VIDEO: Regime Change in Iran is the Only Viable Way to Stop Iran From Trying Destroy Israel and Eventually the Western World

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Regime change in Iran is the only viable way to stop Iran from trying to destroy Israel, it’s Sunni Arab Neighbors, and eventually the Western world.

From an Iranian Perspective, given what happened last Saturday night, Israel should respond ASAP. The best way to do so is go after the regime’s sources of revenue – i.e., its export oil/gas infrastructure in the Persian Gulf.

Please watch a superb interview with the Iranian Crown Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi’s on why Regime Change is the only effective way to stop Iran from trying to destroy Israel and eventually the Western world, below.

We don’t need American/Israeli troops on the ground to do this. History tells us that once the Iranian people believe their regime cannot do what it needs to stay in power, the people will go out in the streets and do the rest.

I witnessed this first hand when I was going to university in Mashhad, Iran during the early and mid-stages of the 1978-79 Islamic revolution. When they saw the regime was unwilling/unable to do what was necessary to keep itself in power, they revolted and did the rest. Iranian history is replete with many other examples like this.

The best way to make this happen now is destroy the regime’s only source of income – i.e., Iran’s oil/gas export infrastructure. After the regime is gone, that could be rebuilt.

For an example please see the signs in the attached document which appeared in the streets of Tehran immediately after last Saturday’s Israeli destruction of the Iranian missiles and unmanned aerial devices the Iranian regime sent against Israel.

From an Iranian perspective, Israel must respond to Iran’s aggression against Israel ASAP and devastatingly. Otherwise, Israel looks weak. The will embolden the Iranian regime to up the ante against Israel.

Please watch Piers Morgan speaks to the Crown Prince of Iran Rezi Pahlavi [at 2:30 minute mark]:

We don’t need American/Israeli troops on the ground to do this. History tells us that once the Iranian people believe their regime cannot do what it needs to stay in power, the people will go out in the streets and do the rest.

I was going to university in Mashhad, Iran during the early and mid-stages of the 1978-79 Islamic revolution. I saw this in action. When they saw the regime was unwilling/unable to do what was necessary to keep itself in power, they revolted and did the rest. Iranian history is replete with many other examples like this.

The best way to make this happen now is to go after the regime’s source of income – i.e., destroy its only source of income – to destroy Iran’s oil/gas export infrastructure. After the regime is gone, that could be rebuilt.

For an example please see the signs below which appeared in the streets of Tehran immediately after last Saturday’s Israeli destruction of the Iranian missiles and unmanned aerial devices the Iranian regime sent against Israel.

From an Iranian perspective, Israel must respond to Iran’s aggression against Israel ASAP and devastatingly. Otherwise, Israel looks weak. The will embolden the Iranian regime to up the ante against Israel.

©2024. Harold Rhode. All rights reserved.

RELATED VIDEO: “The world should support the Iranian people,” exiled Crown Prince of Iran

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‘No Choice But To Respond’: Israel Weighs Retaliatory Options Against Iran As Biden Admin Urges Restraint

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Israel is weighing retaliation options against Iran, which attacked the country on Saturday, as the Biden administration ramps up calls for restraint.

Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and suicide drones at Israel on Saturday — the vast majority of which were intercepted or missed their targets — in retaliation for Israel’s airstrikes on a diplomatic compound in Syria that killed several high-level Iranian military operatives on Apr. 1. Israel’s war cabinet convened on Monday to weigh response options as the Biden administration and European allies are calling on the country to deescalate the situation and embrace a diplomatic approach, rather than a military one.

President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister  Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday he needed to “take the win” from Iran’s failed attack, which was also deterred by U.S. forces in the region, underscoring concerns that an Israeli response could spark a broader regional conflict, a senior administration official told Axios. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a phone call on Sunday there must be a response to Iran, according to a U.S. official and source familiar with the call who spoke to Axios, though it’s unclear what such a response could look like.

It is unacceptable to allow Iran to launch an attack directly from within its soil when Israel strikes Iranian targets inside of Syria, Gallant reportedly told Austin.

“If Israel absorbs these blows, she will be alone, her deterrence eroded and [Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei’s] direct attacks normalized,” Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), said on Sunday. “Khamenei will go back to his proxy attacks, the world will just accept them and restrain Israel.”

“Time to hit the head of the Octopus,” Dubowtiz said. “But patience is a virtue.”

It is the first time Tehran has chosen to launch a strike from directly within its soil against Israel since Oct. 7, the day Hamas, an Iranian-backed terror group, invaded Israel and killed roughly 1,200 people, prompting a massive Israeli counter-offensive. Until Saturday, Iran has solely relied on its network of terror groups throughout the Middle East to launch attacks against Israel and its allies.

Netanyahu asked the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to provide him with a readout of potential targets and strike options, including hitting a facility inside of Tehran or launching a cyberattack, an official familiar with the talks told The Washington Post. Israel will likely engage in some sort of retaliatory response, but it’s likely to be measured so as to not spark broader regional conflict, Gabriel Noronha, executive director of Polaris National Security and former State Department official, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Part of this is that the West would be smart if they actually offered tangible, real consequences on Iran to supplement or replace some of this kinetic action which Israel is considering. I think Israel still has to do something retaliatory, that can be kinetic, that can be cyber, that can be covert action, but they have to do something just to rebalance, or to settle the score,” Noronha told the DCNF.  “I don’t think in that Israeli response, they need to do anything lethal. I think if they take out either critical ballistic missile or drone-related infrastructure facilities, or perhaps oil-related, energy-related facilities, without causing the high casualties, I think that’s sort of a way to demonstrate, ‘Hey, you can’t go and launch missiles into our territory without consequence. But we’re not trying to turn into a tit-for-tat.’”

“Now the issue is that Iran is doing some interesting messaging. They’re basically saying, ‘If Israel responds, we will respond 10 times greater.’ That’s ridiculous, they don’t have like they don’t have the measures to do that unilaterally,” Noronha told the DCNF. “One thing is attacked demonstrated is that Iran’s conventional capabilities to attack Israel on their own are really bad. They don’t have they don’t have the ability, apparently, to actually hit targets on their own without using their [terror] proxies.”

Other experts speculated that striking back at Tehran could open a new front of conflict between Israel and Iran, which may threaten Israel’s — already fighting a war in Gaza — national security.

“That is a fight Israel cannot win. The Iron Dome system along with all the allied air power knocking down drones and missiles, performed brilliantly — this time. But Israel burned through a lot of interceptor missiles to knock down those cheap Iranian drones,” retired Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, a senior fellow and military expert at Defense Priorities, told the DCNF. “It seems likely that Iran can produce a lot more Shahid and similar type drones than Israel has Iron Dome and Patriot interceptor missiles.”

“If the two sides get into a sustained war measured in months, Israel may soon find itself with insufficient air defenses,” Davis told the DCNF. “Then even the slow-moving, unsophisticated Shahid drones would cause major harm to Israeli targets, as they pack a significant warhead and have excellent guidance systems.”

During their phone call on Sunday, Gallant told Austin that the current standoff with Tehran creates an opportunity to form “a strategic alliance to counter the threat posed by Iran,” according to Axios. But Biden told Netanyahu during their phone call a day prior that the U.S. would not participate in or support an Israeli counterattack against Iran, which could spur Israel not to strike, Davis told the DCNF.

“Netanyahu is now in a tough position, because if he strikes into Iran now — and especially if he hits Iranian nuclear facilities — he may get condemnation from some quarters in the West,” Davis told the DCNF.

Biden has been criticized for taking a policy of appeasement toward Iran in a bid to try and deter the country from acting hostile to U.S. allies. The Biden administration allowed Iran access to billions of dollars after failing to enforce oil sanctions, paying “ransom” for six hostages in late 2023 and extending a sanctions waiver so that Tehran could have access to revenues made from Iraqi energy transactions.

“President Biden needs to face reality: His policies of appeasing Iran while waging political warfare against Israel led Tehran to conclude it could launch a massive attack on Israel and face no consequences,” Richard Goldberg, senior fellow at FDD, wrote on Sunday. “The White House has been showering Tehran with access to cash in hopes of incentivizing better behavior.”

“It’s quite logical for the mullahs to examine the record and conclude a strategic-level strike on Israel would end in two results: zero consequences for Tehran and pressure on Israel not to respond,” Goldberg said. “Israel, however, has no choice but to respond forcefully to this attack — imposing costs high enough on Tehran to turn the ayatollah’s calculation into a miscalculation.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

AUTHOR

JAKE SMITH

Contributor.

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National Guardsman Shoots Migrant Who Allegedly Stabbed Two Others

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A National Guard soldier fired at a migrant who stabbed two individuals at the Texas-Mexico border, according to a document obtained by NewsNation.

The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon along the Rio Grande River in El Paso’s Lower Valley, NewsNation reported. A member of the Indiana National Guard — deployed to the area as part of Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star – witnessed an individual stab a fellow migrant and fired their weapon in response, according to the outlet.

The stabbing reportedly took place on the U.S. side of the river.

“Early on the afternoon of 14 April, a National Guard service member assigned to Operation Lone Star discharged a weapon in a border-related incident. The incident is under investigation,” the Texas Military Department said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation on Monday.

The individual crossed back onto the Mexican side of the border after being shot at, NewsNation reported. The document did not make clear if the attacker was struck by the shot.

Investigators later determined that two individuals were stabbed during the incident, according to NewsNation. A local fire and rescue crew responded shortly after and treated both migrants for “superficial wounds” that were not deemed to be life-threatening.

“More information will be made available as the investigation progresses,” the Texas Military Department continued in their statement.

The Texas Department of Public Safety did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

JASON HOPKINS

Contributor

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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.

To Our friends in the IDF — Stop Talking & Start Planning Your Strategic, Operational & Tactical Response to Destroy the Iranian Government

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To our friends at the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) we salute you and send you our very best wishes.

Congratulations on your success and superior military capabilities in destroying the incoming ballistic missiles and drones fired upon your beautiful country Israel by the terrorist state of Iran.

I am a retired U.S. Navy Senior Chief, Surface Warfare and Air Warfare designated. I served with you in the past at a training command. I am also a veteran of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.

I offer you my military strategic, operational and tactical advice such as it is from my past experiences.

  1. Stop stating publicly that you are going to respond militarily to the terrorist state of Iran. Stop talking and let the evil Iranian government fall into complacency. Instead state the matter is closed when in fact it is not.
  2. Do not tell the Biden administration or any country you consider friendly towards Israel any plans you may have for a future military strike against Iran. The Biden administration will share this information with the Iranian government. The Biden administration is NOT your friend.
  3. Military strategy is the long term planning and execution between adversaries. Military tactics is the movement of military troops on a particular battlefield. You know this already and “You’ve got this covered” just don’t talk about it.
  4. Stop talking to the American and all media outlets unless it’s disinformation because it will be fed back to the Iranian government. Ask yourself why was Biden on vacation over the weekend when he knew Iran was going to attack you.

In Operation Desert Storm in 1991 we told the fake news CNN we would enter Iraq and Kuwait from the South. Saddam Hussein thus relocated most of his military personnel and also buried his Russian made tanks in the Kuwaiti and Iraqi sand in the south after getting this information from CNN.

We then entered Iraq from the north quickly gaining military ground and air superiority. The Iraqi military that was left in the north surrendered quickly.

We then took out the Russian made tanks from the air while the tank crews ran their Air Conditioners as our pilots could see the tank heat signatures from the diesel engines that were used to run the AC units.

Thanks to CNN reporting the false information we fed them we had an easy entry into northern Iraq. CNN is not your friend.

We loved watching the fake news CNN reporting the disinformation from the beach in southern Kuwait and like the idiots they are nobody showed for their party.

Don’t talk to the fake news media unless it’s disinformation.

5. Do nothing and say nothing and wait for our Presidential election in November. Stop talking about future military operations unless it’s disinformation.

Plan your response in destroying the Iranian government in 2025. Trump will be in the White House and he is your true real friend not Biden. You must take out the government and their senior military leadership first.

Iran is a centralized government like most Communist countries. If you take out the people giving the orders first this dismantles their ability to respond to your just deserved military action. You can then take out their nuclear weapons facilities second.

6. Be patient and when the time is right do what must be done to ensure the permanent security of your nation and people. But wait – your enemy must fall into complacency. Right now they are waiting for your response.

7. The Iranian government used over 300 missiles and drones against your homeland and could replace them by 2025 that is true but disregard that.

You’ve already proven your strength and Iran rebuilding its missile and drone inventory should not be taken as a requirement to initiate immediate action against this evil regime. Patience is the key and an unprecedented military strike that totally eradicates their government should be taken but not yet.

Wait until 2025 and wait until Trump has hired real American leadership in our Pentagon that actually supports you. Give him time to rebuild our military leadership and remove the woke commie military leaders currently in our armed forces.

Then do what you have to do without notifying anyone. Bam! Take no prisoners.

Trump will back you up always.

©2024. Geoff Ross. All rights reserved.

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If the World Sees Us [with a] Lack of Resolve, ‘They Will Come with Guns Blazing,’ Johnson Warns

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Americans woke up to plenty of terrifying headlines Sunday after Iran lobbed more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel. “The world stands at the brink of an all-out war,” The Telegraph insisted. Columbian President Gustavo Petro publicly despaired, calling the weekend’s attack “a prelude to World War III.” Here at home, President Joe Biden continued to walk a political tightrope, declaring his “ironclad commitment to the security of Israel,” while privately urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to suck it up and take whatever Iran dishes out.

Like most people watching the scene unfold, the editors at National Review can’t believe the White House’s suggestion that the Jewish state sit on its hands. “Any effort to impede Israel’s retaliation would be morally disgraceful and strategically inane,” they wrote. “… No nation could live under a situation in which another nation vowing to destroy it can threaten its population in this manner, and rest on the hope that it can meet every future attack with the same amount of success in shooting down weapons.”

On the Hill, leaders saw right through Biden’s cheap political ploy. This is a country, Rubio said of Israel, that has faced “constant existential threats to their existence on a repeated basis. … What I don’t understand is why Joe Biden and the administration would leak to the media, the contents of a conversation which he tells Netanyahu he doesn’t think that Netanyahu should respond at all,” unless, as he suspects, it’s to placate their pro-Palestine, anti-Semitic base. “It is the continuing part of the public game they are playing which frankly encourages Iran and Hezbollah.”

But then, as plenty of experts have pointed out, Biden has already done more than his share to help the Islamist regime. “Within weeks of taking office, Biden removed the terrorist designation on Iran’s proxy in Yemen, the Houthis,” NRO’s editors pointed out. “[H]e allowed the U.N. sanctions against the Iranian missile and drone program to expire. Those were the types of weapons not only that were used [Saturday] night but that Iran has sold to Russia for use against Ukraine.”

When pressed about the decision to relax sanctions — ultimately giving Iran five months to build up its missile capabilities and cash reserves — U.S. National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby defended Biden. Asked by Fox News’s Shannon Bream if the administration could’ve done more to deter Tehran, Kirby claimed that it was “hard to look at what President Biden has done with respect to Iran and say that he hasn’t been tough on Iran.”

That’s interesting, former National Security Council member Richard Goldberg said, since Biden hasn’t stopped the flow of money to Iran since the weekend’s attacks. The U.N. Security Council called an emergency meeting Sunday only to adjourn without taking “any meaningful action.” It’s unfathomable to Goldberg, who pointed out, “This was a massive, unprecedented, and unacceptable strategic attack on Israel. It would be a huge mistake to pull Israel back from a military retaliation — but it’s downright insanity to keep $10 billion accessible to Tehran in the aftermath. The president needs to lock down all the money he made available to Tehran these past months.”

Although American Ambassador Robert Wood made a tepid promise that Washington “will explore additional measures to hold Iran accountable,” no one is quite sure what that means. Meanwhile, Mark Dubowitz wanted people to know, there’s been a “massive increase in Iranian nuclear enrichment since President Biden [was] elected.” “Facts are stubborn things,” he warned. “So is [Ayatollah] Khamenei when he faces minimal American pressure and massive sanctions relief.”

At the very least, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told the press, Congress can finally finish the work of Israeli aid that he started more than five months ago. As Family Research Council President Tony Perkins pointed out on “This Week on the Hill,” the first substantive bill that the House passed after Johnson took the gavel was $14.5 billion in assistance for Israel — which the new speaker offset by cutting an IRS slush fund. Democrats voted against it. “And what has the Senate done with it?” Perkins asked Johnson.

“Well,” he replied, “nothing. It’s been sitting on [Schumer’s] desk. I tried again to do a clean Israel [bill] just a full unpaid for assistance. One hundred sixty-six House Democrats voted against it, and Joe Biden threatened to veto it. A clean Israel funding bill. They said no. That’s a pretty amazing thing.”

Even more incredible, Johnson invited Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of Congress, and Schumer refuses to authorize it — despite being the highest-ranking, longest-serving Jewish member of Congress. “It’s stunning, it really is,” the speaker agreed. What happened to Israel being a bipartisan issue, Perkins wanted to know? “Right,” Johnson replied. “The Democrats are turning their back on Israel now [from] the president on down.”

It’s all “deeply concerning” to Netanyahu, the speaker relayed after multiple conversations with the prime minister. “It’s almost unbelievable that the president has turned his back since October 7th on Israel. They’re leaning into the pro-Hamas, pro-protestor branch of their party. … [T]hey’re fearful of that wing of the party. And it’s a rising number of young progressives who are screaming that Israel is the enemy somehow. … You had 50 House Democrats just a few days ago, sent a letter saying that we should no longer have arms transfers to Israel so they can defend their very existence,” he pointed out. “It’s incredible.”

This whole shift in the Democratic Party is alarming, Johnson agreed. “The reason we stand with Israel, for us, it’s a matter of faith, but it’s also a matter of geopolitical stability. They’re the only democracy in the Middle East.”

Before he was speaker, Johnson talked about a meeting with Netanyahu and his cabinet, where they told him, “We want to remind you all that the reason that Israel can stand is because they know that our brother America — the big brother — as it were, is standing behind them, looking over their shoulder.” In other words, he explained, “If the world ever sees that we lack that resolve, they will come with all guns blazing, literally, against Israel. It’s a dangerous, dangerous situation right now. We cannot show a lack of resolve.”

And “the idea that we would not roll out the red carpet and invite our close friend and ally to come and update the Congress on [the war], to me, is unconscionable,” he reiterated. But these issues are going to come home to roost, Johnson warned. If the Democratic Party continues to be held hostage by radical forces that want to abandon Israel, it spells trouble for Biden and company.

“I think they’ve got a very real political problem on their hands. But this should transcend politics. This is bigger than that. This is about safety and security, not just [for] Israel, but the American people. We have got to stand strong right now. They need to put politics aside. But, yes, they’ve got a real problem going into an election year when a rising number of their base is now turning against Israel.”

The Americans who care about this situation, who understand the importance of our ally Israel, need to “let their voices be heard,” Johnson urged. “They need to prevail upon members of Congress to get this job done. I’ve tried to get Israel funded [with] the supplemental, the defense package, that they need. It’s about $14 billion.”

The Middle East is a tough neighborhood, Perkins pointed out. Most of the surrounding nations have threatened to wipe Israel off the map — including Iran. And “you cannot fight to a draw. You have to fight to win. The prime minister understands that. But apparently, the Biden administration does not.”

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 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.

‘It’s Bullsh*t’: Marine At Center Of New Afghanistan Probe Accuses Pentagon Of Covering Up Evidence

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A Marine at the center of a supplemental probe into the deadly suicide bombing during the 2021 U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan accused the Pentagon of concealing information showing it could have been prevented.

Former Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews caused a stir after he testified in March 2023 that he had sights on an individual he and others on the ground believed to be the suicide bomber while in the guard tower next to Abbey Gate, but was denied permission to engage. After CENTCOM opened up a new probe into the incident to address his allegations and found nothing to corroborate them, the former sniper told the Daily Caller News Foundation he agreed the bomber suspect at the time was a “separate individual” from the man the Pentagon just identified as the perpetrator but stood by his testimony.

“That is the truth. For anyone to say that this wasn’t preventable when we had on the ground intel passed to us stating the threat, it’s bullshit. We were told that the bomber was headed to Abbey Gate in real time, we all knew that,” he told the DCNF.

“I believe that a lot has been covered up,” he added.

Vargas-Andrews lost two of his limbs in the bombing, which took the lives of 13 U.S. service members and killed and wounded dozens of Afghan civilians.

Marines stationed in and around the watchtower near Hamid Karzai International Airport’s Abbey Gate may have confused formal intelligence with “spot reports” made by service members in real time that had not been vetted, the secondary review found, according to The Washington Post.

“Over the past two years, some service members have claimed that they had the bomber in their sights, and they could have prevented the attack,” a U.S. official on the supplemental review team said on Friday, according to CNN. “But we now know that is not correct.”

While Vargas-Andrews disputed the finding, he did not dispute that the person Marines at the time believed to be the prime threat was not the eventual bomber, he told the Post.

The first investigation completed in November 2021 concluded a lone suicide bomber managed to bypass Taliban checkpoints but contained nothing to suggest the perpetrator had been identified or that a request to shoot traveled up the chain of command, interview logs show.

Investigators, “although as thorough as they could be,” told Vargas-Andrews and his team during the course of the secondary probe that photos of the bomber, which were taken while the sniper team was tracking threats, could not be retrieved from any facility in the Pentagon or a U.S. intelligence agency.

“They stated they combed through everything high and low,” he told the DCNF. “So what happened to those hundreds of photos, which are potential intelligence? That is a failure.”

Many photos Vargas-Andrews’ sniper team collected, and photos taken by other units, vanished during the course of the chaotic evacuation in August 2021, a person familiar with the investigation told the Post. Those included two individuals the snipers requested to shoot.

One individual nicknamed the “man in black,” due to his black headscarf and shaved head, was thought to be the suicide bomber, CNN reported.

Vargas told the DCNF the photo of the suspect referenced in the report came from a cell phone and was taken from the display on his team’s camera

CENTCOM’s secondary report identified the bomber as Abdul Rahman Al-Logari, an Islamic State (ISIS) operative whom the Taliban had recently released from prison, according to CNN. Cross-comparison of the figures in each photo — CENTCOM obtained al-Logari’s prison mugshot — “received the strongest negative possible rating” they depicted the same person, officials said.

Vargas-Andrews maintained he still had an opportunity to engage the bomber.

“I will stand by my testimony and what we experienced till the day I die,” Vargas-Andrews told the DCNF.

CENTCOM did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

MICAELA BURROW

Investigative reporter, defense.

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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.

NYC: Pro-Hamas protestors scream ‘Death to America,’ burn American flag

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No one will be deported. No one will even be investigated. It isn’t as if these were “insurrectionists” or some other group that is out of favor with the regime.

AUTHOR

ROBERT SPENCER

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Supreme Court To Weigh Case That Could Upend Hundreds Of Jan. 6 Prosecutions

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The Supreme Court will hear a case Tuesday that could have major implications for hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants — as well as special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump.

The case, Fischer v. United States, asks the Supreme Court to weigh the scope of an obstruction statute, Section 1512(c)(2), which penalizes anyone who corruptly “obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding” with up to 20 years in prison. Joseph Fischer, who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, argues that his prosecution under the law for obstructing Congress’ certification of the 2020 election was an “unprecedented expansion” of the statute.

The law, enacted as part of the Corporate Fraud and Accountability Act of 2002, was intended to target evidence tampering, focusing on “deterring fraud and abuse by corporate executives,” Fischer argues.

“Before the January 6 cases, no court had applied Section 1512(c)(2) to conduct not intended to affect the availability or integrity of evidence,” Fischer’s attorneys argued in a brief. “Nor had a defendant ever been convicted of an obstruction-of-Congress offense outside the context of a legislative inquiry or investigation.”

Fischer stated he was in the Capitol for less than four minutes —  after Congress had already recessed — and “was not part of the mob that forced the electoral certification to stop.” He was arrested in February 2021 on several charges, including assaulting Capitol police.

Should the Supreme Court agree with Fischer, it could impact not just his case, but hundreds of defendants the Department of Justice (DOJ) charged with a felony under the statute. Over 353 of the nearly 1,387 Jan. 6 defendants have been charged with “corruptly obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding,” according to the DOJ.

Several defendants have already been granted early release ahead of the ruling, including Kevin Seefried, Alexander Sheppard and Thomas B. Adams Jr., according to The Washington Post.

“It takes four justices to grant certiorari and, although this court will not attempt to read tea leaves, the Supreme Court’s decision to review Fischer means, at a minimum, that this case poses a ‘close question,’” District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta wrote in the January decision granting Adams’ release.

The government argues that the text “is not limited to conduct that affects the integrity or availability of evidence.”

“Instead, Congress adopted a traditional catchall clause, reaching all forms of corrupt obstruction of an official proceeding,” it said in a brief.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals favored the government’s interpretation 2-1 in an April 2023 ruling, finding that the “meaning of the statute is unambiguous.”

“Under the most natural reading of the statute, §1512(c)(2) applies to all forms of corrupt obstruction of an official proceeding,” Judge Florence Pan, a Biden appointee, wrote in the majority opinion.

But Judge Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee, wrote that the government’s interpretation was “mistaken,” making it “implausibly broad and unconstitutional in a significant number of applications.”

“Among other things, that construction would sweep in advocacy, lobbying, and protest—common mechanisms by which citizens attempt to influence official proceedings,” he wrote. “Historically, these activities did not constitute obstruction unless they directly impinged on a proceeding’s truth-seeking function through acts such as bribing a decisionmaker or falsifying evidence presented to it.”

“The government’s reading is also hard to reconcile with the structure and history of section 1512, and with decades of precedent applying section 1512(c) only to acts that affect the integrity or availability of evidence,” he wrote.

Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan and 21 other members of Congress wrote in an amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court that the lower court’s ruling “will only reward and incentivize politically motivated uses of ill-fitting criminal statutes with harsh penalties.”

While the Supreme Court will weigh Trump’s bid to dismiss his election interference case based on presidential immunity in April, the Fischer case could also jeopardize part of the indictment.

Two of Trump’s charges in his election interference case are centered on the obstruction statute. Smith’s indictment alleges Trump used “knowingly false claims of election fraud to obstruct the federal government function by which those results are collected, counted, and certified.”

New York University law professor Richard A. Epstein wrote for the Hoover Institution in March that a correct reading of the statute “torpedoes a key part of the Smith indictment.”

“Trump never entered the Capitol building, and he never made any statement urging rioters to enter the building,” he wrote. “His despicable conduct consisted of watching the proceedings before asking the rioters and trespassers to leave the premises, which does not count as obstruction under any legal authority of which I am aware.”

Smith addressed this in the footnote of his brief filed this week in Trump’s election interference, claiming the charges would still be valid regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision on how to read the text of Section 1512(c)(2). He wrote that the “use of falsehoods or creation of ‘false’ documents satisfies an evidence-impairment interpretation.”

Trump’s case is currently on hold at the district court pending the justices’ decision. Oral arguments will be held April 25 to consider Trump’s presidential immunity argument.

AUTHOR

KATELYNN RICHARDSON

Contributor.

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‘Israel, Free Us From The Islamic regime’: Iranians Support The IDF

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When news broke that Iran had directly attacked Israel, I wrote here that I believed the Iranian people will join Israel to throw off the murdering mullahcracy, something they have been fighting for and dying for years.

‘Israel, free us from the Islamic regime’ – Iranians support the IDF

By World Israel News Staff, April 15, 2-24:

Iranian citizens are praising the Israeli army and calling on the Jewish State to assassinate key ruling figures such as the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini, as Iran girds for a potential Israeli retaliation following an unprecedented missile and drone attack.

Residents of Iran are expressing those sentiments via social media posts and subversive street graffiti, with many asking Israel to bring down the government, which rules according to a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

“Israel, strike back. They don’t have the guts to take revenge,” read one message spray-painted on a Tehran street corner. An image of the writing quickly went viral on social media, along with another message that called on Israel to “eliminate the Supreme Leader.”

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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

Vicious Stabbing Attack at Church in Australia Targets Truth-Telling Orthodox Bishop

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One of my favorite preachers is Mar Mari Emmanuel, a native of Iraq who is a bishop in the Assyrian Orthodox Church, and he needs our prayers right now following a brutal attack suffered while preaching the Word of God on the evening of Monday, April 15.

Like many Assyrian Orthodox Christians, Bishop Emmanuel was forced to leave Iraq after the U.S. invasion resulted in mass persecution of Iraqi Christians, who were more than 3 million strong prior to that invasion in 2003. After the U.S. operation was completed there, the Shia militias were empowered and they cracked down hard on Christians. Many were killed, and many more were forced to flee. It’s a shameful reflection on U.S. foreign policy and for that reason it’s a story that was never told in the Western corporate media.

Bishop Emmanuel ended up in Australia, where he has developed an active internet ministry with many videos of his preaching on YouTube and TikTok.

On Monday in a suburban area on the western outskirts of Sidney, Australia, tragedy struck.

The New York Post, citing information from the Australian news outlet News.com.au, reports that Bishop Emmanuel was attacked while giving a sermon and stabbed multiple times in the face and neck. Two others were also injured during the Monday night church service, in a mass stabbing attack that came just days after six people were stabbed to death at a nearby mall and sparked massive riots throughout the area.

In a disturbing video of the attack, posted Monday to X, Bishop Emmanuel is shown speaking at Christ The Good Shepherd Church, an Assyrian Orthodox congregation in Wakeley, when a man in a black hoodie charges at him with a knife.

This is a level of violence targeted specifically against Christians that has not often been seen in Western-oriented “democratic” countries like Australia.

Below is a report from the crime scene with a brief example of some of Bishop Emmanuel’s preaching. As you will see, he has warned that the world is entering a period of tribulation where many Christians will die for their faith. He said, “For the sake of Christ I will face death and not deny my Savior.”

The bishop appeared to try to talk to his attacker, who then he stabbed the bishop’s face and neck just after 7 p.m. local time in Sidney on Monday.

Emmanuel fell to the floor as congregants moved quickly to his aid.

The bishop was promptly rushed to a local hospital, while the suspect was taken into custody, News.com.au reported. He is in stable condition, the church wrote in a statement posted to Instagram.

It noted that Father Isaac Rayel was also among the injured, and asked the public for their prayers for the wounded.

“It is the bishop and Father’s wishes that you also pray for the perpetrator,” the church said. “We also kindly ask anyone at the Church premises to leave in peace, as our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, teaches us.”

At least two others were also treated at the scene for lacerations, according to News.com.au.

A motive for the stabbing is not immediately known, but the suspect reportedly told congregants at the scene Emmanuel “was getting involved in my religion so I came to get involved in his,” a politician posted online. We don’t know anything for sure yet, but an knife attack like this bears all the hallmarks of an Islamic jihad attack. Bishop Emmanuel has been very outspoken in his criticism of Islam and where the spirit of jihad emanates from. It comes from the pit of hell.

Thousands rioted in the streets outside the bishop’s church while they waited for the suspect to be marched outside.

“Bring him out, bring him out,” the angry mob could be heard shouting in a video posted to Twitter.

Other footage showed a large crowd rioting at the scene and apparently damaging local property, with dozens of people bashing in an ambulance window, according to News.com.au.

Please pray for Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel’s complete recovery, and that justice will be served against his attacker.

For more on his ministry, you can view his sermons on his YouTube Channel.

©2024. Leo Hohmann. All rights reserved.

LeoHohmann.com is 100 percent independent and not beholden to any corporate advertisers or sponsorships. If you appreciate my work and would like to support it, you may send a donation of any size c/o Leo Hohmann, P.O. Box 291, Newnan, GA 30264, or via credit card.

VIDEO: Reports indicate Israel is preparing to retaliate against Iran imminently, possibly within 24 hours

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Will Israel strike Iran? That is the big question.

The below video report says yes, and perhaps within the next 24 hours.

This journalist claims that a few hours ago now, American and Frenchy and German citizens have all been advised to immediately leave Iran. Qatar has diverted all flights away from Iranian airspace, and Netanyahu has called a meeting of ALL the leaders of the many parties in Israel to a meeting with the exception of the leaders of the Arabic and anti-Israel parties.

WATCH: Breaking News – Iran & Israel on Behold Israel with Amir Tsarfati [Start at 7.00 minutes mark.]

Took some time to find, but his quote is from the Times of Israel, paraphrasing the WSJ. It is close, but not exactly that.

Decades ago, I used to be friendly with a family, the patriarch of which was a General in a Western military. He was a brilliant, and very decent man, who has passed away some time ago now. So I think its okay to tell this story.

He was telling me about some of the RealPolitik of the Middle East. About how during the cold war, an ally of the Soviet Union, I think it was Iraq, was developing nuclear weapons by constructing a 40 MW nuclear reactor which has pretty much no practical use beyond making nukes. But neither the U.S. nor the Soviets wanted Iraq to have these weapons. So it was decided that the U.S. would ask Israel to fly a single sortie over the area and take out the reactor. The Soviets would stand up in the United Nations and condemn the action and demand a resolution of some kind against Israel. The U.S. was to veto it, and that would be the end of the issue. Everyone wins except maybe the one guy in Iraq that thought having nukes was a good idea. And that is exactly how it played out.

This tells us a lot about how things happen. The attack against Israel by Iran was clearly something along these lines. Calls where made, understandings where arrived at, and events took place in a way that would satisfy the honour of the Islamic regime in Tehran without any kind of actual war per se.

Let’s hope the Israeli response, if indeed it is real at all, has a similar trajectory.

DM Gallant to Pentagon: No choice but to retaliate against Iran

The Global Security Situation group

Axios reports that Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant told Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Sunday that Israel has no choice but to respond to the unprecedented missile and drone attack launched by Iran over the weekend, a U.S. official and another source briefed on the call told Axios.

The Israeli war cabinet convened on Monday to discuss Israel’s possible response.

Gallant told Austin in a phone call Sunday that Israel can’t allow ballistic missiles to be launched against its territory without a response, the U.S. official and the source briefed on the call said.

The report went on to say that Israel won’t accept an equation in which Iran responds with a direct attack every time Israel strikes targets in Syria, Gallant added.

The sources said Austin conveyed a similar message to the one President Biden gave Netanyahu on Saturday night, stressing the need to do everything possible to avoid further escalation.

The Pentagon and the Israeli ministry of defense said that Austin and Gallant also discussed efforts to establish an international and regional coalition against Iran.

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

Lawmakers, FBI Director Warn of CCP’s Vast Cyberwarfare Campaign

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In the wake of House subcommittee hearings this week on threats coming from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the FBI and lawmakers are warning of the cybersecurity threat that the CCP poses to U.S. infrastructure.

Over the last year, the size and scope of the CCP’s cyberwarfare tactics have begun to come to light, which U.S. officials have publicly admitted to being stunned by. On Tuesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray repeated his warnings from January (when he stated that China’s hackers are “wreaking havoc” on American infrastructure), remarking that the CCP is “the defining threat of our generation.”

He continued, “China’s hacking program is larger than that of every other major nation, combined. If each one of the FBI’s cyber agents and intelligence analysts focused exclusively on the China threat, China’s hackers would still outnumber FBI cyber personnel by at least 50 to 1.”

Examples of the CCP’s cyberwarfare campaign on the U.S. abound. A recent report from The Heritage Foundation catalogues how CCP have hackers infiltrated “key sectors including communications, energy and water,” and “may have the ability to access heating and air conditioning systems to overheat data servers, to cause blackouts by disrupting control rooms that regulate water and electricity, and to manipulate surveillance cameras at some of these facilities.”

In February, a report revealed that Chinese hackers had embedded themselves inside U.S. infrastructure IT environments for five years without being detected in order to extract sensitive information.

In addition, the military is among the prime targets of the CCP’s cyberwarfare campaign. In 2013, it was discovered that a China-backed military hacking group known as APT1 “had pilfered military contractor designs such as the Patriot, THAAD and Aegis missile systems, as well as aircraft designs including the F/A-18 Super Hornet, V-22 Osprey, Black Hawk helicopter and F-35 joint strike fighter.”

Government email servers have also been exploited by CCP hackers, with the Biden administration hammering Microsoft for its lax cybersecurity policies.

On Thursday’s edition of “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) contended that increased openness about the threat of CCP hackers is needed in order to keep the U.S. government accountable.

“[W]e can’t always talk about [cyber threats] because a lot of the stuff is classified — that’s the problem. The American public really needs to be informed on a lot of this stuff so they can put pressures in the right areas. Unfortunately, a lot of stuff is not declassified sometimes on purpose, sometimes because we just get used to containing this information.”

McCormick, a former emergency room doctor who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee as well as the House Armed Services Committee, went on to highlight a recent cyberattack on the health care industry.

“But quite frankly, we don’t have to worry just about cybersecurity and having our information stolen. [W]e recently had a bunch of hospitals shut down [as well as] their billing process — just that alone could be destructive [by] stealing a patient’s information [and] how we reimburse medicine and hospitals and doctors. It sounds like a trivial thing, but when that happens for a couple of weeks, you’re talking about billions of dollars of impact, one out of every three patients.”

The congressman further pointed out the immense scope of the cybersecurity threat posed by the CCP.

“We’re being constantly attacked, relentlessly attacked. It’s disruptive to our entire society — [it] can happen on power grids, it can happen to your information, it can happen to businesses. This is something that we have to be more and more aware of because as AI [artificial intelligence] comes into its full fruition, it starts to affect us. It can literally be like this scenario out of movies where you see stoplights changing the wrong color at the wrong time [and] could cause catastrophes, shut down your power to a hospital. It could do all kinds of horrible things that would impact our economy and our society in major ways.”

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins responded by emphasizing the importance of a competent government. “[T]his puts a lot of responsibility on the government, because if there’s one thing the government has a responsibility to do … [it] is to protect us.”

AUTHOR

Dan Hart

Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 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.

Iran Attack on Israel Sparks Global Response

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On Saturday, startled Americans watched as news anchors broke into their regular programming for a special report: Iran had begun a full-scale attack on Israel. After decades of using terrorist proxies like Hezbollah and the Houthis, Tehran took direct aim at the Jewish nation for the first time in 40 years, launching more than 300 missiles and drones at its enemy to the east.

Iran’s offensive was a shocking twist on an already explosive situation in the region, as Israel continues its march against Hamas over the international pressure to end the war. And while Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it had intercepted as many as 99% of the rockets fired from Iran, the assault marked a new and dangerous chapter in the Middle East tensions.

In Washington, President Joe Biden rushed back to the White House, calling for a G7 meeting to “coordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen attack.” Together with Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan, Biden applauded Israel’s measures at self-defense but privately urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against retaliation.

“The president’s been clear,” White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby told NBC Sunday morning. “We don’t want to see this escalate; we’re not looking for a wider war with Iran,” he said before adding, “I think the coming hours and days will tell us a lot.”

In the weeks leading up to the strike, Netanyahu had “been preparing for the possibility of a direct attack from Iran.” He reassured the country that its “air defenses are deployed. We are ready for any scenario, both in attack and defense.” Here at home, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin backed up the prime minister, telling the press corps, “We do not seek conflict with Iran, but we will not hesitate to act to protect our forces and support the defense of Israel.”

The initial wave caused “very little damage,” Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant wanted people to know, but it did manage to accomplish something else: revealing Iran’s real intent. “Overnight, the whole world saw the true face of Iran — a terrorist state that attacked the State of Israel from a distance of 1,500 km and in doing so also attempted to employ all of its proxies.”

Iran’s political and military leaders celebrated the largely unsuccessful mission, calling the operation a “historic, powerful, victorious operation against [the] Zionist regime.” Meanwhile, Israel was carrying out its own counter-offensive, pounding Hezbollah targets in Lebanon early Sunday. “A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck a number of military structures in a complex belonging to Hezbollah’s Radwan Forces in the area of Jbaa in southern Lebanon,” the country’s forces announced. “Earlier during the night, IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah military structures in the areas of Khiam and Kfarkela.”

As the weekend wore on, reaction from U.S. lawmakers poured in. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) insisted that “America must show our full resolve to stand with our critical ally. The world must be assured: Israel is not alone.” He put the blame for the weekend’s conflict, at least in part, at the president’s feet. “I will continue to engage with the White House to insist upon a proper response. The Biden Administration’s undermining of Israel and appeasement of Iran have contributed to these terrible developments.”

While the president is desperately working to keep Israel from engaging Iran directly, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) called for more forceful action from the U.S. “We must move quickly and launch aggressive retaliatory strikes on Iran,” she urged.

Members of Biden’s own party joined the chorus for a stronger show of support for Israel after weeks of publicly abandoning our Middle East ally with calls for a ceasefire. Asked by CNN’s John Tapper if he agreed with Blackburn’s strategy, Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said no, but reiterated, “I just think we should follow and have Israel’s back in the situation. I don’t agree with the president.” He’s “entitled to his own views and whatever he decides to do,” the colorful senator explained, “but I would never capitulate to the fringe [of the Democratic Party]. … [T]hat empowers Hamas, and Hamas is actually convinced they’re winning the PR war. And they’re never going to negotiate at this point.”

Over in the House, the weekend’s conflict is prompting leadership to pivot to crucial legislation on Israel. Legislation, several conservatives have pointed out, that Democrats refused to consider four months ago. “… The House will move from its previously announced legislative schedule next week to instead consider [aid proposals] that support our ally Israel and holds Iran and its terrorist proxies accountable,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) announced. “[T]here must be consequences for this unprovoked attack.”

An attack, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shook his head, that never should have happened. “So much for don’t,” the Trump official tweeted, referring to Biden’s one-word admonishment to Iran. “Don’t isn’t a national security policy,” Pompeo said last year when Biden made the comment. “It’s not even a deterrent.”

“When your Secretary of State declares near moral equivalence between good, our ally Israel — and evil, the Islamic Republic,” Pompeo pointed out over the weekend, “you get bad guys wreaking destruction.”

Former Israel Ambassador David Friedman was equally outraged by the administration’s tepid soundbites. “About six months ago, Biden looked Hezbollah and Iran in the proverbial eye and said ‘Don’t.’ Since then, Hezbollah has attacked Israel daily, almost 100,000 Israelis have been displaced from their homes in the North with no idea when they will return, Iran has received $26 billion in sanctions relief and the US carrier strike forces have sailed away. US policy here is weak, confused and unproductive,” he argued.

And the Democrats’ confused messaging doesn’t help matters. After calling for the overthrow of Netanyahu last month, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) dared to say he “stands” with Israelis. “… [T]he United States will do everything we can to support Israel’s defense against Iran,” he claimed.

This constant wavering on the Left, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said, has given the entire world the impression that the president’s party “tacitly supports Israel’s opponents.” Perkins, who was in Israel three weeks ago meeting with Netanyahu, agrees that “what happened [Saturday] was the result of the Biden administration vacillating back and forth in its support of Israel.” As the prime minister told him last month, “If we are not decisive in our victory against Hamas, it’s going to incite Iran directly to attack us.”

Like other military experts, Lt. Colonel (Ret.) Bob Maginnis believes Iran anticipated that Israel would be supported by the U.S., yet launched the operation anyway. “That means the present deterrence in the region failed,” FRC’s senior fellow for National Security told The Washington Stand. For 40-plus years, Maginnis has written about Iran, including in his book “Never Submit,” which addresses the tragic history of the Islamic Republic and its tyrants. He believes, “They no longer fear the U.S. — and unless the U.S. and others increase their presence and demonstrated willingness to use force, much worse is likely on the horizon.”

The reality is, Maginnis warned, “Iran has the capability to reach out and damage Israel. Jerusalem is no longer safe in spite of separation provided by the Arabian landmass and the Persian Gulf. It also appears some of the Iranian weapons platforms used Iraqi airspace, a consequence of our disengagement with Baghdad.” As he put it, “The mullahs in Tehran are now out of the closet and openly engaging, threatening Jerusalem.”

And the price to Israel is steep. One of Iran’s goals is to exhaust Israel’s arsenal of “expensive anti-missile systems like Iron Dome Patriot, Arrow, and David’s sling,” he pointed out. “In other words, Iran is trading cheap drones for anti-drone, ballistic missile rockets fired by Israel and her Western allies.”

In other words, Perkins said, “Israel is fighting for its survival.” Preaching at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills Sunday, the FRC president acknowledged that “we live in times of great uncertainty — both abroad and here at home. But we’ve been given clear instruction on how we as followers of Jesus Christ are to respond, “We’re to stand firm in the truth of God. Jesus warned us that these days would be coming. … God does not want us to be anxious. He does not want us to be worrying about this; He wants us to go to work.”

“This is the greatest threat that this nation of Israel has seen since its founding almost 76 years ago,” Perkins insisted. “And if we depart from our commitment to stand with Israel, I fear for our country’s future.” He announced that FRC and several churches around the country are declaring May 19 “Pray for and Stand with Israel Sunday.” It’s his goal to have churches all across America praying for the Jewish nation.

“While we may not have the political authority to negotiate and make decisions for our government … but as believers, we’ve been given the keys to the kingdom. And we need to exercise those keys. … We need to pray that God would show Himself mighty to save.”

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

Enjoying news and commentary from a biblical worldview? Stand with us by partnering with FRC.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 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.

‘Christian Nationalism’ and the ‘Catholic Thing’

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David G. Bonagura, Jr.: Beleaguered Christians, appalled by America’s moral collapse, seek ways to stem the tide. Catholics and other Christians represent the final obstacles preventing the victory of the secular Left.

“Christian Nationalism” has fast become a favorite boogeyman term of the cultural Left. Its precise meaning, as many have noted, is intentionally ambiguous so it can tar as many believing Christians as possible with toxic intentions. The most overreaching definition, which rocked the Internet before a minor retraction, claimed that Christian Nationalists are those who “believe our rights as Americans and as all human beings do not come from any earthy authority. They don’t come from Congress, from the Supreme Court, they come from God.”

That is, Christian Nationalists are guilty of believing the truth of our nation’s Declaration of Independence (“men have been endowed by their Creator”), which is neither a Christian nor a nationalist document.

Such a fatuous description betrays a seemingly paranoid fear that Christianity might again become a public force that shapes laws and customs. A restoration of how America used to function would inaugurate, in the words of a longtime opinion writer at a supposedly responsible newspaper, “the peril of the theocratic future toward which the country has been hurtling.”

In calmer words, “Christian Nationalism” concerns the role that Christianity plays in American public life, culture, and law. Those lamenting it care nothing about Christian claims for the Triune God, the Virgin Birth, or the Resurrection. They fix their disdain on Christian moral teachings that oppose their creed of expressive individualism, which enshrines the Sexual Revolution as the first article.

Christianity, and Catholicism in particular, are the final obstacles preventing total victory. Yet, from the rewriting of marriage and family law to the sudden rush to enshrine IVF as a human right, it’s clear that expressive individualism has long had “Christian Nationalism” on the run.

Beleaguered Christians of all denominations, appalled by America’s moral collapse, have been seeking various ways to stem the tide. Public life, culture, and law are all expressions of a deeper vision, whether religious or secular, that a people hold in common.

For Christian morality to again direct American life, Americans would need not only to call themselves Christian, but they also would have to believe what they claim. For that, we need the slow, grinding work of guerilla evangelization. Top-down impositions by a “Christian government” or otherworldly power will not work.

Plus, given the GOP’s meager post-Dobbs opposition to abortion and its instant capitulation to IVF, progressives need not fret: “Christian Nationalists,” Twitter blusters aside, have little appetite for a government takeover.

As America severs more of its Christian roots, Catholics need not lose hope. We have been doing our “Catholic thing” – living out our universal faith in the particular historical context of America – for centuries, and almost always under duress. We forget that even when American law and culture embodied Christian morality – abortion was illegal, divorce was fault-based, pornography curtailed, adultery criminalized – Catholics were not entirely welcome in these United States because the reigning culture rejected their religious sensibilities.

Working within the law, Catholics responded by building their own neighborhoods, churches, schools, and universities where they could live their faith unencumbered. At the same time, Catholics found ways to participate in the general culture as Americans – through military service, civil and public offices, and working in industry.

Discrimination was rampant and nasty, yet Catholics fought the hostility as a creative minority. They prayed, they imagined, they built, they stuck together, they engaged rivals, and they offered charity to all.

“Creative minority” is a term coined by British historian Arnold Toynbee, who recognized how a small group’s spiritual vision can breathe new life into a dying civilization. Twenty years ago, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger baptized the term to articulate an approach to re-evangelize secular Europe. As Pope Benedict XVI, he identified three requirements for Catholics living as a creative minority: dialogue with agnostics, education, and charity.

In other words, the success of a creative Catholic minority today also depends on imitating the works of American Catholics in the early twentieth century, with today’s agnostics replacing yesterday’s Protestants.

Then as now, American Catholics felt uneasy in the land they loved. Balancing the “both/and” of maintaining a strong Catholic identity with engaging non-Catholic society has never been an easy feat – internal retreat or total assimilation are perennial temptations.

Individual Catholics and the Church institutions did not strike the balance properly every time, but the rise of Catholicism as a creative force – from Archbishop Fulton Sheen on television to the rise of Catholic schools and universities to the spread of Catholic hospitals and charities all over the country – enriched American culture. It’s no coincidence that when the American Church buckled after Vatican II, American culture collapsed with it.

Today, after decades of barrenness, seeds of a Catholic springtime are growing – admittedly, in unfertile soil. Among a small segment of believers, a strong Catholic identity is being rebuilt through homeschooling and classical schools, faithful colleges, online institutes, zealous young priests, and pious liturgies. The American Church once succeeded culturally beyond the dreams of her nineteenth-century trailblazers. And with her distinct identity reconstituted, she can blossom again as a creative minority that redeems the culture from within.

If “Christian Nationalism” means that Catholics cannot live their religious and moral creed publicly, or that Christian principles, as opposed to secular ones, cannot shape law and policy, then Catholics must fight this bigotry. But if “Christian Nationalism” means “government takeover” as critics allege, then Catholics are not interested. Perennial outsiders to American government and power, Catholics already know how to live their “thing” in these United States.

We look to our American Catholic forebearers for models, inspiration, and intercession.

AUTHOR

David G Bonagura, Jr.

David G. Bonagura Jr. an adjunct professor at St. Joseph’s Seminary and is the 2023-2024 Cardinal Newman Society Fellow for Eucharistic Education. He is the author of Steadfast in Faith: Catholicism and the Challenges of Secularism and Staying with the Catholic Church, and the translator of Jerome’s Tears: Letters to Friends in Mourning.

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James Matthew Wilson John Paul II’s Song of the Earth

David Warren The World Is Falling

EDITORS NOTE: This The Catholic Thing column is republished with permission. © 2024 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.

Biden Knew About, AND APPROVED, Iran’s Planned Attack on Israel

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Biden knew of the attack, signed off on it and then went on vacation to the beach. This is grounds for impeachment, at the very least.

Joe Biden not only had prior knowledge of Iran’s assault on Israel but also technically gave it the green light under certain conditions, according to a report from the Jerusalem Post.

HOLY CRAP: Joe Biden Approved Iran’s Assault on Israel ‘Within Certain Limits’

By MATT MARGOLIS

Iran informed Turkey in advance of its planned operation against Israel, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday, adding that Washington had conveyed to Tehran via Ankara that any action it took had to be “within certain limits.”

Turkey, which has denounced Israel for its campaign on Gaza, said earlier on Sunday that it did not want a further escalation of tensions in the region.

The Turkish source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had spoken to both his US and Iranian counterparts in the past week to discuss the planned Iranian operation, adding Ankara had been made aware of possible developments.

Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Fidan to make clear that escalation in the Middle East was not in anyone’s interest.

“Iran informed us in advance of what would happen. Possible developments also came up during the meeting with Blinken, and they (the US) conveyed to Iran through us that this reaction must be within certain limits,” the source said…

More here.

Iran informed Turkey in advance of its operation against Israel – Turkish source

Iran informed Turkey in advance of its planned operation against Israel, conveyed through diplomatic channels, aiming to limit escalation in the Middle East.

By Reuters, April 14, 2024:

Iran informed Turkey in advance of its planned operation against Israel, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday, adding that Washington had conveyed to Tehran via Ankara that any action it took had to be “within certain limits.”

Turkey, which has denounced Israel for its campaign on Gaza, said earlier on Sunday that it did not want a further escalation of tensions in the region.

The Turkish source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had spoken to both his US and Iranian counterparts in the past week to discuss the planned Iranian operation, adding Ankara had been made aware of possible developments…

Read more.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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