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Terrorists Fire Thousands of Rockets at Israeli Civilians, Courtesy of Iran Biden’s reengagement with the Islamic Republic could fund thousands more. Joseph Klein

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/05/terrorists-fire-thousands-rockets-israeli-joseph-klein/

It was nearly seven years ago, on former President Barack Obama’s watch, when the Palestinian Islamist terrorists deliberately rained down enormous barrages of rockets on civilian population centers in Israel. Five Israeli civilians (including one child) were killed during the 2014 Gaza War. Now, for the first time since 2014, we are seeing the Palestinian terrorists engage in the same level of savagery once again, just four months into the Biden presidency. 

Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have fired nearly 3000 rockets into Israel since May 10th. In that time, Israel has already reported at least nine dead, including five women and two children. Israel has responded forcefully with hundreds of air strikes in Gaza. The strikes have killed senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders and destroyed terrorist military and intelligence facilities, command headquarters, terrorist officers’ homes, and attack tunnel networks. “No Hamas officer, high or low, should feel safe over- or under- ground,” an Israeli army spokesman warned Saturday night. “Hamas will think 500 times before ever again going to war against Israel.”

The Palestinian terrorists are armed and funded by the fanatical Islamist Iranian regime. The Biden administration will not succeed in ending the violence in the long term simply by focusing on negotiating a ceasefire of the current hostilities. The Biden administration should focus instead on cutting off the terrorists’ support line at its source. Biden must abandon any negotiations with the Iranian regime and any consideration of sanctions relief that could potentially buttress Iran’s ability to bankroll Hamas and its other terrorist proxies.

The United Nations Security Council met twice last week in closed sessions to discuss the escalating crisis. On Sunday, the Security Council held an open meeting. When the speakers were not condemning Israel as the aggressor or equating the Palestinian terrorist attacks aimed at killing or wounding Israeli civilians with Israel’s military operations to defend its own citizens, they called for maximum mutual restraint and a ceasefire. Notably, the Biden administration’s UN Ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, failed in her remarks to the Security Council to re-affirm President Biden’s prior acknowledgement of Israel’s right of self-defense. Iran’s documented role as the terrorists’ main military supplier and funder was not mentioned even once.

Moral clarity requires an unambiguous acknowledgement that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist groups, supported by the terrorist-sponsoring Islamic Republic of Iran, are solely responsible for the violent rampage spiraling out of control. The terrorists must be held criminally to account for the dual war crimes of targeting Israel’s civilian population and launching their rockets from within Gaza’s civilian neighborhoods and institutions. The Iranian regime must be held criminally to account as the terrorists’ sponsor, aider and abettor. 

FOREIGN POLICY, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

As Iran’s Mullahs Incite Hamas Terrorism, Biden Administration Wants Sanctions Lifted by Majid Rafizadeh

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17373/iran-hamas-terrorism

The Biden administration is apparently offering even more concessions and sanctions relief to Iran’s leaders, concessions that “go beyond the nuclear-specific sanctions.”….Meanwhile, these leaders from Iran are openly encouraging Hamas to launch more rockets….

In addition, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei…has been inciting terrorism on social media…. [and] labeled the whole nation of Israel a terrorist camp….

Twitter’s policy indicates that it will suspend users “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.” But Twitter appears to be giving him full immunity. It is worth noting that Twitter banned the former President Donald J. Trump… “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

“Why is @khameni_ir still the fu*k on Twitter? If this isn’t incitement, idk wtf is!!!” — @JeremyKossen, Twitter, May 12, 2021.

“Why on Earth aren’t you banning @khamenei_ir and all his other accounts?” — @eL3CT10n to CEO Jack Dorsey, Twitter, May 12, 2021.

“The United States engaging in active negotiations with Iran and potentially providing billions of dollars in sanctions relief will no doubt contribute to Iran’s support of Hamas and other terrorist organizations who attack Americans and our allies. We call on you to immediately end negotiations with Iran, and make clear that sanctions relief will not be provided.” — More than 40 US Senators, letter to President Joe Biden, Newsweek, May 12, 2021.

It is mind-boggling that the Biden administration is forging ahead with its plan to revive the nuclear deal and lift sanctions against Iran’s mullahs while one of America’s strongest allies, Israel, is being attacked by the Iran-backed terror group, Hamas….

[T]he Biden administration must immediately halt talks with the Iranian regime. And definitely do not fund it. Any generosity will just be used to enrich Iran’s militia, the IRGC, and target more countries in the Middle East — in addition to the United States as it did on 9/11 and 1983. This time, however, the attacks may well come from Iranian bases in Venezuela or the Southern Hemisphere.

Amidst the Iranian regime’s clear role in inciting terrorism against Israeli civilians, talks to lift sanctions against the regime are advancing in Vienna. The Biden administration is apparently offering even more concessions and sanctions relief to Iran’s leaders, concessions that “go beyond the nuclear-specific sanctions.”

Meanwhile, these leaders from Iran are openly encouraging Hamas to launch more rockets at a longtime US ally in the Middle East, Israel. Additionally, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, Esmail Ghaani, in a phone call with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, recently applauded Hamas for its attacks.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Fauci says pandemic exposed ‘undeniable effects of racism’

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://www.aol.com/news/fauci-says-pandemic-exposed-undeniable-162620396

The immunologist who leads the COVID-19 response in the United States said Sunday that “the undeniable effects of racism” have led to unacceptable health disparities that especially hurt African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans during the pandemic.

“COVID-19 has shone a bright light on our own society’s failings,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said during a graduation ceremony for Emory University.

Speaking by webcast from Washington, Fauci told the graduates in Atlanta that many members of minority groups work in essential jobs where they might be exposed to the coronavirus. He also said they are more likely to become infected if exposed because of medical conditions such as hypertension, chronic lung disease, diabetes or obesity.

“Now, very few of these comorbidities have racial determinants,” Fauci said. “Almost all relate to the social determinants of health dating back to disadvantageous conditions that some people of color find themselves in from birth regarding the availability of an adequate diet, access to health care and the undeniable effects of racism in our society.”

ISRAEL, MEDIA Comments turned off

Associated Press, Hamas Propagandists By David Harsanyi

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/05/associated-press-hamas-propagandists/

The news agency has a long, shameful record of regurgitating the terror group’s lies.

As more than 1,500 Hamas rockets were flying toward Israeli cities with the express purpose of murdering civilians, CNN could spare only around four minutes — in total — to cover the topic during an entire week of prime time. Typically, it’s only when the Jewish state begins defending itself that the story gets any real traction.

And, needless to say, the focus got intense after Israel destroyed a twelve-story high-rise building in Gaza that housed foreign press outlets, including the Associated Press. Israel claims that al-Jalaa Tower was home to Hamas military-intelligence assets. It called ahead to warn those inside, so, fortunately, no journalist was killed.

AP CEO Gary Pruitt said that his organization “had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building,” adding, “This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.”

This is nonsense. Pruitt knowingly puts journalists at risk every day he sends them to places such as Gaza, where the ruling regime wages war behind civilians it uses as shields. But how did Pruitt “actively” check? Did he ask Hamas? Did he call the landlord? Did he ring everyone’s bell? And how could we trust that a media outlet that is unable to track down a single Hamas militant shooting Qassam rockets — from dense civilian areas right near its offices — would be able to figure out who was in their building, anyway?

It is, of course, highly probable that Hamas was using journalists as human shields. This is what it does. During the last major outbreak of violence, in 2014, Gaza’s Shifa hospital became “a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders,” who could “be seen in the hallways and offices,” according to the Washington Post — but not the Associated Press, which had around 40 journalists working on the Israeli–Palestinian story, including a number of them filing stories from inside that very hospital.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Army Prioritizes Climate Change as ‘Serious Threat’ to National Security By Caroline Downey

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/army-prioritizes-climate-change-as-serious-threat-to-national-security/

In a memo released Friday, the U.S. Army announced that it now classifies climate change as a “serious threat to U.S. national security interests and defense objectives.” The statement subsequently signaled the military’s intention to prioritize combatting climate change with new risk analyses, threat projections, installation and natural-resource planning, supply-chain procurement considerations, and general strategy.

The statement added that the effects of climate change can induce “humanitarian disasters, undermine weak governments and contribute to long-term social and economic disruptions.”

“The Army has a lot to be proud of, yet there is a lot of work to continue to operate efficiently across extreme weather and climate conditions,” the memo read.

To prepare for and mitigate the fallout from the Earth’s warming, the Army plans to conduct “in-depth assessments of likely climate change effects on the Army’s worldwide missions,” while also working to “lead the way in technology development for tactical vehicles that balances increased capability with decreased climate impacts.”

The Army’s policy change comes after the Biden administration signaled its commitment to fighting the climate crisis as a national-security threat. In April, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III called climate change an “existential threat.”

MEDIA Comments turned off

Outrage after social media users discover series of Hitler-praising tweets from CNN freelancer The tweet turned out to be one of many in which Adeel Raja has praised Hitler By Cortney O’Brien |

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnn-adeel-raja-says-world-today-needs-a-hitler

CNN is under fire for having hired a writer who posted several times on social media that he believes the world needs another “Hitler.”

Social media users demanded that the network respond after discovering the tweets from one of its freelance contributors, Adeel Raja, who has written dozens of pieces for the outlet. 

After some digging, it turned out to be one of several messages Raja has posted praising the Nazi leader.

“The only reason I am supporting Germany in the finals – Hitler was a German and he did good with those Jews!” Raja wrote during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Raja last had a CNN byline on Sept. 16, 2020. He still lists his affiliation with the network on LinkedIn.

“Hail Hitler!” he wrote the following day. Twitter users shared screenshots of the messages.

“The only reason I am supporting Germany in the finals – Hitler was a German and he did good with those Jews!” Raja wrote during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Raja last had a CNN byline on Sept. 16, 2020. He still lists his affiliation with the network on LinkedIn.

“Hail Hitler!” he wrote the following day. Twitter users shared screenshots of the messages.

HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Top Retired Officers Are Right: Biden’s Leftism And ‘Woke’ Military Threaten U.S. Security

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/05/18/bidens-leftism-and-woke-military-threaten-u-s-national-security/

Military officials are trained to stand silently on the sidelines of politics, saying nothing but what relates to their mission, whatever it might be. But a recent open letter signed by 124 former flag-level officers warning of the dangerous effects of our nation’s sharp sudden turn to the left overturns that tradition. What do they know that the rest of us don’t?

The letter was not couched in military jargon or bureaucratese; it was plain-spoken and blunt in its concern about America’s course. It starts with a call for protecting our free and fair elections, but then turns toward the ominous political and cultural trends of recent years. No need for a translation:

Aside from the election, the current administration has launched a full-blown assault on our constitutional rights in a dictatorial manner, bypassing Congress, with more than 50 executive orders quickly signed, many reversing the previous administration’s effective policies and regulations. Moreover, population control actions such as excessive lockdowns, school and business closures, and, most alarming, censorship of written and verbal expression are all direct assaults on our fundamental rights. We must support and hold accountable politicians who will act to counter socialism, Marxism, and Progressivism, support our constitutional republic, and insist on fiscally responsible governing while focusing on all Americans, especially the middle class, not special interest or extremist groups which are used to divide us into warring factions.

They warned about the negative trends in a number of areas, ranging from our increasingly open borders and social media exercising control over speech, to Joe Biden’s return to the fatally flawed Iran nuclear deal and the failure to protect the rule of law.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Climate Lawsuits Take a Hit The Supreme Court makes it harder for cities to duck federal courts.

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/climate-lawsuits-take-a-hit-11621288621?mod=opinion_lead_pos4

State and local governments have been trying to extract tens of billions of dollars from fossil-fuel producers for contributing to climate change. But a 7-1 majority of the Supreme Court on Monday decided an important procedural question in BP v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore that could put a lid on these suits.

Baltimore has sued some two dozen fossil-fuel companies for creating a “public nuisance.” It argues that the production, sale and promotion of carbon energy has increased greenhouse gas emissions, thereby contributing to climate change that will cause “property damage, economic injuries and impacts to public health.” To describe its argument as a legal stretch is an understatement.

A similar effort by states to shake down fossil-fuel power generators already failed in federal court (AEP v. Connecticut) in 2011. The Supreme Court ruled that corporations can’t be sued for their greenhouse emissions under federal common law since the Clean Air Act delegates the regulation of CO2 emissions to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Baltimore and other cities are now trying to sneak lawsuits through state courts where judges aren’t bound by AEP. The Supreme Court on Monday made this end-run much harder by ruling on a complicated procedural question regarding federal appellate court review of federal judges’ remand orders to state courts.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The CDC Inadvertently Outs the Mask Cult This strange collection of secular zealots have zero scientific credibility. David Catron

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://spectator.org/cdc-mask-cult/

When the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that fully vaccinated people can safely participate in both indoor and outdoor activities without wearing face masks, it was good news for most Americans. In addition to a sense of vindication for those of us who object to post-vaccination masking, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky’s statement provided another much-needed service — it forced the metastasizing mask cult to reveal itself as a coalition of anti-science zealots and petty tyrants. A typical example of their collective response to the CDC guidance appeared in the Washington Post under the title, “The CDC shouldn’t have removed restrictions without requiring proof of vaccination.”

Its author, former Planned Parenthood CEO Leana S. Wen, is a proponent of vaccine passports for routine activities such as retail shopping, restaurant dining, going to the theater, and working in a fully staffed office. Aside from the constitutional and legal issues raised by the kind of government-issued passports Dr. Wen advocates, her views aren’t shared by most Americans. A recent Gallup survey found that a mere 40 percent support vaccine passports for restaurant dining, and only 45 percent favor them in the workplace. The only activities for which majorities supported such passports were airplane travel and attendance at large public gatherings such as concerts. Dr. Wen isn’t satisfied with such modest limitations:

The problem is this: You know what you’re doing, but you have no way to be confident of trusting everyone else. Let’s say you go the grocery store. It’s crowded and few people there are masked. Perhaps everyone is vaccinated, but perhaps not. What if you’re vaccinated but not fully protected because you’re immunocompromised? You can no longer count on CDC rules to help you keep safe. What if you don’t have child care, so you had to bring your kids along? They didn’t choose to remain unvaccinated — the shots aren’t available for them. Surely, it’s not fair to put them at risk.

First, as a practical matter, it’s impossible to know who is vaccinated and who is not. If vaccine passports are mandated, it will create a black market through which forgeries can be purchased.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Biden Scorning the Secret Formula of American Prosperity By Lawrence Kudlow

Posted By on May 18th, 2021

https://www.nysun.com/national/biden-scorning-the-secret-formula-of-american/91514/

Taxed to the max. In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes. That famous quote, of course, is from Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. Among all the problems with the Biden administration’s policy, they even want to raise taxes on your death.

That’s a poke in Ben Franklin’s eye. Today’s column is not about Ben Franklin, though it’s worth noting that he, like many of the Founders, was an avid follower of the free market theories of Adam Smith, published in “The Wealth of Nations” in 1776.

Think about that (we can talk later about whether it’s a coincidence). The real point of this column is to press the question of why taxes matter. They do. A lot. And incentives matter. To quote Art Laffer many years ago: Tax something more, you get less of it. Something less, you’ll get more of it.

Why? Because in a free economy, which is certainly in line with our Founders’ legacy, we should reward success, not punish it. At the margin, if the extra hour worked, or the extra dollar invested, or the extra business risk taken, pays more after tax, that will propel an economy into prosperity.

More work, more investment, more risk, this is why America’s democracy and its founding principles have created the best economy in history. Taxes are not the only factor, but they are a big one. I would suggest five factors right at the top that are a useful intellectual model leading to prosperity.