Monthly Archives: October 2023

We Need To Secure ALL Of Our Borders

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On Monday, The Daily Caller reported that according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) date, illegal immigration at America’s northern border increased roughly 347 percent from 2022 to 2023.

The article reports:

The data shows that Border Patrol encounters of migrants crossing the U.S.-Canadian border jumped from 2,238 in 022 to 10,021 in 2023. Illegal immigration surpassed 2 million encounters nationwide in each of the aforementioned years. 

…Some migrants have an easier opportunity to fly to Canada due to a visa waiver program. Mexicans, for example, are not required to obtain a visa to travel to Canada, just an electronic travel authorization, which costs 7 Canadian dollars.

Border Patrol encounters of Mexicans crossing illegally from Canada surged from 882 in fiscal year 2022 to 4,868 in fiscal year 2023, according to CBP data.

The article notes:

“This domino effect all starts on the southwest but then the effects are felt everywhere because we have to use resources to deal with what’s taking place down south and when you do that, then of course, you leave yourself wide open in other areas, and that’s what we’re seeing on the North right now,” National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd previously told the DCNF.

Considering that we have no idea who we have let into our country, America may not be the safest destination to flee to. However, is there one safer?

 

The Truth Is Too Gruesome To Watch

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On Monday, William A. Jacobson posted an article at Legal Insurrection about the atrocities of October 7.

The article states:

“I just saw indescribable, raw footage of Hamas’ massacre along with 100 other international journalists”

We reported yesterday that Israel was planning on providing a viewing of raw footage from Hamas and other terrorist bodycams, Israeli dashcams, and security cameras, in light of the denialism being spread about Hamas butchery.

That showing took place today:
These are some of the things shown:

The footage was collected from call recordings, security cameras, Hamas terrorists’ body cameras, victim dashboard cameras, Hamas and victims’ social media accounts, and cellphone videos taken by terrorists, victims and first responders. Over 1,000 civilians were slaughtered by the terrorists, and at least 224 people were abducted.

In one pair of videos that were screened, Hamas terrorists are seen dressed in IDF uniforms, flagging down passing cars and then shooting their occupants.

In another video, first responders are seen pouring bottled water over still-smoldering bodies, hoping to snuff out the remaining embers.

In another, a man writhes on the ground, bleeding from his stomach, as a terrorist tries repeatedly to decapitate him with farming equipment. The man appears to be southeast Asian, possibly one of Israel’s foreign agricultural workers.

In another clip, from after the assault, an Israeli woman is seen trying to work out if a partially burned woman’s corpse, with a mutilated head, is that of a family member. The dead woman’s dress is pulled up to her waist and her underpants have been removed.

Major Gen. Mickey Edelstein, who briefed reporters after the viewing, said that “we have evidence” of rape but “we cannot share it,” declining to elaborate further….

In the second segment, captured through a call recording application on a victim’s phone, a different son reaches out to a different father. “Dad, I killed 10 with my bare hands,” the terrorist excitedly tells his father in Gaza. “Their blood is on my hands, let me speak to Mom.”

“Please be proud of me, Dad,” he adds.

There is no way anyone can justify this. The article continues, but it is very difficult to read. Follow the link at your own risk.

The Cost Of Unarmed Citizens

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On Saturday, The American Thinker posted an article about some of the events in Israel on October 7.

The article notes:

On October 7, the day Hamas attacked Israel, Inbal Rabin-Lieberman, a 25-year-old security coordinator at the Kibbutz Nir Am settlement located near the Gaza Strip, saved lives because she had a gun.  After the kibbutz came under attack, Inbal hurriedly opened the armory and distributed guns to the twelve-member security team.

She caught the Hamas murderers unawares because they were not expecting to meet armed resistance.  Lieberman killed five terrorists while the others gunned down twenty-five before the Israeli Defense Force arrived.  Because of her actions, Nir-Am was the only settlement bordering the Gaza Strip that did not suffer Israeli casualties during Hama’s attack.

The number of Israelis killed in the terrorist attack is over 1,400.  How many of those deaths could have been averted had more Israelis owned guns? Israel has draconian gun-control laws, worse than those in New York City.  Only three percent (3%) of Israeli citizens own guns (compared to about thirty-two percent (32%) of U.S. citizens). 

The NY Daily News reports that less than one percent (about 0.5%) of New York City residents have legal handguns.  Jews comprise approximately nine percent (9%) of New York City’s population, the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel. 

An attack on America similar to what happened in Israel should be unthinkable, but is it? We have no idea how many terrorists have come through our porous border and what their intentions are. It would be a good idea at this point to have all Americans trained in how to use weapons and having weapons in their homes. Obviously there are some restrictions on that–mentally ill, people convicted of violent offenses, etc., but we need to have an instant, well-trained militia that can be called into action in case of an armed terrorist attack.

The War For The Survival Of Israel

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This is the link to the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) website. It is a reliable source of what is going on in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon. Notice that Lebanon has been added,

Today’s summary includes the following:

08:50
Over the past day the IDF struck over 320 military targets in the Gaza Strip

 The terror targets were struck based on IDF and ISA intelligence, and included tunnels containing Hamas terrorists, dozens of operational command centers (some of which concealed Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists) and more. The IDF struck targets that posed a threat to forces in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip who are preparing for ground operations, including dozens of mortar shell and anti-tank missile launch posts.

Overnight, an IDF tank thwarted a number of terrorist cells, including an anti-tank missile cell.

06:15
Overnight, the IDF struck the terrorist cell in Lebanese territory, along with an anti-tank missile launch post. The terrorist cell was planning to carry out an anti-tank missile launch towards the town of Shlomi.

02:07
A short while ago, the IDF struck Hezbollah terrorist targets, including a military compound and an observation post. Furthermore, an IDF aircraft struck a terrorist cell operating near the border along with the weapons in terrorists’ possession.

23:22
The IDF identified two Hezbollah terrorist cells in Lebanese territory. One cell was adjacent to the area of Mattat, and planned to launch anti-tank missiles toward Israeli territory. The other, located in Har Dov, planned to launch rockets. The IDF thwarted the attacks, striking the Hezbollah terrorist cells before they fired.

The article includes the following video:

At some point you have to ask yourself, “What kind of people would do this?”

Please follow the link to the IDF website. Updates are posted on a regular basis.

Why I Oppose Humanitarian Aid To Gaza

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Do you send coffee and donuts to a bank robber who is holding people hostage? If he has already killed hostages, do you send him food?

On Friday, One America News reported that two American hostages held by Hamas have been released. They reportedly released through Egypt and handed to the Red Cross. Their families have not yet received confirmation of their release.

The article also notes:

On Wednesday, Carmela Dan, 80, and her 12-year-old granddaughter Noya, were found deceased near the Israel-Gaza border after being taken hostage by the terrorist group while at Kibbutz Nir Oz. Noya was having a sleepover at her grandmother’s home when Hamas infuriated the kibbutz.

Noya, who had autism, was “a massive Harry Potter fan.” Israel’s account on X, the platform formally known as Twitter, shared her story. J.K. Rowling, the creator of the series, shared the post online.

As the ‘humanitarian’ aid flows into Gaza, we need to remember:

hudna is an Arabic term meaning a temporary “truce” or “armistice” as well as “calm” or “quiet”, coming from a verbal root meaning “calm”. It is sometimes translated as “cease-fire“. Historically, a hudna has been used by Islamists as a time to re-arm for the next battle. 

I have no doubt that Hamas is using the cover of ‘humanitarian aid’ to rearm before Israel attacks. This will result in more casualties on both sides and more civilian deaths on both sides. The current delay is unwise, but is caused by international pressure on Israel. Somehow the world has forgiven the slaughter of innocent people on October 7th and replaced it with concern for the terrorists who committed the atrocities.

What Are We Aiding?

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On Thursday, The Washington Examiner posted an article about aid to Gaza.

The article reports:

Israel’s ground assault on the Gaza Strip has yet to begin, but already, politicians and liberals are demanding Israel pause its assault to enable humanitarian relief to flow into Gaza. Speaking on the floor of the Canadian Parliament, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared, “Canada is calling for unimpeded humanitarian access and a humanitarian corridor so that essential aid like food, fuel, and water can be delivered to civilians in Gaza. It is imperative that this happen.”

…The problem in Gaza, however, has seldom been a lack of aid. Beyond apocalyptic claims, Gaza was never a prison or concentration camp. Its population was not barely sliding by. It outperformed many countries such as India, Bosnia, Brazil, and oil-rich Azerbaijan in key health and welfare indicators. The Gaza Strip is dense, with around 15,000 people per square mile, but that is less dense than Tel Aviv (21,000 people per square mile), at which Hamas regularly launches missiles.

There are other reasons to be wary about international aid. Hamas rules Gaza with an iron grip. To channel assistance into Gaza while Hamas remains empowered is akin to trusting the North Koreans to distribute oil and food to citizens rather than to fuel their military. Then, there is the diversion of assistance in other ways. Hamas videos openly bragged about digging up water pipes to convert them to rocket launchers, and the Japanese aid logo marks Hamas sandbags. To bail Hamas out simply signals there will be no consequence for such diversion.

This brings us to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, founded in 1949. The UNRWA helped settle Palestinian refugees displaced in Israel’s War of Independence. Israel settled a near equal if not larger number of Jewish refugees, who today are fully integrated into the Jewish state. In 1951, UNRWA reported, “There must be a firm goal of terminating relief operations. Sustained relief operations inevitably contain the germ of human deterioration.”

Hamas is not interested in forming a viable state–they are simply interested in driving Israel into the sea. Until they stop training kindergarten children to hate Jews and be terrorists, they will not be a contributing member of the world community. Giving them aid only reinforces bad behavior.

Sad, But Not Surprising

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On Friday, The Conservative Review reported that President Biden is pressuring Israel to scale back its offensive mission in Gaza.

The article reports:

Biden visited Israel, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reaffirm the United States’ commitment to the Jewish state throughout its war against the terrorist organization Hamas. While the United States agrees Hamas’ military infrastructure needs to be wiped out, the U.S. is reportedly influencing how Israel will conduct its ground invasion, urging the country to limit the number of civilian casualties in Gaza, three anonymous senior Israeli officials told Bloomberg in a Thursday report. 

Because we have been so successful in our ground invasions fighting terrorism? Iraq, Afghanistan?

Before asking Israel to limit its operations in Gaza, maybe he should reconsider the cause of Israel planning a mission into Gaza. If a serial killer lives on your street, do you talk gently to him? At this point, there is no way to consider the ‘soldiers’ of Gaza other than serial killers. The brutality and lack of humanity that they exhibited in their attack on Israel does not call for restraint. There is a reason we execute murderers–it cuts down on the recidivism rate. If the response to Gaza is tempered, it is a safe bet that the terrorists will repeat their actions of October 7th.

The article concludes:

Biden and his officials are continuing to emphasize the importance of limiting casualties in Gaza, according to the outlet. The president is urging Israel to be cautious during its ground invasion and when responding to attacks from Hezbollah, an Iran-supported terrorist organization, Netanyahu’s former ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, told Bloomberg.

The United States is worried about the Israel-Hamas conflict escalating, with increased concerns about Hezbollah entering the fight, which would pull the U.S. further into the conflict, Bloomberg reported.

Wars need to be fought–not played with. It’s time to go back to General Sherman’s concept of war.

Is Our Intelligence Intelligent?

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On Friday, Pete Hoekstra (Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute, former US Ambassador to the Netherlands during the Trump administration, served 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the Second District of Michigan and served as Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee) posted an article at the Gatestone Institute about the recent failures of America’s intelligence community. As the intelligence community has become politicized, it has lost its effectiveness. I apologize for the length of this post, but what the Ambassador says is very important.

The article notes:

  • The failure of the U.S. intelligence community has three components: 1) It has become politically charged and lost focus on its mission protecting Americans, instead engaging in partisan politics. 2) It continues to focus on technological intelligence collection rather than the difficult and risky world of human intelligence collection. 3) It continues to suffer from a lack of creativity in anticipating and understanding the new threats being developed by our enemies.
  • There is little doubt that the Intelligence Community has become seriously politicized. In 2016-2017, its leaders and the FBI undermined the incoming President Donald Trump by raising the specter of Russian influence over Trump. The disproven Russia hoax would go on to shadow and undermine Trump’s entire time in office.
  • Despite warnings from the U.S. Intelligence Community, the Biden administration failed to anticipate or plan for the dramatic and quick collapse of Afghanistan’s government when U.S. troops were withdrawn.
  • A little more than a week prior to the Hamas attack, Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, was talking-up successes in the Middle East… “the Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.”
  • He could not have been more wrong. Boiling just under the surface was a terrorist attack that would result in more than 1,400 Israelis killed, at least 31 Americans killed, atrocities against Israeli civilians that include beheaded babies and babies burned alive…
  • The Intelligence Community also shifted some of its focus from international threats to domestic threats — often spurious — while ignoring the real ticking time bomb of 5.6 million migrants flooding onto the United States through the southern border, in addition to at least 1.5 million known “gotaways” and an unknown number of unknown “gotaways.”
  • The biggest U.S. intelligence failure of all so far, unfortunately, has been strenuously pretending not to know that Iran, Qatar and Turkey are the kingpins behind the current attacks by Hamas on Israel. If Iran, Qatar and Turkey are to be discouraged from continuing their malign actions destabilizing the region, the price they pay needs to be steep. Hamas. Iran, Qatar and Turkey must not be let off the hook. In addition, the US must move its military assets from Al Udeid Airbase in Qatar to the United Arab Emirates as soon as it can.
  • To go just after Hamas is like targeting crime syndicate, but ignoring Al Capone. Hamas needs to be dealt with first – along with the realization that any humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza supplies Hamas, not the people for whom it was well-meaningly intended. As the journalist Caroline Glick points out, the trucks are not inspected. They might be bringing in food and water – or weapons. Sadly, even if the contents are food and water, Hamas keeps them, then sparingly doles them out to whomever they want.
  • Moving forward, we once again need to examine how we do intelligence across the West. Perhaps Congress or a special commission can be established to identify the exact strengths and weaknesses of our intelligence community… and to discard the biased and flawed analytical tradecraft standards that have led us to where we are today.

At Least Apologize When You Get It Wrong

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Recently a parking lot in the Gaza Strip was hit by a missile. The latest reports say that possibly a few hundred people died. Any death is horrible, but there is a definite difference between hundreds and thousands. It has also been proven that the missile was a misfire of a Hamas missile fired from Gaza. Generally speaking, that is the current reporting of the incident now that the investigation has concluded. However, don’t expect those in the media who initially rushed to judgement claiming hundreds of casualties and blaming Israel to keep up with the actual facts.

On Thursday, PJ Media posted the following Tweet by The Washington Post:

The article at PJ Media reports:

What we’ve known since at least early yesterday is that a Hamas rocket misfired in a parking lot, killing a few unfortunate civilians. But there was no Israeli missile strike, no blown-up hospital, and no 500 dead civilians.

As of this 9 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, WaPo has yet to retract or correct Adam Taylor’s story.

Even Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib — two noted Hamas apologists — have been smart enough to keep their mouths shut in the hours since Hamas’s original claims were debunked. It makes you wonder how some young WaPo reporter, still filled with ideals about reporting the truth at any cost, must feel about their employer. It makes you wonder if young reporters like that still exist.

The first casualty of war is truth. We need to remember that in the coming days.

Is The Department of Homeland Security Secure?

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On Wednesday, The Daily Wire reported that the Biden administration’s U.S. immigration enforcement agency has hired Nejwa Ali, a former spokeswoman for the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), as an “Asylum Officer,” where she is tasked with “applying immigration laws and regulations to asylum applications.” Wow. I wonder who she will be willing to let into America.

The article reports:

…Now the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officer is repeatedly posting pictures of Hamas terrorists parachuting in with guns and writing, “F*** Israel and any Jew who supports Israel,” a Daily Wire investigation found.

Nejwa Ali worked in 2016 and 2017 as a public affairs officer for the Palestinian Delegation to the U.S., which according to its own website, served as the “PLO office in D.C.” That office was expelled from the country by the Trump administration, but Ali landed on her feet, according to a screenshot of her LinkedIn profile, securing a job at DHS as an “Asylum Officer,” where she was tasked with “applying immigration laws and regulations to asylum applications.”

The article also notes:

But a day after The Daily Wire asked the agency about Ali, she told The Daily Wire in a phone call that she still works for DHS, and was decidedly unchastened.

Asked if she disclosed her employment with the PLO to DHS, she said “That’s none of your f***ing business. Mind your business before I call the police. If I were you I’d respectfully hang up the phone right now.”

Asked if her views on Israel impacted her ability to work as an American government official, she said, “That does not affect the ability to do my job at all. You can mind your own business.”

The article concludes:

During the Obama administration, on social media she lobbied for it to “BOYCOTT ISRAEL” and “End AID 2 ISRAEL,” and during the 2016 election, she complained that “Republicans OBSESS over Israel” and called for “decolonization.”

“F*** APARTHEID Israel and any Israeli that supports that bulls***. F*** you, may allah forgive you,” she wrote, alongside pictures of violent leftist Americans Assata Shakur and Malcolm X. In 2017, she posted a picture of herself grinning in front of a statute of Che Guevara, the murderous Communist militant.

The United States is facing pressure from the political Left to welcome Palestinian refugees into the country amid Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It is officers like Ali who would be tasked with advising the government whether or not it would be safe to grant entry to an applicant.

Ali’s position on Israel goes squarely against the policy of the United States. President Joe Biden has said that his administration stands firmly with Israel, and has pledged to support it in its war against terrorists.

Hang on to your hats, I have a feeling that life in America is going to get ugly in the near future.

UPDATE:  Nejwa Ali has been placed on leave by the State Department. If her background had not been disclosed, would she still be working there?

 

 

Tone Deaf?

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On Tuesday, The Daily Caller reported that Jack Lew is President Biden’s choice for Ambassador to Israel.

The article reports:

President Joe Biden’s nominee to be Ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, oversaw the infamous “pallets of cash” transfer of funds to Iran while serving as former President Barack Obama’s Treasury Secretary in 2016.

The Obama administration paid Iran nearly $2 billion in January of 2016 to resolve a dispute dating back to the 1970’s, in which the U.S.-backed Shah government in Iran purchased $400 million of military equipment from Washington. The equipment was never delivered due to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and Obama paid back the $400 million to Tehran plus $1.3 billion in interest.

As Treasury Secretary, Lew oversaw the transfer of the initial $400 million payment on Jan. 17, 2016, which was delivered in the now-infamous form of foreign cash carried on a number of pallets by aircraft. The “pallets of cash” incident became a frequent line of critique for those who opposed Obama’s policy toward Iran, which involved lifting sanctions and negotiating a diplomatic agreement aimed at curbing the development of Tehran’s nuclear program.

The money for Iran came from a Treasury Department fund known as the “Judgement Fund,” which is money set aside by Congress to settle litigation disputes.

I suppose he was just following orders, but I have heard that excuse before.

The article notes:

A 2018 Senate report found Lew falsely claimed Iran had no access to the U.S financial system during his time as Treasury Secretary. In fact, Lew “granted a specific license that authorized a conversion of Iranian assets worth billions of U.S. dollars using the U.S. financial system,” according to the report from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Lew was also responsible for implementing sanctions relief for Iran as part of the JCPOA, colloquially known as Obama’s Iran nuclear deal. The JCPOA required that Washington lift various sanctions on Tehran in exchange for the Islamic Republic ceasing its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

If you choose to make this man an ambassador, Israel is not the place to send him.

 

What Was He Thinking?

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On Thursday, Breitbart posted the following headline:

President Biden Says Hamas Should ‘Learn How to Shoot Straight’ After Gaza Hospital Bombing

In what universe is that statement appropriate?

The article reports:

“I’m not suggesting that Hamas deliberately did it,” the president said at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.  “It’s that old thing: Gotta learn how to shoot straight. It’s not the first time that Hamas has launched something that didn’t function very well.”

Since Hamas targets Israeli civilians, them “shooting straight” would mean killing Israeli civilians.

The article concludes:

Squad member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) has continued to put forward the claim Israel somehow committed the atrocity.

“We cannot continue to watch people think it’s okay to bomb a hospital with children,” she told a crowd on Wednesday. “[…] And so I’m telling you right now, President Biden, not all America is with you on this one, and you need to wake up and understand that.”

“We are literally watching people commit genocide and killing a vast majority just like this, and we still stand by and say nothing. We will remember this,” the Palestinian lawmaker continued.

First of all, we now know that Israel did not bomb a hospital. Second of all, where is her condemnation of killing innocent Israelis at a music festival and talking hostages?

The People Who Know

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On Tuesday, Ed Morrissey at Hot Air reported that Jordan and Egypt have refused to take Palestinian refugees. They are not being heartless–they are protecting their regimes. There is a lot of history behind this decision.

The article reports:

How could Germany, of all countries, ask Jordan to accept a mass of Palestinian refugees? The PLO under Yasser Arafat tried to seize power in Jordan after King Hussein offered them sanctuary following the 1967 war with Israel. After two assassination attempts, Hussein finally used armed force to push Arafat and his collection of ingrates into Lebanon through Syria, another Arafat disaster that the Palestinians called Black September.

They gave that name to its terror wing, which is why Germany in particular should recall that history. After its ejection from Jordan, the PLO and its Black September wing went on an international terror spree, attempting to force the West to stop supporting Israel. One of its most well-known operations was the attempted abduction and murder of Israeli athletes in the 1972 Munich Olympics. As in Munich, Germany (West Germany at the time, of course).

How clueless does a German chancellor have to be to ask Jordan to recreate the conditions for another Black September — especially when the Gazans are so closely aligned with Iran? Clueless enough to attempt to ask Egypt next, apparently…

The article also notes:

Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has already rejected this idea, and with even more reason. As I wrote last week, Hamas sprang out of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and the Muslim Brotherhood wants al-Sisi dead. Why in the world would anyone think that al-Sisi would allow tens of thousands of potential Muslim Brotherhood foot soldiers into his country now? If Germany or any of the other leaders in the West took even a moment to consider the precarious nature of both regimes, they’d be embarrassed to even have floated this idea.

The only country that should give refuge to the Gazans at the moment is Iran. They authored the present misery of the Gazans through their proxy Hamas. Iran won’t take them in either, though, even apart from the logistics of that kind of relocation. For one thing, the Persian Shi’ite mullahs couldn’t care less about the mainly Sunni Arabs of Gaza and the West Bank, but also they can’t afford their destabilizing presence either. They already have a restive population that the IRGC can barely contain, and that population hates the Palestinians and the way that the mullahs exploit their cause to justify their oppression.

Looking for a home for Palestinian refugees is like asking people to provide a home for a teenage murderer who has somehow escaped jail. Sometimes kindness involves great risk that can only end badly.

 

The Kabuki Theater Of The Middle East

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President Biden is meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu during his trip to the Middle East. He was originally scheduled to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah and Egyptian President al-Sisi. Jordan and Egypt cancelled those meetings. So why is President Biden going to Israel? Don’t assume that it is because America is supporting Israel.

The following video is posted on YouTube: I know it’s a long video, but it is worth listening to.

Caroline Glick explains the pressure America is putting on Israel to supply humanitarian aid to Gaza. Understand that any humanitarian aid to Gaza will be given to soldiers. Ordinary citizens will receive nothing. How many weapons can be smuggled in as ‘humanitarian aid,’ particularly when the inspectors belong to Hamas? Please see my previous article explaining HUDNA. 

The Conservative Treehouse reported on Tuesday:

Yesterday I provided some of my own thoughts on the motives.  “The people behind Joe Biden are sending him to Israel for (1) part of a rebranding effort; and (2) to impede Netanyahu and buy time for Hamas.”

Today, Caroline Glick affirms my perspective and also gives some troubling information about: (a) the White House demanding an invitation; and (b) Anthony Blinken threatening Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to hold back the ground invasion or the U.S. will not allow munitions and bombs Israel needs for resupply.

This is where we are. America is not acting like an ally of Israel regardless of what he has said.

The Sanctions Expired On Wednesday

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On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the U.N. Security Council restrictions on giving missile technology to Iran expire on Wednesday. The United States has the power to veto that expiration, but has chosen not to.

The article reports:

The restrictions were defined in Resolution 2231 of 2015 endorsing a deal by which Britain, China, the European Union, France, Germany, Russia and the U.S. removed sanctions against Iran in return for Tehran curbing its nuclear programme.

In 2018, then-President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal, known as the JCPOA, leaving unilateral U.S. sanctions in place, and Iran subsequently accelerated its nuclear programme, which it says is purely peaceful.

With the deal in shreds, U.N. sanctions intended to prevent the theocratic state developing long-range nuclear-capable ballistic missiles came back into force. But these will finally expire on Wednesday.

Russia has grown close to Iran since invading Ukraine in February 2022 and itself being shunned by the West. Many of the hundreds of one-way attack drones it has used to bomb Ukraine in the last year are believed to have been made in Iran.

Now Russia has stated that it no longer needs to obey the restrictions once they expire. They have not stated whether or not they plan to support Iran’s missile development.

Recent events have shown us that the Biden administration is truly the third term of Barack Obama. We are supporting terrorists and turning our back on our traditional allies.

Be Aware

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I am not posting a long article on this subject. I am simply posting a link and limited comments. On Tuesday, The U.K. Daily Mail posted an article with the following headline:

All those who question the unimaginable savagery of the Hamas attack against Israel must read the words of these forensic scientists struggling to identify the 297 bodies so brutalised as to be unrecognisable.

I did not read the entire article. I could not deal with the brutality. Read it at your own risk. My purpose in posting the link is simply to make people aware of what went on. What happened to civilians in Israel makes Kristallnacht look like a family picnic.

Some Perspective

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History tells us that after terrorists attack Israel, there will be a short period of support for Israel followed by requests for a ‘measured’ response by Israel. Somehow the terrorists are never held accountable for their lack of a ‘measured’ response.

On Tuesday, Breitbart posted an article about some comments made on CNN by the Israeli Defense Forces spokesman.

These are the comments:

…IDF Spokesman Jonathan Conricus noted that by telling Gazan civilians to evacuate to the south, “we have just advertised our intentions” but Israel engaged in this move, even though it’s not generally a smart military strategy, “Because we want civilians out of fighting, and we don’t want them to be killed.

Conricus stated, “It is generally not wise for a military to be advertising its intentions. And we are aware of the fact that we have just advertised our intentions by telling civilians in northern Gaza to go south. Why have we done that? Because we want civilians out of fighting, and we don’t want them to be killed. So, there’s a balance here between achieving a military objective and minimizing civilian damage, and, in this case, which is very evident, and you cannot argue with it, we have chosen to — the sanctity of life and helping Palestinian civilians to go south and not be stuck in an area where there will be significant combat activities. There is a risk and we will have to mitigate this risk with the tactics, the weapons, and the time that we use, when and if we’ll operate. There is tremendous desire in Israel to see Hamas defeated, to see the scourge and the terror gone from Gaza, but Israelis, of course, also want the IDF to operate smartly and in a way that doesn’t expose our troops to undue danger in an environment that already is amongst the most dangerous on any battlefield.”

Unfortunately Hamas will do everything it can to make sure civilians are killed–even to the point of faking news reports and articles. There have already been pictures of victims of a war in Syria circulating as civilian casualties in Gaza. Be aware that propaganda is as much a part of a war in the Middle East as the actual fighting.

When Failure Gets You Promoted

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On Monday, The American Thinker posted an article about Gareth Joyce, the CEO of Proterra, a company that manufactured rechargeable buses. The company has received more than $8 billion in seed money given to it by the federal government. The company declared bankruptcy this summer.

The article reports:

Joyce sits on what is known as the ITA, or the International Trade Administration, and according to a Washington Examiner report out today on the matter:

Under the International Trade Administration, the group ‘advises the President of government policies and programs that affect U.S. trade performance; promotes export expansion; and provides a forum for discussing and resolving trade-related problems among the business, industrial, agricultural, labor, and government sectors.’

If someone received billions of dollars, and still can’t keep a company afloat, then clearly their idea is terrible, or they blow at running a business—or realistically, probably both.

The article concludes:

Furthermore, Proterra’s demise specifically presents like Solyndra under Barack Obama—for more on this, read a blog I wrote on the issue a few weeks back here.

Yet, thanks to a criminal and unconstitutional tax code, and corrupt politicians, I have no say whatsoever in who my seized wealth subsidizes. This is the modus operandi of the Establishment though—Jackass and Elephant alike— running political popularity contests while we foot the bill.

Would you be surprised to learn that Proterra was once recognized by the World Economic Forum as a “Technology Pioneer”? I didn’t think so.

Our government has been hijacked by anti-American interests and foreign operatives keen to sabotage the economic prosperity of America first… which is exactly why Joyce still has a place in Biden’s regime.

If failure gets you promoted, what is the incentive to succeed?

Know Your History

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In 1918, the Ottoman Empire fell in 1918. It was a caliphate. The caliphate was abolished on March 3, 1924 (since the early 16th century, the Ottoman sultans had laid claim to the title of caliph of the Muslims). From February to June 1926 the Swiss civil code, the Italian penal code, and the German commercial code were adopted wholesale. As a result, women’s emancipation was strengthened by the abolition of polygamy, marriage was made a civil contract, and divorce was recognized as a civil action.  Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was the great leader of the National War of Independence who pioneered the revolutions and reforms that founded modern Turkey. In response to Turkey becoming a secular country, in1928 Hassan al Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The purpose of the Muslim Brotherhood was to create a new caliphate by bringing all lands to the Caliph’s rule pursuant to shariah. When the Ottoman Empire was carved up after World War I, maps were drawn with little regard for ethnic groups or past history. That is part of the root of today’s Middle East wars.

During the First World War (in 1917), the British issued The Balfour Declaration, a public statement announcing its support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population. Three years later, the League of Nations codified the boundaries set forth in the Balfour Declaration. (The name Palestine had been given to the region after the Romans conquered the Jews in 70 A.D. as an insult to the Jews. There was never a country of Palestine.) In 1919, a formal agreement on the  mandated Jewish homeland was signed in London. The agreement was signed by Emir Feisal ibn-Hussien, representing and acting on behalf of the Arab Kingdom of Hedjaz, and Chaim Weitzman, representing and acting on behalf of the Zionist Organization. The  boundaries of this land included all of Israel (including Gaza, Samaria, West Bank, etc.) and what is now Transjordan. It is telling that Emir Feisal had written a letter agreeing to exactly what the land division was and pledged that he and the Arab states would carry out this agreement. Jordan was supposed to be the modern Palestinian state. Unfortunately, in 1920, Britain began limiting the immigration of Jews into the Jewish state while the Arabs were freely allowed to immigrate. That was a major part of the tensions that would ensue when Israel became a nation.

There is much more to this history–Jordan became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Jordan had originally been part of the land promised for the Jewish nation, but Thomas Edward Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) made some promises to the Arabs in exchange for their support against the Turks. For a time, ‘Palestinian’ refugees were allowed to live in Jordan, but they were kicked out after they attempted to overthrow the government. To put it simply, there is enough Arab land to settle the ‘Palestinians’ anywhere in Arab land, but the Arabs do not want them. They are useful as a political tool to be used to ‘drive Israel into the sea,’ but they are an unruly people who tend to be violent.

That is a brief look into the background to the current mess in the Middle East.

Hope For Education In Texas

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On Sunday, Just the News reported that the Texas Senate has passed two education bills that will increase funding for public education and expand school choice.

The problem in public education is not entirely due to funding. In 2013, AEI posted the following graph:

As someone who graduated from high school as part of the largest high school graduation class in American history, I understand the need for buildings, teachers, and administrators. I went to three different junior high schools as the community was building schools to accommodate the baby boomers as they went through high school. I was part of the first high school class in my high school to graduate on single sessions in a long time, and even at that, there were almost 1,000 students in my graduating class. However, we are no longer seeing the student population growth that we saw in the 1960’s. I am all in favor of keeping the number of teachers high–smaller classes are a good thing, but it is time that we took a serious look at cutting the number of administrators.

Just the News reports:

SB 1 creates education savings accounts of up to $8,000 per student and gives Texas families “the power to determine the best school for their child, with their tax dollars,” Creighton (Senator Brandon Creighton) explains.

Creighton said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote that, “Senate Bill 1 is not merely legislation, it’s a pledge to Texas parents, a testament to our trust in their decision-making capabilities and investment in the dreams of our young Texans respecting their individual specific education needs.”

After more than eight hours of debate, the Senate passed SB 1 by a vote of 18-13. Sen. Robert Nichols, R–Jacksonville, was the sole Republican to vote against it.

The bill heads to the House Education Opportunity & Enrichment Committee.

SB 2 allocates record funding for public school education, including increasing the basic allotment for per-student funding and giving raises to teachers across the board.

It passed nearly unanimously by a vote of 30-1. It was received in the House but has not yet been assigned to a committee.

Let’s free education in America!

This Will Be A First (And Not A Good First)

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On Sunday, Julie Kelly posted an article at Substack about the potential gagging of President Trump during the election season (a season that I think began in November of last year).

The article reports:

Another precedent-setting event related to the criminal prosecution of a former president is scheduled for Monday morning in the federal courtroom of Judge Tanya S. Chutkan in Washington.

Special Counsel Jack Smith is asking Chutkan—an Obama appointee with a record of biased and often inaccurate statements about Donald Trump and the events of January 6 in general—to silence the leading GOP presidential contender on a key campaign issue through the heart of the 2024 primary season.

Smith’s prosecutors and Trump’s defense attorneys will square off during what is expected to be a fiery hearing to debate the special counsel’s proposed gag order ostensibly needed to prevent Trump from unduly influencing the D.C. jury pool with his criticism of the prosecution and those involved. A jury pool, by the way, almost exclusively populated by Democrats with deep contempt for Trump.

Chutkan set a March 2024 trial date for Smith’s four-count indictment against Trump for attempting to “overturn” the 2020 election; the indictment and trial, anticipated to last four to six weeks, represent a history-making case of election interference—a sitting Democratic president using his Department of Justice to ruin his presumptive Republican rival.

But forcing Trump to endure not one but two federal criminal trials isn’t enough to quench the Biden regime’s insatiable appetite for destruction. Smith, citing social media posts and interviews, wants Trump, his lawyers, and even his campaign associates banned from making any comments about the case.

“In service of his criminal conspiracies, through false public statements, the defendant sought to erode public faith in the administration of the election and intimidate individuals who refuted his lies,” Smith wrote in his September motion for a wide-ranging gag order. “The defendant is now attempting to do the same thing in this criminal case—to undermine confidence in the criminal justice system and prejudice the jury pool through disparaging and inflammatory attacks on the citizens of this District, the Court, prosecutors, and prospective witnesses. [The] Court can and should take steps to restrict such harmful extrajudicial statements.”

The article concludes:

Trump’s lawyers responded in pointed fashion, calling the gag order “an extraordinary step of stripping President Trump of his First Amendment freedoms during the most important months of his campaign against President Biden.”

Which obviously is Smith’s motivation. A top DOJ official during the Obama-Biden administration, Smith has his marching orders. In a follow-up motion, Smith wrote that Trump’s candidacy shouldn’t be used as a “cover for making prejudicial statements about this case.”

After Monday’s hearing, it is Chutkan’s next move.

And Team Trump should be worried.

Not only does Chutkan have a history of making outlandish remarks in January 6 cases, she wrote the opinion that pierced presidential privilege and forced Trump to produce his records to the January 6 Select Committee. She also ruled against the Trump administration in cases involving illegal immigrants seeking abortions. Given her brazen partisanship from the bench, it is safe to assume her gag order is already a work in progress.

What has happened to the judicial process in America is a disgrace. I am convinced that the majority of our judges have never read the U.S. Constitution.

UPDATE:  The gag order has been put in place. It will be interesting to see what happens next. This will probably find its way to the Supreme Court. What the Supreme Court will do with it is anyone’s guess.

Pay Attention To The Country Making The Announcement

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Today, The New York Post posted the following headline:

Iran says Hamas ready to release hostages if Israel stops airstrikes as at least 199 now known taken

It is interesting that Iran is making that announcement–as if there were ever any doubt as to who is pulling the strings of the Hamas operation.

To understand what is going on here, you need to understand one of the basic principles of Islamic law.

According the Reliance of the Traveller (a contemporary volume on Islamic law), this is the definition of HUDNA:

Interests that justify making a truce are such things as Muslim weakness because of lack of numbers of material, or the hope of an enemy becoming Muslim. 

…Even in modern times, it remains common for Muslims to refer to a proposed peace treaty or peace talks a hudna.

The source for the above information is Stephen Coughlin’s Catastrophic Failure, published in 2015.

Israel has shut off the water to the Gaza Strip and cut off imports of food, etc. Just for the record, the purpose of “hudna” is to regroup and rearm for a future Islamic victory.

The New York Post article reports:

Iran’s Foreign Ministry claimed Monday that Hamas was ready to release its hostages if Israel ceases its airstrikes along the Gaza Strip — as the number known to have been taken by the terrorist group rose to at least 199.

Hamas officials are “ready” to release hostages, but doing so would be “impossible” under Israeli airstrikes in the region, Iranian Foreign Ministry Nasser Kanaani relayed at a news conference in Tehran.

The terror group “stated that they are ready to take necessary measures to release the citizens and civilians held by resistant groups, but their point was that such measures require preparations that are impossible under daily bombardment by the Zionists against various parts of Gaza,” Kanaani said.

In the past, Israel has had a policy of never negotiating with terrorists. We saw the positive results of that in 1976 when Israel mounted a daring raid on the airport at Entebbe rather than negotiate with terrorists. Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother, Yonatan Netanyahu, was killed in that raid. Prime Minister Netanyahu totally understands what is at stake.

Anyone with a knowledge of Islamic terrorism will tell you that if the bombing stops and the hostages are released, it will only be a matter of time before more hostages are taken. The only way to end this cycle of violence is to end the lives of those who are perpetrating it.

Only Some People Get Arrested For Doing Illegal Things

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In July 22, there were weekly protests in front of Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh’s house, despite the fact that under 18 U.S.C. 1507, it is a federal crime to protest near a residence occupied by a judge or jury with the intent to influence their decisions in pending cases, and this case remains pending. The protests continued.

One of the protesters was arrested at one point for being armed and threatening to kill the Judge. He was arrested, but the protests were allowed to continue despite the law.

On Saturday, The U.K. Daily Mail reported:

Up to 100 protesters have been arrested at a Pro-Palestine demonstration outside the Brooklyn home of Jewish Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer.  

The protesters called for an end to US aid for Israel on a day of mass protest in New York and around the world after the leader of Hamas called for a global ‘day of outrage.’ 

Hundreds of people, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, gathered at the Grand Army Plaza before marching a short distance to the senator’s Park Slope residence and blocking the street.

Protesters were arrested in the street, after blocking the flow of traffic, and placed on two MTA buses. 

The demonstration comes as Schumer prepares to depart for Israel this weekend, where he will lead a delegation of senators to show support for the country’s government, a spokesperson announced on Friday. 

It isn’t illegal to protest in front of a Senator’s house, yet these protestors were arrested. Our justice system has become totally politicized. Currently you are only protected if you believe the right things.