There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
Below is my column in The Hill on the exposure of the Biden family and its long-standing business of influence peddling.Newly released evidencefrom the House Committee on Ways and Means reveals over $20 million coming from 23 separate countries on four continents to at least nine Biden family members. Not only are the Biden transfers becoming clear, so is the Biden family tree in this lucrative form of corruption.
Here is the column:
President Joe Biden once famously told a state official that “no one f—s with a Biden.” It was a statement that made more sense a few years ago than it does today.
These days, it seems like everyone is…well, messing with the Bidens. The president’s son, Hunter Biden, is facing federal charges on gun violations under a law that his father has heralded. He is also looking at possible additional charges on taxes.
Joe Biden’s brother James Biden was just subpoenaed alongside his nephew over millions of dollars sent by foreign figures as part of an influence-peddling operation.
Joe Biden is now formally under investigation for possible impeachment with at least four articles of impeachment under consideration.
Finally, a media that has long shielded the Bidens is now starting to acknowledge that Hunter and others were engaged in corrupt influence peddling.
All of this scrutiny is not simply threatening the Biden sense of invincibility. It is also revealing more about the Bidens behind the scenes in an unvarnished and unflattering light.
Prosecutors often build narratives around the conspicuous consumption and the lifestyle demands of targets. Trump’s personal and financial dealings have featured greatly in litigation. The Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus and others have written about how the evidence exposed a “stunning display of Trump’s narcissism.”
The same may be true with Biden. There is a sharp disconnect between the public persona long maintained by the press and what is becoming more apparent to the public now.
Although the image of a “unifier-in-chief” quickly collapsed, the most lasting portrayal is that Joe Biden cares. Unlike Trump, he is portrayed as acting not out of greed, but an overwhelming desire to do good. In a typical article, a contributor to Forbes gushed about “How Empathy Defines Joe Biden.” The article explained that “Biden feels empathetic because that is who he is.”
That is not the image that emerges from the growing evidence about Biden and his family. The Bidens are suffering from legal exposure in actions concerning everything from withholding child support to peddling influence to federal felonies.
The investigations and inquiries often turn on questions of intent for actions taken by Biden family members, including the president himself. The motive is often all too apparent.
Hunter Biden left a long trail of emails and texts seeking millions in exchange for access to his father. He is shown in messages invoking his father’s power, threatening foreign figures to send him money. In one message, he allegedly makes a demand for an immediate transfer of cash from a Chinese businessman by saying that his father is sitting next to him to make sure the payment comes through.
Hunter Biden was burning through a fortune on drugs, prostitutes and high living. There were many eager to have the son of the vice president dependent on their largesse.
While Hunter is often portrayed as a human wreck, salvaged by influence-seekers, his uncles generated their own controversies. James has been a well-known figure among alleged influence peddlers for years in cashing in on access to his brother, Joe. Joe’s younger brother, Frank, has also been long identified as involved in the family influence peddling. Like Hunter, Frank appears to have been in dire financial straits due to his careening lifestyle and lack of any appreciable skills.
Frank’s need for money was not only great but known to his brother. In 1999, at age 43, Frank was involved in a car crash in Cardiff-by-the-Sea near Encinitas, California. He was accused of responsibility for the death of single father Michael Albano and then of evading service and responsibility in lawsuits by Albano’s surviving children. He only recently began paying what he owes.
Having had his driver’slicense suspended in Florida, Frank nonetheless rented a Jaguar and had a younger man whom he had met at a Whole Foods driving him. Biden, sitting in the passenger seat, reportedly shifted the car into manual gear and encouraged Jason Turton, 25, to “punch it,” at which point he hit 80 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone.
Turton was later reportedly found to have twice the allowed level of alcohol in his system. Witnesses said everyone in the car was drinking that day and Frank was accused of telling Turton to “keep driving” after killing Albano. Frank would ultimately remain at the scene after Turton ran off by foot.
The police report suggested Frank was uncooperative with police on key points of the investigation.
Frank Biden defaulted in the action brought by Albano’s daughters, but he left California and spent decades evading payments. When attorney John F. Hayter, representing the daughters, garnished Biden’s Wells Fargo bank account in February, he found it virtually empty.
It took 20 years to get him to pay any of the $1 million he owed in damages. He was also reportedly dodging creditors.
The daughters had repeatedly asked Joe Biden to intervene, but nothing occurred for years until he was running for the vice presidency and the media began to pick up on his brother’s evasion of liability.
When Biden was still a senator, Albano’s daughter did finally get a response from Joe Biden’s staff that explained, “As you are aware, however, Frank has no assets with which to satisfy the judgment. The senator regrets that this is where matters stand and that he cannot be more helpful.”
That appeared to change just when Joe was running for the vice presidency. It was also when the Biden influence peddling efforts seemed to take off in earnest.
These cases reveal not just a family committed to corrupt influence peddling, but also strikingly similar patterns of legal and financial evasion. It also shows a family whose members had an insatiable thirst for cash and few skills beyond monetizing government service.
The same is true in impeachments. When I served as lead counsel in the last judicial impeachment trial, my client, Judge Thomas Porteous, faced allegations of receiving gifts from those seeking to influence him. The House managers focused on Porteous’s lifestyle and gambling expenses to explain his seeking gifts from those with business in his court.
The Bidens had only one family business. They did not make furniture or sell groceries. They sold influence and, as Biden associate Devon Archer explained, Joe was their “brand.”
As these investigations and prosecutions continue, the public may conclude that it is not empathy but avarice that defines the Bidens.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University.
Description:The most common view of the atonement of Jesus is that Jesus died for everyone—that is, all people from all places in all times, every single human being that ever existed. But in order to take advantage of the benefits of the cross, one must first believe to be saved. Such a view is attractive, until we take a closer look at it. Dr. Sproul will look at this view in light of Scripture in this message entitled “Limited Atonement.”
Future things are hidden from us. Yet here is a glass in which we may see the unborn years. The Lord says, “From this day will I bless you.”
It is worthwhile to note the day which is referred to in this promise. There had been failure of crops, blasting, and mildew, and all because of the people’s sin. Now, the Lord saw these chastened ones commencing to obey His word and build His temple, and therefore He says, “From the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider. From this day will I bless you.” If we have lived in any sin, and the Spirit leads us to purge ourselves of it, we may reckon upon the blessing of the Lord. His smile, His Spirit, His grace, His fuller revelation of His truth will all prove to us an enlarged blessing. We may fall into greater opposition from man because of our faithfulness, but we shall rise to closer dealings with the Lord our God and a clearer sight of our acceptance in Him.
Lord, I am resolved to be more true to Thee and more exact in my following of Thy doctrine and Thy precept; and I pray Thee, therefore, by Christ Jesus, to increase the blessedness of my daily life henceforth and forever.
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17
She passed the coffee order to him with a cheery, “Have a good day!” His tone of annoyance was evident in his reply, “Whatever!”
I was next in line. The girl grimaced as I stepped forward and smiled. We both had taken note of the stagnant answer. I wondered if the young man was counting the days until Friday. Some days can have that effect when life seems to settle into a pattern with little or no expectation of adventure.
Sipping my coffee I read those words from Colossians and thought of the short encounter I had just witnessed:
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
The “whatever!” answer to the coffee girl gets turned on its head by this verse. God Himself asks us to say and do “whatever” as if we are representing Him; as if we are doing or saying it in His name and with a heart of gratitude!
The challenge is intriguing. It’s practical and could be very powerful. Could it actually put a sense of adventure into our days? Could you envision doing your routine, unexciting tasks of this week as a representative of the Almighty God? Could you do them with a grateful heart even when the doing does not particularly inspire you? What if your words were spoken and then you added “and I am saying this in the name of Jesus”. Would it change what you were about to say? Would it impact how you would act?
O Lord, please give me Your wisdom as I do the “whatever” today. Would You help thanksgiving to rise up within me? Thank You that I do not need to be tossed about by the dramatic nor the mundane things going on around me. Help me to do what‘s in front of me, and speak to those around me with the awareness that I am representing You. Change my focus as I fill my mind with Your wisdom. Let peace and joy spill over in this week’s chapter of my story and may others be touched by You, through me, in the “whatever” of my week. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
Thought: Make a choice. Today choose to use the mundane, stagnant “whatevers” as a launch pad to change the way you do and say what you do and say. And then give thanks for those mundane tasks and encounters. You just never know where this change of attitude could take you, especially when you invite Jesus to empower those sayings and doings with His strength. There is adventure waiting as you write the chapter in your story this week through a conscious awareness of the “whatever”.
When we pray, expressing our concerns to God, we should take time to express our thankfulness.
• We tell God our problems, making our requests known to Him with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6).
• We are devoted to prayer, staying alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving (Colossians 4:2)..
• We rejoice, praying without ceasing, giving thanks to God (1 Thessalonians. 5:16-18).
A thankful life is a prayerful life. A life void of prayer is an unthankful life.
Thanksgiving in Heaven
We don’t know a lot about heaven, often making us wonder what it will be like. One thing occurring in heaven is thanksgiving.
• The angels in heaven give thanks to God (Revelation 11:17).
• When we get to heaven, we will give thanks to God for salvation, as those who were washed in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:1-15).
If we’re not thankful in our prayers upon the earth, it’s doubtful we’ll live in heaven, where we’ll be busy offering thanks to God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Every Day is Thanksgiving, for Christians
As we experience God’s goodness in our lives, and offer thanks to Him, we could say that every day is a day of thanksgiving. We don’t feast upon turkey every day, in observance of a secular holiday, but we offer our thanks to God in prayer, reflecting our thankfulness in everything we say and do.
• The result of our thankful lives, doing the good works God has ordained, is that it produces thanksgiving to God.
• The effect of things we do upon the earth is far reaching, even reaching the throne of God.
Whatever you do in the bustle of day-to-day life, remember to give thanks. And live in such a way that others, who watch you and experience God’s goodness from your hands, can’t help but pause and offer up a prayer to express their thanks. In these ways, God will be glorified, and receive the thanks He deserves.
The Day Israel Changed Forever – What Happens Next? We have entered into a new era in which the Middle East will never be the same. While we are still in the early days of analyzing how all of this will play out in the bigger picture we believe there are several prophetic themes to be watching at this time. One of those that we believe every person should familiarize themselves with is the potential impact of the Psalm 83 war. Many prophetic scholars believe the Psalm 83 war will precede the Magog Invasion.
Hezbollah Joins the Fray, Bombards Israel in Solidarity with Palestinian Fighters Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group fired dozens of rockets and shells on Sunday at three Israeli positions in a disputed area along the country’s border with northern Israel in the Golan Heights. Hezbollah said in a statement that the attack using “large numbers of rockets and shells” was in solidarity with the “Palestinian resistance.” It said the Israeli positions were directly hit.
Iran must pay for Hamas’ barbaric attack on Israel, Lindsey Graham says United States Senator Lindsey Graham took to X, … on Sunday evening, showing his full support for Israel. “Everyone is right to suggest that Hamas’ barbaric attack against Israel was aided by Iran. Everyone is right when they say that Iran is the chief supporter of Hezbollah – a Shiite terrorist organization with tens of thousands of rockets pointed at Israel from Lebanon.”
UAE calls Hamas attacks on Israel a ‘serious and grave escalation’ The United Arab Emirates on Sunday described attacks carried out by Palestinian Islamist faction Hamas against Israeli towns as a “serious and grave escalation.” The UAE foreign ministry in a statement also said it was “appalled” by reports Israeli civilians were taken as hostages from their homes. “Civilians on both sides must always have full protection under international humanitarian law and must never be a target of conflict,” the ministry added.
Over 2,400 Killed In Afghanistan Quakes, Say Taliban, As Deaths Mount Kabul: More than 2,400 people were killed in earthquakes in Afghanistan, the Taliban administration said on Sunday, in the deadliest tremors to rock the quake-prone mountainous country in years. The Saturday quakes in the west of the country hit 35 km (20 miles) northwest of the city of Herat, with one of 6.3 magnitude, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
NASA To Launch Mission To Asteroid Worth More Than All The Gold On Earth NASA scientists are nearing the final stages of preparation to launch towards a $10,000 quadrillion asteroid, scheduled for liftoff on October 12. Engineers and technicians are getting the Psyche spacecraft ready. This mission’s goal is to explore a celestial body that holds a value potentially surpassing that of the entire global economy. The asteroid lies in the outer portion of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Multiple Americans Likely Killed or Captured in Hamas Assault: Israel Whatever unfolds in Israel over the days ahead in the wake of Saturday’s invasion of the country by Hamas terrorists, one thing is almost certain. American lives will be among those lost, and Americans could well be among those taken hostage. And that’s going to make a bad situation even worse for the American public — and the bunglers of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Terrorists kill hundreds in Israel, incl. women, children; Netanyahu vows to turn Gaza into ‘rubble’ After Hamas terrorists killed hundreds of Israeli citizens, including women and children, in a series of surprise attacks on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to turn Gaza into “rubble.” This is an enemy that murders children and mothers in their homes, in their beds, an enemy that abducts the elderly, children, and young women, that slaughters and massacres our citizens, including children who simply went out to enjoy the holiday.”
Seoul, Tokyo reopen strategic diplomatic channels amid nuke threats The foreign ministries of South Korea and Japan held their first “strategic dialogue” in nine years, and agreed to strengthen ties to deal with the common threat of Pyongyang’s nuclear provocations, a development indicating that the bilateral collaboration is extending beyond the military, finance to diplomacy.
North Korea executes warehouse manager for stealing penicillin A manager at a North Korean pharmaceutical warehouse was publicly executed last month for stealing 20,000 doses of penicillin, sources inside the country said. The man, who was in his 40s, was shot to death on Sept. 25 in Hyesan, a northern city in Ryanggang province on the Chinese border, said a resident of the province who declined to be identified for safety reasons.
The Rapture Has Become The Object Of Scorn In Many Churches. What Lies Behind The Scoffing? 2 Peter 3:3-4 KJV – “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” The apostle’s words accurately depict our day.
Blinken says U.S. received ‘reports that several Americans were killed’ Blinken said Sunday that some Americans reportedly died in the violence unfolding in Israel over the weekend. “We have reports that several Americans were killed. We’re working overtime to verify that,” Blinken said
The IDF says it continues to strike Hamas targets in Gaza The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that it struck Hamas targets in Gaza that were used to launch the attack against Israel one day earlier. The IDF said it attacked Hamas operations centers, a concealed launch site, an intelligence headquarters and a military compound used by the group’s aerial forces. The Israeli Air Force reported that it conducted an “intensive aerial strike” Sunday against Hamas targets near the security fence in the Gaza city of Beit Hanoun. “Hamas’s brutal attack is a war crime.”
Netanyahu addresses the nation: ‘With the help of God… we will win’ “All of the places which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in, that wicked city, we will turn them into rubble.” “No such revenge – revenge for the blood of a little child – has yet been devised by Satan,” Netanyahu quoted the poet Hayim Nahman Bialik. I can promise one thing: With the help of God, the forces that we all have in common and our faith in the Eternal One of Israel, we will win.”
Among over 600 killed Israelis: Civilians, IDF special forces, officers, policemen and paramedics The Israel Defense Forces announced the names of 26 soldiers who were killed in battle with the invading Hamas terrorists, among them senior officers including one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel and several majors, as well as several recent recruits who were only 19 to 20 years old, with a number of young women among them. Among the dead is the commander of the Nahal Brigade, Colonel Yonatan Steinberg, 42 who fell during the battle at the Kerem Shalom border crossing.
Female IDF soldiers manning the border observation cameras speak out, ‘They sniped the cameras’ One of the Israeli military observers in a group of almost entirely female soldiers, spoke with N12 news, describing the horrifying situation. “I got up for the 4 a.m. shift, a shift that turned out to be a nightmare,” the observer related. “I never thought in my life that I would see something like this at the lookout, I did my best.” “We all fought as best as possible,” she said. “They surprised us and we weren’t ready for it. Half of the manpower was at home during Sukkot and Shabbat, there was no intelligence information about it.”
Canada moves to increase online regulation, target search and social media algorithms Canada is taking steps towards potentially intrusive regulation of artificial intelligence as it pertains to its application in search and social media services. The government’s intentions have been revealed, which include AI application way beyond the realm of generative AI, similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Radical Ohio abortion amendment would allow partial-birth, dismemberment abortion: attorney general A proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution enshrining a “right” to effectively unlimited abortion in the Buckeye State would go far beyond the Roe v. Wade status quo and block prohibitions on partial-birth and dismemberment abortions, allow abortionists to target disabled babies, and end parental consent requirements, according to a legal analysis from the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
Security cabinet approves declaration of war The security cabinet approved a declaration of war on Saturday night in accordance with article 40 of the Basic Law: The Government, the cabinet said Sunday. Article 40 allows the government to order “significant military action that may lead, with a level of probability close to certain, to war.” The prime minister will be able to make certain decisions with only the approval of the security cabinet as well.
Coast-to-coast storm to impact at least 30 states this week with potential nor’easter threatening Northeast The FOX Forecast Center is tracking a powerful storm system that’s expected to track from coast to coast this week. The Northwest is up first in seeing impacts, including heavy rain, mountain snow, and even some thunderstorms, before possible flooding rains move into the Plains and Midwest by midweek. As the system continues moving east, the storm may become a nor’easter and impact the Northeast by next weekend.
Find It Hard To Believe That The Orders Came From Iran? Here’s Proof …This attack was planned, funded, and equipped by Iran. That’s why I consider it a precursor to the war prophesied in Ezekiel 38 and 39 — a war led by Russia and Iran. And make no mistake, Russia is tied to this.
Israel At War The great earthquake of the Ezekiel 38 war has NOT begun. But we are in the midst of a major foreshock. In the last few hours, Hamas fired thousands of missiles from Gaza into Israel. They targeted Israeli civilians. Hamas soldiers broke through checkpoints and bulldozed parts of the border fence. Their army attacked Israeli neighborhoods in border towns, randomly killing and randomly taking hostages.
The Day of Infamy When Hamas Slaughtered and Abducted Hundreds of Jews Palestinian terrorist group Hamas unleashed horrific attacks on a massive scale against Israeli civilians by land, sea, and air on October 7th. The terrorists launched their savage rampage on the Jewish Sabbath and holiday of Simchat Torah, committing numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity against defenseless Israeli civilians in what is being called Israel’s 9/11.
Education Shock: 200 Maryland Public Schools Have <5% Students Proficient In Math Investigative journalist Chris Papst of Fox45 news’ Project Baltimore revealed Thursday morning another bombshell report on the massive grade scandal in the progressive state of Maryland: FACT: Current state of Maryland public schools. More than 200 schools (according to state data) have 5% or fewer students proficient in math. Meaning, in at least 200 schools, at best 95% of students are NOT math proficient. Seems unbelievable, but true.
Love is love? Gay population is creating and spreading drug-resistant diseases… In 2015, Barack Hussein Obama legalized gay marriage under the banner of “love is love,” as if to send a clear message to Christians that their faith and teachings don’t matter. Unfortunately, many conservatives felt pressured and guilted into supporting this move, mainly because gay activists lied and said, “All we want is to hold hands in public and get a tax break.” This acceptance from Christians led to a permanent distortion of the traditional, Biblical meaning of marriage and is part of the reason for the downfall of Christianity in this country today.
BREAKING: U.S. Naval Warships Being Deployed to Middle East as ‘Show of Support’ for Israel in Escalating War Multiple news outlet are confirming that the U.S. Navy is deploying warships to the Middle East in what officials say is a “show of support” for Israel in its military response to a Hamas surprise attack on Saturday. Military aircrafts will be moved closer to Israel, U.S. officials said. The deployment is set to commence immediately, but the ships are not expected to be in the region for several days.
“Unprovoked Attack” or A Deep State War? “Israel and Hamas at war after surprise attacks from Gaza Strip” reported the Guardian, adding “A ground infiltration by Hamas gunmen into Israeli towns and villages on the periphery – an unprecedented development in the 16 years since the Islamists took over the strip – is ongoing, with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) saying that at one point, seven villages and towns were under Hamas control.”
“Let us recollect that peace or war will not always be left to our option; that however moderate or unambitious we may be, we cannot count upon the moderation, or hope to extinguish the ambition of others.” —Alexander Hamilton (1788)
Fellow Patriots, on October 8, 1918, Alvin York earned the Medal of Honor for killing two dozen German soldiers, capturing 132, and saving American lives against a German machine-gun nest. The Israelis are going to be counting on dedication and valorous actions as a new war against Hamas began over the weekend. —Mark Alexander
The Sunni-Islamic terrorist organization Hamas, an acronym for “Islamic Resistance Movement,” has held de facto political control of the governing Palestinian National Authority since 2006, now with a majority of seats in the PNA “parliament.” The West Bank, a large swath of land along the western bank of the Jordan River and Dead Sea bordering Jordan, and surrounding much of Jerusalem, combined with a much smaller area, the Gaza Strip along the southwest of Israel’s Mediterranean Sea coast bordering Egypt, has been under Israeli control since the Six Day War in 1967. Sections of these areas were designated as under PNA control by the 1993 Oslo Accords, brokered by Demo President Bill Clinton between Yitzhak Rabin and the Palestine Liberation Organization’s terrorist leader Yasser Arafat.
In 1988, the terrorist PNA declared its intent to designate a Palestinian State, and since 2012, with the support of Demo President Barack Obama, the corrupt United Nations has recognized the “State of Palestine.”
There have been proposals over the years to resettle Palestinians in other Arab nations, but nobody wants them given that Palestinians are the lowest caste of Arabs. Despite a plethora of “peace agreements” over recent decades, it has always been clear to long-war observers that the likelihood of actual peace between Israel and the terrorist PNA was a bridge too far.
Over the weekend, Hamas, as the state-sponsored terrorist surrogate of primarily Iran, with support from both Afghanistan and Syria, launched a bloody strike from Gaza into Israel. Initially, Hamas attacked with an estimated 2,500-3,000 Iranian-made Fateh-110 surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, an action similar to the rocket attacks during the 2014 Gaza War. This time, the rockets were followed by terrorist incursions into Israeli communities 10-15 miles east of the Gaza “border.” They slaughtered civilian men, women, and children, and the current count of Israeli dead exceeds 800. Among those murdered were also nine Americans.
Hamas also took a significant number of Israeli hostages, whom they intend to use to force Israel to release Palestinian prisoners.
There are questions about how Israel’s Defense Forces and their intelligence arm, HaMossad, failed to detect the attacks, particularly the importation, assembly, and preparation of the rockets. But most of those rocket components are smuggled in by sea and then assembled in disparate locations.
To be clear, the Hamas attack was seeded by the Obama/Biden administration’s malfeasance, particularly its 2015 “nuke deal” with Iran and supplemented by Obama’s 2016 $400 million cash payment to Iran for release of hostages despite his claim: “We do not pay ransom for hostages. We didn’t here, and we won’t in the future, precisely because if we did we’d start encouraging Americans to be targeted.”
Iran’s terrorist objectives were substantially curtailed by Donald Trump, including his final demonstration of U.S. might and resolve, the message he sent Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by targeting and taking out Gen. Qasem Soleimani in January 2020. Notably, Trump then brokered the secret agreement between Israel and the Saudis.
That was followed by Israel’s masterful operation, just before Trump left office, to kill Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, whom Khamenei described as “the country’s prominent and distinguished nuclear and defensive scientist.”
Then, empowered by Biden’s ineptitude, came the bloody and totally predictable invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin, posing a much greater threat to the U.S. and NATO.
Heritage Foundation analyst Victoria Coates concludes, “You can just draw a direct line between [Biden’s] permissive attitude and policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran and these terrorist attacks on Israel.”
Next up, will Israel take the battle to Tehran?
Let me make this clear: The most dangerous threat to U.S. national security has been and remains Joe Biden. Anyone who believes that, if Trump was still president, the Taliban would have risen again, or Putin would have dared invade Ukraine, or Hamas would rise again is pathologically delusional. Everyone who voted for Biden voted for all the bloodshed that has followed, and that bloodshed could get much worse — China is watching.
Finally, for context, I have seen comparisons between the attack on Israel with the 9/11 Islamist attack on our nation. However, 800 Israelis dead in a nation of 9.4 million people would equate to almost 27,000 dead in America.
A barbaric attack on Israel brings convenient leftist calls for “de-escalation” and “ceasefire.”
Douglas Andrews
Where Middle East affairs are concerned, recent history has shown us that there are three certainties: first, that Israel’s enemies will strike first; second, that they will behave barbarically; and third, that the Left will fail to acknowledge the first two certainties.
This pattern played out yet again Saturday with a massive rocket attack from Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip followed by a ground attack by more than 1,000 Islamist terrorists who swept into a music festival near Israel’s border with Gaza, where they swarmed and slaughtered some 260 attendees and took dozens more hostage. The surprise attack and the stunning breach of Israel’s security suggests a massive intelligence failure on behalf of both Israel and the U.S., one that was reminiscent of a surprise attack a half a century ago that began the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
More than 800 Israelis are now confirmed dead at the hands of Iran and its murderous proxies, Hamas, and Saturday thus marks the largest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. But you wouldn’t know it from the reaction of Detroit Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. As the New York Post reports, Tlaib “blasted Israel’s ‘occupation’ policies while saying she grieves those killed as violence engulfed the region following Hamas’ unprecedented incursion from Gaza.”
We shouldn’t be surprised. Tlaib is a Democrat, a Jew hater of the first order, and the first Palestinian-American member of the House of Representatives. Predictably, she called for the dismantling of the “apartheid” Jewish state:
I grieve the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day. I am determined as ever to fight for a just future where everyone can live in peace, without fear and with true freedom, equal rights, and human dignity. The path to that future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance.
Since when is “resistance” defined as indiscriminately firing rockets into towns, shooting civilians from paragliders, and kidnapping and slaughtering women, children, and the elderly?
Tlaib finds common cause with her fellow Squad members, who conveniently called for a cessation of hostilities before IDF forces had so much as laced up their combat boots, much less neutralized this mortal threat to their nation’s existence. One of Tlaib’s colleagues, Minneapolis Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, called for a “de-escalation and ceasefire,” essentially telling the Jewish state to bury its 800 dead and move along.
Fat chance.
“Such senseless violence,” Omar wrote, “will only repeat the back and forth cycle we’ve seen, which we cannot allow to continue.”
The late Democrat Senator Paul Wellstone used to quip that he represents the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. Similarly, we refer to “The Squad” and its supporters as the Hamas wing of the Democrat Party.
Reprobates at that rally reportedly shouted slogans such as “New York City you will see, Palestine will be free.‘” And “Zionism has got to go.” And “Long live the intifada.” They carried signs with other slogans: “Resistance is justified when people are occupied,” “Zionism is genocide,” “End all U.S. aid to apartheid Israel,” and “Glory to our martyrs.”
Disgusting.
The moral relativism of the Left includes many tropes, including talk of “occupied territories,” such as those retaken by Israel during 1967’s Six-Day War. The West Bank, for example, only became known as the West Bank in 1948. This twisted view of history helps stack the deck against Israel’s right to self-defense.
As history also tells us, the Jews are the indigenous people of Israel, but for some reason they’re not recognized as such — or at least not by those on the Left. It’s strange how Democrats and their fellow travelers love to talk about indigenous peoples, except when the indigenous peoples are Jews fighting for their survival. In that case, they’re called occupiers and apartheidists.
We recognize historical figures not because they’re perfect but because they did notable things.
Nate Jackson
History is complicated because people are complicated. Rarely will you find anyone who operates with only one motive, and often not all of those motives are pure. Yet leftists want to condemn Christopher Columbus and the holiday that bears his name because he wasn’t a perfect saint. To replace this evil colonizer, they want to celebrate the indigenous peoples who enslaved each other, offered human sacrifice, engaged in cannibalism, and committed genocide because … well, shut up, they explained.
Cristofor Colombo was born in Genoa in 1451. He eventually discovered what Europeans would come to call the New World. Because of the Muslim takeover of the eastern Mediterranean, he set out to find a western way to India. He also sought gold, in large part to fund Christian evangelism and the reconquest of Jerusalem. On a voyage to what he thought would be India, he instead landed in the Bahamas. Later journeys took him to South America. The known world suddenly became much larger, and the Western value of courageous exploration took root. On the other hand, Columbus’s men and subsequent explorers also committed atrocities and brought disease. Obviously, his discovery wasn’t an unmarred good — little in history ever is.
Still, until recent years, the only real controversy about celebrating the 1492 landing of Columbus and his three ships in the Caribbean was that a viking named Lief Erickson discovered Newfoundland a few hundred years before him. Then the “progressive” historical iconoclasts came along and insisted that Columbus was a racist who brought only death to peaceful natives.
Dozens of cities have canceled Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Schools and other places are removing any branding associated with Columbus. Monuments to the explorer have been vandalized in recent years.
Ironically, history repeats itself: A century ago, the Ku Klux Klan behaved likewise due to anti-Italian sentiments. Klan radicals tore down statues and even lynched Italian Americans. One particular lynching incident was the impetus for recognizing Columbus, in fact, as a way to be more welcoming to immigrants.
In 2021, Joe Biden became the first president to issue a proclamation naming today Indigenous Peoples’ Day. He has repeated the practice every year since. “We must never forget,” he said, “the centuries-long campaign of violence, displacement, assimilation, and terror wrought upon Native communities and Tribal Nations throughout our country.”
Violence, displacement, assimilation, and terror wrought by other Native communities and Tribal Nations, he forgot to add. Another forgotten bit is noted by professor Jeff Fynn-Paul is his book, Not Stolen: The Truth About European Colonialism in the New World: “Indians enslaved far more Indians than Europeans ever did. It is likely that more Africans were enslaved by Indians in the New World, than Indians by Europeans.” Well that’s inconvenient.
Subsequent presidential proclamations likewise don’t mention the full history of indigenous peoples, focusing only on their purity and their victimization at the hands of the white man. Leftists more generally honor indigenous peoples without saying anything bad about them, but they can’t acknowledge Columbus without saying only the worst things about him.
Additionally, the hip new thing is to spread the myth that we live on “stolen land.” We’re supposed to believe that only the Europeans stole the land, not the natives who had been taking it from each other for centuries prior.
Meanwhile, there is the noxious leftist idea that assimilation is no different than terror, and the “progressive” dogma that there is no forgiveness, only perpetual guilt. President “Unity” carries that “progress” forward by only dividing Americans with political pandering.
A far better presidential model was Ronald Reagan, who once said of the Italian explorer: “Columbus is justly admired as a brilliant navigator, a fearless man of action, a visionary who opened the eyes of an older world to an entirely new one. Above all, he personifies a view of the world that many see as quintessentially American: not merely optimistic, but scornful of the very notion of despair.”
Patriots should help the next generation of Americans learn that history.
RFK announcement coming, cutting the Green Berets, healthcare strike ends, and more.
Thomas Gallatin & Jordan Candler
Cross-Examination
RFK announcement coming: In Philadelphia this afternoon, Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be making a “major announcement” about his campaign. “I’ll be speaking about a sea change in American politics,” Kennedy teased in a video publicizing the event. “How are we going to win against the established Washington interests? It’s not through playing the game by the corrupt rules that the corrupt powers and the vested interests have rigged to keep us all in their thrall.” Almost everyone expects that Kennedy will announce his exit from the Democrat presidential primary to run as a third-party independent. Stay tuned.
Protect women: The Democrat Party’s biggest voting bloc is women, so it’s no wonder the party continuously claims it’s all about supporting women’s rights, especially abortion. However, it turns out that those who often end up suffering the most from leftist polices are women. Policies like the Democrats’ support for gender-bending “transgender” advocacy, which has invaded women’s spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms and has displaced them in sports competitions. But it’s also seen in the Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies. In New York City over the last four years, felony assaults against women have jumped 41%. In NYC so far this year, 2,830 women have been assaulted, not including domestic violence. Who is looking out for women?
Cutting the Green Berets: The Pentagon recently announced that it will be cutting roughly 10% of the U.S. Army’s special-operational ranks, including from the famous Green Beret commando units. That 10% amounts to 3,000 troops. This follows cuts last year, when 700 special-operations troops were trimmed from the military. The controversial cuts to special forces are being framed as a strategic transition to focus on building up conventional troops for potential warfare against China. However, the Army’s failure to reach recruitment goals has some speculating that this has played more of a leading factor in the cuts. Current projections that factor in the lower recruiting numbers estimate a drop in overall troop numbers from 453,000 to 440,000 by 2025.
Healthcare strike ends: From Wednesday through Friday last week, 75,000 healthcare workers walked off the job, initiating the largest healthcare strike in U.S. history. It was a planned three-day strike for unionized Kaiser Permanente workers. The vast majority of the striking workers were in California, though some healthcare employees in Colorado, Oregon, and Washington also participated. While no labor deal has been reached, Kaiser and the coalition of unions have scheduled a collective bargaining meeting at the end of this week. The unions have threatened more strikes if no deal is reached during that meeting.
More Republican voters see Donald Trump as a person of faith than view any other GOP presidential candidate as such.
Thomas Gallatin
Just how astute are voters? The answer to that question often confounds political pundits. In one sense, the answer depends on the source from which voters get their information. But that doesn’t explain the whole picture. The manner of polling conducted often impacts how voters answer questions, which is why the best polls are the votes cast in an election.
However, polling can at least offer a broad expression of what the majority of voters are thinking.
Recently, a HarrisX poll asked Republican voters about their views of the current presidential candidates’ religious faith. The survey found that 69% said they are a “person of faith” (POF). Based on this rather vague terminology, 53% believed that Donald Trump is also a POF.
However, the shocking part was that 52% said Mike Pence is a POF, one point less than his former boss. This is surprising given the well-established fact that Pence is an evangelical Christian who has long and very publicly spoken of his faith. Trump, on the other hand … not so much.
There is one important factor to note. Of the survey respondents who identified as evangelical Christians, 65% identified Pence as a POF, whereas just 37% identified Trump as such.
While Trump has certainly courted Christians, he rarely expresses much interest in spiritual matters or organized religion. In 2015, Trump said he was “Presbyterian and Protestant,” but in 2020 he said he identified as a non-denominational Christian. In 2019, he appointed televangelist Paula White as his personal pastor. But there is no evidence that Trump attends church regularly or that he has been an active member of any church — or that he understands basic Christian doctrine like forgiveness for sin or behaves much like a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Pence has long been active in evangelical Christianity and while governor of Indiana signed into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a bill that was aimed at protecting people’s right to religious objection. Though he was born into a Roman Catholic home, Pence didn’t really become a Christian until college. He credits his coming to faith with a corresponding profound change in his political views, as he went from being a Democrat who had volunteered for and voted for Jimmy Carter to embracing the “common-sense conservatism of Ronald Reagan.”
Pence made headlines while vice president when it came to light that he practiced the Reverend Billy Graham’s rule of never being alone with a woman other than his wife. This was due to his Christian conviction.
Going down the poll even further, 47% of voters tagged Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as a POF. DeSantis has been less outspoken but has referenced his Catholic faith and stated, “Our household is a Christ-centered household.” Furthermore, he has said that it’s his and his wife’s job to provide religious training to their children.
While the view of Trump being more of a POF than Pence is a head-scratcher, even more so may be that just 31% of voters pegged South Carolina Senator Tim Scott as a POF. Like Pence, Scott has been very vocal about his Christian faith. In an interview back in May with CBN, Scott recounted his conversion: “It was September 22, 1983, at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting. I was on a small football scholarship at Presbyterian College, and I gave my life to the Lord. And I will say — you talk about radical transformation.”
Similarly, just 31% of voters believe Nikki Haley to be a POF. Haley grew up in the Sikh faith of her parents but says she was exposed to many different Christian denominations throughout her childhood. She had a “huge turning point” in her faith in 2015 after a white supremacist killed nine black Christians in a Charleston church. She says working through the emotions of that tragedy led her to become a Christian.
And then there’s Vivek Ramaswamy, who is Hindu, and who was seen by 30% of voters as a POF. If by “faith” they mean “Christian,” they need to get out more.
When it comes to the actual lived position of the candidates and whether they are genuinely committed to a religious faith, Trump should be at the bottom of the list. So why is he considered by most voters — and more than any other candidate — to be a POF?
One answer may lie in the designation itself. A “person of faith” is a very ambiguous and broad term. For many, just stating a belief in a higher power may be enough to classify someone as a person of faith. Furthermore, Trump has regularly been spoken of by supporters in religious-like language. He’s the “chosen one” who will “save America,” and so forth.
The bottom line may be that with the political stakes becoming ever more significant for our daily lives, voters are tempted to put more and more, well, faith in politicians. And those politicians’ promises of “salvation” grow ever more broad, muddying the waters of what anyone means by the word “faith.”
Despite our epidemic of fantasy, there remains reality. And we will soon rediscover it all too soon.
Victor Davis Hanson
One common denominator that explains why previously successful societies implode is their descent into fantasies. A collective denial prevents even discussion of existential threats and their solutions.
Something like that is happening in the United States. Eight million illegal immigrants have entered the United States by the deliberate erasure of the southern border.
Apparently, the Biden administration sees some unstated advantage in destroying U.S. immigration law and welcoming in would-be new constituents.
Yet, the more the millions arrive, the more President Joe Biden and his Homeland Security director Alejandro Mayorkas flat out lie that “the border is secure.”
They both live in a world of make-believe, passed off to the American people as reality.
And the more the Americans are lied to that the border is secure, the more they poll — currently 77 percent — that it is not.
Biden apparently has reversed course and begun using the former pejorative “Bidenomics” as a term of pride.
He now praises this three-year effort to borrow $6-7 trillion, and spike interest rates threefold to 7% on home mortgages — even as prices on essentials like food and fuel have spiked 25-30% since he entered office.
The more that Biden brags about what he did to the economy, the more people poll — over 60% — dissatisfaction with his alternate reality of “Bidenomics.”
Do we remember the humiliation in August 2021 in Afghanistan?
The more retired Gen. Mark Milley, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Biden assured that the American military presence was stable, the more swiftly it crumbled and descended into the worst mass flight of an American army since Vietnam.
Consider natural gas and oil. The Biden administration waged war on both by canceling pipelines, drilling on federal lands, and entire oil fields.
When the price soared and the 2022 midterms neared, Biden suddenly begged formerly shunned illiberal regimes like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela to pump all the hated oil they could to lower the price.
A desperate Biden drained much of the strategic petroleum reserve — he has yet to refill it — simply to lower the price of gasoline and thus win voters back to the Democratic Party.
When the midterms passed, Biden resumed his attack on once bad, then good, and now bad again fossil fuels — at least until the 2024 election.
Stranger still is the denial of the current crime wave in our major cities. Predators and thugs have turned once iconic downtowns into either war zones or ghost towns or both.
Smash-and-grab swarming of stores and matter-of-fact shoplifting are destroying commerce in our major cities.
Unsustainable stores either leave or shut down. Communities who vote for politicians who defund the police blame the stores for leaving — but not the criminals whose brazen thefts made it impossible to do business in the inner city.
Now modern-day pirates with impunity storm, sink, and rob boats of all kinds in the Oakland marina and estuary.
Leftwing journalists and activists, and even Democratic politicians, who all supported defunding the police, now cannot escape the resulting street violence and unleashed murderous predations.
Everyone knows the culprit is the post-George Floyd effort — with Biden administration complicity — to defund the police, end cash bail, institutionalize catch-and-release of criminals, and show more sympathy toward victimizers than victims.
Yet neither state nor local officials nor Biden himself even admits to a crime wave. The more the public is attacked and avoids major downtowns, the more it polls furor over the crime wave.
The more our officials, in gaslighting style, claim such alarm is all in our collective heads, the more they themselves are attacked by the very criminals their policies empowered.
Sometimes the fantasies extend to the trivial. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn, for months has dressed like an utter slob while on the Senate floor. As a gesture of approval, Democrats junked the dress code so he could wear his sloppy cut-offs and hoodie.
Americans were to assume his slovenly costume was normal apparel — and they were hypercritical for thinking otherwise.
Recently Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-NY, pulled a Senate fire alarm to disrupt and delay a vote on continuing the funding of the government. But he got caught on a Capitol surveillance video committing the crime.
Bowman whined that he got confused. He preposterously claimed by pulling the alarm he thought he was opening a door to go vote.
All of that was pure fantasy. The alarm was clearly marked. A sign in front of the door warned not to enter. And the door itself was placarded with cautions that any attempt to open it would set off emergency alarms.
No matter. Bowman assumed by calling his critics “Nazis” and using the race card, he could invent a virtual reality.
Despite our epidemic of fantasy, there remains reality.
Terrorist Sympathizers Celebrate Hamas’s Assault — Hamas launched an unprovoked assault on Israel, which saw the Gaza-based terror group kidnap women and children and kill hundreds of innocent civilians.
Biden’s Senior Moment of the Week (Vol. 63) — The 80-year-old president’s brain appeared to stop working during a press conference, causing his whole body to freeze like a statue.
California Schemin’ — California Governor Gavin Newsom wants to slap a massive tax on the sale of legal firearms and then spend that money on things like outreach programs to LA street gangs.
Kaepernick Wants Back on the NFL ‘Plantation’ — Two years ago, former NFL quarterback and race grifter Colin Kaepernick called the league racist, comparing it to a slave plantation. Now he’s begging to play again.
“Let’s be clear: the deal to bring U.S. citizens home from Iran has nothing to do with the horrific attack on Israel.” —State Department spokesman Matthew Miller
“Not a single cent from these funds has been spent, and when it is spent, it can only be spent on things like food and medicine for the Iranian people. These funds have absolutely nothing to do with the horrific attacks today and this is not the time to spread disinformation.” —White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson
Keen Sense of the Obvious
“Iran has unfortunately always used and focused its funds on supporting terrorism.” —Secretary of State Antony Blinken
Middle East Policy
“Here we are 78 years after the end of the Holocaust and once again thuggish killers dressed in black are pulling Jewish elderly, women, and children out of their homes and executing them, and then throwing their bodies into the street. But in 1945 we were fighting the SS murderers, now we are sending millions in subsidies to their modern Hamas killer squad counterparts. We the American people should demand not one more American cent to these Gestapo and SS killers.” —Victor Davis Hanson
“It is not Israel’s responsibility to supply electricity to the region that butchered its people. This seems fairly obvious.” —Erielle Davidson
Re: The Left
“Force yourself to look at the videos of what Hamas did over the weekend. LOOK. This is what moral equivalence brings. Rape of women. Kidnapping of children. Murder of hundreds of innocents, including full families.” —Ben Shapiro
“Much has been made about how the Nazis used media and education to set the conditions for the genocide of Jewry. Take a look around. People are in the streets celebrating the greatest mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. Our media and schools have helped pave the way.” —Sean Durns
Reeducation Camp
“Sadly, so many of those extremists, those MAGA extremists, take their marching orders from Donald Trump, who has no credibility left by any measure. … At some point, you know, maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members.” —Hillary Clinton
Gaslighting
“I think the American people are smart as hell. I think they know they are better off financially than they were before. It’s a fact.” —Joe Biden on Bidenomics
Student Loan Heist
“This is an impeachable offense. Why? Because Biden lost the case in the Supreme Court, which ruled he does not have the constitutional authority to make unilateral spending decisions like this. It’s called separation of powers. Congress was granted the sole power over borrowing, spending, and taxes. A president cannot seize this power from Congress. But that’s exactly what Biden is doing.” —Mark Levin on Biden’s latest student loan forgiveness
Food for Thought
“You love your kids, and for their sake, you want to save America from the wreckage of postmodern liberalism. But what does a generation of children look like as adults after coming of age watching their father figures delight in the humiliation of their enemies? And what is life like in a society ruled by men who hold up hatred as a virtue?” —Nick Russo
For the Record
“We shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be. They can’t. A man is a man and a woman is a woman — that’s just common sense.” —British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
“Just so we’re keeping score: The Biden DOJ is suing SpaceX for not hiring refugees, the DOJ and SEC are investigating Tesla, the EEOC is also suing Tesla, the FTC demanded @elonmusk hand over internal Twitter comms and the SEC is now investigating Elon’s purchase of Twitter.” —Greg Price
Political Futures
“The House GOP doesn’t have a speaker because it doesn’t have a mission. And without a mission, it’s only a matter of time until every session falls apart into self-serving drama. Either the House GOP will find its mission or it will continue to waste time that America doesn’t have. Either Republicans will find their mission or they will lose.” —Daniel Greenfield
On October 7, 2023, the terror organization Hamas launched a multi-pronged attack on Israel, killing hundreds and kidnapping dozens.
Hamas is the ruling authority in the Gaza Strip, a parcel of land roughly double the size of Washington, D.C.. The Gaza Strip, sandwiched between Israel and the Mediterranean Sea, is home to some 2.5 million so-called Palestinians, Arabs of various origins that the rest of the Arab world does not want.
War, Terror and Violence
Since its rebirth as a nation in 1948, Israel has contended with near-constant war, terror and violence from Arab Muslims in the region, with hard-core terrorist groups like Hamas taking the bloody lead.
In this latest, carefully planned attack, Hamas terrorists struck Israelis by land, cutting their way through Israel’s border fence, by sea, landing by speed boat, and in a bizarre “snakes on a plane” like twist, by air on paragliders.
Israel Declared War
During the attack, Hamas terrorists purposely targeted civilians, including infants and the elderly, killing many and kidnapping others. In response, Israel has declared war against Hamas, giving it the legal flexibility to do whatever is necessary to protect its citizens.
Thanks to Hamas, the Middle East is now careening towards war, with many wondering why Hamas attacked Israel.
War in 1973
Some point out that this attack came near the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, and Hamas might be hoping for a return of the “spirit” of that war. In that war, which began on October 6, 1973, two Arab nations, Egypt and Syria, simultaneously attacked Israel from the north and the south hoping to cripple the state or, if possible, eradicate it.
Not the Middle East of the 1970s
But the Middle East of 2023 is not the Middle East of the 1970s, and Hamas likely knows this. Egypt is already trying to play peacemaker and stop the current fighting, and owing to twelve years of civil war, Syria can’t feed its people, let alone make war on Israel.
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Others speculate that Hamas has attacked Israel hoping to destroy the nearly-concluded peace deal between Israel and Saudia Arabia. This deal would, in the words of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, “go a long way in ending Arab-Israeli conflict and will encourage other Arab States to normalize their relations with Israel.” In this explanation, we may be getting closer to the truth about Hamas’ motivations. Hamas is a ruthless, satanic terrorist organization, and like all other terrorist organizations, it cannot exist in a state of peace, only finding a “reason for being” where there is blood, pain and suffering.
Hamas is a Jihadist Islamic Organization
There is another reason why Hamas does what it does. Like all terrorist groups that have made our world hell over the past half-century, Hamas is a jihadist Islamic organization. Like other jihadist Islamic organizations, Hamas routinely calls for destroying the Christian West, Jews wherever they might be, and Israel. Because of its jihadist Islamic foundations, Hamas has repeatedly rejected all proposals for peace with Israel, including those recognizing Palestine as a nation.
American Support for Hamas
But support for Hamas throughout the United States is widespread, especially on college campuses and among squads of the Democrat Party.
Why?
First, Hamas has managed a careful PR campaign, blaming Israel anytime Hamas terrorists kill the innocent. Also, Hamas rarely speaks directly to Western media but primarily to Palestinians in long-winded speeches about the “right” to kill Israelis and the duty to “thwart global Zionism.”
Strangely, Western media rarely reports on Hamas’ violent rhetoric. But a little Google-digging reveals that Hamas spends much time and effort stoking hatred of all things Christian, Western, Jewish and Israeli.
Occasionally, an Islamic organization speaks plainly and openly to the West about who they are and their plans for us. The Islamic State, or ISIS, was one such group.
ISIS’ Involvement
From 2014 to 2016, ISIS published an English-language magazine called Dabiq. Though it only ran for two years, Dabiq was a tightly focused publication with a highly polished production value. It was also flat-out grotesque, with images of beheadings, violence and war unsuitable for anyone with a weak stomach.
But it was important. Why? Because it forced many in the West to see jihadist Islam for what it is: violent, demonic, bent on war and terror.
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Additionally, and unlike Hamas of 2023, ISIS used Dabiq to speak directly and plainly to the West, telling anyone who cared to listen what they and other jihadist Islamic organizations had planned for the West and Israel.
For example, in issue 15, the lead article in Dabiq was titled “Why We Hate You and Why We Fight You.” The “You” in the title referred to “us” in the West, and the first paragraph and a half of the article is worth quoting in full, with a few added notes to explain some terms and references:
Shortly following the blessed attack on a sodomite, Crusader nightclub by the mujahid (meaning soldier of Allah) Omar Mateen (who attacked the Florida nightclub on June 12, 2016), American politicians were quick to jump into the spotlight and denounce the shooting, declaring it a hate crime, an act of terrorism, and an act of senseless violence. A hate crime? Yes. Muslims undoubtedly hate liberalist sodomites, as does anyone else with any shred of their fitrah (inborn human nature) still intact. An act of terrorism? Most definitely. Muslims have been commanded to terrorize the disbelieving enemies of Allah. But an act of senseless violence? One would think that the average Westerner, by now, would have abandoned the tired claim that the actions of the mujahidin – who have repeatedly stated their goals, intentions, and motivations – don’t make sense. Unless you truly – and naively – believe that the crimes of the West against Islam and the Muslims, whether insulting the Prophet, burning the Quran, or waging war against the Caliphate, won’t prompt brutal retaliation from the mujahidin, you know full well that the likes of the attacks carried out by Omar Mateen, Larossi Aballa (who killed two French police officers on June 13, 2016), and many others before and after them in revenge for Islam and the Muslims make complete sense. The only thing senseless would be for there to be no violent, fierce retaliation in the first place!
I believe the meaning is clear and speaks for itself. And, as strange as this might sound, I also believe the author when he points out that the intention of jihadist Islamists to kill us is not “senseless” but deliberate and well-planned, just like Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Get Over the Phobia of Being Accused of Islamophobia
It is time to face the fact that jihadist Islamic groups, like Hamas, intend, quite plainly, to terrorize us, maim us and kill us.
It is time for all of us to get over our phobia of being accused of Islamophobia for pointing this out since taking someone at their word is precisely the opposite of phobic.
And it is time for all good men and women in the West to judge Hamas and other jihadist Islamic groups by their actions, if not their words. Once we do, we must call (loudly) for the elimination of Hamas as part of the defeat of jihadist Islam, shrugging off accusations of “intolerance” and “hate.” Remember, it is not Islamophobia if they are really out to get you.
Dr. Jeff Gardner holds an MA in history and a Ph.D. in Communication and Media Studies. For over a decade, he has worked in media, writing and taking photographs for various publications and organizations across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. His work has been featured in numerous national and international publications and broadcasts. He teaches courses in media, culture and government at Regent University. You can reach him at jeffgardner.online.
Israel is at war after a massive barrage of unprovoked attacks, leading to fears that an outright war between Israel and Iran could be on the horizon. CBN Israel Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell reports. Stay tuned to CBN News for updates.
When it comes to weapons supplies, the US is its friends’ worst enemy
Scott Ritter is a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and author of ‘Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika: Arms Control and the End of the Soviet Union.’ He served in the Soviet Union as an inspector implementing the INF Treaty, in General Schwarzkopf’s staff during the Gulf War, and from 1991-1998 as a UN weapons inspector.
Throughout recent history, the perceived weapon of choice for a terrorist (or freedom fighter, depending on one’s perspective) has been an AK-47 assault rifle. Today, in the aftermath of the so-called post-9/11 “global war on terror,” it’s not uncommon to see such fighters with a Glock 9mm pistol, or a Colt M4 carbine.
These are weapons paid-for by the US taxpayer and ostensibly provided to forces joined in the cause of defeating terrorists and/or freedom fighters (again, depending on the political beliefs of the observer), but that end up in the hands of the latter instead. Obviously, that is never the outcome Washington intends. And yet, somehow, these weapons end up arming the very forces the US and its allies are trying to defeat.
The most recent example of this phenomenon appears to involve Hamas and the attacks perpetrated by militants affiliated with that organization on military and civilian targets in southern Israel. A video, the authenticity of which has yet to be verified, purports to show a Hamas fighter thanking Ukraine for the provision of small arms, ammunition, and hand grenades. More videos, taken during the actual assaults, show the Hamas fighters armed with a plethora of US-made weapons.
These videos have alarmed some US lawmakers, such as Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia’s 14th District, who, in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack, Tweeted/Xeeted “We need to work with Israel to track serial numbers on any US weapons used by Hamas against Israel. Did they come from Afghanistan?” the Congresswoman asks. “Did they come from Ukraine? Highly likely the answer is both.”
Any attempt to answer Marjorie Taylor Greene’s questions will more than likely turn up information that should make the US government very uncomfortable. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been saying since June of this year that US-made anti-tank weapons intended for Ukraine were turning up on the Israeli border. Left unsaid by Netanyahu was how this had come to be – corruption is rampant inside Ukraine, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has reported on hundreds of millions of dollars of aid being diverted into the hands of parties it was not originally intended for. By my calculations based on conversations with numerous informed sources, the amount diverted could be as high as six out of every ten dollars of assistance sent to Ukraine. It’s one thing if this involves money; it’s another thing altogether if this involves weapons.
The wide availability of US-made weapons on the global black market used by terrorists/freedom fighters to arm themselves is reflective of the lax approach the US takes when it comes to providing military assistance to parties involved in active combat. The US appears to be more interested in reinforcing the political messaging attached to such deliveries–that the US is actively supporting friends in need. The actual security-related aspects of this effort, however, seem to escape most senior US policy makers.
This became evident in May 2022, when Rand Paul, a Republican Senator from Kentucky, tried to have an inspector general put in place to monitor and account for some $40 billion in military assistance to Ukraine requested by President Joe Biden. Senator Paul’s motion was overwhelmingly defeated by a Congress which appeared to be happy to assume a “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” posture when it came to the issue of Ukraine and corruption.
The issue of US weapons falling into the hands of persons not only for whom the weapons were not intended, but –more critically– into the hands of people the weapons were intended to fight against, who then use them against American allies, is not a new one. Back in 2007, Turkish police started recovering weapons from killed Kurdistan Workers Party (or PKK) fighters inside Türkiye containing serial numbers affiliated with weapons shipments made by the US to Iraqi forces. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the US State Department, while Türkiye is a member of NATO.
US weapons provided to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for the purpose of fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels were being seized by the Houthi on the battlefield and being turned against the original owners. Moreover, some of these weapons found their way into the hands of Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. Weapons provided by the US to the former Afghan Army turned up in Kashmir, recovered from the bodies of pro-Pakistani Islamist terrorists/freedom fighters who had, prior to being killed in Kashmir, fought alongside the Afghan Taliban against the US and its Afghan allies. Other US weapons from Ukraine began showing up in Africa, in the Lake Chad region, in the hands of Boko Haram insurgents fighting against US-armed soldiers from Chad, Niger, and Nigeria.
The reality is that the US has become one of the major sources of weapons for terrorists/freedom fighters around the world. While Marjorie Taylor Greene is correct to demand answers when it comes to the issue of the security of Israel, a long-time American ally, the same questions can be asked about virtually every security assistance program instituted by the US in the post-9/11 era. It appears that America’s approach to fighting the global war on terror has ended up making those whom it calls terrorists more capable of carrying out the acts of violence US policy portends to be trying to stop. The sad truth is that America, in its rush to arm the world, in many ways ends up being its friends’ worst enemy.
To the surprise of no rational person, the bumbling Biden administration has reacted in a predictable fashion to the brutal attack on Israel by Hamas that has killed more than 700 Israeli men, women, and children — many of whom were reportedly tortured and/or raped.
While Biden’s White House handlers released a hollow, tough-talking statement condemning the attack — under the name of the addled president — Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement that was so despicable it was later deleted.
Not So Fast, Says Bibi
Despite Biden’s meaningless, boilerplate response to the worst attack against the Jewish state in 50 years and idiotic Blinken’s call for a ceasefire — soon after Israel began to exact revenge on the Islamist terrorist group — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would agree to none of the kind.
And Bibi, unlike feckless Biden, backs his words with strong actions. Hence, Israel is in the process of kicking the hell out of Hamas as we speak.
Netanyahu told Biden on Sunday, as first reported by Axios, that Israel has no choice other than to unleash a ground operation in Gaza, according to three Israeli and U.S. sources who were briefed on the call.
We have to go in. We can’t negotiate now. We need to restore deterrence.
The Israeli prime minister earlier said the war against Hamas would be “long and difficult,” which, again draws a stark contrast between a leader with steely resolve, and the most intentionally inept president of the United States in at least modern history, if not all time.
Here’s more:
Israel’s security cabinet officially declared war Saturday night after Hamas terrorists launched a surprise barrage of thousands of rockets into southern Israel, killing hundreds and wounding thousands, according to Israeli media.
Israeli soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel a day after Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists invaded the area and launched rockets from the Gaza Strip, killing at least 600 Israelis and wounding at least 2,000 others.
Israeli forces launched retaliatory strikes against Hamas terrorists in Gaza on Sunday, while also trading fire with Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in the north.
Israel struck 426 targets in Gaza, blasting residential buildings to the ground, including a 14-story tower that held dozens of apartments as well as Hamas offices in central Gaza City. Israeli forces fired a warning just before the strike.
And next comes the Israeli ground operation in Gaza.
The Bottom Line
As I wrote this article my mind wandered at times to how Bibi Netanyahu — if he were America’s president — would handle the illegal alien invasion of America, which continues to worsen and shows no signs of stopping.
Then I thought:
Wait — Biden intentionally created the southern border crisis, and he plans to continue to import as many illegals as he can get away with for as long as it can, so of course he’s no Bibi Netanyahu.
Then again, Benjamin Netanyahu has a spine, while all Joe Biden has is a cabal of far-left handlers that tell him what to do, what to say, and when to say it — and no spine.
Man, I can’t stop thinking about Bibi taking on the Mexican cartels and the continuing surge of illegal aliens — now, from all over the world.
Israelis were getting bombed — President Biden was barbecuing — and influential members serving this administration were busily helping spy for Iran. Any questions?
Former Trump deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland discusses the Israel-Hamas war, U.S. energy independence, Iran’s involvement in the conflict and Sen. Chuck Schumer’s trip to China.
The Biden administration is potentially failing to track millions of migrants who have illegally crossed the southern border as monthly encounters continue to skyrocket, according to an interim report assembled by GOP House Judiciary Committee staff.
According to the sprawling 61-page report — shared with Fox News Digital and which cites new information obtained by the Judiciary Committee — the number of illegal alien encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border exceeded 2.2 million in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2023. And the data further shows the federal government has “no confirmed departure” for more than 2.4 million migrants encountered since January 2021.
Biden Secretary of State Antony Blinken deleted a post on X Twitter Monday a day after posting a call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. This is the second tweet by the State Department calling for restraint by Israel that has been posted and deleted since the horrific Hamas attack Saturday on civilian and military targets in Israel.
File screen image.
Blinken posted on Sunday, “Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and I spoke further on Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel. I encouraged Türkiye’s advocacy for a cease-fire and the release of all hostages held by Hamas immediately.”
The day before, Blinken posted about a previous call with Fidan that was more on message, “Turkish Foreign Minister @HakanFidan and I discussed Hamas’ attacks on Israel. Israel has the right to defend itself, rescue any hostages, and protect its citizens.”
Turkish Foreign Minister @HakanFidan and I discussed Hamas’ attacks on Israel. Israel has the right to defend itself, rescue any hostages, and protect its citizens.
On Saturday the State Department’s Office of Palestinian Affairs tweeted and deleted after blowback, “We unequivocally condemn the attack of Hamas terrorists and the loss of life that has incurred. We urge all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks. Terror and violence solve nothing.”
Jonathan Schanzer with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies posted about the Turkish official Blinken made common cause with, “I repeat: Hakan Fidan was the intelligence chief who presided over the establishment of a Hamas headquarters in Turkey that included an active terrorist commander directing attacks in the West Bank, Saleh al-Arouri. Arouri yesterday boasted about the capture of dozens of Israeli civilians. He continues to travel in and out of Turkey. Arouri has also established rocket teams and arsenals in Lebanon to draw Israel into an another front. Turkey has not turned him over despite a @RFJ_USA…And here is Fidan, now posing as a diplomat, acting as if he is a neutral party. What a joke. And @SecBlinken is the butt of it. I am truly embarrassed that Blinken is allowing himself to be part of this charade.”
Arouri yesterday boasted about the capture of dozens of Israeli civilians. He continues to travel in and out of Turkey. Arouri has also established rocket teams and arsenals in Lebanon to draw Israel into an another front. Turkey has not turned him over despite a @RFJ_USA
Late Monday morning the State Department posted a clean-up tweet on X, “The United States unequivocally condemns the appalling attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israel. For the latest information on our response…”
The United States unequivocally condemns the appalling attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israel. For the latest information on our response, visit: https://t.co/TjHvqg1nnPpic.twitter.com/PJFNp6V7bJ
The great earthquake of the Ezekiel 38 war has NOT begun. But we are in the midst of a major foreshock. In the last few hours, Hamas fired thousands of missiles from Gaza into Israel. They targeted Israeli civilians. Hamas soldiers broke through checkpoints and bulldozed parts of the border fence. Their army attacked Israeli neighborhoods in border towns, randomly killing and randomly taking hostages.
But this did not originate with Hamas. A peace agreement with Saudi Arabia seemed close just a few days ago. But the Saudis cannot make peace with Israel now because they cannot seem to be taking the side of Jews against Muslims. The reason Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations have been willing to cooperate with Israel is their common enemy, Iran. So, who benefits with peace set aside? Iran.
This attack was planned, funded, and equipped by Iran. That’s why I consider it a precursor to the war prophesied in Ezekiel 38 and 39 — a war led by Russia and Iran. And make no mistake, Russia is tied to this. Just last month, Iran’s Minister of Defense said, “Russia and Iran have significantly broadened the range of their cooperation over the past few years. In particular, I would like to note regional affairs, such as the joint war on terrorism and extremism.” How is that for ironic? These are the words of the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.
If you find it hard to believe that the orders came from Iran, consider this. A few days before the attack began, a billboard went up in Iran’s capital city of Tehran. The billboard says, “The liberation operation ‘Storming of Al-Aqsa’ has started.” Al-Aqsa refers to the oldest mosque on the Temple Mount. It irks Iran’s mullahs that Jews have ultimate jurisdiction over what Islam claims to be its third holiest site.
Shortly after the attack, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard posted on X (previously Twitter), “We Told You We Would Come for You.” That’s a terrorist organization taking credit for its work! And this is definitely a war of terror. These people are shooting schoolgirls on the streets. They are kidnapping whole families including children and the elderly. Their missiles target civilian neighborhoods and other civilian locations with no connection to the military. These are terrorists fighting a war of terror!
Israel has been standing as a buffer between us and radical Islamic terrorists for decades. If Israel doesn’t stop them now, Iranian terror will continue to spread in the Middle East and around the world. Never forget that Iran considers Israel the little Satan and the United States the big Satan. We are a target, too. And, ironically, we are helping to fund these attacks on our friends and eventually on ourselves. We keep releasing money to Iran and Iran keeps using it in its campaign of terror around the world.
After the attack began, the US State Department’s Office for Palestinian Affairs put up a post on Twitter urging all sides to “refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks.” After receiving heavy criticism, they removed the tweet. But their knee-jerk reaction was that Israel should allow their citizens to be pummeled without responding. That shows the kind of thinking in the State Department’s entrenched bureaucracy, also known as the deep state.
The Palestinian attack has been especially egregious, easily qualifying as a series of horrible war crimes. How will the world respond?
And how will you respond? Christians should remember that this did not catch God by surprise. His plan continues. He’s taking care of you, and His offer of salvation remains open to everyone.
Arms Washington sent to Kiev and left in Afghanistan are about to be “uncontrollably used” around the world, Dmitry Medvedev has warned
The weapons Kiev’s Western backers have actively supplied to Ukraine have found their way to Hamas militants and are now “being actively used in Israel,” former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said in a Telegram post on Monday, adding that any future military hardware supplied to Kiev could end up on the black market as well.
“It will only get worse from here,” Medvedev warned, predicting that the world should “expect missiles, tanks, and even planes from Kiev on the black market soon.”
His words came amid rumors that Hamas militants that control the Gaza Strip had gotten their hands on some US-made weaponry before their attack on Israel over the weekend. No solid evidence confirming these claims has emerged so far. However, an unverified video circulating online showed a Palestinian militant displaying assorted US-made pieces, including a standard-issue M136 anti-tank grenade launcher, while thanking Ukrainians for the weapons.
According to Medvedev, “corrupt authorities” in Ukraine would not hesitate to trade everything they had received from their backers. “They would steal everything in sight,” the former president claimed, adding that the Western weapons sent to Ukraine would soon fuel conflicts in other parts of the world, just like the trove of weapons the Americans left in Afghanistan during their hasty withdrawal from the country in 2021.
The aforementioned video has already sparked concerns in the US, with Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene saying on Sunday that its origins must be investigated. The congresswoman also claimed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that some of the arms used by the militants might have come from Ukraine or Afghanistan.
Washington has been Kiev’s biggest supplier of military aid since the onset of its conflict with Moscow. The US has poured a total of $46.6 billion into military assistance to Ukraine, including direct weapons and ammunition shipments, as well as grants and loans for weapons and equipment.
Kiev has repeatedly faced accusations of misusing or selling off the weaponry, which it has vehemently denied. On Monday, the Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR) blamed the rumors about weapons supposedly coming from Ukraine to Hamas on Russia.
Moscow was allegedly waging a “discreditation” campaign against Ukraine in the Middle East, GUR claimed in a Facebook post, adding that the weapons that ended up in the hands of Hamas were “trophy weapons” captured by Russian forces from Ukrainian troops. Russia has not commented on these claims so far.
The news came amid the latest escalation between Hamas and Israel, which began last Saturday when the Palestinian militant group launched a surprise attack on multiple locations along the Gaza border. Israeli officials have estimated that more than 700 people have been killed in the Hamas assault and over 2,200 have been injured.
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