New York Times heralds Biden's 'integrity and honesty' but omits record of plagiarism, fibs - Natalia Mittelstadt

 

by Natalia Mittelstadt

"I say this as a father of a man who won the Bronze Star, the Conspicuous Service Medal, and lost his life in Iraq," President Biden said of his son, Beau.

 

Amid a special counsel investigation into the storage of classified documents, The New York Times heralded Joe Biden's "decades-long reputation for integrity and honesty" compared to former President DonaldTrump, while omitting the current president's lengthy history of plagiarism and fabrications.

Classified documents from Biden's tenure as vice president were found in November, December and this month at his former office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., and at his home in Wilmington, Del. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed Special Counsel Robert Hur to investigate possible mishandling of the classified material.

"White House officials ... say Mr. Biden draws on a decades-long reputation for integrity and honesty while Mr. Trump is seen by many as having lied frequently throughout his tenure in office," the New York Times reported Friday in a story headlined "68 Days of Silence: Why the White House Stayed Mum on Classified Documents." 

"Still, current and former White House officials said Mr. Biden's aides focused too much on making that comparison and not enough on ensuring that all the relevant facts were revealed all at once," according to the article.

The story omitted, however that Biden has a long, widely publicized history of plagiarism and fabricating stories.In 1987, for example, during Biden's first presidential campaign, The Times reported on Biden's admission he plagiarized five pages of a law review article for a 15-page paper during his first year of law school. He said that he had misunderstood citation rules and hadn't intentionally misled anyone.

The law school incident, combined with Biden lifting stories and statements from British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock and portraying them as his own experiences or words, ended his first presidential campaign.

Biden claimed his ancestors were coal miners in Pennsylvania and he was "the first Biden in a thousand generations to get a college and a graduate degree." He added: "Is it because they didn't work hard? My ancestors, who worked in the coal mines of Northeast Pennsylvania and would come up after 12 hours and play football for four hours?"

Kinnock wondered in a speech why he and his wife were "the first ... in a thousand generations" of their families "to be able to get to university." Was it, he asked, because their ancestors "were weak — those people who could work eight hours underground and then come up and play football?"

Biden also borrowed lines from a speech by Robert F. Kennedy without attribution.

Kennedy said: "It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials."

Biden, in nearly identical language, said: "It doesn't measure the beauty of our poetry, the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate, the integrity of our public officials."

Biden repeatedly claimed in 2008 that he knew Osama bin Laden's hiding place because of his helicopter being "forced down" in Afghanistan, despite it landing to wait out a snowstorm.

"If you want to know where al Qaeda lives, you want to know where bin Laden is, come back to Afghanistan with me," Biden said. "Come back to the area where my helicopter was forced down with a three-star general and three senators at 10,500 feet in the middle of those mountains. I can tell you where they are."

In 2007, Biden claimed he had been "shot at" while in Iraq, when the reality was that there had been mortar fire several hundred yards away from a hotel in the Green Zone where he was staying.

In summer 2019, Biden's presidential campaign spent $4,200 on plagiarism-detection software.

Biden's "Build Back Better" economic agenda name was appropriated from former President Bill Clinton, who introduced the approach to disaster recovery in 2006 while serving as the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery.

In October, Biden said his son Beau died in Iraq, despite the fact that he died of cancer at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., in 2015. 

"I say this as a father of a man who won the Bronze Star, the Conspicuous Service Medal, and lost his life in Iraq," he said.

Regarding Hunter Biden's overseas business deals, Biden said in 2019, "I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings." It turns out, however, that Biden had met with at least 14 of his son's business associates from the U.S., Mexico, Ukraine, China and Kazakhstan while vice president.

According to the Washington Post, Biden made 78 misleading claims during his first 100 days in the Oval Office. Over that time period, two Biden statements earned a "Four Pinocchio" rating from the Post, meaning they were complete whoppers.

One of his "Four Pinocchio” claims was that Georgia's 2021 election law shortened voting hours. The other was that federal contracts "awarded directly to foreign companies" increased by 30% under former President Donald Trump.

The Post also labeled a Biden claim with a "Three Pinocchio" rating as a "Bottomless Pinocchio," which is a statement that "had earned a Three or Four Pinocchios rating and been repeated at least 20 times."

Biden's oft-repeated fib was: "Folks, I spent a lot of time — more time with Xi Jinping than any other head of state. ... I've traveled 17,000 miles with him."

The New York Times didn't respond to a request for comment.

Natalia Mittelstadt

Source: https://justthenews.com/accountability/media/amid-biden-docs-scandal-nyt-cites-bidens-honest-rep-omits-history-plagiarism

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DOJ declines House GOP requests to hand over investigation materials - Ben Whedon

 

by Ben Whedon

Jordan is likely to receive similarly guarded responses from federal agencies in his capacity as head of the weaponization panel.

 

The Department of Justice will not provide House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, with materials related to its ongoing investigations, the agency said Friday.

"Consistent with longstanding policy and practice, any oversight requests must be weighed against the Department’s interests in protecting the integrity of its work," wrote Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legislative Affairs Carlos Felipe Uriarte in a letter to Jordan that Fox News obtained. "Longstanding Department policy prevents us from confirming or denying the existence of pending investigations in response to congressional requests or providing non-public information about our investigations."

Jordan, whom Republicans have also tapped to lead the House's new "weaponization" of the federal government panel, initially wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland in his capacity as Judiciary Committee chairman on Jan. 13, seeking information related to appointment of special counsel Robert Hur to handle the DOJ's investigation in Biden's storage of classified documents.

On Jan. 17, Jordan dispatched a bevy of letters various federal officials, warning them that they may face subpoenas should they fail to comply with congressional demands for information.

Uriarte directly addressed the Jan. 17 information requests, observing that Jordan's inquiries mandated that the DOJ negotiate with him, which he confirmed his agency would do.

"We believe that good-faith negotiations will enable us to meet the Committee’s needs while protecting the Department’s institutional interests," he wrote. "As President Reagan explained in his 1982 directive on responding to congressional requests for information, the 'tradition of accommodation; should be 'the primary means of resolving conflicts between the branches.'"

Jordan is likely to receive similarly guarded responses from federal agencies in his capacity as head of the weaponization panel, though that body has been granted authority to review ongoing investigations and to see sensitive intelligence materials.

The House Oversight Committee, under Kentucky Republican Rep. James Comer, is also planning its own investigations as part of a party-wide effort to hold the Biden administration accountable for its conduct while in power.

Ben Whedon

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/doj-declines-house-gop-requests-hand-over-investigation-materials

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Larry Elder takes aim at San Francisco’s $5 million reparations plan: ‘When do we stop?’ - Adam Shaw

by Adam Shaw

The proposal came from San Francisco’s reparations committee last month

 

Larry Elder: There's nothing more creative than a California Dem who wants to suppress your rights

Conservative TV and radio host Larry Elder on Thursday took aim at a new proposal by San Francisco’s reparations committee to pay each Black longtime residents $5 million – while warning that the movement in support of reparations is growing as young people are being "indoctrinated" into its supporting narrative.

"I think the movement is growing," Elder told Fox News Digital in an interview. "Young woke people are being indoctrinated into believing that systemic racism, structural racism, historical racism is why black people are underachieving."

Elder, who previously ran for governor of California, was reacting after the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee, which advises the city on developing a plan for reparations for Black residents, released its draft report last month to address reparations for what it considers 300 years of repression and discrimination for which Black Americans deserve compensation. It cites government policies, Jim Crow laws and redlining for causing the wealth gap between white and black communities.

"While neither San Francisco, nor California, formally adopted the institution of chattel slavery, the tenets of segregation, white supremacy and systematic repression and exclusion of Black people were codified through legal and extralegal actions, social codes, and judicial enforcement," the draft states.

SAN FRANCISCO REPARATIONS PROPOSAL MAKES WAVES: 'AMERICA MUST ADMIT ITS SIN'.

Sept. 14, 2021: Republican conservative radio show host Larry Elder speaks to supporters in Costa Mesa, Calif. (AP)

The draft plan includes a long list of financial recommendations for Black San Francisco residents, including a one-time, lump sum payment of $5 million to each eligible individual.

While there has been significant outrage over the proposal, Elder was not surprised by the plan originating in San Francisco.

"My first reaction is ‘what would you expect from that city?’" he quipped

Elder defined reparations as the "extraction of money from people who were never slave owners to be given to people who were never slaves." He also highlighted the connection between Democrats and both slavery and oppressive systems like Jim Crow.

SAN FRAN'S REPARATIONS COMMITTEE PROPOSES $5 MILLION TO EACH BLACK LONGTIME RESIDENT, TOTAL DEBT FORGIVENESS

"They were also the party of Jim Crow. All of the Southern governors and senators were the ones supporting Jim Crow…A greater percentage of Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act in the House and the Senate than the Democrats. Democrats founded the KKK, I don’t say the Democratic Party, but Democrats founded the KKK. So Democrats are the ones who ought to be apologizing for slavery, for Jim Crow not anybody else."

Video

Elder argued that the money would do nothing to solve the underlying issues facing Black Americans, such as the breakdown of the family, and would only serve to exacerbate racial disharmony.

SAN FRAN'S REPARATIONS COMMITTEE PROPOSES $5 MILLION TO EACH BLACK LONGTIME RESIDENT, TOTAL DEBT FORGIVENESS

"So the money won't do anything other than anger people who are on the hook for paying them with nothing to do with the conditions I just mentioned and will create a great deal of racial strife and tension in America and will create a desire for other people who feel they've been warned for money as well."

He noted that women could have a case for reparations due to their exclusion from the right to vote until the 20th century.

"You could argue that women were shafted out of a lot of social benefits and financial benefits by not having the right to vote until early in the 20th century. So virtually every group can make a case why that group is entitled to something. When do we stop? How do we stop? Where do we stop?"

He noted that reparations were once a fringe idea that has caught on dramatically in recent years, along with other ideas to rectify past wrongs: "Whoever said compound interest is the greatest force in the universe, never encountered white guilt," he quipped.

As for how people can be helped to succeed in life, Elder's advice was simple:

"For the most part, if you work hard, invest in yourself, avoid the criminal justice system, don't have a kid before you’re 20, get married first -- you will not be poor. And that's what we ought to be telling people instead of ‘you’re owed something even though you're not the one who picked cotton, you're not the one who suffered because of Jim Crow, you certainly we're not the ones who were slaves. 

"The mentality is you are entitled to something. You are owed something. And that's probably the most damaging thing of all."

Fox News' Jessica Chasmar and William La Jeunesse contributed to this report.

Adam Shaw is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security.

He can be reached at adam.shaw2@fox.com or on Twitter.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/larry-elder-takes-aim-san-frans-5-million-reparations-plan-when-do-we-stop

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Border crisis keeps growing as more than 200,000 migrants illegally crossed in December - Ben Whedon

 

by Ben Whedon

Cubans and Nicaraguans accounted for 77,043 of those encounters, roughly 36 percent of the total.

Authorities encountered 216,162 migrants at the southwest land border in December of last year, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

That figures marks an 11 percent increase in unique encounters from November of the same year. The federal agency attributed the surge to influx of Cuban and Nicaraguan individuals fleeing authoritarian regimes in those countries.

Cubans and Nicaraguans accounted for 77,043 of those encounters, roughly 36 percent of the total.

"[W]e are continuing to see a shifting migration pattern, with individuals from Mexico and northern Central America accounting for just 24% of unique encounters in December, a significant drop from the 42% they represented a year ago, as more migrants arrived from countries like Cuba and Nicaragua," CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller said in a press release.

"This new migration challenge is not unique to the United States," he asserted. "There are 2.5 million Venezuelans now living in Colombia and 1.5 million in Peru; Brazil and Chile are hosting more than 350,000 Haitians, and the number of displaced Nicaraguans in Costa Rica has more than doubled in the last 12 months alone."

The Biden administration has been under intense scrutiny over its handling of migration at the Mexican border. More than 2.4 million migrants entered the U.S. in fiscal year 2022 alone and nearly 4 million have done so since President Joe Biden took office in 2021.

Miller indicated that the changing makeup of the migrants in terms of origin country indicated that some measures that the administration had implemented were working, in particular, reforms establishing lawful approaches for Venezuelan immigration.

Venezuelans arrivals have fallen to roughly 100 per day from the 1,100 daily arrivals from before the policy's announcement, the CBP press release asserted.

"The December update shows our new border enforcement measures are working. Even as overall encounters rose because of smugglers spreading misinformation around the court-ordered lifting of the Title 42 public health order, we continued to see a sharp decline in the number of Venezuelans unlawfully crossing our southwest border, down 82% from September 2022," Miller added.

Ben Whedon

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/more-200000-migrants-came-us-december-amid-mounting-border-crisis-cbp

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Biden’s new refugee program partners with group that promoted abolishment of ICE - Just the News Staff

 

by Just the News Staff

The "Welcome Corps" allows Americans to “privately sponsor refugees."

 

A new immigration program from the Biden administration is partnering with a group that once called for the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The White House’s Welcome Corps touts itself as “empower[ing] everyday Americans to come together to privately sponsor refugees.” The program lets participants “welcome refugees into local communities and directly assist refugee newcomers as they build new lives in the United States.”

Among the organizations that the WC has partnered with is Church World Service, a group that has at least once called for the disbandment of the United States’s immigration enforcement arm. 

The group in June of 2021 tweeted the hashtag “AbolishICE” in response to news that ICE workers had force-fed hunger strikers in their custody. 

CWS declares its mission as “[building] a world where everyone has food, voice and a safe place to call home.”

Just the News Staff

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/bidens-new-refugee-program-partners-group-promoted-abolishment-ice

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Russia's Vladimir Putin afraid of coup, will retire in 2023 - report - Shachar Berdishevsky/Maariv

 

by Shachar Berdishevsky/Maariv

A former ally of the Russian President talked about the possibility that Putin might retire soon, rather then potentially getting killed in a coup.

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulates security services officers and veterans on Security Agency Worker's Day, via video link at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, in this picture released on December 20, 2022.

(photo credit: SPUTNIK/MIKHAIL METZEL/POOL VIA REUTERS)

A source who was close to Putin once claimed that "the president will nominate his chosen heir already this year, instead of risking his downfall," the British Daily Mail reported on Friday. This comes after the Russian president's popularity is reportedly in a freefall because of repeated military failures in the war in Ukraine.

According to his former ally, Putin will want to transfer the power to his chosen successor and retire to his palace near the black sea, rather than risk a coup against him, similar to what happened to Qaddafi and other dictators.

Furthermore, he claimed Putin will seek to give up power, negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine and also not be part of the elections which are planned for 2024.

He said, "the Russian despot will probably nominate one of his loyalists like the mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin or his deputy Chief of Staff Dimitry Kuzak."

Putin is scared

Putin got flustered by the rise of Yevgeny Prigozhin, one of the owners of the Wagner mercenary group. Since the start of the war, Prigozhin has been fighting for more power and resources, which shows his desire to push Putin to the side.

The US announced on March 3, 2022 they were imposing sanctions against Russian oligarchs, including Yevgeniy Prigozhin, as it targeted Russia's super-rich and others close to President Vladimir Putin, further ratcheting up financial pressure over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. (credit: FBI/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)

The source said that "Putin's whole apparatus is looking wearily at Prigozhin and is scared he will come after them." He added that "Putin really might not be reelected if he will stand again. He would try to fake the outcome, but this is too much of a risk for the system. He may appoint a trusted person as president, if they could win the elections. Still, the will also have to negotiate will Ukraine and the West."

Discontent is rising

Earlier this month, British military experts estimated that Putin might have a revolution on his hands in the next two months, if he can't change the situation in Ukraine for the better.

"The Russians are trying to wear down the Ukrainian's will to resist by shelling Ukrainian cities and killing Ukrainian soldiers in large numbers," noted one senior expert, "now it's really up to the Ukrainians to continue attacking the Russians and kill as many Russians as possible to deplete their forces as well. So in a sense we are in a kind of war of attrition that could develop potentially, from one side or the other." 

"Putin is quite concerned about the impact of large-scale casualties on cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg, and that's why he's focused a huge amount of time on recruiting from some of the peripheral areas like Siberia," he added, "We've seen unprecedented civil protest movements happening in some of these peripheral areas. They're not getting much attention because the media in Russia hardly covers it."

Shachar Berdishevsky/Maariv

Source: https://www.jpost.com/international/article-728496

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Iran and energy supplies: The undeclared war - Moammar al-Eryani

 

by Moammar al-Eryani

It has become clear that the Houthis' control of parts of Yemen with the support of Iran and in breach of all agreements including the Stockholm Agreement and the UN-sponsored truce.

 

A woman walks after the morality police shut down in a street in Tehran, Iran December 6, 2022.

(photo credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA/REUTERS)

The relationship between the Western and Eastern worlds depends greatly on the stability of maritime navigation through the Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab straits due to their central geographical location at the junction between Europe, Asia and Africa. Many Western countries also depend on trade relations with the Arab region, especially the Arab Gulf countries.

For more stories from The Media Line go to themedialine.org

Furthermore, the economic recession that the world is witnessing has forced many countries to rethink their geopolitical balances. Although the US administration, for example, decided to gradually withdraw from the Middle East, the economic repercussions will force it to prioritize stability in the region and Yemen in particular. Several European countries are also trying to do this, in a race to secure international trade lanes and promote their leading role in maritime navigation along these important routes.

The paradox here is that China is fully aware of the importance of this region and seeks to restore its global glory through the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, investing in Djibouti and implementing mega infrastructure projects there in preparation to gradually impose itself on the region while undermining the opportunities for the United States of America in particular.

Economic estimates indicate that the gross national product of the Red Sea region will more than triple by 2050, from $1.8 trillion to $6.1 trillion. Despite these potentials, economic forecasts based on current data indicate that investment in global trade through this lane will not increase much during the coming decades due to the instability of the region. 

This forecast could change dramatically if there were joint efforts to secure the region, potentially increasing the volume of global trade through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait more than five times by 2050, from $881 billion to $4.7 trillion.

Despite many initiatives to combat terrorist activities that threaten maritime operations in the Red Sea and the Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab straits, the Western world is only dealing with the symptoms, not the roots of the problem in the region. What should be done is to simply adopt the strategy known as the upstream theory, which traces the symptoms to the root causes of a problem.

On November 8, 2022, the US Navy intercepted an Iranian ship carrying materials used for the manufacturing of weapons as it was en route to Yemen. According to experts, they detected 70 tons of ammonium chlorate, used in the manufacture of ballistic missile fuel and 100 tons of urea fertilizer, used in making explosives. In a statement, the US Naval Forces Central Command announced that the ship posed a threat to commercial navigation and the region’s security. It disposed of the contents and sank the ship after handing its four Yemeni crew members over to the Yemen Coast Guard.

This wasn’t the first time that such shipments were intercepted. Since 2015, the US Navy has intercepted several ships carrying various weapons shipments and components for manufacturing ballistic missiles and drones. Earlier this year, it was also announced that a similar ship from Somalia carrying a shipment of urea was on its way to the Houthis. Likewise, in early 2022, the British Royal Navy seized an Iranian ship loaded with missiles in the Gulf of Oman that was bound for the Houthis. By evaluating the contents of the ship, explosives experts were able to link it to the attack carried out by the Houthis on the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi in January 2022.

We have seen how in 2016 the Houthis fired missiles at the US Navy near Bab al-Mandab, indiscriminately planted sea mines in territorial waters, used a remote-controlled boat bomb to attack Mocha in the Red Sea in 2017, attack Saudi ships in Hodeidah port in 2018, and more recently attack the Yemen ports of Al-Nashima in Shabwa and Al-Dhaba in Hadramout governorates, and targeted an oil tanker in Qena oil terminal in Shabwa in November 2022.

We also followed Iran using a bomb-laden drone to target the Pacific Zircon oil tanker off the coast of Oman on November 16, 2022, which caused minor damage to the hull of the tanker, in an attempt to influence energy supplies during a global crisis, as well as its efforts to impose conditions on the negotiations to revive the Iranian nuclear deal and to pass its expansionist policies in the region. 

An environmental catastrophe

We also anticipate a looming environmental catastrophe with the aging supertanker Safer FSO, anchored in an advanced state of decay off the Yemini coast in the Red Sea. This will cost nearly $80 million to handle, and since 2015 the Houthis have denied access to a United Nations technical team to assess the situation and commence the required remedies.

Houthi police troopers sit atop an armored personnel carrier securing a rally held to mark the Ghadeer day, in Sana'a, Yemen on July 17, 2022 (credit: REUTERS/KHALED ABDULLAH)

It has become clear that the Houthis' control of parts of Yemen with the support of Iran and in breach of all agreements including the Stockholm Agreement and the UN-sponsored truce, undermining all de-escalation and peace efforts and violating all international laws, charters and Security Council resolutions, does not pose a threat to Yemen only, but also to the safety of commercial ships and the security of international shipping lanes.

In April 2022, a new security team was formed by the US and British navies with other allied countries to monitor the Red Sea, stabilize navigation and secure the important international trade lines through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Since May 2022, several European countries led by France have called for an extension of the powers of the European Supervision Mission on the Strait of Hormuz, which was formed at the beginning of 2020 by eight European countries, to include the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean through the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The importance of this path lies in the fact that 10% of world trade passes through this strait, and it is expected to increase after the Russian-Ukrainian war. 

Since the eruption of the Russian-Ukrainian war and the boycott of Russian oil, European countries have been trying to find alternative oil supplies, turning to the Arabian Gulf, which is the best option in terms of abundance and infrastructure. Furthermore, Italy and Germany secured new deals with Qatar, and France did the same with the UAE. The matter is not limited to oil, but there are understandings of cooperation between Europe and the Arab Gulf regarding clean energy as an extension of the previous agreements on green hydrogen between the European Union, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

In addition to the active role played by the Saudi-led coalition in securing international shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab and thwarting dozens of terrorist attacks that the Houthis planned in the past eight years using remote-controlled booby-trapped boats and naval mines, all of which are military techniques imported from Iran.

Instead of forming more initiatives and spending millions and a great deal of effort in protecting commercial shipping lanes, the concerned American and European leaders in particular must devote efforts to support the Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council and the legitimate government that represents the entire Yemeni political and social spectrum, helping it to impose control and establish security and stability along the coastal strip in Yemen.

This is in addition to limiting the Houthis and their military capabilities, which have recently been involved in the undeclared Iranian war on the energy infrastructure, facilities, ports, and oil tankers in international waters. This can be achieved by designating Houthis as a terrorist organization and listing them on international terrorist lists, drying up the financial, political, and media sources of the movement, and enacting laws that impose penalties on its leaders, freeze their assets, and ban their travel.

Evidence is there and solutions are on the table. Can the US and European countries deal with the root causes of the problem, or will they continue to waste more time dealing with the symptoms? 

The writer is the Yemeni Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism.

Moammar al-Eryani

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-729151

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Written records of biblical King David discovered by researchers - Jerusalem Post Staff

 

by Jerusalem Post Staff

The stele was discovered in fragments in 1868 roughly 15 miles east of the Dead Sea and currently resides in the Louvre museum in Paris.

 

Detail of a portion of lines 12–16, reconstructed from the squeeze. The middle line (14) reads "Take Nabau against Israel."

(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The Mesha Stele, also called the Moabite Stone, is a basalt stone slab that has provided historians and linguists with the largest source of the Moabite language to date. Researchers have only now been able to verify with a considerable degree of certainty that the stele contains explicit references to King David. 

The stele was discovered in fragments in 1868 roughly 15 miles east of the Dead Sea and currently resides in the Louvre museum in Paris. While it was damaged in 1869, a paper-mache impression of the inscription was captured before the damage occurred.

The slab is etched with a lengthy account of King Mesha of Moab going to war with Israel. The events described correspond, albeit imprecisely, with a similar account in 2 Kings chapter 3. 

The House of David

The text contains allusions to the Israelite god as well as the "House of David" and the "Altar of David." However, until today, scholars could not be entirely sure that these references to King David were being correctly deciphered.

Mesha stele. (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The Moabite phrase "House of David" consists of five letters: bt dwd. "Bt" is similar to today's Hebrew word for house - bayit - which is beit in its construct form. And "dwd" can be thought of like modern Hebrew's daled vav (the letter, in this case, is actually waw) daled which spells the name "David."

Until now, only the first and fourth letters of the series, bet and waw were completely clear. In a late-2022 article entitled "Mesha's Stele and the House of David" in the winter issue of Biblical Archeology Review researchers André Lemaire and Jean-Philippe Delorme re-examined the evidence. They write:

"In 2015, a team from the West Semitic Research Project of the University of Southern California took new digital photographs of both the restored stela and the paper squeeze. The team used a method called Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), in which numerous digital images are taken of an artifact from different angles and then combined to create a precise, three-dimensional digital rendering of the piece.

"This method is especially valuable because the digital rendering allows researchers to control the lighting of an inscribed artifact, so that hidden, faint, or worn incisions become visible."

More recently in 2018, the Louvre took these new, high-resolution pictures and projected light onto them coming directly through the 150-year-old squeeze paper. Thus, researchers were able to glean a much clearer picture of the ancient records. This, explain Lemaire and Delorme, is how they were able to see evidence of the other three letters, taw (like modern Hebrew tav), dalet, and dalet.

How similar are Moabite and Ancient Hebrew?

Encyclopedia Britannica characterized the relationship between Moabite and the Hebrew of its time as differing "only dialectically." According to Dearman and Jackson's 1989 book Studies in the Mesha Inscription and Moab: “It is probable that Moabite and Hebrew were, for the most part, mutually intelligible.”

Jerusalem Post Staff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-728354

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Report: IRGC office discovered in Jewish area of London - Israel National News

 

by Israel National News

UK politician urges government to shut down office used as 'outreach center' for Revolutionary Guard Corps.

 

Noor satellite launched into orbit by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps                  Reuters

An office used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been discovered deep within a Jewish neighborhood in London, England.

The chair of the British parliamentary foreign affairs select committee called on the government to close what is being described as the “London office” of the IRGC, which is used as an “outreach center” by the Iranian government, the Jewish Chronicle reported.

Conservative MP Alicia Kearns said that the Islamic Centre of England (ICE) in Maida Vale, which has voiced support for IRGC terrorists, is used by the Iranian regime for nefarious purposes related to the IRGC.

With the IRGC in charge of Iran’s funding of terrorist networks, specifically Hamas and Hezbollah, and with oversight over the country’s nuclear and missile programs, Kearns told the news outlet that ICE used the office “solely to spread the word of the Islamic repressive regime.”

She also called on British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to list the IRGC as a banned terror entity and added that ICE was responsible for harassing Iranian dissidents living in the UK.

According to ICE’s constitution, the head of the organization is the representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. ICE’s current director, Seyed Moosavi, who called protesters in Iran “soldiers of Satan” at a sermon at the center, was appointed by Khamenei.

The Community Security Trust also called for the center to be shut down, with a spokesperson telling the Chronicle: “It is absurd that this centre, located in the heart of London’s Jewish community, is allowed to continue its activities, and even more outrageous that it is a registered charity, given its strong links to the government of Iran – a government with a long record of antisemitism, Holocaust denial and terrorism against Jewish communities.”

Kearns also recently told the BBC Today program that the IRGC office in Maida Vale should be closed.

“They like to call it an outreach centre, an Islamic centre. The head of it was appointed directly by the Supreme Leader of Iran. This is an organization that is solely there to spread the word of the Islamic repressive regime,” she said.

“This is a terrorist state that threatens us on so many levels beyond what we are currently seeing. Unfortunately we now have to change our posture,” she added.

Israel National News

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/366238

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Google to cut tens of thousands of jobs - Israel National News

 

by Israel National News

Google's parent company, Alphabet, to cut about 12,000 jobs globally, becoming the latest tech company to announce large-scale layoffs.

 

Google's headquarters in Silicon Valley                                                                             iStock

Google's parent company, Alphabet, announced on Friday it will cut about 12,000 jobs globally, citing a changing economic reality as it became the latest US tech giant to enact large-scale restructuring, AFP reports.

"Over the past two years we've seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today," Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in an email to employees quoted in the report.

"We've undertaken a rigorous review across product areas and functions to ensure that our people and roles are aligned with our highest priorities as a company," Pichai said, adding that the workforce would be reduced by around 12,000 positions. The roles we're eliminating reflect the outcome of that review," he added.

Alphabet employed nearly 187,000 workers worldwide at the end of September 2022. The cuts represent a little over 6 percent of its total workforce, according to AFP.

Pichai said American employees have already been notified about the cuts while reductions in other countries will take longer due to local labor laws.

Pichai said that the cuts would "sharpen our focus" towards new priorities, pointing to the necessity of investing even more in artificial intelligence.

"Being constrained in some areas allows us to bet big on others," he said.

The announcement makes Google the latest large company to announce layoffs. Earlier this week, Microsoft officially announced that it would be laying off about 10,000 workers around the world that make up about five percent of its workforce.

Previously, Facebook owner Meta, Amazon and Twitter all announced layoffs. Kan 11 News reported this week that the Amazon layoffs have already affected its employees in Israel.

Israel National News

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/366233

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Smotrich freezes outpost demolition - but Galant overrules freeze order - Hezki Baruch

 

by Hezki Baruch

Arabs rampage through newly-built hilltop outpost, assaulting Jews as police begin demolition - in violation of right-wing ministers' orders

 

Galant (right) and Smotrich (left)                                                                           Photo: Arutz 7

Israeli police forces began dismantling a newly-established hilltop outpost community in Samaria Friday afternoon, just hours after the outpost was established.

Jewish settlement activists erected a number of structures on a hilltop adjacent to the existing town of Migdalim in Samaria overnight, dubbing the outpost “Ohr HaHaim,” in honor of the late Religious Zionist spiritual leader, Rabbi Haim Druckman.

The Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration declared the area a closed military zone and ordered the immediate destruction of the structures.

Activists on the scene say Arabs from neighboring towns attacked the outpost during the demolition, assaulting Jews and injuring at least one. Witnesses report Arab rioters hurled stones at activists, while Israeli security forces present at the scene did not intervene.

MK Limor Son Har-Hameleh (Otzma Yehudit) joined activists in protesting the demolition, calling on security personnel to halt the evacuation.

The demolition was launched despite orders by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) and Minister in the Defense Ministry Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party).

As part of the process , police blocked Israeli traffic towards the area at several surrounding junctions.

Ben-Gvir ordered police to halt the demolition Friday, acknowledging that while the outpost had been built without authorization, building infractions must be fairly enforced.

“It is outrageous that while Arabs are building across Judea and Samaria, the Civil Administration people are carrying out selective enforcement – within a matter of hours – to demolish and destroy this outpost,” Ben-Gvir said Friday.

Ben-Gvir is calling on the government to hold a meeting on the Civil Administration’s handling of the matter.

Finance Minister Smotrich, who also serves as Minister in the Defense Ministry and under the coalition agreement is in charge of settlement affairs, issued an order early Friday morning to the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories to freeze plans for the outpost’s demolition, instructing the COGAT that no action be taken until a formal hearing on the matter is held next week.

According to Smotrich’s office, however, Defense Minister Yoav Galant (Likud) countermanded Smotrich’s order, instructing the Civil Administration to carry out the evacuation Friday.

Sources close to Minister Smotrich called the move a direct violation of the government’s coalition agreement, noting that Galant did not consult with Smotrich before overriding his order.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant recently spoke with the IDF Chief of the General Staff LTG. Herzi Halevi, and reaffirmed his full support for the IDF and security forces. "Every action on the ground must be conducted in accordance with the law. It must also be fully coordinated and must be taken in accordance with the relevant security situation assessment."

The Prime Minister's Office released a statement regarding the incident: "The Government supports settlement but only when it is done legally and is coordinated in advance with the Prime Minister and security officials, which was not done in this case. The Prime Minister will convene a discussion on the issue early next week."

The Minister for Development of the Negev, the Galilee and National Resilience Yitzhak Wasserlauf commented: "It is sad to see that, even though Benny Gantz was sent to the opposition, the current Minister of Defense allows the policy of discrimination outlined by Gantz to continue - a policy of destroying settlements while ignoring illegal Arab construction. I support the demand of the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir to hold a discussion about this disgraceful conduct of the Civil Administration. The time has come for a full-on right-wing policy in Judea and Samaria."

Likud MK Danny Danon commented: "I support strengthening the settlements and the rule of law. There is no contradiction between the things. The new government is committed to settlement in Judea and Samaria and therefore must stop with selective enforcement. The same forces that arrived to demolish the Or Haim outpost should arrive in Khan al-Ahmar on Sunday morning and demolish the illegal Palestinian structures built there with EU funds. If the Civil Administration does not know the exact location, I would be happy to show them. Shabbat Shalom to the brave settlers in Judea and Samaria."

MK Limor Son Har-Malech from the Otzma Yehudit party commented: "I arrived this morning at the new outpost, Or Haim, in Samaria, to try to prevent the destruction but unfortunately I failed. Defense Minister Galant chose to infringe upon the coalition agreements and ordered security forces to carry out the destruction. With horrendous insensitivity, Arab workers were brought to the scene and destroyed the houses and property with great pleasure while making shouts of laughter and joy as if it was a holiday. I understand that the left is trying to celebrate and spread fake news, but the statement that is being spread in my name was said in regard to the outrageous and painful spectacle of the laughter of the workers there, and absolutely not towards the policemen who were forced to carry out the orders they received."

Minister Ofir Akunis commented: "We insisted in the negotiations to accept responsibility for the civil administration in order to strengthen the settlement and stop the Arab takeover of the open areas. We will insist that the coalition agreements are fully respected."

MK Benny Gantz commented on the eviction: "When Prime Minister Netanyahu leads a policy of trampling the foundations of democracy and the legal system - it is not surprising that the minister entrusted with law enforcement in the State of Israel calls on another minister to violate it. The Minister of Defense is doing a good job, adopting a determined and responsible policy in the face of violations of the law and not allowing political provocations and pressures to dictate policy in Judea and Samaria."

MK Gadi Eizenkot commented on the demolition: "I watch with concern the irresponsible conduct of Minister Bezalel Smotritz who gives illegal instructions that contradict decades of policy in which new construction of any kind is immediately destroyed. The Prime Minister must immediately take a position similar to the hundreds of cases in which illegal outposts were destroyed during his tenure and give complete backing to the security system and the IDF."

MK Matan Kahana commented: "Defense Minister Galant does not care about Smotrich. Just imagine what would have happened if such an eviction had happened during the days of the previous government. A right-wing government indeed."

MK Merav Michaeli commented: "A crazy and extreme government harms Israel's security. The right hand doesn't know what the more extreme right hand is doing. Smotrich is going against Galant and Netanyahu, as usual, drags this feet. Look at them for a moment. This embarrassing bunch can't manage themselves, they are clearly not qualified to run a country" .

Former MK Nir Orbach commented: "It's time to formally regulate new settlements and immediately a general order that allows connection to electricity and answers their security needs. We worked to obtain a legal opinion that allows over 40 settlements to be recognized. This is the time."

The Nachala movement, which supports the building of new Israeli localities, commented: "The destruction of the settlement established in memory of Rabbi Druckman must be stopped immediately. At a time when the Arabs are taking over the hills of Judea and Samaria day by day, it is strange and puzzling that a 'right-wing government' chooses to destroy a new settlement established in memory of Rabbi Druckman. At the same time, the Arab enemy tries to harm the Jews who came to settle the Land of Israel and destroy Jewish settlements. This approach projects weakness and is a danger to the State of Israel. The time has come to make it clear that the right was elected and the left's policies must not be continued. We call for an immediate halt to the destruction of the Jewish settlement and to turn the forces against the Arab takeover."

Hezki Baruch

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/366227

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A classified document found in a garage is no accident, it is a crime - Mark Hewitt

 

by Mark Hewitt

Those in the know think the only reason anyone would take sensitive compartmentalized documents out of their secured locations is espionage.

 

People are missing the point and the media are purposely distorting the facts about the discovery of classified documents in Joe Biden's possession. The unsecured classified documents found in Biden's garage is not only a crime scene, it is evidence of espionage. 

Every pundit on the television continually demonstrates having little clue about the law or even the name of the security program that governs the safeguarding of classified materials. 

They cannot and will not cite which law(s) was(were) broken when classified materials are discovered unsecured; irrespective of them being protected by a green Corvette or a garage door. 

Under the Espionage Act, 18 USC 793: Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information lists the following:

(e) Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it; or

(f) Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information, relating to the national defense, (1) through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, or (2) having knowledge that the same has been illegally removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of its trust, or lost, or stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, and fails to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer-

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

So, to be clear, what the media fail to report is that President Biden obviously violated paragraph (f) of the Espionage Act and Hunter Biden obviously violated paragraph (e) of the Espionage Act. 

The governing law for the safeguarding of classified materials can be found at 32 CFR Part 117, the National Industrial Security Program, aka the NISPOM.  The NISPOM is the security bible for the security officers of defense contractors who deal with classified documents and customers.

I worked for a defense contractor which did work for the intelligence community.  After a comprehensive background investigation was conducted on me, I was awarded a TS/SCI, a Top Secret clearance with Sensitive Compartmented Information (I also took a counterintelligence polygraph).  My work in a SCIF sometimes required SCI control systems SI and TK; access to special intelligence and satellite imagery, respectively.

What I see of media reporting and the White House narrative is cowardly and criminal.

For someone who worked in SCIFs, doing work for classified customers, I can state unequivocally, the media are purposely skewing the facts.  They are using propaganda to create the illusion that a simple accident or the mishandling of documents occurred. But just mere fact that classified materials are not mere documents and were not properly secured, as required by the NISPOM is evidence of a major crime. In this case, the documents were essentially in the possession of Hunter Biden, the person who was reportedly living in the house, and who is not authorized to receive, possess, or transmit classified information.  Any investigator would call that for what it obviously is: A probable safe house used to traffic classified materials, and for a long time.

Maybe there is an ulterior reason for Joe Biden to constantly return to Delaware or wherever his homes are located. 

There is only one purpose for removing classified information from a safe or a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) without the proper authority; to conduct espionage. Removal is stealing and stolen documents are necessary to engage in that crime.  Bradley Manning and Reality Winter are cases in point, that if you remove classified documents from a SCIF without authorization, you will be charged with violating the Espionage Act.

This basic lesson seems to have eluded the FBI.

If you or I had a single page of TS/SCI classified material, out of its container, out of a SCIF, we’d be locked up for espionage in a microsecond.

That the FBI has chosen not to do anything speaks volumes.  They are compromised and by taking no action they are actually facilitating espionage.  It must be great having the FBI run cover for a criminal enterprise. 

We should not be surprised.  Hillary Clinton was caught violating the Espionage Act and everyone knew it, but FBI Director James Comey exonerated her.  Bradley Manning and Reality Winter thought they would receive the same 'punishment' Hillary received, but were mistaken. 

The media and the Dems want to cite President Trump as being caught having classified materials at Mar-a-Lago but that accusation is a red herring.  What the right wing media point out is that, as POTUS, Donald Trump had the absolute authority to declassify documents and keep copies of declassified documents for future use, such as for presidential libraries.  With President Trump, it has been nothing but part of the harassment package by the FBI and the Attorney General to say he had “classified documents.” 

What they will not tell you nor show you is that those documents no doubt possessed the required classification headers and footers but not the declassification stamps and the date of declassification on them, which rendered them declassified.

The FBI and the AG are unnecessarily harassing with President Trump.  Congress needs to investigate and name names, and begin by impeaching FBI Director Christopher Wray and AG Merrick Garland. 

President Biden has no excuse having any TS/SCI classified material, out of its container, out of a SCIF, unsecured in a garage, in the possession of someone not authorized to receive classified documents.  Understandably, the Democrats and the media are scrambling to control a devastating narrative with evidence.  There are many ways to conduct espionage, and President Biden has been caught in flagrante delicto trafficking classified documents.

Remember, the FBI looked the other way when Hillary Clinton was also trafficking classified documents.

Until Hillary came along, previously the greatest high-level “civil servant” to traffic classified documents was Alger Hiss, during the 1930s and 1940s.  He was able to spirit thousands of documents out of the State Department using a 1929 Woodstock typewriter.  When evidence of his treason and treachery was finally presented, Alger Hiss’s production for the Soviet Union was a stack of purloined documents four and a half feet high.  Hillary’s production, of 30,000 missing emails, would have made a stack 11 feet high.

Question: How long has President Biden been conducting what had to be espionage—as a senator and vice president and now as president—and if we were to retrieve his production, how tall would that stack be?

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License

Mark Hewitt

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/01/a_classified_document_found_in_a_garage_is_no_accident_it_is_a_crime.html

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Meet the BDS Puppet Masters - Civis Americanus

 

by Civis Americanus

It doesn't take much infiltration to poison an organization with bad ideology. Two percent will do.

I have long wondered why political liberals, who claim to be foremost in the struggle against discrimination, including against women and LGBT people, are also the principal actors in the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.  Why are women's and gender studies departments around the country against the only country in the Middle East where a woman can be prime minister and LGBT people can hold a gay pride event in the capital city?  Why did the Middle East Studies Association, American Studies Association, PSC-CUNY, and Seattle Education Association join the BDS movement?  Why are diversity, inclusion, and equity (DIE) departments, especially in universities, propagating anti-Semitic canards about "Jewish power" and "Jewish control"?  One would expect purportedly liberal campuses to be foremost in supporting women's rights and LGBT rights as they exist in Israel, and protesting misogynistic and homophobic discrimination and violence as practiced not only by the "Palestinians," but also Iran and the Taliban, but they are doing the opposite.

There is only one rational explanation: some of them are being paid off, whether by direct funding of various academic departments or with surreptitious payments under the table in cash and/or cryptocurrency.  This recent article in Newsweek, a mainstream news source, explains:

ISGAP's research identified a direct correlation between the funding of universities by Qatar and the Gulf States and the active presence at those universities of groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which foster an aggressive anti-Semitic atmosphere on campus. In addition, the ISGAP project assessment found a correlation between funding and the ideological bent of scholarship, including anti-Israel and anti-Zionist sentiment, at departments and institutes at some of America's leading universities, publishing houses and academic professional associations.

The reference adds that the Middle Eastern donors involved failed to report $3 billion to the federal government, as required by law, and you can grease thousands of palms with $3 billion in untraceable money.  Qatar, which also has ties with the foreign terrorist organization Hamas, hosts satellite campuses of Georgetown, Northwestern, and Cornell Universities.  Saudi Arabian billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal, in fact, donated money for the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown.  My understanding is that, at least at the time, there were no Christians in Saudi Arabia, or at least none who would dare to admit it.  "By law there are no Christians in Saudi Arabia."  This may be changing as Saudi Arabia extends diplomatic ties to Israel, allows women to drive, and liberalizes in other matters as well, but it was not the case when bin Talal created his center for so-called Muslim-Christian Understanding.

Qatar Suborns the European Union

The sinister influence of various oil-rich countries goes beyond American universities into the European Union, which could help explain E.U. support for the so-called "Palestinian" cause.  Politico explains: "six suspects were rounded up, including Eva Kaili, a glamorous 44-year-old Greek politician who, as a vice president was one of the highest profile politicians in the European Parliament."  That's right; the vice president of the E.U. was arrested for corruption, and the reference adds that €150,000 were found in her apartment and her father was found with a suitcase stuffed with cash.

The six arrested suspects may be the tip of the iceberg.  Numerous E.U. figures are probably taking cash and/or cryptocurrency under the table to promote foreign agendas that are inconsistent with the best interest of the E.U. and its citizens.  Qatar's venality extends even further to the use of bribery to gain hosting rights for the World Cup competition.

Students for Justice in Palestine's Ties to Qatar

It comes as no surprise that Students for Justice in Palestine also has close connections to Qatar.  Here is what Georgetown University-Qatar's SJP has to say.  "As a club at GU-Q and as students in Qatar, our vision behind SJP is to support the Palestinian cause and Palestinians in their struggle for justice, self-determination, and liberation from the river to the sea."  "From the river to the sea" is a call for the destruction of Israel because that includes Israel inside its 1948 borders.  The Canary Mission adds that SJP was founded by an anti-Semite and supporter of the foreign terrorist organization Hamas, Professor Hatem Bazian.

Bazian, a Jordanian immigrant, is a poster child for the need of the United States to vet immigrants carefully to ensure that they will assimilate with our national values.  Bazian exemplifies the argument that, while you can take immigrants out of the jihad, you cannot take the jihad out of some immigrants. (See also Rashida Tlaib and her support for PFLP terrorist Rasmea Odeh.)

Here is Bazian calling for an American intifada in support of Iraqi insurgents who were killing American soldiers and expressing his support for Hamas.  This is the face of Students for Justice in Palestine.

The Scheme Now Stands Exposed

Remember that we had Nazi sympathizers in the United States who, during the 1930s, worked with Nazi Germany to influence the policies of the United States.  Some were doubtless on Hitler's payroll.  Now we have Hamas sympathizers in the United States, some of whom are owned by these foreign entities.  Not all, many, or even most, but some, and some are more than enough.  According to the article "Scientists discover tipping point for the spread of ideas," "[r]esearchers have found that minority rules; when only ten percent of the public holds a firm opinion, the majority will always follow."

If you're Qatar, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, or some other unsavory entity, you don't have to suborn all, most, or even many; you just have to suborn ten percent.  Colonel Paul Linebarger's Psychological Warfare says, however, that the number is closer to two percent (emphasis is mine).

The Communists had shown that an organization calling itself a party, actually a quasi-religious hierarchy with strong internal discipline, definite membership, and active organizational components, could control fifty times its own membership. ... [S]uch a movement needed to have youth branches, women's organizations, labor sections, clubs of its own, and so on, calling this 'mass organization.'

This two percent may well correspond to the Inner Party in George Orwell's 1984, with the Outer Party of which Winston Smith was a member corresponding to the associated organizations.  SJP, Jewish Voice for Peace, and so on also have satellite organizations of this nature.

Now, however, we have seen the puppet masters behind the curtain, the ones who are really pulling the strings, and we can call this out for what it is.  A simple counter-chant to an SJP or similar demonstration could be, "Are you on Qatar's payroll?  Are you taking money from Hamas or the Palestinian Authority?"  This is, in light of the revelations shown above, a valid question and not a potentially false statement of fact.  It is absolutely vital not to accuse any specific person without proof, so we should follow instead the guidance presented in Romeo and Juliet.  "I do not bite my thumb at you, Sir, but I bite my thumb, Sir."  This process implicates their entire movement while it accuses nobody in particular.  It should be used as often as possible.

Image via Libreshot

 
Civis Americanus is the pen name of a contributor who remembers the lessons of history and wants to ensure that our country never needs to learn those lessons again the hard way.  The author is remaining anonymous due to the likely prospect of being subjected to "cancel culture" for exposing the Big Lie behind Black Lives Matter.

Source: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/01/meet_the_bds_puppet_masters.html

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