The Media’s Deafening Silence About American Hostages

 Issues & Insights

One of them, 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz, told NBC News that the remaining hostages “need to get out today” or “they won’t live.”

"On Monday, the White House held a Hanukkah reception. Among those not invited: American families who have relatives currently being held hostage by Hamas.

"CNN reported that: “Ruby Chen, whose son Itay is a reservist missing since the militant group’s October 7 attacks on Israel, said a number of the families of American hostages were in Washington, D.C., this week, and had reached out to the White House asking to attend the reception but were not invited. A White House spokesperson declined to comment.”

"The White House then scrambled to have these families meet President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

"Biden isn’t the only one who doesn’t seem to care much about these hostages. The press has been weirdly quiet about their plight and seems content to wait for Biden to “negotiate” their release. If they’re even still alive.

"Who are these hostages? Who are the families? What are they going through? It’s possible there have been news reports telling the world about the seven American men and possibly one American woman who are being held captive by these murdering, butchering, raping terrorist thugs. But we couldn’t find any. Even Biden’s unbelievable invitation foul-up was given ho-hum treatment.

"This is in stark contrast to other such stories, where the press devotes endless amounts of ink to personalizing and humanizing victims — if they’re the right victim of the right sort of crime, that is.

"This media blackout is not for lack of trying by the families. USA Today notes that these families have a public relations firm representing them. And several told CNN that “they wanted the international community – both governments and the Red Cross – to push more forcefully on behalf of their loved ones, to speak out against the terrible conditions they’re experiencing and for their release.” . . .

But instead of making U.S. hostages the story and burning the images of them into people’s brains, the press spends most of its time and energy describing the plight of the poor Gazan people and parroting Hamas talking points.

FINALLY: Biden Meets With American Hostage Families, 67 Days After the October 7 Massacre – RedState  "President Biden finally found a hole in his schedule.

"It's been a full 67 days since eight Americans were taken hostage by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 massacre in Israel. Since that day, Biden has taken multiple trips to his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and even squeezed in a long Thanksgiving trip to Nantucket. 

"Unlike vacationing, finding time to meet with the hostage families was clearly not a priority for the president. He came under fire recently for not inviting the families to a White House ceremony marking the season of Hanukkah, despite a request by the families to be included in the event. RedState's Bonchie reported, "A CNN segment revealed that some of the families reached out to the White House for permission to attend, presumably to garner a show of solidarity. Instead, the Biden administration ghosted them."

"Not a great look.

"Wednesday, at long last, the families got their wish to meet with the president, an occasion the White House made sure to blast out on social media: . . ." 

Poll: About 20% of Democrats Want Donald Trump Executed, Exiled, Jailed for Life

 Poll: 20% of Democrats Want Trump Jailed for Life, Executed, Exiled (breitbart.com)

"Some Democrats wish the worst for former President Donald Trump, even though his presidency successfully created prosperity for the nation’s citizens.

"Before the Chinese coronavirus came to the U.S., the Trump administration built the world’s most prosperous economy, according to White House archives:

• America gained 7 million new jobs – more than three times government experts’ projections.
• Incomes rose in every single metro area in the United States for the first time in nearly three decades.
• Unemployment for women hit its lowest rate in nearly 70 years.
• The DOW closed above 20,000 for the first time in 2017 and topped 30,000 in 2020.
• Jobless claims hit a nearly 50-year low.
• Lifted nearly seven million people off of food stamps.

"Despite the accomplishments, many Democrats hold Trump in contempt." . . .

Once Revered, the Harvard Brand Is Now Officially Toxic

 Her answer resulted in widespread blowback on social media, along with the hashtag #HamasUniversity and calls for Gay to be fired. 

The Messenger   "Few tests at Harvard University, I’d presume, are what anyone would deem as easy. But when it came to the easiest one of all, Harvard flunked in spectacular fashion. 

The only reason Claudine Gay isn't being called “the former president of Harvard” today is because the university decided to not fire her, despite overwhelming pressure to do so after she waffled about the right of anti-Israel protesters to call for the genocide of Jews on campus. And she did so under oath on Capitol Hill, no less.

"At Harvard, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard's rules of bullying and harassment?" Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) asked during a House hearing about antisemitism on university campuses last week. 

" 'It can be, depending on the context," Gay replied. When pressed to explain exactly what that context may be, she said: "When it crosses into conduct.”

"Her answer resulted in widespread blowback on social media, along with the hashtag #HamasUniversity and calls for Gay to be fired. 

"One has to wonder what "context" Gay would apply to calls on her campus for the genocide of Blacks or those in the LBGTQ+ community, and if that kind of sentiment is perfectly fine up until the point when someone gets killed. No matter: The powers that be at Harvard unanimously voted to keep her on." . . .

Claudine Gay Is Why I Never Checked the ‘Black’ Box | The Free Press   "The disastrous congressional testimony of three college presidents on the topic of campus antisemitism last week has led to furious calls for their resignation. While Liz Magill of the University of Pennsylvania stepped down from her post over the weekend, Harvard’s board ruled that Claudine Gay will stay. But, as filmmaker Eli Steele argues in this first-person essay, which first appeared in Newsweek, Gay’s emphasis on skin color and the politics of black identity have already done serious damage to American higher education. 

"I have known people like Claudine Gay my entire life and they are the reason why I never checked the “black” box on college and employment applications. If I had, I would not be a free individual today.

"As a child, I was fascinated by the story of my paternal grandparents’ interracial marriage in 1944 in segregated Chicago. The 1967 interracial marriage of my black father to the daughter of Holocaust survivors in the same city wasn’t much easier; at the time, America burned with race riots. My grandparents and parents had every reason not to marry across the color line. But they chose love over their racial order." . . .

By checking the black box, I was being asked to mask the actual problems and inequities that undermine the efforts of lower-class blacks—all so university administrations could claim the pretense of racial redemption through higher enrollment numbers. 

FBI Official Who Helped Launch Trump-Russia Probe Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Work with Russian Oligarch

 Charles McGonigal Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Work with Russian Oligarch | National Review

"A former FBI counterintelligence chief who played a pivotal role in launching the Trump-Russia probe was sentenced to just over four years in prison for assisting a sanctioned Russian oligarch after leaving his post in 2019.

"In August, Charles McGonigal, a 22-year veteran of the bureau’s field office in New York, was found guilty of a count of conspiracy for working with Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire with close ties to President Vladimir Putin. During his stint with the bureau, McGonigal received classified information that Deripaska would be designated a Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin, the indictment alleged. McGonigal was legally obligated to inform the FBI of his relationship with foreign officials, which he violated by continuing communication and establishing business ties with Deripaska." . . .

McGonigal eventually relayed this to the FBI in July 2016, with his note playing a crucial role in instigating a case into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. The resulting investigation, conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller, failed to produce sufficient evidence to prove then-President Trump’s guilt. The probe lasted 22 months and reportedly cost over $30 million.

Tucker Carlson lashes out at big news companies and plants billboards at HQs of NYTimes, CNN, MSNBC and the Washington Post with 'corporate media is dead' emblazoned, as he launches his OWN streaming service

 Daily Mail Online   "He's as mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore!

"No, we're not talking about 'Network's' Howard Beale here, but ousted Fox News broadcaster Tucker Carlson, who is taking aim at the 'corporate media' days after launching his own streaming platform for exclusive content.

" 'They're doomed,' Carlson told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview yesterday.

" 'And on some level, they know they're doomed, which is why they're hysterical. The era of dominance by a few big media companies, the era of total control over all information by you know, nine people, that's done,' Tucker said.

"And to make sure the message is clear he organized mobile billboard trucks with his image on the sides, emblazoned with 'corporate media is dead,' parked outside of the HQs of MSNBC, CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times in Washington and Manhattan.

"Fans are being encouraged to can sign up on his site for $72-a-year to access the 'exclusive content' with a 'limited time offer' to 'become a founding member.'

"The former host of Tucker Carlson Tonight was sacked shortly after Fox settled a $1.6billion lawsuit with Dominion and the feisty broadcaster used his announcement to target several networks and news outlets – warning that they are 'dying'.

"Tucker, 54, told DailyMail.com: 'It's important. We're not doing it out of cruelty and hope we're not rubbing this in anyone's face or making the people who still work there feel bad, but they're doomed.' . . .

"All interesting conversation takes place in independent media. There hasn't been an interesting or true thought expressed on the Today Show in a generation. And everybody knows that."

UPDATED: Yikes! Jill’s Christmas Dancers Are Anti-White, Anti-Police BLMers

UPDATED: Jill Biden's 'Nutcracker' Dance Troupe Promotes Abolishing Police Departments, Rants About 'White Supremacy' (breitbart.com)   "It turns out Jill Biden doesn’t want you to have a white Christmas.

"The tap dance troupe that First Lady Jill Biden invited to the White House for the annual unveiling of the Christmas decorations engages in radical left activism, promoting not just the defunding of police departments but the abolishment of law enforcement and prisons around the country.

"The group singles out “white people” on its official site, holding them at least partially responsible for “white and state-sanctioned violence.”

"New York-based Dorrance Dance features an “antiracism” page on its site where it also promotes Black Lives Matter groups and the National Lawyers Guild, the far-left legal organization that works to spring violent Antifa members from jail. In addition,

"Dorrance Dance performed a tap-dance version of the “Nutcracker” ballet for a White video that Jill Biden posted to social media on Thursday. But the first lady received almost instantaneous ridicule for the group’s garish and bizarrely post-modern take on the Tchaikovsky ballet.

"Some commenters compared it to The Hunger Games while Breitbart News’ John Nolte described it as a cross between David Lynch and The Shining." . . .

 Yikes! Jill's Christmas Dancers Are Anti-White, Anti-Police BLMers (independentsentinel.com)   Dorrance Dance, a tap dancing troupe from New York City, performed a creepy interpretation of The Nutcracker Suite through the halls of the White House. Jill Biden recruited them.

"The group prompts website users to join their local BLM chapter and to support causes such as racial justice, CRT,  white fragility, defunding the police, and prison abolition. They also want support for Black trans women and the elimination of riot equipment to the US from the UK.

"This is an excerpt from their website:

why antiracism work is important to me

a note from michelle dorrance

In my generation, to be a tap dancer is to be an ambassador to the world for the unsung history of a Black art form. Taught, encouraged, and inspired by our elders to be more than dancer/musician-performers, my generation strives to be educators, creators, innovators, preservationists, and historians. It is our job to tell the history of tap dance as a celebration of Black culture and also the never-ending struggle against systemic racism and white supremacy in this country – the origin story of appropriation in American culture.

"The white supremacy mantra is a creation of the radical left.

"The organization pushes website users toward the organization Critical Resistance, which “seeks to build an international movement to end the prison industrial complex (PIC) by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe.”

"One link on the dance company’s website is to a pro-Palestinian site that uses the phrase “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free!”. . .

You paid for Jill Biden’s “holiday” horror show.
Work a little harder & pay your fair share, suckers! pic.twitter.com/LAv7uUHlel

— Monica Crowley (@MonicaCrowley) December 14, 2023

Ramaswamy Exposes the Leftist Tactic of CNN Moderator in Answer About COVID Origin, Federal Agents on J6 –

  RedState

. . ."Phillip: "You were saying there were federal agents in the crowd on January 6. There's no evidence that there were federal agents in the crowd."

"Ramaswamy said:

So here's my concern, Abby.  

And I want to tell you guys where I'm at. If you had told me -- it's close to three years ago that January 6, 2021, happened. If you had told me three years ago, back when I was a biotech CEO, not steeped in this world -- I was just consuming passive media, but was focused on my world of developing medicines.  

If you had told me that January 6 was in any way an inside job, the subject of government entrapment, I would have told you that was crazy talk, fringe conspiracy theory nonsense.  

I can tell you now, having gone somewhat deep in this, it's not. I mean, the reality is this. We do have a government, first of all, we have technology, that has lied to us systematically over the last several years about the origin of COVID-19, about the Hunter Biden laptop that we were told was false by 51 CIA experts and otherwise, before we now know that it was true.  

You can go straight down the list, the Trump-Russia disinformation collusion hoax, all of it. Now we come to January 6. The reality is, we know that there were federal law enforcement agents in that field. We don't know how many.  

I think it's shameful... 

Netanyahu, Israeli FM to Biden: We're Destroying Hamas Whether You Like It or Not

  HotAir

"Before we get to this direct rejection of the Biden/Blinken ‘credit’ argument, let’s go over the background that led to it. Under pressure from progressive anti-Semites in his party, Joe Biden growled yesterday about Israel’s supposedly “indiscriminate” bombing campaign in Gaza. His comments at a campaign event yesterday sent shock waves through the US media:

“Israel’s security can rest on the United States,” Biden stated during a campaign event Tuesday, as he touted his government’s strong support of Israel. …

“But they’re starting to lose that support by the indiscriminate bombing that takes place” in Gaza, Biden said, in a statement that implied Israel was needlessly targeting civilians.

"The context of the event mattered in this case. Biden was in campaign mode, and as such, Biden apparently felt compelled to pander to his progressive wing on Israel. While agreeing that Hamas are “animals” and need to be held “accountable,” Biden then compared Israel’s campaign in Gaza to World War II, and claimed “Bibi” made the comparison:

It was pointed out to me — I’m being very blunt with you all — it was pointed out to me that — by Bibi — that “Well, you carpet-bombed Germany. You dropped the atom bomb. A lot of civilians died.”

I said, “Yeah, that’s why all these institutions were set up after World War Two to see to it that it didn’t happen again — it didn’t happen again. Don’t make the same mistakes we made at 9/11. There was no reason why we had to be in a war in Afghanistan at 9/11. There was no reason why we had to do some of the things we did.”

Israel's IDF flushes Hamas's tunnels with sea water -- and sends terrorists scurrying out like rats

  Monica Showalter - American Thinker 

All in all, it's a marvel of human ingenuity and despite all of Israel's internal problems and squabbles and wokesterism, they're still the same old Israelis of legend -- the clever, resourceful, unbeatable Israelis no terrorist should ever mess with, takin' care of business.

"Hear that flushing noise?

"Amid all the screeching of the anti-Semitic global elites, the haze of pro-Hamas global protests, and the Biden administration's efforts to micromanage how Israel conducts its war against avowed terrorists, Israel's Defense Forces have been quietly takin' care of business.

"AT's editor, Andrea Widburg has written about the mass surrenders which is happy news indeed, here.

"But how they did it is fascinating.

🚨FAFO Report: New footage shows the IDF began flooding the network of tunnels beneath Gaza with seawater today.

The great irony in this is that the October 7 attack on Israel was dubbed “Al Aqsa Flood.”

If a better form of poetic justice ever existed, I have yet to see it. pic.twitter.com/OGRccWYiAo

— Jason Jones (@jonesville) December 6, 2023

Israel said to set up pumps in Gaza for flooding Hamas tunnels with seawater | The Times of Israel   Israel said to set up pumps in Gaza for flooding Hamas tunnels with seawater | The Times of Israel  "Israel has readied plans to flood Hamas’s system of tunnels under the Gaza Strip with water pumped from the Mediterranean Sea, a move aimed at destroying the terror group’s subterranean network of passages and hideaways and driving its fighters above ground, according to a report Monday.

"Quoting US officials, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Israel Defense Forces last month set up five large water pumps near the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, which are capable of flooding the tunnels within weeks by pumping thousands of cubic meters of water per hour into them.

"The officials said Israel alerted the US about the plan last month, but has not yet decided on whether to implement it.

"The report noted it was unclear whether the IDF would move to flood the tunnels before all of the hostages that Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups abducted during the October 7 onslaught in southern Israel were freed, due to the apparent risk that would be posed to hostages being held underground." . . . 

Explosions spread along the underground complex as the IDF blows up a tunnel network in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, in footage released on November 19, 2023.

Not ‘Trump the Dictator’ Again

 Victor Davis Hanson; American Greatness  The Left projects itself onto Trump, and understandably finds itself all too terrifying

The Left knows that in dictatorial fashion it has turned a federal republic into a government run wild, lawless, and in service to partisan agendas. It again talks of what Trump will supposedly do only because the Left surely would do exactly what it accuses Trump of planning to do if it were Trump.

"It is “Trump Will Destroy Democracy” season again. And predictably the Left has gone hysterical, after experiencing a trifecta of frightening 2024 news.

"One, current polls in the primaries and in a general election for now show that Trump would win.

"Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s popularity dives below 40 percent. His policies on the economy, abroad, at the border, concerning crime, and about energy poll even more feebly. Never has an American president utterly and deliberately destroyed immigration law for the sole purpose of inviting in millions of illegal aliens, to establish political constituencies supportive of agendas that otherwise have scant public support.

"Two, unequivocal evidence is mounting that the Bidens are one of the most corrupt political families in American presidential history. Hunter, the Leona Helmsley of our times, is now indicted for massive tax evasion, despite his earlier, government-aided efforts of running out the statute of limitations on the full array of his crimes.

"When asked about his grifting, Biden angrily denies the undeniable. He can only become animated these days, when asked to square his denials about knowing what Hunter was up to with a multitude of facts and data to the contrary. And so in exasperation he shouts, “Lies!,” “Lies!,” and “Lies!”

"There is now conclusive proof that Biden himself lied repeatedly when he swore that he knew nothing about his wayward son Hunter’s grifting business. He used several aliases to communicate directly with his son’s grifting and quid pro quo partners.

"Canceled checks show the president was paid substantial sums by family members after they received money from foreign governments—for nothing other than being related to the future president. The pay-offs were hidden by “loan repayment” lies; no one expects ever to find any such evidence that there were formal loan documents or agreements between Biden and his family." . . .

The debacle of defunding the police is coming home to roost

 The Hill

 Mayors and national elected leaders who supported defunding law enforcement must be held accountable and voters must be smarter in who they elect next time around. 

"Liberal mayors across the country who took an ax to the budgets of their police departments following the death of George Floyd almost two years ago are scrambling. They now find themselves under extraordinary pressure from residents, including those who elected them, to address the unprecedented levels of crime and violence in their cities. 

"Combined with unrelenting national media attention regarding their early support of defunding police and inability to put forth effective alternative anti-crime solutions, liberal mayors are now reversing course and publicly calling for increased funding, aggressive policing measures, harsher penalties, and federal assistance for their cities. The motive for change is obvious, and not surprising — they swung for the fences and missed big time by adopting the most extreme and dangerous position of the left known as “Defund the Police.” 

"These mayors couldn’t resist the temptation no matter how impractical and unnecessary the idea was. They joined groups including Antifa, Black Lives Matter and democrat members of Congress (most notably “The Squad”) and immediately began slashing the budgets of their police departments and limiting their operations instead of implementing more reasonable, common-sense approaches like increased training and retraining, updated use of force criteria, and the deployment of additional less-than-lethal options for officers. 

"Instead, they responded to these calls by politicizing and villainizing the entire law enforcement profession and in the process their own departments. The mayors acted like they were invincible, yet the unforeseen problem lurking in the distance two years later for them and the Democratic party is that from the very beginning, they were dead wrong on this issue — wrong on the popularity and practicality of defunding police and not enforcing the law in a civilized society and wrong on the eventual political repercussions that they would face as citizens and visitors became fearful and disgusted at what these cities had come to resemble — third world countries." . . .

Obama's clueless foreign policy left behind the chaos we face today

  NY Post

"The structures that bind the nations of the world together are breaking down before our eyes.

Two savage wars are raging in volatile regions, either of which might at any moment blow up to involve additional belligerents and the potential use of nuclear weapons.

The UN, established to prevent such disasters, has become a plaything of dictators: Iran, one of the bloodiest regimes on earth and a proud sponsor of terrorism, has just assumed the chair of the UN’s Human Rights Council.

China has greatly accelerated production of nuclear warheads — and the Chinese media has begun to issue threats about “war on a global scale.”

The erratic Kim regime in North Korea has the bomb and the aforementioned Iranians, who have promised to annihilate Israel, are about to get theirs.

The Venezuelans are threatening to invade Guyana, which would disrupt the energy markets.

'Under the Taliban, Afghanistan is once again a potential staging area for terrorist attacks; but many additional locations are on offer — Yemen, Syria, Libya, Pakistan, whole swaths of the Sahel.

" 'Meanwhile, waves of escapees from impoverished and conflict-ridden nations batter democratic societies and roil democratic politics.

"This global implosion is a consequence of the failure of American leadership, most particularly in the Obama-Biden years.

"This is not to let their predecessors off the hook." . . .