Shehecheyanu Time!
Finally time to recite Shehecheyanu! The now past administration was a disaster on every conceivable metric. Biden likely will be ranked by future historians with James Buchanan, long considered America’s worst president.
Though promising moderate government and restored national unity, he brought neither. Uncontrolled spending spurred the highest inflation in four decades and dangerously spiked the national debt. Repeatedly failing to “faithfully execute” the law, he opened our borders to millions of illegal aliens, defied Supreme Court rulings on canceled student debt, pushed social media to censor opposing opinions, and weaponized the Justic Department against his enemies. Throughout, there was raging regulation, waxing wokeness, and climbing crime.
Rather than assuaging partisan furies, he regularly railed against MAGA Republicans, forecasting the “end of democracy,” even while unleashing ultimately backfiring lawfare against Trump. He did everything possible to sabotage the incoming administration. Oil and gas drilling is now banned in much of U.S. offshore waters, millions of acres of federal lands set off as well. Some politically appointed bureaucrats have been reassigned into protected “burrowing” slots. Enormous amounts of cash was shoveled into multiple “green” and other pet projects. Pure spite inspired cheap auctioning off of remaining materials intended for the Southern border wall.
His leaving continued to soil his “legacy.” Sentences were commuted for all but three politically sensitive prisoners on death row, many of whom had committed the most heinous crimes. He handed out Medals of Freedom like candy to many of his political cronies, including George Soros. Federal agencies were rushed to finalize numerous new rules. Cuba was removed from the terrorist nation list. His son, Hunter, received an expansive, fact-challenging pardon.
Biden, though, certainly will be most remembered for monumental foreign policy blunders. Most especially, the abysmal flight from Afghanistan, leaving 13 Americans dead, Afghan helpers stranded, the strategic Bagram airbase (holding billions in advanced weaponry) abandoned, and governance ceded to Islamist Taliban. Such weakness enormously energized our enemies. Far more than his acquiescence to Russia’s “minor incursion” into Ukraine, which soon followed. So, too, the emergence of an active axis of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. Post Hamas’s 10/7 atrocities, initial administration support shifted to opposition to every war move Israel made. Appeasement continued towards Iran and and its proxy militias. The Houthis still have been allowed to threaten world maritime traffic. “Don’t” was about the only response Biden could muster.
A miserable end to a miserable tenure. So long Joe. Not sorry to see you go!
Richard D. Wilkins
Syracuse, N.Y.
A Very Bad Deal
Pardon me for not joining in the hoopla over the Israel-Hamas hostage deal, which I regard as the most abject surrender since Masada, though hopefully, G-d willing, with better results. Consider the provisions:
Israel will achieve none of its war goals, not even getting all the hostages back, while Hamas will remain in power, ruling Gaza, and be able to recruit thousands of new fighters and re-arm, not to mention getting back 3,000 terrorists, many of them killers. Remember the Gilad Shalit deal? Exchanging 1,027 terrorists, including Yahya Sinwar, the architect of October 7, for one hostage? Multiply that several times over.
When Israel withdraws from the Netzarim Corridor, a million civilians will flood into northern Gaza, making it impossible for the IDF ever to return to root out the remaining Hamas battalion(s) there. When Israel withdraws from the Philadelphi Corridor, Hamas will be able to import unlimited armaments, with Egypt’s full cooperation.
During the succeeding phases, we can expect Hamas to drag out the hostage releases indefinitely, dribbling out a few at a time, in exchange for further concessions.
When Israel withdraws completely from Gaza, Hamas will be in the same position as it was on October 6, able to resume many more massive attacks.
From President Trump’s celebration of the deal, we may conclude that he won’t be the lion we expected, but rather a dealmaker who is following the Biden program. A news report that he’s also backing down from the demand that China close out TikTok or sell it to Western interests supports this evaluation.
All things considered, the best we can hope for is that Hamas reneges on the deal, insisting on greater concessions, as PM Netanyahu has already indicated by canceling the Knesset debate on the agreement.
Richard Kronenfeld
Phoenix, AZ
