An Israeli mother gives an extraordinary gift of love to the troops

 Andrea Widburg - American Thinker

And before any leftist cries “genocide,” note that Mrs. Haim does not say “Muslims,” “Palestinians,” or “Arabs.” Instead, the target of her wrath is a specific political and military group driven by a genocidal ideology. Just as no one would have faulted people during WWII for wishing that the name and memory of the Nazis would be wiped off the face of the earth, she offers the same prayer for the evil that is Hamas. She’s absolutely right, showing a perfect balance of compassion and wisdom.

"Last week, news broke that, in the fog of battle, Israeli troops accidentally killed three hostages. Now, the mother of one of those hostages, despite her own grief, has recognized that the soldiers involved must be suffering terrible psychological agony, and she has reached out to them with love.

"The story was truly dreadful. In the heat of battle, Israeli soldiers mistakenly shot three hostages under Hamas’s control. The Israeli military stated that the three were shirtless and waving a stick with white fabric as they ran to Israeli soldiers. They also explained what may have happened: “The IDF official said that at the time, Israeli ‘forces were under pressure’ with Hamas fighters engaged in ‘a lot of deception.’”

"I could instantly imagine the scene. It’s urban warfare on the enemy’s turf. There would have been a fierce fight with Israeli troops under fire from multiple directions. They would have been aware that Hamas fighters use suicide tactics in battle, which would see them getting as close as possible to the troops before detonating themselves." . . .

"What I cannot imagine—indeed, my brain shies away from imagining—is the psychological pain the troops involved in that shooting are feeling. As has been clear from October 7, Israelis view themselves as a family. Every person who died and every hostage seized was a person stolen from that family. And to introduce into all this emotional agony the knowledge that three of your family members were on the verge of rescue, only for you to have killed them, is a pain beyond comprehension.

"But one person did comprehend it. Iris Haim is the mother of 28-year-old Yotam Haim, one of the men who made that unsuccessful break for freedom—and she had a message for the soldiers in the Bislach Brigade, Batallion 17, which, however accidentally, was directly responsible for her son’s death:. . ."

Mexicans know a stupid gringo when they see one: Here comes Feckless Joe

 Monica Showalter - American Thinker . . ."How stupid are these people running our country?

"Our friends the Mexicans can see it, and they are speeding them on in, loading the conveyor belts to get them out of their own country and into Joe Biden's sanctuary nations, and the efficiency of the whole Mexican operation is encouraging more to come as a result. That likely explains why the border surge is so big in Del Rio. More migrants in, more that can come in.

"Biden, of course, is clueless on this matter and the only reason he's suddenly making his day-late, dollar-short appeal to the Mexicans is the impact of illegal border crossings on his own polling numbers. Recent surveys show that illegal migration is the number one concern of American voters after Bidenflation, and you can bet that if the Mexicans are acting this way, there's a problem they need to get rid of and hand over to Feckless Joe, too.

"Back in the days of President Trump, the Mexicans under the exact same government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador responded quickly to Trump threatening to shut down the entire border if illegal crossings weren't controlled.

"Trump also muscled them into a "remain in Mexico" agreement to disincentivize illegal border crossings and as a result, illegal crossings went down.

"Trump got results quickly with his firm hand, laying down the law with Mexico, and pretty amazingly, cordial relations with them resulted, given that he was nice and clear with them about how it was going to be.

"Biden? The Mexicans are reading him as a fool, seeing clearly his mixed messages to both migrants and themselves -- an open border and a huge benefit package with no deportation to those who get across, and complaints that people are taking him up on his offer. No wonder Mexicans are speeding them along.

"They know an idiot who can be rolled, they've seen thousands of them among the drunks from the U.S. who get rolled in Mexican towns at the border. They know a stupid gringo when they see one.

"Joe's the stupid gringo and he won't get far with any panicky phone calls complaining about the consequences of his own stupid decisions. He will get what he gets, same as the drunks do, too bad if he doesn't like it."

Why Michelle Obama is as Rotten a Choice for President as Hillary Clinton

 Marie Hembree - American Thinker   "Democrats are using identity politics again to test the waters for a ballot replacement for Joe Biden instead of finding a candidate with bona fide qualifications -- and integrity.

"Michelle Obama is being touted as a possible candidate who could beat Donald Trump.

She was recently publicized as an executive producer of a Netflix fiction movie, along with her husband, Barack. 

"There was not much of the old Obama hopey-change messaging in her anti-white Netflix endeavor, however, which left identity politics as her selling point with voters.

"Per the academic definition, identity politics is a Marxist tactic of assigning utmost societal importance to a candidate’s empowerment of a collective, victimized group such as women or minorities.

"Anyone opposing the "candidate as victim" is immediately labeled as suppressing the entire representative group. For example, people who opposed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton were labeled as anti-women or misogynists, just as those who criticized Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 were called racist.

"Identity politics has pulverized Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of Americans judging others by the “content of their character instead of the color of their skin” in choosing a candidate.

"Meanwhile, collectivism is a fundamental element of totalitarian ideology." . . .

Biden's Three Paths to Victory

PLAN C: Get Republicans to nominate Nikki Haley. RESULT: Either way, a Democrat wins.

 Biden's Three Paths to Victory

"Democrats have three paths to victory next November, all being eagerly embraced by Republicans.

"PLAN A: Enrage Republicans by bringing a string of ludicrous indictments, civil suits and ballot disqualifications against Donald Trump, thus tricking the GOP into making him the nominee.

"RESULT: Joe Biden easily wins a second term. If Trump behaves as we know he will, Biden wins even if he's dead.

"Wait, but why would Republicans make Trump the nominee just because -- OH MY GOSH, IT'S WORKING!!!

"When Trump declared his presidential run on Nov. 15, 2022, he was dead in the water. November, December, January, February -- polls all put liberal-slayer Gov. Ron DeSantis in the lead, or within striking distance. He wasn't even a candidate yet.

"Then the indictments started rolling in. The media went back to 24-7 unhinged Trump commentary, and the former president's numbers soared. The more liberals indicted him, the more it juiced his presidential campaign. (And they get to enjoy themselves while doing it.)

"Defying all expectations, by me at least, Republicans have reacted to these garbage prosecutions by saying, Watch this, liberals! We're going to punish you by handing Democrats the presidency, the House and the Senate. You disqualified Trump from the ballot, Colorado? We're going to put Democrats in a position to pack the court!

"I can't enstupid myself enough to understand why being the victim of legal persecution is supposed to make someone a great candidate for president. Please draw a diagram from "These Trump indictments are outrageous!" to "Let's make him our nominee!"

"Lots of people -- or at least several -- have been victimized by viciously unfair criminal prosecutions.

"The Innocence Project framed an innocent black man, Alstory Simon, for a double murder in Chicago in 1999. He sat in prison for 15 years until a couple of federal agents reinvestigated and exposed the rotten truth. (Watch the documentary "A Murder in the Park" -- free on Prime!)" . . .

Is California Jealous of Colorado? -

The American Spectator | USA News and Politics  "California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis is urging the state’s secretary of state to play catch-up with Colorado in that state’s lunatic, almost certain to be unsuccessful, effort to keep Donald Trump off the presidential ballot.

"In her letter to Secretary of State Shirley Weber, she remarks on Colorado’s court decision to bar Trump, in which four justices were clearly suffering from altitude sickness, and we come across the following knee-slapper:

This decision is about honoring the rule of law in our country and protecting the fundamental pillars of our democracy.

"Well, you coulda knocked me over with an absentee ballot. The above is stunning in its audacity and hypocrisy, even for California, where the interest on the part of public officials in “honoring the rule of law” is hardly on a boil. California residents will thank La Kounalakis for ensuring that California laws against murder, mugging, shoplifting, carjacking, assault, public defecation, et. al. are honored by enforcing them, even if it annoys George Soros. As for the Donald, on or off the ballot he has about as much chance of winning California as I do. 

"But take holiday heart, American Spectator readers. Red-blooded Americanos in flyover country, and the remaining coastal patriots, will not have to endure the self-destructive idiocy of California much longer. I’m putting the final touches on a deal to trade California (except for two valleys — Napa and Salinas) to Mexico for a case of Dos Equis Amber and a stale taco. It’s a trade, as they say in the sports biz, that will benefit both sides." . . .

Election Interference: Here are the Four Colorado Justices Who Voted to Exclude Donald Trump from the 2024 Ballot

The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hᴏft   "The unelected justices of the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the people of Colorado cannot vote for former President Donald Trump on the ballot for the 2024 presidential election.

The decision, passed by a narrow margin, was led by four justices whose ruling has sparked a fierce debate about legal standards and democratic principles.

"According to CBS News, “lawsuits challenging Trump’s candidacy have been filed in more than 25 states ahead of the 2024 election.”

"The case in Colorado, instigated by a far-left organization, argued that Mr. Trump should be barred from the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment over allegations of insurrection. Despite a lower court’s ruling that noted while Trump engaged in alleged “insurrection” by inciting the Capitol event, the Amendment does not apply to presidential candidates specifically; the Supreme Court’s majority saw things differently." . . .

‘Our Democracy’ Isn’t What You Think, And You Just Saw It in Colorado - (spectator.org)  . . ."Because that insane ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court — which seeks to ban Donald Trump from the ballot in that state on grounds that the 14th Amendment bars “insurrectionists” from federal office — is about as bright-line an example of the difference between “Our Democracy” and what an average American would see as democracy that it’s possible to conjure.

Your concept of democracy as an American isn’t, after all, even democracy in the classic sense. Our Founding Fathers were terrified of democracy as a system of government, which is why they built in an intricate clockwork of checks and balances in creating the world’s greatest constitutional republic.

"In America it isn’t the majority that rules; it’s the law that rules. And the law is established through a representative democracy. There are things a “democratic” majority cannot do in this country, for very good reasons.

"A patriot who recognizes and respects this would not properly refer to “our democracy.” Rather, a patriot would refer to “our republic,” as that’s a far more precise term.

"But Democrats — and especially the people who control the Democrat Party today, a crowd who have been the active ingredient in that party since Barack Obama came on the scene and turned the Democrats into a radical, viciously anti-American hard-left mob — despise the use of the word “republic” to describe America.

"Most of them hate that word because they associate it with “Republican,” and anything close to “Republican” has to be bad and can’t be said. Partisan Republicans will make sure to include a reference to “little-D” democrats when talking about proponents of democracy; the Obama Left won’t extend even that courtesy.

"But the less intellectually deprived on the left won’t refer to “our republic” for a different reason: They despise the concept of a republic with as much fervor as our founders despised a democracy." . . .

Vivek Ramaswamy Withdraws from Colorado Primary Until Trump is Reinstated - Challenges DeSantis, Haley, and Christie to Do the Same (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hoft

    

Who Would Have Believed The Singularity Would Be So Stupid?: Colorado GOP To WITHDRAW From Primary If Trump Is REMOVED, Civil War Fear GROWING (ibloga.blogspot.com)    Video

 What civilized people can support these killers over their murdered victim?

Leftist Lunacy Fuels Hamas Atrocity – Issues & Insights (issuesinsights.com)

"Israel’s descent into tragedy at the hands of Hamas reveals America’s descent into idiocy at the hands of the Left.  Every anti-Semitic outrage, all the Hamas apologists, each excuse for terrorism — together they reveal that we are not confronting just terrorism alone but an absolutist ideology.  The left has prepared the ground in which Hamas and its supporters have sown their hate, and America is witnessing its flowering.  

"As the aftermath of October 7th continues unfolding, we see mounting examples of leftist arguments defending it.  The latest lunacy occurred on Nov. 23 when Sky News’ Kay Burley interviewed Israeli spokesman Eylon Levy about the exchange of 150 Hamas prisoners for 50 Israeli hostages.  Burley stated: “I was speaking to a hostage negotiator this morning…. and he made the comparison between the numbers and the fact that does Israel not think Palestinian lives are valued as highly as Israeli lives?”

"Shocked temporarily speechless, Levy recovered:  “It is outrageous to suggest that the fact that we are willing to release prisoners who are convicted of terrorism offenses, more of them than we are getting our own innocent children back, somehow suggests that we don’t care about Palestinian lives? Really, that’s a disgusting accusation.”

"Assuredly “disgusting,” the accusation is also disturbing in its revelation of the shallowness to which the left has spiraled this discussion’s descent.  Deconstructing the accusation shows that there is no debate — and cannot be one — with the left.

"First, it was Hamas that created this vile market for the exchanging of human beings.  Hamas abducted 240 innocent Israeli civilians and did so for the clear purpose of doing what it is doing now: obtaining the release of its captured terrorists.  And without captured terrorists, there would be no one to exchange Hamas’ hostages for.  So, Hamas created both sides of this transaction.

"Second, the inequality in this exchange is also of Hamas’ making.  From a moral standpoint, Hamas sent in terrorists and took out innocent civilians.  From any civilized moral perspective, there is no equivalency here.  The transactional inequality is therefore inherent: the innocent for the guilty, the unsuspecting for the premeditated." . . . 

Huge Majority Of Voters Say U.S. Has ‘Serious’ Antisemitism Problem

So while no one group gets the bulk of the blame, it’s pretty clear that the biggest problem is seen being among the young and universities.

 Hamas leader doesn't know or care how many hostages still alilve (ynetnews.com)

I&I/TIPP Poll – Issues & Insights   "While the big media might not be worried about the wave of antisemitism that emerged after Israel was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7, average Americans are. A hefty majority now call antisemitism in the U.S. a “serious” problem, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows.

"Following the recent disturbing outbreak of antisemitism across the country, ranging from an upsurge of antisemitic demonstrations on college campuses to a spate of ugly harassment incidents against individual Jewish Americans, a majority of Americans agree there’s a big problem.

"In our latest national online poll, taken Nov. 29-Dec. 1 from among 1,464 registered voters, we asked the following question: “Generally speaking, how serious is the problem of anti-Semitism, or prejudice against Jewish people, in the U.S. today?”

"The overwhelming response was not comforting for those who might have hoped that antisemitism was a relic of the past. Some 76% of all Americans called the problem either “very serious” (43%) or “somewhat serious” (33%). A mere 14% said it was either “not very serious” (10%) or “not serious at all” (4%)." . . .

. . ."The Oct. 7 surprise terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel unexpectedly seem to have revived an ugly strain of antisemitism, both here and abroad, that once seemed on its way to extinction. It’s back, and it’s real, especially among youths and on college campuses.

"Stories of bigots tearing down posters of Israeli hostages, polls suggesting some Americans support the terrorist attacks, and throngs of young anti-Jewish, anti-Israel protestors equating Zionism with “terrorism” have brought back memories of the mid-20th century’s ugly outbreak of antisemitism, which culminated in the Nazi atrocities of the 1930s and World War II.

"As recent polls show, if there’s any regret over the attacks among the Palestinians themselves, it’s not evident. A Reuters Poll just last week found that 72% of Palestinians now support Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel.

"Biden’s response to the attacks has been deemed a failure, even by some in his own party. Foreign policy analysts on both sides say Biden’s decision to restore billions in aid to Iran and look the other way as it continues its nuclear weapons program has further destabilized the Mideast. There is no question of Iran’s involvement, both direct and indirect, in the Oct. 7 attacks.

"Worse, critics say, are his attempts to kill off former President Donald Trump’s highly successful Mideast peace initiative, which brought Israel together with several of its Arab nation neighbors for the first time ever. Others have faulted his administration’s foreign policy hires, heavily weighted toward analysts and advisers favorable to Iran.

"Meanwhile, his own administration’s underlings remain in open revolt over his tepid backing of Israel as it confronts yet another threat to its existence. They’ve made clear they’d like to see Hamas, not Israel, win this war."

Leftist Lunacy Fuels Hamas Atrocity

The atrocities that occurred on Oct. 7 in Israel must spur our revulsion, but they must equally spur our reevaluation of the mindset that now defends them.  The anti-Semitic protests and attacks — especially on our college campuses — are not the result of what is happening in Israel; they are the result of America standing silent while the Left has defined reason into oblivion and education into indoctrination.  

"Israel’s descent into tragedy at the hands of Hamas reveals America’s descent into idiocy at the hands of the Left.  Every anti-Semitic outrage, all the Hamas apologists, each excuse for terrorism — together they reveal that we are not confronting just terrorism alone but an absolutist ideology.  The left has prepared the ground in which Hamas and its supporters have sown their hate, and America is witnessing its flowering.  

"As the aftermath of October 7th continues unfolding, we see mounting examples of leftist arguments defending it.  The latest lunacy occurred on Nov. 23 when Sky News’ Kay Burley interviewed Israeli spokesman Eylon Levy about the exchange of 150 Hamas prisoners for 50 Israeli hostages.  Burley stated: “I was speaking to a hostage negotiator this morning…. and he made the comparison between the numbers and the fact that does Israel not think Palestinian lives are valued as highly as Israeli lives?”

"Shocked temporarily speechless, Levy recovered:  “It is outrageous to suggest that the fact that we are willing to release prisoners who are convicted of terrorism offenses, more of them than we are getting our own innocent children back, somehow suggests that we don’t care about Palestinian lives? Really, that’s a disgusting accusation.”

"Assuredly “disgusting,” the accusation is also disturbing in its revelation of the shallowness to which the left has spiraled this discussion’s descent.  Deconstructing the accusation shows that there is no debate — and cannot be one — with the left.

"First, it was Hamas that created this vile market for the exchanging of human beings.  Hamas abducted 240 innocent Israeli civilians and did so for the clear purpose of doing what it is doing now: obtaining the release of its captured terrorists.  And without captured terrorists, there would be no one to exchange Hamas’ hostages for.  So, Hamas created both sides of this transaction.

"Second, the inequality in this exchange is also of Hamas’ making.  From a moral standpoint, Hamas sent in terrorists and took out innocent civilians.  From any civilized moral perspective, there is no equivalency here.  The transactional inequality is therefore inherent: the innocent for the guilty, the unsuspecting for the premeditated. 

"Finally, Hamas created the ratio of the exchange.  On a moral weighting, the correct ratio would have been 240 Israeli hostages for nothing.  These people should never have been taken in the first place; once taken, they should have been returned.". . . 

Chris Cuomo After Watching Footage Of October 7 Hamas Massacre: “They enjoyed mutilating” (legalinsurrection.com)    “If an enemy wanted to make sure that Israel would come for them, the message would be to take children, women, innocents and more, tie them up and burn them alive. Just like the Holocaust…. I now know that is exactly the message Hamas sent, on purpose, at scale. I was not aware of that before. They did it methodically. You hear it in the voices, the commands, the ease and excitement of finding and mutilating victims.” . . .

"Cuomo’s assessment is an insight into why Israel is driving as hard as it is to destroy Hamas completely. This is not, as Cuomo notes, tit-for-tat. This is an existential battle for survival against an implacable and inhumane enemy." . . .

Leaving CNN has been good for Mr. Cuomo's intelligence. TD

The Disqualification of Donald Trump and Other Legal Urban Legends

 Thread by @JonathanTurley on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App 

The Colorado Supreme Court has issued an unsigned opinion disqualifying Trump from the ballot: "The sum of these parts is this: President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three; because he is disqualified."...courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file…

...This ends a string of losses for advocates of this dangerous novel theory. They finally found a court that would embrace what the court admits is a case of "first impression." My first impression remains that same. The court is dead wrong in my view...

...It is striking that the court relies on Schenck v. U.S., where the Court upheld the denial of core free speech rights of a socialist opposing a war. The opinion of the Colorado Supreme Court is so sweeping that it would allow for tit-for-tat removals of candidates from ballots 

...The opinion is remarkable in how the four justices adopted the most sweeping interpretations to get over each barrier. The result is lack of a limiting principle. I view the opinion as strikingly anti-democratic in what it now allows states to do in blue and red states alike. 

Why is #MeToo Covering for Hamas?

  The Lid (lidblog.com)

Their identity is critically important because their sexual assaults were not random, back-alley attacks. They were part and parcel of the terrorists’ goal of violently humiliating Jewish women, as Jewish women. The attackers were making an ideological statement on women’s bodies.

"    Why is the #MeToo movement refusing to condemn Hamas for its mass rape and sexual mutilation of Israeli women?

    "When #MeToo International emerged in 2017, its purpose was to provide a voice for victims of sexual violence and a vehicle to protest their attackers and enablers. All victims—not just members of particular nationalities or ethnic groups. And all attackers—regardless of their political affiliations or agendas. If, for example, Palestinian Arab terrorists rape Israeli women, even those who support the Palestinian Arab cause should be willing to speak out against them. But that’s not what happened.

    "From literally the day after the Hamas attack, there was credible eyewitness testimony of sexual assaults. The widely respected online Jewish magazine Tablet published a report about it on October 8, authored by one of its most seasoned contributors, Liel Leibovitz.

    “ 'I’ve spent the last 12 hours speaking to Israelis who were at the Supernova music festival [where hundreds were massacred],” Leibovitz began.

    "He quoted a survivor saying, “Women have been raped at the area of the rave next to their friends’ bodies, dead bodies.” He noted that “several of these rape victims appear to have been later executed,” while “others were taken to Gaza.” Another survivor described seeing the corpses of “young women, lying cold and mutilated.” Leibovitz also pointed out: “In photographs released online, you can see several paraded through the city’s streets, blood gushing from between their legs.”

 "In the days and weeks to follow, there were additional published accounts by survivors who witnessed Hamas terrorists sexually assaulting Jewish women. There were “trophy videos” that the terrorists themselves circulated on social media. Some Israeli coroners reported finding women victims with shattered pelvises and other evidence of sexual mutilation.

   "In other words, there was more than enough basis for the #MeToo movement to say something.

    "Yet, for some reason, it took #MeToo International until November 13 to issue any kind of statement about the mass sexual violence against Israeli women that took place five weeks earlier." . . . 

Atheism and Antisemitism at America's Universities -

  Intellectual Takeout

In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah writes, “Woe to them who are wise in their own eyes.” (Isaiah 5:21) The book of Proverbs says, “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.” (Proverbs 3:7) And in the New Testament letter of the apostle Paul to the Romans, he warns that when we exalt ourselves over the laws of God, we lapse into error: 

"Ryan Burge is a data analyst who synthesizes information about religion and politics in the United States. He publishes his findings and observations regularly on Substack. Last week, he wrote an article titled “How Weird is The Religious Composition of Harvard’s Student Body?” In it, he examines the results of a poll Harvard conducted of this year’s freshman class.

"According to the poll, nearly half — more than 46% — of Harvard’s freshman class identifies as “atheist” or “agnostic.” (An even higher number — nearly 65% — describe themselves as “progressive” or “very progressive.”) Burge explains how much of an “outlier” Harvard’s student body is compared to the general U.S. population, in which only 12% self-identify as either atheist or agnostic.

"But Burge also points out how different Harvard’s student body is from other college students. He references a survey of 55,000 college students at more than 250 universities conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. According to the FIRE survey, only 21% of this year’s freshmen consider themselves atheist or agnostic; Harvard’s number is more than twice that.

"Even more striking to Burge was how few Harvard freshmen are Protestant Christians. A 2022 Pew Research poll showed 43% of all Americans consider themselves Protestants. The FIRE survey of college students shows that fully 30% identify as Protestants." . . .