Is California Jealous of Colorado? -

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leftist Lunacy Fuels Hamas Atrocity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Disqualification of Donald Trump and Other Legal Urban Legends

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

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

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

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

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

Why is #MeToo Covering for Hamas?

  The Lid (lidblog.com)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Atheism and Antisemitism at America's Universities -

  Intellectual Takeout

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

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

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

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

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

Sen. J.D. Vance Absolutely Destroys AP Journo's Effort to Make Biden's Border Disaster About Trump

 Sen. J.D. Vance Absolutely Destroys AP Journo's Effort to Make Biden's Border Disaster About Trump – Twitchy   "President Biden's approval numbers are circling the drain lower by the day, and one area where Americans think this administration has been an absolute disaster is the issue of border security, or insecurity as it were: 

"At least the Biden White House knows they can count on many "journalists" to try and spin their way out of that mess, and when it comes to carrying Democrats' water few outfits do more heavy lifting than the Associated Press.

"One AP reporter was recorded asking Republican Sen. J.D. Vance about something Trump said recently. As usual, Left tried to turn Trump's remarks about a consequence of Biden's open border into another "Trump sounds like Hitler" narrative, but Vance wasn't having any of it:" . . .

LISTEN: Sen. J.D. Vance destroys an AP reporter who asks about Trump’s “poisoning the blood of our country” remarks.

Audio obtained by @DailyCaller: pic.twitter.com/a6WTO0WRb4

— Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) December 19, 2023

‘If the generals are counting tunnels, it suggests things are not going well’

  The Times of Israel

Yehuda Kfir, an expert in underground warfare, says the IDF can’t keep bombing buildings and infrastructure to locate Hamas’s tunnels: ‘We need to dig from our side to theirs’

. . .How will the IDF keep uncovering tunnels, especially in the south?

"The IDF method is frustrating and we can’t keep using it, because it involves destroying infrastructure and buildings above ground in order to get to what’s underneath.

"In the first stage [of the ground offensive], the IDF had a broad mandate for widespread destruction [as it sought to dismantle Hamas]. Obviously, we can’t uncover tunnels in that way in Khan Younis and Rafah, so deciphering what’s going on underground will have to be done another way — to reveal what’s underground without destroying the buildings and infrastructure above.

"I believe the way to do it is by digging from our side toward them, while inserting smart tools — sensors, microphones and robots, anything that can penetrate the tunnels and bring us intelligence on where they’re located.

"I’m talking even about some sort of underground torpedo, launching an excavation machine with explosives capabilities, at the right time. We need to change the approach — to attacking the tunnels from within.

Translated and edited from the original article on ToI’s Hebrew sister site Zman Yisrael.

PM: Anyone who thinks we'll stop war is unmoored from reality; Hamas can surrender or die | The Times of Israel

MK Danon: Critics of war should remember Palestinian civilians joined in Hamas attack | The Times of Israel    "Criticism over the mounting death toll in Gaza should be tempered with the knowledge that Palestinian civilians joined in Hamas’s brutal attack on southern Israel on October 7, MK Danny Danon tells reporters in Kfar Aza, arguing for the creation of a three-kilometer-wide buffer zone in Gaza.

"Standing next to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee within sight of the Strip, the Likud lawmaker states that while it was Hamas “who broke through the fence” within a short period “so-called ordinary Gazans,” including “women, children [and] families” were “coming into Israel, taking part in the crimes committed.”

"  'So when we attack now we are not targeting civilians but we have to remember that when we are being criticized [for] attacking people who are not involved, that thousands of people in Gaza celebrated what happened here,” he says, complaining that the Palestinian Authority “hasn’t condemned the attacks yet” and railing against what he describes as “a culture of hate.” . . .

Why Israel’s Allies Are Pretending To Be Impatient

 To be sure, this awkward dance can’t go on forever. But Israel doesn’t intend for it to. In the meantime, a sharp Western turn against Israel’s war on Hamas has yet to materialize.

When Tlaib opens her mouth to shout
her face disappears

Seth Mandel, Commentary Magazine   "Foreign policy is still subject to domestic politics, no matter how far away the theater of battle is.

"That is a pretty reliable rule, and it explains much of what people are finding inexplicable: the insistence that the Biden administration is giving Israel “tough love” in private conversations while publicly supporting the IDF’s mission in Gaza. “Netanyahu’s war bluster exposes growing rift with Biden,” reports The Hill, putting a slightly more dramatic gloss on a version of the same story you can read today in the New York Times, Washington Post, and elsewhere.

"Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s trip to Israel yesterday, reports the Times, “was part of a full-court press by the Biden administration to urge Israeli officials to wrap up the ‘high-intensity’ phase of the war and begin carrying out more targeted, intelligence-driven missions to find and kill Hamas leaders, destroy the tunnels used by the militant group and rescue the people taken hostage on Oct. 7.”

"Not to put too much into the metaphor here, but in my glory days of yeshiva league high-school basketball I never faced a full-court press with so much breathing room. The only evidence that there is pressure behind closed doors is the insistence by top officials that there is pressure behind closed doors.

"How much time will Austin give the Israelis to get this done?" . . .

Are Electric Vehicles the Wave of the Future?

  Jim Hollingsworth - American Thinker 

"In recent months it has become abundantly clear that electric vehicles are no more than rich men’s toys. Sometimes I think I must be having a dream, but I do not seem to be able to awaken from this nightmare.

"These vehicles are so expensive that only the very rich can afford them.  In fact, these are often secondary vehicles.

"As a vehicle to drive from home to office and back home again, they are reasonably practical.  However, nothing beats a vehicle with an internal combustion engine.  You do not have to plug it in; just get in and drive it.  Five minutes is enough time to fill the gas tank and check the water and oil.  With an electric vehicle, you may have to spend two hours every 200 miles charging the battery.

"Electric vehicles were tried in the early part of the twentieth century but were abandoned after gasoline-driven cars became available.  Here is the timeline of the development of electric vehicles.  Here is a picture of a woman charging her vehicle about 1912.

"One of the reasons these cars did not catch on at the time is that there were many places in America that still had no residential electricity.  Another is that these vehicles were fairly low-speed, with a maximum speed of only about 14 miles per hour.  Even a horse could beat that (almost).  Some of the cars that were actually built were luxury cars, with ornate  interiors and designs.

"Today, electric cars are being built and sold to fight carbon dioxide.  This basic goal is simply madness.  Carbon dioxide is plant food.

"One has to wonder if electric vehicles are actually reducing carbon dioxide.  In one demonstration, when a reporter asked about the power source, he was informed that they just plugged it into a socket on the side of the building.  At the same time, there was an official there from the utility company, and he pointed out that the local electricity was provided by a coal-fired power plant.  So you can see that absolutely nothing was accomplished, as the coal-fired power plant was still producing carbon dioxide.  (The above cartoon explains the truth of the matter.)" . . .