from his wife, he decided to write a bible commentary on weeknights.

“He could’ve chosen to find other ways to address his loneliness that were either chemical or social in nature,” said Rabbi Jack Moline, the executive director of the Interfaith Alliance. “But he spotted the opportunity for deeper social reflection into a piece of scripture that particularly spoke to him.”

3. He brought hummus to Virginia.

During his time as the governor of Virginia, Sabra built the what is reportedly the world’s largest hummus factory outside Richmond, capable of producing 8,000 tons of hummus a month. Kaine was apparently directly involved.

“He’s the man who brought Sabra hummus to Virginia,” said Rabbi Jack Moline, the Executive Director of Interfaith Alliance. According to Moline, Kaine “wooed” the company to set up shop in his state.

Kaine authorized $350,000 from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund to help bring the project to fruition, beating out two other states for the privilege of being at the heart of American hummus production.

4. He’s hosted a Passover Seder — multiple times.

In 2006, during his first year as governor of Virginia, he hosted the first ever Passover Seder in the governor’s mansion. He is apparently part of a group of friends that rotates hosting the Seder each year, and that year it happened to be his turn. It also wasn’t his first time hosting — his home had been a slot in the rotating group for several years before his election.

5. He played “Yente,” matchmaking for Rabbi Jack Moline’s daughter.

Moline’s daughter and son-in-law met while working on Kaine’s campaign for governor of Virginia in 2005.

“If he hadn’t run for governor, I wouldn’t be a grandfather,” said Moline.

Forward, “Tim Kaine, Pro-Israel Centrist From Virginia, Hillary Clinton’s Vice President Pick”, 22 July 2016:

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced her vice-presidential running mate by text to supporters today. She will unveil U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, formally tomorrow.

Virginia’s Kaine is a centrist pro-Israel choice who should please moderate Jewish voters as Hillary’s No. 2.

“He’s not going to appeal to the Bernie Sanders voters. He’s a centrist,” Ron Halber, executive director of the Greater Washington JCRC, told the Forward. Halber has forged a relationship with Kaine both as governor and as senator.

Kaine might offer some ammunition to Israel hawks as an early endorser of the Iranian nuclear deal, and like her he chose to skip Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress.

5 Questions for Tim Kaine on Israel

But as a middle-of-the-road-Democrat and a co-sponsor of Iran-related legislation, Kaine made choices that, when it came to the nuclear deal, drew attention in the pro-Israel community.

“I’m not dumb, I knew not going to the speech might make some folks mad with me — there would be a political price,” Kaine told the Forward shortly after. “But I felt so strongly as a matter of principle that this was done in an entirely inappropriate way.”

Kaine, who has also served as head of the Democratic National Committee, has visited Israel several times and has supported the funding of Iron Dome systems and the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act. Halber noted that he was a “very good friend” of the U.S.-Israel partnership, but he added that if chosen as vice president, he may want to see movement on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. “His social background and his sympathy to the oppressed will likely make him want to see a solution,” he said, “but he will also support defending Israel in the U.N. and expanding the relationship.”

Kaine is a member of a small group of senators who participate in a biweekly reflection group organized by the Faith and Politics Institute.

“I had many, many personal deep conversations with him, and he is genuinely a friend of Israel,” said Rabbi Jack Moline, one of the group’s moderators. Moline believes that much of Kaine’s worldview was shaped during his work as a Jesuit missionary in Honduras. “It had an immense influence on his understanding of the need to make the world a better place.”

In Virginia, Kaine hosted the first Passover Seder in the governor’s mansion.

Before entering the U.S. Senate the well-liked Kaine had been the mayor of Richmond, governor of Virginia and chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Kaine, 58, is a fluent Spanish speaker after serving as a missionary in Honduras, and his presence on the ticket could help Clinton in Virginia, a heavily contested swing state.

Another senator, Cory Booker of New Jersey, along with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack were among the final contenders.

The announcement had been expected. The Wall Street Journal, citing Democrats familiar with the search, had said she was likely to make the announcement on Friday and Kaine was believed to be the pick.

Clinton, a former secretary of state, will be formally nominated as the party’s presidential candidate at next week’s Democratic convention in Philadelphia. Her choice of Kaine as running mate could provide an early signal about her plan of battle against Trump.

Picking Kaine, a veteran mainstay of the Democratic establishment with plenty of governing experience, emphasizes her message that Democrats will offer a serious, steady alternative to the unpredictable Trump after the chaotic Republican convention that closed on Thursday.

Booker, a charismatic rising star in the party, would have given her candidacy a jolt of energy as Clinton enters the three-month grind of the general election. Booker, 47, would have been the first black vice president and his help might still be vital to boost turnout among young and African-American voters.

Other potential contenders on Clinton’s short list included U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a liberal favorite, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and Hispanic Cabinet members Julian Castro and Thomas Perez.—With Reuters

This article was updated at 8pm EST to reflect Hillary Clinton’s announcement of her running mate.

And the pattern repeats.

photo: Rufus46/CC BY-SA 3.0

“Major police investigation under way Munich ... several dead’ and 10 injured in shooting rampage inside a Munich shopping centre as police hunt gunman ... gunman went on a shooting spree in a shopping centre near Olympic park ... the gunman has reportedly fled the scene via the underground network”

There is a further report of a shootout or possible shooting at Karlsplatz / Stachus.

Update:  The death toll stands at eight and ten injured, several in a critical condition.  A ninth body found a kilometre away, which police think might be that of the shooter.  They say he died violently.  No further details, like ethnicity, available.

BBC News tonight reported that the gunmen may be “far right” on the basis that a single witness named Luan Zequiri claimed that he heard someone, who he says had a gun, cursing foreigners ... and it was also the fifth anniversary of Anders Breveik’s attacks.

The Daily Mail has declared for the usual suspects, stating that witnesses heard the shooter shouting “Allahu Akbar” while firing at kids in MacDonald’s.

Sky News has studied film of a person on a car-park roof.  This, they claim, is the same person as was filmed firing at people outside the shopping centre.  This person shouted that he was German, born locally, and raised on benefits (for which latter he blamed foreigners).  Of course, what that would mean ethnicity- and motivation-wise is far from certain.

Update:  It is now confirmed that the body in the woods is that of the shooter, an 18 year old Iranian born in Germany.  The nine fatalities include young people, and children are among the 16 wounded, three of whom are in critical condition.

The media will now regretfully put aside its story of a far right extremist.  Iranians are Shias while ISIS is a Sunni organisation so perhaps that will provide some small opportunity for musing on a non-religious motivation.  I’m sure they will come up with something.

               
Click image below the fold if you want to witness what Islam is - blood warning.

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        Day of the Jackals in Mr. Hyde’s Park

New Observer, “African Mayhem in Central London”, 20 July 2016:

At least 4,000 Africans chanting “black lives matter” and other anti-white racial epithets rioted in London’s famous Hyde Park last night. Several blacks were stabbed, at least five police officers were injured, and a supermarket was ransacked.

The Africans were only halted in their mayhem by rigorous police action in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

According to the Metro newspaper, the violence erupted as the “spontaneous event” disrupted into chaos. Video footage showed Africans chasing people with knives “through the busy streets of London.”

The large crowd of Africans gathered in the park as Britain experienced its hottest day of the year, with temperatures reaching 90 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celsius). As the crowd grew ever larger—spurred on by social media—the Africans turned “hostile towards officers,” the Metro said in an understatement.

“People were heard chanting ‘black lives matter’ throughout the evening as more people arrived.”

Two people who were not identified by police were stabbed when “violence flared” at around 8.40 p.m. Police said both were taken to the hospital where one received treatment for nonlife-threatening injuries. The condition of the second victim is not known.

Police units moved in to disperse the crowds and the operation lasted into the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Metro concluded.

BBC: Three people were stabbed, including one police officer.

Elsewhere in London, officers were pelted with missiles as they tried to break up an illegal street party on the Stamford Hill estate in Hackney, north London.

Another water fight in Burgess Park in Camberwell, south-east London, saw the crowd grow to about 1,500 people, police said.

Two 16-year-old boys were stabbed - neither suffered life-threatening injuries but one remains in hospital.

Video of black lives matter riots in Hyde Park

Visigrad Post, “The world’s first flying car may come from Slovakia”, 19 July 2016:

 

Slovakia – The AeroMobil company has been able to create a car with retractable wings, of which the third generation model spent seven-and-a-half hours in the air during test flights. It is now displayed in the entrance lobby of the European Commission building in Brussels, to highlight Slovakia’s will to focus on new technologies. The company AeroMobil is currently working on the next model.

Slovakia is already an automotive hub. With the fall of communism, many left the country to pursue education in Western Europe. They are now coming back and bring foreign expertise with them, putting down four decades of state-planned economy. With its flying car, the AeroMobil company is on a “technological journey”, said Doug MacAndrew, the company’s chief technical officer. They are in competition with entrepreneurs such as Google’s billionaire co-founder Larry Page. The model of the Slovak company could be sold in 2018.

“There is a start-up hype in Slovakia,” Mr Hessel, the country’s entrepreneur of the year, says from his factory in the town of Dunajska Streda. “The situation is very different from 10 or even five years ago.” Slovakia seeks to show off her technological potential in the same time she assumes the EU’s rotating presidency. Prime Minister Robert Fico’s cabinet will host an innovation conference with the European Commission in late October that will highlight nano-, bio- and other advanced technologies.

        The BBC is reporting, as of 12 minutes ago:

More than 20 people in Germany have been injured after a man with an axe went on the rampage on a train, German media report.

A police operation including a helicopter is under way in Heidingsfeld, a part of the city of Wurzburg in southern Germany.

Local media (in German) wrote that 21 people had been injured and a suspect appeared to have been shot.

The train line between Wurzburg-Heidingsfeld and Ochsenfurt is closed.

The German news agency DPA reported that the police said some of the victims’ injuries were life-threatening.

No further details yet.  We wait to learn if there were shouts of “Allahu Akbar”.  Assuming that turns out to be the case, the next question will be: “Was he one of Merkel’s new guests?”

BBC update: reports local police confirm the axe-man has been shot dead.

Some Polish and other EU companies are adopting the right wing anti-labor strategy that Russia has been notorious for deploying: Forced North Korean labor

(((ViceNews))) Cash for Kim: How North Koreans Are Working Themselves to Death in Europe, 23 May 2016:

..“North Korea is the world’s largest illegal jobs agency.”

VisigradPost, “EU companies employ North-Korean slaves,” 14 July 2016:

EU – The NGO European Alliance for Human Rights in North Korea (EAHRNK) reported that companies are employing North Korean workers in a semi-legal way – see their report about the Polish case. Their salaries go directly to fuel Kim Jong-un’s regime.

The death of Chŏn Kyŏngsu in 2014, a North Korean who worked on a Polish shipyard, the Crist Shipyards in Gdynia, contributed to start the investigation of the EAHRNK. The man worked 12 hours a day, 6 days per week. His salary was the minimum to survive and the only trip he was authorized to do was to go to work and go back home. Still according to the NGO, these conditions are imposed by Kim Jong-un and are systematic for the North Koreans that work in a foreign country. Chŏn Kyŏngsu was never given an employment contract. Chŏn Kyŏngsu burnt as he was welding pipelines, a Polish colleague helped him and he went to a hospital with 95% of severe burns over his body. The body was sent back to his family in North Korea with 637 EUR.

The work permits that are delivered are totally legal, but the work conditions aren’t. The North Korean embassy in Warsaw said that nobody was taking their salaries. But a worker said anonymously to the EAHRNK that “a manager told us that foreign companies employ us because we cost no money, and that they cut the price for the trip, gas, electricity, from our salaries. They never told us how much we were paid.” Also, the ambassy took their passports, and give them back only for exceptional situations, to go to the hospital for example.

According to another testimony, to work in a foreign country, North Koreans have to be married and their wife and children to stay in North Korea, so the country keeps the control upon them. NGOs estimate that, only in Poland, there are between 500 and 800 North Koreans working, mostly employed at shipyards and constructions sites. Also, in Poland, “there are no distinctions between nationalities and categories of workers, meaning that there are no extra procedures required for North Korean citizens” say Jacqueline Sanchez-Pyrcz, director of the Department of Foreigners at the Masovian Voivodeship in Warsaw. So the system is authorized by Polish law. North Korean workers are employed in many other European countries, such as Malta, Czechia, …

On the 6 July, the United States imposed penalties for serious violations of human rights on North korea. For the first time Kim Jong-un was directly affected by these economic sanctions. According to Remco Breuker, a professor of Korean studies at the University of Leiden : “What is going on in Malta and Poland directly contravenes national and EU laws, as well as international treaties, such as that of the ILO. It also defies the sanctions against North Korea set by the UN and the EU, although it is debatable to what extent. All things considered, there should be enough reason for the EU to take an interest in the topic, but so far, this has not happened.”

VisegradPost, “Poland sends new contingent to protect Hungary’s border”, 14 July 2014:

   

Poland, Warsaw – “Poland will be sending another contingent to support Hungary’s border protection system”, Polish Minister of Interior Mariusz Błaszczak announced following a meeting of Visegrád Group (V4) Interior Ministers in Warsaw.

In addition to the hosting Polish Minister, the meeting was also attended by Hungarian Interior Minister Sándor Pintér, Slovakian Minister of Interior Robert Kalinák and Czech Deputy Interior Minister Jiri Novácek.

At the press conference following the meeting, Mr. Pintér said: Hungary turned to its Visegrád partners for assistance “in the interests of the implementation and international enforcement” of its new border protection system, which came into force in the beginning of July. Hungary will not only be receiving support from the V4; it is hoped that Thursday’s visits by the Austrian Minister of Defence and Minister of Interior will also have a similar result, he pointed out. Thanking his Visegrád colleagues for the assistance they have provided to Hungary so far to protect its Schengen borders, Mr. Pintér said “This has helped us allow significantly fewer illegal immigrants to reach the Schengen Area”.

VisigradPost, “For Poland, the NATO summit of July 8 and 9 has been highly positive,” 13 July 2016:

Poland, satisfied with the decisions taken regarding the eastern flank of the Alliance, announced a few weeks before the summit in Warsaw her intention to participate to the defense of the southern flank and in particular the fight against the Islamic Stateby sending in Iraq and in Kuwait 200 men and four F-16 aircraft for observation missions and training of Iraqi units. Warsaw also wants to intensify its military effort to not have to rely on its allies by setting a target to get its investment in the defense from currently less than 2% of GDP to 2% in the short term and to 3 % in the long term. For comparison, Russia, which has an economy worth about four times that of Poland, spends nearly 4.5% of its GDP on its military machine

VisigradPost, “Slovakia will direct NATO efforts in demining in Ukraine” 14 July 2016:

The summit held in Warsaw early July brings the first results: Slovakia will be in charge of a NATO trust fund to be used for the removal of explosives, ammunition and for demining.

According to the Slovak President, over 600 people were killed and 2,000 were wounded in Ukraine since the current conflict erupted as a result of explosions of various obsolete explosives. Slovakia has provided training to dozens of Ukrainian specialists between 2014 and 2015.