Does Biden Want Israel to Lose the War? by Robert Williams

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20244/biden-israel-lose-war

Have any demands been made on Hamas’s patrons, Iran and Qatar, to tell their Hamas beneficiaries to stop? Have any demands been made on them to do anything? Why is only the victim of the October 7 invasion being asked to make concessions, and not the aggressor?

“I will not replace Hamastan with Fatahstan…. According to a poll that was carried out a few days ago, 82% of the Palestinian population in Judea and Samaria justifies the horrific massacre of Oct. 7.” — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Unfortunately, the October 7 massacre proved beyond a doubt that both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority actually mean it when they say that they want to annihilate Israel. According to a November 14 poll by the Arab World for Research and Development, 75% of the Palestinians polled support the October 7 massacre and 74.7% support the creation of a single Palestinian state “from the river to the sea”… This is what the Biden administration wants to reward with a Palestinian state?

Trade tangible land in Israel for intangible promises from Lebanon — protected by a military that might wilt at the first shot?

Perhaps Biden could please reconsider?US President Joe Biden has gone out of his way — and it is enormously appreciated! — to stand by America’s ally Israel, defending itself from being further attacked by Hamas and other Iranian proxy groups in the region. The Biden administration has sent warships to the region, materiel to counter the more than 9,500 rockets and missiles fired at Israel since October 7, aimed at the cities of a country roughly the size of New Jersey. It is bewildering that he has come under so much unjust criticism for supporting a country that is basically also fighting for the US and the Free World against a terrorist group, Hamas, that apparently sees nothing wrong with burning babies alive, beheading them, raping and torturing men, women and children and then murdering them.

Sadly however, by reportedly demanding that Israel reduce its efforts to confront the Iran-backed terrorist group by January 1, Biden, presumably to help his reelection campaign, is seriously undermining Israel’s efforts.

Holiday Reflections: ‘The Cause of America Is the Cause of All Mankind’ by Lawrence Kadish

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20243/cause-of-america

Our nation’s founding fathers made the separation of church and state one of the pillars of this republic, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t religious.

On the contrary.

They profoundly believed in God, and through their writings made repeated references to their faith and America’s unique place among nations based on that faith. Among those individuals was Thomas Paine who, in his pamphlet “Common Sense,” wrote, “The cause of America is the cause of all mankind.” He would tell his fellow citizens confronting the imperial rule of England, “Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.”

America’s first president also embraced his religion. In his farewell address, George Washington reminded his audience, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports.”

This embrace of faith is not unique to our national leaders of the 1700s. Historian Gary Scott Smith wrote that President Ronald Reagan “firmly believed and often declared that God intended America to be a beacon of hope, faith, freedom, and democracy — ‘a city on the hill.'”

As we celebrate this holiday season it is crucial that we reflect on a nation whose motto, “In God we trust” reveals a foundation of morality, ethics and virtue. It does not matter which religion you embrace. These are basic founding principles of a nation that remains humanity’s last best hope and whose citizens are bound together under these shared values. It is easy to lose sight of that fact amidst the political rancor and partisan divides that currently distract us.

A judicial insurrection against democracy The Colorado ruling forbidding Trump from standing for election is a grotesque assault on democratic rights. Brendan O’Neill

https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/12/20/a-judicial-insurrection-against-democracy/

We didn’t need further proof that Trump Derangement Syndrome poses a graver threat to American democracy than Donald Trump himself, but we have it. The decision of the Colorado Supreme Court to disqualify Trump from holding office is the anti-Trumpists’ most egregious assault on democracy yet. It shows once again how willing they are to use the tactics of the banana republic, the sly schemes of a tinpot state, to take down a politician they love to loathe. ‘We are defending democracy’, they say, as they beat it to a pulp.

The Colorado justices – every one of whom was appointed by a Democratic governor – ruled four to three that Trump is ‘disqualified from holding the office of president under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment’. The 14th is a post-Civil War amendment that forbids ‘insurrectionists’ from holding office. It was designed to keep unrepentant Confederates, men who had dragged the republic to war, away from seats of power. Trump’s supposed stirring-up of the boneheads and blowhards who stormed the Capitol on 6 January 2021 was an insurrection too, the justices decreed, and thus his name must be scrubbed from ballot papers across the state of Colorado.

First things first. The idea that the idiots who ran riot at the Capitol on 6 January are in any way comparable to a Confederacy of seven slave states that illegally broke from the American republic is unhinged. It is a testament to the historical illiteracy of the Democratic establishment that it would even hint at a likeness between men who caused a war that killed hundreds of thousands and Trumpists taking selfies in Congress during a conflagration that led to five deaths (three from natural causes). Not content with hysterically referring to 6 January as a domestic 9/11, now they’re implying it was a Civil War-level rupture. And this is leaving to one side the contested idea that Trump incited 6 January.

This is the first time a presidential candidate has been deemed unfit for election under the constitutional ban on insurrectionists. The impact of the ruling will be dire. If it holds – and it very well might not – it means Trump will be absent from presidential primary ballots in Colorado, meaning no one in the state could vote for him to be the GOP’s 2024 candidate. Hard luck Coloradans who want Trump back in the White House – your democratic right to elect him has been stolen from you by judges. Beyond the primaries, the court ruling would ‘probably also affect Trump’s status for the 5 November General Election’, says the Guardian. That is, if the ruling holds, Trump could be blocked from standing in Colorado even if he is freely selected as the Republicans’ presidential candidate in other states.

Humpty-Dumpty America, or How Did We Suddenly Fall Apart? Victor Davis Hanson

https://victorhanson.com/humpty-dumpty-america-or-how-did-we-suddenly-fall-apart-part-three-the-symptoms/

Foreign Policy

There have been plenty of foreign policy disasters over the last 60 years since the Vietnam Era. But even in our failures, there was no inherent intent to destroy ourselves and to deliberately harm efforts to improve our security and stature overseas.

Not now.

Why are we experiencing one of the worst military recruitment crises of the last half-century? Why did we drive out over 8,000 of our most experienced soldiers for not being vaxxed, the majority with acquired immunity from prior Covid-19 bouts?

Why was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs proud that he had called his Chinese counterpart to warn him of the supposed volatility of his own American Commander-in-Chief? Why did General Milley and Secretary of Defense Austin promise Congress to chase unicorns of “white rage” and “white privilege,” without any supporting documentation of systemic racial discrimination in the ranks? Were they unhappy that white males died at twice their population proportion in our recent optional wars abroad?

Did they think all their virtue-signaling would increase recruitment, end internal dissension, and improve morale in the ranks?

If someone wished to humiliate and destroy the prestige of the United States, erode our deterrence, and greenlight anti-American aggression, he could not have done any better than the architects of the 2021 Afghanistan flight.

How did the U.S. manage to become so arrogant and impotent all at once?

Judge Orders Removal of Historic Confederate Monument in Arlington Cemetery By Eric Lendrum

https://amgreatness.com/2023/12/21/judge-orders-removal-of-historic-confederate-monument-in-arlington-cemetery/

On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled in favor of the Biden Administration’s efforts to remove an iconic Confederate monument from Arlington National Cemetery, despite efforts to preserve it.

As reported by ABC News, the removal of the monument was originally ordered by the Biden Administration’s “Naming Commission,” a partisan group dedicated to the renaming or removal of everything related to the Confederacy in the United States. Having previously ordered the renaming of many military bases, including the renowned Fort Bragg, the commission ordered the removal of the Confederate monument in Arlington Cemetery, which is surrounded by the graves of Confederate soldiers, as well as the grave of the monument’s sculptor, Moses Ezekiel.

After efforts by several heritage groups, including Defend Arlington and Save Southern Heritage, the attempted removal of the monument was blocked by U.S. District Judge Rossie Alston on Monday over concerns that the removal would desecrate the surrounding graves. He thus ordered that the government was temporarily prohibited “from taking any acts to deconstruct, tear down, remove, or alter the object of this case — the Confederate Reconciliation Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery and the surrounding gravesites — pending further action of this Court.”

However, Alston later determined that “Plaintiffs have not alleged facts that support the premise that Defendants intend to “destroy” rather than “remove” the Memorial.”

Fetterman: I Didn’t Leave the Left, It Left Me “I don’t feel like I’ve left the label; it’s just more that it’s left me.” by Daniel Greenfield

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fetterman-i-didnt-leave-the-left-it-left-me/

An interesting line with a lot of history to it from Sen. Jon Fetterman on dumping the “progressive” label he used to use.

“I don’t feel like I’ve left the label; it’s just more that it’s left me.”

President Reagan would often quip, “I didn’t leave the Democratic party, the Democratic Party left me.” Similar lines have been used by everyone from Bill Maher, “It’s not me who’s changed, it is the left” to Elon Musk.

It’s hard to say exactly what’s going on with Fetterman after his medical issues, but a dividing line seems to have been the Left’s support for Hamas, but he’s also embraced a species of economic populism, fighting against land sales to China, and Japan’s takeover of U.S. Steel.

While Fetterman had never been a foreign policy guy, he did explicitly break with the far left on Israel during his campaign.

“I would also respectfully say that I’m not really a progressive in that sense,” he added. “Our campaign is based on core Democratic values and principles, and always has been, and there is no daylight between myself and these kinds of unwavering commitments to Israel’s security.”

Still, Fetterman said he was “eager to affirm” his positions on the record, lest there be any uncertainty among supporters of Israel who have similar questions. “I want to go out of my way to make sure that it’s absolutely clear,” he told JI, “that the views that I hold in no way go along the lines of some of the more fringe or extreme wings of our party.”

The Left did not take that seriously and assumed he was just pandering. Now they’re finding out that he really meant it.

So this did not come out of nowhere. And it’s not just about Israel.

Direct Action Campaign Calls Out Pro-Hamas Campus Hate Groups Confronting the radicals and Jew-haters on their own turf. by Sara Dogan

https://www.frontpagemag.com/direct-action-campaign-calls-out-pro-hamas-campus-hate-groups/

The barbaric and atrocious Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 have brought about a pivotal moment in our nation’s self-awareness. For decades, the David Horowitz Freedom Center has been warning of the growing pro-Hamas, pro-Jihadist, Jew-hating sentiment on American college campuses. Suddenly, the depth and breadth of campus Jew hatred, fueled by Marxist ideology that divides us all into oppressors or their victims, is on display for all to witness.

Genocidal cries of “Globalize the Intifada,” “From the River to the Sea,” and “By any means necessary” have echoed as a constant chorus on America’s most prestigious campuses, fueled by faculty members and DEI officials who actively celebrated Hamas’s horrific crimes against innocent civilians.

Sensing our moment, the Freedom Center stepped willingly into this breach. In a stealth campaign to circumvent campus censors and reach students directly, the David Horowitz Freedom Center conducted a direct action campaign on three prestigious campuses that are home to some of the worst offenders: Georgetown University, Florida State University, and Louisiana State University. On each campus we distributed 2,500 newspapers containing our new report naming the “Top Ten Campus Hate Groups in America,” leaving copies in dining halls, student activities centers, attached to bulletin boards, and in other key locations on each campus.

The report exposes and ranks ten campus organizations that have become vehicles of resentment and hatred directed at our nation, at Jewish students and supporters of Israel, and at the founding principles that are supposed to buttress the universities themselves—open discourse and academic freedom.

The three campuses where we distributed our newspapers contain some of the worst hate groups in the nation. Georgetown University is home to the #1 campus hate group, the Black Law Student Association (BLSA) which has promoted racism, advocated for censorship, and destroyed the careers of faculty members who stand for meritocracy and fail to obey the racist orthodoxy mandated by DEI officials.

In January 2022, law professor Ilya Shapiro, who had just been hired as a senior lecturer and to head Georgetown’s Center for the Constitution, was placed on administrative leave after he tweeted his opposition to Biden’s pledge to select an African-American woman to serve as the next justice on the Supreme Court.

Christmas in a Time of War by George Weigel

https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2023/12/christmas-in-a-time-of-war

George Weigel’s column “The Catholic Difference” is syndicated by the Denver Catholic, the official publication of the Archdiocese of Denver. George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington, D.C.’s Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he holds the William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.

EXCERPT:

Hamas’s barbarism, by contrast, is motivated by religious conviction—warped religious conviction, to be sure; false religious conviction, undoubtedly; but religious conviction, nonetheless. Yes, Hamas has a political program, and its slogan, “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea,” is as despicable a euphemism for exterminationist anti-Semitism as was the Nazis’ “Final Solution” to Die Judenfrage (the “Jewish Question”). But what turns people into deranged Hamas murderers and “martyrs,” who by all accounts enjoyed killing 1,400 innocents on 10/7, is the vile belief that what they were doing was the will of God.

It was not; it could not be. Only a fundamentally distorted understanding of “God” could lead to such a wicked conclusion. The God of the Bible cannot command the murder he forbade in the Ten Commandments, because the God of the Bible is a God of reason, and reason cannot contradict itself. The God of the Qur’an, however, is a God of will, who can command whatever he chooses and demand submission to that command as the ticket to salvation. Taken to extremes, that false idea of God as Absolute Willfulness is what makes Hamas, Hezbollah, and their exterminationist anti-Semitism possible, and what gives these hopeless political movements their staying power.

Dear Santa: Why Is Christmas So $@#*% Expensive This Year?

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/12/22/dear-santa-why-is-christmas-so-expensive-this-year/

Jill Biden’s creepy video, featuring a troupe of tap dancers showing off the garish Christmas decorations in the White House, prompted one journalist to comment that they are “really going for the Hunger Games as this year’s Christmas theme.”

While they’re prancing around in the capital, out in the districts everyone else is struggling to pay the sky-high cost of this festive season.

Are you traveling to be with friends and family? Airfares are 18% higher than they were Christmas 2020. And if you try to cut costs by driving, gasoline prices are 45% higher.

Buying food for your guests will cost 20% more than the last Christmas before Bidenflation took hold.

PNC Bank’s annual “Christmas Price Index,” a gimmicky index that measures the cost to buy all the gifts mentioned in “Twelve Days of Christmas,” has gone up more than 13% in the past two years.  

Haven’t bought a Christmas tree yet? It will cost you about 10% more than last year, which is on top of the 10% increase the year before, and 10% the year before that.

Those Christmas lights decorating the house? Your electric bill will be 24% higher. If you’re sending Christmas cards, stationery costs are up 27% under Biden.

At least drowning your sorrows in alcohol is getting less expensive.

Hezbollah Has Already Opened the Northern Front The buffer zone has moved south of the border, and the IDF faces daily mortar attacks from Hezbollah.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-has-already-opened-the-northern-front-lebanon-hezbollah-iran-d4a6b62e?mod=opinion_lead_pos7

Rosh Hanikra, Israel

Will Israel launch a military operation to clear Hezbollah from its northern border? Or is the war there already under way?

“We see a steady escalation in terms of the range and variety of munitions being launched by Hezbollah at Israel,” Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, international spokesman of the Israel Defense Forces, told a group of foreign journalists at a briefing in northern Israel on Dec. 18. “We can do the same, if we need to, against Hezbollah that we are doing against Hamas in the south. This may be the scenario that we will need to implement.”

The briefing took place at a deserted kibbutz called Rosh Hanikra. Only yards from the border with Lebanon, it once was a flourishing community of 1,400 people but was evacuated, along with 27 other communities, in the days following Hamas’s massacre on Oct. 7. Israel has withdrawn its civilian population 2.5 miles south from its border with Lebanon, obliging 86,000 people to leave their homes. The residents of these border communities have become refugees in their own country.

Amid the deserted houses, fields and farms, the IDF conducts its daily duel with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. More than 1,000 Hezbollah attacks have taken place since Oct. 7 as the Lebanese Shiite Islamist group seeks to maintain a controlled second front to aid its Sunni allies in the south.