Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Bondi Beach — Australia’s Kristallnacht

 Bill Ponton  

"The Trump administration should communicate its displeasure with the inaction of the Albanese government in securing the safety of Jews in Australia. It should be as strongly worded as Trump’s recent words to the South African prime minister in the Oval Office conveying displeasure with his government’s indifference to the plight of its white Afrikaner population. My question to the Trump administration is simple. If not now, then when?"


"I ended a recent article entitled, “The Hamas death cult gets rewarded for the Oct. 7th massacre” with the words, “While England and the rest of the Anglosphere appeases the Moslem world, to which they will be a prisoner soon, we should not tolerate pirates and death cults in our midst.”  After witnessing the Australian government’s complicity in the death of Jews at Bondi Beach, I would now add that we cannot allow Australia to blindly disregard the lives and safety of its Jewish citizens.

"Calls for “jihad,” “intifada,” and “gassing,” by radical Islamic factions within Australia have been tolerated and have gone unpunished by Australian authorities. Jewish groups inside Australia have been begging the authorities to take threats against the Jewish community seriously. During the last two years, synagogues and other Jewish sites in Australia have been repeatedly assaulted. In December 2024, a Melbourne synagogue was firebombed. Jewish businesses have been attacked and Jews have been the targets of constant harassment. Bondi Beach is a modern-day Kristallnacht, a pogrom against Jews carried out by a militant Islamic faction while Australian authorities looked on without intervening." . . . More...

What To Know About The Antisemitic Terror Attack On Bondi Beach In Sydney  . . . [Herein], you’ll find a list of curated resources and analysis, national media coverage, and how AJC is mobilizing in Australia and around the world to counter rising anti-Jewish and anti-Israel hate.

American Jewish Committee


For Today’s Democrats, Fraud Is A Feature, Not A Bug

 Issues & Insights  

"It’s time to modify Mark Twain’s line about Congress and the criminal class to make it more in tune with the times. “There is no distinctly American criminal class – except Democratic politicians.' ”


"One of the unanswered questions raised by Minnesota’s massive welfare scandal is how it could have gone on so long, given its scale and the fact that alarm bells had been clanging for years.

"The New York Times provided the answer, if inadvertently, when it quoted a former fraud investigator in the state attorney general’s office, who said that “There is a perception that forcefully tackling this issue might cause political backlash among the Somali community, which is a core voting bloc” for Democrats.

"That is it in a nutshell when it comes to government waste, fraud, and abuse.

"For today’s Democrats, these aren’t problems to be solved. They are cherished benefits that support their (and their friends’) lifestyles and keep them in office.

"How else to explain why they are so often caught with their hands in the till, and why they routinely try to thwart anti-fraud efforts?

We’re not just talking about Democrats ripping off government programs for their personal benefit – examples of which are legion – but the opportunities for fraud built into the programs they create.

"Take the federal food stamp program, which now goes by the euphemism SNAP and is riddled with fraud. Instead of trying to protect taxpayers, Democrats are actively thwarting a Trump administration effort to eliminate it."                                                                                                                                                                                                                          "Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that “We asked for all the states for the first time to turn over their data to the federal government to let the USDA partner with them to root out this fraud, to make sure that those who really need food stamps are getting them, but also to ensure that the American taxpayer is protected.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                "Seems reasonable enough, and most states complied with the request. But 21 Democrat-controlled states are refusing to turn that data over to the Agriculture Department. And of those, more than half are known to have payment errors that exceed the national average, including California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland, and Massachusetts" . . .

Bondi Beach Survivor Blasts Cops: 'You Hid While We Died'

Red"State  

Fortunately, here in the United States, we citizens have an advantage that no other country in the world possesses. We should remember that, as well."

 

"It seems every major crime, every attack, from mass shootings to terror attacks (there's a lot of overlap there), produces some tales of heroism, and some of cowardice. The recent Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack in Australia, perpetrated by two Muslim immigrants against a gathering of Jewish holiday celebrants, has managed to do this in one story. 

"Vanessa Miller is a survivor of the Bondi Beach massacre. She was there, with law enforcement officers in her immediate area - and boy, does she have a few things to say about those law enforcement officers. Watch:

 "Vanessa Miller says: 

The police officers were hiding behind a car. I tried to grab one of their guns, then one of them grabbed me and said "no." I'm trying to grab for his gun. These men these police officers, they know who I am, and I hope they're hearing this. You are weak. You could have saved so many people's lives. They were just standing there, listening and watching this all happen. Holding me back. Two police officers - where were the others? Not there. Nobody was there. Everyone, the public, helped. Nobody else. My little three-year-old was saved by a pregnant woman, who saw her crying and screaming, "Mummy, Daddy." We were there. There was not... How long did it take for police to come? How long did it take? Everyone was too scared. . . .

. . .  "It will be a while before we know all the details of this horrible event. People are still speaking out. Australia is going to have to take a long, hard look at its immigration policies. Sydney law enforcement is going to have to take a long, hard look at some of their officers and how they were trained. And the world should look at this and realize that it could happen anywhere, at any time."

Bondi beach shooting: Survivor of October 7 Hamas attack among those injured – Firstpost

A grandfather who survived the Holocaust is a hero after he used his body to shield his wife in a targeted terror attack against Jewish families at a Hanukkah celebration in Australia on Sunday.

One wonders: how many people who survived the Nazi holocaust in WW2 have been murdered by supporters of Islamic terror groups?   

What Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, did in the days leading up to the shooting

 Washington Post  "A patchwork of social interactions and a trail of online posts provide a view into Tyler Robinson’s life and his beliefs, a Post examination found."

"The roommate viewed Trump’s election as a loss for trans rights and was distraught, according to the person. More than once, the person said, he saw Robinson cradling his sobbing roommate in his arms."

Allison Hemingway-Witty cries after the shooting. 
 

"Fifty-five minutes before he allegedly shot and killed right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, Tyler Robinson was bragging about his success playing the online puzzle game Wordle.

" 'It was the morning of Sept. 10. Robinson had guessed the answer — “pouty” — on his third attempt. He sent his results and a celebratory meme to a friend, who responded with a meme of his own and conceded that it had taken him five tries.

"By then, according to prosecutors, Robinson had already driven three hours from his home in southern Utah with a high-powered rifle. He was about to make his way onto the campus of Utah Valley University, where Kirk was set to speak to a crowd outdoors.

"The quotidian exchange, ahead of the killing for which Robinson would later turn himself in, was a striking example of the compartmentalization the 22-year-old exhibited in his interactions with friends in the days before the shooting, a Washington Post examination found."

" And in the years leading up to that day, friends said, Robinson betrayed no sign of passions that might suggest a capability for violence, much less murder. To many, he appeared to hold unremarkable political opinions, and he told some he was no fan of either major party." . . .  More...

One of the Students Killed in Brown University Mass Shooting Identified as College Republican Leader

 American Greatness  

"President Donald Trump and the First Lady extended their sympathies to the victims and families of the shooting at Brown University, as well as the terrorist attacks in Australia, and Syria  as he welcomed guests to the White House to celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah."


"One of the two victims killed in the mass shooting at Brown University on Saturday has been identified as Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from Mountain Brook, Alabama, and the vice president of the Brown College Republicans.
"The College Republicans of America expressed their grief in an official statement Sunday,  while the group’s founder stated on X that he believes it was a targeted attack against the conservative leader.
" 'We are devastated to learn of the loss of our Brown College Republicans Vice President, Ella Cook,” the Republican club’s president, Martin Bertao, stated. “Ella was known for her bold, brave, and kind heart as she served her chapter and her fellow classmates. Our prayers are with her family, our Brown CR’s, and the entirety of the campus as they heal from this tragedy.”. "The founder and chairman of the College Republicans of America, William Branson Donahue, said Sunday that he was told by Brown University students immediately after the news broke that Cook was the one targeted." 'I am filled with rage and sadness to learn that our Brown College Republicans VP, Ella Cook, has been identified as one of the victims from the attack,” he wrote on X. 
“I’m told she was allegedly targeted for her conservative beliefs, hunted, and killed in cold blood. Losing Charlie [Kirk] three months ago rocked our worlds. The entire College Republicans community is weeping this evening, learning of the news. This was an attack on our family.”
"He added in a subsequent post: “If people thought I became radical after we lost Charlie, they’re really not going to like me now. There’s 300 college republicans chapters in our organization. Every single member is family to me. I just lost a sister and I’m really f-cking pissed off. The left wants us dead. There’s no energy left in me to talk anymore.”
"Donahue acknowledged in a follow-up post that his information was unconfirmed and “the story is evolving.' ” . . .

After Bondi Beach terror attack, the West must face Islamist ideology with clear eyes

 NY Post  

It is foolish to think that some element of Muslim immigrants to the West won’t share this worldview and act on it — to our great regret.  

Bondi Beach Atrocity Exposes Australia’s Dangerous Naïveté

"Mainstream political parties across the West that have presided over this open-handed policy are, understandably, losing ground to restrictionist parties that are more clear-eyed about the realities of immigration. 

"Antisemitism comes in all sorts of varieties, whether Christian, Muslim or secular. 

"Still, it’d startle us to learn that someone who had been attending a fundamentalist Christian church went and shot up a Jewish event — whereas it’s not the least bit unusual in someone who’s an adherent of fundamentalist Islam. 

"Now, there are different interpretations of Islam, and it’s not the role of an outsider to say which is more correct: The key point is that important Muslim authorities and countless millions of the faithful embrace the fundamentalist version that’s influential in war-torn areas of the broader Middle East that have sent so many refugees to the West. 

"The fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood — Hamas is the Palestinian branch — was markedly antisemitic well before the establishment of the state of Israel.

"As one analyst has noted, its anti-Jewish agitation included “boycotts, graffiti and physical violence.”

"Sound familiar?

"A rancid paranoia about the Jews runs through this worldview.

"The 20th century Muslim Brotherhood ideologue Sayyid Qutb referred to “the tricks played by world Jewry so that the Jews may penetrate into body politic of the whole world and then may be free to perpetuate their evil designs.” 

"The original 1988 Hamas charter reads like a transcript of a Candace Owens podcast, except with an armed wing attached. " . . .

New Media Angle: Sydney Attacks, Inspired by ISIS and Targeting Jews, Had ‘Nothing to Do With Religion’    

Most to be feared: Radical Islamists and guilt-ridden white liberals. TD

Gavin Newsom’s Democrat Fangirls; He’s their new celebrity.

The American Spectator   

"His dinner at the elite French Laundry restaurant during the pandemic encompasses for many Newsom’s sense that he is above average Americans."

"Not since Barack Obama graced American politics has a politician provoked the excited screams of Democrats as California Governor Gavin Newsom. Everywhere he goes, crowds greet him with near-idolization, as if he were an A-list celebrity rather than a politician.

"Perhaps the phenomenon began at the COP30 climate summit last month in Brazil, following Newsom’s successful effort to gerrymander California in Democrats’ favor. According to Reuters, conference attendees “swarmed” the governor wherever he walked, and occasional cheers broke out for him. According to the New York Times, Newsom was “trailed by crowds” to such an extent that his United Nations security detail struggled to get him to his events on time. At one point, the Times added, Newsom “waved to an applauding crowd.” One headline on the climate conference read, “Newsom Is the Star of COP30.” Another said

, “Newsom is a rock star at COP.” . . .

. . . "Axios reported today that his Democratic rivals are increasingly nervous about how quickly Newsom has burst out of the gate and are “plotting how to take [him] down.” The two emerging strategies for how to do so, per Axios, are 1) arguing that Newsom is too liberal and too connected with the coastal elite, and 2) using Newsom’s many scandals against him, including his affair with his subordinate.

"Another possible avenue of attack is the criminal indictment that has recently entangled Newsom’s former chief of staff. Recently, California Rep. Ro Khanna made waves when he said the indictments are a “toxic stain” on California. Khanna is right: The indictments cast suspicion on all that Newsom’s administration has done, especially given the level of power that the chief of staff had in the administration, as well as her allegations that the FBI (under President Joe Biden) was investigating Gavin Newsom himself

(RELATED: Arrest of Newsom’s Ex-Chief of Staff Prompts Allegations of Misconduct Within the Governor’s Office)

"Right now, Newsom is riding a wave of adulation normally reserved for celebrities. Unfortunately for Newsom, his rivals have plenty of material on him that they can use against him to take him down."

Ellie Gardey Holmes is Reporter and Associate Editor at The American Spectator. She is the author of Newsom Unleashed: The Progressive Lust for Unbridled Power. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where she studied political science, philosophy, and journalism. Ellie has previously written for the Daily CallerCollege Fix, and Irish Rover.

Gavin Newsom's Barbaric Stand on Young Children  

"The Democrats know they cannot push Newsom as a star due to his poor record. Ezra Klein writes that Newsom is "a liberal white guy from a state that much of the country considers badly governed, just didn’t seem like the profile the Democratic Party was looking for.' " 

Gen Z, how dense can you be?

Staging the Gaza Famine  
"The BILD investigation, Israel’s foreign ministry stated, “underscores how Pallywood has gone mainstream with staged images and ideological bias shaping international coverage, while the suffering of Israeli hostages and Hamas atrocities are pushed out of frame.' ”

In the West, empty heads wrapped in designer scarves buy it all - shall we say? - "hook, line, and sinker". TD 

Those are your people, Greta! Nice scarves though.  



Babylon Bee...parody?  Groundbreaking New Study Finds Islamophobia May Be Partially Caused By Muslims Killing People All The Time


. . . "Yeah, they just keep killing people all the time, and I guess that makes people a little nervous," said Professor Heinrich Glarkenbargen. "While we have been able to confirm a rise in the general fear of the spread of Islam in the West, our data suggests this might stem from Muslim terrorists committing acts of violence and murder pretty much every day over the last several decades."
"The team concluded that if Muslims were to stop killing people all the time, the general populace may be far more inclined to be less afraid of them. "The results were clear," Glarkenbargen said. "Out of all the people we surveyed, 100% of them said that they were worried about Muslim migrants because they were afraid of being shot or stabbed or set on fire or blown up. They also said that if Muslims weren't killing people all the time, there wouldn't be as much islamophobia."
"At publishing time, the research team was unavailable to comment further due to fleeing for their lives from a Muslim who was trying to kill them."

This British Colonel Traveled with Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg. He’d Already Had His Share of Surprises

HistoryNet  

"Fremantle returned to England after having achieved the adventure he sought by his travel through Texas and by witnessing the Battle of Gettysburg. His account of his trip was published the ensuing year." 


"Arthur James Lyon Fremantle left Great Britain aboard a ship on March 2, 1863, headed for the northern border of Mexico. After a long voyage, the young British army officer finally arrived on April 1 “at the miserable village of Bagdad” on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. Despite considerable speculation at the time, Fremantle was in America only as a tourist and not as an official governmental observer of the United Kingdom—the widespread uncertainty of his status undoubtedly caused by Fremantle’s choice of daily attire, a full British military uniform resplendent with a corresponding bright red jacket.

"Initially, Fremantle was inclined to side with the North in the Civil War, as were many of his fellow English citizens because of an inherent disapproval of slavery. He would soon switch his allegiance to the South, however, partly because he admired the Southern reputation of gallantry and determination, and also because “of the foolish bullying conduct of the Northerners.” As Fremantle would note: “I was unable to repress a strong wish to go to America and see something of this wonderful struggle.”

"As he attempted to cross onto Texas soil, Fremantle was briefly detained and questioned by a half-dozen Confederate officers. Ever the keen observer, the British citizen noted that the troopers—all from Colonel James Duff’s “Partisan Rangers,” the 33rd Texas Cavalry—were similarly attired in “flannel shirts, very ancient trousers, jack-boots with enormous spurs and black felt hats ornamented with the lone star of Texas.” Despite their unkempt appearance, the Texans treated Fremantle with inestimable kindness." . . .

Arthur Lyon Fremantle - Wikipedia  . . . "In the 1993 film adaptation of Shaara's novel, retitled Gettysburg, Lieutenant Colonel Fremantle is portrayed by James Lancaster

. His character changes little from the book, once again engaging in important discussions with General Longstreet and his officers on the Confederacy's relations with the United
Kingdom.[49] However his appearance is substantially different from reality: in the movie he is shown in a scarlet British uniform sipping tea from a china cup, whereas, being in an unofficial capacity, he was dressed in a "gray shooting-jacket" and had been living rough like many others in the country." . . .

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

After Bondi Beach terror attack, the West must face Islamist ideology with clear eyes

Rich Lowry 

 "It is foolish to think that some element of Muslim immigrants to the West won’t share this worldview and act on it — to our great regret." 

"The Bondi Beach attack in Australia was shocking, but not at all surprising. 

"Some of the details were distinctive — an idyllic spot on the Pacific Ocean instantly turned into a killing field; a father-son terror squad — but the basic picture of radicalized Muslim immigrants targeting a gathering of Jews was drearily familiar.

"These events follow the same pattern because the fundamentalist version of Islam is, at its root, hostile to Jews. 

"Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that there was a refugee flow of Unitarians, and some proportion of those Unitarians were antagonistic to traditional Christians — such that they vandalized their businesses, harassed them in the streets, and launched massive protests in favor of overseas Unitarian terror groups.

"In that case, we’d obviously cast a skeptical eye on Unitarian immigration. 

"Mainstream political parties across the West that have presided over this open-handed policy are, understandably, losing ground to restrictionist parties that are more clear-eyed about the realities of immigration. 

"Antisemitism comes in all sorts of varieties, whether Christian, Muslim or secular. 

Still, it’d startle us to learn that someone who had been attending a fundamentalist Christian church went and shot up a Jewish event — whereas it’s not the least bit unusual in someone who’s an adherent of fundamentalist Islam. 

"Now, there are different interpretations of Islam, and it’s not the role of an outsider to say which is more correct: The key point is that important Muslim authorities and countless millions of the faithful embrace the fundamentalist version that’s influential in war-torn areas of the broader Middle East that have sent so many refugees to the West. 

"The fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood — Hamas is the Palestinian branch — was markedly antisemitic well before the establishment of the state of Israel.

"As one analyst has noted, its anti-Jewish agitation included “boycotts, graffiti and physical violence.' ” . . .

Sound familiar?" . . .

A rancid paranoia about the Jews runs through this worldview.: . . .


Interpreting Gavin Newsom’s Weird Sitting Posture

  Ellie Gardey Holmes  

"Newsom will be made to answer for the scandal soon. After all, it was he who fired Wipper and his administration that settled the suit against Activision."

Something about Newsom doesn't sit quite right.

Gavin Newsom’s appearance at the New York Time’s DealBook Summit was met with mockery, as the public made fun of him online for his awkward sitting posture.

The Spectator P.M. Podcast hosts Ellie Gardey Holmes and Lyrah Margo discuss the reaction to Newsom’s criss-crossed legs and the negative response he received for saying that the Democratic Party needs to be “culturally normal” and “less judgmental.” Ellie and Lyrah also discuss celebrity Halle Berry’s open criticism of Newsom at the event. Berry called out the California governor for “devaluing women” and not passing the Menopause Care Equity Act."

Gavin Newsom's Office Does Unthinkable, Makes Nut-CrushingGate Even Worse | OutKick


Arrest of Newsom’s Ex-Chief of Staff Prompts Allegations of Misconduct Within the Governor’s Office.   

"If what the indictment alleges is true, it very much appears that Williamson had both the means and the motive to interfere in the California government’s lawsuit on Activision’s behalf. If she indeed took action, then this case could involve corrupt actions within the Newsom administration. And, even if it is never shown that she interfered in the case on behalf of Activision, the appearance of corruption in Newsom’s office will remain. California’s newspapers are all covering the possibility this week with bated breath."

Gavin’s Golden State — The Hilarious California Reality Check 

'You Magnificent Idiot': Swalwell Mercilessly Mocked After Deranged 'Wrecking Ball Promise' Post on New WH Ballroom

 "Democrats, of course, have made a spectacle of themselves in denouncing Trump’s planned ballroom. They have no good reason for their opposition. They simply hate the president."

Rich Terrell

Michael Schwarz  "Present-day psychologists and future historians could build careers by studying and explaining modern Democrats’ unhinged loathing of President Donald Trump.
"Meanwhile, we may settle for mocking those Democrats when they say and do things indistinguishable from parody.
"For instance, Sunday on the social media platform X, Jeff Blehar of National Review referred to Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California as “You magnificent idiot” because Swalwell, in demanding that the next Democratic presidential nominee must promise to take a “wrecking ball” to Trump’s ballroom, fulfilled Blehar’s half-joking prediction.
"Democrats, of course, have made a spectacle of themselves in denouncing Trump’s planned ballroom. They have no good reason for their opposition. They simply hate the president.
"Thus, on Friday in National Review, Blehar, having observed Democrats’ anti-Trump hyperbole for the last decade, predicted that before the ballroom hubbub subsides, “we shall see which Democrat is willing to escalate first, by publicly demanding a wrecking ball on Day One of the next Democratic administration.”
"Blehar meant that prediction as parody.
“ 'The voters are guaranteed to respond well to that,” he added.
"Indeed, only a gargantuan moron would urge Democrats to campaign on a ballroom-destruction platform. But Trump Derangement Syndrome has produced plenty such morons."  . . .
. . . "For one thing, Democrats hang their hopes on anti-Trump hatred because they offer nothing else. Having pledged to defend the indefensible, such as open borders and men in women’s sports, they cannot convince voters of the soundness of their policies, so instead they rely on demonizing Trump and his supporters, for instance, by slandering them as “Nazis.”
"On a deeper level, many Democrats have turned their TDS into an idol. Since they do not worship Jesus, they use their hatred to fill a spiritual void." . . .
"When TDS sufferers focus their wrath on inane things like ballrooms, however, we have nothing else to do but relentlessly mock them."  Full article here.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.