When faced with a complicated, multi-faceted problem like election integrity, it’s often easier to get a much better grasp of it by using an analogy…
A home remodeling project might be a good comparison. Let’s say we have a 250-year-old, 3-story home, that has exceptional historical significance. (For example, let’s imagine that in this home a group of patriots met and drafted up the first version of the Constitution!) Additionally, it is an architecturally beautiful building.
Although the home mostly has “good bones,” it has fallen on hard times due to decades of neglect, disputes of ownership, self-serving actions by caretakers, etc.
Some of the current issues are: dilapidated siding, deuterating porches, large holes in the roof, a woefully inadequate electrical system, antiquated plumbing, floors that need refinishing, walls that must be painted or repapered, etc. Although the foundation needs minor attention, it still seems to be solid.
Since no one else is doing anything meaningful about this property (other than a lot of talk, blame, and obfuscation), a group of patriotic citizens decides that they will step in.
These selfless volunteers get permission and then (at their own expense!) energetically do the following: start cleaning up the mess, wallpapering and painting walls, sanding floors, upgrading the electrical system, installing new plumbing, fixing broken windows, repairing porches, pointing chimneys, and improving the landscaping.
Do you see any problems here in my made-up analogy?
I’ve phrased it in such a way that it’s clear that there is no professional oversight to organize and direct these excellent efforts, in an appropriate, effective way. For example, renovation of such a property needs to be done in the proper sequence. In this case, it is a waste of time, effort and money to be finishing interior walls and floors before ALL of the needed plumbing and electrical work is done.
The biggest error in this analogy is also a sequential failure. The number one priority of this renovation MUST be to fix the roof. Almost any work on the interior is likely wasted until the inside is no longer exposed to the elements.
So what’s the parallel with election integrity?
We have almost 250 years of election history, architecturally attractive, and built on a solid foundation. However, our election system has fallen on very hard times due to decades of neglect, disputes about responsibility, self-serving actions by those elected to be caretakers, etc.
One of the few positives about the 2020 election is that it woke up many citizens to the reality that our election system has become seriously deteriorated.
In response, many hundreds of patriotic people have dedicated considerable time, effort, and money in an attempt to renovate our election system. My point here is that unless the contributions of these volunteers are properly focused, it’s likely that the majority of it will do very little. (The 2022 elections should have been a wake-up call!)
So what is the elections parallel with starting by properly fixing the roof?
Meaningful post-election audits!
(See “The Solution” for election integrity: here.)
Without doing that, very little of the rest of the superior efforts will be of any avail!
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http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00John Droz, Jr.http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJohn Droz, Jr.2024-02-29 15:28:302024-02-29 15:28:30An Election Integrity Analogy: Good Efforts do NOT assure Good Results
“This whole kerfuffle in Alabama has revealed … the worldview of the Left, which is a worldview of death. And they’re really running with this like they ran after the Dobbs decision,” David Closson, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Biblical Worldview, said on “Washington Watch” Tuesday. “This is not like a one-off,” agreed FRC President Tony Perkins. “The worldview has been revealed. And I think it’s becoming clearer and clearer.”
Enraged by an Alabama Supreme Court decision recognizing the value of all unborn human life, the left-wing media has attempted to carefully curate camera angles of the controversy, so as to portray a hamster as a hippo. First, they launched a scaremongering campaign falsely alleging that Republicans are targeting in vitro fertilization (IVF). Then, Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) opportunistically promoted a bill that wouldn’t so much protect IVF as it would legalize other anti-human practices, such as human cloning, human-animal chimeras, designer babies, and commercial gestational surrogacy.
To browbeat timid opponents into playing along with the charade, the Left trumped up fears of “theocracy” based on a non-binding concurring opinion. “The hand-wringing on the Left … isn’t actually on the majority decision,” Closson noted, but on “a concurring opinion that the chief justice wrote.”
Fear prevents people from thinking clearly, and that’s exactly what the Left is hoping for. If legislators had a moment to sit back and reflect, they would likely realize that “there are moral and spiritual, theological implications here,” said Perkins.
In fact, “There’s a long history within Christian ethics of looking at IVF and saying that … it’s morally fraught,” said Closson. IVF is a process designed for helping infertile couples conceive a child by combining egg and sperm in a laboratory, and then implanting the newly created human life back into the mother’s womb. “As Christians, we believe that at conception, when that sperm and egg come together, you have a human being.”
However, many IVF practitioners create far more embryos than would ever be gestated. “Usually it’s a dozen, maybe even more embryos” that are created, explained Closson. “They selectively choose which ones to implant in the woman.” Of these, all but one will likely be aborted. “Then the others are stored in freezer,” added Closson, resulting today in “millions of frozen embryos in freezers all over the country.” Many are never used and ultimately destroyed.
Despite the moral and ethical pitfalls of IVF, the Alabama Supreme Court did not prohibit the practice, nor even regulate it. All they said was a law protecting children from harm applied to all children, including embryos conceived via IVF. And, in a concurring opinion, Chief Justice Tom Parker added his commentary on the Alabama Constitution’s recognition of the “sanctity of unborn life.”
“That phrase, ‘sanctity of [unborn] life,’ appears in the Alabama Constitution. So, just being a good lawyer, [Parker] said, ‘Where did these words come from? What do these words mean?’ And so, he explored the Christian tradition of understanding sanctity of life, image of God,” Closson summarized.
Closson found it humorous that mainstream media accounts made the mistake of sneering at Parker’s opinion for “quoting 16th-century dead theologians like John Calvin and whatnot.” All their derision proved is that “Christians have been thinking about these issues for a very long time,” he pointed out. “It’s not that we just thought of these in a right-wing think tank last week. We’ve been thinking deeply about these issues for centuries.”
This is humorous because the Left doesn’t realize how far outclassed they are by centuries of brilliant minds. They don’t realize it because they never had to engage with that ancient tradition. Their thinking descends from Karl Marx, and while they might engage with some of his immediate intellectual forebearers (Rousseau, Darwin, Mill), they have little use for a tradition that had already grown wizened before those men were born. “The problem we’re seeing today is the absence of moral truth,” said Perkins. “There are no ethics that are standard and steadfast. It’s a Wild, Wild West.”
One implication of this ethical anarchy is the absence of any limits on what science should do. Just as researchers for the Chinese Communist Party continue to bioengineer deadlier coronaviruses and chimerical monkeys, so the American Left displays an apparent preference for pedantic, utilitarian reasoning over fundamental human rights. Duckworth’s bill would be a go-ahead signal to a lot of ethically dubious research.
“Just because science enables us to do something doesn’t mean we should do it,” argued Perkins. “We should be concerned about both the means and the ends of where this would lead us. And it needs to be guided by biblical truth, by morality … [and by] ethics.”
The fundamental reason why Christians believe all human life is valuable is that “God created man in his own image” (Genesis 1:27). To every human being, this reality imparts “transcendent value,” insisted Perkins. “It’s not value assigned to it. It is value that is inherent in it because it is created in the image of God.”
The road to pushing for designer babies, chimeras, cloning, and surrogacy begins by denying the fundamental reality that all human beings have inherent value because they bear God’s image.
“We need to start calling out a lie for what it is. It is a lie,” Perkins insisted. “Understanding is the first step, but having the confidence of that understanding gives us the ability to push back and say, ‘No, this is not true. It is not right, it is false.’”
Conservatives “playing defense” over the sanctity of unborn life don’t seem to realize that ours is the inherently stronger position. For centuries, Western civilization’s brightest minds have helped develop the implications of this doctrine, which is absolute truth. What does rootless, groundless, post-modern Marxism have to offer in comparison?
The current circumstances are as if the presidential motorcade was suddenly set upon by a gang of youths throwing pea gravel. Exiting the vehicle would be foolish, and waving a white flag would be irresponsible. If conservatives recognize and exploit the advantages of our position, the smear campaign against those standing up for the lives of unborn babies — including those conceived via IVF — can accomplish nothing.
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2024-02-29 15:13:102024-02-29 15:16:23‘Centuries’ of Christian Tradition on ‘Sanctity of Human Life’ Pitted against Left’s ‘Worldview of Death’
Texas’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against pornographic website Pornhub for failing to obey state law requiring pornography websites to confirm the age of users before granting access to their sites. Experts welcomed the news as a step toward protecting minors from sexual exploitation.
Last year, Texas enacted House Bill 1181 into law, which requires pornography sites to verify that a user is 18 or older before allowing access to the site. The lawsuit against Pornhub, filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), alleges that Aylo Global Entertainment, the parent company of Pornhub, is liable for up to $1.6 million “plus $10,000 a day from September of last year to the date of the lawsuit.”
“Instead of abiding by Texas law requiring purveyors of obscene sexual material to institute age verification systems, the company immediately presents minors who access their websites with pornographic content,” Paxton stated in a press release. “I look forward to holding any company accountable that violates our age verification laws intended to prevent minors from being exposed to harmful, obscene material on the internet.”
Texas is one of eight states to enact laws requiring porn sites to verify the age of their users in recent years. The other states with age verification laws include Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Utah, and Virginia.
Pornhub, one of the most visited porn sites in the world, has been embroiled in a series of lawsuits in recent years. Two class action lawsuits have been certified against the company for profiting from child sexual abuse material and sex trafficking. Pornhub is also the target of a lawsuit on behalf of nine women who were secretly filmed while changing in a locker room in which the footage ended up on the site. As of 2023, Pornhub is the defendant in at least 10 lawsuits involving 256 alleged victims.
In a 2020 New York Times exposé, columnist Nicholas Kristof described how Pornhub is “infested with rape videos. It monetizes child rapes, revenge pornography, spy cam videos of women showering, racist and misogynist content, and footage of women being asphyxiated in plastic bags.”
In comments to The Washington Stand, Benjamin Bull, general counsel at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, confirmed Pornhub’s penchant for allowing illegal material to fester on the site for monetary gain.
“From our own litigation and investigation, Pornhub is a criminal sex trafficking enterprise pretending to be a legitimate business,” he remarked. “It’s about time state law enforcement required them to comply with a common-sense law that protects children from sexual abuse and harm.”
Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, expressed hope that Texas’s lawsuit will cause the pornographic site to reconsider its exploitive practices.
“Pornhub doesn’t take the exploitation of anyone seriously,” she told TWS. “They don’t care about the women and men whose lives are ruined when they are trafficked and forced to create pornography. They don’t care about the men and women whose brains are literally deteriorating because of pornography addiction. They don’t care about the relationships and marriages ruined because of pornography. And they don’t care about children who will be caught up in pornography addiction and never able to live freely because of it. All Pornhub cares about is increasing profits and spreading their evil filth everywhere. So maybe, Pornhub will care about the over $3.5 million they will owe the people of Texas.”
Szoch continued, “AG Paxton and the people of Texas should be commended for holding Pornhub accountable, and they should continue going after Pornhub until it is completely shut down. There is nothing good about pornography. Nine out of 10 boys and six out of 10 girls are exposed to pornography before the age of 18. This evil drug robs people of their ability to love. It must be stopped.”
Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.
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BREAKING NOW: ⚠️ Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey files lawsuit against Planned Parenthood Great Plains for TRAFFICKING MINORS OUT OF STATE to obtain abortions without parental consent following BOMBSHELL Project Veritas Investigation..
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2024-02-29 14:57:202024-03-01 05:44:45Texas AG Sues Pornhub for Failing to Verify Age of Users
The Biden administration’s rhetoric has condemned the October 7 terrorist attack on Israeli civilians, but its deeds have made the U.S. one of the top contributors to terrorist incitement, according to a senior congressmen seeking to cut all financial ties to a terror-tied U.N. organization.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was established after 700,000 Palestinians were displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which culminated in the establishment of the state of Israel. Today, UNRWA reports 1.7 million refugees, only 200,000 of them the original refugees, as the great-grandchildren of the 1948 population have joined the list. International intelligence found 12 members of UNRWA took part in the October 7 terrorist attack — which included numerous kidnappings, rape as a tool of torture, and murdering of Israeli civilians. But they say that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
UNRWA has “spawned this cycle of hate,” Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), senior member on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and co-chair of the House Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism, told “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” on Monday.
The United States has become complicit, because “we are the biggest donor by far,” Smith told Perkins. The U.S. funded UNRWA to the tune of $6 billion between 1950 and 2018. Donald “Trump, to his credit, ended all funding for UNRWA when he was president. Then came Joe Biden, and he’s given them over $1 billion U.S. tax dollars, without any condition.” The Biden administration transferred as many taxpayer dollars to UNRWA in three years as previous administrations gave in more than a decade.
“UNRWA is a corrupt, anti-Semitic, and terror-complicit agency,” said Smith earlier that day at an international conference in Geneva. “UNRWA radicalizes Palestinian children with seething anti-Semitic hate — it is a child soldier factory. It is child abuse.”
Although President Joe Biden and 18 nations “paused” aid to UNRWA after last fall’s hostilities, this constitutes “only a pause pending outcome of an ‘investigation’ that appears to be woefully and unnecessarily limited in scope,” Smith told the “International Summit for a Future Beyond UNRWA,” hosted by UN Watch. “I remain deeply concerned that they too will not go beyond a look at the 12 UNRWA employees alleged to have participated in the October 7 atrocities.”
Israeli intelligence documents furnished to CBS News reportedly document the dozen UNRWA workers’ participation in the uprising, including taking part in kidnapping Israeli civilians.
But Israeli intelligence states 10% of all UNRWA’s 12,000 employees (or 1,200 people) have some kind of affiliation with Hamas, the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority.
They say 236 UNRWA workers have ties to the militant/terrorist wings of Palestinian groups, including 185 affiliated with Hamas and 51 with Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
U.S. intelligence agencies reportedly found Israeli allegations about UNRWA’s participation in the October 7 atrocities credible but cannot verify the exact number of employees affiliated with the terrorist groups.
On February 10, Israeli intelligence said it discovered a tunnel beneath a UNRWA facility in Gaza City, nearly half-a-mile long and 59 feet deep, that leads to a Hamas intelligence hub. “The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has been knowingly providing material support for Hamas terrorists who committed unspeakable atrocities against over a thousand Israelis and dozens of Americans,” said Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “That support included salaries and facilities. Foreigners who knowingly funded UNRWA should be subject to sanctions and Americans who knowingly fund-raised for them should be investigated for criminal material support.”
A former investigator for the U.N.’s investigative body, the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), said the OIOS cannot impose a greater disciplinary measure than dismissal: Of the 12 in question, two have been reported dead, and the other 10 have already been fired. “I can confidently say that its investigation will amount to nothing,” wrote Peter Anthony Gallo in The Wall Street Journal.
Cutting off funding to the terror-linked U.N. agency enjoys bipartisan support. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Tenn.), the liberal co-chair of the House Israel Allies Caucus, said he would “applaud President Joe Biden’s decision to suspend UNRWA funding,” before tracing the previous seven years of troubling UNRWA activity.
“In 2017, UNRWA acknowledged the falsehood of its previous denials and fired its Gaza union head after he was revealed as part of Hamas leadership. A month prior, an UNRWA staffer was discovered to be [in the] Hamas politburo,” said Sherman. “In 2023, dozens of UNRWA teachers and staff were revealed to regularly praise Hamas and Hitler on social media. Yet UNRWA claims these staff are not teaching a pro-terror curriculum.”
Sherman has a 10.5% rating on FRC Action’s Scorecard.
Yet most of the Democratic Party base has aligned with the Palestinian cause. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a Palestinian-American, urged her state’s sizable Arab community to vote “uncommitted” in Tuesday’s Democratic primary as a protest against Biden’s rhetorical support for Israel. Although Biden won handily, “uncommitted” racked up 13% of the vote, more than 101,000 votes as of this writing — far beyond its sponsors’ goals.
Smith, who is Sherman’s pro-life counterpart on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a veteran pro-life congressman who has long tried to reform the U.N. Palestinian relief organization. In 2003, he passed an amendment through the House of Representatives stating the UNRWA has “funded schools that promote anti-Semitism, allowed its facilities to be used as warehouses for weapons, bomb-making factories, terrorist training,” and based its actions on “anti-Semitic textbooks.” But the amendment never became law.
Two decades later, the body has “deep and widespread ties with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” Perkins pointed out on Monday. Although the U.S. designates Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) as terrorist organizations, the United Nations — and UNRWA — do not.
Smith introduced the Stop Support for UNRWA Act of 2024 (H.R. 7122) to defund UNRWA. The one-page bill states simply, “The United States may not make any voluntary or involuntary contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (referred to in this Act as ‘UNRWA’), to any successor or related entity, or to the regular budget of the United Nations for the support of UNRWA or a successor entity.” It passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee on February 6, 30-19. He offered an amendment saying the bill does not prohibit U.S. foreign aid to the region but believes it should be administered only by organizations the U.S. has vetted and found not to “promote violence, terrorism, or anti-Semitism” nor to employ those who “promote, espouse, or affiliate with such entities or individuals.”
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) has also introduced the Uncovering UNRWA’s Terrorist Crimes Act (H.R. 7202), which would account for UNRWA funding during the Biden administration and end all U.S. funding to UNRWA “directly or indirectly.”
Critics like Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) say, “UNRWA is beyond redemption. Disbanding the organization is the only solution.”
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2024-02-29 14:42:392024-03-12 04:53:58U.S. Must Stop Funding ‘Corrupt, Anti-Semitic, Terror-Complicit’ U.N.R.W.A. Agency: Congressman
As of June 2023, some immigration experts estimated that roughly 17 million illegal immigrants resided in the U.S., with at least 16% of the population arriving under the Biden administration. While migrants from all over the world cite many reasons for coming, one of the biggest is that illegal immigrants are getting several benefits when they arrive. Many have argued that the well-being of those who are here illegally seems to be prioritized over those who are here legally.
Several sanctuary cities offer migrants free housing, food, schooling, and medical care. States such as California have gone as far as to provide free gender transition procedures for illegal immigrants. Other states that are running out of space have asked residents to open up their own homes to undocumented individuals and families. Several airports, schools, and hotels that American citizens use as part of their daily lives have even been transformed into shelters.
Some have argued it’s hard to ignore the rise in crimes such as robbery, murder, and threats of terrorism that the wide open border welcomes. Among Christians, this crisis has sparked a conversation as to how to go about this chaos in a loving manner. But while all of these concerns are worth addressing, there is another group facing the consequences of Biden’s lack of border control ?” namely, U.S. taxpayers.
Ira Mehlman, media director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, shared on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” on Tuesday that there’s an estimated $150.7 billion burden on taxpayers, which is directly tied to the illegal immigration. As a result of Democratic policies, Mehlman said the illegals showing up in the sanctuary cities are “entitled” to the services, which “costs a lot of money.” He added that the money needed to take care of the migrants is “money that the [states don’t] have to begin with.”
Mehlman highlighted that cities like New York chose to cut down on education and police budgets in order to spend money on the migrants. NYC budgeted $12 billion “between now and the end of 2025,” he explained. “New York is now spending more on care of the migrants than they are spending on police, fire, and sanitation combined.”
Additionally, Mehlman noted that one of the ways taxpayers are getting the short end of the stick is through the health care system. “Under the Affordable Care Act, illegal aliens were not eligible for taxpayer-subsidized health insurance programs. And that was deliberate,” he said. “Now, you have states like California … deciding that they are going to use state taxpayer money in order to subsidize health care for illegal aliens.”
Mehlman described a lot of what’s happening as “self-induced crises.” But the states facing the consequences of their own policies then “turn around and ask everybody else to bail them out.” And the issue with that, he said, is that “whether the money is coming out of state … local coffers, or … from the federal government, it’s still the people’s money. It’s our hard earned dollars.”
Ultimately, taxes are “supposed to be providing services for us,” he urged. “Instead, they’re taking this money and creating new magnets for people to come here and abuse the system.”
Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, pointed out that amid this financial fiasco, the Biden administration still wants to send “$60 billion over to Ukraine.” He concluded, “Let’s shut off the border [and] we might have a little extra money to work with.”
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2024-02-29 14:28:362024-02-29 15:32:37States Put Billions Toward Illegal Immigrants at Taxpayer Expense: Expert
In eight months, Americans will vote for president. All available polling and recent primary results indicate that the country is looking at a rematch of the 2020 election with Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Millions of primary voters have yet to cast their ballot, and given concerns with the president’s age and ability and the current lawfare entangling the former president, anything can happen between now and November 5. But, as a thought experiment, let’s briefly examine one of the current trends playing out in the presidential election: the rebellion of Muslim voters.
Tuesday night, more than 2.6 million Michiganders voted for their choice to represent the top of the ticket in the upcoming general election. While former president Donald Trump bested former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in the GOP primary, 68% to 27%, most of the big news centers on Biden’s performance. Although the president won statewide (81%) against Rep. Dean Philips (D-Minn.), who earned 2%, more than 100,000 voters — 13% of the Democratic primary vote in Michigan — selected “uncommitted” in a protest vote against Biden’s handling of the war in Israel.
Just a little over 1% of the 2020 Michigan Democrat primary vote went to “uncommitted.” Similarly, four years earlier, in 2016, “uncommitted” again picked up around 1% of the vote. This year, after Muslim leaders vowed to deny their vote to Biden over their support for Palestine, combined with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) urging voters in her district to select “uncommitted,” the uncommitted vote swelled to 13%. Suffice it to say a rebellion is brewing inside the ranks of the Democratic Party.
In Dearborn, Michigan, home to one of, if not the largest, Muslim-American populations in the United States, “uncommitted” beat Biden 56% to 40%. You can be assured the alarm bells are ringing at the Democratic National Committee and the Biden campaign. With an election months away, they should be focusing on persuading swing voters; instead, they’re facing a significant protest vote among a demographic that was key to their 2020 result.
In 2020, 1.1 million Muslim Americans voted. According to a report following the 2020 election, 71% of Muslims voters turned out to vote in 2020. Of those who showed up to vote, exit polling shows Biden won 64% to Trump’s 35%. Though a small part of the overall American population and electorate, the Muslim vote can have a big impact on election results. A piece in Politico from 2020 put it well: “The Muslim American community is relatively small in number, but its participation was targeted enough to make a difference in 2020. In Georgia, where President Joe Biden won by almost 12,000 votes, more than 61,000 Muslim voters came to the polls. … In Pennsylvania, which Biden carried by nearly 81,000 votes, about 125,000 Muslim voters turned out.”
Should Biden fail to win back support from the Muslim voters who helped put him over the edge in places like Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, what could the damage look like on election day? Let’s take a look: there are an estimated 4.4 million Muslim citizens in America. If we focus on the most competitive states that could decide the upcoming 2024 election (Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin), we have an estimated population of about 700,000 Muslims. If, as the data suggests, 78% of this group is eligible and registered to vote, and of that population 71% actually show up to vote, we have an active voting population of a little more than 388,000 Muslim voters across these six key battleground states.
Remember, Biden’s 2020 level of support from Muslim voters was 64%, so if we project that level of support forward into 2024, we can get a sense of how much Muslim vote Biden would be missing on November 5. The math shows Biden is looking at a hole of more than 248,000 voters in the states that can sway the electoral college. That’s a devastating blow to his reelection chances when you consider his margin across these same six states in 2020 was a cumulative 312,362 votes.
Much attention is paid to Michigan because of the prevalence of the Muslim community in Dearborn and Tlaib’s prominence as a member of the Squad, but Biden’s 2020 result exceeded the reach of the Muslim vote in Michigan. So theoretically, he could still win the state in November without a single Muslim vote. But that is not the case in Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin, three states that also have significant Muslim populations and collectively can deny an electoral college win to Biden.
Biden’s 2020 margin across these three states was 42,919, and the projected 2024 Biden vote from Muslims in these states is 107,079. For every Muslim voter in Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin that doesn’t show up to vote (or votes for another candidate), Biden’s path to 270 is imperiled.
The reality is Muslim voters will likely not completely abandon Biden in 2024. But if Tuesday’s results in Michigan are any indication, Biden will struggle to get the same level of support from them in 2024. The fact remains that assembling winning coalitions is difficult. Elections are won on the margins. Small movements in key voting groups in key regions are all that is needed for big wins.
Biden also has more problems than a protest vote from his base. His approval ratings are upside down by 15 points, according to the RealClearPolitics average. He is facing additional fractures in his base from black and Hispanic voters, and he also loses in head-to-head polling against his potential challenger (Trump) when it comes to who will better handle things like inflation, jobs, securing the border, taking care of crime, and more.
However, in our era of mail-in voting, it’s more important than ever to secure the ballot box. Deceased voters must be removed from the voter rolls, noncitizens must not be allowed to vote, dropboxes should be secured 24/7 (if we must use them), voting machines need to operate smoothly and accurately (if we must use them), and so on.
The 2022 midterms looked like a slam dunk for Republicans, but the red wave only materialized in Florida. Elections nowadays are less head-to-head contests and more about the mechanics of contacting voters and collecting ballots. Mass mail-in voting lowers the threshold for participation. Democratic candidates in 2022 were able to overcome a less than enthusiastic base. and polling that showed the public generally opposed their record, but they still retained control of many governorships, the Senate, and only barely lost the House.
If the GOP is to compete against Biden’s political machine in 2024, it should not count on the “uncommitted” voter staying home or voting third party.
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2024-02-29 14:07:452024-03-02 05:28:38The Muslim Rebellion Brewing in the Democratic Party
2. The last Canadian election was called early and for unusual but unstated reasons, although we all knew them and this site posted them frequently.
But now its official. Trudeau sued the speaker of the house of commons, something that has NEVER been done before, because he demanded documents about the Chinese spy who was escorted out of a Winnipeg level 4 bio-research lab by the RCMP. Trudeau actually called an election just to get rid of the speaker in order not to provide those documents. A sign of guilty knowledge I cannot think of better. As well as suing him of course. But now it’s official.
Remember when the Liberals withheld the Winnipeg Lab documents from Parliament over and over again?
Now we know why.
Under Justin Trudeau’s watch, the PRC and its entities, including the People’s Liberation Army, were allowed to infiltrate Canada’s top level lab. They were… pic.twitter.com/8K2cUFAKjp
Well, “confidential information” also includes samples of Ebola if memory serves.
BREAKING: Shocking government documents reveal the Trudeau government allowed massive security breaches at our top level lab. pic.twitter.com/9cS8UEQFZq
OK so we all knew this back at the time. This site posted videos of Parliament debating late into the night this issue. It was out in the open, in that sleazy sort of late night way. They say the wheels of justice turn slowly. Ok when they work as they are supposed to, yeah and thats a good thing. But when a counter-revolutionary like Donald Trump is in the crosshairs then the wheels turn at supersonic speeds, and when its a revolutionary leader, one can’t help but think they turn at the exact speed of how useful he remains to the revolution itself. As Churchill once said, “Appeasement is feeding the crocodile hoping he eats you last”. In this variation it is that working for the communist revolution pays dividends till the moment it has no use for you. So at least the rest of us can take comfort knowing that at some point, that is an inevitability for all of them.
Fired microbiology lab scientist’s loyalty of ‘grave concern,’ new records show.
OTTAWA — Two scientists at a high-security laboratory lost their jobs after reviews found they failed to protect sensitive assets and information, newly released records showed.3. US VP admits the Biden admin is setting up the army of illegals to vote in November.
The scientists, Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng, were stripped of their security clearances over questions about their loyalty to Canada and the potential for coercion or exploitation by a foreign entity, the documents said.
(All Chinese nationals or expats who have any family or friends in China are required by Chinese law to spy for the PRC whenever and however they are asked. This is a fact. The cost of not doing so for the moment is levied on their relatives in China. But one can easily extrapolate given the number of “Chinese police stations” discovered in Canada that the price may be exacted to those people who refuse the mission themselves here in Canada.)
Here ya go. Gotta get those illegals registered before November.
Justice Minister Arif Virani has defended a new power in the online harms bill to impose house arrest on someone who is feared to commit a hate crime in the future – even if they have not yet done so already.
The person could be made to wear an electronic tag, if the attorney-general requests it, or ordered by a judge to remain at home, the bill says.
Mr. Virani, who is Attorney-General as well as Justice Minister, said it is important that any peace bond be “calibrated carefully,” saying it would have to meet a high threshold to apply.
But he said the new power, which would require the attorney-general’s approval as well as a judge’s, could prove “very, very important” to restrain the behaviour of someone with a track record of hateful behaviour who may be targeting certain people or groups.
A former employee of the Crown corporation that operates Ontario nuclear plants has been charged with leaking “safeguarded information” that could harm Canada. […]
It said in a statement Tuesday public safety had not been compromised. […]
A source familiar with the investigation told Global News a former employee was accused of making online posts about security vulnerabilities.
So an employee, probably frustrated with incompetence and lax methods at a nuclear power plant, probably complained about it on his social media, available to anyone. He didn’t work with Chinese spies, or ferry deadly materials to an enemy of the West. He just likely complained about security problems at the plant on Facebook or something similar. And this is Global News doing the story. Which means its tactical and not informative. And this story appears to be out at the same time its official the PM is a Chinese stooge. OK then.
There is a video at the Global infowarfare site linked above.
Thank you all for checking out this site.
A bonus item for the UK. Same issue in NA though. Read Fisman’s Fraud by Watteel.
EDITORS NOTE: This Vlad Tepes Blog column posted by Eeyore is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Vlad Tepes Bloghttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngVlad Tepes Blog2024-02-29 13:49:542024-02-29 13:51:57FIVE Critical Evidences of Total Destruction of Democracy in North America
Move over, Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney. There’s a new brand in town finding woke ways to reduce its market share.
I learned this shopping in a local supermarket Wednesday, when I noticed a rack with unusually colorful bags of Smartfood popcorn. Since the brand has been introducing new varieties in recent years, this wasn’t surprising. What did raise my eyebrows was that the bags were a sexual devolutionary special edition roll-out for, it seems, Valentine’s Day, but were still around. (Is it too much to hope it’s because they’re not selling well?)
Much like Dylan Mulvaney, the bags are brazen and “in your face,” unabashedly advertising a partnership the brand now has with GLAAD. Originally formed in 1985 and then known as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, GLAAD has now expanded its sexual devolutionary horizons and pushes the MUSS (Made-up Sexual Status, aka “transgender”) agenda along with its original obsessions. In other words, this group is as toxically left-wing as they come.
This doesn’t stop Smartfood Stupidfood from boldly proclaiming on its bags, “Smartfood & GLAAD, together for love.” (Pro tip for the company: You spelled “lust” wrong.) A picture of the bag is embedded in my tweet below.
In a local supermarket yesterday, I saw that Smartfood was involved in a partnership with radical left-wing "LGBTQ" group GLAAD. It looks as if it has become Stupidfood and wants to Bud Light itself. Well, it'll get no more money from me. Here is the promotional bag: pic.twitter.com/gduRGuh7K5
After a bit of research, I learned that Stupidfood actually forged this partnership in 2022. I don’t know if it received much press back then, but I don’t remember hearing about it. Regardless, it’s amazing that a company will wade into a divisive, bruising culture-war battle by making common cause with one of the high-profile combatants. Have any of its executives ever heard of Dale Carnegie’s book How to Win Friends and Influence People?
Note again, too, that GLAAD is absolutely on the cutting edge of societal devolution; it’s a danger to all of us, including, of course, kids. Consider how it boasts about its MUSS advocacy, which it indicates goes back to 1998. In its media guide, it issues instructions such as “Always use a transgender person’s chosen name” and “Ask for the pronoun a person uses, and use it” (know here that there are recently invented pronouns such as “ze” and “zir.” Also know that people don’t have pronouns — languages do.)
GLAAD is also all-in on having males masquerading as females participate in the latter’s sports. In other words, if it’s sexual and bad for society, GLAAD is all for it.
And Stupidfood is all for GLAAD. In an announcement of its support, it makes a “pledge to donate $150,000 to LGBTQ+ initiatives.” This is chump change for the brand, of course, especially considering that it has long been owned by Frito-Lay, itself a subsidiary of PepsiCo. But it may lose far more than that in sales if its radical GLAAD association gets enough exposure.
I say “may” because I realize its market isn’t identical to what, for example, Bud Light’s was. Bud Light’s sales have collapsed, as it isn’t subject to a boycott, but a walkaway. It may never recover.
Whatever the outcome with Stupidfood, it certainly deserves the same fate. What are these executives thinking? Is the GLAAD alliance the result of “woke capital,” of entities such as Blackrock and its CEO, Larry Fink, pressuring the company into embracing politically correct policies? Is it a function of younger Millennials entering corporate America with their woke-academia priorities? Is it both?
Perhaps Stupidfood perceives that our culture has long been drifting “left” (i.e., toward moral disorder) and is merely betting on the future. This would, though, risk losing the present.
Regardless, for sure is that they’ve lost my business. I did like their overpriced popcorn, though I’d only buy it on sale. But now I wouldn’t take it for free. They can join with the cultural devolutionaries if they want, but they won’t be doing it with my money. I’m out.
How Within Our Lifetime Partnered With Decolonize This Place, An Anarchist Organization, to Disrupt NYC
The violent and disruptive protests in support of Hamas in New York City are not spontaneous outbursts of anti-Israel activists reacting to the war in Gaza.
Suspended antisemitic NYU Professor Amin Husain is a longtime collaborator with Nerdeen Kiswani and her violent pro-terror activist group, Within Our Lifetime.
Within Our Lifetime and Decolonize This Place have enacted a strategy of mobilizing their intersectional allies against ‘Zionists’ and New York authorities to paralyze the city.
Husain and Kiswani have positioned the Palestinian cause as the key to the liberation of other indigenous and intersectional “struggles.”
Violence and opposition to authority are essential parts of their strategy. They seek out and encourage it.
Together with Kiswani, Husain has built a violent and disruptive strategy designed to make the city “ungovernable.”
THE RIGHT CONDITIONS
As events began to unfold on October 7, Kiswani made a strategic calculation that, despite the horrific atrocities coming to light, she would be able to convince her activists and allies to continue to support Palestinian resistance.
To the astonishment of Jews, liberals and others concerned with basic human rights, Kiswani’s assessment proved correct.
As the world reeled in horror from the ever-increasing revelations of Hamas’ massacre of Israeli men, women and children, Kiswani was constructing a narrative that painted Hamas (and by extension, all Palestinians) as the victims and the Jews – those both dead and alive – as the oppressors.
One might consider it risky to assume that people would embrace this narrative, but it evidently succeeded. A significant reason is that Kiswani and Husain have dedicated at least a decade to priming their supporters for this pivotal moment in history.
Within Our Lifetime and Decolonize This Place have devised and executed a two-pronged plan:
To strategically frame the Palestinian conflict as a centerpiece of intersectional politics.
To implement tactics to disrupt New York City.
AMIN HUSAIN AND NERDEEN KISWANI
Amin Husain, a professor who was recently suspended from New York University and a founder of the anarchist group Decolonize This Place (DTP), has been at the forefront of organizing activities that aim to dismantle systems of authority, advocating for the abolition of prisons, police and other established structures.
He is known for his strong anti-American and anti-Israel sentiments and has played a pivotal role in numerous violent disruptions throughout New York City. One DTP rampage through the NYC subway system in January 2020 organized by Husain cost taxpayers $100,000 in damages.
Together with Kiswani, Husain has built a violent and disruptive strategy designed to make the city “ungovernable.”
Husain’s association with WOL dates back to at least 2016 when WOL was still operating as NYC Students for Justice in Palestine. (In 2018, Kiswani, the head of NYC SJP at the time, rebranded the group as WOL.)
But since October 7 and the swell of WOL’s intersectional allies, the group has also incorporated disruptions and shutdowns as two of their prime tactics.
One reason is that WOL no longer needs to work on creating allies. The group now has enough to make life in the city miserable – and that’s their plan.
WOL’s targets have included:
The NYC Marathon
The Christmas tree lighting in
Rockefeller Center
The New York Library
The Museum of Modern Art
Memorial Sloan Kettering
Cancer Center Grand Central
Station Penn Station The
Manhattan Bridge JFK Airport
Grand Central Station
WOL Plans to ‘Ruin Christmas’
Flood JFK for Gaza Protest – New Years Day
Kiswani and Husain realized many years ago that their movement would need allies to succeed. One simple reason was that the anti-Israel crowd in New York (and beyond) would never be big enough to effect any change.
It was easy for Kiswani and Husain to find those allies, as a “pre-made” group already existed.
The “coalition of the oppressed,” which coalesced in America in 2016, consisted of minorities, indigenous peoples, feminists, queers and other groups that the Far Left deemed “victims” in America – whether due to colonialism, the “patriarchy,” gender bias, white supremacy or the catch-all culprit – capitalism.
Post September 11, Muslim Brotherhood front groups, like CAIR, worked hard to include Muslims in this coalition and they succeeded.
The only task left for Kiswani and Husain was convincing this group that “Palestine” topped all other causes and was key to “liberation” for each group.
“Zionism is Racism”
In the wake of the widespread social unrest following George Floyd’s death, the epithet that garnered the most sting in America was “racism.” Conveniently for Kiswani and Husain, the Soviets had already successfully branded Zionism as racism.
The pair worked hard to capitalize on the Black Lives Matter movement to further their fight against Israel.
“Triangulation of indigenous struggle, black liberation, and a free Palestine produce a rearrangement of relationships that make empire look [upside down].
The anti-Israel cause also dovetailed with the popular Critical Race Theory, a neo-Marxist academic movement that took over mainstream American culture in the last decade. Critical Race Theory posits that racism is the fundamental organizing principle of American society.
Institutions from schools to corporations, government agencies and the media bought into the theory and made radical changes in their operations accordingly. This included their attitude toward Israel, which, due to the slur of racism, now became a force in the Far Left world that needed to be opposed.
Racism was deemed a function of the “Patriarchal White Supremacist Nation-State,” which they defined for political purposes in the broadest terms as “settler-colonialism.”
The label “settler-colonialism” turned out to be a perfect way to delegitimize Israel, especially effective with a movement that eschewed historical facts.
Globalize the Intifada
While the rest of the intersectional crowd was stuck in academia explaining their grievances, Kiswani and Husain took the fight to the next level. The launch of the “Globalize the Intifada” movement offered the method of the Palestinians – “intifada,” or violent uprising – as a solution based on action.
They were thus able to brand the Palestinians as both heroes and models.
Slogans such as “Resistance by any means necessary” and “Resistance is Justified When People are Occupied” resonated with their intersectional allies and gained popularity.
These phrases effectively destigmatized and romanticized the brutal reality of the terrorism they allude to.
How can you amplify the message of Globalize the Intifada? Organize an action in your neighborhood along with other communities who support Palestinian liberation and who want to channel the spirit and example of the Palestinian intifada for their own ends.
— DecolonizeThisPlace (@decolonize_this) July 30, 2021
“Becoming Ungovernable”
In 2020, Amin Husain formulated a strategy titled:
“Becoming Ungovernable.”
It was aimed at instigating significant disruptions in New York City and uniting a diverse spectrum of movements under the banner: “OUR UPRISINGS ARE QUEER, TRANS, BLACK, BROWN, PALESTINIAN, IMMIGRANT, INDIGENOUS AND GLOBAL.”
Despite this wide range of causes, the materials disseminated by Husain predominantly focused on anti-Israel protests.
One poster stated, “First they came for the Muslims, and we said ‘Not this time, motherf**ker”,” paired with imagery of a man in a keffiyeh, fist raised, symbolizing violent resistance.
Decolonize This Place detailed tactics for citywide disruption, listing items such as fire, bolt cutters, masks, glass bottles, nails, and emphasized the need for “warriors,” reflecting a militant approach to their activism.
Direct from Nerdeen Kiswani
May 11, 2021:
“We need allies that are going to help us achieve a victory. Not allies that are gonna tell us to be nonviolent!”
June 11th 2021:
“We marched today, we took over the streets and we visited multiple Zionist settler foundations. Multiple. We let them know we know where they’re at. We know where they work. We’re gonna find out more about where they’re at too. And we’re gonna go after them.”
June 15th 2021:
“We also have a right to take over this city and shut this city down and force the city to hear us whenever Palestine is being attacked.”
September 17, 2021:
We don’t need tens of thousands of people to shut down and disrupt this city and as long as Palestinians are facing genocide, as long as Palestinians are resisting colonization by any means necessary, we must do the same here in New York City. We have to up the stakes!”
Conclusion
It is no surprise that the “theoretical” ideas of Husain and Kiswani quickly morphed into reality for New Yorkers in general and Jews in particular. Disruptions in the city began in earnest during the weeks of the 2021 “Strike MoMA” demonstration, which targeted NYC’s iconic Museum of Modern Art during Israel’s “Operation Guardian of the Walls.”
It was at that time that Husain began his first “Mapping Project,” putting a bullseye on Jewish & pro-Israel charities, individuals and corporations, an initiative that Kiswani has both embraced and intensified significantly.
At the same time, it was unsurprising that there was an enormous uptick in antisemitic attacks on Jews in all boroughs of the city in 2021. A number of these assaults stand out, such as the brutal beat-down of Joseph Borgen (for the “crime” of wearing a yamulka) by a group of WOL activists and a similar attack on Matthew Greenman, an Israel supporter on crutches, by another WOL activist.
In hindsight, these incidents look like a dress rehearsal for what is happening today. What is clear is that Husain’s and Kiswani’s allies and activists were primed and ready to go on October 7 with a well-planned strategy to support the terror group they idolize, Hamas.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Canary Missionhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngCanary Mission2024-02-29 11:25:142024-02-29 11:38:14NEW REPORT: Chaos & Disruption in New York City
They won’t close the border and return to Trump’s policies.
Affidavit reveals Migrant charged with murdering Laken Riley BEAT HER SO BADLY, he disfigured her skull…
The Venezuelan illegal implicated in the homicide of Laken Riley is accused of inflicting such severe injuries with an unrecognizable instrument that her skull was disfigured, recent affidavits claim.
NEW: Disturbing details released about the death of Laken Riley who was allegedly killed by illegal immigrant Jose Antonio Ibarra who "disfigured her skull."
This is why the death penalty exists.
According to newly released documents, Ibarra "physically" prevented Riley from… pic.twitter.com/QcG7Xi8CBP
26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, who is facing a series of charges including murder and assault, is believed to have had no prior acquaintance with the 22-year-old nursing student. He allegedly abducted and murdered her during her jog on the University of Georgia campus on Thursday.
Initially, her death was attributed to blunt force trauma, but newly filed legal documents allege that Ibarra inflicted “severe physical harm with an object,” though the exact nature of the object has not been disclosed.
Additionally, Ibarra has been charged with aggravated battery for causing serious disfigurement to her body, specifically to her skull.
Catch and release is having catastrophic consequences. We’ve seen illegal immigrants commit violent crimes & brutally take American lives. I told President Biden that he has the authority to fix the border right now.
EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Geller Reporthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Geller Report2024-02-29 07:42:092024-02-29 14:16:52Biden’s Illegal Alien Who Murdered Laken Riley BEAT HER SO BADLY, He Disfigured Her Skull
Considering the left’s relentless anti-Israel propaganda in mainstream print (NY Times, Washington Post. et. al.) and network/cable media, on college campuses, the UN, the Democrat party and all the leftwing centers of information, this is divine. Literally.
Today’s release of the Harvard-Harris Research Institute survey underscores robust American support for Israel!
A survey conducted online within the United States by the Harris Poll and HarrisX from February 21-22 among 2,022 registered voters found majority support for Israel in its war against Hamas.
More than 80% of those polled support Israel in the war and close to 70% say that they believe that Israel is trying to avoid civilian casualties.
Another question in this survey related to the favorability of state institutions. Only 5% claimed that Hamas was a favorable institution, while a majority (54%) claimed that Hamas is a “very unfavorable” institution.
More than 80% of those polled support Israel in the war and close to 70% say that they believe that Israel is trying to avoid civilian casualties.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Geller Reporthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Geller Report2024-02-29 07:26:532024-02-29 07:30:2082% of Americans Support Israel
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s worse case scenario warning is realistic, and his warning is prudent given the current climate and the fact that Islamic zeal is off the charts since October 7.
Palestine and Gaza are manifestations of Islam’s power.
the wavering of the Biden administration’s support for Israel;
pressure from the United Nations for a ceasefire, which would enable Hamas to survive and regroup;
the unity of the ummah globally in standing for Hamas.
Ramadan is certainly a period that Iran, Hamas and Hizballah will take advantage of one way or another. Some may regard Gallant’s warning as an exaggeration, but it is a better to be prepared. Preparedness, however, isn’t always straightforward. Gallant is “strongly against National Security Minister Itamar Ben- Gvir’s push to reduce access to the Temple Mount for certain Israeli-Arabs or Palestinians during Ramadan.” Palestinians call it the Al-Aqsa compound. One can only imagine the reaction to such an order as Palestinians ready themselves for “martyrdom” in an explosive atmosphere.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday warned that Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas are trying to use Ramadan to inflame the region so as to achieve another October 7 disaster against Israel.
According to Gallant, their hope is to provoke Palestinians in the West Bank, Hezbollah, and Arabs and Muslims across the region to attack and turn their rage on Israel, using the Temple Mount and tensions in the West Bank as an excuse.
The defense minister has been a leading voice for smashing Hamas and earlier in the war, tried to persuade the war cabinet to launch a preemptive strike on Hezbollah.
Gallant calls for reducing tensions
However, at this point, he believes that fighting the war without hesitation must go hand in hand with reducing tensions in areas where there is no reason for there to be tensions.
This means Gallant is strongly against National Security Minister Itamar Ben- Gvir’s push to reduce access to the Temple Mount for certain Israeli-Arabs or Palestinians during Ramadan….
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2024-02-29 07:12:412024-03-01 08:06:50Israeli Defense Minister: Iran, Hizballah, and Hamas are planning ‘October 7, part two’ for Ramadan
Two fallen Navy SEALS and only 32 dead terrorists after two months of fighting.
After Biden came home from his Caribbean vacation, the Deputy Defense Secretary came back from hers and the Secretary of Defense was on the verge of being released from the hospital, airstrikes were finally authorized against the Houthi Jihadis attacking ships in the Red Sea.
Biden said that the air strikes sent “a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes.”
The message was not very clear since the Houthis then struck a bulk carrier owned by an American company and spent the next two months terrorizing the Red Sea. The Iranian-backed terror group which seized control of much of Yemen due to Obama’s Arab Spring has launched even more devastating attacks on ships and has now reportedly attacked an undersea cable, after previously deploying an undersea drone and warning of further “submarine” attacks..
The Red Sea siege has affected shipping and commodities prices all over the world. The U.S. Navy ended a lot of its cargo runs in the Red Sea and so have a lot of civilian shipping firms.
Why have the Houthis been able to not only survive, but to escalate their attacks? Because the Biden administration was never serious about taking them out. The original attacks targeted less than 30 sites from a terror group that had shot off over 1,000 rockets and missiles in the previous 7 years and was clearly prepared for an extended campaign of rocket attacks.
Israel had reportedly dropped over 1,000 bombs a day in the first week of the Oct 7 war. While numbers like these were widely criticized as overkill, they worked. There had been over 6,000 Hamas rocket alerts in the first two weeks of the war. Two weeks later, the number had dropped to over 1,000 and currently stands at less than 100. Israel’s massive assault had worked.
Biden’s occasional pinprick attacks barely even slowed down the Houthi attacks.
After the first round of U.S. strikes, right before Biden flew off to Raleigh, North Carolina to promote his plan for subsidized internet, there was a remarkable exchange with a reporter.
“Are the airstrikes in Yemen working?” he was asked.
“Well, when you say ‘working,’ are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes,” Biden replied.
No one in the press seemed interested in following up the very strange statement. If the airstrikes aren’t working, why carry them out? Was there a plan to step up the strikes? No.
After the initial wave of attacks, the US Navy shifted over to what it euphemistically called “defensive air strikes” against Houthi missiles or rockets that had already been launched or were being prepped for launch. The constant reports about “defensive air strikes” made it sound as if the United States were constantly bombing Yemen, when the US Navy had been allowed to do the bare minimum to prevent and survive more incoming attacks. It wasn’t enough.
Two weeks after the original raids, as the Houthis continued their attacks, Biden authorized follow-up air strikes on a mere 8 locations. A week later, a tanker had been hit and was burning. In early February, Biden signed off on a third round of attacks hitting 36 targets across 13 locations. In the coming weeks, the Houthis shot down the second of two U.S. drones
After multiple Houthi attacks and damage to an underwater cable, Biden now signed off on a fourth round of attacks that hit 18 targets across 8 locations. Will these stop the Houthis?
As Biden already admitted after the first round of attacks, they won’t. But that’s not their purpose. The goal is to maintain some sort of balance of power against the Houthis. The Department of Defense regularly issues official warnings to the Houthis that there will be consequences. But the only consequences are the occasional light air strikes on old Yemeni air defense capabilities and rocket:, some of which date back to the days of the USSR.
So far two American Navy SEALS are dead and Iran has control of the world’s shipping.
And how many of the Houthi Jihadis have been killed? After an initial naval battle in which ten of the terrorists were killed, the Houthis claimed that only five of their men were killed in Biden’s first round of airstrikes. The funerals of another 17 were held after the third round of strikes.
That would make for a total of 32 dead terrorists after two months of fighting the United States.
Are the Houthis understating their casualties? Maybe. But a New York Times article on the Biden administration’s intentions stated that the strategy represents “the administration’s attempt to chip away at the Houthis’ ability to menace merchant ships and military vessels but not hit so hard as to kill large numbers of Houthi fighters and commanders, and potentially unleash even more mayhem into a region”. As if ceding the Red Sea hasn’t done that already.
Chipping away at their arsenals while trying to minimize Houthi deaths has failed miserably.
What is the Biden administration doing wrong? Apart from scale, it’s trying to target Houthi drones and missiles, and some air bases, preferably right before they’re about to be used. This is the same approach that failed in Iraq and it’s also the same approach Israel used to use against Hamas also in an effort to deter attacks, minimize casualties and avoid escalation.
And then Oct 7 happened. Since then, the Israeli military strategy has been to destroy Hamas forces as functioning units rather than target its rocket stockpiles. And it worked. Hamas, like the Houthis, had learned to fire off rockets or drones from disposable locations before running away. Even when rocket stockpiles are taken out, the terrorists can go ahead and build more.
Rockets can be replaced, but organized forces that have trained together are harder to replace. That’s what Israel demonstrated. And it worked. Even though Israel didn’t specifically focus on taking out Hamas rockets, the rocket attacks dropped sharply because there’s no one to shoot them. When rockets are targeted, the terrorists run away and regroup, but when the terrorists are targeted, they have to keep running, so they don’t have the time and space to regroup.
(That is what the proposed hostage deal and the various calls for a ‘ceasefire’ are really about.)
Biden is unwilling to target the Houthis and so they keep attacking.
After two months and over four rounds of larger attacks, the Houthi command and control operations, and their forces, remain intact even if they lost some infrastructure along the way.
This might be excusable if, like Bush in Iraq, Biden really believed that what he was doing would work, but he admitted in a direct quote to the press that he knows what he’s doing won’t work.
Beyond the damage to shipping and the prestige of the United States, two Navy SEALS are dead because the commander-in-chief pursued a military strategy that he knew would fail.
Biden had two options in Yemen. He could either hit the Houthis hard or let them do what they wanted. Both were politically untenable. It would be too politically damaging to go into the primaries inflicting sizable casualties on an Arab Muslim terror group that his pro-terror supporters love and now chant at pro-Hamas ‘ceasefire’ rallies, “turn another ship around.”
But doing nothing while shipping slowed down and prices rose would also be damaging.
Given a choice between alienating the country and his party’s terror supporters, he chose a middle ground of ‘show’ strikes like the kind that Bill Clinton had deployed against Osama bin Laden that will avoid offending terror supporters but also will not end the Houthi attacks.
This strategy serves no one except Biden who has sacrificed the nation’s prestige, a major international waterway and the lives of two U.S. Navy SEALS to win an election.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2024-02-29 06:58:012024-02-29 07:04:53Why the U.S. is Losing the War to the Houthis
“This election is our last best hope to save America. You are the last best hope to preserve our God given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for generations yet to come.” — Peter Feaman, Republican National Committeeman.
In an email the Volusia County, Florida GOP stated,
Florida’s Republican National Committeeman Peter Feaman has served America for decades as a distinguished attorney, counselor, conservative party statesman and spiritual leader.
His convictions are heart-felt and infused with common sense and timeless wisdom of the ages.
Florida’s Republican National Committeeman Peter Feaman has been on the front lines of America First conservative politics for years. He delivered a stirring call to action during remarks at the Republican Party Club of West Volusia on February 27, 2024.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2024-02-29 06:42:212024-03-02 05:51:13National Committeeman Peter Feaman issues an urgent call to action, ‘Save America now or lose it’
The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to take up former President Donald Trump’s presidential immunity appeal.
The decision to hear Trump’s appeal means the trial in his election interference case in the lower court will remain on hold. The justices scheduled oral arguments for the week of April 22, 2024.
“The Special Counsel’s request to treat the stay application as a petition for a writ of certiorari is granted, and that petition is granted limited to the following question: Whether and if so to what extent does a former President enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office,” the order states. “Without expressing a view on the merits, this Court directs the Court of Appeals to continue withholding issuance of the mandate until the sending down of the judgment of this Court.”
BREAKING: The Supreme Court will take up Trump's presidential immunity appeal. Oral arguments are scheduled for the week of April 22. pic.twitter.com/nwJ3uK9ARq
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals found early February that Trump was not immune from prosecution in his election interference case brought by special counsel Jack Smith. Trump asked the Supreme Court earlier this month to stay the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision.
Smith responded by telling the justices further delay in Trump’s trial violates the public interest in a “speedy and fair verdict.” The case is on hold in the lower court pending the resolution of Trump’s appeal.
The presidential immunity appeal marks the second time this year that the Supreme Court agreed to consider a high-profile issue involving the former president. The justices considered Trump’s eligibility for the 2024 ballot under the 14th Amendment on Feb. 8 after the former president appealed a Colorado ruling disqualifying him from the ballot.
In April, the justices will also hear a case considering the scope of an obstruction statute used to charge hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants, which is also connected to two of the four charges in Trump’s indictment.
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