Saturday, July 22, 2023

House Oversight Chair Comer says he expects Hunter Biden to face between 6 to 10 criminal referrals - Charlotte Hazard

 

by Charlotte Hazard

Referrals Hunter Biden could face include violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and the Mann Act.

 

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said he plans to file "between six and 10 criminal referrals" against Hunter Biden once the committee finishes its investigation. 

One of the charges would include illegally transporting women across state lines for prostitution, according to the New York Post. 

"The Democrats kept saying, 'Oh, we don't have any evidence. You don't have any evidence.' Well, [Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene] showed them evidence," Comer said during an interview with Fox Business.

During her questioning of the IRS whistleblowers on Wednesday, Greene displayed sexually graphic images printed on posters and asked questions that involved allegations about whether or not Hunter used his company to write up expenses for prostitutes. 

"She showed them evidence of the president's son committing a crime, violating the Mann Act," Comer said. "She showed the plane tickets, she showed the pictures, she showed the evidence. You know, there's no question he violated it. That's another thing that he could have been charged with."

Comer added that other referrals the first son could face include violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

"He was money laundering," Comer said. "He was racketeering. He committed wire fraud. He violated the Mann Act. The list goes on and on and on."


Charlotte Hazard

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/house-oversight-chair-comer-says-he-expects-hunter-biden-face-between-6-10

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

School district bans opt-out from LGBTQ lessons because too many families opted out - Greg Piper

 

by Greg Piper

D.C. suburb says injunction on mandatory "storybooks" with sex workers, kink, drag, gender transitions would cause "significant disruption," stigmatize children, violate federal law.

 


 

An affluent liberal D.C. suburb has a simple explanation for why it won't honor parents' requests to exclude their children, some as young as 3 years old, from "storybooks" with sex workers, kink, drag, gender transitions and same-sex romance for elementary-age children: It's hard.

Maryland's Montgomery County Public Schools claims it was flooded with opt-out requests when the books were introduced in the curriculum in January, giving it legal justification, on logistical grounds, to issue a blanket policy of no exceptions and no notifications.

The district didn't provide a specific number or even vague range, however, in its memorandum opposing the motion for preliminary injunction by Catholic, Muslim and Ukrainian-Orthodox parents who filed the First and Fourteenth Amendment lawsuit in May.

The July 6 amended complaint adds plaintiff Kids First, a new unincorporated association of Montgomery County parents with children in MCPS or who would be "but for" the new policy. It includes "Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, Latter-day Saints, and Jews, and is open to individuals of all faiths."

MCPS spokesperson Christopher Cram told Just the News he was seeking "any information available" on the number of requests the school invoked to justify the new policy but couldn't provide anything Friday. The districts' lawyers didn't respond when asked. 

The district imposed the no-exception and no-notification policy March 23, a day after it told the media it would honor requests and issue notifications, which united parents across the religious spectrum in opposition.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a reliably liberal advocacy group on most issues, has been especially vocal and visible in challenging the policy.

"Public schools have an obligation to be inclusive and neutral," Maryland Director Zainab Chaudry said at a multifaith rally Thursday. "They can't be favoring one group over another."

MCPS is the only known district nationwide to go this far, setting "a dangerous precedent for more bullying, more harassment, more intimidation for children within schools," according to Chaudry. "We can't teach children allyship and tolerance and inclusion by forcing them to assimilate" and give up "their own diverse identities."

Cram didn't answer when asked to evaluate Chaudry's claim about MCPS pioneering a no-exception policy.

 

 

MCPS "cannot plausibly claim that an opt-out policy that is both required by state law and was willingly followed until March 2023 could somehow harm the public interest if followed for the duration of this case," the parents' June 12 memorandum in support of a preliminary injunction states.

Maryland law requires districts to honor "family life and human sexuality" curriculum opt-outs "for any reason," and MCPS policy directs schools to "accommodate requests" from students and parents for classroom content "they believe would impose a substantial burden on their religious beliefs," the memo also states.

In addition, the storybooks go beyond "basic civility and kindness toward all," explicitly encouraging children to "question sexuality and gender identity, focus on romantic feelings, and embrace gender transitioning," the memo reads. 

Pre-kindergarten students, for example, are required to read Pride Puppy, which "promotes pride parades as family-friendly events without cautioning about the frequent nudity and sexually explicit conduct that many parents find objectionable –especially for children."

MCPS policy never guaranteed parents exemptions from the storybooks, just "reasonable and feasible adjustments" specifically for religious beliefs, while expressly warning they may be refused if requests become "too frequent or too burdensome," the district's July 12 memo against the injunction states.

"Through conversations with principals, MCPS became aware that individual schools could not accommodate the growing number of opt-out requests without causing significant disruptions to the classroom environment and undermining MCPS’s educational mission," according to the memo.

Excusing children from the storybooks is also at odds with the school district's "efforts to cultivate an inclusive and welcoming learning environment" and would "undermine its goals of reducing stigmatization and fostering social integration of all students and families," the memo reads.

The district also challenged the portrayal of the requests as uniformly rooted in religious belief, even though the plaintiffs did not limit their constitutional claims to infringement of religious beliefs.

MCPS said "many" requests were not religious – again without providing a number or range – and that some parents just opposed their children learning about sex, "LGBTQ issues" or "instructional materials that were not age-appropriate."

Associate Superintendent Niki Hazel, who oversees curriculum and instructional programs, provided more detail in her declaration. Honoring opt-outs could cause "high student absenteeism," given that parents in just one elementary school "sought to excuse dozens of students, she said.

Teachers would have to "track and accommodate" requests, but media specialists and others "who spend time in multiple classrooms each day" would also face burdens in ensuring "they were abiding by the accommodations granted to every student they encountered across an entire school," according to Hazel.

The district could violate Maryland and federal nondiscrimination laws if it allowed some students to "leave the classroom whenever language arts lessons draw on books featuring LGBTQ characters," Hazel claimed, because this would expose "students who believe that the books represent them or their families … to social stigma and isolation."

Perhaps fearful of similar headaches prompted by exposing children to adult themes, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center canceled its Asian American Literature Festival with a month's notice July 5, The Washington Post reported.

The festival touts its track record of "engaging queer/trans/nonbinary communities of color, including youth leadership pipelines," and programming includes "campfire-style queer ghost stories." 

Citing internal Smithsonian emails about "the current political climate," the Post reported the festival underwent a Smithsonian Directive 603 review to "identify potentially sensitive issues" that could prompt "public debate or questions from the public, news media, Congress and the Administration," but it's not clear the review was relevant to the cancelation.

A Smithsonian spokesperson told the Post it canceled the festival because organizers were a month behind deadlines and hadn't presented a "full packet of confirmed materials." 

That explanation was challenged in an open letter by "partners and co-organizers" who feared "the Smithsonian’s desire to censor trans and nonbinary programming" could have been "the driving factor."

 

Greg Piper

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/education/school-district-says-it-banned-opt-out-lgbtq-lessons-because-too-many

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Iran's Mullahs Escalating Aggression in Latin America, Middle East - Majid Rafizadeh

 

by Majid Rafizadeh

The insanity continues

  • Thanks to the appeasement policies of the Biden and Obama Administrations, the ruling mullahs of Iran, called by the US State Department the top state sponsor of terrorism, have now also emerged as a major arms exporter. Moreover, coupled with imminent nuclear bombs, they appear determined to ramp up their exports even further.

  • Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, echoed a similar message. He pointed out that Iran has "no restriction" on exporting military equipment to other countries, including Venezuela.

  • Due to the Biden Administration's appeasement and Obama's nuclear deal, the Iranian regime has doubled down on enriching uranium to 84% (weapons grade is 90% ); vowed to become "one of the world's largest arms exporters"; caused former US allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to turn to the Chinese Communist Party for protection; escalated aggression in the Middle East to push the US out of the area; and expanded Iran's military presence in Latin America to threaten the United States.

  • How is the Biden Administration responding? It is reportedly threatening Israel, which Iran's former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, on December 14, 2001, called a "one-bomb country": If this "one bomb country," roughly the size of New Jersey (8,700 sq. mi; 22,600 sq km) does not go along with the Biden Administration's plan to allow Iran to have as many nuclear weapons as it likes – while the US is bribing Iran's mullahs with up to $100 billion please not to use them on the Biden Administration's watch -- the US will "reassess" its diplomatic ties with Israel.

  • What degree of dementia is that?

Thanks to the appeasement policies of the Biden and Obama Administrations, the ruling mullahs of Iran have now emerged as a major arms exporter. Moreover, coupled with imminent nuclear bombs, they appear determined to ramp up their exports even further. Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, pointed out that Iran has "no restriction" on exporting military equipment to other countries, including Venezuela. Pictured: Then US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) meets with then Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the United Nations April 27, 2015, in New York City. (Photo by Jason DeCrow/Pool/Getty Images)

Thanks to the appeasement policies of the Biden and Obama Administrations, the ruling mullahs of Iran, called by the US State Department the top state sponsor of terrorism, have now also emerged as a major arms exporter. Moreover, coupled with imminent nuclear bombs, they appear determined to ramp up their exports even further.

"Introducing the Islamic Republic's defense and military capabilities and sharing them [with friendly countries] can expand the country's defense relations and strengthen deterrence," the Iranian Armed Forces Chief of General Staff, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, recently bragged to Iran's state-controlled Mehr News at a gathering of Foreign Ministry officials and ambassadors in Tehran.

"The Iranian Armed Forces are fully prepared to upgrade the level of ties in various fields, including the wholesale export of defense and military equipment as well as training, exercises, and the practical transfer of experience."

Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, echoed a similar message. He pointed out that Iran has "no restriction" on exporting military equipment to other countries, including Venezuela.

"The future world is a different world. The new world order geometry is altering with the emergence of several new powers, particularly in Asia and in different fields."

Iran currently possesses the largest and most diverse ballistic missile program in the Middle East. No country other than Iran has acquired long-range ballistic missiles before obtaining nuclear weapons. While ballistic missiles can be used for either offensive or defensive purposes, the sophisticated ones are mainly developed as delivery vehicles for nuclear weapons.

According to John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the US National Security Council:

"As of May, Russia received hundreds of one-way attack [unmanned aerial vehicles], as well as UAV production-related equipment, from Iran. We are releasing a graphic that shows how Iranian drones are being transferred to Russia: the drones are built in Iran, shipped across the Caspian Sea... and then used operationally by Russian forces against Ukraine. Russia and Iran's actions are violations of their obligations under UN Security Council Resolution 2231 by participating in these transfers of drones from Iran to Russia without UN Security Council approval."

The regime's rise as an exporter of weapons seems to have begun with then President Barack Obama's 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal. Among the many rewards that the Obama Administration offered to the Iranian regime was one setting October 18, 2020 as the date when the arms embargo on Iran would be removed and allowing the regime to export, import, buy and sell weapons legally, however it might wish. The arms embargo had been previously placed on Iran by the five members of the UN Security Council in 2007, during the Bush administration. The embargo encompassed a wide range of weapons, including large-caliber artillery, drones, combat aircraft, battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, attack helicopters, missiles, missile launchers and warships.

The second gift to the ruling mullahs of Iran is the presidency of Joe Biden. The Biden Administration's obsequious leadership and the removal of the arms embargo may well have emboldened the Iranian regime to ratchet up its import and export of weapons.

Iran's ruling mullahs are also currently boasting that China is another customer for their weapons. "Our power has grown to levels where China is waiting in line to buy 15,000 of our drones," a senior official from Iran's Intelligence Ministry recently said at the Imam Khomeini International University in Qazvin. "Since the day we turned to the East," he added, "the West could not bear it and an example was the war in Ukraine."

"Today we have reached a point that 22 world countries are demanding to purchase unmanned aircraft from Iran," Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi proclaimed at Imam Hussein Military University in Tehran.

Iran's regime has also been focusing on the proliferation and export of long- and short-range precision-guided ballistic missiles. According to a report by Forbes:

"Russia also wants Iran's Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) with ranges between 186 and 435 miles, respectively. A large order of such missiles could give Russia some substitution for its arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles, which has reportedly dwindled, enabling it to sustain its bombardment of Ukrainian cities."

Due to the Biden Administration's appeasement and Obama's nuclear deal, the Iranian regime has doubled down on enriching uranium to 84% (weapons grade is 90% ); vowed to become "one of the world's largest arms exporters"; caused former US allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to turn to the Chinese Communist Party for protection; escalated aggression in the Middle East to push the US out of the area; and expanded Iran's military presence in Latin America to threaten the United States.

How is the Biden Administration responding? It is reportedly threatening Israel, which Iran's former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, on December 14, 2001, called a "one-bomb country": If this "one bomb country," roughly the size of New Jersey (8,700 sq. mi; 22,600 sq km) does not go along with the Biden Administration's plan to allow Iran to have as many nuclear weapons as it likes – while the US is bribing Iran's mullahs with up to $100 billion please not to use them on the Biden Administration's watch -- the US will "reassess" its diplomatic ties with Israel.

What degree of dementia is that?

  • Follow Majid Rafizadeh on Twitte


Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu

Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19820/iran-escalating-aggression

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

North Dakota Muslim Terrorist Planned to Kill Thousands - Daniel Greenfield

 

by Daniel Greenfield

How one cop with a handgun stopped a heavily armed terrorist’s massacre.

 


Mohamad Barakat packed three long guns, four handguns and a vest with magazines in every pocket, as he drove through Fargo, North Dakota. The Downtown Street fair, which claims over 150,000 visitors, was on its second day and 5 minutes away. The Red River Fair, which recorded nearly as many people, was two days away from ending and 15 minutes away.

It’s unknown which of those locations Mohamad might have been headed to use up his 1,800 rounds of ammo and hand grenade, but he never got there.

The Muslim terrorist joined other rubberneckers who stopped to look over the scene of an accident, but unlike them Mohamad was after more than a few pictures to put up on social media. The concentration of police officers and firefighters had proven to be irresistible.

Al Qaeda and ISIS both encourage crowdsourced Muslim terrorists to take out law enforcement officers before hitting civilians. And Muslim terrorists, like the attacker who came after NYPD officers in Times Square with a machete during the New Year’s Eve ball drop, have done that.

Mohamad was packing a whole lot more than a machete. Pretending to be a casual observer, he hung around waiting until police officers were passing nearby and then he opened fire.

The Muslim terrorist raised his rifle and shot through the open car window of his gray sedan, ambushing three Fargo police officers, shooting and killing Officer Jake Wallin, an Afghanistan and Iraq war vet who had recently joined the force, and wounding Officer Andrew Dotas and Officer Tyler Hawes. He also shot and wounded Karlee Koswick: a young woman who had been in the accident. Dotas and Hawes were saved by their flak jackets and by the courageous firefighters on the scene who stayed under cover while Mohamad shot at them, but then rushed to help the wounded officers and kept them alive until they could be brought to a hospital.

And then Mohamad ran into trouble.

While the three officers he had shot had not even gotten a chance to draw a gun, Officer Zach Robinson did not go down and he returned fire. With Mohamad’s .223 caliber rifle pitted against the officer’s 9mm handgun, Officer Robinson still managed to “incapacitate” the Muslim terrorist’s weapon. The Muslim terrorist had burned through most of the 60 rounds in his double stacked mag while the officer had managed to draw his fire, reload and keep him occupied.

Then one of his shots disabled the Muslim terrorist’s rifle from 75 feet away. With his primary weapon gone, Mohamad grabbed a handgun and tried to continue the fight, and was shot dead.

The officer was “the last person standing between this individual, who was obviously pretty dead set on some pretty horrific acts,” Attorney General Drew Wrigley described. He mentioned that it was “a 4 to 5 minute drive to downtown Fargo” where the fair was in full swing.

“It’s clear to me that this person was out to kill,” Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney said. “When you look at the amount of ammunition this shooter had in his car, he was planning on more mayhem in our community.”

In the week since the July 14 attack took place, authorities have resisted providing any specifics about the Muslim terrorist or his motive. Flag Family Media, a local radio station, had its request for information about Mohamad because it had already all been turned over to the FBI.

Mohamad’s neighbors in the Fargo housing complex claimed that he was quiet and refused to interact with them. “He didn’t want to be around you and of course that made you not want to be around him.”

Why then was Mohamad in America? As previously revealed by a Front Page Magazine investigation, decades of aggressive refugee resettlement has fundamentally changed the face of this quintessentially American city. 8% of Fargo is foreign born and Somalis, Iraqis and other Muslim refugees outnumber Hispanics in the school system. The nearby mega-mosque, blocks from where Mohamad carried out his attack, and Muslim businesses attracts other arrivals.

A previous Muslim terrorist attack in a Minneapolis mall had been carried out by Dahir Adan, a Somali refugee who had initially been resettled in Fargo, and who had roamed the mall shouting, “Allahu Akbar” and asking people if they were Muslim before stabbing them.

Fargo recently elected State Rep. Hamida Dakane, its version of Rep. Ilhan Omar, to the state legislature representing the growing Muslim population in the area. Both Republicans and Democrats in the area and the state have their share of responsibility for this crisis.

A city and a state that no one would have associated with Islamic terrorism in the past has nurtured two Islamic terrorists. Mohamad, no doubt planned to kill more than one police officer and wound a few others. He had come prepared for an extended firefight and with the two fairs going on in the area might have succeeded in killing hundreds if not thousands.

Gov. Doug Burgum had previously resisted ending refugee resettlement under Trump while claiming that the pipeline of foreign migrants showing up in the state had been vetted and were safe. Concerned North Dakota residents want answers after this latest Islamic terrorist attack.

While Mohamad’s terror attack was stopped in its tracks by his improvisation and the courage of an outgunned police officer, the next time Fargo residents and North Dakotans may not be so lucky.

“We really need a diverse population to be more like a normal American city,” Mayor Tim Mahoney had previously argued. After Fargo’s second Muslim terrorist and first major Muslim terrorist attack, does Mayor Mahoney feel that the city is diverse enough?

How many people have to die so that Fargo will meet its diversity quota?

What was wrong with the descendants of Swedes that they needed to be replaced by Somalis, Iraqis, Sudanese, Bosnians and other “diverse” representatives of an ideology that believes infidels need to be killed at shopping malls and street fairs? How many times must the cry of “Allahu Akbar” rise over bloody bodies until the desire for diversity is finally staunched?


Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/north-dakota-muslim-terrorist-planned-to-kill-thousands/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Country Star Challenges America’s Culture of Crime - Mark Tapson

 

by Mark Tapson

And pro-crime "progressives" explode in rage.

 


For decades, gangsta rappers have raked in money, fame, and recording industry awards hand-over-fist by promoting a culture of violence, drugs, crime, misogyny, hedonism, and greed. There has been not a peep of an objection from the Progressive Left to the damage this has done and continues to do to generations of young people, especially in poor inner-city communities, where rappers, gang members, and drug dealers are idolized and emulated by far too many. But let one country music star complain that American cities have degenerated into a wasteland of lawlessness and chaos, and triggered leftists leap to smear him publicly as a violent racist.

Quadruple-platinum-selling country artist Jason Aldean has found himself the target of a wave of leftist condemnation over the new video of a song (which was actually released months ago) titled, “Try That in a Small Town.” The video intersperses actual footage of rioting, looting, and confrontations with police in cities, with shots of Aldean and his band performing before a courthouse in a public square in Columbia, Tennessee.

The lyrics and imagery capture the kind of random violence that has become endemic in Democrat-run urban hellholes all across America – carjackings, the knockout game, and armed robbery – as well as open contempt for law enforcement and the American flag in a country whose children have been taught by decades of leftist educators that their homeland is a uniquely oppressive and evil nation in world history. Aldean warns in the song that that attitude wouldn’t be tolerated in small-town America, and he issues a sort of “molon labe” warning to the anti-Second Amendment activists who aim (pun intended) to disarm law-abiding gun owners.

Here are the lyrics, credited to songwriters Kelley Lovelace, Neil Thrasher, Tully Kennedy, and Kurt Michael Allison:

Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk
Carjack an old lady at a red light
Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store
Ya think it’s cool, well, act a fool if ya like

Cuss out a cop, spit in his face
Stomp on the flag and light it up
Yeah, ya think you’re tough

Well, try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won’t take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don’t
Try that in a small town

Got a gun that my granddad gave me
They say one day they’re gonna round up
Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck

Try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won’t take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don’t
Try that in a small town

Full of good ol’ boys, raised up right
If you’re looking for a fight
Try that in a small town
Try that in a small town

Try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won’t take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don’t
Try that in a small town

The video concludes with a few nostalgic images that reflect the sanity, sense of community, and peaceful order that Aldean’s song associates with small-town America.

Pretty tame stuff, actually, but Progressives hate white America, small-town America, law enforcement, and gun culture, so it was inevitable that Aldean would face a barrage of celebrity and media condemnation.

Former singer-songwriter and prominent gun control advocate Sheryl Crowe, for example, tweeted her indignation, falsely accusing Aldean of promoting violence: “Jason Aldean, I’m from a small town. Even people in small towns are sick of violence. There’s nothing small-town or American about promoting violence. You should know that better than anyone having survived a mass shooting,” she wrote, referring to the 2017 massacre at a Las Vegas music festival where Aldean was performing. “This is not American or small town-like. It’s just lame.”

The showbiz industry rag Variety published a snarling hit piece whose headline – “Jason Aldean Already Had the Most Contemptible Country Song of the Decade. The Video Is Worse” – makes for a pretty unambiguous spoiler of where the article’s remaining 2000 words are going to go.

Rolling Stone magazine – the same far-Left outlet that published a sickening denunciation of the popular anti-child trafficking movie Sound of Freedom – predictably chimed in with an article (under the category, “Dog Whistles”) titled “Here’s What’s Wrong With Jason Aldean’s Vision of America.” It cites University of Oklahoma professor Karlos K. Hill, “a scholar of racial violence,” who labels the song a “narrative of white nationalism. But it’s packaged in this really nice, seemingly benign package of country music.” [Emphasis added]

It’s white nationalist now to want your town to be free of rampant crime and wanton destruction. Who knew?

The left-wing propagandists at The Washington Post offered up a partial explanation for the controversy by noting that some of the footage used in the video came from Black Lives Matter demonstrations (apparently it’s racist to connect BLM with the “mostly peaceful” rioting that rocked America throughout 2020). It also pointed out that the courthouse featured in the video was the scene of a lynching (nearly 100 years ago), and that Columbia was the scene of a race riot (nearly 80 years ago).

And yet WaPo then goes on to acknowledge that the video production company TackleBox confirmed that Aldean had nothing to do with choosing the site, a “popular filming location outside of Nashville” that has also been featured in the Lifetime movie Steppin’ Into the Holiday and Disney’s Hannah Montana: The Movie.

Nevertheless, the cancel culture mob swelled so swiftly that the cowards at CMT, the Country Music Television network, panicked and pulled the video from rotation. Gun control activist Shannon Watts, who had tweeted that Aldean “has recorded a song… about how he and his friends will shoot you if you try to take their guns,” crowed about her own part in the CMT cancellation, writing on Tuesday, “Proud to have had a hand in getting CMT to reject this racist and violent song.”

Prominent conservative politicos from Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis to Marsha Blackburn and Kristi Noem have stepped up in public support of Aldean. “When the media attacks you, you’re doing something right,” DeSantis tweeted. “@Jason_Aldean has nothing to apologize for.” In a video posted to Twitter on Wednesday, Noem stated, “I am shocked by what I’m seeing in this country with people attempting to cancel this song and cancel Jason and his beliefs.”

In his self-defense, Aldean subsequently posted the following on Instagram:

In the past 24 hours I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song that has been out since May) and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests. These references are not only meritless, but dangerous. There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it – and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage – and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music – this one goes too far.

As so many pointed out, I was present at Route 91 – where so many lost their lives – and our community recently suffered another heartbreaking tragedy. NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart.

Try That In A Small Town, for me, refers to the feeling of a community that I had growing up, where we took care of our neighbors, regardless of differences or background or belief. Because they were our neighbors, and that was above any differences.

My political views have never been something I’ve hidden from, and I know that a lot of us in this country don’t agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy where we go at least a day without a headline that keeps us up at night. But the desire for it to – that’s what this song is about.

A return to some semblance of normality in America sounds like a slice of heaven, but unfortunately, that ship has sailed. The Left considers the yearning for normalcy and social stability to be white nationalist nostalgia for a time before BLM conquered corporate America, before Critical Race Theory metastasized throughout our schools, and before national anthem kneeling protests ruined our national pastimes. The Left doesn’t want a return to normalcy. It wants normalcy in every facet of American life to be disrupted, if not eradicated, to pave the way for revolution, for the “fundamental transformation” of a country they hate into a Progressive utopia.

This is why the Left defended the devastation wreaked by BLM and Antifa as “mostly peaceful,” but will denounce, demonize, and destroy Jason Aldean over what they perceive to be a mere “dog whistle” in a video.

This is why the Left has normalized political violence, criminal chaos, and open borders madness – because the collapse of the entire system is the goal.

This is also why the Left turns a blind eye to the dozens of mostly black-on-black shootings every weekend in Chicago, but doesn’t want small-town gun owners to protect their loved ones, their property, and their way of life from the agents of chaos who have overrun America’s cities.

Today’s Left is a violent revolution in progress. Messages of defiance and resistance — like a hit country song — cannot be tolerated, and the messenger must be destroyed. But to paraphrase “Try That in a Small Town”: cross that line and see how it works out for you.

Follow Mark Tapson at Culture Warrior


Mark Tapson is the Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, focusing on popular culture. He is also the host of an original podcast on Frontpage, “The Right Take With Mark Tapson.”

Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/country-star-challenges-americas-culture-of-crime/

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Netanyahu receives pacemaker ahead of judicial reform vote - Tzvi Joffre

 

by Tzvi Joffre

Justice Minister Yariv Levin served as acting prime minister while Netanyahu was in surgery.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on July 2, 2023 (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on July 2, 2023
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underwent surgery at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer to receive a pacemaker on Saturday night, the Prime Minister's Office stated.

"I feel great, but I'm listening to my doctors," said Netanyahu in a video posted to social media ahead of the surgery. "The doctors said I'll be released from the hospital tomorrow by the afternoon and I'll be able to arrive at the Knesset for the vote."

The prime minister added that he hoped an agreement would be reached on the reasonableness standard bill set to be voted on Monday afternoon.

Earlier this month, Netanyahu was admitted to Sheba Medical Center after losing consciousness and hitting his head at his home in Caesarea. After a series of tests, the prime minister was released from the hospital with a holter monitor, a type of portable electrocardiogram for cardiac monitoring.

On Saturday night, the holter monitor detected an issue with his heartbeat, leading to Netanyahu's doctors advising him to have immediate surgery to get a pacemaker, the prime minister said in the video.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen during a press conference on Operation Shield and Arrow on May 10, 2023 (credit: CHAIM TZACH/GPO) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen during a press conference on Operation Shield and Arrow on May 10, 2023 (credit: CHAIM TZACH/GPO)

Levin to serve as acting prime minister

Justice Minister Yariv Levin served as acting prime minister while Netanyahu was in surgery.

The weekly cabinet meeting which usually takes place on Sunday will be rescheduled for a later date due to the surgery.


Tzvi Joffre

Source: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-752069

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Gallant working to reach agreement on reasonability standard - Israel National News

 

by Israel National News

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is working to reach a consensus on the reasonability standard, fearing mass refusal to serve in the IDF.

 

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant                                                                    Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Defense Minister Yoav Galant (Likud) began working with the heads of the coalition to extend the summer session of the Knesset in an attempt to reach an agreement on the reasonability standard.

"The situation is very worrying, the legislation should be postponed," he said following the announcement by hundreds of pilots and staff in the IAF that they would stop volunteering.

Gallant has recently had talks with the Chief of Staff, and realized that the failure to report to the reserves could lead to damage to the combat readiness of the IDF. He is now working with the heads of the coalition to get the Knesset's recess to be postponed, in order to allow a broad agreement to be reached regarding the reasonability standard.

On behalf of the Defense Minister, it was stated, "The Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, is working in all ways to bring about a broad agreement, prevent damage to Israel's security, and keep the IDF out of the political controversy."

The letter in which IAF personnel declared they would refuse to serve was signed by 1,142 Air Force reserve personnel, including 235 fighter pilots, 89 helicopter pilots, 98 transport pilots, 173 combat aircraft fighters, 124 control personnel, 167 headquarters personnel, and 80 soldiers from the elite pararescue force Unit 669.

"We are in the three weeks [between the fasts of 17 of Tammuz and Ninth of Av]," the pilots wrote in a letter sent to the members of the Knesset, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Air Force Commander Major General Tomer Bar. "It is the duty of all of us to prevent the destruction of a third Temple! It is the responsibility of all of us to stop the division, polarization, and deep rift that has opened up in the nation. The Jewish and democratic character of our country is dear to all the people of Israel - this is the contract signed by all parts of the people in the Declaration of Independence. This foundation constitutes the core of the consensus of Israeli society, on the basis of which we all serve the State of Israel with dedication and sacrifice under governments of all shades of the political spectrum."

The debate on the law to reduce the reasonability standard, which was approved this week for its second and third readings in the Knesset plenum, will begin on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. in preparation for the final vote. Final approval of the bill is expected on Monday afternoon.


Israel National News

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374524

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Biden administration expected to crack down on water heaters to 'reduce carbon emissions' - Charlotte Hazard

 

by Charlotte Hazard

The DOE projected regulations are expected to go into effect in 2029.

 

The Biden administration is expected to crack down on water heaters in order to "reduce carbon emissions." 

The Department of Energy said in its proposal on Friday that this proposal would "accelerate deployment" of electric heat pump water heaters and reduce carbon emissions, according to Fox News. 

"Today’s actions — together with our industry partners and stakeholders — improve outdated efficiency standards for common household appliances, which is essential to slashing utility bills for American families and cutting harmful carbon emissions," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.

"This proposal reinforces the trajectory of consumer savings that forms the key pillar of Bidenomics and builds on the unprecedented actions already taken by this Administration to lower energy costs for working families across the nation," she added. 

The DOE projected regulations are expected to go into effect in 2029. The department also predicted that this proposal would save Americans about $198 billion.

"It's just spreading to more and more appliances. It seems that almost everything that plugs in or fires up around the house is either subject to a pending regulation or soon will be," Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute told Fox News Digital in an interview. 


Charlotte Hazard

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/environment/biden-administration-expected-crack-down-water-heaters-reduce-carbon

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Islamic Jihad: We must use crisis in Israel for war against it - Dalit Halevi

 

by Dalit Halevi

Senior Islamic Jihad official calls on 'Palestinian' groups to unite, utilize 'historic opportunity' of crisis in Israel for war against the Jewish State.

 

Islamic Jihad terrorist
Islamic Jihad terrorist                                                                                           Flash90

Nasser Abu Sharif, a member of the Islamic Jihad terror group's political wing, has called on the Palestinian Arab groups to unite in a war against Israel.

Abu Sharif stressed, "The Zionist entity is also facing real crises and suffering from significant internal disagreements. Therefore, the Palestinian nation is facing a new stage, and standing before a historic opportunity which it must utilize for fighting and the conflict for the sake of the Palestinian problem, and to achieve victory and remove the occupation from the Palestinian land."

Speaking to Al-Quds Radio, which is affiliated with the Islamic Jihad, Abu Sharif said that the Palestinian struggle is continuing and even intensifying in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, because the Palestinian people see the struggle as the proper way to fight the Zionist operation which executes policy of "Judaizing" the land.

"We are facing a dilemma and a great danger. We have no solution other than battle and conflict. We are also facing a historic moment in which we need to unite behind this path. Unfortunately, the internal disagreements between us and the internal problems we have still exist, since the Palestinian Authority continues to repress, bring to trial, and stop the fighters of the Palestinian opposition, while using its old tactics."

He also called on the Palestinian Authority to stand by the "Palestinian nation" in its conflict against Israel, and provide it with everything necessary to manage the war against the "Zionist occupation, the plans of Judaizing, and the settlers' herds."

"We are standing before a historical moment which we must utilize for war against the Zionist entity, which is facing real and large crises," Abu Sharif emphasized.


Dalit Halevi

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374523

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter

Barack Obama’s Success: How His Election Created the Modern Democratic Party and Transformed America - Michael Ginsberg

 

by Michael Ginsberg

How did we get here? How did America’s social debates leap so wildly to these extremes?