The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.
From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."
The new U.S. report finds it “reasonable to assess” that Israel has acted inconsistently with international law but does not conclude that it violated arms transfer agreements with Washington.
Israeli Air Force F-35 Stealth Fighter jet flying
during an airshow at Hatzerim on June 28, 2018. Credit: Andreas
Zeitler/Shutterstock.
The U.S. State Department issued a report
to Congress about U.S. arms transfers to Israel on Friday that is deeply
critical of the Jewish state but stops short of concluding that it is
violating international law.
All seven of the countries detailed in the
46-page report are deemed by the U.S. government to have provided
“credible and reliable” assurances that they are complying with
international law and that Washington can therefore continue to provide
them with arms.
The report was sent in response to U.S. President Joe Biden’s National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20),
which requires the U.S. State and Defense Departments to report
annually on whether countries that receive U.S.-provided weapons are
using them “in a manner not consistent with international law, including
international humanitarian law” or whether the country has impeded
American humanitarian aid.
Those standards are in line with existing
U.S. requirements on arms transfers known as the Leahy Laws, named for
former Democratic senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont. But Friday’s report
is the first time an administration has delivered a broad outline to
Congress about whether countries receiving foreign military assistance
are violating international law.
While the report does not conclude that
Israel is in violation of the requirements for U.S. arms transfers, it
says that Israel has provided only “limited information” about the use
of U.S.-made munitions in “incidents that raise concerns about Israel’s
international humanitarian law compliance.”
“It is difficult to assess or reach
conclusive findings on individual incidents,” the report says.
“Nevertheless, given Israel’s significant reliance on U.S.-made defense
articles, it is reasonable to assess that defense articles covered under
NSM-20 have been used by Israeli security forces since Oct. 7 in
instances inconsistent with its international humanitarian law
obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian
harm.”
The report adds that individual violations
of international humanitarian law do not mean that a country is not
committed to following the law. It also notes that Israel has “a number
of ongoing, active criminal investigations pending and there are
hundreds of cases under administrative review” about its own conduct.
John Kirby, the White House national
security communications advisor, told reporters on Friday before the
report’s release that its delivery late on a Friday was not intended to
reduce its impact in the media.
“It almost sounds like you think we’re
trying to bury something on a Friday afternoon,” Kirby said. “I
understand that it’s a Friday, and I can look at the clock and see where
we are, but I can tell you that whatever the timing is of the eventual
submission of this report, it’s based on the spade work that had to get
done to get it ready.”
Kirby declined to describe the contents of the report but said that U.S. President Joe Biden had been briefed on it. Biden told CNN on Wednesday that Israel had used U.S. weapons to kill Palestinian civilians.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a
consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after
population centers,” Biden said.
Biden issued NSM-20 in February, calling
for the first reports to be submitted to Congress within 90 days—a
deadline that the State Department missed on Wednesday.
In March, the Israeli government provided a written letter
to the Biden administration declaring that it abides by international
law when using U.S. weapons, which was another requirement of Biden’s
memorandum.
The State Department assessed
in April that three Israeli battalions and two “civilian authority
units” were credibly “alleged to be responsible for incidents of gross
human rights violations against Palestinian civilians in the West
Bank.”
But in a letter to Speaker of the House
Mike Johnson (R-La.), U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said those
incidents “long predate Oct. 7, 2023,” adding that no actions had been
taken against the units.
Israel... is fighting for the values of civilization opposing terrorist barbarism so that the rest of us in the West will not have to. We should be sending whatever they need to end the terrorism, not withholding precision-guided weapons -- especially, as we sanctimoniously claim, if we do not want to harm civilians.
These assaults are not only aimed at Israel and its inhabitants but, ultimately, at the West.
Adversaries of the West -- whether religious fundamentalists or
authoritarian states such as China, Russia, and Iran and its allies --
appear intent upon imposing a new totalitarian world order. To do so,
they seek destruction of the two main countries standing in their way:
United States of America and Israel, the global champions of democracy,
freedom, Western values, and human rights.
Regrettably, with freedom often comes the need to protect it, at
times by force, from those who would take it away. Sometimes, this
requires measures open to criticism by those who may have a different
goal....
"Therefore, having judged that to be happy means to be free, and
to be free means to be brave, we do not shy away from the risks of war."
— Pericles, funeral oration, 432 BCE.
Israel... is fighting for the values of civilization opposing
terrorist barbarism so that the rest of us in the West will not have to.
We should be sending whatever they need to end the terrorism, not
withholding precision-guided weapons -- especially, as we
sanctimoniously claim, if we do not want to harm civilians.
"I have faith in the Jewish people. Let Israel be given a chance,
let hatred and danger be removed from her horizons, and there will be
peace in and around the Holy Land." – Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize
acceptance speech, December 10, 1986.
As people of peace, the warriors and all citizens of Israel long
for such a time with all their hearts, but first there are battles to be
won.
As with the warriors of King David, the soldiers of Israel
are again surrounded by enemies driven by hatred for the values
represented by the Jewish nation and seeking their eradication. Once
more, Israelis are called upon to resist forces threatening their
destiny. Pictured: Israeli soldiers inspect the entrance to a Hamas
terror tunnel just oustide an UNRRWA compound in Gaza City, on February
8, 2024. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
The initial defenders of Jewish destiny -- which later gave birth to
the West's Judeo-Christian cultural heritage -- were a rather
insignificant Middle Eastern tribe of Hebrews guided by somewhat obscure
precepts recounted in five small books, and led in battles by their
legendary leader, King David.
These early warriors were not only defenders of an ancient
civilization, but early progenitors of the modern Jewish democratic
nation and the West's political tradition. Through their priests, kings,
and prophets they became custodians of a Holy Writ that provided
definitive truths, morality, ethics, freedoms, human rights, and
principles of righteousness essential for future generations of
humanity.
The motivating factors driving King David and his men apply equally
to the current cohort of Israeli warriors, facing lethal attacks by
terrorists little different in nature from King David's earliest
opponents. These assaults are not only aimed at Israel and its
inhabitants but, ultimately, at the West. The underlying cause has not
changed much through the ages.
It can be traced to tribes determined to impose their ideals,
religion, and ideology on others everywhere. Adversaries of the West --
whether religious fundamentalists or authoritarian states such as China,
Russia, and Iran and its allies -- appear intent upon imposing a new
totalitarian world order. To do so, they seek destruction of the two
main countries standing in their way: United States of America and
Israel, the global champions of democracy, freedom, Western values, and
human rights.
Regrettably, with freedom often comes the need to protect it, at
times by force, from those who would take it away. Sometimes, this
requires measures open to criticism by those who may have a different
goal, or unable fully to understand the issues at play. Despite
dissenting voices of the world, the soldiers of Israel, like the
citizens of Ukraine, understand that if they wish to ensure their
freedom, they must fight for it.
The Greek leader Pericles, in 432 BCE, declared
in his funeral oration for the great Athenian warriors who sacrificed
their lives in the first Peloponnesian war: "Therefore, having judged
that to be happy means to be free, and to be free means to be brave, we
do not shy away from the risks of war."
Even with the risks involved, the soldiers of Israel, as inheritors of King David's indomitable spirit, are, according
to Yael Eckstein president of the International Fellowship of
Christians and Jews, "more alive now than ever before, more motivated,
passionate, and heroic than ever imagined."
Although Israel's soldiers originate from many nations, they possess
the same intentions as their predecessors: to retain possession of their
ancient homeland, providing a sanctuary for the unwanted Jewish
scatterlings of the world in a safe setting they can call home; a
shelter from the many nations despising them. To the soldiers of Israel,
their country is a "city of refuge," a place where their people can live in peace and, above all, a place they can worship their Creator in freedom.
The land of Israel can therefore be understood as a figurative cave
of Adullam – where King David once assembled a motley collection of
uprooted individuals of various origins but bound by mutual faith in
their people's right to be. As expressed
by the ancient prophet Micah, "But they shall sit every man under his
vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid."
In the spirit of Judas Maccabeus, rebelling against threats to their
faith and possession of their land, the soldiers of Israel now fight not
only to rid the province of enemies seeking to eradicate
them but to ensure peace, freedom of worship, and harmony with all
those who call Israel home. The late UK Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan
Sacks, pointed out
that although the Maccabees were small in number, they "had a double
portion of the Jewish spirit that longs for freedom and is prepared to
fight for it."
Israel's soldiers have inherited that same spirit, inspiration and
determination, the purpose and faith of a people baptized into battles
necessary for survival of their nation. Rabbi Sacks metaphorically describes
this continuity as a song where no single note or chord makes the song
complete in itself for, "as music connects note to note, so faith
connects episode to episode, life to life, age to age, in a timeless
melody that breaks into time."
Israel's soldiers remember, perhaps, the fragility of King David's
struggles in securing the land from the Philistinian and Amalekite
assaults; they might also recall when the tribe's wives and children
were abducted by enemies, how the Israelites pursued them and rescued
their families. Those events were repeated by the unspeakable acts of
Hamas on October 7th 2023 when Israel's men, women, children
and infants were beheaded, burned alive, raped, abused and abducted. The
soldiers of Israel need to ensure, not out of vengeance but for the
nation's survival, that their adversaries can never commit such savage
atrocities against their people again.
It is no coincidence that Gaza was the historic home of David's
avowed enemies, the Philistines. Goliath was a Philistine; David killed
him not far from the caves of Adullam in the Kingdom of Judah,
present-day Judea, in Israel's heartland. In similar mode, Israel's
enemies invaded Judea in October 7th. Statements by these enemies openly
acknowledge that they will continue hostilities and repeat attacks
until all Jews are eliminated:
"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems
fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones
and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a
Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a
certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees
of the Jews (related by al- Bukhari and Moslem) – Hamas Covenant, Article 7, (from the Hadith: "The Book of Tribulations and Portents of the Last Hour," 54:18)
Hamas official Ghazi Hamad has clearly said
that the terror group will repeat the October 7 attack, time and again,
until Israel is annihilated. He added that "Everything we do is
justified."
Clearly, many in Gaza and the West Bank remain enemies of Israel and
are little different, if at all, in dedication and purpose, from their
forebears. The October 7 massacre and the odious Western response to it
has compelled Jews to confront a new generation of enemies determined to
eradicate them.
The Israelite warriors of the past trusted the dictates of their
leader, King David. Not only was he their commander, he was respected as
a man of combat experience, as his encounter with Goliath testified.
Similarly, Israel's leaders in the war cabinet, commanders of their
forces, are not only men of extensive combat experience in the current
confrontation with jihadist terrorists, but, go to unprecedented lengths
to honor the laws of ethical warfare as befits a nation dedicated to principles of human rights.
In contrast, Hamas, the instigators of hate, torture and murder,
conduct terror operations against civilian targets – including their own
(here and here).
It is time for Western unity with Israel, which is fighting for the
values of civilization opposing terrorist barbarism so that the rest of
us in the West will not have to. We should be sending whatever they need
to end the terrorism, not withholding precision-guided weapons –
especially, as we sanctimoniously claim, if we do not want to harm
civilians.
Henry Kissinger noted
the importance of supporting a nation's leaders in times of crisis:
"Societies become great not by factional triumphs but by common purpose
and reconciliation."
As with the warriors of King David, the soldiers of Israel are again
surrounded by enemies driven by hatred for the values represented by the
Jewish nation and seeking their eradication. Once more, Israelis are
called upon to resist forces threatening their destiny. That is the crux
of the matter: the battle is both religious and nationalist: a mortal
contest between terrorists and a people who insist on the values of
individual freedom and the right to think without restriction.
Encouraged by the words
of Yitzhak Lamdan, "Never again shall Masada fall," Israel fights for
all that is beautiful, free and democratic, and shall protect
civilization to the end. It is therefore incumbent upon a new cohort of
great men and women, the latest giborei Yisrael - heroes of
Israel – to secure the nation so that its hard-won freedoms, values, and
moral-ethical precepts, can be enjoyed by subsequent generations.
Finally, Israel's brave warriors might identify with Eli Wiesel's statement in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech of December 10, 1986:
"I have faith in the Jewish people. Let Israel be given a
chance, let hatred and danger be removed from her horizons, and there
will be peace in and around the Holy Land."
As people of peace, the warriors and all citizens of Israel long for
such a time with all their hearts, but first there are battles to be
won.
Nils A. Haug is an author and columnist. A lawyer by
profession, he is member of the International Bar Association, the
National Association of Scholars, the Academy of Philosophy and Letters.
Retired from law, his particular field of interest is political theory
interconnected with current events. He holds a Ph.D. in Apologetical
Theology. Dr. Haug is author of 'Politics, Law, and Disorder in the
Garden of Eden – the Quest for Identity'; and 'Enemies of the Innocent –
Life, Truth, and Meaning in a Dark Age.' His work has been published by
First Things Journal, The American Mind, Quadrant, Minding the Campus,
Gatestone Institute, National Association of Scholars, Israel Hayom,
Jewish News Syndicate, Anglican Mainstream, and others.
Joni Ernst and Ernst 14 colleagues noted victims of Oct. 7 atrocities in Israel sued some groups for being a Hamas propaganda division.
Fifteen Republican senators are demanding the IRS investigate whether
nonprofit groups that helped foment pro-Hamas unrest on college
campuses violated their tax-exempt status by supporting a designated
terrorist group.
In a letter led by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the senators identified
the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), the AJP
Educational Foundation (AJP), the Tides Foundation, the Westchester
Peace Action Committee Foundation (WESPAC Foundation), and others and
asked IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel to determine if they “engaged in
conduct warranting revocation of their tax-exempt statuses on the basis
of their financial support of NSJP.”
Ernst and her colleagues noted victims of the Oct. 7 atrocities in Israel have sued AJP
and NSJP for being a Hamas propaganda division in the United States and
cited their “control” over Students for Justice in Palestine chapters,
which have been protesting on campuses.
“It is long-established precedent that when 501(c)(3) organizations
have ‘planned activities that violate laws’ or engage in activities
designed ‘to induce the commission of a crime or if the accomplishment
of the purpose is otherwise against public policy,’ the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) has grounds to revoke their tax-exempt status,” the
senators wrote.
“In fact, the IRS has set the precedent that ‘organizations have been
held not to qualify for IRC 501(c)(3) on grounds that the activities of
the organizations in question contravened public policy even though the
organizations did not violate any federal statutes or state or local
laws,’” they added.
The senators also pointed out Friday that these organizations and the
protests are blatantly supporting Hamas, even though it is a designated
Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
“In light of this abhorrent support for an FTO, we call on you to
initiate an investigation to determine whether financial supporters of
NSJP, including but not limited to AJP, the WESPAC Foundation, and the
Tides Foundation, have engaged in conduct warranting their tax-exempt
status to be stripped,” they added.
The groups have defended themselves, insisting they are engaged in a
good cause, even as they urge protests to be part of a larger violent
movement known as intifada.
The National Students for Justice in Palestine recently posted in X
that its members “are developing a generation of disciplined,
politicized young leaders who will carry the torch of our struggle.” The
group added: “Long live the Student Intifada.”
Haim Saban is an Israeli-American billionaire and long-time supporter of Israel and Jewish political causes and has been a consistent donor to the Democratic party since the 1990s.
Israeli-American media mogul Haim Saban.(photo credit: WIKIPEDIA)
A major donor to President Joe Biden's reelection campaign has criticized his handling
of the weapons shipments to Israel, calling it a "Bad, bad, bad,
decision, on all levels" in a text published online on Thursday.
Haim
Saban is an Israeli-American billionaire and long-time supporter of
Israel and Jewish political causes and has been a consistent donor to
the Democratic party since the 1990s.
Democratic mega-donor Haim Saban wrote an email to Biden's aides Steve Ricchetti & Anita Dunn about Biden's decision to put on hold a weapons shipment to Israel: "Let's not forget there are more Jewish voters who care about Israel than Muslim voters who care about Hamas" pic.twitter.com/HdeI9iOL3W
Saban criticized Biden's threat to halt arms shipments to Israel. He
asked Biden whether his actions were consistent with the belief that
Hamas should be defeated and whether this sent the best message to other
US allies in the region.
"This
sends a terrible message to our allies in the region, and beyond that,
[that] we can flip from doing the right t[h]ing to bending to political
pressure."
He then reminded Biden that "There are more Jewish voters who care about Israel than Muslim voters that care about Hamas."
US
President Joe Biden delivers remarks during a visit to Gateway
Technical College in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, US, May 8, 2024 (credit:
REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE)
Biden threatened to halt
arms shipments to Israel due to Israel's push to invade Rafah, telling
CNN, "If they [Israel] go into Rafah… I’m not supplying the weapons that
have historically been used to."
One shipment has already been stopped due to the US administration's concern over the invasion of Rafah, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a Senate committee.
Who is Haim Saban?
Saban was born in Egypt and made aliyah with his family in 1956. He fought in both the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War.
From
here, Saban began playing in a band, finding mild success. His rise in
the business world came when he and his production company created
several iconic 80s children's TV show theme songs, including He-Man, She-Ra, and Inspector Gadget.
His company, Saban Entertainment, grew and would go on to produce more iconic TV shows such as Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers, the company would later merge and form fox Kids Worldwide.
Saban
has been a major supporter of pro-Israel causes in the US for decades,
having donated to major Democratic campaigns like the 2000 Presidential
Election when he was the largest donor to the Democratic National
Committee in the 2001-2002 cycle.
After the October 7 attacks, he signed messages of support for Israel along with other major figures in the entertainment industry.
[Order David Horowitz’s new book, America Betrayed, HERE]
In the most recent episode of the Freedom Center’s podcast The Right Take, host Mark Tapson speaks with brilliant historian Victor Davis Hanson about his new book The End of Everything: How Wars Descend Into Annihilation, and the lessons America can learn from past societies that were destroyed because they thought, “It can’t happen here.”
This is after the greatest number of foreign nationals were apprehended illegally entering through the northern border than at any time in U.S. history during the same time period, The Center Square reported.
(The Center Square) -
The number of known or suspected
terrorists (KSTs) apprehended at the northern border in the first six
months of fiscal 2024 continue to outpace those apprehended at the
southwest border.
There have been 143 KSTs apprehended at the northern border through
the first six months of this fiscal year compared to 92 at the southwest
border, according to the most recent CBP data.
Those apprehended are known to law enforcement and in the national
Terrorist Screening Dataset, a federal database that contains sensitive
information on terrorist identities. It originated as a consolidated
terrorist watchlist “to house information on known or suspected
terrorists but evolved over the last decade to include additional
individuals who represent a potential threat to the United States,
including known affiliates of watchlisted individuals,” CBP explains.
This is after the greatest number of foreign nationals were
apprehended illegally entering through the northern border than at any
time in U.S. history during the same time period, The Center Square reported.
The greatest number of KSTs to ever be apprehended in U.S. history
was at the northern border in fiscal 2023 of 484. The next greatest
number to be apprehended in U.S. history was 313 at the northern border
in fiscal 2022, according to CBP data.
Overall, the greatest combined number of KSTs apprehended at both the
northern and southerns borders was in fiscal 2023 of 736, The Center
Square reported. The greatest number of KSTs have historically been apprehended at the northern border, outpacing those apprehended at the southwest border for years, The Center Square first reported.
“The alarming conclusion from these numbers is every day we have
individuals that are on the FBI terrorist watch list that could have an
intention to harm our country and are entering every single day,” former
Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan told The Center Square. “It’s not if or
when the threat tries to come to our country. We already know that’s
happening already. The threat is already here,” he said, referring to
the at least two million gotaways, those who illegally entered the
country and evaded capture.
While total illegal entries at the northern border are “minuscule”
compared to the southwest border, “the threat is not,” he said. “While
there are shortages of resources across the board, the northern border
doesn’t have the infrastructure, technology, personnel that the
southwest border has. The northern border represents a threat.”
In his 30-plus-year law enforcement career, Morgan also served as
acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and acting
commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He also served for
20 years with the FBI in multiple capacities, targeting organized crime,
gangs, and counterterrorism operations, among others.
Morgan was among a group of retired FBI counterintelligence officials
to warn Congress in January that the presidents’ border policies had
facilitated a “soft invasion” into the U.S. of military-age men coming
from terror-linked regions, China and Russia.
“It would be difficult to overstate the danger represented by the
presence inside our borders of what is comparatively a multi-division
army of young single adult males from hostile nations and regions whose
background, intent, or allegiance is completely unknown,” they warned.
“They include individuals encountered by border officials and then
possibly released into the country, along with the shockingly high
estimate of 'gotaways,' meaning those who have entered and evaded
apprehension.”
Of the more than 11 million foreign nationals who have illegally
entered the U.S. since January 2021, the majority are single military
age men, The Center Square has reported.
Every year the numbers break previous records; this fiscal year is no
different. More than 1.7 million foreign nationals illegally entered
the U.S. in the first six months of fiscal 2024, the greatest number for
this time period in U.S. history, The Center Square reported.
Among them are individuals with ties to the terrorist group ISIS, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned earlier this year, after making repeated remarks about heightened terrorist threats since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
House Republicans have demanded answers from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on how many KSTs have been released into the country.
U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, introduced a bill to require federal agents to screen everyone who enters the country illegally against the terrorist watch list.
Morgan praised the work of CBP and Border Patrol agents apprehending
KSTs but also raised concerns about those who weren’t being caught due
to the sheer volume coming in and the fact that agents have been pulled
away from their national security mandate.
“Every single day we have individuals on FBI terrorist watch list who
are trying to come into the country,” Morgan told The Center Square.
“If you think we are catching everybody, you live in a dream world. If
you think we are able to identify everyone on the watch list as well,
that’s not happening either.
“How many on the watchlist that we’ve apprehended who illegally came
into the U.S. were released? How many have claimed asylum and we’ve let
them in?
“Countless national security threats have gotten by us, and they are
in the United States. We know nothing about them, where they are at, or
what they are planning to do.”
There is nothing more dangerous than a censor—especially one who makes their living off the very God-given liberty they seek to deny to their fellow citizens.
One of the consequences of the Communications Revolution has been the
deterioration of the traditional news media into just another
endangered industry clamoring for protectionism.
Once, legacy television and print news outlets believed the
technological hurdles and exorbitant costs entailed in providing content
to their audiences formed an insurmountable barrier to entry for any
potential competitors. To wit: for decades, there had existed only three
major national news broadcasts and a handful of newspapers “of record,”
like The New York Times and The Washington Post. Further,
the number of local stations and newspapers, while competitive, were in
effect capped by their respective audiences and advertisers. Over time,
this technological and financial insulation resulted in a virtual
monopoly upon mass information and, inevitably, the hubris, typified by
their claim to be “opinion makers.”
Yet, fate humbles the haughty.
The rise of the internet destroyed both the financial and
technological barriers faced by the legacy media’s prospective
competitors. The legacy media’s arrogance rendered them slow to
recognize the threat and, in many instances, deride their challengers as
basement dwelling ne’er-do-wells cosplaying journalists on-line in
their parents’ basements.
But these competitors and the social media platforms, such as (then)
Twitter and YouTube, were, by circumstances and economics, necessarily
designed to be an affordable, efficient, and effective disseminator of
original content, including news and opinions. Perhaps more importantly,
as business entities specifically designed for social media, these
platforms knew how to monetize their users and content.
The legacy media, both nationally and locally, was too slow in
responding—if they even could. The shrinking power, profits, payrolls,
and prestige of their industry have led to calls for bailouts, most
notably for local newspapers, and government protection from
competition, including demands for something past generations of legacy
media luminaries would find equally inexplicable and unconscionable:
censorship.
In fact, this was not the first time the legacy print media faced
challenges in its business model and sought government assistance. The Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970, which, in its Congressional Declaration of Policy:
…it is hereby declared to be the public policy of the
United States to preserve the publication of newspapers in any city,
community, or metropolitan area where a joint operating arrangement has
been heretofore entered into because of economic distress or is
hereafter effected in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
Per the learned one who litigated a case involving the law,
“effectively let metropolitan dailies combine their business (but not
editorial) operations in a Joint Operating Agreement because local
markets could no longer support both papers.”
The present situation for legacy media is similar to the one faced by
record companies in the 1980s, when they colluded with radio stations
to control the music industry and shape public tastes. The inability to
monetize their product within the bounds of cyber-space proved a
disaster for their corporations, artists, record stores, et. al. Yet, it
also proved a boon to individuals who now had a means to produce and
disseminate their own music to the masses. In their death throes, the
music industry’s corporations and artists appealed for government help
to prevent their product—the music created by the artists and purchased
and produced by the corporations—from being sold online by unauthorized
entities. What the music industry and artists did not do was demand that
the works of individual artists who created, produced, and disseminated
their own music from being placed online.
But this is precisely the demand made by the legacy media to protect
its privileged position as the elite opinion makers in our
republic—namely, the stifling of the democratization of information
through censorship.
In the legacy media’s death spiral, their opinion-shaping wordsmiths
are rarely as honest as that in expressing their motives and aims. Make
no mistake, however, when a free press begins advocating for the
euphemistic “content moderation” to end “disinformation” and “hate
speech” for the alleged sake of “safety” or some other such risible
pretext, one can be sure they are not talking about curbing their First
Amendment rights.
Colluding with their political cronies, both elected and otherwise,
and ironically with Big Tech, the legacy media is targeting any American
seeking to participate in the Communication Revolution’s
“democratization of information.” In return, there is reciprocity on the
part of the legacy media: recall their willingness to falsely condemn
and conceal the reportage of another legacy media outlet (the New York Post) when the Hunter Biden laptop story threatened the legacy media’s aligned and preferred candidate’s presidential prospects.
Ah, yes, who better than the legacy media that spent years spreading
Russia-gate lies to undermine a duly elected president to determine what
the truth is? Still, nothing screams honesty more than a politician,
who everyone just loves to death. Why not let the people who are known
for their humility, rectitude, and subtlety—the legacy media,
politicians, and beloved Big Tech multinational corporations—determine
what an appropriate level of “content moderation” is? What is true? What
is real? What you can talk about? What you can think about?
What could go wrong?
Everything. There is nothing more dangerous than a censor—especially
one who makes their living off the very God-given liberty they seek to
deny to their fellow citizens.
You can have either truth or censorship. Unlike the legacy media and their political cronies, choose wisely.
An American Greatness contributor, the Hon.
Thaddeus G. McCotter (M.C., Ret.) served Michigan’s 11th Congressional
district from 2003-2012, and served as Chair of the Republican House
Policy Committee. Not a lobbyist, he is a frequent public speaker and
moderator for public policy seminars; and a Monday co-host of the “John
Batchelor Radio Show,” among sundry media appearances.
Downstream
turbulence from offshore wind turbines can reduce power generation at
nearby turbines, substantially reducing the total potential from planned
U.S. offshore wind projects, according to recent research from the
Colorado University Boulder and National Energy Technology Laboratory.
This “downstream turbulence” event is known as the “wake effect,” explained in a breakdown at a CU Boulder publication like this:
When
wind passes through turbines, the ones at the front, or upstream,
extract some energy from the wind. As a result, the wind slows down and
becomes more turbulent behind the turbines. This means the turbines
downstream get slower wind, sometimes resulting in lower power
generation.
Now,
per the study, that “wake effect” isn’t responsible for a negligible
amount of stolen power, but diminishes the wind turbine’s efficiency
severely—if one can even use “efficient” in the context of wind
turbines, but that’s beside the point. From Moore:
‘Using
computer simulations and observational data of the atmosphere, the team
calculated that the wake effect reduces total power generation by 34%
to 38% at a proposed wind farm off the East Coast,’ according to the
University of Colorado. ‘Most of the reduction comes from wakes formed
between turbines within a single farm.’
‘But
under certain weather conditions, wakes could reach turbines as far as
55 kilometers (34 miles) downwind and affect other wind farms. For
example, during hot summer days, the airflow over the cool sea surface
tends to be relatively stable, causing wakes to persist for longer
periods and propagate over longer distances.’
An almost forty percent
reduction in power, with some wakes reaching as far as 34 miles away?
What an utter joke that the current wind “technology” is pushed as
practical and progressive.
And
isn’t that just great—during the hot summer days the wake effect is a
far greater detriment than normal. I guess we can all just switch off
our AC units and melt in the sweltering summer heat (I live in Alabama),
fixing to (apparently, though I do not believe it) only get worse
because of global warming and climate change—at least that’s what the
leftist climate “scientists” pushing the wind turbines are also telling
us.
So what’s the fallout of all these premature political games?
Well,
in the case of the electric vehicles, the extra strain on the grid
causes brownouts and blackouts and people are left stranded.
In
the case of the solar panels, we now have landfills leaching toxic
waste from the rare earth minerals, and at the current
manufacturing rate, with no disposal solution yet, this problem is set
to become catastrophic in the coming decades.
And
the wind turbines… dead birds, dead whales, dead kelp forests, dead
fish, ugly disruption in landscapes and seascapes, and now even less
power, which means higher bills for the consumer and less freedom.
Not to mention the obvious—the trillions of wasted dollars for all three of these stupid ideas.
When are we going to say that enough is enough? These “green” schemes are killing our planet, and us.
Here are ten of their most common untruths about October 7 and the war that followed.
Scan news accounts of anti-Israel campus and street protestors. Read
their demands and manifestos. Collate the confusion after October 7 from
the Biden administration.
Here are ten of their most common untruths about October 7 and the war that followed.
“Progressive Hamas”: Gay and transgendered student
protestors in America would be in mortal danger in Gaza under a
fascistic Hamas that has banned homosexual acts and lifestyles. Anyone
protesting publicly against Hamas or its allies would be arrested and
severely punished.
Women are segregated in most Hamas-run educational institutions.
Under the Hamas charter, women are valued mostly as child-bearers. By
design, there are almost no women in high positions in business or in
government under Hamas.
“Colonists and Settlers”: Students scream that Israelis are “settlers” and “colonists” and sometimes yell at Jewish students to “go back to Poland.”
But the Jewish presence in present-day Israel is deeply rooted in
ancient tradition. Dating back at least three millennia, the concept of
“Israel” as a distinct Jewish state, situated roughly in its current
location, is ingrained in history.
By contrast, the much later Arab invasions of the
Byzantine-controlled Levant and their arrival in Palestine occurred
about 1800 years after the establishment of a Jewish Israel.
“Two-state Solution”: When student protestors
scream “from the river to the sea,” that is not advocacy for a
two-state solution. It is a call to eliminate the state of Israel—lying
in between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea—and its 10 million
Jewish and Arab citizens. The Hamas charter is a one-state/no-Israel
agenda, which we saw attempted on October 7.
“Occupied Gaza”: Gaza was autonomous. The Israeli
border is closed, but so is the Egyptian border. There have not been any
Jews in Gaza for nearly two decades.
So on October 7, Gaza was not occupied by Israel. It was under the
control of Hamas, designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist
organization. After being elected to power in 2006, Hamas cancelled all
subsequent elections and ruled as a dictatorship. Gaza forbids Jews from
entering Gaza and has driven out most Christians. Israel hosts two
million Arabs, both as Israeli citizens and residents.
“Netanyahu is the Problem”: The U.S. and Europe
claim that the conservative government of Benjamin Netanyahu is alone
behind the Israeli tough response in Gaza. Thus, both the EU and the
U.S. are doing their best to undermine or even overthrow the elected
Netanyahu administration.
Yet, most Israelis support Netanyahu’s coalition government’s agenda
of destroying Hamas in Gaza. There is no evidence that any other
alternative Israeli government would do anything differently from the
present policies toward Hamas.
“Targeting Civilians”: After murdering nearly 1,200
Israelis on October 7, Hamas scurried back to Gaza and hid in tunnels
and bases beneath hospitals, schools, and mosques. Its preplanned
strategy was to survive by ensuring Gaza civilians would be killed.
Hamas has indiscriminately launched more than 7,000 rockets at Israel,
all designed to kill Jewish civilians.
Outside assessors have concluded that Israel has not inadvertently
killed a greater ratio of civilians to terrorists compared to most other
urban fighting conflicts elsewhere, and perhaps even fewer than
American engagements in Mosul and Fallujah.
“Protestors Are Pro-Palestine”: Increasingly,
protestors make no distinction between supporting “Palestine” and Hamas.
Their chants often echo the original Hamas eliminationist charter and
recent genocidal ravings of its leadership. Some protestors wear Hamas
logos and wave its flag. Many cheered the Hamas massacre of October 7.
“Anti-Israel Is Not Anti-Semitic”: When protestors
scream to Jewish students to “go back to Poland” or call for the “Final
Solution,” or assault them or bar them from campus facilities, they do
not ask whether they are pro-Israeli. For protestors, anyone
identifiable as Jewish becomes a target of their anti-Semitic invective
and violence.
“Genocide”: Israel has not tried to wipe out the
Palestinian people in the fashion of Hamas’s one-state solution plan for
Jews. Before October 7, some 20,000 Gazans a day requested to work in
Israel—on the correct expectation of much higher wages and humane
treatment.
If Hamas had come out of its tunnels, separated from its impressed
civilian shields, released its surviving Israeli hostages, and either
openly fought the Israeli Defense Forces or surrendered the organizers
of the October 7 massacre, no Gaza civilians would have died.
According to Hamas’s questionable “genocide” figures, roughly 4
percent of the Gazan population died during the Israeli response to
October 7. At least a third to almost half of those deaths, according to
various international observers, were Hamas terrorists.
“Disproportionate Response”: Iran tried to send 320
missiles and rockets into Israel. Israel replied with three. Hamas
launched 7,000 rockets into Israel and slaughtered 1,200 Israelis before
the IDF responded in Gaza, often dropping leaflets and sending texts to
forewarn citizens.
Israel has been disproportionate only in the effectiveness of its
response. Hamas and its Iranian benefactor intended disproportionately
to hurt Israel but utterly failed.
So Israel proved to be competent, and Hamas incompetent in their similar efforts to use disproportionate force.
“This is obscene. It is absurd,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). “Give Israel what they need to fight the war they can’t afford to lose.”
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Air
Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
testify at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Department
of Defense fiscal 2025 budget request and Future Years Defense Program
in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on May, 8 2024. Credit: Chad J.
McNeeley/U.S. Department of Defense.
House and Senate Republicans slammed U.S.
President Joe Biden’s decision to pause an arms shipment to Israel and
demanded that the administration explain why it failed to notify
Congress.
Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Ted Budd
(R-N.C.) wrote to the Biden administration on Monday asking for answers
about the frozen arms deal.
“We are shocked that your administration has reportedly decided to withhold critical ammunition to Israel,” the senators wrote.
“You promised your commitment to Israel
was ironclad,” they added. “Pausing much-needed military support to our
closest Middle Eastern ally signals otherwise.”
The Biden administration withheld the
approval of the sale of two types of precision-guided bombs, the first
such delay of an arms sale since Oct. 7, Politicoreported on Tuesday.
The administration informed Congress of
the potential $260 million sale of “up to 6,500 Joint Direct Attack
Munitions—kits that enable unguided bombs to be steered to a target” in
January, The Wall Street Journalreported on Wednesday, citing officials familiar with the deal.
The Biden administration has not taken any
action on the sale since, and the U.S. State Department is reviewing
the sale, per the Journal. The paper cited a senior
administration official who said that Washington paused a shipment of
weapons, including 1,800 bombs that weigh 2,000 pounds each and 1,700
bombs that weigh 500 pounds each.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed
the pause during testimony at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing
on Wednesday about the Defense Department fiscal 2025 budget request.
“We have paused one shipment of high
payload munitions,” Austin said. “We’ve not made a final determination
on how to proceed with that shipment.”
Austin added that the administration
continues to oppose any Israeli ground offensive in the city of Rafah in
southern Gaza. He also said that the paused arms sale is not connected
to the recently passed foreign aid bill, which includes billions of
dollars in military aid for Israel.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) hit back at
Austin’s comments in the hearing, saying that pausing the arms shipment
sends the wrong signal to Israel during an “existential” battle with its
enemies.
“Israel’s been hit in the last few weeks
by Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas—dedicated to their destruction—and you’re
telling me you’re going to tell them how to fight the war, and what they
can and can’t use when everybody around them wants to kill all the
Jews?” Graham said.
“This is obscene. It is absurd,” the South
Carolina senator added. “Give Israel what they need to fight the war
they can’t afford to lose.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said that the
decision to withhold the arms shipment is proof that the Biden
administration has accepted the claims of anti-Israel activists.
“Israel is continually held to a double
standard by members of the international community that far too often
overlook the conduct of other countries with some of the worst
human-rights abuses in the world,” Lawler said.
“That should come as no shock when U.N.
employees were found to have direct ties to Hamas,” he added. “What is
shocking, however, is that the Biden administration would buy into the
lies and create distance between us and Israel.”
Speaking on the Senate floor on Wednesday,
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) applauded the president’s
initial support for Israel after Oct. 7 but said that Biden’s recent
actions have undermined his claims that he is an “ironclad” supporter of
the Jewish state.
“We’ve seen that iron bend under the heat
of domestic political pressure from his party’s anti-Israel base and the
campus communists who decided to wrap themselves in the flags of Hamas
and Hezbollah,” McConnell said.
“I speak with some experience in the
difficulties of standing up to extreme elements in one’s own political
party,” McConnell added. “But the president’s apparent inability to keep
the most radical voices on his left flank out of the situation room
isn’t just a shameful abdication of leadership, it’s actually
dangerous.”
