U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin claims Israel is ‘driving’ Gazans ‘into the arms of the enemy’ thumbnail

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin claims Israel is ‘driving’ Gazans ‘into the arms of the enemy’

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By Jihad Watch

Austin and the generals don’t realize that Hamas would recruit jihadis regardless of what Israel does. Western analysts have a paternalistic and ethnocentric assumption that jihadis are passive reactors with no agency of their own. All they can do is react to what the U.S. or Israel does. The idea that they might have reasons of their own to be violent, regardless of what others do, never occurs to them.

US generals wrongfully blame Israel for ‘creating terrorists’ – opinion

by Rafael Medoff, Jerusalem Post, December 10, 2023:

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a retired general, says Israel is “driving” Gazans “into the arms of the enemy.”

A few weeks ago, another general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown, charged that Israel’s anti-terror actions in Gaza are turning the average person there into “someone who now wants to be the next member of Hamas.”

Generals deserve our deepest respect for their service and sacrifice. But that doesn’t mean they are always right. General George Patton used Nazi Party members in the postwar US administration in Germany, resulting in his dismissal. General Douglas MacArthur was fired for defying President Harry Truman’s orders in the Korean War. General Curtis LeMay wanted to use nuclear weapons in Vietnam.

When it comes to understanding what causes young Palestinian Arabs to become Hamas terrorists, President Biden’s generals are getting it all wrong.

It is not Israel that drove Gazans into the arms of Hamas or turned young Gazans into terrorists. It is the Gazans themselves who long ago chose Hamas as their leaders. Democratic elections were held there in 2006, and Hamas was allowed to participate, at the insistence of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. Hamas won 76 out of the 132 seats in parliament.

Afterward, Rice acknowledged she was “caught off guard” by the outcome; the result “does say something about us not having a good enough pulse,” she conceded. At the same time, Rice defended the inclusion of Hamas, on the grounds that “You ask yourself, ‘Are you going to support a policy of denying the Palestinians elections that had been promised to them at a certain point in time because people were fearful of the outcome?’”

For the Truman administration and the US military governors of postwar Germany, the answer to an earlier version of Rice’s question was a resounding “yes.” They barred the Nazi Party from running in postwar elections, regardless of how many Germans wanted to vote for it.

Defense Secretary Austin and General Brown might want to ask themselves why it is that children in postwar Germany did not grow up to be Nazis. The American military’s devastation of much of Germany did not cause those children to embrace antisemitism or terrorism. Yet tens of thousands of Gazan children, who grew up in a region from which Israel completely withdrew in 2005, embraced antisemitism and terrorism; they are the ones who fill the ranks of Hamas today….

Read more.

AUTHOR

ROBERT SPENCER

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Communist Hong Kong’s Rigged 2023 December Election thumbnail

Communist Hong Kong’s Rigged 2023 December Election

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By Geoff Ross

The once free and prosperous capitalist Hong Kong recently had their “elections” for district counsel and like all Communist countries and provinces such as Venezuela, Cuba, Vietnam and North Korea only Communists are allowed to win.

Let’s also not forget the United States of America currently under a Marxist UniParty dictatorship. We too experienced a fraud election in 2020 where only Communists were allowed to win the presidency with fraud mail in ballots. The evidence is slowly coming out. My opinion.

It’s no different in communist Chinese controlled Hong Kong. The hissing snakes in Beijing blocked all freedom loving pro conservative candidates from participating in the election process starting in 2019.

They were harassed, censored and accused and prosecuted with false charges. Former President Trump is experiencing the same treatment.

In response to this, the freedom loving citizens of Hong Kong under the communist tyrannical boot of Beijing stayed home and did not vote.

Only 27.5% of the eligible voting block of the 4.3 million registered voters cast a ballot on Sunday December 10th 2023 in protest.

When the freedom loving citizens of Hong Kong rose up in peaceful protests in 2019 against the heavy handed Beijing restrictions placed upon them the voter turn out was 71.2%.

The Communist Chinese then put an end to the pro freedom candidates and blocked them from participating in 2023. The same thing has happened in Communist Venezuela under the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro.

Some socialist ran states in the USA like Colorado are trying to block Trump in the same way.

So after the election in Hong Kong, surprise, surprise only the Communists won all the seats.

Most of the pro freedom, pro conservative candidates had already left Hong Kong to avoid prosecution and to escape the harsh national security laws implemented by the evil Beijing dictatorship in 2019.

Any country that conducts any form of commercial import or export of goods and services with any Communist country including China should re-evaluate their business practices.

They are funding a satanic monster that will one day own them and control them and even destroy them.

The new President of Argentina understands this Communist Chinese mindset. Very soon under his strong pro capitalist leadership the Communist Chinese vermin will be booted from this newly liberated South American freedom loving nation.

All business dealings with these evil Commie Chinese government maggots in Argentina will be terminated. Wait and see.

You heard it here first.

©2023. Geoff Ross. All rights reserved.

The Moral Bankruptcy of Higher Education — and the Opportunity it Gives Christians thumbnail

The Moral Bankruptcy of Higher Education — and the Opportunity it Gives Christians

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By Family Research Council

In a disturbing House hearing this week, the heads of three of America’s most prestigious universities — Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — equivocated on whether calls for the slaughter of the Jewish people are acceptable.

Used to employing the artful dodges of academic jargon, these “educators” did their best to use complex sentence structures and condescending nuance to avoid answering straightforward questions. When asked by U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) — herself a Harvard grad — direct questions about massive student demonstrations condoning violence against Israel and Jews in general, Harvard president Claudine Gay said, “We embrace a commitment to free expression even of views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful — it’s when that speech crosses into conduct that violates our policies against bullying, harassment, intimidation.”

Calling for mass murder is not “bullying, harassment, (and) intimidation?” And so it went — the cowardly evasions of the ivory tower flowing from the leaders of some of the reputedly greatest institutions of higher learning in the world. So now, alarmed by the unnerving calm of a group of PhDs defending their students’ “right” to call for slaughter, the University of Pennsylvania’s board of trustees met in an apparent state of panic over Penn president Liz Magill’s refusal to condemn genocide. Magill has now “promised to review the university’s code of conduct after she faced calls to resign for declining to say whether advocating genocide was a violation of the policy.” How reassuring.

For decades, conservatives have been warning that university liberal arts faculties are run by academics who are wandering so far left that were the earth flat they would fall off. Now, we have data to prove this. In a faculty survey published last fall, the Harvard Crimson newspaper reported that “more than 80 percent of Harvard faculty respondents characterized their political leanings as ‘liberal’ or ‘very liberal.’” Less than 2% characterized themselves as conservative. More broadly, a 2016-2017 study found that 60% of university faculty identified as “left or far left.”

To be clear, being liberal and being anti-Semitic are not synonymous. Rather, it should surprise no one that in environments where young people are taught that Israel is an illegitimate state, that claiming there are moral absolutes is oppressive patriarchal nonsense, and that “heteronormativity” (i.e., the norm of being attracted to the opposite gender) is merely a repulsive social construct that should be crushed, a good number of these young men and women will be swayed.

Post-teenagers are well-known for a proneness to moral indignation. Given that many have had virtually no moral training in the home or churches (just be nice, believe in some kind of deity, and vote Democratic — this is the de facto creed of “mainline” Protestantism) and have not been taught to think carefully and critically in their public schools, it should be unsurprising that when a post-modern professor waxes on about a real or imagined problem, sprinkling his lecture copiously with calls for “justice” and presenting well-culled “facts” to buttress his case, some impressionable youth will fall for his ill-conceived blather.

There is no such thing as values-neutrality. Between Josef Stalin’s celebration of his mass killings (or as he put it, “Who’s going to remember all this riff-raff in 10 or 20 years’ time? No one”) and Jesus’s teaching that we should love our enemies, there is a great gulf fixed. While no one (to my knowledge) stands behind a university lectern actually calling for murder, thousands of my fellow PhDs take their lecture hall podiums and foster theological unbelief, ethical confusion, factual distortion, and logical fallacies day by day, week after week.

So now, as we see major college campuses awash in anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric, many university donors and political commentators are shocked by what they are hearing. Why? Have they honestly assumed you can void an education of “the laws of nature and of Nature’s God” and produce men and women of character, moral bravery, and sound minds? Or, at least to some, is this the point: raise a generation for whom hopelessness, rage, and confusion confect into pre-revolutionary radicalism?

The very foundation of our country assumes the existence of a personal Creator Who, in His unmerited kindness, has endowed us with the rights He wants us to enjoy. Try asserting the truth of this claim in any secular university liberal arts faculty lounge. The response you receive will be less than pleasant.

There is another issue at play, as well: Cowardice. Saying no to an insistent child is aggravating; saying no to the insistent, demanding, and continuously outraged Left must be exhausting. But it is also needed. Some voices should not be given space to vent their cries of vicious and ignorant rage. Not every opinion deserves an equal hearing, especially if some of those opinions urge genocide. It is pure dishonesty to suggest that there’s a bright line between rhetoric and action. Fostering hatred leads to hateful actions — this is axiomatic. Evidently the presidents of Harvard, Penn, and MIT missed that class in simple moral geometry.

We should not be surprised by the sudden eruption of indignation now rising among rich donors and many in the major media, especially given the general inattention of much of American society to what’s happening all around us. And while we might hope that the current state of astonishment and anger on the part of wealthy donors and assorted cultural elites will force an accounting of what some of America’s most talented youth are learning, don’t bet on it.

When the president of Harvard — founded as a training ground for evangelical pastors — can’t simply say that when students yell for the destruction of Israel that they have gone too far, such a belief would not be an exercise of either faith or hope but pathetic fantasy.

What we can hope in is that the God of the Bible is real. Christ’s victory over sin, death, and Satan has inaugurated a new kingdom that no power on earth can so much as dent, let alone stop. This is the message we need to bring to a generation desperate for something permanent, something that transcends time and contention and pain.

AUTHOR

Rob Schwarzwalder

Rob Schwarzwalder, Ph.D., is Senior Lecturer in Regent University’s Honors College.

RELATED ARTICLE: Harvard President Plagiarized Her Dissertation

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Pima County Is to Prosperity What N. Korea Is to Democracy thumbnail

Pima County Is to Prosperity What N. Korea Is to Democracy

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By Craig J. Cantoni

The county’s 13-point Prosperity Initiative won’t reduce the poverty that it and the City of Tucson have caused.

The Pima County Board of Supervisors recently passed a 13-point Prosperity Initiative to increase prosperity and reduce poverty and its effects in metro Tucson. The initiative calls for the county to work with the City of Tucson and the small and essentially powerless surrounding suburbs.

I should be delighted at the news. When my wife and I moved to Tucson six years ago for family reasons from metro Phoenix, I was appalled by the metropolis’ poverty, rundown conditions, high crime, under-performing K-12 schools, and apparent aversion to high-wage industry. With the help of a local radio host, I formed a nonpartisan group with the objective of recommending ways to increase prosperity and reduce poverty.

Silly me. I had underestimated the forces wanting to maintain the status quo and had overestimated my abilities. The overestimation came from my success as an activist and columnist in metro Phoenix, and, before that, my success on the Jersey side of metro New York, where I was honored by a major newspaper on its Sunday front page as a Community Service Volunteer of the Year. If I could bring about change in the tough, corrupt, and highly populated metropolis of New York, my foolish thinking went, I could certainly do the same in a metropolis of 1.08 million people.

Overcoming the Mafia in New Jersey is easier than overcoming the hidebound establishment in metro Tucson, where the City of Tucson and Pima County have a political and jurisdictional monopoly covering over 88 percent of the metropolis and thus don’t face any political or municipal competition of note. Making the situation worse, over a third of metro Tucson is the unincorporated county, including the wealthiest part known as the Foothills.

The unincorporated third is an amorphous blob without a center, a defining character, or the public amenities and services that only an incorporated municipality can provide. In the roughly 30 square miles of the Foothills, for example, there is not one public park, community center, or ball field, other than ball fields at local schools. However, there is an abundance of crumbling streets, lousy landscaping of public rights-of-way, illegal and tacky signage, and litter and trash.

Regarding litter, my wife and I pick up litter at our advanced ages on our daily five-mile walks, because the county doesn’t pick it up. Likewise, in a reflection of a lack of civic pride, litter is also not picked up by owners of properties that front major streets, including businesses, gated communities, resorts, and exclusive golf courses, especially those patronized by snowbirds who don’t care about the larger community. Thank goodness that some civic-minded groups try to compensate for the slackers.

Naturally, the situation is far worse in the many high-poverty areas of the metropolis, especially the high-poverty areas of the City of Tucson, which has a poverty rate of twice the national average, as well as all of the human misery, crime, and homelessness that come with poverty.

This tragedy has been inflicted for decades on the metropolis by the establishment, not necessarily out of any meanness, maliciousness, or selfishness, although, as I have documented elsewhere, the public-sector part of the establishment is well-off relative to the typical Tucson household. The causes are hubris, the aforementioned political monopoly, and a provincialism that blinds the establishment to how the metropolis compares to other Sunbelt metropolises and how it appears to visiting corporate executives from other parts of the country.

I’m just as guilty of being blind to reality. I’ve written scores of policy papers showing how Tucson compares to other cities on key measures and aesthetics, not realizing that the local establishment doesn’t want to know. Judging by attitudes, policies, and results, the establishment seems to want Tucson to be an impoverished backwater like Albuquerque instead of a dynamic economy like Phoenix or a rising economy like San Antonio.

Speaking of San Antonio, long ago I lived for five years in a barrio of the Alamo City. The progress that the city has made since then is admirable and puts Tucson to shame.

Likewise, corporations are making a staggering amount of capital investments in metro Phoenix. In the semiconductor industry alone, a European semiconductor company just announced the building of a $300 million research facility in Scottsdale. The week before, another semiconductor company announced a $2 billion facility in Peoria. And last year, the Intel Corporation and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company made separate announcements about the building of new fabs in metro Phoenix, for a total investment between them of approximately $20 billion.

By contrast, recent Tucson business news was about Starbucks opening a location in downtown Tucson.

With respect to downtown, it remains to be seen whether the ongoing redevelopment of downtown Tucson will attract high-wage businesses to the metropolis instead of low-wage restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. It has been seen, though, that the downtown redevelopment district squandered approximately $200 million years ago at the start and had to be rescued by the state. Based on the median household income in the City of Tucson, the $200 million is equal to the yearly income of about 4,000 families. Squandering the income of 4,000 families doesn’t seem like a good way of increasing prosperity and reducing poverty.

To be fair, Tucson is affected by demographics and immigration largely outside of its control. But so are San Antonio and Phoenix. All three have large populations of Latino migrants, a high percentage of whom lag in skills and education, as was the case for my immigrant Italian grandparents and my working-class parents. But it is a truism that the more vibrant the local economy, the more opportunities for advancement. It follows, then, that Tucson lags behind the other two cities in opportunities.

That’s also true for graduates of the Tucson-based University of Arizona. There aren’t many opportunities for them in Tucson.

This situation is exacerbated by the University of Arizona being a laggard in spinning off new businesses and industries in Tucson, although it is a research institution. Arizona State University in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe is not a research institution, per se, but has contributed a lot more to the Phoenix economy.

To make matters worse, the University of Arizona is having a financial crisis due to mismanagement and a university president who doesn’t seem to have the vision or the political and organizational skills of the president of ASU.

In any event, Pima County’s Prosperity Initiative doesn’t mention any of these points. Instead, speaking in generalities, platitudes, and clichés, it describes a typical smorgasbord of progressive wishes, some of which are at cross-purposes. For example, one wish is to increase housing availability and affordability, but another is to make it more difficult for landlords to evict tenants, which would work as a disincentive for the building of rental units.

See for yourself. Here’s a link to the initiative:

https://www.pima.gov/3137/The-Prosperity-Initiative

Warning: Don’t read it if you’re allergic to pabulum.

TAKE ACTION

As we move through 2023 and into the next election cycle, The Prickly Pear will resume Take Action recommendations and information.

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Hamas top dog: ‘Our nation will sit on the throne of the world’

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By Jihad Watch

A recap of Islamophobic fearmongering from some of the world’s top Islamophobes: the top dogs of Hamas.

MEMRI, December 8, 2023:

While Hamas presents itself as a Palestinian movement whose goal is to eliminate Israel and establish an independent Palestinian state stretching from the River to the Sea, this movement is also part of the global Muslim Brotherhood (MB), whose ultimate goal and vision is the establishment of a worldwide Islamic caliphate. Hamas leaders and spokesmen repeatedly express that their movement will not liberate only Palestine, but aims to bring all the Islamic countries, and eventually the entire world, under Islamic rule. The  liberation of Palestine, they stress, is just a prelude to the establishment of a worldwide caliphate: Rome will be conquered by Islam as Constantinople was once conquered, and then the rest of the world will be overtaken as well, including America and Eastern Europe.

Arab writers have in fact slammed Hamas for this aspect of its ideology and rhetoric. In a recent article,  published in the wake of Hamas’ October 7 massacre in southern Israel, Egyptian author Dr. Mouna Al-Hilmi wrote that Hamas purports to be fighting for the liberation of Palestine, but its ultimate goal, like that of the MB, is the restoration of the caliphate. Yemeni journalist Hani Salem Mashour made similar remarks in a recent article in the Emirati daily Al-Arab.

The following are translated statements by Hamas officials and clerics published by MEMRI over the years in which they articulate the movement’s vision of reestablishing the Islamic caliphate. Also below are excerpts from the articles of the two journalists who criticized Hamas for this.

Hamas Official Fathi Hammad: “We Shall Liberate Our Al-Aqsa Mosque, And Our Cities And Villages, As A Prelude To The Establishment Of The Future Islamic Caliphate”

Hamas Political Bureau member and former Minister of the Interior Fathi Hammad declared on a December 1, 2023 show on Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas – Gaza) that the Palestinians are preparing to establish an Islamic caliphate with Jerusalem as its capital. Hesaid:“The [Palestinian] people have been soldiers throughout history. They are now preparing to liberate Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and I am saying this loud and clear: [The Palestinian people] are preparing to establish the Caliphate, with Jerusalem as its capital city, Inshallah. Jerusalem will not only be the capital city of Palestine as an independent state – it will be the capital city of the Islamic Caliphate…

Fathi Hammad made similar remarks in a November 13, 2013 public address in Gaza, when he was serving as Minister of the Interior. He said: “We shall liberate our Al-Aqsa Mosque, and our cities and villages, as a prelude to the establishment of the future Islamic Caliphate. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are at the threshold of a global Islamic civilization era. The fuel and spearhead of this era will be Gaza, and its mujahideen and leaders will be from Gaza, Allah willing.”

Senior Hamas Official Mahmoud Al-Zahar: The Army Of Jerusalem Will Not Liberate Only Palestine; The Whole World Will Come Under An Islamic System “With No Zionism, No Treacherous Christianity”

In a December 12, 2022 show on Al-Masirah TV, affiliated with the Yemeni Houthis, Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Zahar said: “When we speak about the Army of Jerusalem and the Battle of the Promise of the Hereafter, we are not talking about liberating our land alone – but we believe in what our Prophet Muhammad said: ‘Allah drew the ends of the world near one another for my sake, and I have seen its eastern and western ends. The dominion of my nation would reach those ends that have been drawn near me.’ The entire 510 million square kilometers of Planet Earth will come under [a system] where there is no injustice, no oppression, no treachery, no Zionism, no treacherous Christianity, and no killings and crimes, like those being committed against the Palestinians, and against the Arabs in all the Arab countries – in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and other countries.”

In a speech aired on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV on September 5, 2010, Al-Zahhar made similar remarks, saying: “Our enterprise extends far beyond Palestine: Palestine in its entirety, the Arab nation in its entirety, the Islamic nation in its entirety, and the entire world.”

Hamas Leader Khaled Mash’al: The Nation of Islam Will Sit at the Throne of the World

In an address he gave at the Al-Murabit Mosque in Damascus, which was aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 3, 2006, Hamas leader Khaled Mash’al stated that the Islamic nation will regain the leadership of the world, and then the West will be full of remorse when it is too late. He said: “Wherever the [Islamic] nation is targeted, its enemies will be defeated, Allah willing. The nation of Muhammad is gaining victory in Palestine. The nation of Muhammad is gaining victory in Iraq, and it will be victorious in all Arab and Muslim lands. ‘Their multitudes will be defeated and turn their backs [and flee].’ These fools will be defeated, the wheel of time will turn, and times of victory and glory will be upon our nation, and the West will be full of remorse, when it is too late…

“Today, the Arab and Islamic nation is rising and awakening, and it will reach its peak, Allah willing. It will be victorious. It will link the present to the past. It will open up the horizons of the future. It will regain the leadership of the world. Allah willing, the day is not far off…

“I say to the [European countries]: Hurry up and apologize to our nation, because if you do not, you will regret it. This is because our nation is progressing and is victorious. Do not leave a black mark in the collective memory of the nation, because our nation will not forgive you.

“Tomorrow, our nation will sit on the throne of the world. This is not a figment of the imagination, but a fact. Tomorrow we will lead the world, Allah willing. Apologize today, before remorse will do you no good. Our nation is moving forwards, and it is in your interest to respect a victorious nation…

“Our nation will be victorious. When it reaches the leadership of the world, and controls its own will decisions, then it will prevent this overt interference [in our affairs], and its pillaging of natural resources, and will prevent these recurring offenses against our land, against our nation, and against our holy places – then you will regret it.”

Hamas Senior Official Ahmad Bahr: The Arab Spring Revolutions Were A Prelude to an Islamic Caliphate

In an April 9, 2011 interview with the Qatari daily Al-Raya, top Hamas official Ahmad Bahr, then deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), said that the Arab Spring uprisings against the dictatorships that the West had installed in the Arab countries heralded the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate. He said: “I would like to say that these [revolutions] are [merely] a prelude to the Islamic Caliphate… [whose establishment] the Prophet [Muhammad] foretold in the hadith: ‘You will have the prophecy, according to Allah’s will. Then will He put an end to it, according to His will. And then there will be a Caliphate by way of prophecy, according to the will of Allah… And there will be a biting kingdom [i.e., an oppressive rule], according to the will of Allah… [and then] a kingdom of coercion, according to the will of Allah… Then there will be a Caliphate by way of prophecy,’ etc. The [term] ‘kingdom of coercion,’ as the hadith [commentators] explained, refers to the dictatorships that oppressed, cheated, killed, and destroyed. These were [created by] Western and American industry, which paved the way for the plundering of all the [Muslim] ummah’s resources – its oil and its agriculture. I hope that this awakening heralds the establishment of a Caliphate by way of prophecy, according to the will of Allah…”[1]

Hamas MP and Cleric Yunis Al-Astal in a Friday Sermon: We Will Conquer Rome, and from There Continue to Conquer the Two Americas and Eastern Europe

In a Friday sermon that aired on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV on April 11, 2008, Hamas MP and cleric Yunis Al-Astal said: “Very soon, Allah willing, Rome will be conquered, just like Constantinople was, as was prophesized by our Prophet Muhammad. Today, Rome is the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader capital, which has declared its hostility to Islam, and has planted the brothers of apes and pigs [i.e., the Jews] in Palestine in order to prevent the reawakening of Islam – this capital of theirs will be an advance post for the Islamic conquests, which will spread through Europe in its entirety, and then will turn to the two Americas, and even Eastern Europe.

“I believe that our children or our grandchildren will inherit our Jihad and our sacrifices, and Allah willing, the commanders of the conquest will come from among them. Today, we instill these good tidings in their souls, and by means of the mosques and the Koran books, and the history of our Prophets, his companions, and the great leaders, we prepare them for the mission of saving humanity from the hellfire on the brink of which they stand.”

Similar remarks were made In a Friday sermon that aired on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV on March 5, 2010: “The prophecy of the conquest of Rome remains valid, Allah willing. Just like Constantinople was conquered some 500 years ago, Rome too will be conquered. Our prayers, our fasting, and the charity we give will be to no avail, if we doubt the Prophet Muhammad. How can we proceed along the path of righteousness, if we are not secure in our belief that Rome will be conquered, as promised by the Prophet Muhammad and as proclaimed by Allah?”

Egyptian Writer: Hamas Hides Behind The Slogan Of Liberating Palestine But Is Really Interested In Establishing An Islamic Caliphate

Arab writers have commented on this aspect of Hamas and its ideology. In a recent article in the Egyptian daily Al-Dustour, published in the wake of Hamas’ October 7 massacre in southern Israel, Egyptian author, poet and journalist Dr. Mouna Al-Hilmi wrote that Hamas purports to be fighting for the liberation of Palestine, but is not really interested in a Palestinian nation-state. Rather, like its parent movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas’s ultimate goal is the restoration of the global caliphate. Al-Hilmi wrote: “Whoever reads Hamas’ charter will become convinced that it is a terror organization par excellence, which is why many countries have agreed to designate it as such. As stated in its charter, from 1988, Hamas explicitly seeks to destroy or dismantle Israel, while hiding behind [the slogan] of freeing Palestine, which it regards as ‘Muslim’ land. Ever since it won the elections to the legislature [in 2006], the power of the terrorist Hamas has grown, and since it is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, it takes part in the [Brotherhood’s] jihad to establish a global Islamic caliphate…

“Hamas is not interested in liberating the Palestinian homeland, because, ultimately, it does not recognize the idea of the homeland [i.e., of the nation state] and regards Islam as the homeland. What really interests it is what it regards as the ‘sacred religious duty’ of every Muslim everywhere, namely, getting rid of the Jews and expelling them from every place, because [according to Hamas] the Jews hate Allah, killed their prophets and denied Allah’s signs. Let us beware [this organization], since it is a cruel arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.”[2]

Columnist In UAE Daily: Hamas, A Muslim Brotherhood Faction, Seeks To Topple Arab Countries And Revive The Caliphate

Similar arguments were made by Yemeni journalist Hani Salem Mashour. In his October 17, 2023 column in the London-based Emirati daily Al-Arab, he too argued that the aim of Hamas, like that of the Muslim Brotherhood movement to which it belongs and of the other extremist organizations with which it is linked, is to topple the Arab regimes and establish an Islamic Caliphate:

“…The primary goal of the extremist Islamic organizations… is still to crush the nation-state. Thus, the Houthis [i.e. the Houthi Ansar Allah movement in Yemen] emerged, claiming to represent Yemen; Hizbullah [claimed it] represented Lebanon, and Al-Hashd Al-Sha’abi [Popular Mobilization Units, aka PMU] and its allies [claimed] to represent Iraq. These organizations engage in taking peoples and countries hostage and entangling them in wars and conflicts that have no clear objectives besides a desire to abolish the political borders of the Arab nation-state. This is the goal pursued by the religious organizations, in order to establish… what they describe as ‘the Caliphate State.’

“The Hamas and PIJ movements have no right to claim that they represent the will of the Palestinian people in order to entangle it a pointless war – just as none of the religious organizations have the right to do so. In light of the siege on the Gaza Strip, and following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, it would be appropriate for the wisdom of the Arab collective to awaken [and recognize] the truth as it is. It is inconceivable for the nation-state to be replaced by a caliphate state… [This is because] such a state cannot exist in the [current] political reality. Although today’s reality is drenched in blood, it may indeed turn into an opportunity for an awakening, for reexamination, and for deciding to disengage from the legacies exploited by the extremist organizations in order to destroy all of mankind.”[3]

[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 3770, “Palestinian Legislative Council Deputy Speaker and Hamas Senior Official: The Revolutions in the Arab World – A Prelude to an Islamic Caliphate,” April 15, 2011.

[2] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10939, “Egyptian Journalists: Hamas Is A Terror Organization Bent On Destroying Israel And The Jews; Its October 7 Attack Involved ISIS-Like War Crimes,” November 5, 2023.

[3] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10919, “Columnist In UAE Daily: Hamas, A Muslim Brotherhood Faction, Seeks To Topple Arab Countries And Revive The Caliphate; It Does Not Represent The Palestinians And Has No Right To Embroil Them In Wars,” October 31, 2023.

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

THE WAR ON X: WW III • The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Day 61 thumbnail

THE WAR ON X: WW III • The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Day 61

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By Dr. Rich Swier

As Jews are celebrating  Hanukkah and Christians begin celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ the word in still fighting Islamic terrorism globally and in Israel, the Holy Land.

The war against Iran’s proxy Hamas and their supporters continues globally.

Here is an update on the war against radical Islamic terrorists.

Watch this statement by the Prime Minister of Israel debunking the myth perpetuated by their sworn enemy.

Today, the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah said something utterly preposterous. It denied that it was Hamas that carried out the horrible massacre at the nature festival near Gaza. It actually accused Israel of carrying out that massacre. This is a complete reversal of truth… pic.twitter.com/3omrplNDP1

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) November 19, 2023

Each day the IDF is winning the war against Iran’s proxy Hamas.

Hezbollah announces its 100 death in its ranks pic.twitter.com/jlNAg31cFr

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) December 11, 2023

An air strike targeting Hamas terrorists pic.twitter.com/UYyrHDh4dn

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) December 11, 2023

WATCH: A EULOGY – Israel’s 911 by Dan Gordon


The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Day 91

🔴ELIMINATED: Emad Krikae—commander of Hamas’ Shejaiya Battalion.

After the elimination of the previous commander of Hamas’ Shejaiya Battalion Krikae assumed the position. Previously, he was Deputy Commander of Hamas’ Shejaiya Battalion and responsible for anti-tank missile… pic.twitter.com/bIguaRRW44

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 11, 2023

A 4-year-old Gazan girl was caught in the fire, IDF soldiers took care of her in a protective suit.

Astonishingly, she was returned without forcing her to wave and without demanding three murderers for her.

Amit Segal pic.twitter.com/P4Ia5R3Hpf

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) December 11, 2023

The US Navy revealed for the first time video footage of the warship USS Carney destroying aerial targets launched by the Houthis in the Red Sea. The caption 0-22 represents the destruction of 18 drones and four cruise missiles since the beginning of the conflict in recent weeks pic.twitter.com/ZDhrYQhM7S

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) December 10, 2023

Loads of shells, warheads and artillery found near the university in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/l8jhPiK8pY

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) December 10, 2023

The Chief of Staff at the Lebanese border: “The State of Israel has never said that war is the first solution, but we understand that in the situation here it should end in a very, very clear change.” pic.twitter.com/6p2QmIOE1z

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) December 10, 2023

pic.twitter.com/aGlZIbv6Mw

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) December 11, 2023

The humanitarian truck at the south side of the strip pic.twitter.com/5mxRrmLR9Q

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) December 10, 2023

IDF: for the first time since Israel launched its ground offensive in Gaza, the Artillery Corps is operating inside the Strip.

Since the war began on October 7, the Artillery Corps has fired more than 10,000 shells at targets in the Gaza Strip, from the border. The IDF says the… pic.twitter.com/0OCZV1VwuB

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) December 10, 2023

from the activities of the IDF forces in Gaza, yesterday pic.twitter.com/Dc7tJRkmhH

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) December 10, 2023

Terrorists continue to surrender in the masses pic.twitter.com/fD5gfW846o

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) December 10, 2023

©2023. Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

MEMRI REPORT: Brief Primer on Yemen’s Iran-Backed Houthi Movement and its Attacks Against Israel and the U.S. thumbnail

MEMRI REPORT: Brief Primer on Yemen’s Iran-Backed Houthi Movement and its Attacks Against Israel and the U.S.

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By Middle East Media Research Institute

Iran, Yemen | Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1731

Introduction

Yemen’s Ansar Allah Houthi Movement – a delisted foreign terrorist organization (FTO) – has, since October 7, launched six rounds of aerial projectiles at Israel,[1] downed a U.S. drone in Yemen,[2] captured a shipping vessel in the Red Sea,[3] and, most recently, fired ballistic missiles and drones in the vicinity of a U.S. Navy vessel.[4]

Senior Houthi officials have reiterated the movement’s intent to continue targeting U.S. and Israeli interests, despite the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, and in the face of a possible U.S. redesignation of the movement as an FTO.

“In the event [a U.S. redesignation] causes harm to the interests of our people,” Houthi deputy foreign minister Hussein Al-‘Izzi warned on X on November 25, “Then we will consider it a declaration of war and America will discover the disaster of engaging in escalation with Yemen, the graveyard of empires and the first country of attrition in history.”

The threat posed by the Houthis to conflict resolution to Gaza is thus clear and immediate. Yet, Houthi attacks in support of Hamas also threaten to derail U.S.-supported peace initiatives in the region, including the movement’s own longstanding peace process with Saudi Arabia. The attacks may also escalate conflict on a regional level.

In view of this significant Houthi threat to regional peace and stability, the following report provides a primer on the Ansar Allah Houthi Movement, including the group’s historical background, profiles of several of its key leaders, and its primary media and social media operations.

Ideology And Ties To Iran

The Ansar Allah Movement is a Zaydi Shi’ite militant organization in Yemen. Zaydi Shi’ism[5] – which differs from Twelver Shi’ism, the state religion of Iran – has a millennium-long history in Yemen’s northern highlands, but its adherents were disempowered in the country in the latter half of the 20th century.

In this context, the Houthi movement’s eponymous founder, Hussein Badr Al-Din Al-Houthi, emerged as a charismatic voice for the marginalized Zaydi Shi’ites in Yemen during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In his speeches, which now comprise the core texts of Houthi ideology, Al-Houthi railed against the Yemeni Government for its relations, at that time, with the U.S, especially following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

He also staged anti-American and anti-Israeli protests, with his movement at the time adopting its sarkha, or slogan: “God is great, death to the U.S., death to Israel, curse the Jews, and Victory for Islam.”

Al-Houthi’s outspoken criticism of Yemeni-U.S. relations brought him into open conflict with the Yemeni government. The government killed him and dozens of his followers in 2004. Thereafter, his followers launched a rebellion, known as the Sa’ada Wars, which lasted until 2010.

Houthis And Yemen’s Politics

Following the ouster of longstanding Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2012, the Houthis took part in the country’s national dialogue process to determine a post-Saleh political future. However, in 2015, the Houthis allied with Saleh, and jointly took the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, by force.

The takeover of Sana’a by Houthi-Saleh forces brought international condemnation, and a Saudi-led intervention to restore the ousted government of the Republic of Yemen. The Saudi intervention included air, land, and sea blockade of the country, as well as a bombing campaign. In 2017, Saleh announced he would severe relations with the Houthis. Days later, he was assassinated by Houthi fighters.

Since Saleh’s assassination, the Houthis have cemented their control over governance in Yemen and launched several military offensives aimed at capturing territory held by the internationally recognized Republic of Yemen Government. In April 2022, the United Nations brokered a ceasefire agreement between Yemen’s warring parties, which has largely held. Currently, the Houthis are engaged in negotiations with Saudi officials over a permanent ceasefire, which would acknowledge Houthi control of most, but not all, of Yemen.

Leadership

Below are several of the most prominent political and military leaders of the Houthi Movement.

Abd Al-Malik Al-Houthi: The Banner Of Guidance

Born in 1979, Abd Al-Malik Badr Al-Din Al-Houthi is the current leader of the group. He assumed the position in September 10, 2004, succeeding his brother – Hussein Badr Al-Din Al-Houthi, who was killed by the Yemeni army during a raid in Marran province.

Houthi members refer to Al-Houthi as Alam Al-Hoda, or the banner of guidance, and endow him with both spiritual as well as temporal authority over the movement.

He also delivers frequent public addresses, in which he rails against the perceived subordination of Muslims by the “Global Jewish Zionist lobby,” the U.S., and the West. For example, on September 27, 2023, Al-Houthi stated:

“The global Jewish-Zionist lobby in the world, and its arms America, Israel, some European regimes, and their allies, continues to head towards containing Muslims and infiltrating them in every way and form, culturally and intellectually, to the point of interfering in their curricula, as happens in many Arab and Islamic countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has opened the way to even deleting Quranic verses from the curricula ‘which the Jews resent,’ and amending some concepts and changing others.”[6]

Earlier, in July 2023 televised remarks about Quran burnings in Sweden, Al-Houthi blamed the “Jewish lobby” for orchestrating the events. “What the Jewish lobby is doing in Western countries in terms of burning and tearing up the Quran is the height of unbelief and an act of aggression against Islam and Muslims,” he said. He advised Western countries to “liberate themselves from the slavery of the Jews and return to the divine message” before the Jewish lobby “pushes them to the abyss, where they will reap Allah’s wrath and torment.”[7]

Al-Houthi has also threatened the United States in televised addresses. Three days after the Hamas attack on Israel, Al-Houthi warned the U.S. against direct military intervention on behalf of Israel. In an address aired on Al-Manar TV, he asserted that the Houthis are “completely coordinated with our brothers in the Jihad and resistance front.” The Houthi leader also added that they were ready to send hundreds of thousands of mujahideen to Palestine, despite the “geographical” problem they face. He threatened that if the U.S. raises its support level to Israel to begin direct military intervention, the Houthis will carry out military strikes against American targets, using rockets, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as well as other military options.[8]

RELATED ARTICLES:

NUREMBERG 2.o: Israel to hold Nuremberg-style war crimes trials for Hamas terrorists behind the October 7 massacre

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Claims Two Of Its Fighters Were Killed In South Lebanon In Combat Against Israel

Islamic State (ISIS) Weekly Publishes ‘Exclusive’ Report Alleging Dozens Of Casualties Among Malian Soldiers, Wagner Group Personnel In Double Attack In Menaka

Israel’s survival clashes with America’s Lebanon delusions

Antisemitic And Anti-Israel Content In Qatar’s Education System: Jews Are Enemies Of Allah; Palestine Stretches From The River To The Sea

Senior Saudi Islamic Scholar Sheikh Saleh Al-Fawzan In 2018: According To Islamic Law, Muslims Have The Right To Take Captive Women As Concubines And Have Sex With Them Even If They Are Married To An Infidel – Archival

Lebanese Sunni Scholar Dr. Hassan Al-Moraib: I Support Anyone Who Is Against The Zionist Enemy And Homosexuals, Including Hizbullah; Many Israeli Soldiers Are Homosexuals

EDITORS NOTE: This MEMRI column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Shot Between The Eyes’ — Border Patrol Chiefs Testify On Cartel Violence Against Border-Crossers thumbnail

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Shot Between The Eyes’ — Border Patrol Chiefs Testify On Cartel Violence Against Border-Crossers

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By The Daily Caller

Several Border Patrol sector chiefs testified to Congress in recent months that migrants who cross the southern border without the help of human smugglers are often retaliated against by the cartels in Mexico, according to a transcript of closed-door testimony exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Border Patrol chief of the Laredo sector, Joel Martinez, for example, testified in June to the House Homeland Security Committee that in one instance, migrants who chose to not use the cartels were shot in between the eyes and had half their head blown off. Border Patrol agents along the southern border have seen a record increase in recent years, recording more than 2.2 million encounters of migrants crossing illegally in fiscal year 2022 and more than 2 million in fiscal year 2023, according to federal data.

“For starters, if you go down the river without their permission—every section of river has a boss that owns that particular part of the river. If you go down there without their permission, they can either beat you or hit you with, like, a paddle, and they’ve been known to shoot people, you name it. That’s how they—they rule through intimidation, so that’s a very common practice,” Martinez testified.

“The other day, we had two people wash up to our shores, and they had no identification on them, but we’re thinking they were migrants that went down there without permission. One of them had his head halfway blown off, and the other one was shot between the eyes,” Martinez added.

Republicans on Capitol Hill have blamed the Biden administration and its Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the sharp rise in illegal crossings. Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene reintroduced articles of impeachment against Mayorkas for a third time at the end of November, citing the crisis at the southern border.

House Homeland Committee Chairman Mark Green has been investigating Mayorkas because he’s allegedly been derelict of his duty in handling the southern border.

“Thanks to Secretary Mayorkas’ policies, criminal cartels now exercise unprecedented control of the Southwest border. They have taken advantage of his refusal to enforce the immigration laws passed by Congress, strategically overwhelming Border Patrol agents with illegal crossings in one area so they can push record numbers of people and deadly drugs across in another,” Green said in a statement to the DCNF.

“It’s no wonder that the former chief of the Border Patrol told Congress earlier this year that the cartels ‘control the border today’ because of illegal immigration ‘to a level that they’ve never had.’ And let’s not lose sight of the fact that the consequences have been disastrous not just for American citizens suffering from fentanyl poisonings and families shattered by illegal alien crime—the migrants themselves are suffering and dying in record numbers,” Green said.

The cartels control the traffic crossing the southern border into the U.S., making it extremely difficult to traverse the area without soliciting their help, the chiefs testified. Crossing without them often comes with a cost.

“The organizations that own those lanes get paid for every thing and person that crosses in that area. So they are afforded a payment for everything that goes through, and they don’t want to lose that payment. And so we have run into individuals who have been robbed or beaten when they’ve tried to make it through without contacting one of the people in charge of that area,” Chief Patrol Agent for the San Diego Sector Aaron Heitke testified to the committee on May 9.

Chief Patrol Agent for the El Centro Sector Gregory Bovino testified on July 12 that while it’s “uncommon,” crossing without the help of cartels would result in “consequences” for migrants.

“The transnational criminal organizations would apply a consequence to an individual that tried to cross without going through them,” Chief Patrol Agent for the El Paso Sector Anthony “Scott” Good testified on June 29.

Chief Patrol Agent for the Tucson Sector John Modlin testified on July 26 that agents in the area have come across migrants who have been “beaten” for trying to cross the southern border without paying the cartels.

AUTHOR

JENNIE TAER

Investigative reporter.

RELATED ARTICLE: ICE Nabs Fugitive Wanted For Assaulting Child Who Was Previously Released By Border Patrol

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Alex Jones Applauds Musk For Reinstating Him, Warns The ‘Establishment’ Will ‘Come After Him’ thumbnail

Alex Jones Applauds Musk For Reinstating Him, Warns The ‘Establishment’ Will ‘Come After Him’

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By The Daily Caller

Infowars founder Alex Jones applauded billionaire Elon Musk on Sunday for reinstating him to X (formerly Twitter), but gave a sharp warning that “big establishment sponsors” will “come after him.”

Jones was reinstated on the social media platform Saturday night following a Twitter poll asking users if they would want the Infowars founder back on the site. After almost 2 million votes, results showed that 70.1% of responders wanted Jones back on.

Reinstate Alex Jones on this platform?

Vox Populi, Vox Dei.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2023

The InfoWars founder joined his first Twitter space Sunday afternoon to discuss his thoughts on how it feels to be back on the platform since being banned in 2018 for alleged abusive behavior. When asked if he believed that Musk would possibly receive backlash for reinstating him, Jones stated that while it might “monetarily” hurt the platform, Musk is a “rebel.”

“Well, I think you said that yesterday … But he basically said it’s the right thing to do because the principle and it’s also what the majority of the vote said. So this probably will hurt X monetarily but ‘justice be done, may the heavens fall’ basically,” Jones stated. “But at the end of the day, it already has way more traffic and way more people — it’s avant-garde, it’s revolutionary, it’s rebel, it’s Maverick.”

“I’m not kissing [Elon Musk’s] ass, it’s true. And the fact that he could take over Twitter, free it and bring back one of the most demonized people — if not the most demonized in the world, talk about a witch hunt — shows he put his money where his mouth is and is the Maverick’s Maverick.”

Alex Jones Interviews Elon Musk!

Tune in here: https://t.co/F3j26jVEg4

— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) December 10, 2023

Jones continued to state that while he was on Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson’s show last week, he had predicted establishments like the ADL and CIA will “come after” Musk “at a never-before-seen level.” The InfoWars founder additionally claimed they are attempting to “bully” Musk because they know Jones is a “rebel populist” figure that the “establishment fears.”

“So I said, ‘Look, I understand he knows I’ve been so demonized, so lied about, they built me into the devil’s devil at an emotional level of so many people that they will absolutely come after him at a never before seen level — this happens,’” Jones stated.

“And the ADL, the CIA and the Justice Department and the Southern Poverty Law Center, Media Matters — they were already doing it when I was taping the interview like three weeks ago. But since then, all those big establishment sponsors who are already being boycotted by the American people, by the way … Well, now they’re trying to bully Elon, to bully the American people, the people of the world.”

“But I think … as soon as they did that to him, even though he tried to, you know, basically work with them, was being very very fair … As soon as they doubled down he said, ‘You know what? Screw you, I’ll go ahead then and release the Kraken.’ And it’s not that I’m that good on Twitter or that I’m even that great of a talk show host. It’s the symbol of what they built of Alex Jones is now an archetype of the rebel populist and what the establishment fears. And so what Elon did was really throw down the gauntlet,” Jones stated.

Jones and his InfoWars show were “permanently suspended” from Twitter in 2018. Platforms like YouTube, Apple and Facebook banned the commentator as well, according to NPR. The social media platform, owned by Jack Dorsey at the time, was one of the last to kick Jones off, alleging he had violated their “abusive behavior policy,” the outlet reported.

Following the final verdict from Twitter, Jones posted a video claiming that he was taken down because he and the InfoWars show were telling “the truth” and that they were “popular.”

“This is the deep state striking back and really pressuring these tech firms to censor,” Jones stated, according to NPR.

AUTHOR

HAILEY GOMEZ

General assignment reporter.

RELATED ARTICLES:

‘They’re Going To Kill Biden, Too’: Alex Jones And Tucker Carlson Discuss The ‘Deep State’

Elon Musk Could Be Making Yet Another Massive Gamble

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Senate Republicans Block Key Vote for Foreign Aid Package without Border Security thumbnail

Senate Republicans Block Key Vote for Foreign Aid Package without Border Security

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By Federation for American Immigration Reform

Last Wednesday, Senate Republicans blocked consideration of President Biden’s foreign aid package because congressional Democrats refused to include meaningful provisions to secure our own borders.  Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) attempted to bring the package to the floor for a key procedural vote — a vote to proceed to debate, which requires a 60-vote threshold – but was unable to secure any Republican votes.  The final tally was 49-51, with two Democrats also voting no for unrelated reasons.

The foreign aid package included funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, along with more money to continue processing and releasing illegal aliens at the southern border.  The bill largely follows the Biden Administration’s supplemental funding request from October, including money for the border that would do nothing but reinforce the broken system without changing the policies that have fueled the crisis.

Schumer’s move followed several weeks of border security negotiations that saw Republicans pushing for commonsense reforms to end asylum abuse and stop unlimited parole authority.  Democrats meanwhile, were attempting to paint the discussions as “hard-right” while raising the idea of amnesty once again. The negotiations stalled right before the vote, with both sides expressing frustration.

The Senate group leading border security talks, in coordination with Senate leadership, restarted discussions on Thursday, noting that a new proposal is now on the table. That group is made up of Republicans James Lankford (R-Okla.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), along with Democrats Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Krysten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.).

Senior Senate Republicans also held a press conference Thursday, making clear their continued commitment to border security changes as part of the foreign aid package.  Attending senators included Graham, Cotton, Tillis, John Thune (S.D.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), John Cornyn (Texas), and Katie Britt (Ala.). Following introductory comments from Sen. Graham reiterating that amnesty is not being considered, Minority Whip Thune said Republicans are “dead serious” about ending the Biden Administration’s border crisis.

The comments echo those from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who after the vote stated: “It is profoundly unserious to pretend that national security priorities don’t include securing our nation’s borders… Right now, the crisis created by the Biden Administration’s neglect is bringing illegal aliens to the United States at a rate of 300,000 a month. That’s roughly the population of Lexington, Kentucky, arriving every month. And thanks to an asylum and parole system that desperately needs fixing, many of them are just brought straight in.” For his part, Schumer referred to last Wednesday as a “sad night,” continuing to say, “I hope that [Republicans] come up with something serious instead of the extreme policies they’ve presented thus far.”

The Senate vote came the same week that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded more than 12,000 illegal aliens attempting to enter the country illegally in a single day – the largest number ever recorded.  And, over the weekend, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs sent a letter to the Biden Administration demanding more than half a billion dollars be reimbursed for “ongoing border operations resulting from the federal government’s failure to secure the Arizona border.”  That development continues the trend of Democrat leaders calling out the Biden Administration on the issue, after Democrats in New York and Chicago also had criticism for the Administration in recent weeks.

Having demonstrated a united front last week, congressional Republicans have a real chance to deliver a win for the American people by standing firm. Three years into the Biden Border Crisis, this foreign aid package is perhaps the best opportunity to end the border surge by ensuring policy reforms are included to detain and remove illegal aliens, curb massive asylum fraud and halt the Administration’s rampant abuse of parole authority.  Fortunately, a blueprint to do that already exists in the FAIR-supported H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, passed by the House of Representatives in May 2023.  Throwing more money at the border crisis won’t solve it. We need real policy reforms and H.R. 2 is the solution.

To learn more about H.R. 2 and FAIR’s efforts to support strong measures to secure our borders, visit our activist toolkit here.

AUTHOR

Joe Chatham

Joe Chatham joined FAIR in 2022, bringing significant congressional, campaign, and nonprofit experience to the organization. As part of FAIR’s influential government relations team, he helps manage Capitol Hill outreach and policy, advocating for a secure border and a just, equitable legal immigration system.

Before joining FAIR, Joe worked with a large range of organizations, from congressional offices and political campaigns, to intergovernmental organizations and think tanks. Most recently, he served as counsel to a member of congress, where he handled the representative’s immigration portfolio for the House Committee on the Judiciary.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Illegal Immigration Surges Months After Biden, Trudeau Make Deal To Crack Down On Northern Border Influx

Lukeville, Arizona Point of Entry Forced to Close under Crush of Illegal Migrants

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Bill Seeks to Tip the Scales in Legal Immigration, Favoring Some Nationalities over Others

EDITORS NOTE: This FAIR column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. © COPYRIGHT 2023 FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

President Donald J. Trump: ”I’m Running To Liberate America!” thumbnail

President Donald J. Trump: ”I’m Running To Liberate America!”

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By The Geller Report

“I’m extreme about MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!…And we need to be extreme in making that happen.” — President Donald J. Trump at the New York Young Republican’s Club 111th Annual Gala. 

Trump Truth Bombs: I’m Running To Liberate America [VIDEOS]

A lot of truth packed into just 67 seconds…

By RVM News Staff, December 10, 2023

Last night, Donald Trump spoke at the New York Young Republican’s Club 111th annual gala, and he did not disappoint. This clip is just over one minute long but he sure nails it.

Watch: Trump Was On Fire In NYC | Crusade To Rescue From A Corrupt Political Class

“Unlike crooked Joe Biden, I’m running to liberate America. We want to liberate America because we’re in a country that’s in a lot of pain right now, a lot of hurt. This campaign is a righteous crusade to rescue our nation from a very corrupt political class. They are corrupt. They’re incompetent, and they probably hate our country.

No longer will the men and women of America pay tribute to the people who threw open our borders, flooded our communities with deadly drugs, sold our jobs to China and other foreign countries, colluded with the big banks, conspired with corporate media, corrupted our government and unleashed murderers, rapists, and gang members, savages all to prey on innocent people that walk the streets of our cities.

They want Americans to be weakened, poor, confused, divided, and afraid. Why’d they want that? I don’t know. The only thing I can’t figure out is why they want that. I don’t know. If you put me back in the White House, however, the reign will be over, and America will be a free nation once again it will be a free nation.” – Donald Trump

In another memorable moment, Trump read ‘The Snake’ poem where he got a rousing applause from those in attendance. Watch:

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

POST ON X:

LOVE THE BOSS!!!🙏 pic.twitter.com/HOs80GKtUq

— il Donaldo Trumpo (@PapiTrumpo) December 10, 2023

RELATED ARTICLES:

Why Donald J. Trump Is the Most Towering Political Figure in Living Memory

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‘Righteous Crusade’: Trump Promises American ‘Comeback’

Watch and Understand the Faith of Donald J. Trump a Christian Man

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

THE WAR ON X: WW III • The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Day 91 thumbnail

THE WAR ON X: WW III • The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Day 91

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By Dr. Rich Swier

As Jews are celebrating  Hanukkah and Christians begin celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ the word in still fighting Islamic terrorism globally and in Israel, the Holy Land.

The war against Iran’s proxy Hamas and their supporters continues globally.

Here is an update on the war against radical Islamic terrorists.

Watch this statement by the Prime Minister of Israel debunking the myth perpetuated by their sworn enemy.

Today, the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah said something utterly preposterous. It denied that it was Hamas that carried out the horrible massacre at the nature festival near Gaza. It actually accused Israel of carrying out that massacre. This is a complete reversal of truth… pic.twitter.com/3omrplNDP1

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) November 19, 2023

Each day the IDF is winning the war against Iran’s proxy Hamas.

Hezbollah announces its 100 death in its ranks pic.twitter.com/jlNAg31cFr

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) December 11, 2023

An air strike targeting Hamas terrorists pic.twitter.com/UYyrHDh4dn

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) December 11, 2023

The Global War Against Islamic Terrorism — Day 91

🔴ELIMINATED: Emad Krikae—commander of Hamas’ Shejaiya Battalion.

After the elimination of the previous commander of Hamas’ Shejaiya Battalion Krikae assumed the position. Previously, he was Deputy Commander of Hamas’ Shejaiya Battalion and responsible for anti-tank missile… pic.twitter.com/bIguaRRW44

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 11, 2023

A 4-year-old Gazan girl was caught in the fire, IDF soldiers took care of her in a protective suit.

Astonishingly, she was returned without forcing her to wave and without demanding three murderers for her.

Amit Segal pic.twitter.com/P4Ia5R3Hpf

— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) December 11, 2023

©2023. All rights reserved.

Validating The Catholic Thing thumbnail

Validating The Catholic Thing

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By The Catholic Thing

Father Jerry J. Pokorsky: The Church continues to carry Christ’s saving words to the ends of the earth, despite Judases close to the heart of the Church who abuse their holy offices.

Many Catholics (though enjoying the virtues of a Catholic upbringing) learn to reject the Church that formed their ethics. They profess “complicated” reasons for the rejection. But it usually comes down to one thing.

The famous Dr. Anthony Fauci told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that practicing the Catholic faith is a “thing that I don’t really need to do.” He said he doesn’t practice the faith for a “number of complicated reasons. First of all, I think my own personal ethics on life are I think enough to keep me going on the right path. And I think there are enough negative aspects about the organizational Church,” he continued. He noted that the BBC reporter was “very well aware” of these things, without naming them. “I’m not against it. I identify myself as a Catholic. I was raised, I was baptized, I was confirmed, I was married in the Church. My children were baptized in the Church. But as far as practicing it, it seems almost like a pro forma thing that I don’t really need to do.”

“Complicated”? Not really. Dr. Fauci continues the tradition of apostasy.

Just for fun, let’s imagine this scenario: Archeologists recently uncovered a scroll from the desert sands that reported an apostasy from the Jewish faith during the time of Christ. In an imaginary interview with the Talmudic Globe, Simon Bar Levi, a prominent doctor from the elegant suburbs of Caesarea, reveals that he no longer practices the Jewish faith. Although he was circumcised and had all (well, most of) his children circumcised, he said he no longer attends the Sabbath worship of local synagogues.

His objections to Jewish “organized religion,” he explains, “are known to everyone.” He said the Pharisees are hypocrites because “they do not practice what they preach.” He adds, “They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long and have become the center of attention in the synagogues.”

Many Jews share the same objections. Murmurs concerning the alleged corruption of the high priests are rampant. The selection of Caiaphas has come under scrutiny because of his close association with the Roman occupiers. One critic observes that Caiaphas is too friendly with Pontius Pilate and has failed to discipline King Herod, who self-identifies as a Jew.

The Globe reporter reminds readers of the repeated infidelities over the history of the Chosen People. As Moses conversed with the Lord, they worshiped the golden calf. The great King David committed adultery and used murder to cover his crime. They sacrificed babies to the demon Moloch in the Valley of Gehenna. Simon Bar Levi confesses he cannot be associated with “a religion that, except for a prophet here and there, is stained with these sordid events.” He adds, “The least they could do is to sanitize their religious texts.”

In other news, a powerful preacher has appeared on the scene with a message of repentance. John – known as the Baptist – seems to echo some of the concerns of Bar Levi. He labels the Pharisees as a “brood of vipers” and warns them about the “wrath to come.” But unlike Bar Levi, He preaches a baptism of repentance because, he explains, “the kingdom of God is at hand.”

With coarse camel-hair garb, John is fearless. He reminds King Herod that it wasn’t lawful for Herod to marry his brother’s wife. According to unconfirmed reports, Herod’s wife, Herodias, is furious. The Pharisees dismiss John as “rigid” and “divisive.” But many have become John’s followers.

You get the idea.

Here is the news you didn’t hear. Ann and Joachim were practicing Jews. They said their prayers, recited the Psalms, and read the Law and the Prophets. They abided by the Sabbath and worshiped in the synagogue and Temple. They heard the confused words of a few young rabbis and the weary admonitions of elderly teachers, but they remained faithful to the Covenant. Mary was born to them.

Mary also grew up with Jewish piety. God sent the Angel Gabriel to her and revealed that she would bear Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. She responded with the fidelity of a good Jew: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Lk. 1:38)

Her Son Jesus gathered disciples unto Himself, above all the Twelve Apostles. During His time of trial, one betrayed Him. The rest abandoned Him, with only John the Beloved Disciple returning to join His mother at the foot of His Cross. After His glorious Resurrection from the dead and Ascension into Heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit upon His mother and His disciples. On Pentecost, the Catholic Church was born.

His Church continues throughout history to carry His saving words to the ends of the earth. Among the members of the Church are those who are like Mary in her innocent virtue, Peter in his erratic fidelity, John the Beloved in his love, the Pharisees in their religious excesses, the blind, and the lepers in need of the healing touch of Jesus. And there is a Judas, or two, or three – close to the heart of the Church who abuse their holy offices.

The current chaos in the Church is not unlike that found in the Scriptures. The remnant of the Chosen People remained faithful during the Babylonian Exile, during the repeated periods of rebellion, and the Roman occupation. Just as God guaranteed the ongoing survival of His Chosen People (cf. Hosea), Jesus promises the survival of the Church: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the [gates of hell] shall not prevail against it.” (Mt. 16:18) And so, it must be for us.

Not long ago, an elderly woman called me to her bedside. She apologized for disrupting my busy schedule. She was dying. But she said she hadn’t received Communion for weeks. She could no longer delay. I recited the prayers, delivered Jesus in Holy Communion, and left that room invigorated in spirit, with my priesthood validated.

The Catholic faith isn’t complicated and comes down to one Thing: Jesus.

You may also enjoy:

Anthony Esolen’s Of Dante and Our Current Crisis

David W Qarren’s On Clericalism

AUTHOR

Rev. Jerry J. Pokorsky

Father Jerry J. Pokorsky is a priest of the Diocese of Arlington. He is pastor of St. Catherine of Siena parish in Great Falls, Virginia.

EDITORS NOTE: This Catholic Thing column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. © 2023 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org. The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

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A New Political Phenomenon: Are We At a Tipping Point?

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By Neland Nobel

The world is witnessing a major and unexpected political phenomenon.  The press likes to call it the rise of “right-wing” or “populist” parties.

From Argentina to Italy, to New Zealand to Holland, politicians who are not part of the mainstream of “establishment” political thought are rising to power.  The term “right-wing” means one thing in Europe and quite another in America. Thus, the terms right-wing and populist don’t reveal the common threads existing among such disparate political trends.

There have been daily mass demonstrations in Spain, protesting a socialist takeover and an amnesty plan for Catalonian separatists.

In Italy, the plucky female Prime Minister insults Macron in France, wants to stop uncontrolled immigration, and will not allow the production of fake meat and other synthetic food that violates Italian “food heritage”.

In New Zealand, the government fell, partly because of fascistic policies to address Covid. But, constant favoritism towards Māori interests and the denigration of English heritage, also seems to have been pivotal.

Even Sweden, the paradigm of benign socialism touted by the American left has moved to the right.

Similar shifts can be seen in Norway as well.

Let’s take the two most recent political earthquakes, Argentina and Holland.

In Holland, the society is being overwhelmed by uncontrolled mass migration, mostly of Muslims into the heart of Europe, and it was a factor in the election of Geert Wilders, an opponent of mass immigration. The policies of unrestricted, mass immigration have many Dutch voters concerned. How does honor killing and sexual apartheid for women, square with Holland’s social and sexual liberalism?  It can’t, and therein lies the problem. It is not just the sheer number of immigrants that must be accommodated by an advanced welfare state, it is also their cultural differences with the native population.

Also a factor, was the government’s attack on the farming sector a factor, using the “existential risk of climate change” claptrap that seems standard for the international left.  Holland has gone somewhere off the political rails but we will see what a governing coalition looks like.

In Argentina, a man who wanted to play professional soccer became an economist, and has ousted at least for now, the socialist Peronist monopoly that has governed the country since the mid-1950s. Immigration does not appear to be an issue as it is in Holland and Italy, but clearly, inflation above 200% a year was a factor. He explicitly campaigned against socialism and further said the climate change crisis was a socialist lie. Political corruption also was a theme.

The new president Milei is a complete outsider, some suggesting he is a Trumpian like force. He is a mishmash of political tendencies that defy “normal” categories. He has been called a libertarian, but he seems socially conservative, being an ardent opponent of unrestricted abortion. Upon his first visit to the US, his priority was to visit the grave of an esteemed Orthodox Jewish Rabbi. That seems a bit odd for a Roman Catholic. It is hard to place him in any standard political box.

The press likes to call what we are seeing as “populism.” Well, it just seems a lot more complicated than that.

This seems like a poor term to describe what is going on. Studies of populism in the US suggest it was a bridge to progressivism, which in turn morphed into today’s left-wing Democratic Party.

In populism, you had the Grange movement, general agrarian discontent with farm prices and railroad freight rates, and a movement for “free silver” or the resumption of printing Civil War Greenbacks (paper money not redeemable in gold or silver), which at the time was a call for inflation and debt relief. It additionally argued for public ownership of utilities. The Cleburne Demands called for policies to “secure to our people freedom from the onerous and shameful abuses that the industrial classes are now suffering at the hands of arrogant capitalists and powerful corporations.” It often called for government intervention and regulation (big government); hence it could be classified as a left-wing movement that was a precursor to the far more dangerous and intellectually successful progressive movement.

Some historians such as Oscar Handlin saw considerable anti-Semitism in the movement as well.

The only thing today’s political upheaval has in common with past American populism is that there are common elements of a revolt against the political establishment of the day and its unhealthy union with giant corporations. In today’s era of crony capitalism, politicians both regulate and subsidize corporations and then receive kickbacks in the form of campaign contributions. In so doing, they create a self-reinforced process to keep both of them in power.

Today’s populism likes free enterprise and market-based solutions, not crony capitalism. In some cases, it does argue against “free trade”, but what we have had was never “free trade”, but rather managed trade, often “managed” to the detriment of Americans. It is fine with immigration, but not mass uncontrolled and unrestricted immigration. It is concerned about the abuse of power, the assault on the Bill of Rights, and the recruitment of corporations and government departments to suppress freedom of speech, assembly, privacy, firearms ownership, private property, and government promotion of abortion.

Today’s populism largely calls for smaller, cheaper, and less intrusive government and devolution of power back down to the states and local communities. For the most part, it is pro-Israel and its Evangelical members seem friendlier to Judaism than many liberal Jews. In this sense, it is much different than the populist era of the late 19th and early 20th century that wanted more government power centralized in Washington, D.C.

In America, as an insurgent Trump climbs in the polls, the more things the government does to harass and imprison him.  The border is out of control, many feel the affordability of the American dream is fading, and the interest of the people always takes second, third, or fourth place to sexual minorities, wokism, illegal immigrants, the climate, and the “international community.”

What, if any common threads can we draw between such a multi-factored global political revolt?

For one, it seems people all over the world think the government should give priority to the problems that affect the vast majority, and quit favoring immigrants and minority movements. They want economic prosperity, a stable currency, a rising standard of living, less crime, and social cohesion, not multi-cultural baloney.

This revolt generally wants not only less sovereign central government power but less international government power.  The coterie of “world-looking socialists”, NGOs, and various agencies of the UN, seem to be pushing the same thing (Covid lockdown, unrestricted mass immigration, wealth redistribution, income redistribution through inflation, climate change fascism, Orwellian speech control, reparations for some oppressed class, anti-Semitism, and strange emphasis on paying vast attention to small, often dysfunctional communities (gays, transgenders, Muslims, and multi-culturalists.)

The majority seems fatigued by the constant denigration of Western values, feeling a sense of betrayal that their institutions no longer function for the benefit of the majority but have been hijacked by a quasi-socialist, globalist minority, that cares less about the concerns of the middle class than about the disintegration of society.

The term populism just does not seem descriptive, except to the extent that people want to take control back in their own lives, this time by getting the government out of their daily affairs.

*****

Image Credit: Wikimedia

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Argentina Agonistes: The Separation of Money and State

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By Michael Munger

It is interesting to think about what future generations will look back on and think, “How barbaric and backward. Did those people really believe _______?” From our current vantage point, for example, we look back on religion that way. For thousands of years, church and state were symbiotically linked, but many now see the separation of church and state as being a necessary condition for a stable and liberal government.

What’s next? Argentina has a new “libertarian” president, Javier Milei. A big part of Milei’s platform was “dollarization,” or the abandoning of the valueless peso in favor of having accounts and assets recoded as being valued in United States dollars (USD).

It now appears, however, that when Milei takes office on December 10 he will not pursue full dollarization, certainly not immediately and perhaps not at all. Argentina is in many ways an advanced nation with a moronic government, saddled with the ditzy wishful thinking of Peronism. Argentina has a tax collection/compliance rate of less than 40 percent, more characteristic of a third world nation. As Leonidas Zalmanovitz pointed out last week, the real problem is a consensus on reducing inflation, not fiddling with rules.

Still, rules and institutions matter. Combining the “generosity” of Peronism, albeit generosity with the money of others, and the inability to collect taxes, has meant that the government has systematically gutted the value of the already threadbare peso. That issue, more than any other, is the reason that an outsider such as Milei was able to win by nearly 20 percent of the vote, a landslide rejection of orthodoxy. It is worth taking a step back and considering the sources of these “Argentina Agonistes,” and thinking about Milei’s core promise: the separation of money and state. I wonder if future generations will look back and wonder, “what took them so long?”

Basics of Public Finance

As a private citizen, if I want to spend more than my income, I have two choices:

  1. I can find more income, by working more hours or finding a higher-paying job; or
  2. I can borrow money, assuming I can find someone willing to loan me the cash at an interest rate I am willing to pay.

If I fail to repay the loan, including the contracted interest, then I will likely forego future opportunities to use the “borrow” option, because I will have revealed the fact that I cannot be trusted to repay the loan.

Governments that want to spend more than their revenue have something analogous to the first two choices:

  1. they can raise taxes, or
  2. they can sell bonds or promise to repay a loan in the future but they can also simply:
  3. print piles of the national currency, and then spend that.

As many heterodox theorists have pointed out, #3 is not actually all that different from #2. Fiat currencies are just a zero-coupon bond, which promise that the state will pay you one unit of that currency if you want to liquidate it. Unsurprisingly, just as with standard bonds, you can take a capital loss if you hold currency-bonds during a period of inflation.

And there is another relationship: Just as the failure of a private citizen to pay back a debt results in an inability to borrow, the failure of a state to maintain the value of currency results in an unwillingness to accept that currency as payment face value. If you want to pay debts using that currency, creditors will require a discount, meaning that more of the currency will be required to offset the inflation.

The “solution” is for the state to bind its hands somehow, to promise credibly that it will never use option #3 to finance spending in excess of revenue. That is the explicit rationale for creating an “independent” central bank, a clerisy of monetary shamans whose ritualized sacrament is maintaining the value of the currency. The problem is that political officials are sorely tempted to press the shamans for inflation to escape the debt burden that results from using state spending to buy votes in every election, or to bail out the banks that have taken on excessive portfolio risk as a way of raising their stock price.

There are many critiques of capitalism that object to such short-term profit maximization of corporate CEOs paid in stock options. But politicians may be worse: The political time horizon never extends beyond the next “most important election of our lives.” For politicians in the US, the longest they ever look ahead is 729 days, and that’s only on the Wednesday after an election.

Argentina has used deficit financing strategy #3 — print piles of money — in a way that is not innovative, but which is quite effective. In the short run, the creation of money allows the government to “sell” peso-bonds at face value, recognizing that the promise to accept the pesos later will be made much cheaper by the sharp decline in the capital value of those pesos because of inflation.

Inflation has been the very lifeblood of Peronism. From 1980 to 2022, the average inflation rate exceeded 200 percent. It’s not hard to see how this works as a debt repayment strategy: If I borrow $1000 from you, and then pay you back $1000 in a year, 200 percent inflation means that I am repaying an equivalent value of only $250, having stolen $750. Argentina can often bilk international agencies of such loans, but by and large, politicians have chosen instead to cut out the middleman and simply steal the value of their own currency from their own citizens. Let’s follow the money.

Why MONEY?

We all learned that monetary policy — management of the currency — is separate from fiscal policy — the policies of taxing and spending.

In fact, the argument for an activist central bank assumes that there are two distinct entities, something like a “Treasury Department” which manages markets in government debt, and something like a “Federal Reserve Open Market Committee” which manages the money supply. Obviously, the two activities can be connected,

But that division of jurisdictions can be collapsed. The US tried to play it straight (sort of), by having the Treasury Department “sell” new debt to finance the deficit, but with the understanding that much of the new debt would be purchased directly by the Fed, using its bottomless checking account. This was, and is, “new money,” meaning that the government was buying its own debt with printed money.

As a result, the “balance sheet” of the Fed, the list of assets it has “purchased” with fiat money, went from about $1 trillion in 2007 to nearly $9 trillion in 2022. Far and away most of those assets are I.O.U.s, promises to borrow even more money in the future to pay off the T-bills that the Fed bought to finance current deficits.

Argentina didn’t have the patience for that kind of financial kabuki dance. They cut out the middleman and just issued new “debt” directly in the form of that specialized bond called pesos. The separation between fiscal and monetary policy evaporated. If someone asked the endless series of Peronist regimes, “How many pesos do you have?” the answer was always just, “How many do you need?” As a result, the Argentine peso has lost 93 percent of its value in just the past 4 years. (Please read that sentence again, I can wait. Seriously: 93 percent).

In a terrific Econtalk a year ago, Devon Zuegel described the problems of managing even basic transactions in a hyperinflating environment. Anyone who could manage to carry out transactions using dollars always did so; holding pesos was little different from simply setting your wealth on fire. But actually “dollarizing,” as Ecuador, El Salvador, and Panama have done, requires a substantial cash reserve in dollars to manage liquidity. Argentina, of course, does not have that, at least not in government hands. So, the campaign promise of Javier Milei to dollarize is not feasible.

The interesting thing is that Milei is not actually a fan of dollars, precisely because the US currency is also managed by the politicized discretion of a central bank. His goal seems to be a change in the very economic constitution of Argentina, forcing a permanent separation of money and state. The advantage of dollars, in the near term at least, is that there is little that Argentina can do to affect the value of dollars, or to create new dollars in a way that will allow it to “repay” debts by depreciating the value of those debts. Thus, dollarization is not a full separation of money and state, but it is a significant step in that direction.

The paradox, and the central hope of the Milei economic program, is that removing the ability to cheat on debts will sharply reduce the cost of borrowing. Argentina has daunting problems, but it is also possessed of many highly educated and motivated people and an impressive array of natural resources. The level of wrenching social change that will be required means that success is years away if it happens at all. However, achieving a separation of money and state is an important first step.

*****

This article was published by AIER, American Institute for Economic Research, and is reproduced with permission.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

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Get Whitey

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By Seth Baron

In the calculus of blame, whites are the new Jews.

Racebaiting superstar Ibram X. Kendi remarked on a panel recently that white people—globally—have failed to “reckon with how much their own personal identity is shaped by constructions of whiteness.” He went on to explain how “that construction of whiteness prevents white people from connecting to humanity.”

White people, he took pains to explain—not “whiteness,” but white people individually—see themselves as “over humanity” and not as “part and parcel of humanity.” They are unable to “connect to people who don’t look like [them]” or to relate humanistically to people with darker skin. “It’s whiteness that prevents that.” This creates “not just societal problems, but personal problems” that his latest film will “liberate” white people from.

Kendi’s diatribe—delivered in soothing tones of social-worker helpfulness—is an intellectual step down from the usual low level of this kind of analysis, which typically pretends to offer broad sociological insights about “whiteness” and avoid attacking the characters of white people generally. But with the pushback against critical race theory and its instantiation in the form of DEI imperatives across human resources departments everywhere, Kendi may feel that it’s time to up the stakes in his long game, which was never about abstractions, but always about turning the tables on who counts as fully human. It’s only a short step from accusing people of thinking they are better to assert that they are actually worse.

As I have suggested before, the discourse about “whiteness” comes in whole-cloth from the rhetoric of classical antisemitism. Ever wonder why Kendi-style racial debate sounds so familiar? You just have to substitute “white” for “Jew” and it all falls into place.

Just as Kendi engages in concern-trolling by claiming to desire the “liberation” of white people from the burden of whiteness, antisemites throughout history have urged the Jews to unshackle themselves from their chilly, alpine otherness—or if you prefer, crawl out of their cruddy mercantile sewer—and step down into the sunny valley of common humanity. Marx put it best in “On the Jewish Question.”

For us, the question of the Jew’s capacity for emancipation becomes the question: What particular social element has to be overcome in order to abolish Judaism?…. Emancipation from huckstering and money, consequently from practical, real Judaism, would be the self-emancipation of our time.

An organization of society which would abolish the preconditions for huckstering, and therefore the possibility of huckstering, would make the Jew impossible…. In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.

The Jew, in liberating himself from Jewishness, would simultaneously unchain the world from Judaism, just as whites, by unshouldering their yoke and stepping into the herd, would liberate the world from whiteness.

This sense of interconnected total liberation is the distillation of the Left’s millennialism and explains why we see banners reading such discordant statements as “Reproductive Justice Means Free Palestine” at marches against Israel’s Gaza actions. The premise of Leftist action is to revolt against all structures of oppression. Therefore, there is no compartmentalization of protest, though there is a hierarchy of evil. It used to be the case that class war was the only war, but now whiteness is the prime mover of division and exploitation.

Antisemitism still exists, of course, but it is the sharp and narrow end of the anti-whiteness spear. The realignment of Leftist animosity has brought all struggle under the banner of anti-whiteness, or as Ibram X. Kendi would probably put it offstage, “Get Whitey.” As nonwhites have gained a strong foothold in elitist circles of global power, Jews have been subsumed as white. And in the calculus of “whose ox gets gored,” or “Who? Whom?” in Lenin’s terms, whites now occupy the classical position of the Jew.

Just as Jews used to exercise spectral dominance of society through their malign influence—in the Medieval, astrological sense of “the flowing of ethereal fluid”—so do white people infuse culture and discourse with whiteness, which has the power through implicit bias to make people act against the proper interests. Whiteness is pollution. Whiteness is illness. Whiteness prevents human happiness. Whiteness must be dismantled in every corner and rooted out from the minds of whites and nonwhites alike.

First, the Jews became white, and then the whites became Jews. The attack on “whiteness” has emerged as what it always really was, an attack on white people as individuals. History offers a guide to what comes next.

*****

This article was published by The American Mind and is reproduced with permission.

Image credit: YouTube screenshot

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Charting the Red/Green Revolution as it Happens Across the West

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By Vlad Tepes Blog

NONE of the teens convicted of criminal conspiracy in the murder-decapitation of teacher in France, Samuel Paty in 2020 will see the inside of a jail cell

(I guess so long as they didn’t misgender someone…)

Six teenagers have been convicted for their role in the murder of French teacher Samuel Paty in 2020. Paty was beheaded by a Muslim refugee who took offense to his depiction of the Prophet Mohammed during a lesson on free speech.

Paty, a history and geography teacher, was stabbed to death and beheaded near his school in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine in 2020. His killer, an 18-year-old Chechen who arrived in France with his family as an asylum seeker aged six, was shot dead by police at the scene.

Prior to his murder, Paty had shown students images of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed during a lesson on blasphemy and free speech law.

After a closed-doors trial in a juvenile court, the six teens were sentenced on Friday. Five of the youths, who were aged between 14 and 15 at the time of the murder and helped the killer identify Paty, were found guilty of criminal conspiracy with intent to cause violence. 

A female student who was aged 13 at the time was found guilty of making false statements. She had claimed that Paty ordered Muslim students to identify themselves before the lesson, however, it later emerged that she was not present in the classroom, and that Paty had informed Muslim students that they could leave the room if they did not wish to see the offensive images.

None of the six will serve any jail time. The girl was handed an 18-month suspended sentence, while four of the others were given suspended sentences of between 14 and 18 months, and one was sentenced to six months in prison, which he will be able to serve at home wearing an electronic monitor.

More than 100 terrorists surrendered to Israeli Defense Forces.

More than 100 Hamas terrorists surrendered in Jabalia. This is verified by all Israeli media and the IDF pic.twitter.com/h3QHTqg1qW

— Iris (@streetwize) December 9, 2023

A couple more Tweets on the Israeli issue and how the left has become the point of the spear along with Islam against the Nation state. Remember, when they talk about “anti-colonialism”, they are talking about you.

Palestinian woman asked what the chant “Free Palestine” means to her.

Answer:

The destruction of Israel pic.twitter.com/b9kmiva9Gp

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) December 9, 2023

When religious Muslims use the term, “Freedom”, they mean freedom to implement sharia law.

When they use the term, “Justice”, they mean sharia law. We should all remember this from Obama’s Arab Spring when the US put in Mohammad Morsi as part of a series of colour revolutions in the Middle East. His party, which in reality was The Muslim Brotherhood, was called, “The Freedom and Justice party”. Once he ‘won’ the election after the first round of protests in Egypt, he implemented sharia and the people did not like it. Which is why you have Al Sisi today.

25 year old Muslim man engaged to a 10 year old girl.

Presenter: “How old was she when you met her?

Ahmad: “She was around 8 years old.”

Presenter: “When will you get married?”

Ahmad: “In about a year when she gets bigger.” pic.twitter.com/uJIwpg7U65

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) December 8, 2023

Often in war you can tell the goodies from the baddies by how they operate in this context. For example, when Muslims invaded Spain and took over the Iberian Peninsula, the commander burned all the boats upon arriving and explained that the options were victory over the Catholic Spanish, or death. Few to no Israelis would ever surrender to any Islamic force because of how prisoners are treated. To see this video above, is to know that these Hamas fighters have more faith in Israel to treat them humanely than they do in Hamas if Hamas knew they surrendered. And that is despite the dramatically un-Geneva-Convention way these terrorists acted from October 7th on. It is most likely though, that Hamas will attack again at the first opportunity and bargain for the freedom of these men in exchange for a few Israeli civilians they will kidnap.

4. I dare anyone to say the resemblance between Ontario’s dictator doctor in chief and Lenin is not deliberate. After all, it isn’t like Canada’s political elite isn’t openly supportive of Lenin, Mao and Marx and Engles. Oh and the story is about how he is shrieking about a new Covid wave

In a “call to action” Dr. Kieran Moore is urging more people — especially older adults — to get vaccinated against ahead of the holiday season.

I wonder why he feels that way.

The resemblance is uncanny pic.twitter.com/bUL61YFYPt

— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) December 9, 2023

So… Diversity is our strength

Making it clear we need mass deportations more like https://t.co/yYTuUQcgDP

— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) December 10, 2023

As we say many times before, “Diversity is our strength” is a dialectic. The fact is, “United we stand, divided we fall”. Diversity is our strength is one of the great cons of the last 40 years along with “multiculturalism”, (an impossibility) “safe and Effective”, and Global warming just to name a few.

Thank you all for your kind attention to this site and its issues.

EDITORS NOTE: This Vlad Tepes Blog column posted by Eeyore is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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$7.5 Billion Dollars Of Tax Payer Money for Electric Vehicle Chargers Nobody Wants

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By Geoff Ross

The do nothing Congressional UniParty comprised of Republican socialists and Communist Democrats joyfully use your hard earned tax money in the most unconstitutional and imaginative ways.

Take for example the $7.5 billion dollars the UniParty congress allocated to the installed Marxist President Joe Biden to build 500,000 Electric Vehicle Chargers (EVs) across our constitutional republic.

This borrowed money from Communist China and or printed in the Treasury Department was included in the worthless 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. No jobs were created and no infrastructure has been built.

The only President and Congress in our history that actually funded any worthwhile infrastructure was under President Eisenhower with the freeways and interstates he signed off on. This significantly helped national security and grew our free market capitalist economy. These freeways and interstates have already paid for themselves.

But let’s review the EV debacle. First of all nobody is buying electric cars in large enough numbers to support 500,000 tax payer funded EV chargers in the USA.

The exception for EVs is probably in European socialist countries currently being overran with Muslims whose Muslim leadership won’t even let women drive a gasoline powered vehicle let alone an EV.

Out of this $7.5 billion dollars borrowed from Communist China and or printed by the U.S. Treasury Department (contributing to our economic destruction via massive inflation) only $2 billion has been redistributed and accepted by two out of the fifty states. (Ohio and Pennsylvania)

The other forty eight states have not submitted requests or proposals for this unconstitutional redistribution of our tax dollars due to lack of demand.

I’m surprised communist controlled California led by Marxist Governor Newsom and Communist controlled New York State did not jump on this free cash.

Not a single operational EV charger has been built with this borrowed money from Communist China.

So the question is what happened to all those billions of dollars ? It’s your money ladies and gentlemen.

These kind of expenditures from the Treasury Department is driving inflation way beyond our republics ability to handle.

Biden’s Communist answer was the inflation reduction act and massive tax increases. This included a budget proposal that would drive our republics deficit from $34 trillion up to $52 trillion dollars.

Also, early in 2022 Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unconstitutionally and illegally mandated (in violation of the US commerce clause of the U.S. constitution) that half of all vehicles sold in the USA by 2030 must be electric.

The EPA has no such authority to make this a mandatory requirement in a free market capitalist economy. Zero authority. None.

The American people make this decision by their freedom of choice not a communist ran EPA bureaucracy funded by us tax payers.

Welcome to Joe Biden’s Marxist tyrannical utopia using your hard earned tax payer money on the congressional roulette wheel of inflation and economic destruction.

Be prepared for more future losses to our republic by these Communists.

Don’t forget the Communist Obama – Solyndra solar panel failure with a $500 million tax payer loss in 2005 which is still being paid back to communist Chinese plus interest.

This unconstitutional economic insanity falls squarely on the shoulders of the socialist Republican and Communist Democrat controlled UniParty congress who approved it.

These Republican in Name Only (RINO) socialists are holding our tax payers arms behind our backs while the Communist democrats steal our wallets.

If you are still a member of the Republican Party I send you my deepest condolences.

©2023. Geoff Ross. All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: DOT Invests $100 Mil to Help Disadvantaged Communities by Fixing Broken EV Chargers

Why Donald J. Trump Is the Most Towering Political Figure in Living Memory thumbnail

Why Donald J. Trump Is the Most Towering Political Figure in Living Memory

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By Dr. Rich Swier

“No policy that does not rest on some philosophical public opinion can be permanently maintained.” — Abraham Lincoln

The Director of the Claremont Institute Tom Klingenstein recently gave a seventeen minute speech about Trump titled “You Know His Vices, But Do You Know His Virtues?”

When people say “I like Trump…but..”, they should understand those “but” characteristics they dislike are the very traits that make Trump the best champion in our lifetime, for this current “cold” civil war.

Klingenstein explains: “Doubters shouldn’t be bothered by a President who says Haiti is a shithole behind closed doors, or that Maxine Waters has a low IQ . Doubters should be worried about a candidate who can’t say it, won’t say it, or lies about saying it.”

Below are a few Trump reminders that Director Klingenstein made in his speech.

  • Trump knows the media can’t be negotiated with, or reformed. It must be defeated.
  • Trump smoked out rats from hiding places. We now know our intelligence agencies are corrupt.
  • We watched Trump loosen the grip of political correctness, while Republicans wouldn’t engage.
  • Trump made it clear it’s a privilege to enter our country, foreigners should assimilate to us.
  • Trump wants back that nostalgic America guided by relentless optimism, grit, and determination.
  • Before Trump, politicians hid from the public that China is our mortal enemy. Now we all know.
  • Trump’s virtue, backbone, and fortitude are the new standard to judge candidates.
  • Trump’s supporters, and the spirit they embrace, are the new life force of the Republican Party.
  • Trump was born for this current crisis, the life and death fight against woke communism.
  • The “cold” civil war divide in our country was exposed by Trump, not created by him.
  • In war you need strong men to make a stand. Trump is a manly man, with resolve.
    When you’re in the right, you fight to win. Sometimes this means doing distasteful things.
  • Leadership strength is in short supply. Trump understands there are no clean hands in a fist fight.
  • Trump wants people to learn how to love our country, not be taught how to hate it.

WATCH: You Know His Vices, But Do You Know His Virtues?

ABOUT TOM KLINGENSTEIN

Tom Klingenstein is the Chairman of the Claremont Institute, he is also a philanthropist, public speaker, writer, and a playwright. He believes that we are in a cold civil war and that our enemy—what he calls the “Woke regime”—are winning, in large measure because Republican leaders have yet to engage.

His essays, speeches and plays all encourage Republicans to do just that— to think, talk, and act as if we are at war. Among his essays are: “Preserving the American Way of Life”, Fighting the Mob”, “Winning the Cold Civil War”, “Men and the Future of America”, and many others. His work has been published at the Claremont Review of Books, Newsweek, American Mind, American Greatness, and Real Clear Politics.

His speeches such as, “A Man vs. A Movement”, “Trump’s Virtues”, and “Racism in America Today” have been viewed by millions of his fellow Americans. His most recent play, “If Only” explores a fictional interracial love story with Abraham Lincoln playing the role of matchmaker.

©2023. Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

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WATCH: President Trump reads ‘The Snake’ during speech at NYYRC’s 111th Annual Gala in New York City

Watch LIVE: https://t.co/rfcvkCPvl6 pic.twitter.com/CWMBUlrjf6

— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) December 10, 2023

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South American Nations Join Forces against Communist Dictator Nicolas Maduro thumbnail

South American Nations Join Forces against Communist Dictator Nicolas Maduro

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By Geoff Ross

On December 9th, 2023 the President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took the lead and made a phone call to the Communist dictator of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro.

He point blank told this criminal dictator do not invade Guyana.

The fake news Biden controlled media will report that Brazilian President Silva made a diplomatic call and will report that the leaders of South American nations are nervous and anxious, but I am telling you Maduro was given an ultimatum.

The President of Brazil told Maduro If you invade Guyana you will face a military response from Brazil and Guyana’s South American allies which today joined together in solidarity with Guyana.

These countries include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.

The leaders of these nations are not nervous and the new President of Argentina would love an opportunity to eliminate from South America the rectal Communist hemorrhoid Maduro.

South American nations sent the Communist dictator Maduro a strong diplomatic notice that stated in part “both parties (Venezuela and Guyana) must negotiate to seek a peaceful solution”

I am here in Bogotá Colombia watching the news and monitoring the situation planning a possible evacuation of my fiancées mom and dad from Venezuela if need be to the Republic of Colombia.

The Communist dictator of Colombia President Gustavo Petro also sent a warning to his friend and communist pal Maduro.

Apparently Petro has no alternative but to join in solidarity with other South American countries to protect Guyana considering he is an impotent do nothing president with a conservative congress locking him down politically here in Bogotá.

The weak, corrupt installed President of the United States, Marxist Joe Biden is still undecided about protecting Guyana. Still no words of leadership from this senile Communist.

Guyana can easily cover the cost of US military protection funded by Guyana’s oil rich cash reserves not U.S. tax payer money.

The U.S. Southern Command has announced joint military exercises with Guyana, which Venezuela condemned as a “provocation.”

Obviously Maduro has no fear of Biden unlike Trump who kept him somewhat boxed into Venezuela.

Not sure if Biden is aware of this U.S. military support so somebody please wake him up, change his adult diaper and brief him.

The President of Brazil has also ordered an additional large contingent of army reinforcements to its northern border with Venezuela and Guyana as insurance and also a warning to the Venezuelan communist dictator Maduro. Stay in Venezuela or face the consequences.

2023. Geoff Ross. All rights reserved.

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