Links - 6th January 2024 (2 - Biden-Harris)

OSINTdefender on X - "Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea has practically Collapsed as France, Spain, and Italy have all announced their Withdrawal from the U.S. Command Structure for the Operation, with the Three Nations stating they will only conduct further Maritime Operations under the Command of NATO and/or the European Union and not the United States."
Ian Miles Cheong on X - "Biden is such a bad president that most countries don’t trust him or his administration to put themselves under his command. Operation Prosperity Guardian is a complete bust."
FJ on X - "This is the respect U.S. leadership has under Biden admin. It's not just the American adversaries like Iran that don't respect the current leadership in the White House. The U.S. under Biden admin cannot even put together a coalition to defend sea routes. And the American MSM is largely silent about this lack of leadership by the Biden admin. Imagine the outrage if this was happening under Trump."
Peter Meijer on X - "At least 4x allied ambassadors told me something like “I didn’t like Trump, but his team would’ve never done what Biden did.” Giving zero heads up to NATO allies (who lost 1100+ soldiers in AFG) about AFG withdrawal date left bad taste. Ditto removing Houthis from FTO list. General vibe was one of confusion. Biden was supposed to be the adult. Biden was supposed to be pro-NATO. Biden was supposed to be all the things he talked about in his big foreign policy speech mere weeks after inauguration. Yet his rhetoric was the opposite of reality."

Richard Hanania on X - "Are you wondering why the US doesn’t just bomb the Houthis and be done with all this?  According to the NYT, the Biden administration worries about getting into a “tit-for-tat” with them.  The Houthis versus the US Navy! That’s the showdown Biden is desperate to avoid.  Pathetic."

Thread by @sophieleblance3 on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "SICK: Girl Who Was Touched by Creeper Joe Biden on Camera Confirms he Groped Her and Pinched Her Nipple #MeToo  The perv groped her. The Creeper pinched her nipple. Of course, Democrats will support him anyway. Disgusting people.  Back in 2015, Joe Biden went viral after he was video taped groping Senator Steve Daines’ niece on C-Span while meeting with his family for his swearing-in ceremony. The girl, Maria Piacesi who was only eight years old at the time, was filmed standing in front of then Vice President Biden as he ran his hands up and down her upper body.  Six years later, Maria Piacesi is finally speaking out. Citizen journalist Jonathan Pasetti recently shared screenshots of a conversation he had with Maria Piacesi on social media app Tik Tok where she admits that President Joe Biden pinched her nipple. The teenager has since deleted her comments however the screenshots still exist. “Did Joe Biden pinch you?” asked Pasetti asked on Tik Tok.  “Yes,” confirmed Maria Piacesi...  “Why did you delete the comment?” Pasetti asked. “I have friends that would no longer be friends with me if they knew that,” Maria Piacesi replied."
Mirror of screenshot

LB on X - "You still can’t bring a water bottle on a plane, but unvetted people without valid government IDs are being flown all over the country. Make it make sense."
James O'Keefe on X - "NEW: “Please help me print my boarding pass I am a refugee”— government claims it is vetting these individuals before putting them on planes, but our reporting and numerous tips from insiders contradict that. What we found is that agents responsible for vetting the identification of these individuals are relying solely on their word.   You and I could not travel without showing our ID numerous times and taking off our shoes, but these supposed “refugees” as they’re calling them face none of that security or scrutiny."

Tayler Hansen on X - "As I’m flying out of Laredo to DFW I noticed almost every person in the airport is an illegal migrant.   A @AmericanAir  rep told me more illegal migrants fly out of this airport on a daily basis than Americans.   I asked a Border Patrol Agent who is checking documents if any of them are screened for Tuberculosis or COVID and he replied “Not that I’m aware of— At least not here anyways”  As I pulled up to the airport a migrant who is now on my flight was throwing up outside.   Is this not a huge safety risk? Why are these people not being screened before being flown into major American cities and why are major airlines helping facilitate this?   @watchTENETnow"
Ashley St. Clair on X - "“As I pulled up to the airport a migrant who is now on my flight was throwing up outside.”  I’ve been down to the border. I’ve seen the medications strung along the border because of the illnesses and diseases picked up along the journey to the border.   Most international refugees are screened for health conditions such as TB.  Because these folks are crossing the border illegally and then traveling domestically, they are not being subjected to standard CDC screenings."

Mollie on X - "On his 1st day in office, Biden issued 7 executive orders going out of their way to destroy the border protections his predecessor had enacted. Seven. And he kept going. Why do we pretend the border disaster is anything other than completely intentional?"
End Wokeness on X - "Trump at the border on January 12, 2021: "They are waiting to surge the border if our policies are weakened or removed." "This is an entirely preventable tragedy.""

MAZE on X - "Biden has let in an amount of illegal immigrants equal to the population of the state of Georgia. If he is re-elected only California and Texas will have more people than the number of immigrants he will let in during his Presidency. More than the entire state of Florida."

Wilfred Reilly on X - "When you look at videos of Chinese or West African male migrants, check out how many naturally stand at parade rest.  I'm beginning to suspect something."

Bill Melugin on X - "NEW: A man from Guinea who had just crossed illegally into Lukeville, AZ tells me he plans to go to Philadelphia. When I asked why, he didn’t know, and pulled out a piece of paper w/ an address written on it he’s supposed to go to. We looked it up, it’s a local community center."
Mike Benz on X - "so they’re packing the swing states philly is PA’s ballot harvesting center"

Simon Ateba on X - "JUST IN: With a straight face and blinking eyelashes, @WhiteHouse @PressSec Karine Jean-Pierre says President @JoeBiden has been doing all he can to protect the US border, but Republicans are standing in the way. WATCH"

End Wokeness on X - "Arizona and Texas built makeshift border walls to stop the invasion. Biden sued and got them removed. There is no border crisis. Everything is going according to plan."

Charlie Kirk on X - "BREAKING: Bill Melugin reporting that authorities are "suspending railway operations" at the southern border to free up agents to help with the flood of illegal immigration.   "In other words, they're shutting down international commerce in order to help speed up processing of these migrants.""
Bill Melugin on X - "NEW: Lukeville, AZ right now. Only 2 Border Patrol agents here to move this mass of hundreds of illegal immigrants from around the world to a processing area. We continue to see enormous numbers of men from Africa who tell us they are going to sanctuary cities around the US."
They're mostly male, too

Chief Nerd on X - "NEW - Biden's Press Sec. Says Nothing Unusual Is Happening at the Border "We're at a time of the year where we're seeing more at the border and it's not unusual...The President has done everything that he can...but we also need funding to deal with border security.""
JUST IN: White House Press Secretary replaced by a literal gaslight

Todd Peterson on X - "BREAKING: White House exposed for setting court dates for illegal aliens as far out as 2031, ensuring every illegal crosser gets rewarded with a lifetime of socialist perks at the taxpayers' expense.  "What are they supposed to do here for 7 years?!"  If this all sounds ridiculous, that's because it is. But don't worry, because John Kirby says that Biden "is taking the issue very, very seriously."  He's taken it so seriously that all of the illegal entries under his watch in just three years could form their own state and immediately have 11 electoral votes."

Julio Rosas on X - "On the ground in Eagle Pass, TX. This is a small example of the many debris fields along the US side of the Rio Grande. Illegal immigrants dump their wet clothes and change into a new set after wading across the river."

🇺🇸Travis🇺🇸 on X - "Happening Now:  The Biden administration has ordered banks not to deny loan applications for Illegals based on citizenship status.  The Administration has warned that denying these loans would be discrimination.    We’re now at a point where our government is doing more for citizens of another country than they’re doing for Americans.  No doubt as this continues it will eventually cost Americans more.    Why are we always last?"

Michael O'Fallon - Sovereign Nations on X - "This should interest @stclairashley  and @ConceptualJames  :  BIDEN TSA GIVES ILLEGALS FREEDOM TO FLY  “February 3, 2022  Last week the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) confirmed that they've allowed illegal immigrants to use their arrest warrants as a valid proof of ID to board flights in the United States for more than a year.”  If you are an illegal migrant, your arrest warrant may be used as a valid form of ID to fly within the United States."

Hans Mahncke on X - "This is so bad. @nytimes doctored what Hunter said today, leaving out the key word. Wow.
NYT: “Let me state as clearly as I can: My father was not involved in my business.”
Hunter: “Let me state as clearly as I can: My father was not *financially* involved in my business.”"

Meme - The Meme Policeman: "It's ironic that Hunter Biden turned out to be the living embodiment of everything the left assumed Trump's sons were. When faced with that reality, they refuse to update their priors and post things like this with no sense of irony."
The Other 98%: "Mar-a-Lago really is worth $1.5 billion if you factor in the four tons of coke Junior has stored under the floorboards"

Hunter Biden Plea Deal Collapses in Court - "Hunter Biden attempted to plead guilty to two tax crime charges on Wednesday after a dramatic back and forth between his team and federal prosecutors. Despite their in-court efforts to come to a revised plea agreement on the fly, US District Judge Maryellen Noreika ultimately rejected the deal."

Hunter Biden's tax indictment: Drugs, escorts and girlfriends - "US President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, is facing a nine-count criminal indictment for alleged tax evasion.  The 56-page charge sheet accuses him of evading $1.4m in taxes from 2016-19 and funding an "extravagant lifestyle"... Prosecutors say Hunter Biden's memoir, Beautiful Things, explicitly lays out what the indictment alleges - that he did not have numerous business dealings in 2018 and was instead spending his money on months-long drug and alcohol binges.  While working with California accountants in 2018, he claimed expenses, including $388,810 in business-related travel, despite writing in his book that the year was "dominated by crack cocaine use 'twenty-four hours a day, smoking every fifteen minutes, seven days a week'".  Prosecutors say if the accountants had known about the drug use, they would have more closely scrutinised "his claims of hundreds of thousands of dollars in business expenses"."

Biden whistleblowers 'fear for their lives': Republicans say

Biden's plan for internet regulation is 'sweeping & unlawful': FCC commissioner - "Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr is calling the Biden administration‘s “digital equity” plan for all internet services and infrastructure an “unlawful power grab.”   “President Biden’s plan hands the Administrative State effective control of all Internet services and infrastructure in the country. Never before, in the roughly 40-year history of the public Internet, has the FCC (or any federal agency for that matter) claimed this degree of control over it. Indeed, President Biden’s plan calls for the FCC to apply a far-reaching set of government controls that the agency has not applied to any technology in the modern era, including Title II common carriers”...   “For the first time ever, those rules would give the federal government a roving mandate to micromanage nearly every aspect of how the Internet functions—from how [internet service providers] allocate capital and where they build, to the services that consumers can purchase; from the profits that ISPs can realize and how they market and advertise services, to the discounts and promotions that consumers can receive. Talk about central planning,” Carr warned.  If passed, the FCC would be empowered, for the first time, to regulate every ISP’s service termination terms, use of customer credit, account history, credit checks, and account termination, among many other items.   He added, “The Biden Administration’s plan empowers the FCC to regulate every aspect of the Internet sector for the first time ever. The plan is motivated by an ideology of government control that is not compatible with the fundamental precepts of free market capitalism.”  Former FCC policy adviser Evan Swarztrauber said of Biden’s plan, “To call it ‘extreme’ or ‘radical’ doesn’t do this proposal justice,”  “Biden is turning ‘digital discrimination’ into a pretext for regulating everything. For equity,” Phil Kerpen, president of American Commitment, said of the Biden plan for the FCC."

Meme - Jo @JoJoFromJerz: "President Biden isn't to blame for the price of gas. Vladimir Putin is."
Jo @JoJoFromJerz: "Gas at my local station is now under $3 a gallon!! Let's go!!! Thank you, President Biden!!"

The Harassment of Elon Musk - WSJ - "Does the Biden Administration have it in for Elon Musk? We’ve sometimes tussled over policy with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, but the volume of government investigations into his businesses makes us wonder if the Biden Administration is targeting him for regulatory harassment.  Once a hero of the left for his electric-car advances, Mr. Musk has become something of a pariah since he bought Twitter, which he has renamed X. He’s opened the social-media site to people previously censored, he’s criticized President Biden, and he’s even said he’ll vote for a Republican in 2024. Now, suddenly, comes the legal deluge... Opening an investigation may sometimes be pro forma when federal agencies receive a complaint. But the collection of probes into Mr. Musk’s ventures are unusual enough to suggest what the Justice Department likes to call a “pattern or practice.” We doubt any order from on high has been sent, but it doesn’t need to be when a figure becomes Progressive Enemy No. 1."

Biden Condemns Menendez For Taking Bribes In Gold Rather Than Fungible Assets Laundered By 20 Different Shell Companies | Babylon Bee

Tulsi Gabbard Blasts Biden: 'He Has Betrayed Us All' - "President Joe Biden has “betrayed us all,” Tulsi Gabbard said on Friday, accusing the president of going back on his promise to unite the country...   “Biden compares those who disagree with him to racist traitors, to enemies of bygone eras, and Biden now has his attorney general targeting millions of Americans as domestic terrorists,” she continued as her video cut to a clip of Matthew Olsen, Assistant Attorney General National Security Division talking about the U.S. facing an elevated threat from “domestic violent extremists, that is individuals in the United States who seek to commit violent criminal acts in furtherance of domestic social or political goals.”... Biden focused on the theme of unity upon taking office, mentioning it several times throughout his inaugural speech. However, he quickly shifted gears months down the road, most significantly during his divisive coronavirus speech in September 2021, where he warned that his patience was “wearing thin” with unvaccinated Americans."

Meme - Joe Biden @JoeBiden: "It's not enough to just thank our essential workers - we need to pay them. As president, I'll:
- Raise the minimum wage to $15
- End the tipped minimum wage
- End the sub-minimum wage for people with disabilities
- Ensure everyone has strong benefits

2/3 Democrat-leaning voters don't want Biden as 2024 nominee, poll

Biden faces calls not to seek re-election as shock poll rattles senior Democrats - "Senior Democrats have sounded the alarm after an opinion poll showed Joe Biden trailing the Republican frontrunner Donald Trump in five out of six battleground states exactly a year before the presidential election... The New York Times and Siena poll suggests that Biden’s multiracial and multigenerational coalition, critical to his success in 2020, is decaying. Voters under age 30 favour the president by only a single percentage point, his lead among Hispanic voters is down to single digits and his advantage in urban areas is half of Trump’s edge in rural regions. Black voters – a core Biden demographic – are now registering 22% support in these states for Trump, a level that the New York Times reported was unseen in presidential politics for a Republican in modern times... Survey respondents in swing states say they trust Trump over Biden on the economy by a 22-point margin. Some 71% say Biden is “too old”, including 54% of his own supporters... Electability was central to Biden’s argument for the nomination three years ago but the poll found a generic, unnamed Democrat doing much better with an eight-point lead over Trump"

Mythinformed on X - "Trans women are women. Unless we have a WW3 draft. Then they are men. - Biden Administration"

Biden says border walls don't work as administration bypasses laws to build more barriers in South Texas - "President Joe Biden said Thursday that he doesn’t believe border walls work, even as his administration said it will waive 26 laws to build additional border barriers in the Rio Grande Valley amid heightened political pressure over migration...   Biden – who, as a candidate, vowed that there will “not be another foot” of border wall constructed on his watch – defended the decision to reporters Thursday, saying that he tried to get the money appropriated for other purposes but was unsuccessful...   The Department of Homeland Security had concluded “it is necessary to waive certain laws, regulations, and other legal requirements in order to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads” in Starr County, Texas, along the US border with Mexico, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in the filing posted in the US Federal Registry.  “There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas,” Mayorkas said in the notice...   Among the laws the Biden administration is bypassing to build the wall are several of the same statutes the administration has in the past moved to protect, including: the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act."

Chaya Raichik on X - "The White House IG posted images of the special forces team without blurring their faces before eventually deleting it only after thousands already saw it. This is what happens when you value diversity over competence in your hiring process. Everyone involved in that post decision should be fired."

Meme - Jake Shields @jakeshieldsajj: "Kamala Harris identified as Indian until in 2020 she realized it was more politically beneficial to be black This perfectly explains her as a person"
"California's Kamala Harris becomes first Indian-American US senator. Associated Press Nov 8, 2016"

Griff Jenkins on X - "*NEW VIDEO* FOX News sources capture stunning new video of hundreds more of migrants making their way on top of trains, some waving a Venezuelan flag, en route to the US border in Eagle Pass, TX @FoxNews"
Tom Fitton on X - "This destabilizing and dangerous invasion of the United States is aided and abetted by Joe Biden, who just announced he would lawlessly grant a form of amnesty to 500,000 illegals from Venezuela. Sure enough, thousands more are coming to take advantage of Biden's anti-America immigration lawlessness. Besides the full defunding of Biden's using to tax dollars to help illegal aliens invade our nation (defunding which should take place this week in the House), the House must ensure the new multi-committee impeachment inquiries of Biden urgently and immediately include his utter abandonment of his oath of office with respect to illegal immigration."

Chris Olivarez on X - "The #EaglePass area continues to experience an influx of illegal immigrants - the majority from Venezuela. Some decided to claim a #Texas island by placing a foreign flag - that was quickly taken care of by our DPS Tactical Marine Unit. #DontMessWithTexas"
Bill Melugin on X - "Planting the flag of the country you are supposedly fleeing from is a head scratcher. Spend enough time down there and you learn quickly that the narrative of “asylum seekers” is way off. Overwhelming majority want work or to link w/ family in US & do not qualify for asylum."
Wilfred Reilly on X - "Obviously, Mexican, Jamaican, Polish, Ghanaian, Indian, Chinese, Guatemalan, etc nationals claiming to be "refugees" are lying. This is plain common sense. There are no wars in these places. Like "TWAW," it's insane this con game lasted so long. #less_empathy_now #my_new_cause"

Collin Rugg on X - "In January of 2022, leaked footage was released showing Border Patrol agents challenging leadership over the migrant crisis.  Imagine how they must feel now?  In the video, angry agents blasted leadership for not allowing them to do their job.  "Chief for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. That's exactly what's happening here. Good men are doing nothing. You're allowing the illegal aliens to be drop off in communities."  One agent felt remorse for fentanyl deaths due to drug trafficking over the border.  "Under this administration for the last year we had the highest fentanyl death rate in the history of our country."  You gotta feel bad for these guys. It's terrible what they are being put through.  Border agent applications are going to plummet, making the situation even worse. Watch."

End Wokeness on X - "15 years ago, a traditional Christian family was granted asylum in the US after facing religious persecution in Germany. Now the Biden DOJ is seeking to deport the entire Romieke family. Over 11,000 foreign nationals invaded our border in the past 24 hours alone"

Bill Melugin on X - "NEW: LA Times' @Haleaziz with a scoop, reporting that the Biden administration is considering forcing some migrant families who cross the border illegally to remain in Texas, limiting their ability to travel within the US, as bipartisan criticism grows."
Mary Katharine Ham on X - "Haha, they’ve finally found a border worth enforcing."

End Wokeness on X - "Border Patrol stats: 8 million illegals crossed the US border since Biden took office, including 5.5 million single adult males 38 states have a population below that"

Abbott officially declares ‘invasion’ at Mexico border - "Abbott posted a video on his social media claiming that the Biden administration cut the razor wire in Eagle Pass that was in place to deter illegal immigration. Along with his deployment of more guards to protect the border, he also said that they’d be installing more razor wires... Abbott holds on to the belief that Biden has not helped to secure the border, leaving Texas to fend for itself."

Collin Rugg on X - "REPORT: The Biden campaign has a full-scale plan to make sure he doesn't trip in public going into the 2024 election cycle according to Axios.  Does the president need diapers too?  To make sure Biden doesn't humiliate himself in public again, the president's handlers started making him wear tennis shoes so he doesn't slip.  Biden is also now being forced to use the short stairs on Air Force One, meaning he is entering the plane on a lower deck.  Axios also claims senior Democrats are getting more irritated with Biden's public appearance as tripping and public confusion has become a common occurrence.  Clown show."

Collin Rugg on X - "JUST IN: President Biden issues federal pardons to every American who has previously used marijuana.  Ironically, Biden's own vice president Kamala Harris prosecuted some of the very same people who Biden is now pardoning.  Kamala Harris is responsible for overseeing 1,956 misdemeanor and felony convictions for people who possessed, cultivated or sold marijuana.  During the Democratic debates in 2020, candidate Tulsi Gabbard absolutely demolished Harris for her hypocrisy.  "She put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violation and then laughed about [marijuana] when she asked if she ever smoked marijuana," Gabbard said at the time."

How ‘Antiracism’ Becomes Antisemitism

How ‘Antiracism’ Becomes Antisemitism - WSJ
Demonizing people in racial terms because they’re successful turns out to have consequences.

For decades America’s credentialed liberal elite thought of itself as uniquely immune to the appeal of racial bigotry. The rest of the country—the right-leaning suburbs, the rural places, the Archie Bunkers—were constantly prone, in the minds of America’s intellectuals and enlightened academics, to indulge in racial grievances. But not the university-educated, well-heeled elite. Not the exponents of mainstream-press conventional wisdom. Not the readers of the New Yorker and the Washington Post.

Yet here we are. Over the past 2½ months, Jew-hatred has rocked elite college campuses. Tony neighborhoods in blue cities have witnessed marches calling for the elimination of the Jewish state and protests outside Jewish-owned businesses—this in response not to the accidental killing of a Palestinian by an Israeli soldier, but to the systematic butchering and kidnapping of Israeli Jews by terrorists.

To these expressions of bigotry, high-ranking public officials and university administrators have issued bland disavowals of “violence” and “hatred in all its forms.” The heads of three top universities, testifying before a congressional committee, couldn’t explain why their institutions prosecute every perceived offense against other minorities but can’t condemn calls for genocide against Jews. The Biden administration itself, though so far pursuing a broadly pro-Israel policy in the Middle East, responded to the rash of antisemitic marches and assaults on Jews by announcing a “National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia.”

Past eruptions of antisemitism usually arose from the need to blame someone—anyone—for the cataclysmic failures of a ruling political class. In Russia in the 1880s and ’90s, malcontents equated Jews with Marxists and communists and blamed them for political instability. “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” the 1903 forgery purporting to reveal a Jewish conspiracy to rule the globe, was a gift to any people wishing to account for its ruin without self-criticism. Germans after World War I sought a reason for their military humiliation and economic immiseration.

Palestinian Arabs themselves were carrying out vicious pogroms long before the founding of the Jewish state in 1948—see for example the attack on Hebron in 1929, in which more than 67 Jews, many of them women and children, were murdered. And why? Because the Jews were an easy group to blame: few in number, racially and culturally distinct, highly industrious and successful, and apparently committed to an unsanctioned God. An easy and obvious target.

So far there have been no pogroms in the U.S., only venomous semiviolent protests, individual assaults, libelous social-media onslaughts and willfully misleading news coverage. But the motivation driving today’s Jew-hatred bears some resemblance to those earlier episodes of antisemitic violence. Elite American society has failed in the one aim that gave it definition for more than a half-century: the realization of racial equality.

The trouble started in the mid-1970s, when the reality became clear that the liberal answer to racial inequality—the modern welfare state inaugurated by the Great Society—wasn’t working. With each passing decade since, black economic improvement has stalled. As Stephen and Abigail Thernstrom make clear in their book “America in Black and White” (1997), the black poverty rate declined dramatically from 1940 to 1960, less dramatically but still significantly from 1960 to 1970, and hardly at all after 1970. Yet decade after decade, the prescription from right-thinking liberals—elected Democrats, social-welfare agency heads, academic experts in urban studies, liberal intellectuals, entertainment-industry glitterati—remains the same: Double down on ’60s-style social-welfare policy, liberalize crime laws, and vilify whites other than themselves.

The electorate intermittently challenged this orthodoxy. In the 1990s New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani rejected liberal policy prescriptions and brought order to a city long thought ungovernable. Ignoring warnings of apocalypse by the liberal political class, Bill Clinton signed the 1994 crime bill and the 1996 welfare-reform act; both crime and welfare dependency receded. But the orthodoxy always reasserted itself, as it did when Barack Obama expanded Medicaid in 2010 and his allies in the media and intelligentsia demonized governors who resisted that expansion as racists.

You could chart this cyclical process of doubling down on liberal race orthodoxy by noting a series of abstract words and phrases invented by liberals to excuse the failure of liberal policy on race. “Disparate impact,” a legal doctrine first given expression by the Supreme Court in 1971, holds that nearly any standard applied equally to all Americans—in education, in employment, in housing—adversely punishes some racial minorities. In the 1980s, universities took the high court’s 1978 Bakke decision to mean they could discriminate against whites and Asians. Thus was born the project of fostering “diversity.”

In the 2000s, as black economic prospects improved little, the terms became more absurd—and more openly racialist. Liberals complained of “colorblind racism,” the idea that disregarding race exacerbated race relations and was, in effect, racist. The terms “unconscious bias” and “microaggression” are premised on the idea that well-meaning people can spread racial animus by using seemingly innocuous words and phrases. In the 2010s, “equity” and “inclusion” joined “diversity” to form an entire industry of consultants and corporate officers whose stated purpose is to foster equality in the workplace but who go about encouraging everyone to think constantly about racial identity.

All these coinages can fairly be understood as attempts by American liberals to explain to themselves why the beliefs on race they had presupposed for decades remained unimpeachable. At each stage, the effort to avoid rethinking the problem and to cast the blame for continuing racial inequality on somebody else—anybody but themselves—began to look and sound like another version of racism. Terms like “white privilege” and “white settler guilt” carried undertones of resentment and loathing. Writers for the

New York Times

and other organs of, as it’s now termed, progressive opinion began using the words “white” and “whiteness” as though they signified a disease.

In the 2010s an assemblage of radical writers—Ta-Nehisi Coates, Robin DiAngelo, Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ibram X. Kendi prominent among them—became celebrities by alleging that American society had been a racist project from its earliest days. Theirs were more elaborate versions of claims by ’60s radicals that “Amerikkka” had been a source of oppression since its founding; the difference was these weren’t hippie outcasts but tenured professors and award-winning writers, fawned on by journalists too dim to realize the radicals were calling them racist monsters. In a 2014 essay for the Atlantic, Mr. Coates made the case for racial reparations—a policy premised on the idea of punishing people for sins they hadn’t committed. He reproached whites for thinking that “if you stab a black person 10 times, the bleeding stops and the healing begins the moment the assailant drops the knife.” Well-intended, deliberately nonracist white Americans, in Mr. Coates’s analogy, are at once murderers and idiots.

Then, in May 2020, the consequences of these twisted ideas spilled into the open. The death of George Floyd under the knee of a white police officer, recorded in a harrowing nine-minute video, shoved American liberals’ failure on race into their faces. But progressives, having by that point sequestered themselves in their homes in a terrified and ultimately vain effort to escape Covid-19, were in no mood for self-criticism. There would be no rethinking the premises of the Great Society. Otherwise-sane people burst into the streets proclaiming the truism that “black lives matter” and denouncing the evils of “systemic racism.”

With this latter term, the effort to double down on the logic of the Great Society reached its ludicrous conclusion. Racism, if it’s systemic, infects everything. You can deplore it, but if you’re part of the system, you’re perpetuating it. Everything is racist. The term was, in many ways, logically congruous with the loose accusation of “racism” to which Americans have long been familiar. To earn the “ist” suffix, you must at some level cultivate, or at least be conscious of, the thing named as an “ism.” You can’t be a royalist if you dislike the monarchy, or a nationalist if you’re indifferent to the nation. A communist cares about the commune or community and has a long list of reasons for rejecting individualism. A Buddhist cares about the Buddha, and an atheist can’t love God. But in the modern progressive worldview, you can be a racist while abominating racism. You may think a person’s race says nothing about his character or competence, and still be a racist.

So everybody’s a racist. Or everybody other than the people spreading resentment by the “systemic racism” lie.

The only thing to do is destroy the entire “racist” system. Of course, America’s progressive VIPs were never going to tear down the system that had given them status, privilege and income. What the George Floyd protests mainly accomplished was to make the protesters a little more comfortable with hatred of Bad People. In 2020 it was the cops, especially white cops. But hatreds can expand.

At each stage of this ugly evolution, some substantial minority of left-wing commentators and politicians became more comfortable with what looked and sounded like straight-up racial bigotry. That the target of their hatred was white people made their rhetoric and behavior appear harmless. But it wasn’t harmless, as anybody might have foreseen.

For several years a variety of academics and writers had argued that Jews are “white” or “functionally white” or “white passing.” “White,” in this usage, has nothing to do with national or religious identity or genetic characteristics. It signifies allegedly unjust privilege and legacies of oppression. Calling Jews “white” was a way of depriving them of any cover as a racial minority and classifying them with persecutors and exploiters.

As Liel Leibovitz writes in a 2021 essay for Commentary magazine: “The creative genius of Jew-hatred has always been its ability to imagine the Jew as the embodiment of whatever it is that polite society finds repulsive. That’s why Jews were condemned as both nefarious bankers controlling all the world’s money and shifty revolutionaries imperiling all capital; as both sexless creeps and oversexed lechers coming for the women and the girls; as both pathetically powerless and occultly powerful. . . . And if you decide that there’s such a thing as ‘whites’ and that they are uniquely responsible for all evils perpetrated on the innocent and downtrodden, well, the Jews must be not only of them but nestled comfortably at the top of the white-supremacist pyramid.”

In 2021, when Mr. Leibovitz wrote these words, few detected the Jew-hatred smoldering beneath the surface of progressive thought. The perverse refusal to rethink obviously failed policies on race and crime, or to reconsider shopworn assumptions about why African-Americans had not achieved economic parity with whites, had created the need for scapegoats. To blame whites qua whites worked well enough for a time. But exhibitionist self-hatred is plainly disingenuous and emotionally unsatisfying. The left needed real scapegoats.

What about the Jews? Successful, capitalist, hated by much of the Arab and Muslim world, the Jews—especially Israeli Jews but Jews generally—met the need for a blameworthy Bad People. It was as though the phrase “Never Again,” enunciated endlessly to proclaim the West’s rejection of all the sentiments and ideas that had led to the Final Solution, had become so ingrained in liberal thought that liberals felt they were incapable of embracing the oldest hatred. Never Again . . . but maybe just this once.

The American left, shameful exceptions aside like members of “The Squad” in Congress, has mostly abstained from openly siding with Hamas in the way its counterparts abroad have. But progressives in this country appear paralyzed, unable to condemn the Oct. 7 attack without also condemning “all forms of hatred” and the like. Assaults on Jews go almost without comment in most of the mainstream press. For weeks after Hamas took hundreds of hostages, including Americans, the U.S. news media showed minimal interest in their whereabouts; it was only when Hamas offered to return some of them in exchange for a cease-fire that reports on their plight began to circulate—almost as though the hostages’ usefulness lay exclusively in stopping Israel from just retribution.

Threats against Jews on elite campuses meet with tepid condemnations and little or no action. Democratic Party leaders can’t bring themselves to criticize colleagues who accuse Israel of war crimes in its response to the Hamas attacks.

Before Oct. 7, if you had predicted this sudden explosion of Jew-hatred in elite American institutions, you would likely have been called a crank. But you could have made a cogent case for your prediction by noting the many ways in which the nation’s progressive cognoscenti, over the course of the past 50 years, have steadily embraced more preposterous and menacing ideas to explain their failure in the one area they believed themselves both competent and righteous: the creation of racial equality and harmony. Those ideas no doubt appeared edgy and romantic because their target was white people, and what’s the harm in white people condemning themselves? But like amateur wizards playing with incantations, the magic got away from them and produced devilry.

 

Links - 6th January 2024 (1)

Canada's high tax rates driving talented workers to leave the country - "Canada’s personal tax rates are too high, as many of us realize. There are numerous data sources that consistently put this country’s personal tax rates amongst the highest on Earth... Canada used to be the U.S.’s largest trading partner, but it lost its top spot to China a few years back and the two countries have been jockeying for top spot ever since. However, Mexico has surpassed Canada in 2023 and China has slipped below Canada... One of the first things the Liberals did when they came to power in 2015 was create a new top-end personal tax bracket, effective as of 2016. They introduced it with the awful speaking point of “we’re asking (high-income earners) to pay just a little bit more.” You can quickly appreciate why that phrase is offensive when you understand how much high-income earners already pay as a percentage of the whole.  The high personal tax rates and the continued threat of more targeted increases (such as the threat of the introduction of a wealth tax, capital gains inclusion rate increases and the recent horrible amendments to the alternative minimum tax) have also contributed to the significant amount of high-income earning Canadians to consider leaving Canada.  In my practice, the number of files I have worked on in the past five years for Canadians who are exploring leaving (or have now left) has far exceeded the cumulative number of files in my entire 30-year career to that point. The actual number of Canadians leaving is small compared to the recent number of immigrants, but it is the outsized amount of wealth, income and loss of future tax revenues associated with that small number of highly productive Canadians that is scary."
Left wingers don't care about destroying the economy, since they hate the rich and want "degrowth" anyway

Guy Benson on X - "House Republicans, despite nursing a razor thin majority, expelled George Santos over his criminal charges. In a 51-49 Senate, here are more criminal charges against Democrat Bob Menendez, who’s still just…there."

ZUBY: on X - "There is a healthy balance to be found between conservatism and liberalism. Too much of the former, and you have no creativity, innovation, or freedom. Too much of the latter and you end up in clown world, with high crime, broken families, and stupid policies."

Europe: Warnings Of Coordinated Terror Attacks On Christmas Crowds - "Officials in Austria, Germany and Spain have all received indications that an Islamist group was planning several attacks in Europe, possibly on New Year's Eve and Christmas, the German daily Bild reported"

An emotional support alligator at a Phillies game? What really happened - "An emotional support alligator walks into a ballpark ... and is asked to leave.  That's the story that's made headlines in recent days, thanks to viral photos and videos showing Wally — a six foot long, 55 pound alligator wearing a harness and leash — and his human companion outside of Citizens Bank Park during a Phillies game... He's posed for photos at City Hall with the mayor of York and visited seniors at a local retirement home. And he was the visual reference for Alligator Loki in the hit Disney+ show Loki.  "He's actually world-famous," Henney said. Which is how he scored an invite to meet the Phillies... Wally attracts attention wherever he goes. And it's hard not to, seeing that he's the first reptile to be legally certified as an emotional support animal, according to Henney.  It might be because he walks on a leash. It could be because of the red harness with his name on it. And it definitely has something to do with the fact that his mouth isn't taped shut, because he doesn't bite."

Meme - "Tech horror stories thread
>be Indian
>work as a code monkey at one of the smaller offshore development sweatshops
>get project from Filipino client
>requirements are unclear, contact clients team
>client lets slip that they're an outsourcing house too and the project is somewhere from eastern Europe
>Filipinos don't do any developement, just pass it to a cheaper contractor (in this case us) aka middlemen
>months pass, no progress
>find out the eastern European guys are an outsourcing house as well, and they don't do any developement and the actual client is somewhere from UK
>every piece of info, document takes months to arrive since there are 4 different companies in the mix
>6 months pass, barely any progress
>turns out the Filipino guys misunderstood the scope of the project since the eastern Europeans refused to share their requirement document
>that means the requirement document our guys created was at best based on an errenuous understanding of the project from the Filipinos
>leave company
>ff 4 years
>project is still "in development'
>brit clients are nearly bankrupt"
">>be Indian
stopped reading right here, too scary"

It’s time to dust off Margaret Thatcher’s young entrepreneurs schemes - "The Enterprise Allowance Scheme is largely forgotten now. But Margaret Thatcher’s plan for backing budding entrepreneurs was a significant success. This is surely the moment to dust it off and launch a revamped version. Right now, we are going to be paying young people to sit around doing nothing – when we could be paying them to start something up for themselves instead. Mrs Thatcher was never a great fan of handing out government money, especially with very few strings attached. She hated subsidies, insisted the market would eventually fix most problems when left to itself, and wanted people to take responsibility for improving their own lives. It was a rugged, individualistic view of the world. She did make one important exception, however. She backed a scheme that essentially gave lots of twentysomethings free money for messing around and having fun. The EAS was launched in 1981. At the time unemployment was hurtling towards three million, and a shocking 30pc of young people had no jobs. The Specials’ Ghost Town was a great song but it also topped the charts that summer because it reflected the bleak prospects most of its audience faced.  The EAS paid anyone who signed up £40 a week, about £160 in today’s money, for a year. They had to be unemployed, and they needed £1,000 in savings or loans. But that was about it. True, you had to submit a business plan, but didn’t need to get your idea approved. There were no committees monitoring your performance. There was nothing to repay, and the support wasn’t scaled back if the business made money. You could just go off and try something out, with some free money to help you along the way.  The Thatcher government, true to its free-market instincts, didn’t try to pick winners, or work out which sectors of the economy would grow. The result was that businesses that would never have got past a Treasury-dominated selection committee – and certainly not one from the 1980s – were given a chance. Viz magazine, for example. Or Alan McGee’s Creation Records, which went on to launch Oasis, as well as Julian Dunkerton, who went on to found Superdry, or the artist Jeremy Deller, who went on to win the Turner Prize. Money was thrown around largely indiscriminately, based on whether you wanted to give something a try.   Overall, the results were surprisingly impressive. At its peak, 100,000 young people were enrolled in the scheme. A study at the time from the World Bank found that for every 100 people taking part, 64 jobs were created. According to a report from the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, it created 325,000 jobs at a cost to the Treasury in today’s money of £4,200 each.  Eighteen months after signing up, 65pc of recipients were still running the business they had started, and a fifth of them had started employing someone who was not part of it. A quarter of them were under 25. They were young people embarking on a career in entrepreneurship and self-employment which, in many cases, was to last for the rest of their careers. It had its critics at the time, and it didn’t last forever, but it was relatively cheap, and made an impact. The EAS had two big advantages. First, it launched a new generation of entrepreneurs. It removed the personal financial risk of starting a new business. You had money coming in to get you through the first few months when there weren’t yet any customers. And the jobs were largely permanent, because they were mostly in growth industries. For example, a lot of the computer games industry, which was just starting to emerge, was helped by the EAS. So were the new breed of indie record labels, and the UK has maintained its place as a world leader in the music industry.  Perhaps most importantly of all, it shifted the mood. It offered opportunity, at a time when that was in short supply, and it helped convert a generation to enterprise and innovation. These things are hard to measure, but it is not a great exaggeration to argue that the boom in start-ups began in the early 1980s has continued ever since."

Meme - Cat: "You mean to tell me... that I get to live in this house rent free for the rest of my life... WITH THREE MEALS A DAY, ATTENTION ON DEMAND ANd A 6 FT TALL PERSONAL SERVANT WHO CLEANS My TOILET... IN EXCHANGE FoR My BALLS. Hm."

Outdated on arrival, ERP 2.0 is the type of costly technology project Singapore should avoid - "Now, unfortunately, comes the unwanted rollout of a costly project that has taken nearly 20 years to complete, if you count its early efforts. It is clearly outdated and inconvenient for users.  Many questions have already been raised about this “next-gen” ERP 2.0 unit when it was unveiled two years ago. Most damning was why it was even necessary.  Okay, it will use satellite tracking to monitor how many kilometres you drive, but there are now no plans for the distance-based road pricing that it enables, despite skyrocketing car prices due to record COE (certificate of entitlement) costs.  In other words, one of the biggest reasons for the new ERP 2.0 unit isn’t relevant today, unless transport policy changes. And the ugly road gantries that have sprung up over the years will remain, at least for now.  What about the other “next-gen” features? Real-time traffic information? Well, isn’t there Google Maps or Waze for that? Some cars even have these features built in now and they have bigger screens nicely integrated into the dashboard.  In saying that its own screen is optional, the LTA this week also pointed out that a mobile app could be used to access some of these services on the go.  It’s even going to have a software development kit (SDK) that developers can use to create apps to tap on these services.  You wonder why that hadn’t been been in the plans earlier, as smartphones came into the picture, starting with the iPhone in 2007.  And how is it that a project to track cars in Singapore has taken years to complete, when an app used to track people in the country during the pandemic took just weeks? The answer lies in the approach to technology projects. Today, big organisations, including governments, want to build infrastructure and digital services in a modular format, so each building block can be reused and upgraded constantly. This way, these digital services can be launched fast and don’t become obsolete by the time they are ready. Since they are constantly iterated, they also don’t end up outdated as technologies improve over time.  One look at the ERP 2.0 unit that drivers are being made to install now tells you it is built the old way... At a time when the Singapore government as a whole is embracing the public cloud and AI technologies, it is a surprise to hear the LTA justifying why its project has to be so “bespoke” and custom-made.  It has chosen not to use a common smartphone system because of the trouble with the different phone models and operating systems, for example. Plus, it needs to ensure a mobile app is functioning and has a cellphone connection, it says.  Really? Does the LTA not know, for example, that you can identify yourself digitally with your Singpass app to cast a vote in an election? Plus, carry out all manners of transactions with the government and also transfer lots of money from a bank account?  If citizens have been told it is okay to trust the phone as a wallet and personal identifier, why do they need a whole separate system just to pay road toll?  The only good thing about this ERP 2.0 episode is that it’s a valuable lesson on how not to build massive technology projects that end up outdated by the time they are finally ready.  Back in 2020, then-Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung also acknowledged in a Facebook post that the way the ERP 2.0 system was developed had to be improved.  Unfortunately, by then, the government had already commissioned the S$556 million project and changes in design would affect the contract. So, now, it has to be rolled out, even if it inconveniences citizens who don’t want it in their cars and when distance-based pricing isn’t in the plans.  Tellingly, the LTA will even give you the screen if you opt out of it. You can only swallow it as another sunk cost in the world’s most expensive place to own a car."

India’s ‘Little Afghanistan’ showcases cuisine rich in taste – and history - "Unlike spicy Indian cuisine, Malik adds, Afghan food is light and allows the taste of the meats and veggies to shine through. “Bread is the soul of our food,” he said. “In Kabul, no one makes bread at home. It is our tradition to buy bread from the naanwais down the lane, usually men who knead the dough and make fresh bread throughout the day.” Apart from being used as a vehicle to mop up sauces or an accompaniment to Afghan soup – a bubbling pot of yellow gravy, shredded chicken and chickpeas – bread is also integral to the Afghan burger, a towering creation of chapli kebabs, roughly cut potato fries, salad and a tangy salsa, all wrapped in a naan. Indian cuisine has a profound Afghan influence, according to Amit Bagga, the co-founder of Daryaganj, a pan-Indian restaurant chain launched in the 1950s that serves Afghan-inspired food.  “Kebabs were brought to India by the Afghans. Seekh kebabs and chapli kebabs both trace their provenance to the country’s Pashtun region,” he said. “Arab travellers passed through Afghanistan on their way to India along the Silk Route that criss-crossed Central Asia. A rich culture took hold at this crossroads, and with it was born a complex cuisine that has survived the ravages of war, invasion and internal upheaval.”  Bagga added that the creamy chicken tikkas popular in India, marinated in a rich cashew paste, originated in Afghanistan. “Even the tandoor, now intrinsic to Indian cuisine, as well as the concepts of roasting birds, and barbecuing food, were all brought in from Afghanistan,” he said... Even today, Afghan dried raisins, almonds, figs, pine nuts, pistachios, and apricots – apart from fresh fruits such as pomegranates, apples, apricots, and cherries – are an integral part of the Indian diet.  These commodities also comprise the bulk of trade between India and Afghanistan"

How Did The British Influence Indian Cuisine? - "Spices such as saffron and cardamom were combined with traditional British herbs like rosemary, bay leaf, and thyme to create new flavorful combinations. The combination of spices created a unique flavour profile for Indian food that would eventually become synonymous with its culture.  In addition to introducing new flavours, the British also popularized certain dishes in India that had not previously existed there. Many popular curries today are adaptations of English classics; for instance, Chicken Tikka Masala is based on chicken tikka, which originated in Britain but now enjoys immense popularity in India. Whether it’s through influencing existing recipes or creating entirely new ones, it is clear that Britain played a significant role in shaping Indian cuisine into what we know today...   The influence of foreign cuisines on Indian food began early in history, with invasions from Central Asia bringing spices like cumin into India’s kitchens. Portuguese traders brought sweet potatoes, tomatoes, cashews and chillies, while Dutch merchants introduced cucumbers and bitter gourds to the subcontinent...   From savoury pies to puddings, many dishes that were once considered exotic in Indian kitchens are now commonplace. Spices such as cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg have become staples in recipes nationwide due to their affordability and availability during this period. In addition to spices, the British brought vegetables like potatoes, onions and carrots into India, adding even more flavour and variety to traditional Indian dishes...  the popularity of curries in southern India – one of which has even been declared its national dish! Although curry recipes are thought to have originated from British soldiers during colonial times, they were quickly adopted by locals...    The same applies to sweets like puddings or custards, which remain popular desserts today despite being brought centuries ago by English settlers. By adding Indian touches such as saffron or cardamom into these treats, bakers created unique flavour combinations that still tantalize our taste buds today"
There was some meme claiming the Spanish influenced Filipino food and the French influenced Vietnamese food, but the Indians influenced British food

How Indian food curried favour with the British, and vice versa - "One dish invented on a long journey by resourceful chefs was the Railway Mutton curry using English and Indian spices, coconut milk and potatoes, and served with dinner rolls... the British introduced India to tea drinking... While Anglo Indian cuisine was influenced by various European settlements in India, like the Portuguese, the strongest influence was undoubtedly the British. “Bread puddings and custard are standard Indian comfort food today,” said Dalal."

How the British sandwich became a uniquely Indian meal - "Forget samosas and bhajis, Indians love their sandwiches and gravitate daily to their favourite street corner stalls to enjoy slices of bread with every kind of filling from paneer to pizza... For centuries, Indians have had their own breads such as naan and chapatis made of wheat flour, but the Western concept of bread (and refined flour) was brought to the nation by the British and the Portuguese colonisers and is now part of the country’s culinary culture. “It was the Portuguese who introduced India to Western style bread as a concept. When they came to Goa in India’s west, they longed for their bread and started making it themselves using a little toddy to ferment it (they did not have yeast) in improvised ovens, and pao (pav) bread was born, which is a common bread eaten by the masses all over Western India and used in street food like vada pav (pao bread and a deep-fried potato in gram flour) and Kutchi Dabeli (pao buns stuffed with potatoes, chutneys, peanuts and crunchy sev (crispy snack made from gram flour),” said Kurush F Dalal, food anthropologist and historian... Another favourite, popular in British-style Indian clubs, is the chilli cheese toast, which is loaded with grated Desi cheese and green chillies then grilled. While no train journey is complete without ‘ bread-omelette’ that is served in the food stalls at stations and in pantry cars. “The iconic omelette sandwich was thanks to the development of the Indian railways and the British colonisation in the 20th Century. Sliced sandwich bread became easily available and a spicy, Indian version of the omelette loaded with green chillies, onions and coriander was put into two slices of white bread toasted on the greasy tawa. It made for a good protein and carb-filled meal that was easy on the pocket and accessible,” Dalal said."

Indians love thali – and they’re hungry for the ‘56-inch Modi’ version - "The 56-inch thali is a reference to Modi’s close colleague and Indian Home Minister Amit Shah calling the PM a “man with a 56-inch chest” who could take on terrorists to protect the country from their attacks.  The gargantuan platter comprises more than two dozen dishes, including quintessential Indian palate pleasers such dal makhani (creamy black lentils), naan, chicken curry, lachcha paratha (layered bread), a selection of seasonal vegetables, and desserts such as gulab jamun and kheer (rice pudding). It comes in a vegetarian or non-vegetarian version... The restaurant also serves the “United India thali”, featuring regional favourites presented in the form of a map of the country, while its “Vedic thali” involves two dozen dishes infused with healthful herbs such as turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, and bay leaves. “However, we’re most excited about the ‘Crypto thali’ we launched this month to offer a digital experience to our diners, as it can be paid for in cryptocurrency,” Suveett said. “It is our attempt at creating a digital community of foodies.”... He said Gujarati, Rajasthani, South Indian, and Punjabi thalis were the most popular among his customers. “The Gujarati thali – which is also the prime minister’s favourite – manages to achieve a fine balance between heat, spice, and sweetness, with sides like pickles, chutneys, and papads providing flavour, texture and heat to the meal.”... What makes the thali so popular in India, according to Vivek Rana, executive chef of the Claridges Hotel in New Delhi, is that of all the traditional feasts, it offers the perfect assortment of wholesome regional dishes on a single platter.  “Plus, there’s convenience as well,” he said. “You don’t have to waste time scanning the menu to choose multiple dishes or make frequent forays to the buffet for refills. The buffet comes to you. You can share it with your family; there are unlimited refills and it is therefore value for money.”"
Thalis in India have unlimited refills?!

We’re boosting ties with the wrong countries, says ex-BNM official - "A former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) deputy governor has lamented Malaysia’s foreign policies, saying “national leaders” have been focusing on foreign relations that will not benefit the nation much economically. Sukhdave Singh said this put Putrajaya at risk of alienating the same countries on which Malaysia is highly dependent to ensure its future economic progress." “Malaysia has had too many leaders who have not been international statesmen. They have failed at providing a balanced perspective on international developments, and rather than seeking to reconcile and understand, they have instead reacted emotionally. "They have undermined themselves and the country by playing to popular sentiments of gullible citizens domestically and internationally to countries with very little stake in Malaysia’s economy.  “Instead of being statesmen, they have become rabble-rousers, hoping to ride on a tide of emotions to enhance their political prospects,” he said in a LinkedIn post, without naming specific leaders...   Citing Putrajaya’s national debt of RM1.5 trillion and moderate economic growth, he said the government should focus on building stronger relationships with “economically strategic countries”, on top of optimising its expenditure.  “Failing this, and if things continue as they have, it is not unforeseeable that Malaysia itself will need global financial assistance in the future."

Texas teenager caught punching random strangers: 'Everybody makes mistakes' - "A Texas teen who was caught on video sucker-punching random people at local parks has been found.  Alford Lewis says he regrets his actions and that he made a mistake"

‘Kenya’s Mike Ross’: Fake lawyer who won all his cases becomes wanted man - "A legal body in Kenya has called for the arrest of a man accused of practising law without proper qualifications.  Local media reported that despite not having any formal legal training, the “lawyer” won 26 cases in various Kenyan courts under the name “Brian N. Mwenda”.  According to the BBC, the man was a “masquerader” who had stolen the identity of a real lawyer named Brian Mwenda Ntwiga. The alleged imposter’s name, said the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), is Brian Mwenda Njagi...   Despite LSK’s warning of Mr Njagi’s deception, the incident has won him supporters.  Among them is Mr Francis Atwoli, secretary general of Kenya’s Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU), who in a statement on Saturday described Mr Njagi as “a young and brilliant Kenyan who has recently faced condemnation for practising law without the traditional law qualifications”.  “If, indeed, it’s true that Brian has been practising law and successfully representing clients in legal matters, we strongly advocate for a fair and transparent examination to test his knowledge, skills, and competencies in the field of law,” said Mr Atwoli.  The veteran labour leader also called on the Kenyan government to recognise the talent of young people who have acquired expertise through informal education.  He said that Mr Njagi’s case is “not unique”, and added: “I know of many great engineers, accountants, teachers, IT experts, cyber security experts... and paramedics who are specialists in their areas of interest yet without any paper to show their qualifications.”"

Keto-like diet may be linked to higher risk of heart disease, cardiac events: Study
The keto crowd are going to be very upset

Stoeffel The Honey Badger’s Amazing Escapes - "A resurfacing story of a honey badger in a South African wildlife refuge has again caught social media’s attention. Reportedly, the honey badger escaped his enclosure twice to fight the lions next door. He also built towers out of sticks and rocks, and stood on his mate’s head to reach the gate lock — all in effort to escape and fight the lions again."
Addemdum: Also referred to as Stoffel

Meme - "Her Milk Shake Brings All The Boys To The Yard *Nude Wendy's girl shitting out a chocolate Frosty, with Wendy's logo*"

Meme - ">Call a company
>"Hello would you like whitehathacker LLC to attempt to hack you? We offer our services to poke holes in your network, and if we find a problem, we let you know. That way we can patch it so no big bad hackerman can break in?"
>They agree
>Try to "hack" their system

>Sit on my ass for a week
>"Your system is fully functional and we did not find any holes" >Get paid"

Meme - "Girls in haram relationships go out to eat and ask if the food is halal LOOOOOL babe ur worried bout the wrong meat going inside you"

Meme - "Hello"
"Hi."
"How are you doing ?"
"Can we get straight to the scam? I'm pretty busy"
"This person is unavailable on Messenger."

A 46 ans, Laeticia Hallyday prend le métro pour la première fois - "Si certains rêvent de nager avec les dauphins ou de faire le tour du monde, d’autres comme Laeticia Hallyday rêvent de prendre le métro. A 46 ans, la veuve de Johnny Hallyday a enfin pu réaliser le sien... pour Laeticia, son rêve d’ado était de prendre le métro comme tout le monde. «Jalil m'a aussi fait découvrir le métro. A 46 ans, cachée sous un chapeau et un masque, j'ai réalisé mon rêve d'ado. Cela peut paraître invraisemblable, mais j'ai peu vécu à Paris.» Plus tard, c’est son mariage avec la rockstar qui est venu contrarier son rêve, difficile de prendre le métro incognito avec Johnny."

Links - 5th January 2024 (2 - Hamas Attack Oct 2023)

Double standard for anti-Israel teachers, parent leaders, critics argue - "Anti-Israel teachers in NYC public schools get away with unchecked antisemitism while critics of Palestinians are immediately reprimanded, critics charge.  James Parra, a paraprofessional at Brooklyn Arbor Elementary School in Williamsburg, shared a photo of himself on Instagram — apparently inside the school — wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf. He wrote, “It’s a good time to remind y’all that Palestine will be free from the river to the sea within our lifetime.”  “That alone for us is a direct call for a genocide,” said Shy Galor, a Jewish and Israeli mother in Brooklyn’s District 14... history teacher Robert Rossicone, who was removed from PS 104 in Bay Ridge over posts on his soccer club’s Instagram page calling Hamas fighters “animals,” according to the NYC Public Schools Alliance, a group formed by educators to fight antisemitism... Other educators slammed for divisive speech appear to still have their positions, including Mohammad Jehad Ahmad, a math teacher at Gotham Tech High School in Queens who called the Hamas attacks a “successful military campaign,” and Siriana Abboud, a pre-K teacher at PS 59 in Midtown who touted pro-Palestinian lessons for tots on her Instagram accounts... CEC 14, which ejected Jewish parents and critics from its online monthly meeting in November, did so again in December, blocking Citywide Council on High Schools representative Rachel Fremmer from joining. The board did not respond to a request for comment. The New York branch of the ACLU wrote a letter to schools Chancellor David Banks this week defending students voicing pro-Palestinian beliefs, stating that there may have been “possible mistreatment and lack of protections” for them in school."
If you call a Muslim a pig, that's Islamophobia. If you call a "Zionist" (i.e. a Jew) a pig, that's "resistance"
You're not allowed to denounce terrorists when the left approves of them (it's not even criticising Palestinians, but Hamas), but you need to glorify them. If you denounce calls for genocide, that violates freedom of speech, because speech the left disapproves of is violence but violence the left approves of is speech

Thread by @afalkhatib on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "I just listened to a live Twitter discussion in Arabic hosted by multiple Palestinian dissidents & activists, many from #Gaza, titled: "Gazan perspectives trample the opinions of Twitter Mujahideen." They tore into #Hamas & offered opinions on the war in Gaza. Key points:
Psychopathic factions within Hamas, led by Sinwar & al-Deif, launched the Oct. 7 attack thinking that Iran, Shia militias & Hezbollah would launch a full-on regional war against Israel/its allies. Instead, the group was left to fend for itself; its backers gave faint support. Hamas's political leadership who are primarily outside of Gaza were not informed about the impending attack, partly due to internal competition for power, leaving the group scrambling to put out coherent & unified messages to justify Oct. 7 & articulate a desired endgame. Ironically, Hamas politburo now supports arrangements that are identically similar to what Arafat/the PA/PLO had on the table 30 years ago, namely a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with Hamas de facto recognizing that such a state would live next to a Jewish Israel. This begs a damning question that so many are asking: what's the point of Hamas's violence & wars over the past decades, particularly the past 17 years in Gaza? All the death & destruction have brought the Palestinians absolutely no gains, achievements, or tangible results. Instead of being a viable component of the Palestinian national project, Hamas made the worst possible strategic decision, which was to align itself with murderous sectarian backers such as Iran, Syria's Assad & Hezbollah, in addition to nefarious Muslim Brotherhood partners. Most detrimentally to the Palestinian cause, Hamas gave Qatar & in recent years, Turkey, undue access to key files/issues, harming Gaza, undermining Palestinian unity, empowering narrow political ends, & bolstering expansionist Islamist aspirations of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas's armed resistance is aimless, useless, meaningless & politically directionless; the group uses slick propaganda to sell illusions & "resistance porn" to its people & hide its failures and role in the annihilation of Gaza through its miscalculations & poor decisions. Had Hamas known the extent of the damage that would befall its people, it likely would not have launched the Oct. 7 attack. Yet the group is still responsible for extricating its people from the war by releasing Israeli hostages, its leaders leaving Gaza, or even disarming. Despite all of its corruption, incompetence & impotence, the Palestinian Authority has largely been a net positive for its people, and without it, the Palestinian national project would disintegrate. The PA was right to prevent the West Bank from being engulfed in violence. As for "Twitter Mujahideen" & Hamas enthusiasts who are ill-informed, misguided, ignorant, lack detailed info/understanding, & mindlessly cheer on armed resistance, they can't register that the group's actions led to needless loss of life & land; the opposite of liberation. It is easy for Hamas & "resistance" enthusiasts or "Twitter Mujahideen" in the West Bank, the Arab/Muslim world, & Western countries to overlook the dubiousness, ruthlessness, & violence of Hamas towards its own people in Gaza & how it has served extremist Israeli interests. "Twitter Mujahideen" haven't experienced life under Hamas & the associated death, horrendous quality of life, & social/religious/political repression. So many leftists/pro-Palestine advocates are choosing to ignore loud/documented Gazan voices that oppose useless resistance. Hamas has brainwashed a whole generation of Palestinians into believing empty resistance slogans & rhetoric while members/leaders of the group have enriched themselves, weakened their people's cause, served despicable regional players, & brought repeated disasters onto Gaza. The unfolding disastrous war will forever change Gaza's societal & political landscape, which is scarred by destruction & 70,000 dead/wounded/missing people. Gazans will forever blame Hamas, which must be held accountable & can never be allowed to gamble with its people. Another Hamas lie to justify why it attacked on Oct. 7 is its claim that the assault was preemptive because Israel was going to strike Gaza, a complete falsehood & fabrication; Before the attack, Gaza was demonstrably a low priority for Israel vis-a-vis the West Bank & Iran. The aforementioned are the perspectives of real Gazans, communicated in Arabic, many of whom were jailed by Hamas & have lost numerous family members in the current war. Please consider what they're saying. They include @/aimanalaloul; ustafa_ad; SeifElnajjar; gareeb_azzam"
None of this matters when you just hate Jews

Visegrád 24 on X - "Anti-Israel protesters harass a Jewish couple in New York City by chanting: “Long live Hamas, long live Hamas” Via @ScooterCasterNY"
Weird. We keep being told that no one supports Hamas

Oli London on X - "At least 30 of the female hostages that were released from Hamas captivity were sexually assaulted and raped.   The girls and women aged 12 to 48 were assessed by doctors upon their release, with 3 doctors now anonymously sharing new details of their traumas.   One doctor who treated the women said they “came to us as patients with the trauma of those who witnessed very severe sexual assaults.”  The doctor did not want to elaborate on the specific nature of the assaults out of concern for survivors.   The doctor said that people who have been sexually abused typically have a suicide rate four times higher than someone who has not been sexually abused  They were all given pregnancy tests and tested for STIs.   While there was widespread rape during the Oct 7th attack, specifically at the Nova music festival- five volunteers and first responders who collected and helped identify the bodies of those killed during the attacks on Oct. 7 said they observed multiple signs of obvious and incontestable sexual assault.   This included women naked from the waist down, with their legs splayed or underwear torn.  Source: USA Today"

Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 on X - "Iran, which is arguably the worst human rights abuser in the Middle East, was appointed by the president of the UN Human Rights Council to be the Chair of the UN Human Rights Council Social Forum.  In case you were confused at the UN’s pro-Hamas position, that is."

Opinion | Montgomery schools followed policy on suspending teachers - The Washington Post - "The Dec. 21 Metro article “Rally calls for suspended teachers to be reinstated” quoted people who claimed that teachers were suspended from Montgomery County Public Schools for pro-Palestinian views and that they were deprived of their rights during the investigation. The suspensions were a result of a clear violation of MCPS’s social media conduct policy. The educators are on leave with pay, adhering to the guidelines set by the teachers union.  These educators did not just post “pro-Palestinian views”; they posted content that was blatantly antisemitic. For instance, one teacher propagated the falsehoods that the Hamas massacre at the music festival was a hoax and that Palestinians’ organs were sold by Israelis. Another teacher signed her work emails using the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a thinly veiled call for the eradication of Israel and death to all Jews."

Protesters : australian - "War in Sudan - no protests. War in Ukraine - no protests. War in Afghanistan - no protests. War in Central African Republic - no protests. War in Ethiopia - no protests. War in Libya - no protests. War in Mali - no protests. War in Somalia - no protests. War in South Sudan - no protests. War in Syria - no protests. War in Burkina Faso - no protests. War in Nigeria - no protests. War in Benin - no protests. War in Togo - no protests. War in Algeria - no protests. War in Tunisia - no protests. War in Chad - no protests. War in Yemen - no protests.
1,200 people massacred in Israel on Oct. 7 - no protests. There was street celebrations though!
Israel defends itself from terror attacks - massive protests.
Most wars since the end of the cold wars have taken place in Muslim countries, the majority both within and between muslim countries. Genocides, political killings of civilians, government political terror have and are happening in these countries. These are facts.
The hypocrisy is stunning.
If it was Egypt bombing Gaza, no one will bat an eyelid and we can all enjoy our Christmas in peace."

Bylaw tickets issued again during pro-Palestine rally in Ottawa - "More bylaw infraction tickets were handed out to pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in downtown Ottawa for the 12th consecutive weekend.  The City of Ottawa said nine noise-violation tickets were handed out to protesters as hundreds marched down Elgin Street, through the Rideau Centre and into the ByWard Market repeating their call for a ceasefire in the conflict in Gaza and saying they wouldn’t stop until Palestine was free. Among those receiving tickets on Saturday was Ottawa Centre NDP MPP Joel Harden, who received a $490 ticket after speaking through a megaphone at the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights monument on Elgin Street. Speaking to the crowd, Harden said that Palestinian protesters “have the right to scream,” and that “silencing Palestinian solidarity when genocide is happening is wrong.”... Rally organizers have called the tickets a “clear attempt to suppress pro-Palestinian organizing and support.” Ottawa’s noise bylaw says “no person shall operate or use or cause to be operated or used any sound reproduction device on any highway or other public place.”"
Many of the people who claimed the Freedom Convoy was terrorism because of honking and cheered their bank accounts being frozen now claim this is suppressing freedom of speech / freedom of expression
12 full weekends is actually longer than the Freedom Convoy was in Ottawa

Politician who decried convoy complains about pro-Palestine protesters getting ticketed - "Joel Harden, a socialist member of Ontario’s legislature, was ticketed for using a megaphone at a rally and is now highlighting the need to protect “core civil liberties.”...   Many were quick to call out the socialist MPP’s hypocrisy, given that he had been a staunch opponent of the Freedom Convoy.   Harden referred to the convoy as an “occupation” and suggested it had antisemitic elements.  “We have seen antisemitic and white nationalist flags being flown around town,” said Harden in a Feb. 2022 letter denouncing the convoy.  Carleton Progressive Conservative MPP Goldie Ghamari took to X (formerly Twitter) to ask Harden “why the double standard? Does the law not apply equally to everyone?”...   Ghamari’s colleague, Nepean MPP Lisa MacLeod, also criticized Harden...   “That ticket was probably for his own protection. Megaphones have been known to instigate unprovoked assaults against MPP Joel Harden in the past,” said another. This was in reference to Harden appearing to injure himself with his megaphone while counter protesting parents opposed to gender ideology in June 2023. Harden was not the only prominent anti-convoy figure to oppose the handing out of noise fines to pro-Palestine protesters.  Ottawa lawyer Paul Champ, who helped obtain an injunction against honking during the convoy and who is now involved in a 300 million dollar lawsuit against the convoy’s organizers, said the ticketing of pro-Palestinian protesters is “unacceptable” and an “affront to our deepest and most important democratic values: the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.”...   Champ said if the convoy had lasted three hours instead of three weeks, it would have been reasonable.  “But of course, that’s not what they did,” he said.  University of Ottawa law and epidemiology professor Amir Attaran and Horizon Ottawa director Sam Hersh, who both vehemently opposed the convoy, also criticized the fining of pro-Palestinian protesters."
Swastikas appearing at pro-Palestinian rallies doesn't mean anything, of course, since the left approve of them

University of Minnesota professor who denied Hamas atrocities on Oct. 7 a candidate for school’s top DEI job - "A University of Minnesota professor who denied Hamas terrorists committed rape and sexual violence against Israeli women on Oct. 7 is being considered for a top administrative position in the college’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) department.  Sima Shakhsari is an associate professor in the department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, and has been seen on campus attending pro-Palestinian rallies chanting “Globalize the Intifada.” Shakhsari, who uses they/he/she pronouns, also has a long history of aligning with radical groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).   Shakhsari’s denial that Israeli women were raped by Hamas came during the professor’s testimony last Thursday to the university review panel, part of the application process in being considered for the associate dean of the DEI office in the College of Liberal Arts position.   “I cannot be silenced in the face of this genocide, and I’m not gonna argue whether it’s a genocide or not,” Shakhsari said in a one-hour speech, which almost entirely focused on Israel and Gaza.  In the speech, she volunteered she hadn’t seen any evidence of Hamas’ sexual violence against Israelis — which has been well-documented by testimony from victims, video footage and forensic evidence. “Of course, any person who has been raped, I am a rape crisis counselor, I believe the survivors. I am yet to see Israeli rape survivors of Hamas come and speak,” Shakhsari said.    Shakhsari went on to say that it’s racist to say that Hamas committed rape. “Part of our work and part of my experience… was how men of color in the U.S. have been demonized and have been falsely accused of rape. Exactly because of racism. We know the history of lynching, of black man, lynching, of indigenous man lynching Latinos in this country… because of accusations and they’re kind of violating the innocence of white women, right? And I think that is also this force that is repeated in the context of Israel and Palestine, because Arab men have been demonized and have been marked as monstrous people who are rapists and for violence.”   Bruno Chaouat, a professor of French and Jewish studies at University of Minnesota who attended Shakhsari’s job application speech, told Jewish Insider that he “[doesn’t] understand why [Shakhsari’s] talk focused on Gaza. It’s a job for a campus in Minnesota. You’re supposed to talk about how to include people from diverse backgrounds and races, so it seemed completely off topic.”...   A professor at the University of Minnesota who specializes in the study of antisemitism within DEI frameworks and requested to remain anonymous said she is “very confused about how Shakhsari was even nominated for this position.”  “[Shakhsari] is antagonistic to people she recognizes as Jewish faculty or Jewish students,” the professor said...   In a Facebook post in Sep. 2020, Shakhsari cited support of Leila Khaled, a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who participated in the hijacking of planes in 1969 and 1970. Khaled has said that the Second Intifada, during which over 1,000 Israelis were killed, mainly in suicide bombings, failed because it was not violent enough."
Prof who denies Hamas raped Israelis NOT selected for top DEI role - "A video recording of Shakhsari’s remarks before the panel has since been removed from the university’s website... In an automatic email response to Campus Reform’s request for comment, Shakhsari wrote that she stands “with the people of Palestine in their struggle for freedom and justice” and condemns “the Israeli state’s settler colonial violence and genocide in Gaza.”"

Thread by @Aizenberg55 on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "🧵FAKE HAMAS CASUALTY UPDATE: Latest Hamas fatality count of ~20,000 claims at least 14,200 are women & children. If one accepts these numbers it means IDF has only killed ~840 Hamas versus latest IDF estimate of 8,000. Here is detailed analysis which shows Hamas is lying... With 20,000 killed reported by Hamas, statistically, deaths of children women & men should roughly match population proportion of each group in Gaza. Particularly if claiming “indiscriminate bombing.” Chart below shows how many civilian men fatalities there should be: ~4,960. Since Hamas is claiming 14,200 women & children killed, and civilian men killed should be ~4,960 based on proportion of civilian men in Gaza, this means what is left is only be about 840 combatants killed by IDF. The comment pasted below summarizes the conclusion. Here are some of the male “civilians” of Hamas, caught on camera here planting an explosive device in a 1:31 minute video. Not a single Hamas member wears a uniform and it is certain Hamas counts them all as “civilian” while inflating women & children killed. Hamas has inflated civilian deaths to absurd levels (even one is tragic but ALL for the account of Hamas). By not claiming any combatant deaths & not showing men killed separately, it takes statistical analysis to see through the lies. Why is media not doing basic analysis?"
Clearly footage from Hamas cameras is faked by the Zionists to spread lies

Dr. Eli David on X - "🚨 Breaking: “Tunnel shafts and weapons found in every @UNRWA 🇺🇳 school searched so far in Gaza” – IDF"
@amuse on X - "What did the UN know and when did they know it? All funding to the UN should be suspended until we can determine just how complicit the UN is in the attack on Israel."

Meme - Big Guy @bigguyforu123 *I stand with Palestine*: "@TaylerUSA keep exposing your location bro. Soon you'll regret your actions. Just like @stclairashley you're both being watched. Careful @ I'll share yours and her exact soon. That's the good thing about free speech. Maybe you want random people showing at your home"
"This post has been deleted."
No surprise that those who support terrorism also threaten other people

Is Canada having its Harvard moment? - "Our firm and others, I wrote, had been asking TMU students whether they had signed the petition in order to avoid hiring those that did, informing them that a false answer would be cause for discharge if discovered. As I noted in the column: “What law firm would want to hire a racist, let alone a student whose name would now feature prominently when it is searched on Google, thereby causing embarrassment to the firm that employs them?”  Brand damaging conduct, as I have frequently written, even ostensibly unrelated to the workplace, can be cause for discharge... I have received various Law Society complaints as a result of my columns, likely relying on the precedent set in the case of my client, Jordan Peterson, asking that I be suspended from practice and forced to undergo social media training and remediation. But, unlike the College of Psychologists, the Law Society replied sanely, dismissing these complaints without even asking me to respond. “The Law Society must respect Howard Levitt’s constitutional right to express his views,” it said. “This right is not absolute, but it has been recognized as being entitled to significant deference.”  I have no reason to be concerned. But those attending rallies with racist chants and posting anti-Semitic attacks on social media do — and employers are quickly deciding that those are not appropriate members of their workforces"

Richard Hanania on X - "Hamas is demanding *unlimited* aid into Gaza and a ceasefire before it will discuss more hostage releases. The international effort to shield Palestinians from the consequences of their actions has been a disaster. They’re supposed to fight a jihad financed by international aid."

NBC News on X - "LIVE UPDATES: Hamas reportedly rejects a proposed Israeli cease-fire deal that would have secured the release of 40 hostages in exchange for a one-week pause in fighting."
AG on X - "How many of the people who are demanding a ceasefire have expressed any outrage at Hamas today for rejecting one?"
Why would Israel reject a ceasefire? They're monsters!

Dr. Eli David on X - "After rejecting Israel's 🇮🇱 proposal for a temporary ceasefire, today Hamas rejected Egypt's 🇪🇬 proposal for a permanent ceasefire. @antonioguterres, if you want a ceasefire, you should speak to your Hamas friends..."

David Atherton on X - "A group of Muslims intimidate Barclay Primary School teaching staff in Leyton by hanging up Palestinian flags. The @metpoliceuk turn up and fail to arrest them."
Khaled Hassan on X - "In the background, you can hear what we call a "nasheed". A nasheed is a Muslim religious song. This one literally says "the entire world is our homeland".   When you hear this, whilst seeing masked men hanging up flags on a BRITISH primary school for little kids, you can't help but feel that someone is on a mission to Islamise Britain.   For those not in the UK, primary schools are for kids between the age of 4 and 11. Every cell of my body hates watching this happen here in Britain!!!!"

Protesters and police clash outside DNC headquarters in D.C.
When the left's chickens come home to roost

College presidents debacle over antisemitism hearing meets PR blame game - "The appearance of three elite university presidents on Capitol Hill this month to testify about campus antisemitism was a flamboyant debacle — prompting a national backlash and repercussions that forced at least one resignation and demands for more.   In certain circles of Washington and New York, the conversation is turning toward a less visible dimension of the controversy: Who got paid to give advice on one of the most disastrous public relations moments in modern memory?  The answer, in part, is that the university leaders were being advised by some of the most prominent legal and communications experts in the field of “crisis communications.” Now, the crisis communicators are in a PR crisis of their own: Rather than communicating, they are hunkering down in the storm. They’ve declined to comment publicly, even as critics say they share culpability for an episode that devastated the reputations of their clients... The presidents had met privately the day before the hearing with the committee chair to get a sense of what to expect. If anything — judging by discursive, equivocating and legalistic answers they gave to whether calling for genocide of Jews would draw punitive measures on their campuses — the expensive preparation may have even contributed to their difficulties... The debacle was so spectacular, so memorable, that it continues to echo in a festival of recriminations around Washington. Those involved are trying to distance themselves from the radioactive mess. Some competitors appear to be trying to boost business off of it. An employee of another big law firm said rivals are trying to find unhappy officials affiliated with the universities to poach them from WilmerHale. Longtime lobbyist Bruce Mehlman, known for his analyses of macro trends in politics and policy, said he plans to include the mess in his year-end takeaways... “I’ve never seen a worse hearing in 30 years of watching Congress really closely,” said Republican lobbyist Sam Geduldig. “Either the Ivy League clients were hopelessly obtuse or WilmerHale’s prep was malpractice, or both.”... Both Harvard and Penn were advised by at least one higher education association to avoid voluntarily testifying given the ongoing Education Department investigations into antisemitism on their campuses, according to a lobbyist familiar with the deliberations... At the antisemitism hearing, the university presidents appeared to tiptoe around offending liberals instead of offending the rest of the political spectrum, said Mehlman, a veteran lobbyist in Washington. It was the crescendo of so-called “woke-lash” that has plagued 2023, he said, a year that included both the Disney-DeSantis fight and the Bud Light backlash."

Wilfred Reilly on X - "Hamas complaining about "war crimes" is less effective than it might be, because Hamas basically IS a war crime - a designated terrorist group, sheltering among a civilian population, that uses rape as a military tactic, etc."

New Jersey Muslim cleric: ‘Oh Allah, punish the infidels. Oh Allah, let us inherit their homes, wealth, and land.’ - "In a December 15, 2023 Friday sermon delivered at the Bayonne Mosque and Community Center in New Jersey and streamed live on the mosque’s YouTube channel, an unnamed preacher said that the people of Gaza are guarding the dignity of the Muslim nation, and he prayed that Allah will grant them victory. He asked Allah to punish the infidels, to allow the Muslims to inherit the homes, lands, and wealth of the infidels, and to take their children and lives as booty."
Clearly he just wants peace

Khaled Hassan on X - "When I read the news about the mass rape of Sudanese women by a Sudanese militia, I never for a moment questioned that it happened. I never for a moment thought "oh well, show me videos if it really happened". Why? Because I am not a sick bastard who wants to watch women suffer, nor do I believe that an entire nation and tens of thousands of people would just lie about their women being raped.  But, when it comes to us Jews, all we got is accusations of lying even though HAMAS documented and broadcasted their crimes. The most disheartening thing about this is that the accusations came from educated Westerners here in the UK and across the world.   I never thought I would live to see anything even remotely like this. This is industrial-scale hatred. This is what led to the Holocaust. If we didn't fight back, you would have been rounding us up and sending us to concentration camps. This is coming from a guy who before Oct 7th believed that nothing like the Holocaust would ever happen again!"

Meme - "THEY DANCE WHEN THEY SEND THE ROCKETS *women in hijabs carrying assault rifles*... AND CRY WHEN ROCKETS RETURN *women in hijabs crying*"
When you know your tears will be weaponised

Ed Leon Klinger on X - "Hamas terrorists tied up a mother and her 10 year old daughter, doused them in gasoline, and set them on fire. They died in each other’s arms.
• @Harvard students called it ‘resistance’ ✊
• The @UN refused to condemn it 🙊
• @UN_Women refused to acknowledge it at all 🙉
• Hamas supporters on Twitter denied it completely
We see you, you cowards. We see you."
Ed Leon Klinger on X - "“The charred remains of an adult and a child, who were bound together with metal wires in a final, tragic embrace before being set alight. The child was around 10 years old. They were both female”  ^ From the head of Israel’s National Center of Forensic Medicine.   This is what Hamas barbarians did on October 7th. It’s what they have vowed to do over and over.  It’s what organisations like the @UN /@UN_women  and journalists like @OwenJones84 /@cenkuygur  have repeatedly downplayed or denied.   Shame on them.   I will continue to call out Hamas atrocities until every hostage is free and every Hamas terrorist has faced justice. I apologise for my graphic and unpleasant tweets - unfollow me if you’d like, I won’t take it personally."