UPDATED: By allowing an anti-Israel Security Council resolution, Obama will hurt the U.N., and not help peace

Update: Israel accuses Obama administration of helping craft, push UN censure  "We have rather ironclad information from sources in both the Arab world and internationally that this was a deliberate push by the United States and in fact they helped create the resolution in the first place,” David Keyes, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Fox News’ “America’s News HQ.”  

Obama 2015: Our commitment to Israel is ‘unshakable’ — Obama 2016: Time to shake things up a bit

"With Republican control of Congress and the White House, the avenues for pushback would be many. Trump could make an anti-settlements resolution a dead letter by moving the U.S. Embassy not just to Jerusalem, but to eastern Jerusalem."

Volokh Conspiracy  . . . "Obama’s goal with such a resolution would be to punish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he personally dislikes, and to create diplomatic facts on the ground to box in President-elect Donald Trump’s foreign policy. The folly of a such resolution has been underscored by both Hillary Clinton and Trump, as well as near-unanimous majorities in both houses of Congress and an array of Democratic foreign policy experts, including former Senate majority leader and Obama administration peace negotiator George Mitchell.

"Such a resolution would not cement any positive legacy for Obama. To the contrary, it would vastly magnify the actual obstacles to resolving the Palestinian issue. Moreover, by setting the U.N. against Israel, Obama may provoke a sharp conflict between Washington and the U.N. — one that would harm the latter much more than the former.

"The proposed resolution denounces any Jewish presence in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank as illegal and demands that Israel immediately choke off such communities. These areas had been entirely cleansed of their ancient Jewish populations during the Jordanian invasion and occupation in 1949. The standard diplomatic position of the U.N. is that Israel, upon retaking these areas in 1967, was obligated to indefinitely forbid Jews from living in these areas (but the U.N. has amazingly avoided applying these supposed rules anywhere else).

"The legal effects of such a resolution would be murky — the Security Council is neither a court nor a legislature and cannot create rules of international law. Nor do the resolutions invoke the council’s power under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter to call for mandatory measures, such as sanctions. What is clear is that a Security Council resolution will reinforce all the dynamics that have made a solution more remote despite eight years of pressure on Israel by Obama." . . .
. . . 
Trump has consistently opposed Obama’s turning to the U.N. to create facts on the ground for U.S. policymakers or to avoid Congress — fromclimate change to the Iran deal to control of the Internet. If the Security Council becomes a forum for exonerating Iran and slamming Israel, President Trump could even embrace the idea, already popular among congressional Republicans, of cutting U.N. funding." . . .

Obama's legacy pictured

Christian References Removed From Christmas Carol in Sweden to Prepare Children for 'Inclusion'

Anugrah Kumar

"Protecting Swedish traditions is important, but raising their sights so that they have the courage to meet a changing world is another important task for the school and community to relate to," is said on the municipality's website.

A Swedish prosecutor recently ruled that flying the Islamic State's black flag is perfectly legal and does not constitute a hate crime.

Sweden is sometimes referred to as the "least religious nation in the western world." A 2014 study found that nearly eight out of 10 Swedes are either "not religious" or "convinced atheists," making the country one of the least religious nation in the Western world.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-references-removed-from-christmas-carol-to-prepare-children-for-inclusion-in-sweden-172358/#RaY0f6gbTcfJwov1.99

"Protecting Swedish traditions is important, but raising their sights so that they have the courage to meet a changing world is another important task for the school and community to relate to," is said on the municipality's website.

A Swedish prosecutor recently ruled that flying the Islamic State's black flag is perfectly legal and does not constitute a hate crime.

Sweden is sometimes referred to as the "least religious nation in the western world." A 2014 study found that nearly eight out of 10 Swedes are either "not religious" or "convinced atheists," making the country one of the least religious nation in the Western world.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-references-removed-from-christmas-carol-to-prepare-children-for-inclusion-in-sweden-172358/#RaY0f6gbTcfJwov1.99

. . . "The grandfather laments changes made to the carol, which includes the axing of lines such as “born of the Lord Jesus Christ”, and “a ray of God’s love’s light”, so as to remove references to the fact Christmas is a religious feast. He notes that even “star of Bethlehem” has been censored, and changed to “star over all of us”.

"The letter’s author suggests that schools “bring an end to this special treatment for newly arrived students”, and writes: “The idea was that [migrants] would be integrated into Swedish society and not vice versa.

“ 'We shouldn’t be afraid of our Swedish traditions. Soon we’ll have none left,” he notes, sadly.

"In a notice on its municipal website, Åmål’s education administration confirmed that the changes highlighted in the letter had taken place, and adding that an “appropriate selection of verses from different songs and hymns” were chosen for the celebration.

"The statement says the edits allow “all students regardless of nationality and religion” to participate. The replacing of “Bethlehem” with “all of us”, the school’s management insists, is “commendable”, as “the wording then allows the star to shine on all of us”." . . . Hat tip to Breitbart London

Netanyahu Shares Powerful Christmas Message Of The Bond Between Christians And Jews

Tell me again; why do so many in the world root for Islam to destroy these people?

Weasel Zippers

A Call For Trump To Derail Obama’s Midnight Regulation Express

Patterico's Pontifications  "The immensely ungracious exit of President Obama deserves this spot-on gutting: 
(Bullet points added by TD)

• Barack Obama isn’t known for humility, though rarely has his lack of grace been more on display than in his final hours in office. The nation rejected his agenda. The president’s response? To shove more of that agenda down the nation’s gullet.
• Notice the growing and many ugly ways the Obama administration is actively working to undermine a Donald Trump presidency. Unnamed administration sources whisper stories about Russian hackers to delegitimize Mr. Trump’s election. These whispers began at about the same time Hillary Clinton officials began pressuring electors to defy election results and deny Mr. Trump the presidency. How helpful.
• Trump transition-team members report how Obama officials are providing them with skewed or incomplete information, as well as lectures about their duties on climate change. (No wonder Mr. Trump is bypassing those “official” intelligence briefings.) The Energy Department is refusing to provide the transition team with the names of career officials who led key programs, like those who attended U.N. climate talks. Sen. Ron Johnson recently sent a letter to President Obama voicing alarm over “burrowing,” in which political appointees, late in an administration, convert to career bureaucrats and become obstacles to the new political appointees.
• But perhaps nothing has more underlined the Obama arrogance than his final flurry of midnight regulations. With each new proposed rule or executive order, Mr. Obama is spitefully mocking the nation that just told him “enough.”

 Rick Moran on "Obama's 'Midnight Regulation Express' " . . . "Trump's transition people are bitterly complaining about a lack of cooperation from the executive departments.  This foot-dragging is slowing the transition process, which makes it less likely that Trump can hit the ground running on January 21.  Instead, the new president will be forced to deal with a dizzying array of federal rules – most of which will end up in court anyway as businesses fight back against this federal government-wide power-grab.

"The bottom line: Obama and the Democrats do not recognize Donald Trump as the legitimate president of the United States and will do all in their power over the next four years to ensure the failure of his administration."

The 7 Worst Media Losers Of 2016

The Daily Wire  "The media was one of the biggest losers of 2016, as the election of Donald Trump to the presidency reflected how the American people no longer take the mainstream media seriously, as they have exposed their true, partisan colors.

"Here are the seven worst media losers of 2016.

1. Martha Raddatz. Raddatz of ABC News earns this distinction because her bias for Hillary Clinton was blatant to the point where she began to cry when it became clear that Clinton was going to lose to Trump:

"After moderating a presidential debate in which Raddatz actually began arguing with Trump for a period of time, there is a sense of justice in seeing her tear up when her precious Clinton lost."