Michigan Attorney General Drops Charges Against University of Michigan Activists

Michigan Attorney General Drops Charges Against University of Michigan Activists 1

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Michigan Attorney General Drops Charges Against University of Michigan Activists 2

About a year ago there were anti-Israel protests on the campus of the University of Michigan similar to the ones taking place at other schools. Some of those protests resulted in arrests but in a pattern familiar to anyone who follows left-wing activists, charges against those involved were either never filed at all or were mostly dropped. We’ll come back to that in a moment but first, here’s how the University of Michigan described the incidents they were dealing with last May.

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  • The protesters established their encampment on the Diag on April 22, following months of escalating disruptions to university operations – including the disruption of honors convocation and repeated disruptions of classes in academic buildings and study in university libraries. 
  • In late April and early May, individuals in the encampment replaced Diag bricks with concrete and painted over the Block M on the center of Diag. Spray paint graffiti was found on walkways, on the Michigan Union sign and on the fountain outside the League. These actions were not free speech; they were destruction of property.
  • A protest outside the University of Michigan Museum of Art descended into violence on May 3. Participants in the encampment helped organize the protest and issued calls on social media for others to join them. Late in the evening, the crowd became unruly and converged in what can only be described as an assault on law enforcement officers. One person, who is not affiliated with the university, was arrested, and multiple police officers sustained minor injuries. 
  • While they did not occur on campus, the demonstrations that took place during the early morning hours of May 15 at the homes of several members of the U-M Board of Regents went well beyond the lawful exercise of free speech. Marching and chanting in the middle of the night outside private homes, posting demands on private property, and placing a burnt cradle and fake bloody body bags on the lawn of one regent amounted to vandalism and trespass, not protected expression. While the demonstrators wore masks to hide their identities, they made clear on social media that they were the leaders of the Diag encampment.

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In short, it was the usual leftist circus but local prosecutors repeatedly declined to bring cases against the perpetrators.

Washtenaw county’s office only charged 10% of arrests, while the Wayne county prosecutor Kym Worthy dropped all five Gaza protest cases forwarded to her office by Wayne State University police in Detroit, data provided by protesters’ attorneys and prosecutors shows…

The Washtenaw county prosecutor Eli Savit, a progressive prosecutor who is also Jewish, announced in May that his office would dismiss 36 cases and recommend four for diversion programs where they faced a light punishment.

According to a report from the Guardian, University of Michigan regents were frustrated by the outcomes of those cases and asked the state’s Attorney General Dana Nessel to bring charges instead of the local prosecutors.

Frustrated by local prosecutors’ unwillingness to crack down on most of the students arrested at the height of the pro-Palestinian encampments last spring, the regents executed a highly unusual move in recruiting the Michigan attorney general, Dana Nessel, because she was more likely to file charges, three people with direct knowledge of the decision tell the Guardian.

Last September, AG Nessel did file charges against 11 individuals, including 7 who were facing felonies.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has filed criminal charges against 11 pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan, alleging that several of them used “physical force to counter” police officers clearing a tent encampment in Ann Arbor. One of the protesters was charged with ethnic intimidation after he allegedly attacked a pro-Israel rally…

Out of the 11 people charged, nine stemmed from protests on May 21, when police cleared a tent encampment at the Diag at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Protesters had set up tents calling upon the university to divest from Israel. Two of the nine were charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor with a maximum 30-day sentence, for “failing to vacate the encampment” despite being given “ample time following clear lawful orders to do so,” Nessel’s Office said in a news release Thursday announcing the charges.

In addition, seven of the pro-Palestinian protesters on May 21 were charged with trespassing and an additional count of resisting or obstructing a police officer, a felony with a maximum two-year sentence. The seven demonstrators “attempted to halt or push back the police by making direct contact with the officers’ bodies or physically obstruct an arrest,” Nessel’s office alleged.

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The AG’s decision to bring the charges resulted in pushback from Rep. Rashida Tlaib who had previously visited the encampment on the University of Michigan’s campus. Rep. Tlaib accused AG Nessel of bias and acting like a Republican.

“This is a move that’s going to set a precedent, and it’s unfortunate that a Democrat made that move,” Tlaib said in an exclusive interview with Metro Times on Friday. “You would expect that from a Republican, but not a Democrat, and it’s really unfortunate.”

“We’ve had the right to dissent, the right to protest,” Tlaib says. “We’ve done it for climate, the immigrant rights movement, for Black lives, and even around issues of injustice among water shutoffs. But it seems that the attorney general decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs.”…

“I think people at the University of Michigan put pressure on her to do this, and she fell for it,” Tlaib says. “I think President Ono and Board of Regent members were very much heavy-handed in this. It had to come from somewhere.”

And from that point it seems the case stalled. There were calls for Nessel to recuse herself on the grounds of bias but it appeared she had no intention of doing so.

On Monday of this week when AG Nessel suddenly announced she was dropping all charges against the 7 activists who had been facing felonies. Even their attorneys were stunned by the sudden reversal.

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Inside the courthouse, the decision to drop the charges stunned defense lawyers, who were prepared to offer closing arguments in a preliminary exam that began in February…

The courtroom was packed with spectators, many of them wearing keffiyehs. They burst into applause at the decision and began chants of “Free Palestine.”…

After the hearing, the group moved outside where a small celebration started. Spectators enjoyed coffee and bagels while the defendants and their lawyers addressed the group.

Samantha Lewis, one of the activists whose charges were dropped, called AG Nessel the “top pig” and said she was a coward.

“I think that the possibility of recusal was going to be so embarrassing for Nessel that she just couldn’t bear it,” Lewis said. “And so while all of us, and that includes all of you, refused to cower, she did. And that just goes to show that the bullies and badges and the top pig are just cowards.”

Here’s AG Nessel’s statement explaining her decision:

When my office made the decision to issue charges of Trespassing and Resisting and Obstructing a Police Officer in this matter, we did so based on the evidence and facts of the case. I stand by those charges and that determination.

Despite months and months of court hearings, the Court has yet to make a determination on whether probable cause was demonstrated that the defendants committed these crimes, and if so, to bind the case over to circuit court for trial, which is the primary obligation of the district court for any felony offense. During this time, the case has become a lightning rod of contention.

Baseless and absurd allegations of bias have only furthered this divide. The motion for recusal has been a diversionary tactic which has only served to further delay the proceedings. And now, we have learned that a public statement in support of my office from a local non-profit has been directly communicated to the Court. The impropriety of this action has led us to the difficult decision to drop these charges.

These distractions and ongoing delays have created a circus-like atmosphere to these proceedings. While I stand by my charging decisions, and believe, based on the evidence, a reasonable jury would find the defendants guilty of the crimes alleged, I no longer believe these cases to be a prudent use of my department’s resources, and, as such, I have decided to dismiss the cases.

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I have to say this doesn’t make much sense to me. If she was right to bring the charges and she believes they would have held up in court, why drop them at this late date. It really does seem like she was worried about a negative outcome. Rep. Tlaib was or course happy to see the charges dropped.

Needless to say, this is not good news for the University of Michigan. This outcome once again affirms that students can violate the rules repeatedly and never face any consequences. That said, instead of relying on the police to solve this problem, why doesn’t the school simply make its own decision and expel these students for their behavior. They are the real cowards in this situation.

Posted in Republican News

The University of Washington and City of Seattle Are a Third World Dumpster Fire

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The University of Washington and City of Seattle Are a Third World Dumpster Fire 4

For old times’ sake, let’s do a quick flashback to only a year ago, when stalwart local independent Seattle journalist Jonathan Choe was documenting the goings-on at the University of Washington’s Seattle campus.

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The Hamasholes, much as they were on campuses across the country, had set up little tents and were camping out on university property and amusing themselves by harassing, threatening, and intimidating Jewish students. This was all in the name of unity with the Palestinian cause as well as a way of forcing the school into divesting from anything associated with Israel and local employer Boeing, whose bombs and aircraft were used by Israelis in the fight against the scourge that is Hamas.

Here it is a year later, and darned if the little imps aren’t still full of piss and vinegar…although, in all honesty, it’s still mostly piss.

They’ve gotten themselves worked back up into lather over Boeing again but decided to change their protest threads from colorful, hippe-style bandanas and dirty t-shirts of assorted Palestinian greens, whites, and reds to a more slimming, ‘we mean business’ universal black ensemble.

With bags over their heads – that, at least, is sort of an improvement from an aesthetic viewpoint.

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I mean, if this doesn’t scream malevolent, needy, porculent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle larper, nothing does.

It also shrieks ‘pay my student loans,‘ but that’s another post for another day.

So, anyway, the kiddoes were back to vicious mischief as only they do it, starting this past Monday (as John covered here yesterday), which is when they caught my attention.

There’s a brand-spankin’ new and very expensive building on the U of W campus, called the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building (IEB). It attracted the notice and raised the ire of the ‘student’ body, Hamasholes, and their friends, thanks to some of its construction and very expensive scientific equipment being paid for by Boeing. The major portion of the project was a $50M contribution from WA state taxpayers.

The nasty little cretins decided that they would block to entrance to the new facility and occupy the building and they made no bones about their intentions.

When these pictures were taken Monday afternoon, supposedly the Seattle Police Department was en route to take charge and clear the area…or at least the brand-new building.

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What happened next is Seattle in a nutshell, emphasis on the ‘nut.’

The protestors ran the UW campus security agents off with barely any effort and some harsh language.

And then they did the exact same thing to the Seattle cops when they showed up – cops slithered ignominiously away in the face of the black-clad urban terrorists.

Herded like sheep down the hill.

Most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen or damn near.

Then they went back to building barricades and setting fires.

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While Seattle PD mewled about having ‘thirty minutes to clear the area.’

Yeah. Right.

Electric bikes that had been added to the racks in the barricades on fire started cooking off.

The cops finally went in, got the place cleared after facing a barrage of stones and other projectiles, and found the beautiful new science building and all that fabulous equipment basically destroyed. The building is going to be closed for at least the rest of the year.

The savages swear they’ll be back.

Thirty of the thugs were arrested, including one who is an attorney with the county’s public defender’s office.

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Five have already been released, including this same clown. Misdemeanors.

…where a judge found probable cause for the arrests for Criminal Trespass in the First Degree, a gross misdemeanor. 

The case has not been sent from investigators to prosecutors for a charging decision yet. Charging decisions routinely come after a first appearance hearing, where probable cause can be found for an arrest. 

Those that have been released are Sam Seouka, with the public defender’s office, Oliver Brown, Lucas Nicolas McAuslan, and Genevieve Konijiksy

The university president sent out an ‘I’m horrified’ statement, and the Seattle media called them ‘masked activists…staging a blockade‘ while reporting on the takeover and subsequent riot.

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Just another day in Seattle. 

Like yesterday was when the same-minded, black clad, ‘masked activists’ viciously attacked folks attending the event featuring Riley Gaines that David wrote about earlier.

Flying poo is the perfect analogy.

Just another evening out in the Third World s**thole that is Seattle.

I am almost to the point where I feel as if I’m insulting the Third World using that phrase.

How have the seismic readings been in the Olympic chain lately? Mt St Helens quiet? No wisps of smoke, no rumbles in that subterranean belly?

Surely, as this city spirals into unrecoverable darkness, a reckoning of epic proportions has to be coming…in some fashion.

And they may not get to choose their destructor. 

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Posted in Republican News

Washington Declares War On Faith; Seattle Archbishop Warns Priests to Remain Firm

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Washington Declares War On Faith; Seattle Archbishop Warns Priests to Remain Firm 6

As its cardinals gather for their conclave today at the Vatican, the Catholic Church and other faiths find itself under assault — not just in China and North Korea, but in the state of Washington. Despite impassioned opposition, Gov. Bob Ferguson has signed a new law stripping members of the clergy of their ability to hear confessions as “privileged communication.” The state legislature passed SB 5375 to explicitly target the confessional and require priests and ministers to report any confession involving potential child abuse.

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The title makes the intent clear: “AN ACT Relating to the duty of clergy to report child abuse and neglect”, and so does the language. It redefines “member of the clergy” to include both ordained ministers and priests as well as lay ministers, and asserts authority over the conduct of:

official duties that are recognized as the duties of a member of the clergy under the discipline, tenets, doctrine, or custom of the person’s church, religious denomination,religious body, spiritual community, or sect 

The law then adds this definition of “members of the clergy” and its activities to its list of required reporters. As if the intrusion into the confessional was not clear enough, the law also explicitly strips any claim of privilege from “members of the clergy”:

Except for members of the clergy, no one shall be required to report under this section when he or she obtains the information solely as a result of a privileged communication as provided in RCW 5.60.060.

The law specifically inserted “Except for members of the clergy” into that part of the statute. The hostility toward faith communities is both obvious and intentional. So too is the ignorance of the way that confessionals usually work, but we’ll get to that in a moment. 

No priest will comply with this law, and if they do, they won’t be a priest for long, nor will they remain Catholic. The archibishop of Seattle made that much clear to his priests:

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“Catholic clergy may not violate the seal of confession — or they will be excommunicated from the Church,” the Archdiocese of Seattle said in a statement. “All Catholics must know and be assured that their confessions remain sacred, secure, confidential and protected by the law of the Church.”

“The Catholic Church agrees with the goal of protecting children and preventing child abuse,” the statement added, noting that it “remains committed to reporting child sexual abuse, working with victim survivors towards healing and protecting all minors and vulnerable people.” 

The new law — signed by Democrat Gov. Bob Ferguson last week — added “members of the clergy” to a list of professionals who are required to report information that relates to child abuse or neglect to law enforcement, and the measure does not provide an exception for information offered at a confession booth.

First off, ministers and laity are already required to report this information when presented in non-privileged communication. Catholic dioceses require all adults who come into contact with minors or vulnerable adults to go through training to learn those requirements and to recognize signs of potential abuse. That includes priests when operating off of non-privileged information. 

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However, priests also hear confessions, which are privileged communications — and have always been treated as such. They have the same privilege as attorneys in dealing with clients, whose privilege notably remains undisturbed by Ferguson and the Washington legislature. This cuts to the literal core of Catholic faith, as well as some other ecclesial communities, which rests on priests absolving sins in persona Christi as key to access salvation and the Eucharist. If priests are now required to act as agents of the state in the confessional, no Catholic will feel safe in confessing their sins. It will put a stop to the practice of Catholicism in the state of Washington. 

Furthermore, this evinces ignorance of the confessional process. Face-to-face confessions are more in vogue these days, although not my favorite practice, but in the main confessions are heard anonymously. Priests don’t see the penitents, and so there isn’t a way to testify firmly about who said what. On top of that, confessions are heard en masse, usually at set times when people line up to go through the sacrament. A priest would have to jump out of the confessional, throw open the door, demand ID, and then call the police for this to even approach its goal. In the real world, priests might recall a specific confession of abuse, but in the midst of other confessions from a blur of parishioners. This would be utterly useless as evidence, and probably just as useless in any legitimate investigation. 

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It’s an absurdity, whose only purpose is to virtue-signal hostility to religion in general and Catholics in particular. Jonathan Turley agrees this is a war on faith, and not just in Washington:

The Democrats effectively declared war on religion, and particularly the Catholic faith, with this abusive law. The matter is now set for a showdown in the federal courts and, hopefully, an expedited process for judicial review and appeals.

Washington has been one of the most aggressive states in litigating against religious rights, including its long litigation in the Masterpiece Cake Shop case.

In Washington, the governor and the Democrats have added to the four stages of the confession. Examination, confession, absolution, and penance may now be followed by incarceration.

He also notes that the confessional privilege has court precedent stretching back over 200 years:

In 1813 in New York, the clergy-penitent privilege faced an early challenge in People v. Philips. In that case, Fr. Anthony Kohlmann learned in the confessional about two people who had stolen jewelry and convinced them to turn over stolen goods to him.  He then returned the goods to the victims. However, after the thieves were later arrested, state prosecutors sought to force Fr. Kohlmann to testify. The court, however, ruled that he was constitutionally exempt.

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The Left’s war on religion and faith is offensive in just about every way possible. Shame on Ferguson and the state legislature, and may God have mercy on their souls if they ever try to enforce this abomination. 

Posted in Republican News

Fetterman Dismisses New York Magazine ‘Hit Piece’ Claiming He is Unfit to Serve

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Fetterman Dismisses New York Magazine 'Hit Piece' Claiming He is Unfit to Serve 8

Ed wrote about New York Magazine’s hit piece against Sen. John Fetterman last Friday. Yesterday, Fetterman pushed back on it in comments to several reporters. He called it a “once source story, with a couple anonymous sources.” He added that it was “a hit piece from a very left wing publication.”

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He also gave an interview yesterday to CNN in which he repeated some of the same statements. Fetterman blamed the hit piece on his former Chief of Staff Adam Jentleson.

There is already intense interest in primarying Fetterman, and questions over his fitness to serve could amplify that effort…

Fetterman denied he had other mental health issues beyond what he has publicly disclosed, calling it “outrageous” to suggest otherwise.

“My doctors have confirmed that that is not the case,” he said.

“I’ve been very front and center about my … depression, absolutely none of these other things, and it’s like so someone that was trying to accumulate my medical records and leak those things that’s part of this weird grudge for this hit piece,” he said…

In the New York Magazine piece, Jentleson said he was going public with his concerns out of fear for the senator’s health and staff around him…

“If you’re really concerned about someone, you could say, hey, let’s sit down. Can we talk? It’s not … like going to the media,” he said.

I read the New York Magazine story and it does read like Adam Jentleson, having defended Fetterman when he was clearly not fit to run for office after his stroke, decided last year that he didn’t want to be the guy defending Fetterman anymore. Maybe there’s some genuine concern for Fetterman’s wellbeing or maybe all the lying about Joe Biden’s mental decline became a real world object lesson for Jentleson, i.e. lying about someone’s mental health can end badly for everyone involved. 

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But Fetterman is correct that none of this really needed to be a national news story, not for Fetterman’s sake. What seems true is that Adam Jentleson wanted a clear break from his old boss and this story dumping out the Senator’s dirty laundry, created that separation.

Is there a political motive as well? As I described yesterday, the Democrats are facing a terrible map in the 2026 Senate elections. They are only two seats they have any chance of winning and even if they win both it wouldn’t allow them to regain control of the chamber. So how does dumping on Fetterman at this moment help?

Maybe if Fetterman resigned he could be replaced by a more left-leaning Senator but that would only be a hold not a gain for Democrats. What it might do is alleviate their discomfort at some of his opinions that are clearly not popular with the left. The topic of Fetterman’s stance on Israel comes up repeatedly in the New York Magazine article.

While Israel had not been a prominent issue in his various campaigns, Fetterman had been talking about his support for the country for years. “I’m not really a progressive in that sense,” he said while campaigning in 2022. “There is no daylight between myself and these kinds of unwavering commitments to Israel’s security.” Still, it wasn’t until October 7 that it became clear Fetterman was the most outspoken Israel hawk in his party, offering constant and unconditional support for the military action in Gaza. Early on in the conflict, 16 of his former campaign staffers wrote a letter — anonymously — saying they found his full-throated support for Israel to be a “gutting betrayal.” Jentleson had taken to defending Fetterman on X from such criticisms, posting, “The thing about being a staffer is that no one elected you to represent them.”…

The war in Gaza was also luring Fetterman back to X. He had handed over his social-media passwords to his staff as part of his recovery plan, but when he saw in December that Pennsylvania protesters had stuck BOYCOTT ISRAELI GOODS stickers on hummus containers, he approved a post for staff to send. The message adhered to a classic meme format featuring two photos of Drake: one in which the rapper appeared disgusted by text that read PROTEST THE RAPE OF ISRAELI WOMEN + GIRLS and another in which he nodded approvingly to PROTEST HUMMUS.

The post roiled his staff. According to one former aide, a group of women who worked in the office argued that the message could be read as hurtful to sexual-assault survivors. Members of Fetterman’s senior team spent hours urging him to take the post down. The point he was trying to make — that protesters didn’t care about the atrocities committed by Hamas — was being lost in the controversy. According to one of them, Fetterman’s response was that he didn’t want to give in to the “woke mob” and that anyone upset was welcome to resign. Eventually he took it down…

Fetterman went on to make statements that shocked people. In opposing a cease-fire, he said, “Let’s get back to killing.” A person who heard the conversation told me, “He said, ‘Kill them all.’” In a statement, Fetterman denied the account, adding, “Any reference to killing was solely about Hamas, and I do support the destruction of that organization, down to its last member.”

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His support for Israel is clearly a big part of his own staff’s outrage and maybe one reason there is so much turnover in his office. Does that apply to Jentleson as well? I really don’t know. Maybe there are mixed motivations here but Fetterman’s stance on Israel is a big issue. Many on the right see it as the main issue driving a desire to see him pushed out of office.

Fetterman is still out there saying things like this, which obviously don’t sit well with a lot of folks in his party.

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Put another way, a party that wants to hype up a buff supporter of Hezbollah and the Houthis (as the left’s answer to Joe Rogan) has no room for a guy like this.

Posted in Republican News

The Truth About the $230 Million Gaza Pier Slowly Coming Out

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The Truth About the $230 Million Gaza Pier Slowly Coming Out 10

One of the many, many proofs that the media does a horrible job of keeping Americans informed is that most people never had a good sense of just how feckless Biden’s Gaza policies were. 

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To be fair, most people’s opinions were driven by ideological/sympathetic commitments that existed prior to any of Biden’s actions, but even those opinions have been driven by the Narrative™ that is force-fed to us through Pravda. Most of the media outlets employ Hamas operatives–some of whom actually PARTICIPATED in the October 7th attacks on Israel and who openly embrace Nazi ideology–and these outlets will uncritically use Hamas propaganda is undisputed truth. 

But the failures in coverage go far beyond the media uncritically reporting that teenage soldiers firing on Israeli troops were innocent “children” targeted by Israeli soldiers. These failures extended to the basic reporting of facts, such as the utter failure of the pier that Biden had built to provide “humanitarian” aid to Gaza residents. 

You would think a Pentagon reporter would dig into the basic facts of a purely American action, but it took a change of administrations and the digging of an Inspector General to reveal basic facts that a moderately competent reporter should have easily dug up. 

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Well, the Inspector General’s report on the Gaza Pier has come out, and it is damning. We all know that the pier was a boondoggle, but few people know just how bad the failures were and how many American soldiers paid a price in blood to build a pier that delivered almost no aid and which floated away and sank in less than 3 weeks. 

The financial cost was outrageous–almost a quarter of a billion dollars–and the cost in blood was over 60 soldiers wounded–all to deliver a few trucks in aid that were stolen by Hamas as soon as they hit the shores. It wasn’t just a debacle; it aided the enemy. 

The Biden Pentagon had downplayed–by a factor of about 20–the injuries that were caused by Biden’s insanely stupid policies. Any competent journalist should have easily dug into the construction and short life and reported that this was not remotely true. Unfortunately, they uncritically repeated the Biden administration Narrative™–they call reprinting press releases from Democrats “reporting without fear or favor.” 

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While there were no deaths or known direct attacks on the pier, the Pentagon had said three U.S. troops suffered non-combat injuries in support of the pier in May, with one medically evacuated in critical condition.

But the new report by the Pentagon Inspector General said that the number was actually 62.

“Based on the information provided, we were not able to determine which of these 62 injuries occurred during the performance of duties or resulted off duty or from pre-existing medical conditions,” the report said.

The pier became a sore point in Congress, where Republicans branded it a political stunt by Biden, who was under pressure from fellow Democrats to do more to aid Palestinians after months of staunchly supporting Israel’s punishing war on Hamas.

As is so often the case, many of the facts that the Inspector General reports were not hidden–if citizens closely followed what was really going on, we could figure out something close to the truth, but that requires us to do the very job that journalists are supposed to. Every man a journalist, except the journalists themselves, who are Regime propagandists as long as they like the Regime. If they don’t they become Regime opponents. 

Anything but doing the job they are supposed to do. And since most people aren’t inclined or don’t have the time to do a journalist’s job, almost all people see is propaganda. 

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Conservative media is hardly perfect, either in getting all the facts right or in keeping their own Narrative™ out of the reporting. But the point of view is out there on the table, not hidden behind the cloak of “objectivity,” and you will find a lot more skepticism about what conservatives say and a substantially more well-rounded view of the facts than you find in what the liberals call “mainstream media.” 

Even the most sycophantic blogger on the Right is no more biased and indifferent to facts than NPR’s Yamiche Alcindor, who has been handed some of the most prestigious positions in journalism, including hosting PBS’ Washington Week in Review. Your average newsmonkey on NBC or ABC is basically a left-wing propagandist in a suit. 

For God’s sake, you have ideological newsroom revolts at The New York Times or Washington Post, and liberals still take what they read in those papers as Gospel. 

The Gaza pier story–indeed, the whole Gaza war story–is a great example of how the media pushes a narrative. If the media were all “Yay Israel,” it would be propaganda–never in the history of war have horrible things not happened, and fair reporting would cover those even if the “good guys” did them. 

But the whole “Gaza is starving” and “Israel is targeting women and children” narratives–using Hamas spokesmen as their sole sources–is a travesty, and totally intentional. 

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The Gaza pier story fits right into this pattern. The media defended Biden’s ridiculous and destructive policy, promoted the “Gaza is starving” narrative, slammed Israel–the only country willing to actively defend US troops as they built this ridiculous pier, and covered up the wounding of US soldiers. 

I would call it shameful, except these people have no shame. They believe they are doing good. 

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Posted in Republican News

New York Business Owner Outwits City with a Fence

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A business owner in Queens named Anthony Della Vecchia owns an industrial lot that is home to his business, Michael Della Vecchia & Son General Contractor. The backside of his building runs along 19th Road and Della Vecchia says he frequently finds all sorts of garbage including used needles, condoms, beer bottles, etc. There would also occassionally be illegal dumping along this stretch of road.

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His problem escalated last January when a woman walking down the sidewalk on 19th Road tripped and fell face first on the concrete. She was injured and decided to sue both Della Vecchia and the city for failing to maintain the sidewalk. But after reviewing the lawsuit, the city decided it wasn’t their problem. City property records showed that Della Vecchia was the owner of the land that included the sidewalk and a portion of 19th Road which was used for parking.

“They don’t own the property,” Della Vecchia told FOX 5 NY’s Duarte Geraldino, as an answer to how the city refused the lawsuit.

As the owner, that meant Della Vecchia was on the hook for the lawsuit. The city was saying he had sole responsibly since he owned the land. In order to avoid anything like that happening again, Della Vecchia spent $25,000 erecting a chain-link fence which covers his entire property, including the sidewalk and part of the street. 

The fence went up last April and since then some of his neighbors have been outraged.

Local residents have criticized Della Vecchia over the measure, stating that the act was not in the spirit of the law, even if he was legally entitled to do so.

Costa Constantinides, a former Council Member for District 22 and the current CEO of Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens, lives nearby and said he would have preferred if Della Vecchia had consulted with the local community before erecting the fence.

“If this was your property, then talk to people. We’re all adults,” Constantinides said.

In response, Della Vecchia contended that he owned the property and did not have to consult with anybody.

“Why do I have to consult people to do something on my own property?” Della Vecchia said.

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Now that there are complaints about the fence from neighbors, the city is taking action. They gave Della Vecchia a 30-day notice to remove it. But he says he has no plans to comply with that order. Instead, he plans to prove his case in court.

Della Vecchia confirmed that the DOT issued him a 30-day order to remove the fence on April 17, stating that he will receive a violation if he does not remove the fence by May 17.

However, he said he is looking forward to his day in court and added that he has no intention of removing the fence before May 17. He said he has documents that prove he owns the sidewalk and a section of the roadway and plans to produce those documents in court.

The city is trying to have it both ways. If someone falls and injures themselves on the sidewalk, it’s 100% Della Vecchia’s problem and they will reject responsibility. However, if he puts a fence around “his property,” the city demands he take it down as if they have rights to use his property without compensation.

As Della Vecchia sees it, the city could buy the property that includes the road and the sidewalk from him for about one million dollars (based on the per SF value of property in Queens). If they won’t do that, he plans to leave the fence in place because whatever fine the city can dish out can’t compare to the cost of another slip and fall lawsuit for which he is solely responsible.

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Here’s a local news report on the situation.

Posted in Republican News

Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em: Conclave ‘Like No Other’ Begins; UPDATE: Still Smokin’

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em: Conclave 'Like No Other' Begins; UPDATE: Still Smokin' 13

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Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em: Conclave 'Like No Other' Begins; UPDATE: Still Smokin' 14

‘Like no other’? A few media outlets have made that argument today, but it’s actually much more of a conclave like most of the others. The true anomaly came in 2013 when the conclave took place under the nominal guidance of a living pope, after Benedict XVI unexpectedly took the first papal retirement in 600 years. This time, the conclave follows the much more traditional pattern of a true sede vacante status in the Holy See.

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‘Like no other’ is a reference, apparently, to the “diverse” composition of the cardinal-electors, as ABC’s commentator notes below. However, the cardinalate has always been ‘diverse,’ geographically as well as philosophically. The question this time is how that fits with the issues facing the Catholic Church, as well as those raised by the direction of the Pope Francis pontificate.

As of an hour ago or so, all of the speculation has become moot. The doors have closed and the conclave has begun:

Traditionally, only one vote will take place today, which should produce smoke of one kind or another by 6 pm in Rome. Needless to say, that smoke is unlikely to be white, not at this stage of the discernment. The subsequent days will have four ballots, two in the morning and two in the afternoon, although we will only see smoke twice. That will continue until a new pontiff is elected by a supermajority of the cardinal electors. 

Diversity might matter in these discussions, but less on ethnicity and more on approach. Africa will have its largest conclave representation, and that means their insistence on doctrinal discipline may influence the selection of the next pontiff. That alarmed one Jesuit cardinal, who drew criticism for shooting his mouth off about it:

Pope Francis’ former point man on migrants has drawn criticism by saying in an article published Sunday that some African cardinals make him “shudder” and that he believes “conservatives” are calling for an African pope to further their agenda. 

Cardinal Michael Czerny, a Jesuit who served as prefect at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in the last years of Pope Francis’ pontificate, made the derisive comments to The New York Times in the context of the African continent being deeply opposed to the LGBTQ agenda.

“I can think of some African cardinals — they make me shudder,” Cardinal Czerny said in the article published May 4. When the newspaper asked whether conservative Catholics were rallying behind an African pope as a “Trojan horse” to further their agenda, Cardinal Czerny replied: “Certainly, certainly, certainly, and that’s why it’s so, so, so stupid to say things like Africa’s time has come.”

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Needless to say, this may animate the cardinals from Africa to assert their positions:

Cardinal Czerny’s comments are likely to embolden African cardinals who have never welcomed such animosity to their traditional stances on moral issues, especially when it comes to homosexuality.

Having talked with a couple of bishops from Africa, that’s an oversimplification of their concerns. The African bishops and priests are attempting to convert animists who practice polygamy and other non-traditional family structures, and who are very hostile to homosexuality. They want the church to stick closely to its entire teaching on family life so as to address polygamy, sexual exploitation, contraception, abortion, and other issues as well as homosexuality. Their lives have literally depended on it. The focus on homosexuality alone is a Western-media prism.

That brings me to another point raised at the Synod on the Family a decade ago. The African bishops are increasingly alarmed at what they see as Western cultural colonialism imposed by supposed “charity,” The NGOs and governments who supply aid to their communities attach strings to aid to force support for contraception, abortion, and non-traditional family models. This may be their best forum to demand more assistance in pushing back against the undermining of teaching Catholic doctrine. 

Bear in mind, though, that this doesn’t necessarily mean the cardinals of Africa will demand the election of one of their own. That’s not how cardinals discern in a conclave anyway. But to the extent that these cardinals insist on discernment of these issues as a priority for the next pontificate, the potential candidates will reflect a sensitivity to the situation in Africa, as well as in Asia, where the church and its members face similar pressures, if not necessarily as deadly. 

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And make no mistake about it — the martyrdom in Africa is real and literal:

Anti-Christian persecution watchdogs have on different reports said Nigeria is perhaps the world’s worst country to live as a Christian.

The latest mass killings were recorded during this year’s Holy Week, Fulani jihadist herdsmen killing about 170 people in Nigeria’s Plateau and Benue States.

And this wasn’t an isolated event. International Christian Concern reports that at least 300 Christians were massacred in Nigeria in the first three months of 2025. Dozens have been abducted, and thousands displaced.

A report by the Catholic-inspired NGO, International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, Intersociety released on April 10, 2023, stated that since 2009 when Boko Haram insurgents began their campaign to annihilate Christianity in Africa’s most populous nation, over 50,000 Christians had been killed.

That has to be part of the discernment in this conclave, and may well influence the choice of the cardinal electors. In fact, it’s difficult to think of a more existential crisis for the church than the one it is experiencing in Africa.

For now, though, we will all have to wait for the white smoke to emerge from the Sistine Chapel to determine how the discernment actually proceeded. Catholics will put their trust in the Holy Spirit for wisdom in this selection, based on Matthew 16:18. The rest of the observers may wish to place their faith in the wisdom of crowds, even one as small as the 133 cardinals in this conclave.

Update: Don’t miss Mark Judge’s analysis of the necessary direction of the next pontificate:

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The conservative side views the Catholic Church as a bulwark worshipping science, transgenderism, feminism, vulgar popular culture and other evils of modernism. It loves tradition and the Latin Mass.

The “progressive” side wants to welcome immigrants, legal or not; deify the LGBT community; and focus on poor people, social justice, and artistic freedom.

There may be a way to satisfy both sides.

Two recent books analyze the role of the Catholic Church in light of modern times. One is from a Catholic author who leans right politically, the other from one who leans left. They both have a similar message: Catholicism should engage with modernism and “baptize” the elements that are good. In the past, such an interaction has been good for both modernism and the Catholic Church.

I suspect there will be a doctrinal/discipline course correction in this conclave. I’m not entirely convinced of it, but that may at least be a fair prediction. 

Update: As I predicted:

Er .. it jus means that they didn’t elect a new pope today. I seriously doubt anyone expected a one-ballot conclave. 

Posted in Republican News

A Perfect Example of the Left’s Moral Inversion

A Perfect Example of the Left's Moral Inversion 15

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There are few more powerful examples of how disconnected from reality many liberals are than the fact that they are sympathetic to Antifa–it is “anti-fascist!”–and think that people who attend Turning Point USA events are the fascists. 

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No doubt, most liberals would say that the Antifa activists’ tactics do go too far, but that they are fighting on the side of good, while people who want to meet with Riley Gaines or some other gender-critical conservative are bad people who are inflicting their cruel ideology on helpless children and oppressed people. 

“I don’t approve of violence, but…” is the constant refrain from the left and liberals. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. Riley Gaines isn’t a fascist. The exact opposite is the case, but the issue has been framed so absurdly in the Pravda Media (“Fiery but mostly peaceful”) that the casual liberal assumes that any uncomfortable incidents are exceptions, not the rule. 

Nope. Antifa are the fascists, despite their name (lefties always redefine words to confuse the bourgeoisie), and they are the nastiest people in the world. Brownshirts. 

The history of good-hearted liberals becoming useful idiots for radical causes is long and depressing. As long as there has been a modern left–an ideology that first burst onto the scene in the French Revolution–there has been a large fraction of liberals who find the utopianism romantic and inspiring. 

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No incrementalism. No balancing of costs and benefits. Revolution and rewriting human relations, and then everything is rainbows and unicorns. “Real communism” has never been tried! They meant well! No matter the reality, the illusion retains power and is reinforced by left-leaning media. 

A Perfect Example of the Left's Moral Inversion 16

Utopian visions are the most dangerous thing in politics because they cloak raw power grabs as massive acts of compassion and goodwill. The Communist mirage has killed more people than anything else human beings has done, yet vast swathes of Westerners are still attracted to it. Kids come out of school mouthing idiocies like “real communism has never been tried,” and go out into the world sympathetic to assholes like this:

It may not seem so to you at first glance, but alphabet ideology is a variation on communist utopianism. It is based on a degraded form of transhumanism–the idea that humanity and the world are infinitely malleable and that we can think reality into existence. If we can remake people’s thoughts, through any means necessary, we remake reality. 

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That’s why dissent is so toxic to the alphabet people. If reality depends on pure thought, then everybody must acknowledge the same thing, or their preferred reality is destroyed. This is the essence of critical theory, once you strip away all the “blah, blah, blah.” 

That’s why “deadnaming” is literally genocide–you are denying the desired reality and KILLING it. Seriously, they believe that. It sounds absurd, but that is what they believe. There are hundreds of texts pushing this narrative, and it is the guiding principle of most education in the West today. 

Utopian ideologies are necessarily totalitarian, and totalitarian ideologies are necessarily violent. Sometimes the violence doesn’t escalate to the Gulags and the Killing Fields, but as often as not, it does. You don’t kill off over 100 million people without becoming comfortable with violence and mass slaughter. 

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No doubt, many good-hearted liberals would say something like, “Well, that’s not what THESE people want.” They just want a bit more kindness. Or the ubiquitous “I don’t approve of violence…” nostrum that still sides with the bad guys. 

This is their version of kindness, and you will find something similar in EVERY alphabet ideologist. By that I don’t mean every person who happens to fall in one of the alphabet groups–there are lots of gays, lesbians, bi-, and gender-dysphoric people who are not committed to alphabet ideology and who simply want to live their best lives without imposing their will on others–but the people who want to remake the world by forcing others to bend to their will are dangerous, violent, and Maoist. 

Unfortunately, Pravda Media barely covers, and usually covers for, the Brownshirts. Most liberals, we must admit, really have no idea just how cruel and violent the alphabet/neo-communist movement is. They think that Seattle’s “Summer of Love” that was quickly revealed to be a creation of hell on Earth, was an aberration, not the inevitable consequence of the ideology itself. 

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Violence–being vile–IS the ideology. If you read up on Antifa and all the leftist movements, they and their heroes fund these tactics we see aren’t aberrations–they are the strategy, laid out in black and white. Books are written on how to do this:

Left-wing oligarchs, USAID, and a vast number of liberal nonprofits pour money into the movement to create exactly this group of people. The Antifa people are often bussed to perform these acts using vast sums of money, and you can contribute to these nonprofits on platforms like ActBlue. Many people do, assuming that they are being “kind” when they do so. 

How many ordinary liberals will see these videos, be shown that these tactics are integral to the movement and not the actions of a few zealots working alone? 

Almost none. They are fed an alternate reality by what Ed calls “Regime Media” and I call “Pravda Media.” They are shown an alternate world–a Truman Show–in which the people who scream at black policemen and disabled women that they should die–that they have no right to live–are the “good guys” and a woman who just wants her granddaughter not to be beaten up by a man cosplaying a girl. 

Reality is inverted. It’s not that these liberals are stupid–most of them are definitely not stupid. It’s that they buy into the illusions created for them by a media that picks and chooses what they see and tells them how to interpret it. 

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Those people burning up the University of Washington? Those are the GOOD GUYS! 

Until we erode their trust in Pravda Media entirely and get them to face reality by shoving it in their face they will never believe us. They don’t see the screaming Black Bloc Antifa people at work. They are fed the narrative that everybody who went to llisten to Riley Gaines is a Nazi. 

That’s why I am not ANGRY at ordinary liberals. Their failure is one of discernment. They still trust the Narrative. We owe it to them to help them see the light. 

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Posted in Republican News

Schmaybe El Salvador Not So Bad After All? Rwanda Confirms It’s in Talks to Take US Deportees

Schmaybe El Salvador Not So Bad After All? Rwanda Confirms It's in Talks to Take US Deportees 17

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Schmaybe El Salvador Not So Bad After All? Rwanda Confirms It's in Talks to Take US Deportees 18

Let’s see how fast Abrego-Garcia changes his tune about his accommodations in San Salvador and how quickly bleeding heart progressive Democrats in Congress pool their pennies together to pay for photo ops in the heart of Kigali in the summer.

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RWANDA, HERE WE COME!

Yes, it’s true, all of it.

The master at thinking out of the box is now thinking of getting those thousands of pesky illegal deportees out of the United States and off to Africa, bolstering the efforts of the Central American countries who are taking them back right now.

Rwanda has signaled they are more than willing to help, especially as it gives their country a chance to help give unfortunate migrants a leg up. Well, on top of that migrant babysitting cha-ching the US is known for paying.

…Olivier Nduhungirehe, while speaking on state broadcaster Rwanda TV, said that the talks are “ongoing,” though he noted that the conversations are still in the early stages and that they have “not yet reached a stage where we can say exactly how things will proceed.” He emphasized his country’s humanitarian interest in “giving another chance to migrants who have problems across the world.” 

The foreign minister added that the talks were “not new to us,” referring to the multimillion-dollar deal that the country made with Britain last year to receive deported illegal migrants from that country. The deal fell apart after Labour succeeded the Conservative party in the 2024 election. 

Mr. Nduhungirehe’s comments follow the release of leaked Department of State cables that raised the curtain on the Trump administration’s plans to expand its list of countries to which it is sending deported migrants. Last month, Secretary Rubio declared that the White House was “actively searching” for countries that were willing to accept “some of the most despicable human beings.”

The government has already approached several other countries in Central Africa, including Equatorial Guinea and Angola, according to a recent report from CBS News. Libya, Eswatini, and even the European country of Moldova are being considered by the administration. Hundreds of migrants have already been deported to Costa Rica and Panama, and Guatemala has recently agreed to take in deportees.

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This is all part of the Trump administration’s plans to expand so-called available ‘Third Countries’ for deportations of illegals here whose own countries of origin refuse to take their gems of humanity back again.

They surely do not belong or have any right to be in this country. Mayhap the thought of being dispersed to some African hellhole with a questionable human rights record will give new border jumpers pause, and ones already in the US food for thought as far as self-deportation options.

…The talks are part of an intense diplomatic campaign by the Trump administration to convince as many nations as possible — including those with controversial human rights records — to receive deportees from the U.S., such as migrants whose home countries won’t take them back.

…The Eastern Hemisphere countries that the Trump administration has identified as places that could potentially accept deportations of third country nationals include Angola, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Libya, Moldova and Rwanda, according to the internal government documents and officials. The U.S. has yet to announce any formal deals with these nations.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the internal talks with some of these countries in April. The negotiations with Angola and Equatorial Guinea have not been previously reported.

It’s unclear who exactly would be sent to the third countries if any deportation arrangements are finalized. But one of the ideas under consideration, the internal government documents show, would be for the U.S. to use the agreements to deport suspected members of Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang Mr. Trump has made into a focal point of his crackdown on illegal immigration.

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Ah, anyone being sent to deepest darkest Africa has always been something of a joke when it gets wished, but now?

IS THERE ANYTHING TRUMP CAN’T DO?

There are indications that there may already be a lucky Rwandan lottery winner occupying a berth in the country if the leaked diplomatic cables are accurate.

How sad for him to be missing the rest of the ski season.

Out of nowhere, it appears the British are aghast at the entire proposal. 

Not because it’s inhumane or anything, but because the British-ergo British taxpayer-are the ones who originally built the barracks the Rwandans intend to use to house their own border jumping miscreants. It was all for a Tory deportation plan that Keir Starmer had immediately canceled the second he became Prime Minister. The Rwandan government is now turning them into housing for Camp US Illegals, which is an insult too far for Starm-tossed and fiscally-devastated British dignity.

Rwandan accommodation paid for by British taxpayers could be used to house migrants deported from the US by Donald Trump.

The Rwandan government will discuss housing those removed from America in facilities built by the UK as part of a possible deportation deal, The Telegraph understands.

...Sir Keir Starmer scrapped the Tory government’s Rwanda deportation plan as soon as he won the election last July, without a single enforced removal having taken place.

…Just four migrants were sent to the African state, all voluntarily.

The £700 million included £290 million in payments to Rwanda, as well as the costs of chartering flights that never took off, detaining hundreds of people and then releasing them, and paying for more than 1,000 civil servants to work on the scheme.

The UK spent at least £318 million to pay for asylum facilities and boost economic development in the country.

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With hundreds of illegal migrants beaching their little boats from France on England’s shores every single day, the thought that the United States has swiftly wrestled its massive border to a virtual lockdown whilst shoveling those same illegals out the door as fast as courts and transportation will allow does sting tender British sensibilities a bit.

It makes Starmer look even more pathetically inept and buffoonish, if that’s possible.

…“If it turns out the USA is using the hotels we paid for, that will simply underline Starmer’s stupidity.”

Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, said: “Labour’s decision to scrap the Rwanda deterrent was scandalous.”

“The Rwanda deal would have stopped the boats, secured our borders, and kept our country safe. Thanks to Labour’s surrender, the US will now benefit while the British people continue to suffer.

A PAINFUL ‘ART OF THE DEAL’ LESSON

To countries like Rwanda, the risk-reward of dealing with heinous characters who slipped into the United States uninvited and unwelcome is obvious.

As far as the US goes, the administration is unambiguous with their feelings on the subject – the US wants them gone and doesn’t care where they end up being held, since they weren’t ours to begin with.

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…Standing alongside Mr. Trump during a White House cabinet meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the Trump administration was “actively searching for other countries to take people from third countries.”

“We are working with other countries to say, ‘we want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries,'” Rubio said. “‘Would you do that, as a favor to us? And the further away from America, the better.‘”

Step Number Three will be waiting for the next judge in line to scribble a signature to stop this if they come to an agreement.

Posted in Republican News

Uh Oh: US Proposing to Run Gaza?

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Uh Oh: US Proposing to Run Gaza? 19

There are big ideas. There are bad ideas. And then there big, bad ideas … like inserting American troops into the Palestinians’ conflicts. That’s a lesson we learned the hard way in Lebanon over 40 years ago.

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And yet, now it appears we may go out of our way to learn it again in Gaza. Reuters reports that the US and Israel are discussing an American administration of Gaza after the end of the war as a transition to ‘responsible’ Palestinian leadership:

The United States and Israel have discussed the possibility of Washington leading a temporary post-war administration of Gaza, according to five people familiar with the matter.

The “high-level” consultations have centered around a transitional government headed by a U.S. official that would oversee Gaza until it had been demilitarized and stabilized, and a viable Palestinian administration had emerged, the sources said.

In other words, it would fall on the US to achieve said demilitarization. That would take a major deployment of armed forces to occupy and administer Gaza, which the Israelis attempted to do between 1967 and 2005 to little success. And in fact it’s something we ourselves attempted to do in Iraq to mixed success, and Afghanistan with no success at all.

The Times of Israel even notes that the plans would follow the Iraq model, for some reason:

According to the discussions, which remain preliminary, there would be no fixed timeline for how long such a US-led administration would last, and it would depend on the situation on the ground, the five sources say.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the talks publicly, compare the proposal to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq that Washington established in 2003, shortly after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The authority was perceived by many Iraqis as an occupying force and it transferred power to an interim Iraqi government in 2004 after failing to contain a growing insurgency.

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No kidding. We ended up conducting combat operations for years, bugged out early, and then had to return when al-Qaeda in Iraq transformed into ISIS. We’re still fighting ISIS in Syria and western Iraq. And that insurgency was the product of conflict between two versions of Islam, both of which have radical Islamist subgroups, and not the more pitched battle between Muslims and Jews. 

Presumably, the idea would be to take over only after Hamas gets driven out of Gaza. At that point, we would come in and stand up a native government oriented toward peaceful coexistence and modern governance. How did that work out in Afghanistan when Joe Biden started cutting support for Afghan security services? Did the Taliban disappear, or did they just bide their time and wait for the US to lose interest in peace?

Perhaps this is just a trial balloon, But it comes at the same time that Steven Witkoff is at the UN pitching an American aid program for Gaza:

Witkoff has become the key U.S. diplomat on the war in Gaza, the nuclear talks with Iran, the truce with the Houthis and the talks with Russia on Ukraine.

  • One of the sources said Witkoff was expected to focus primarily on Gaza and on a new aid mechanism proposed by Israel and the U.S. which they claim will allow aid to resume without being controlled by Hamas.

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This is an incredibly dangerous game we are playing. The Israelis need to settle their issues with Gaza, not create yet another Western ‘mandate’ in the Levant, an idea with a longer and equally problematic history. If they want help with that effort, they should talk with their new Sunni allies in the region for an administration of Gaza, or better yet, an end to denying the migration of Palestinian “refugees.” Making this our problem will have the same outcomes we have seen for the last four decades, almost all of them bad and most of them deadly. 

Posted in Republican News