Opinion

Media coverage of Adelson’s support for Christie leaves out Adelson urging Obama to nuke Iran

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Sheldon Adelson wearing Romney button in Hebrew, at King David Hotel Jerusalem, 2012

Yesterday The New York Times broke the story that NJ Governor Chris Christie took 13 family and staff members to Israel in 2012 on a private plane lent to him by Sheldon Adelson. The article identifies Adelson as “the billionaire casino owner and supporter of Israel,” but says Adelson’s game was gambling:

At the time, he was opposing legislation then before the governor to legalize online gambling in New Jersey.

When Matt Katz of WNYC picked up the story yesterday, he also spoke of Adelson’s gambling interests, though he noted that Adelson is a “very significant supporter of Israel.”

Last night Chris Matthews noted that Adelson is “pro-Israeli and very right wing” and was peddling influence with the governor, but that was it.

I have a recommendation to the media. When you refer to Sheldon Adelson’s huge gifts to Republican candidates, please mention that he urged President Obama to nuke Iran, not talk to Iran, 16 months ago.

Here’s how Adelson responded to a question about “Obama speaking to Iran right now,” in October 2013:

What are we going to negotiate about? I would say ‘Listen, you see that desert out there, I want to show you something.’ …You pick up your cell phone and you call somewhere in Nebraska and you say, ‘OK let it go.’ And so there’s an atomic weapon, goes over ballistic missiles, the middle of the desert, that doesn’t hurt a soul. Maybe a couple of rattlesnakes, and scorpions, or whatever. Then you say, ‘See! The next one is in the middle of Tehran. So, we mean business. You want to be wiped out? Go ahead and take a tough position and continue with your nuclear development. You want to be peaceful? Just reverse it all,  and we will guarantee you that you can have a nuclear power plant for electricity purposes, energy purposes.’
Firing a nuclear weapon at Iran is a serious issue. Is that Chris Christie’s agenda? What does he think of Adelson’s view of wiping out Iran? Why isn’t the media asking these questions?

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Oh Phil, so crabby: the MSM don’t have TIME to tell about recommendations to bomb Iran as well as mentioning Shelly is FOI. And opposes gambling that would weaken his own empire (I spose). Be grateful for the “supports Israel” and mention of supplying an airplane for a huge junket.

BTW, what’s the tax angle on that gift? Did Shelly-babe pay gift tax on it? (Is there still a gift tax in USA?) And is it income to Christie? Or to the others on the trip?

Just askin’. Not sayin’.

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RE: “I have a recommendation to the media. When you refer to Sheldon Adelson’s huge gifts to Republican candidates, please mention that he urged President Obama to nuke Iran, not talk to Iran, 16 months ago.” ~ Weiss

MY COMMENT: The media might also mention that George W. Bush called Sheldon Adelson a “crazy Jewish billionaire”!*

* RICK PERLSTEIN’S DISCOURSE ON “CRAZY BILLIONAIRE” SHELDON ADELSON:
“Why GOP Mega-Donor Sheldon Adelson Is Mad, Bad and a Danger to the Republic”, By Rick Perlstein, Rolling Stone, 4/10/12

[EXCERPTS] . . . Adelson’s anti-union mania (I would argue) is the most important thing to know about him. For it reveals just how crazy, and how unscrupulous, the man is.
Let’s start at the very beginning. Adelson remembers meeting Gingrich in Washington in 1995, when Gingrich was House Speaker and Adelson was lobbying to get the U.S. embassy in Israel moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Other reports have them being introduced in 1996 by a far-right anti-union operative in Nevada who worked for Adelson. Details of the subsequent courtship are murky, although the huge favor Gingrich did for Adelson in 1996 by turning off a federal investigation of the gambling industry probably did a lot to cement their friendship.
Two years later, Nevada conservatives sponsored a “Paycheck Protection” ballot initiative – the right-wing term for measures weakening unions by banning them from automatically deducting dues from members’ pay. Adelson was gung-ho for it – and “would spend any amount of money,” D. Taylor, secretary-treasurer of Las Vegas’s Culinary Workers Union Local 226, told me . . .
. . . In 1999, Adelson closed one casino, the Sands, and completed work on a new one, the Venetian, stiffing so many contractors that there were at one time 366 liens against the property. Taylor, of the Culinary Workers, said he and his colleagues presumed that “like every other casino that had done that, workers in the [closed] hotel would be given priority when the [new] hotel was built.” Instead, Adelson refused even to talk. All this, in a union town like Vegas, was unprecedented. “Even when you’re having battles, you continue to have talks. Shit, we’re talking to the North Koreans right now!” he told me. “The Israelis talk to the Arabs. Talking doesn’t necessarily solve anything, but at least you understand the other guy’s position.” Adelson, not much interested in understanding the other guy’s position, proceeded to launch a campaign against the Culinary Workers that Taylor calls “beyond aggressive.”
Right before the grand opening of the Venetian, in 1999, the Culinary Workers staged a demonstration on the public sidewalk out front. Adelson told the cops to start making arrests; the cops refused. Glen Arnodo, an official at the union at the time, relates what happened next: “I was standing on the sidewalk and they had two security guards say I was on private property, and if I didn’t move they’d have to put me under ‘citizen’s arrest.’ I ignored them.” The guards once again told the police to arrest Arnodo and again, he says, they refused. The Civil Rights hero Rep. John Lewis, in town to support the rally, said the whole thing reminded him of living in the South during Jim Crow. . .
. . . Did I mention Adelson is nuts? But don’t take my word for it – it was George W. Bush who called him “some crazy Jewish billionaire.” . . .

ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/why-gop-mega-donor-sheldon-adelson-is-mad-bad-and-a-danger-to-the-republic-20120410

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This is another glaring example of how the U.S. mainstream media is in the tank for the Zionists and Israel. These people are professional reporters and not stupid (mostly). They know what’s going on. I think a lot of them are just waiting for the choke collars to start falling apart.

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Video at 3:42 – “Roll back your entire program and show that you’re willing to be peaceful” is actually what should be demanded of the GoI regarding their nuclear plant in Dimona (which they keep lying about having).

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‘Why isn’t the media asking these questions?’ It’s particularly inexcusable in the context of Netanyahu’s plan to address Congress, rebuking the President on Iran. It’s an “anti-journalism” filter, which blocks the most salient points, out of deference to Likud’s Neocon influence in the US.

On the brighter side, here’s Roger Cohen opinion in today’s NYT:

‘When I was in Israel at the end of last year, Livni told me: “Netanyahu looks at the situation of Israel through the lens of the threats. His deep emotion is to stick together, be united against those who are against us. I believe we need to be for something. Written on my wall is Jewish Democratic state, two states for two peoples. Written on Likud’s wall is Jewish state, Greater Israel. For me any day that goes by without a solution is another lost day. For those believing in Greater Israel, another day that passes without an agreement is another day of victory and taking more land.”

‘That’s a pretty good summation of what’s at stake March 17. Beyond economic issues, corruption charges, Boehner-Bibi shenanigans and the rest, Israel’s future is on the line. It’s not a babysitter the Jewish state needs. It’s a grown-up.’ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/06/opinion/roger-cohen-israel-needs-a-grown-up.html?hpw&rref=opinion&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

Obama, and other opponents of the Neocons, need to find further ways to pay back Aunt Bibi and the Neocons; the Congress speech becomes the make-or-break moment in the election. The better it looks for Netanyahu to Israelis, the more likely he is re-elected. There are any number of US Neocons who have been given passes for crimes, failed judgment, incompetence, lying, war profiteering, their disqualifications unreported or quickly forgotten due to the “filter.” Now would be a good time to revisit all those fronts. If America cannot shake off the curse of Neoconism, the pathway forward just gets uglier and uglier, which is what they want. It is time to make life ugly for the Neocons, and then demand of the Israelis what Livni says she will deliver.

You’re either against Sheldon Adelson, or you’re for him.

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