UPDATED Thursday, July 16th, 2026: Open Season on Jewish Billionaires; And Viewing the IDF as "War Criminals."

 Phyllis Chesler Organization  

"In my opinion, the ghastly sight of Jewish blood on 10/7 simply opened the floodgates to all those who lust for more of same. That's why I urged people not to show Hamas's footage." 

He is only survivor: two babies killed by Hamas' bare hands

"Oh, this is too tricky to write about. Here I am, opposed to Jews criticizing other Jews, at least at this time, and yet, there is something very pathological about the lengths to which some Jews will go to defame and destroy other Jews.

"Criticizing Jewish Israel for one policy or another is fine; accusing Israel of committing genocide is crazy. Accusing Jews, who are allegedly "settlers" in their own homeland, for committing violence against armed-to-the-teeth Jihadists is also crazy.

"But here's what's on my mind right now. I was visiting a friend in East Hampton over Shabbos/the July 4th weekend and honestly believed that the most dramatic event was the thunder, lightning, and drenching rain that caused power outages, destroyed trees, stranded drivers, flooded roads, and gravely disappointed some of the most ardent firework fans, who had traveled all the way out to Montauk to see the sky light up.

"Silly me.

"As we sat there in the dark, our flashlights safely at our sides, I did not know that pro-Palestine activists had invaded and demonstrated against two restaurants, one in Sag Harbor, the other in Montauk.

"Why pick these two restaurants? I am not naming them, but they are both owned by a Jewish billionaire. Not just a billionaire but also a courageous philanthropist who funds those who are fighting against antisemitic anti-Zionism. Three for the price of one—an admirably self-made man, a true American success story, a supporter of both Judaism and Israel.

"I am not naming him either. Perhaps these protestors/demonstrators/invaders are not Jewish, not at all.

"I did not know this, but similar demonstrations had been held in Sag Harbor two weeks ago, in June of 2026, and in Southampton at Cooper's Beach. The situation in Gaza was linked to broader anti-war (which war?), labor, and anti-billionaire movements. ("No Kings, No Billionaires.")

"Between 2024 and 2026, these local and perhaps national groups gathered every week at Steinbeck Park.

"I am relieved. Not all of them claimed Jewish ancestry.

"However, last year in June, protestors demonstrated on Meadow Lane in Easthampton against the super-rich. They were powered by anti-Trump, No-Kings, pro-immigrant, anti-ICE, and pro-Palestine beliefs. One speaker claimed that the land belonged to her and to her people—the Shinnecock—not to the billionaires who currently own and have stolen it. Wealthy Jews, as well as non-Jews, happen to live on Meadow Lane." . . . More...

UPDATE: Facts About The Holocaust   Why many ridicule the French of 1940 for being handmaidens of the Nazis is touched on here. But now we fear many of us in the West are just as spineless, including myself, yet I gag at the thought of my being another Greta Thunberg. TD

 "Today is the anniversary of the 1942 Vél d'Hiv roundup in Paris during the Holocaust. Thousands of Jews were rounded up by French police in order to be deported to camps and certain death.

"More than eight decades later, we remember the victims. They were victims of antisemitic hatred; victims who were not protected by the state, but instead persecuted by it."

The Shocking Cost of New York’s ‘Tax the Rich’ Experiment Has Finally Been Exposed

The significant thing about this issue is not what will be done with the money; it is simply that the rich will be taxed, seemingly -to me - just taxed as revenge for having the money. As in the movie where the gunfighter wants to go after the man with the fastest reputation. TD

RedState

"On top of the crushing tax burden, New York’s strict rent controls, soaring energy costs from aggressive green mandates, and a mountain of red tape are only making things worse. Democrat policies are driving more people and businesses away and turning what should be a truly great economic engine into a slow-motion fiscal disaster with no end in sight."

"New York has spent years aggressively taxing its wealthiest residents in the name of fairness, and the results are now in. Suffice it to say, they’re not pretty.

"A new study released Monday by the Citizen Budget Commission (CBC) reveals the state’s share of America’s millionaires has dropped sharply since 2010, triggering a nearly $11 billion shortfall in tax revenue in a single year as high earners quietly packed up and left for lower-tax states.

"The analysis shows New York’s share of millionaires fell from 12.7% in 2010 to just 8.7% in 2022 — the steepest decline of any state in the country.

"As a direct result, personal income tax collections in 2022 alone were roughly $10.7 billion lower than they otherwise would have been if they had maintained their share of the wealthy folks. The study makes clear that the people leaving pay a disproportionately large share of state taxes, creating a painful hole in the budget that affects everything from public services to infrastructure funding.

"Economist Jared Walczak provides numbers that back up the notion.

“'In New York, the top 1% of earners pay about 45% of all state income taxes in any given year, so New York’s revenue is very reliant on high earners to stay in New York, and that has been a challenge in recent years,” he told the New York Post." . . . More...

Democrats Can’t Kick the Trans Obsession

 Unpopular below-the-belt issues are liable to dog the Dems in coming elections.

Peter Van Buren - The American Conservative  

"Instead, his Secretary of the Treasury is a married gay man with kids. Republican candidates have improved their messaging, focusing on education policy and parental rights, framing the issue as oversight and consent rather than identity or discrimination." (Whom I respect and appreciate very much. TD) 

"I watched the New York Pride Parade on livestream. The parade is a major event in NYC, attended by well over a million people. Today, 11 years after Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage, the movement that once celebrated equality alongside most Democrats looks very different. The near-complete embrace of trans rights as seen in the parade, especially as it affects children, is likely to harm the Democratic Party in coming elections. (FYI, I'll use the word “gay” as shorthand here for the various constructions, the most complete of which is the unhandy LGBTQQIP2SAA+.)

"One of the most noticeable changes in the Pride Parade was the replacement of the once-ubiquitous rainbow flag with the “trans flag,” adding pink, brown, white, and black. Trans people were present in large numbers, had their own floats, and were noticeably name-checked by most of the speakers and signs I saw. 

"As in years before, Democratic politicians were also quite visible. But this year the senior pol, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), was booed. Some in the crowd turned their backs on him, and when the parade paused, they shouted out about how he did not support trans rights. Chuck yelled back he was the first major politician to ever attend a Pride Parade, back in the ’90s. Meanwhile, the all-in, modern trans-supporter Mayor Zohran Mamdani got some of the biggest applause of the day.

"In Gallup polls from 1996 only about a third of Americans supported same-sex marriage. But by the mid-2010s, the figure had flipped and remained about two-thirds into the 2020s. This change culminated in the 2015 Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. In 2024 the Republican Party even removed opposition to marriage equality from its platform. Importantly, the Court ruling followed—not preceded—the broader cultural shift. 

"The emphasis that led to acceptance of gay rights was driven by several factors, key among which was the emphasis on marriage involving consenting adults, many of whom were already cohabitating in various statuses. Advocacy focused on the universal human rights already part of American law and society, such as the right to work, to own property jointly, and so on—nothing more than asking people to accept someone else’s private life. It did not include sexual “rights” for children.

"Then something happened concurrent with the first election of Donald Trump. While it once was sufficient to support basic rights, the Pride Parade started to include overt anti-Trump messages. Signs started to read “Trans rights are human rights,” and the new flag was debuted. Far from “celebrating victory, defending the gains, and staying vigilant while winding down as a movement that had achieved its core objectives,” many gay groups did the opposite. They radicalized." . . .  More...

Peter Van Buren is the author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People, Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan, and Ghosts of Tom Joad: A Story of the 99 Percent.

Victor Davis Hanson: Iran Wants Endless Negotiations While America Pays the Price

 The Daily Signal

These Celebrity Ghouls Danced on Lindsay Graham’s Grave

 Christian Toto  

"Yet, that’s exactly what we see now with the rise of social media and, as Jimmy Failla puts it, the death of shame."

"Margaret Cho has spent decades pleading for tolerance on behalf of the gay community.

"The far-Left comic calls herself bisexual and became a queer icon thanks to that status and her LGBTQ activism. Her politics are progressive to a fault, and she’s no fan of the GOP.Fine. Good. Nothing wrong or controversial there.

"Yet when Sen. Lindsay Graham suddenly passed away at the age of 71 over the weekend, the reaction from Cho’s fellow liberals proved shocking.

"Gross. Cruel. Unacceptable.

"Sure, we might celebrate the death of a modern-day monster, like Osama bin Laden or Ted Bundy. Dancing on a politician’s grave immediately after his or her death is another matter.

"Yet, that’s exactly what we see now with the rise of social media and, as Jimmy Failla puts it, the death of shame.

"That meant figures like Cenk Uygur did just that. So, apparently, did Cho. And, along the way, she cheered on the death of another GOP figure, the sickly Sen. Mitch McConnell.

"Cho shared a video where she said, “Bye, gurl” to the late senator, adding “good riddance.”

"She also mocked the notion that he might have been a closeted gay man in the process.

“From the closet to the coffin. Real seamless.”

"'The former is vile. The latter is precisely what one shouldn’t do to someone who wishes to keep his or her sexuality to themselves. Unless that person is a Republican, then all bets are off.

"Apparently.

"Not to be outdone, CNN contributor Michael Ian Black did his own dancing on Graham’s grave.

" . . .Of course, Sunny Hostin has to be nasty and attack a dead man and claims he “betrayed his country for power.”

She does it by hiding behind the comments of Steve Schmidt, a sad and mentally broken man:   More...

Only certain people will care what MSNOW has to say about Sen. Graham. Pretty much same as The View but with less people watching, I'd say. 

Zohran Mamdani Accused of Sabotage: How NYC’s Mayor Gutted the Biggest US Navy Parade in 50 Years

RedState   

"Paladino believes colluding with Iran is just one part of Mamdani's DSA-fueled plan, noting "they will collude with any and all of our enemies.'"

"New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is facing accusations of undermining what was intended to be the largest U.S. naval parade in 50 years during the Sail4th 250 events celebrating America’s 250th anniversary.

Maritime expert, CEO of gCaptain, and a member of the Pentagon Press Corps, John Konrad, alleges that Mamdani’s administration used multiple city agencies to create obstacles, including complicating Navy permits, deploying barricades that misdirected crowds, and shutting down ferry service to the sold-out Governors Island viewing area following a minor overnight storm.

Konrad cites multiple military sources, ranging from O-5 ranks to admirals, in laying out a long string of allegations on X.

David Hitch

"Mamdani closed the ferry to the main viewing area (on the) morning of the US Navy parade," he initially states regarding what has been reported as a "flash storm."

"There was a minor storm the night before the parade, and Mamdani ordered the ferry that services the island closed," Konrad wrote in a follow-up post. "The storm was good luck for Mamdani, but that’s irrelevant: sources within NY DOT tell me someone close to the mayor was looking for mechanical or safety reasons to close it regardless." . . .

@johnkonrad posted:

Mamdani closed the ferry to the main viewing area morning of the US Navy parade. He made it significantly more difficult than usual for the Navy to obtain permits. He put up barricades that misdirected crowds. He threatened to coopt a Naval event with his political rhetoric Show more

Hon. Vickie Paladino

@VickieforNYC

I've said this before and I'll say it again. We are in a soft secession under Zohran. He considers New York an independent city-state with its own foreign policy, immigration policy, and economic policy. He does not recognize the authority of the federal government except to the extent he can extract money or political wins from it," Paladino asserts.

"The intent is to use the resources and authority of New York City to wage war against the federal government and the rest of the country. The DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) is quite open about it. They're telling us what they plan to do, and Zohran is executing."      More...

They came for the soccer. They fell in love with ranch dressing

 Ranch dressing: World Cup tourists fall in love with America’s favorite salad dressing | CNN

"In the meantime, she has a recommendation for international travelers who have fallen in love with ranch and want to take it home. “Stuff your suitcase full of dry packets,” she says. “As far as I’m aware, nobody will stop you.'”

"Long before South Korean culture went global, the 2002 World Cup, co-hosted by the Asian nation, introduced its crispy fried chicken to the world. Travelers to South Africa for the 2010 tournament sampled its jerky-like biltong. And when Brazil played host four years later, the icy caipirinha cocktail was in the spotlight.

"The World Cup has long been a showcase for the culinary culture of the host nation. And this year is no different.

"Ranch dressing, a sauce made from mainly buttermilk, vegetable oil and spices, is getting love from tourists experiencing American food and culture for the first time.

“Ranch dressing should be a human right,” wrote one Redditor, who identified as a European tourist, in a thread about World Cup visitors’ feedback on the country.

Fans are going so gaga for the sauce that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which manages passenger screening at airports, commented on the trend." . . . More...

 Anuschka van lent got hooked on Ranch dressing!

In Memoriam - The Most Interesting Revelation Released by Senator Lindsey Graham

NY Post: Lindsey Graham had among the lowest wealth in Congress despite a lifetime at the center of power trib.al/ZyutBzu

The Last Refuge  

"How does the office of a U.S. president; and more importantly the republic itself; survive a coordinated coup effort involving all three branches of government; while simultaneously those in charge of exposing the corruption fear the scale is too damaging for them to reveal?"

"Many people have specific citations for the impact of Senator Lindsey Graham. Several people have noted his importance in releasing information associated with the fraudulent “spygate’ and “Russiagate” operations. However, to me, the most interesting release from Senator Lindsey Graham was the release he could never again mention.

"Senator Graham released a highly compartmented letter [STILL ACTIVE LINK] that proved the depth of the fraud targeting President Trump. The letter formally outlined a complete governmental fraud using all three branches of government, and as a consequence it could never be discussed in public.

"In/around April 2020 (the letter is technically undated) the Senate Judiciary Committee (Graham and Feinstein) along with the Senate Intelligence Committee (Burr and Warner) received a copy of a letter previously transmitted secretly by the Mueller-led Dept of Justice to the FISA Court in July 2018.

"BACKGROUND: The Mueller led DOJ (Rosenstein compliant, Sessions recused) had previously sent a notification to the FISA Court, July 12, 2018, saying despite the Office of the IG investigation showing clear manipulation of Carter Page FISA application process, there was still “sufficient predication” to believe the FISA warrant was appropriate.

"The Mueller team were covering their ass, and racing against the clock while hiding information from the public. The letter clearly establishes in July 2018 the Mueller team were lying to the FISC.

"After the December 2019 OIG Horowitz report that exposed how the Mueller probe, DOJ and FBI having clearly manipulated information to continue using the FISA warrant, despite information showing the warrant was obtained using fraudulent information, the FISA Court demanded the DOJ, now under Bill Barr, inform the Legislative Branch (Judiciary Committee) of the July 12, 2018, lie told to them by the Mueller team.

"The DOJ had to comply and send the secret letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. That’s how Graham received a copy of it in early 2020, which he then made public.

"Until that moment in 2020, no one knew the Mueller team was saying one thing to the FISA Court, and another thing entirely to the media and public." . . .  More...

All emphases in the original. TD

A few hard truths for the gay cruise that’s not allowed to dock

"[President] Reagan was polite when he said, 'The trouble with our Liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.”

 Andrea Widburg

". . . Still, it’s statistically likely that the people on this cruise have absolutely no idea what Islam stands for, even as they enthusiastically support a political party that loves Islam, even as Islam wants them dead."

"The story is kind of funny—an LGBTQ+ filled cruise that is being turned away from ports in Muslim countries for being inconsistent with Islamic values. However, what’s a little less funny is that, statistically speaking, most of these passengers support the Democrat party and its love affair with Islam. Indeed, at least one passenger has let his followers know that the animus the ship is facing is all...wait for it...Trump’s fault.

"It all began with Patti LuPone’s outrage. LuPone is a true Broadway star, having originated the diva role of Eva Perón in the musical Evita, before Madonna came along. She’s also done turns in movies and TV shows. She’s a genuine talent, and she knows where a large part of her fan base comes from: Gay men.

"Naturally, then, LuPone was happy to make a guest appearance on a gay-themed cruise carrying over around 2,000 LGBTQ+ passengers across the Mediterranean. The cruise ran into a hitch, though, when it tried to dock in the Turkish port town of Kuşadası, the gateway to Ephesus. (I’ve been on a cruise ship to Ephesus, and I must say that this historical site, one of the best-preserved ancient cities in the entire Mediterranean, is spectacular.)

"It turns out that the Kuşadası port authorities thought it was a very bad idea to have 2,000 LGBTQ+ people descend on the local community:" . . .

. . . "As for the anti-Israel animus, while there is no polling information about how LGBTQ+ voters specifically view Israel and her enemies in the West Bank and Gaza, Democrats have repeatedly shown themselves to hate Israel and love Gaza. Can we say “Queers for Palestine”?

"This is ironic, of course, because Israel is one of the most homophilic countries in the world, while gays are thrown off of roofs in the West Bank and Gaza." . . .More...