A clear message needs to be sent: You can’t hold US citizens hostage no matter what

 Douglas Murray

. . ."[Trump] should explain that when he is back in charge, he expects all these hostages to be released. All of them. And that they better be in the best possible condition. Otherwise Russia, Qatar and Iran are going to pay big time. Countries like those mentioned do not respect weakness. They respect force."

Post this and pro-Hamasites will rip it down.

. . ."It was a year ­earlier, during the Carter administration, that the Revolutionary Islamic Government seized power in Iran.

" It also seized American hostages.

"It was Reagan who saw the opportunity to make the election in part about that.

"How dare any country seize Americans and get away with it? 

"He famously insisted that on Day One of his administration the hostages would be returned.

"The mullahs realized they were no longer dealing with a weak American leader and the hostages were duly brought home. 

"Today we are in a similar situation.

"Iran and Russia in particular are in an ugly citizen-bartering phase. 

"Vladimir Putin has now held an American journalist (Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich) for more than a year.

"Russia has invented charges against him and is clearly holding him to try to trade him at some point.

"In a little-covered story, Putin’s friends in Iran recently stole two Swedish civilians in order to swap them for an Iranian war criminal held in a Swedish jail.

"US citizen Robert Woodland was also recently detained in Russia.

"Again most likely for a swap.

"But most appalling is the more than 100 hostages currently being held by Iran and Qatar’s proxy army in Gaza: Hamas.

"These hostages include at least five Americans.

"To the shame of Biden and Harris, these Americans have been utterly abandoned." . . . 

McDonald’s Experiment Selling McPlant Burgers in the US Fails Spectacularly

 Leslie Eastman (legalinsurrection.com)

"We have been covering the Globalist War on Meat for a while at Legal Insurrection. The latest battle has produced a victory for Team Beef.

The iconic hamburger chain McDonald’s thought it might try to appease the anti-meat forces by experimenting with McPlant. The result was a spectacular failure.

McDonald’s declared that its experiment with plant-based burgers was a disaster.

Joe Erlinger, who heads US operations for the Chicago-based fast food giant, told a business conference that the company discontinued the pilot program after customers in San Francisco and Dallas-Fort Worth panned the McPlant.

The McPlant “was not successful in either market,” Erlinger told the Wall Street Journal’s Global Fast Food Forum in Chicago on Wednesday.

“I don’t think the US consumer is coming to McDonald’s or looking for McPlant or other plant-based proteins from McDonald’s now.” . . .

New York Liberals on Independence Day, Have Pro-Palestine Parade and Burn U.S. Flags Instead - "To be a Democrat is to hate the United States of America.

  The Lid (lidblog.com)

This was the jury pool for the Trump/ Bragg trial.

"Democrats in New York City had a big parade on July fourth… but not for the reasons an American would on that same day. No, the Democrats in New York City had a big pro-Palestine parade so they could burn U.S. flags and advocate for the murder of Jews.

You know… as one does if you are a New Yorker.

The video of the event began going viral on social media.. . .

 It’s despicable to see protesters burn the American flag 🇺🇸 on the 4th of July in NYC, while proudly waving Palestinian flags. The American flag has stood as a symbol of freedom and justice for 248 years. To burn the 🇺🇸 is morally repugnant. pic.twitter.com/DMjwa06XqW

. . . As the New York Post reported:

At least one person was arrested, cops said, but they did not disclose the charges the alleged perpetrator was facing.

Video shows a New Yorker in a Yankees hat trying to reason with the group, but he’s quickly shouted down by a man in glasses who gleefully cheers “F–k Israel! F–k America! Woohoo!” as his fellow pampered trust-fund radicals giggle in approval.

The camera then pans down to a tattered Old Glory, smoldering next to a poster depicting Trump and Biden wearing crowns beneath “DEATH TO ALL KINGS” in big block letters.

"To be a Democrat is to hate the United States of America."

Drexel University Professor Charged With Stealing Pro-Israel Lawn Signs From Synagogue and Private Home (legalinsurrection.com)

After Trump Makes 1 Bold Claim About Black Workers, He Gets a Surprise Reply from Those Voters

 Mick Farthing (thepatriotjournal.com)

Not only are illegal aliens taking jobs from many black workers. But the millions of illegal aliens are taking housing away from Americans. That includes black workers who live in big cities. 

"Donald Trump has done what few Republican candidates ever dared. He is going into the inner cities, blue strongholds, to appeal to traditional Democrat voters. He is specifically trying to reach minority Americans who have been hurt by Biden’s policies.

"During a recent speech, he blasted Biden’s open border. He explained that the millions of illegals Biden has imported have hurt “black jobs.”

"The facts are behind Trump. Despite this, the media flipped out and tried (once again) to call Trump a racist. But even with the media’s endless hysteria and bellyaching, black Americans are responding in an unexpected way.

From Breitbart:

“There’s too many people coming across the border, getting all the jobs and I don’t like that,” Carling Colbert, a black retired warehouse worker from Macon, Ga., told the Washington Post for a June 30 article. “Trump was better on that. He tried to build the wall.”

The Associated Press acknowledged the polls show that many black Americans recognize that they lose from Biden’s migration…

Migration also drives up housing costs, especially among blacks living in urban districts.

Amid the media complaints, Trump’s criticism of migration pocketbook impact is now part of his standard stump speech.

. . . 

From their cold, dead hands…

 Diann Russell (substack.com)

They’ll drag Joe’s rotting carcass over the finish line even if it kills them

. . ."New York Times White House correspondent Katie Rogers reported later that the Biden family did not have a pow-wow about the future of Biden’s reelection campaign as NBC’s unnamed sources claimed. Instead, the family spent the morning in hair and makeup to prepare for the photo shoot.

"I read the updates on Twitter with a growing sense of amusement.

"If you want to know why the Biden family wants its senile patriarch to continue publicly humiliating himself on the world stage, the clue is in the phrase “photo shoot with Annie Liebowitz.”

"Do you think Jill Biden wants to give up the wealth, fame, and perks that being married to a Democrat president guarantees?

"How else could an unremarkable elementary school teacher like Jill ever have the chance to rub elbows with Hollywood stars or pose for celebrity photographers like Annie Leibowitz?

"According to the New York Times, Joe’s convicted felon son Hunter was especially influential in convincing old Joe to continue dragging his half-dead carcass to November:" . . .

RealityBites by Broc Smith

"One of the strongest voices imploring Mr. Biden to resist pressure to drop out was his son Hunter Biden, whom the president has long leaned on for advice, said one of the people informed about the discussions, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity to share internal deliberations. Hunter Biden wants Americans to see the version of his father that he knows — scrappy and in command of the facts — rather than the stumbling, aging president Americans saw on Thursday night.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!

"No. That’s not why Hunter wants Daddy to stick this out. Nobody believes that.

"Without Joe in the White House, Hunter’s source of income dries up faster than spit on a summer sidewalk. Eastern European oligarchs will ignore his calls while Chinese officials send his emails to the spam folder.

"In short, Hunter and the rest of the Delaware hillbillies might have to get jobs." . . .

Much more daily at the Tunnel Wall. TD is three years older than Biden but still concerned for our nation.

Biden claims he ‘shut Putin down’

 Read the Full Transcript of President Biden’s ABC News Interview - The New York Times   "The conversation between the president and George Stephanopoulos lasted about 20 minutes and aired Friday night."

AfterMath

Biden claims he ‘shut Putin down’ - Washington Examiner  "During a curious exchange on his foreign policy, Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he was responsible for the expansion of NATO as well as the man who “shut Putin down.”  Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine on Biden’s watch."

No word of correction from Stephanopolous on this. TD

“I’m the guy that put NATO together, the future,” Biden claimed. “No one thought I could expand it. I’m the guy that shut Putin down.  "No one thought could happen. I’m the guy that put together a South Pacific initiative with AUKUS. I’m the guy that got 50 nations out– not only in Europe, outside of Europe as well to help Ukraine.” 

"It’s not clear what he was referring to when he made the remarks about Putin as Russia ignored Biden and invaded Ukraine despite his threats. Putin remains in control of Russia and he has shown no signs of ending his war."   Putin responds to Biden: Russia can't be 'put down' and U.S. should learn respect

Putin says Biden is better for Russia than a Trump presidency

Biden Interview: “I just had a bad night” – Refuses Neurological and Cognitive Evaluation (legalinsurrection.com)

There's no spinning the debate result: Trump hit the jackpot

  POLITICO

This article is the point of view of anti-Trump people, desperately hoping for a victory by the American left and with no concern for the elimination of our southern border. This is part of Obama and Reverend Wright's long-sought  "fundamental transformation" of America. TD

                                      

"Joe Biden face-planted in one of the highest stakes moments of his political life — igniting widespread concerns among Democrats about his fitness as a candidate.

"Debating former President Donald Trump with a raspy voice, wandering eyes, pallid complexion and a halting delivery, Biden’s performance was at times unintelligible. And though Trump blustered through his own answers with falsehoods, there was one defining issue: Biden’s age.

"Democrats are reeling. The first debate is in the books. The second — and last — won’t come until Sept. 10, and that’s assuming it even happens. We asked five POLITICO campaign reporters and editors for their takeaways from the first general election debate of the 2024 campaign." . . .

Foreign diplomats react with horror to Biden’s dismal debate performance | CNN Politics   . . ." 'It is a sad reality that Biden is old, and he is getting older. We saw it. I had difficulties understanding what he was saying, and I understand English pretty well,” said a second European diplomat.

"Trump ate him alive,” said an Arab diplomat.

" 'I was shell-shocked. I could not believe my eyes,” an Asian diplomat said of Biden’s performance.

"Biden’s debate flop was front-page news across Europe, with left- and right-leaning newspapers excoriating the president — even in France, where the country has its own elections coming up this weekend.

"The president’s debate performance also compounded already pronounced concerns about the policies Trump would likely enact if he wins in November. Trump on Thursday once again displayed his isolationist tendencies and his NATO-skeptic worldview that often alarmed US allies during his first presidential term. At the debate, Trump questioned continuing to fund Ukraine’s war against Russia and falsely claimed that the US had given more in aid to Ukraine than all other European countries put together.

"Trump even suggested that he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about his “dream” of invading Ukraine. He also attacked Biden over the Afghanistan withdrawal and argued it was the reason Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022." . . .

Tucker Carlson shares bombshell scoop on Joe, Jill and Obama from an 'unusually trusted source'...

  Revolver News 

Members of the Biden family privately LAMBASTED the President’s top advisors while at Camp David today, putting the blame on them for Biden’s poor performance at the debate. Biden’s family is now demanding Joe fire or demote his top campaign staffers

&nbsphttps://x.com/i/status/1807555340931944515;

 "It’s astonishing—this family clamors for heads to roll when the “Big Guy” embarrasses himself on the debate stage, yet remains dead silent about the tragic loss of 13 Americans in Afghanistan or the full-blown invasion at the US border. They are a selfish and disgusting family.

"But the Bidens aren’t the only ones making moves on the political chessboard. According to Tucker Carlson, Obama is back at the drawing board with a clear plan: to oust Joe and Jill Biden. Tucker dropped a bombshell, citing an “unusually trusted source,” revealing Obama’s determined push to take down Mr. and Mrs. Biden.

Tucker Carlson:

From an unusually good source: Obama’s tweet supporting Joe Biden was disingenuous. In private, Obama is telling people Biden can’t win, and he is therefore in favor of an open convention. Obama will not say whom he supports, nor as of yesterday afternoon had he met personally with Biden to deliver the message. Relations between the Obamas and the Bidens have never been warm. At times they’ve been hostile. But recently they’ve deteriorated further, mostly due to Jill Biden. In the hours and days after the debate, she kept her husband cloistered away from anyone who might convince him to drop out. Jill Biden is the driving force behind her husband’s reelection campaign, just as she was in 2020, when other members of the family (including Biden’s sister Val) considered him too impaired to run. The next generation of potential Democratic candidates understands all this as an opportunity and they’re circling, particularly Gretchen Whitmer, who is promoting herself aggressively. . . 

Biden Behind the Scenes - 'Lost All Independence'

 Frightening Report Paints an Even Worse Pic of Biden Behind the Scenes - 'Lost All Independence' – RedState  

"The President is sharp as a tack; he really is!"

"At what point is enough enough for Democrats? 

"They've clearly shown they have no conscience, and they'll do anything to win, even putting up and keeping a man in office who has the problems that Joe Biden has. They shouldn't even be talking about him stepping aside — that should be a given. They should be talking about the 25th Amendment. 

"But they don't want to do that and they only are considering him stepping aside because they're afraid they're going to lose and then they'll be out of control. It has nothing to do with doing what's right here. They're just trying to run the percentages at this point — is it better to force him out, or are they in more trouble if they do it? 

"But now there's a new report from Axios that indicates that things are even worse than has been reported so far. 

"According to the report, staffers are miserable, and they feel like it's "Weekend at Bernie's" when it comes to Biden. 

The big picture: "Everyone is miserable, and senior advisers are a total black hole," a White House official told Axios. "Even if you're trying to focus on work, nothing is going to break through or get any acknowledgment" from bosses.

• A high-ranking Democratic National Committee official told Axios: "The only thing that can really allay concerns is for the president to demonstrate that he's capable of running this campaign."
• "Everything else feels like 'Weekend at Bernie's' by his inner circle to prop him up."

"Biden staffers are leaking that there are three aides who've created something of a bubble around Biden. The aides mentioned are Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini, the first lady's top adviser Anthony Bernal, and longtime aide Ashley Williams, who is part of Tomasini's staff." . . . 

Biden's Bizarre Claim: The First Black Woman President? (tampafp.com)  "In a recent gaffe that has sparked widespread bewilderment and amusement, President Joe Biden made the startling claim that he is “the first black woman to serve with a black president.”

"This peculiar statement has once again raised questions about Biden’s propensity for verbal missteps and his ability to accurately convey facts.

"As the leader of the free world, Biden’s words carry significant weight, and his latest blunder has left many scratching their heads and wondering about the state of the Oval Office.

“ 'By the way, I’m proud to be, as I said, the first vice president, first Black woman, to serve with a Black president,” Biden said during an interview with Philadelphia’s Wurd radio station when referring to his vice president, Kamala Harris, and former President Barack Obama.

"This gaffe comes amidst growing calls for Biden to drop out of the race for another term in the White House; however, in a highly anticipated ABC interview Friday, Biden firmly rejected calls for an independent medical evaluation that would demonstrate his fitness to serve another term in office." . . .

Biden sounds exhausted, out of breath as first clips from George Stephanopoulos interview dribble out... - Revolver News   . . ."Biden stuck to the talking point of having a “bad night,” but if you’re explaining, you’re losing, as the old saying goes. Biden tried to blame his “bad night” on Trump lying 28 times,” but Stephanopoulos nailed him on this fake talking point, pointing out that Biden himself sounded awful and confused before President Trump even said a single word." . . .

California’s Latest Effort To Ban Plastic Bags Also Doomed To Fail

  Issues & Insights (issuesinsights.com)

"The author of Assembly Bill 2236 probably said a little too much, admitting that her legislation was a battle in the California war on oil."

Ten years after Sacramento outlawed single-use plastic bags (with the help of a majority of voters two years later in a referendum), legislators have approved a ban on the multi-use bags that took their place, with each chamber passing a bill that, in identical language, prohibits “a reusable grocery bag sold by a store to a customer at the point of sale” from being “made from plastic film material.”

Stores would be allowed to provide customers who forget to bring their reusable bags – and those who refuse on principle to use them – with paper sacks. But they will have to be, beginning on Jan. 1, 2028, made “from a minimum of 50% postconsumer recycled materials.” The paper bags will have to cost at least 10 cents each.

Neither bill is law yet. But the ban will be in effect after the formalities of the legislative process are completed.

Sen. Catherine Blakespear, the Encinitas Democrat who authored Senate Bill 1053, said the state’s “original ban on plastic bags hasn’t worked out as planned, and sadly, the state’s plastic bag waste has increased dramatically since it went into effect.”

Maybe the volume “increased dramatically” because the thin single-use bags were replaced by heavier multi-use bags, which are at least four times thicker.

“The amount of plastic bag waste discarded per person (by weight) actually increased in the years following the law’s implementation to the highest level on record – proving the ban ineffective at reducing the total amount of plastic waste,” says a report compiled by multiple organizations, one of them the Naderite U.S. Public Interest Group.

Nevertheless, Blakespear said “we need to do better,” because “shockingly, some 18 billion pounds of plastic waste flows into the oceans every year from coastal regions alone. California must do its part to eliminate this scourge that is contaminating our environment.”

The media loses the game

 M.B. Mathews - American Thinker 

We are faced with the truth that the media, as it stands right now, is heavily biased to the Left. This isn't news, but it is a most painful, debilitating migraine before this election. Huge pockets of Americans watch only leftist news TV and they are getting shortchanged.  

"POTATUS (hat tip to BEEGE WELBORN of Hot Air) is suddenly persona non grata after his strabismus-inducing debate performance. Well, maybe not so suddenly. Everyone with a scintilla of firing neurons knew that Joe Biden was not all there. Excuses to the contrary fall on bored and jaded ears. The media made their Biden-bed and now that they are forced to lie in it, they pretend that we put the bedbugs in it. No, their own dirt attracted those bedbugs, so they have no excuse for blaming anyone else. They chose to be deaf and blind to Joe's obvious incapacities because they needed a progressive Democrat in the White House to be the rictus mask of Obama's team of hammer and sickle America-haters.

"What the media have done to America is beyond reprehensible. It sinks to evil. They deliberately hid POTATUS' frailties and his dementia. They deliberately ignored his inability to do the job. They deliberately gaslighted us by continuously lying about the border being closed and the economy doing well and EVs being environmental saviors, as though the environment needed actual saving. They deliberately lied about Trump's nonexistent crimes and the imaginary danger he posed to the American democratic process.

"Instead of blaming all the above on POTATUS Biden where it belonged, the media transferred blame to the one not-guilty party in this steaming, fetid oozefest, Donald Trump. The media never bothered to ask the right questions and they certainly never delivered the right answers or the truth about either Biden or Trump. Their irrational hatred for Trump and for conservatives in general prevented almost an entire industry from serving the American people by reporting the news, digging for news, and telling the whole truth instead of half-truths, when they bothered telling any truth at all." . . .

Were you there when he froze? - Silvio Canto, Jr.   "First, it was Russia Russia.  Then, it was the laptop and the 51.  Now it’s the debate.  Notice a pattern here?

"A few days ago, Carl Bernstein said that all of Joe Biden’s men, women and whatever other gender he’s got in his crew knew a lot more about President’s Biden’s condition than they let on.  In other words, Thursday night was not a debut performance.

"This is from Miranda Devine:

Carl Bernstein just let the cat out of the bag about the media conspiracy to hide Joe Biden’s long-running cognitive collapse from voters. . . . 

Islamists and leftists celebrate Independence Day in NYC by burning the American flag

 Andrea Widburg - American Thinker  "Even as young people across America are being prosecuted for daring to desecrate the “Pride” crosswalks proliferating in leftist cities, the Hamas/leftist crowd continues to revel in its constitutional right to free speech, which includes burning the American flag on Independence Day. During a New York protest, there were plenty of “Palestinian” flags, which stand for genocide and subjugation, but the only American flags were used as fire starters.

"The protest in New York’s Washington Square Park wasn’t large, but it was fervent. It also perfectly exemplified the coming together of Islamism and leftism in a toxic brew that, if allowed to grow unchecked, will destroy everything in its path:

A braying mob of around 100 anti-Israel protesters spent Independence Day burning American flags and chanting “Burn it down!” in Washington Square Park, part of a coordinated “Flood Manhattan for July 4th” demonstration.

At least one person was arrested, cops said, but they did not disclose the charges the alleged perpetrator was facing.

[snip]

Keffiyeh-wearing photographers brought their lenses in close to capture the flag desecration as chants of “Free free free Palestine” and “Burn it down” echoed throughout the park.

"The above report, while accurate, is too dry. It doesn’t capture the passion driving these anti-American, antisemitic protestors:" . . .

BREAKING: Police in St Petersburg, FL have arrested 18-year-old Christian Maier on charges of felony criminal mischief for doing donuts on the pride mural painted in middle of the road pic.twitter.com/KMBScxxv7v

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 1, 2024