RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.frontpagemag.com/u-s-power-of-deterrence-is-disappearing/

Since the savage attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, one of Iran’s terrorist proxies, the Houthi, have launched drones and ballistic missiles 100 times against our military and commercial shipping in the Red Sea, through which 10% of global trade passes. Twenty-five crewmen of one ship have been held hostage for over a month.

The U.S., with two Carrier Battle Groups in the region, has not responded with significant force, content to play defense by knocking down missiles and drones, but not destroying the launch sites, stores of missiles and drones, or other military assets. Such hesitation bespeaks in part a fear of “escalation,” a scare-word redolent of the appeasing “Vietnam syndrome.” But why aren’t Iran and its proxies afraid to escalate against an enemy many orders of magnitude more powerful?

Of course, we all know that electoral political calculations are hamstringing the Biden team, already fretting over the president’s tanking poll numbers and the Biden family pay-to-play scandals circling the DNC like buzzards. But to restore our power of deterrence, we must start destroying military assets, especially Iran’s, the funder and director of several terrorist groups responsible for most of the region’s mayhem.

These attacks by Iran’s proxies, moreover, are not spurred by outrage over the Israelis’ existence or right to defend themselves. They are opportunistic tactical moves against the U.S. and the West, and their “rules-based international order” that protects global trade and security. Iran and its new BFFs Russia and China are exposing the West’s weaknesses and failure of nerve.

It’s also showing the rest of the world that their triumvirate of tyranny is a better bet to take over global hegemony than suicidal Western nations that skimp on defence spending, splurge on redistributing money, obsess over apocalyptic “climate change,” and dismantle its vital energy industry that provides cheap, abundant fossil fuels.

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/12/27/leftists-scratch-their-heads-as-more-abandon-their-ranks/

The only thing more uplifting than watching several prominent liberals drift rightward is the cluelessness of those on the left as to why it’s happening.

This drift is obvious enough, since it includes journalists once heralded by the left such as Matt Taibbi (who won a Young America’s Foundation award) and Glenn Greenwald, and Democratic politicians, including Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (whose speech at a Daily Caller award ceremony drew many loud cheers from the conservative audience), and Sen. John Fetterman (who recently declared that “I am not a progressive”).

Celebrities such as Russell Brand, David Chappelle, and Bill Maher (who “has been riding an asphalt roller over the far left,” according to Townhall) are part of the shift, as are a handful of prominent business leaders, Elon Musk for instance.

That’s to say nothing of the fact that surveys show once tried-and-true liberal constituencies – Hispanics, Asians, blacks, working class, and the young – are abandoning the Democratic party.

It’s not as though these people are suddenly small-government conservatives. They just are waking up to the fact that the left is a cesspool of hatred and intolerance and are looking for the exits.

https://pjmedia.com/david-solway-2/2023/12/26/the-underground-people-n4925025

My wife and I have been considering buying a property on the Hawaiian island of Kauai to escape the chill, rainy Vancouver winters. One can imagine our distress when we learned that someone I regard as among the most contemptible people on the planet, Mark Zuckerberg, is building a 1,500-acre compound on this most beautiful island in the Hawaiian archipelago.

Citing various sources, Stephen Green at PJ Media reports that “a 5,000-square-foot underground lair featuring its own energy and food supplies is under construction.” According to Housing.com, also cited by Green, Zuckerberg’s $270 million Koolau Ranch project “is designed to function as a self-sufficient space, ready to withstand global catastrophes…It is packed with security measures, encompassing keypad locks, soundproofing and concealed doors, while an extensive camera network ensures surveillance.”

The Guardian informs us that Zuckerberg’s lawyers “filed suit against hundreds of local Hawaiians who may own an interest in small pockets within his estates boundaries… [which is] surrounded by a 6ft stone wall blocking easy access to Pila’a Beach.” A local resident described this legal action as “the face of neocolonialism.” Zuckerberg eventually backed down, and the disputed parcels of land were sold at auction. How that changed anything is beyond me.

Apparently, “a smaller-scale ‘bunker’ is being built on nearby Maui by none other than Oprah Winfrey.” Mr. Portfolio himself, Bill Gates, who owns at least seven multi-million dollar homes, extensive farmland, hotel chains, and a private island in Belize, is rumored to have bunkers at all his properties. 

Billionaire bunkers are in, it seems, to protect the world’s oligarchs from an impending apocalypse that they have conspired to bring about. “A number of companies around the world are meeting a growing demand for structures that protect from any risk, whether it’s a global pandemic, an asteroid, or World War III – while also delivering luxurious amenities,” says CEO Robert Vicino of Vivos, an underground shelter company.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/12/25/christmas-is-canceled-pro-palestinian-protesters-riot-in-new-york-block-ohare-in-chicago/

Pro-Palestinian protesters spent the weekend rioting, disrupting holiday travel, and targeting Christmas in general in an attempt to force Americans to listen to their concerns by causing them inconveniences, disturbing their holiday plans, and irritating them.

In New York City on Monday, several hundred demonstrators carried a bloodied Nativity scene to Rockefeller Center. Some carried Islamic symbols.

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES – DECEMBER 25: Pro-Palestinian protesters rally in front of the News Corporation building and near the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, and march on 42nd Street, 5th and Park avenues on Monday, December 25, 2023, in New York City. They chant ‘Christmas is canceled’ while carrying blood-red mock Nativity scene through New York City streets. The police arrest several protesters and use force while detaining. (Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

They attempted to disrupt festivities and later clashed with police.

One man was heard on video evidently shouting “Jew!” at police.

Update: Video emerged of pro-Palestinian activists vandalizing the Union Square Christmas market with anti-Israel graffiti, and even anti-police graffiti familiar from the Black Lives Matter movement:

The New York Post reported:

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters converged on Midtown Monday, lugging a blood-red mock Nativity scene and chanting “Christmas is canceled here.”

“Long live the intifada,” the crowd of about 500 demonstrators yelled, using the Arabic word for “rebellion” or “uprising,” as they mobbed the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree where revelers were enjoying the holiday.