ELECTIONS, MEDIA Comments turned off

Cooke: The Oprah Interview Eliminated All Pretense — the Press and Harris Are on the Same Side By Sarah Schutte

Posted By on September 21st, 2024

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/cooke-the-oprah-interview-eliminated-all-pretense-the-press-and-harris-are-on-the-same-side/

National Review senior editor Charles C. W. Cooke, on today’s edition of The Editors, said the upside of Kamala Harris’s interview with Oprah Winfrey was that viewers got to see clearly the case of “an interviewee and an interviewer who were manifestly on the same side.

“I really do appreciate,” he said, “that the press is at long last cut out the pretense in that Oprah Winfrey spoke at the Democratic Convention and endorsed Harris. And that is the default position of most journalists, but they’re just not honest enough to make it clear.”

Cooke pointed out that the interview, in which Harris was asked how she would bring down prices, “really verged into metaphysical . . . almost poetry. And Winfrey sat there and said, ‘Yes, yes, mm, mm, mm, mm, yes, mm.’

“It’s absurd,” Cooke said. “I am aware by now that people are voting against, and that they are going to pretend, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, that their candidate is therefore fine, but they’re not, they’re not fine. Kamala Harris is not an acceptable candidate for president of the United States. She can’t answer elementary questions. She can’t talk. And the reason that she can’t talk is because she can’t think. . . . The mouth follows the mind.

“There are lots of people in this country with whom I strongly disagree who are able to present their worldview in a manner that is comprehensible and even compelling. But she is not one of them.”

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Hezbollah History Lesson Andrew McCarthy

Posted By on September 21st, 2024

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/hezbollah-history-lesson/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=right-rail&utm_content=corner&utm_term=first

It’s hopeless, I know, but I still think the progressive Democrats fretting over collateral damage from Israel’s highly discriminating and proportionate “grim beeper” operation could benefit from a history lesson about Hezbollah’s barbaric treatment of Americans. I’ll have more on that over the weekend, but for starters, I’d recommend this 2015 piece by Matthew Levitt, an excellent analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. It’s about the kidnapping, torture, and murder of William Buckley, the CIA’s station chief in Lebanon — i.e., the chief sent to set up a new station after Hezbollah, then led by Imad Mugniyah, bombed the U.S. embassy in Beirut. Here’s a bit of it:

Buckley was tortured, reportedly by both Lebanese and Iranian interrogators. Another hostage, David Jacobsen, later recounted that Buckley occupied a cell separated from his own by a thin wall. “It was apparent that he was very sick. I could hear him retching between coughs.” Another hostage held with the two men recalled Buckley hallucinating. Once, in the bathroom, Buckley apparently announced, “I’ll have my hot cakes with blueberry syrup now.”

Hezbollah reportedly sent three different videotapes of Buckley being tortured to the CIA, each more harrowing than the next. These would become part of CIA lore, passed down from hardened case officers to new recruits, and the agency would not soon forget what Hezbollah did to one of their own.

By some accounts Buckley was moved through the Beqa Valley and transferred to Iran; others say he was buried in an unmarked grave in Lebanon. Mughniyeh’s Islamic Jihad Organization announced it had killed Buckley in October 1985, but fellow hostages would later reveal he had died months earlier as a result of the torture he endured, possibly at the hands of Imad Mughniyeh himself. According to former hostage David Jacobsen, when Buckley died in captivity, reportedly from drowning in his own lung fluids as a result of torture, it “really shook up our kidnappers.”

Years after Mugniyah was assassinated in 2008 (the tail end of the Bush-43 administration), it was revealed that he’d been killed in a joint CIA-Mossad intelligence operation. Prior to 9/11, he had more American blood on his hand than any jihadist — and lots of Israeli blood, too. He’d been a key planner in Hezbollah’s infamous 1983 attack on a military barracks in Beirut that killed 241 Marines.

Another planner of that attack was Fuad Shukr, on whom our government had offered a reward of $5 m

IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

Report: Border crisis ‘damage that will take decades to remedy’ By Shirleen Guerra |

Posted By on September 21st, 2024

https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_d1961ee6-768f-11ef-bb02-637c4a3826cd.html

A comprehensive new report from a U.S. House committee accuses the Biden administration of “the worst border crisis in American history.”

Crisis By Design, as titled by the Republican majority on the House Homeland Security Committee, details how the administration has handled the crisis on the southern border since the 2020 election.

“Even if not one more inadmissible alien crossed our borders for the remainder of Biden and Harris’ term, the millions they have already allowed into our country have done damage that will take decades to remedy,” chamber committee Chairman Dr. Mark Green, R-Tenn., said.

According to the report, since February 2021, there have been 8.2 million crossings at the southwest border. Other borders and ports of entry raise the total crossings to 10.1 million, the report said. By the end of the Biden administration, the report estimates an estimated 11.6 million encounters nationwide.

This is a 274% increase from the 3.1 million encounters from 2017-20, according to the report. The numbers do not include the 2 million encounters known as “gotaways.”

The Center Square has reported that actual illegal border crossings now surpass 12.5 million under the Biden administration. The Center Square includes “gotaway” data of illegal border crossers who successfully enter the U.S. between ports of entry and are not apprehended. U.S. Customs and Border Protection does not release gotaway data publicly; The Center Square receives the data from a border patrol agent in the field.

“Simultaneously, transnational criminal organizations like the Mexican criminal cartels and violent gangs have been enriched and empowered by record profits from drug trafficking and human smuggling,” the report says. “They funnel those blood-bought dollars into their ever-expanding operations in American cities and throughout the hemisphere.”

Many Border Patrol agents have been pulled from the border and are not enforcing U.S. immigration laws, instead processing and releasing those crossing the border per Biden policies, the report says.

Human cost to Americans and migrants alike, the report says, is incalculable as fentanyl and people continue to be smuggled over the border, killing thousands.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Interview on Unherd: On State Department Censorship and Blacklisting Gabe Kaminsky and I speak with Emily Jashinsky of Unherd about the Global Engagement Center (GEC), a State Department entity engaged in censorship and financial blacklisting Matt Taibbi

Posted By on September 21st, 2024

https://www.racket.news/p/interview-on-unherd-on-state-department

Last Friday, Josh Christenson at the New York Post published “State Department tried to discredit reporters, Republican pol over conservative ‘blacklist.’” The article described an internal memo showing the State Department strategizing public relations responses to the Washington Examiner’s Gabe Kaminsky, me, and Republican congressman Jim Banks.

The memo criticizes Banks in an extremely devious way. The Indiana Republican last February was quoted by Gabe in the Examiner saying the Biden administration appeared to be “knee deep” in efforts to “crack down” on speech.

The State Department memo listed the Banks quote among its list of criticisms to answer. However, the agency didn’t quote the Examiner. It claimed to be quoting the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti, giving the impression that Banks offered his criticism of Biden in Russian state media:

The State Department memo

But Banks never spoke to RIA-Novosti, or any Russian agency. His quotes only appear in wholesale Russian translations (read: thefts) of Gabe’s Examiner article. The State Department and its counter-messaging arm, the Global Engagement Center, wanted so badly to create the impression Banks acted in service of Russian propaganda that they forgot to use the original Banks quote, instead re-translating the Russian version back to English. This resulted in the quote being reproduced incorrectly, ironic given GEC’s ostensible mission.

ELECTIONS, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Kamalism Will Destroy America By Tom Klingenstein

Posted By on September 21st, 2024

https://tomklingenstein.com/kamalism-will-destroy-america/

My purpose here is to establish that we are in a war, and explain how we must fight. Because fighting effectively depends heavily on President Trump, my remarks also constitute the case for Trump, a case that has nothing to do with his policies but everything to do with his character and personality. These fit the crisis we face.

In May of 1940, conquering German armies were only separated from Britain by the English Channel. Britain had 350,000 men trapped in Dunkirk. The Luftwaffe controlled the air.  America, despite Churchill’s urgent pleas, would not provide desperately needed military assistance. This was Britain’s darkest hour.

Fortunately, the British dug deep into their national grit and almost overnight conjured up a largely civilian armada, which rescued their men at Dunkirk.  Britain would have fallen without the resolve of its people. America may not have been far behind. Today, a deadly enemy besieges America. But unlike 1940 Britain, America has not yet grasped the magnitude of its danger. Our home is under attack. 

‘Home’ was the theme of the recent Republican convention. This theme was nicely encapsulated by the 98 year-old marine and D-Day veteran who said, “America is our home.” But largely missing at the convention was mention of the mortal danger that today threatens our home. Our American home is what our enemy wants to destroy. Our home is what we must fight for.

Unfortunately, our enemy does not yet even have a name. We need one. For the moment let’s call the enemy “Kamalism.” Trump is a great namer — maybe he will come up with a better one. You can’t defeat an enemy if you can’t name it. 

The 2020 riots showed Kamalism in action. The regime’s paramilitary operation, BLM and Antifa among others, sparked the fire that lit the riots; the regime’s intellectuals justified them; corporations and foundations funded them; the media covered them over; politicians fanned the flames; and the regime’s justice apparatus, including Kamala herself, freed law breakers. Even the military got into the act, denying Trump needed resources.

ELECTIONS, ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Liz Peek: Why is Kamala Harris keeping voters in the dark on her energy agenda?

Posted By on September 21st, 2024

https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/4888721-kamala-harris-energy-policy

Almost nothing could be more important to the future of American workers than access to affordable energy. This is why Vice President Kamala Harris needs to come clean about her energy policy. 

Kowtowing to the climate zealots currently running unchecked in the Biden-Harris White House will lead to soaring electricity costs and clobber our country’s ability to compete in the industries of the future such as artificial intelligence.  

Harris has reversed herself on a number of issues, but none as critical as her stance on energy and on fracking.  

While in 2019 she promised to ban fracking, today her campaign says she’s changed her mind. She hasn’t explained why she flip-flopped. She doesn’t need to; we know she needs to win the Pennsylvania’s electoral votes to win the election, and fracking is a large source of employment and revenues in the Keystone State. Therefore, Harris is playing nice and not threatening to put some 400,000 workers out of the job.  

Conservatives don’t believe Harris. Apparently, neither do progressives. Green New Deal enthusiast Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), recently said, “On climate, on abortion, on racial, LGBTQ issues, we are absolutely in agreement on her agenda.” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said that in walking back many of her progressive positions, Harris was just “doing what she thinks is right in order to win the election.” 

In her debate with Donald Trump, Harris touted the record oil production that has occurred during the Biden-Harris administration. And it is true: output recently reached a new high of 13.2 million barrels per day, finally topping the 13 million per day peak recorded when Trump was president. That achievement, however, comes in spite of her and her boss’s efforts, not because of them. 

IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

Retired Border Patrol chief: ‘Each time we asked for help in dealing with a new issue, it fell on deaf ears’ By Monica Showalter

Posted By on September 21st, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/09/retired_border_patrol_chief_each_time_we_asked_for_help_in_dealing_with_a_new_issue_it_fell_on_deaf_ears.html

Just how lawless has the Harris-Biden administration been on the border? A recently retired Border Patrol chief from the San Diego corridor described it in detail in a House hearing, which is explosive

According to The Center Square:

Retired San Diego Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke said he was instructed by the Biden administration to not publicize arrests of illegal border crossers identified as “Significant Interest Aliens” with ties to terrorism.

Heitke testified before a U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security hearing on Wednesday about how Biden-Harris “open border policies have undermined our safety and security.”

“We had an exponential increase in Significant Interest Aliens … with significant ties to terrorism,” illegally entering in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection San Diego Sector, he said.

Prior to the Biden-Harris administration, the sector averaged 10 to 15 SIAs per year. “Once word was out that the border was far easier to cross, San Diego went to over 100 SIAs in 2022, way over 100 SIAs in 2023 and more than that this year,” he said.

“These are only the ones we caught,” meaning the number likely is higher because of the volume of gotaways, those who illegally cross the border and are not apprehended.

“At the time, I was told I could not release any information on this increase in SIA’s or mention any of the arrests,” Heitke testified. “The administration was trying to convince the public that there was no threat at the border.”

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

The Great Walz of China: An Innocent Abroad Or…? It is imperative for Americans to get answers as to how much of a role communist China played—and may continue to play—in building up “The Great Walz of China.”By Thaddeus G. McCotter

Posted By on September 21st, 2024

https://amgreatness.com/2024/09/21/the-great-walz-of-china-an-innocent-abroad-or/

If you blinked, you might have missed it—which is just what the collusion media and the left wanted.

Earlier this month, the Empire State had a spy scandal. The alleged perpetrator Linda Sun is a now-former aide to both New York Governors Andrew Cuomo and his successor Kathy Hochul. She was arrested and indicted for being an unregistered agent for the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Also arrested was her husband, Christopher Hu.

Ms. Sun is alleged to have used her government position to advance the interests of communist China by deepening ties between the regime and the New York state government; and revising official statements to portray the PRC in a more favorable light. On his part, Mr. Hu is alleged to have used his PRC-based to abet the “transfer of millions of dollars in kickbacks for personal gain.”

As Michael Cunningham, a research fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center, observed in the Daily Signal:

Hochul reportedly terminated Sun and alerted law enforcement immediately after learning of her misconduct but a CCP [Chinese Communist Party] agent should never have gained access to New York’s Executive Chamber in the first place… And the problem isn’t unique to New York. Most state governments are likely unaware of how aggressively Beijing targets them… This is partly because Beijing sees state and local governments as potential backdoors into a U.S. political system that is harder to infiltrate directly.

Indeed, they are not unique to the Empire State; and the means the PRC utilizes to acquire “assets” who will knowingly and/or unwittingly promote their interests are time-tested, in every sense of the term. Per Mr. Cunningham: “Beijing’s agents seek to cultivate assets at all levels, and they start targeting people early in their careers when they have little reason to suspect they are on a foreign adversary’s radar.”

Why would the collusion media desperately want to shove the New York-PRC spy scandal down the memory hole? Isn’t this the same media that in league with the Democrats and the administrative state spent years spreading the abject Russia-gate lie that Donald Trump “colluded” with Vladimir Putin to steal the 2016 election?

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Israeli mother exposes Arab incitement, criminality authorities miss Arabs in Judea and Samaria take pride in Hamas’s actions on Oct. 7, often uploading videos from the slaughter, says activist Ayelet Lash. David Isaac

Posted By on September 21st, 2024

https://www.jns.org/israeli-mother-exposes-arab-incitement-criminality-authorities-miss/

Ayelet Lash foresaw disaster even before Oct. 7. A mother of five whose day job is teaching high school students with special needs, she moonlights as an online activist.

She’s demonstrated a knack for the role, earning several appearances on Israeli media and unwanted attention from the Israeli police.

In the last four years, police have interrogated Lash three times at the behest of the State Attorney’s Office.

She thinks the investigations were fishing expeditions in the hope of charging her with racism and incitement. Lash says the police went through countless posts of hers and challenged her on absurd items. One was a photoshopped picture of a rabbit wearing a keffiyeh. She says the fact that all the investigations were dropped shows that they could turn up nothing.

She is currently under investigation by Israel’s Civil Service Commission.

Post-Oct. 7, she started looking at the social media of her Arab neighbors in Judea and Samaria where she lives. She uncovered a cesspool of terrorist and criminal activity carried on under the noses of Israeli security forces.

Lash uncovered thieving, incitement and terrorist training with relative ease, raising the question: Where are the Israeli army, police and intelligence services?

Lash recently spoke with JNS.

Q: Do you believe there will be another Oct. 7 attack, only this time from Judea and Samaria?

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

To The EU: Time To Stand Against Iran’s Regime, Terror Groups, Nukes by Majid Rafizadeh

Posted By on September 21st, 2024

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20948/eu-iran-regime

Moreover, maintaining… economic ties grants legitimacy to the regime, signaling that the European Union is willing to overlook Iran’s role in supporting aggression against Ukraine.

To stanch this, the EU urgently needs to stop its economic dealings with Iran.

Along with cutting economic ties, the EU would also do well to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization and close all Iranian embassies in Europe. The IRGC is the primary force behind Iran’s military support for Russia. Isolating it would be a crucial step in weakening Tehran’s capacity to destabilize the entire Middle East.

It [the EU] really has become a principal enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The longer the EU allows the Islamist regime of Iran to operate with no repercussions, the more it strengthens both Iran’s and Russia’s war machines. For the wellbeing of the EU, the Middle East and the Free World, the EU severing its ties with Iran cannot take place soon enough.

It is hardly a secret that without the Iranian regime’s financial, military, and operational backing, its affiliated terror groups — such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Houthis as well as its own militias, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — would not have been able to launch the kind of large-scale attacks against Israel that have upended the broader region. Iran’s support not only provides these groups with financial resources but also with crucial intelligence and military training. Without this support, the military capacity of these groups would be significantly diminished, and the extent of the chaos in the region far less severe.

Iran’s reach extends, of course, far beyond its proxies and militias. Some national governments, notably Russia, have relied on Iran’s support to sustain their military campaigns. Iran’s backing of Russia’s war against Ukraine, for example, only prolonged and intensified it.