The facts about the Israeli airstrike in Rafah and the fire that followed are starting to become clear, and they totally change the story:

 ALL Category Sports

The facts about the Israeli airstrike in Rafah and the fire that followed are starting to become clear, and they totally change the story:

◾️ The Israeli airstrike that targeted senior Hamas commanders in Rafah was more than a mile away from the safe zone for Palestinian civilians and more than 550 feet away from shelters Hamas had falsely claimed were targeted in the incident

◾️ The munitions used were the smallest possible: two warheads of 37 lbs each, far smaller than what other Western militaries use in comparable situations

◾️ The munitions could not themselves have ignited a fire of the size that resulted in the deaths of Palestinian civilians, indicating that Hamas weapons stored in or near the targeted structure—of which the IDF was unaware—may have exploded and caused the fire

◾️ Footage of the scene taken by Palestinians and uploaded to social media platforms appears to show secondary explosions, further indicating the presence of weapons in the area

◾️ A phone call within Gaza intercepted by Israeli intelligence contained the admission that the structure targeted by the airstrike served as an ammunition warehouse, that secondary explosions took place, and that the Israeli airstrike wasn't powerful enough to have ignited the fire

◾️ Hamas has been operating from the area since October 7; a rocket launcher used to fire rockets into Israel was located 150 feet from the targeted structure, suggesting that additional weapons were likely stored nearby and may have caused the fire

While none of this makes the heartbreaking results of the fire any less dreadful, it does call into question a lot of the reporting surrounding this tragic incident, which appears to have been based on false information put out by Hamas, rather than the facts on the ground.

You'd think news organizations would learn.
You'd be wrong.

Justice Merchan gets even sleazier

 Trump, of course, was never told which of the underlying crimes he supposedly committed in the courtroom, so he was not able to defend himself from them, which according to some legal observers violates the equal protection clause.

Michael Hardstark.

Justice Merchan gets even sleazier - Monica Showalter  "New York State Justice Juan Merchan, who is presiding over New York prosecutor Alvin Bragg's trial of President Trump over a bookkeeping issue is getting sleazier now that Bragg's case is starting to fall apart, giving the Red Queen of the Alice In Wonderland story a run for her money.

"At issue now are his instructions to the 12-person jury as it goes into deliberations, telling them that they don't need to agree about what the supposed 'underlying' crime of Donald Trump was that would make his hush money payment to porn "star" Stormy Daniels a felony, which is the legal basis for turning the bookkeeping issue into a 34-count felony. They just need to think that Trump was thinking about commiting a crime when he signed off on the check and what that crime was can be anyone's guess.

"But no matter: Sentence first, verdict later.

"And he started this out with a doozy of bad behavior, going all Eddie Haskell on the jury to begin, as if in a bid to butter them up to do things in his biased way. Normally, juries are praised after they render their verdicts by judges.

"But Merchan is special." . . .

Evidence Shows the 'Random' Judge in the Trump Trial Has Major Conflicts of Interest (townhall.com)    . . ."One cannot help but suspect that the “random selection” at work in the assignment of Acting Justice Merchan, a Democrat Party donor, to these cases involving prominent Republicans, is in fact not random at all," she continued. "The simple answer to why Acting Justice Merchan has been assigned to these cases would seem to be that whoever made the assignment intentionally selected Acting Justice Merchan to handle them to increase the chance that Donald Trump, the Trump Organization, and Steven Bannon would ultimately be convicted."

"I request that both the Commission and the Inspector General investigate this anomaly to determine whether the required random selection process was in fact followed in the assignment of these criminal cases to Acting Justice Merchan. If Acting Justice Merchan or any other Justices of the Court are found to have violated these rules, I would hope that the Commission would subject them to the required discipline. And if any non-judicial employees of the Court are involved in such a scheme, I would hope that the Inspector General subject them to the appropriate sanction," Stefanik said. 

"Throughout the trial Merchan slapped Trump with a number of gag orders while allowing those testifying against him, including convicted felon Michael Cohen, to openly speak about the case. " . . .

REPORT: Secret Service Has Met With Local Jail Officials to Discuss Preparations for President Trump to Go Behind Bars

 The Gateway Pundit | by Cullen Linebarger

As a former president, Trump is entitled to Secret Service protection for the rest of his life, wherever he happens to be. Behind bars, corrections officers would in turn be responsible for protecting those agents assigned to Trump.

A possibly disturbing development has unfolded, leading many to believe the fix is already in for a Trump conviction or imprisonment.

"As Gateway Pundit readers know, corrupt judge Juan Merchan has kept President Trump sidelined for a large chunk of the 2024 Presidential campaign while violating his First Amendment rights.

"Trump has been charged with 34 felony “falsification of business records.” He was penalized for every payment he allegedly made to his former lawyer and pathological liar, Michael Cohen, regarding Cohen paying off Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.

"The prosecution has not proven Trump committed any of these crimes or even had an affair; he will likely be found guilty anyway, given the rigged jury.

"Now, we learn that Secret Service officials have met with jailhouse officials to prepare for President Trump to go to prison.

"What is possibly even more alarming is that corrections officers will be responsible for protecting agents assigned to Trump. Recall what "This means that Trump being thrown behind bars will put his life at stake, a fever dream for Democrats and Never-Trumpers." . . .

Jim Hoft reported earlier this month that Merchan threatened Trump with prison time after $1,000 fines failed to have any impact.  “I want you to understand that I will (throw you in prison), if necessary and appropriate,” Merchan told Trump.

"A Trump conviction and imprisonment would be incredibly profitable for Merchan’s daughter Loren, who has already raised $93 million off of the case. She previously worked for the Biden-Harris campaign in 2020."

Part-Time Professor Who Called for Jewish Exile Not Invited Back to University

 The Floridian (floridianpress.com

TALLAHASSEE, FL—A part-time college professor will not be allowed back at his university after he called for Jews to "return to exile" in parts of Europe.

Danny Krikorian, a U.S. Government professor at Valencia College in Orlando, proposed the existence of an "Arab Federation" encompassing municipal Arab states, represented by "The flag of the Arab people. The flag of Palestine," he wrote on X. He explained that Jews who live in Muslim areas—Mizrahi Jews—would be granted a "small autonomous municipality" called Judea.

As for other Jewish people? He called for a "sovereign federation" in which non-Mizrahi Jews would "return to exile in Europe. Germany, Russia, Poland, Ukraine & the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, and Georgia."

Rep, Randy Fine stated that Krikorian was "going to have a bad week" after his posts,  and he did, . . ."

The Biden administration staged a shambolic press conference outside the Trump trial, complete with Robert DeNiro

  Andrea Widburg - American Thinker   "There are two times people make really bad mistakes: When they’re over-confident and when they’re desperate. The Biden administration is not over-confident. Desperation is why it dragged out an over-the-hill, minimally coherent, not-very-bright actor to be its spokesman regarding the show trial that Alvin Bragg and Judge Juan Merchan have staged in Manhattan to try to sideline Trump’s increasingly successful candidacy.

"The big headline was that Robert De Niro spoke outside the courthouse where the Trump trial was being held. I’ll have more on that in a minute, but the real news should be that it was the Biden administration that organized De Niro’s appearance, along with the appearance of Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone, who worked for the Capitol police on January 6, which their testimony basically described the battling grannies as being akin to what the Marines faced at the Battle of Fallujah.

"If you read articles from Reuters or AFP, all you learn is that DeNiro, Dunn, and Fanone showed up at the courthouse. In fact, it was the Biden administration that organized the event:

. . ."Instead, in the face of Trump’s seemingly unstoppable momentum, the Biden administration embroiled itself directly in this sham criminal trial, and it used a moron as its frontman. In other words, it got dirty and stupid, which pretty much sums up Biden, his presidency, and his campaign. All in all, a good day for Trump, and that’s true no matter what verdict the progressive Democrat jury returns."

Even Anti-Trumper Karl Rove is Dunking on the Biden Campaign Over Robert De Niro Stunt: 'A Stupid Mistake' (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit

. . ."But this was so over-the-top as to simply be useless. And what a stupid mistake on the part of the Biden campaign. More reason why Democratic leaders are probably going to be concerned that he’s the likely nominee of their party." . . .

These people aren’t mad that she spoke at an antisemitic conference with links to a terrorist organization. They’re mad because she dissed Biden.

 Democrats are Not Happy With Tlaib Attacking Biden at Anti-Israel Conference (legalinsurrection.com)  "Anti-Israel Rep. Rashida Tlaib faces heat from fellow Democrats after she urged Democrats to vote against President Joe Biden because he supports Israel.

"Yes, that’s why these people are mad at her. They’re not ticked that she spoke at an antisemitic event with links to a terrorist group.

"They’re ticked because she dissed Biden.

"Tlaib made the remarks at the People’s Conference for Palestine (PCP), which has links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated foreign terrorist organization.

"It’s not the first time Tlaib has made the remarks. She’s not going to stop." . . .

"Hey Jeffries and the democrat leadership, just so you know Tlaib was never “one of you”. She is just a rabid anti-semite moslem that will do whatever necessary to advance the islamic ideology in the United States.. And if that means encouraging those democrat voters to vote for someone other than the approved democrat candidate she will do it. Being a “democrat” is just a means to an end for her. Nothing more. And she’ll throw you under the bus if necessary."

Obama-Biden Have Been Punishing Israel Since 2013

  Edward Davis - American Thinker  

Obama recently began taking an active role in Biden’s campaign, and for anyone who watches their joint campaign ads, it seems clear which of them is in charge.  Given another term, Biden's policy towards Israel reportedly could get even worse.

"Joe Biden’s vicious betrayal of Israel has surprised and alienated some of his supporters, who thought he was a moderate Democrat.

"In the most recent outrage, his administration sent condolences over the death of Iran’s President Raisi and joined the U.N. in a reverent minute of silence.  In stark contrast, Biden disparaged Prime Minister Netanyahu as “a bad f------ guy and “a-hole” at a time when Israelis were traumatized and fighting for their lives.

"It was predictable, considering that Biden brought back much of the foreign policy team of President Obama, whose backstabbing of the Jewish state foreshadowed Biden's hostile policies.

"Early in 2013, when the U.S. was still in shock over the December 14, 2012 Newtown massacre, the newly re-elected Obama decided that one of his priorities would be to pressure Israel to release scores of convicted killers, among whose victims were children.

"Although political leaders, including presidents, are expected to flip-flop occasionally, this might have been the first administration in history to flip-flop on the issue of the murder of innocents. 

"That same year marked two anniversaries of child slaughter that the Obama administration reacted to in chillingly conflicting ways, apparently based on the victims’ nationality and religion.

"To observe the 50th anniversary of the 1963 firebombing murders of four African-American girls in Birmingham, President Obama solemnly paid tribute to the victims.

"One month later, Israel marked a similar tragic milestone — the 25th anniversary of the firebombing murders of the nine-months-pregnant Rachel Weiss, a 26-year-old second-grade teacher, and her sons — Netanel, 4; Rafael, 2; and Ephraim, 21 months.  Israeli soldier David Delorosa also died in a heroic attempt to save them.  Israel considered imposing the death penalty for the first time since Adolf Eichmann was put to death in 1962.

"Unfortunately, the Weiss brothers did not look like Obama’s own imagined sons, and unfortunately, they, their mother, and the soldier who died trying to save them were citizens of the nation Obama’s mentor Jeremiah Wright referred to as “that dirty word.”  And so, using secretary of state John Kerry as his point man, Obama began pushing for the release of their killers, along with scores of other terrorists convicted of murder or attempted murder." . . .

The Plan to Convict Trump

  John Cleer - American Thinker  

"The underlying charge, then, on which the validity of the case relies, is literally anything, and Bragg's charges only exist in the mind of the juror." 

"At last, we can see Alvin Bragg's underlying criminal theory: he doesn't have one. Bragg and Judge Merchan are running the real trial in the court of public opinion, not to deliver justice but to hurt Trump's presidential campaign by branding him a convicted felon during the election. They seek to do this by lying to the jury -- for example, by pretending to have a criminal theory.

"The prosecution rested their case without specifying the second crime, nor giving a shred of evidence for the first: even if we took Michael Cohen's testimony at face value, ignoring that he's a serial perjurer who confessed to six different felonies on Monday morning alone, his claim that Trump himself ordered the monthly payments that were calculated from Cohen's loan reimbursement demand and deemed them “legal fees” would not constitute a crime.

"That case is dead in the water on appeal, but Merchan's parallel trial, which has little to do with established law and instead runs on innuendo and vagaries, aims for a temporary conviction. In it, Cohen and David Pecker explain election law to a rigged jury while Merchan allows the prosecution to dazzle them with inadmissible evidence and irrelevant, noncriminal details couched in nefarious-sounding terms like “hush money” and “catch and kill,” all the while keeping crucial information like Cohen's SDNY charges and Brad Smith's expert testimony on actual election law from reaching the jury.

"Merchan reneged on his promise to release the jury instructions by Thursday night, apparently to prevent lawyers from picking apart his instructions so jury members don't find out how preposterous they are, because they're going to read the news and talk to friends, family, and co-workers in the week Merchan gave them off.

"That's why he gave them the week off." . . .

JUST IN: GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik Files Misconduct Complaint with New York State Unified Court System Related to "Random" Assignment of Judge Merchan | The Gateway Pundit    "GOP Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (NY) on Tuesday filed a misconduct complaint with the New York State Unified Court System related to the “random” assignment of far-left radical and conflicted Judge Juan Merchan to Trump’s NYC ‘hush money’ trial.

" 'I just filed an official misconduct complaint with the New York State Unified Court System related to the “random” assignment of Acting Manhattan Justice Juan Merchan, a Biden donor whose daughter is fundraising millions off his unprecedented work, to criminal cases against President Donald J. Trump, his companies, and his allies.” Elise Stefanik said.

"Stefanik is not the only one raising questions about the “random” assignment of crooked Judge Juan Merchan as the judge to oversee the Trump Bragg case." . . .

Libertarians Endorse Trump After Party Nominates 'Gay Race Communist' Chase Oliver For President

 (resistthemainstream.com)

Libertarian nominee Chase Oliver:

99% of drag queen story hours are fine for kids. If he had children, he says he'd bring them to one and leave them there.

"It's just like the Wiggles" pic.twitter.com/grNYFtAVHQ

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 27, 2024

"The Libertarian Party (LP) was dragged on social media over Memorial Day weekend after it endorsed “gay race communist” Chase Oliver for the 2024 election.

"Oliver was seen as such an embarrassing pick by many that a top Libertarian has already jumped ship to endorse Trump instead.

"Yesterday, I held up this sign calling Donald Trump supporters socialists. Tonight, the Libertarian Party nominated a gay race communist for president. With those choices, I’m standing with Donald Trump,” Jeremy Kauffman wrote.

"Tim Pool replied to his post, adding, “Trump won the LP after all.”

"Oliver was quickly blasted online over his past and current stances on key issues." . . .

A President Who Exalts Evil

 A President Who Exalts Evil (townhall.com)

"Joe Biden:  “George Floyd should be alive.  He deserved so much more.  Today, I join all those who loved him and all those touched by the civil rights movement he inspired in remembering the tragedy and injustice of his death.  He changed the world.  Now, let’s act in his memory.”

"There have always been evil people in the world, and there always will be.  Sometimes, and with horrible consequences, they get into positions of supreme power—Hitler, Stalin, Mao—and huge tragedies result.  We are facing this in America now.

"Joe Biden has never been a good man, but it does seem that, as an extremely weak man, he has let the utterly Evil left wing of the Democratic Party lead him farther and farther into a cesspool of decadence.  His words above about George Floyd are just depraved, and it saddens the hearts of decent, patriotic, God-fearing Americans that such a man as Biden is President of their country.  He praises a drug addict, a criminal.  What is this telling the youth of America?  That they should use drugs and become criminals so that they can die, too, like George Floyd did?  But this is Joe Biden and the current Democratic Party.

"They’re sick.  They’re evil.

"Let me briefly analyze what Biden said.

1.  “George Floyd should be alive.”  Yes, he should.  And if he had lived a godly, virtuous life as a productive citizen, rather than following the godless philosophy of Biden and the Democrats and becoming a drug-addicted criminal, he probably WOULD be alive today.  But he’s dead because he listened to Biden and the Left lie to him.  

George Floyd being dead yet speaketh.  But what he is speaking tells us how NOT to live.  That’s the lesson of George Floyd.

2.  “He deserved so much more.”  No, he didn’t.  He deserved exactly what he got, because “whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.”  George Floyd made his choices.  Nobody forced him to use drugs.  Nobody forced him to become a criminal.  He made those choices all by himself, and the consequences he suffered were warranted and resulted from the choices he, and he alone, made.  Don’t blame the police when the criminal commits a crime.  And George Floyd was a criminal.  100% his choice.  And not praise-worthy.  Except for Democrats.

Full article ....

Relations between EU and Israel plummet as Spain, Ireland prepare to recognize a Palestinian state

  AP News

“From now on, I will never again say ‘Israel,’ (but) will say ‘Netanyahu government’ because it is this government who is taking these decisions,” Borrell said.

Hamas visits Israel

"Relations between the European Union and Israel took a nosedive Monday, the eve of the diplomatic recognition of a Palestinian state by EU members Ireland and Spain, with Madrid insisting that sanctions should be considered against Israel for its continued deadly attacks in southern Gaza’s city of Rafah.

"Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Spain that its consulate in Jerusalem will not be allowed to help Palestinians.

"At the same time, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell threw his weight to support the International Criminal Court, whose prosecutor is seeking an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others, including leaders of the Hamas militant group.

“ 'The prosecutor of the court has been strongly intimidated and accused of antisemitism — as always when anybody, anyone does something that Netanyahu’s government does not like,” Borrell said. “The word antisemitic, it’s too heavy. It’s too important.”

"Spain, Ireland and Norway plan to make official their recognition of a Palestinian state on Tuesday. While dozens of countries have recognized a Palestinian state, none of the major Western powers has done so, and it is unclear how much of a difference the move by Ireland, Spain and non-EU member Norway might make on the ground. The recognition, however, is a significant accomplishment for the Palestinians, who believe it confers international legitimacy on their struggle." . . .

Hillary Clinton Can't Just Accept the Fact She Lost In 2016 Because Trump Is Better

 Sarah Arnold (townhall.com)

"Twice failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton refuses to accept the fact that she lost the 2016 election to former President Donald Trump because Americans like him better. "

"During an interview with The New Times, Clinton blamed sexism for losing out to Trump.

"Instead of taking accountability, Clinton claimed that women voters abandoned her for not being “perfect,” arguing that they took a “risk” on Trump because he is a man. 

"Just days before the election, then-FBI Director James Comey re-opened an investigation into Clinton. 

“ "Once he did that to me, the people, the voters who left me, were women,” she claimed. “They were willing to take a risk on Trump - who had a long list of, let's call them flaws, to illustrate his imperfection - because he was a man, and they could envision a man as president and commander in chief.” 

"She accused authoritarians— political and religious-based— of always attacking women and their rights, saying it is written in history and will always happen in the U.S. 

"Clinton wasn’t the only one to pull out the sexism card when making excuses for why the Democrat candidate lost. 

"Tracy Sefl, a Democratic consultant and Clinton surrogate said there is a “double standard” on the campaign trail. 

"The Democrat also expressed her frustration with female voters not understanding that Roe v. Wade was under a considerable amount of threat at the time. She claimed that her advisors would repeatedly tell her to stop saying that abortion should be “safe, legal and rare.” . . .