Reader’s Links for May 8th, 2024

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Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.

For those interested, please check out https://vladtepesblog.substack.com/ as an another avenue of expression.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

37 Replies to “Reader’s Links for May 8th, 2024”

  1. Interview with BC Conservative Leader John Rustad
    (BC Elections this year) Sound on vaccine mandates, climate change, and more.

  5. BREAKING: Georgia Court of Appeals Appeals Agrees to Review President Trump’s Appeal to Disqualify Disgraced Fulton County DA Fani Willis from RICO Case
    by Jim Hoft May. 8, 2024 9:30 am51 Comments

    Good news for the rule of law.

    The Georgia Court of Appeals agreed to review the President Donald Trump’s appeal to disqualify disgraced Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the sham RICO case against him.

    Via Phil Holloway.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/appeals-court-georgia-fani-658×1024.jpeg

    In March Georgia Judge Scott McAfee ruled that crooked and dishonest Fani Willis will be allowed to remain on the Trump case.

    We called this prior to the decision.

    read the rest at

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/breaking-georgia-court-appeals-appeals-agrees-review-president/

  6. REPORT: Trump Planning to Send Covert ‘Assassination Squads’ to Mexico to Take Out Cartel Leaders
    by Ben Kew May. 8, 2024 7:15 am497 Comments

    Donald Trump is reportedly planning to send covert “assassination squads” into Mexico as soon as he takes office in order to take out Mexican drug cartel leaders wreaking havoc on America.

    According to a report from Rolling Stone, Trump is mulling the idea if he returns to the White House next year as part of an effort to strike “fear into the hearts” of Mexico’s most notorious drug lords:

    The former president has not presented specific details in public about these plans — for example, how many U.S. troops he’d be willing to send into sovereign Mexican territory. But, the three sources tell Rolling Stone, in conversations with close MAGA allies, including at least one Republican lawmaker, Trump has privately endorsed the idea of covertly deploying — with or without the Mexican government’s consent — special-ops units that would be tasked with, among other missions, assassinating the leaders and top enforcers of Mexico’s powerful and most notorious drug cartels. In some of these discussions, Trump has insisted that the U.S. military has “tougher killers than they do” and pondered why these assassination missions haven’t been done before, arguing that eliminating the heads of cartels would go a long way toward hobbling their operations and striking fear into the hearts of “the kingpins.”

    …

    During some of these conversations, Trump has likened these proposals to the 2019 military raid that he ordered that resulted in the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, insisting that the U.S. should approach drug cartel leadership in the same manner. One of the sources, who discussed the issue with Trump earlier this year, recalls the ex-president saying that the U.S. government should have a “kill list of drug lords,” as this source describes Trump’s ideas, of the most powerful and infamous cartel figures that American special forces would be assigned to kill or capture in a potential second Trump administration.

    Trump has made no secret of his plans to deal with Mexico’s drug cartels should he get a second term in office. Since Joe Biden seized power in January 2021, drug cartels have expanded their operations across the United States by taking advantage of the open border, flooding the country with fentanyl and a host of other deadly substances.

    Last April, Trump indicated that he would be willing to use military force, with or without Mexico’s consent, in order to deal with the drug cartels. The comments drew condemnation from Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who described them as an “offense to the people of Mexico.”

    “I also have a very good relationship with the president of Mexico,” Trump said at the time. “He’s a socialist but he also happens to be a gentleman. You can’t have everything, right? But he’s a great person. Certainly, I would deal with him. This is an invasion of our country — this isn’t just people walking over… We will stop it and we will stop it immediately.”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/report-trump-planning-send-covert-assassination-squads-mexico/

  8. Read more: https://www.ammoland.com/2024/05/washington-gun-owner-exodus-explained-by-retailer-who-jumped-border-to-idaho/#ixzz8ZeOIZY98
    Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
    Follow us: @Ammoland on Twitter | Ammoland on Facebook

    Washington Gun Owner Exodus Explained by Retailer Who Jumped Border to Idaho
    Ammoland Inc. Posted on May 8, 2024 by Dave Workman
    Firearms retailer Bryan Zielinski fled Washington to neighboring Post Falls, Idaho. He tells Ammoland News he was fed up with increasingly restrictive gun control laws in the Evergreen State. (Photo courtesy Brian Zielinski)

    There’s an exodus underway from West Coast states largely due to left-drifting politics, according to Fox News, and among those heading to “free America” are Washington State gun owners jumping the border to neighboring Idaho.

    At least, that seems to be one of the reasons Bryan Zielinski took his family and his professional background in firearms retail to Post Falls, Idaho, about 20 minutes east of Spokane via I-90. As the Fox story revealed—and as Zielinski explained to Ammoland via telephone—Washington became just too political, and the gun laws became increasingly restrictive.
    A Washington native, Zielinski worked as the general manager at the popular Wade’s Guns in Bellevue, within walking distance of the national headquarters of the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

    In his remarks to Fox News, Zielinski explained, “Everything is political. Whether it’s the car you drive, where you work. You’re wearing a mask, you’re not wearing a mask.”

    In a video posted online, Zielinski lamented about how the recent ruling by a Cowlitz County Superior Court judge declaring the state’s two-year-old ban on so-called “large-capacity magazines” unconstitutional was swiftly stayed by a State Supreme Court commissioner. He took particular aim at Democrat state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who rushed to get the stay just 88 minutes after Judge Gary Bashor issued his 55-page opinion in mid-April.

    “We saw an attorney general who wants to be your governor that is willing to violate all of the trust that the public has for that position,” Zielinski says in his video. “And I know there’s not much trust left with the attorney general.”

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    In 2022, Washington banned magazines capable of holding more than 10 cartridges, and since then Ferguson has sued at least two gun shops for violating the law. The second lawsuit resulted in the case before the Cowlitz County court.

    Last year, the state banned so-called “assault weapons” with legislation Ferguson had been pursuing for the past few years. That law is presently being challenged in federal court.

    In the same video, Zielinski encourages viewers to throw their support behind Republican gubernatorial candidate Dave Reichert. He is the former seven-term congressman and King County Sheriff on whose watch the notorious Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway, was finally captured and convicted.

    Zielinski believes Reichert is the only candidate who can defeat Ferguson in November, and recent polling by Echelon Insights showed the former lawman slightly ahead. However, the election is still months away.
    Gun laws may be a shadow issue in the Washington election. Crime is up in the state, and a former sheriff once caught on camera chasing a rioter down a Seattle street may have an edge against an attorney general whose policies are seen by many as soft on crime. Ferguson is supported by anti-gunners, while Reichert is getting support from law enforcement.

    Last week, the state Department of Licensing reported active concealed pistol licenses have gone upwards again, with 695,321 active CPL’s at the end of April, a spike of 4,214 from the March 31 figure of 691,107 licenses, according to TheGunMag.com. Despite its “blue” politics in recent years, Washington has always had a high percentage of adults licensed to carry, regardless of their politics.
    North Idaho Arms has been in business for about four months in Post Falls, just across the border from Spokane. (Photo courtesy of Bryan Zielinski)
    Four months ago, Zielinski opened North Idaho Arms in a small strip mall on the west side of Post Falls. The store is just far enough across the Idaho line to allow him to thumb his nose at Washington.

    He told Ammoland the move was “the single best thing I’ve ever done” and the hardest decision he’s ever made. But he is now in a state where modern semiautomatic rifles and original-capacity magazines are still legal, and the state is not using a consumer protection law to drive him out of business. He is registered to vote, is shopping for a home—he is currently renting—he pays about 70 cents less for a gallon of gasoline and his family is much happier.

    “Washington has used the consumer protection law against the interests of the Second Amendment,” he observed.

    He will eventually encourage Gem State politicians in Boise, and lawmakers in other states, to adopt laws prohibiting the use of consumer protection laws against the Second Amendment.
    Next month will mark the one-year anniversary of his move to Idaho, and he said he talks to dozens of people a week who are considering a similar move, so it is not as though Zielinski is a maverick. He simply got tired of living in a state where government is ratcheting down on every aspect of life.

  9. New York Senator Introduces Ban on ‘Convertible’ Pistols
    By Cam Edwards | 4:29 PM | May 07, 2024
    AP Photo/Michael Conroy

    Many of the most popular handguns in the country could soon be illegal to sell in New York, after state Sen. Sen. Zellnor Myrie introduced a bill banning the manufacture and sale of “convertible pistols.”
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    The bill was drafted with the help of Everytown, according to the Wall St. Journal, and it’s highly unlikely that New York will be the only state where the gun control lobby starts pushing for a semi-auto ban.

    Myrie said the legislation doesn’t name Glock, but he wrote the bill to address Glock pistols because they are easily convertible for machine gun-like fire. The converted guns increasingly have been used in crimes, he said.

    It’s already illegal under federal law to possess an auto-sear or machine gun conversion device, but with law enforcement around the country reporting a growing number of firearm recoveries where an auto-sear was attached, gun control groups like Everytown see this as an opportunity to go after the firearms and not just the illegal aftermarket accessory.

    Despite Myrie’s contention that other semi-automatic firearms not produced by Glock can’t be illegally converted to full-auto, the truth is the the vast majority of semi-automatic firearms can be converted into machine guns, so long as someone’s willing to put in the time and effort… as well as violate the law. It’s probably more fair to describe Myrie’s bill as a ban on most semi-automatic pistols. It’s also a little surprising that he didn’t choose to target all semi-automatic firearms, given that the gun control lobby has quietly been arguing for several years that most semi-automatics should be treated like they’re machine guns because of their convertability.
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    In 2022, the gun control group Brady filed a lawsuit on behalf of several victims and family members of the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting in Gilroy, California in 2019. As we reported at the time, the suit names Century Arms and Romanian gun maker ROMARM, and alleges (among other things) that the WASR-10 rifle made by Century Arms that was used in the attack on the festival constitutes a “machine gun” under federal law, even though it’s a semi-automatic firearm that discharges one bullet with every pull of the trigger. According to Brady, the rifle “constitutes” a machine gun because “it possess[es] design features which facilitate full automatic fire by a simple modification or elimination of existing component parts.”

    Brady’s tactic is slightly different than the legislation drafted by Everytown, but the end goal is still the same: to get around the Supreme Court’s decision in Heller and enact a ban on the sale of the most common and popular firearms in the United States. Once they’re no longer allowed to be sold, the next step is to prohibit their possession.

    Everytown is also overseeing the city of Chicago’s lawsuit against Glock, and is actively recruiting Democrat attorneys general to pursue their own litigation. I suspect Everytown, Brady, Giffords, and other gun control groups are also leaning on the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to get the ATF to reclassify many models of semi-automatics as “machine guns”, though Biden’s handlers may want to wait until after the election to tell tens of millions of Americans that the gun they lawfully purchased is illegal for them to possess.
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    The White House has some plausible deniability about its involvement in the push to ban Glocks and other semi-automatic handguns, so long as these efforts are coming from state and local officials and the gun control lobby itself. But if Biden wins another four years, I expect one of his first moves in a second term would be against semi-autos. The gun control lobby is already laying the groundwork for a ban, and Myrie’s bill is another big step in that direction.

    https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2024/05/07/new-york-senator-introduces-ban-on-convertible-pistols-n1224816

  10. Colorado Senate Committee Approves Gun Tax Measure
    By
    Mark Chesnut –
    May 7, 2024 40

    A slightly watered-down version of Colorado Democrats’ onerous gun tax bill was approved on Monday by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

    The version of HB 24-1349 passed by the committee would levy a 6.5% tax on the sale of all firearms, firearm accessories and ammunition in the state. The original measure proposed a 9% tax, but that number was amended in the Appropriations Committee.

    Authors of the legislation seem to feel like it is the duty of lawful gun owners and law-abiding gun purchasers to fund programs that help victims of violent crime. In fact, the measure states: Colorado needs consistent and reliable funding from the state to sustain the services crime victims depend on, including wraparound services, housing assistance, legal advocacy, emergency shelter, long-term safe housing, case management, on-site crisis response, emergency financial assistance, counseling and more.”

    One of the biggest problems with the measure is that it is kind of a “sin tax,” although aimed at those who have committed no “sin,” in this case violent crime. Since the tax is levied at the manufacturer and retailer level, it will be passed on to the consumer as a higher price to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer.

    However, since those purchasing guns will undergo a federal background check proving they are not criminals, proven law-abiding Colorado citizens will be paying the additional fee to take care of crime victims. In the meantime, the criminals who harmed those victims will continue to get their guns on the street or by stealing them, thereby not helping foot the bill to protect the victims they created.

    Of course, a federal excise tax of 11% has been collected on gun sales by the federal government for decades, with proceeds doled out to state wildlife agencies for conservation projects. Promoters of the bill try to compare the new tax measure to that tax, with the measure stating: “This act will similarly place a reasonable state surtax on firearm and ammunition industry members that profit from the sale of firearms and ammunition in order to generate a sustained revenue for programs that are designed to remediate the devastating impacts of these products on families and communities across the state.”

    Such a statement, of course, blames violent crime on guns and ammunition, not on violent criminals who prey on the law abiding. Colorado Democrats, as in many states, are hesitant to blame criminals for their illegal misdeeds since it could negatively affect those politicians’ re-election chances.

    In the end, the proposal is nothing more than an assault on lawful gun owners, law-abiding prospective gun buyers and the Second Amendment. The measure now heads to the full Senate for consideration, which is controlled by the Democrats.

    If passed by the Colorado legislature and signed by Democrat Gov. Jared Polis, the proposal will go on the ballot for voter approval in November.

    https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/colorado-senate-committee-approves-gun-tax-measure/

  11. Israel’s Newest Security Threat – Is the US Next?

    “The Chinese are imposing a kind of sanction on us. They don’t officially declare it, but they are delaying shipments to Israel…. In electronic products, there are tens of thousands of components, but if even one component doesn’t arrive, we cannot deliver the product.” – Unnamed senior figure in a factory, Ynet, December 24, 2023.

    Also immensely disturbing is that “massive” amounts of advanced Chinese military equipment were found in Gaza by the IDF during its military operations there.

    “[I]f you set up systems with technology for critical infrastructure, like electricity, energy, water, transport, these are tied to one another. One can be used to bring the other down.” – Harel Manshari, Head of Cyber at the Holon Institute of Technology and research fellow at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism, JNS, January 8, 2024.

    China recently hosted delegations from Hamas and the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah faction, ostensibly to facilitate “unity” between the two factions, all the while pretending to be a neutral mediator interested in peace in the region.

    Is the enemy, already inside Israel’s gates, also inside the US?

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20623/israel-china-security-threat

    • From: Files. Quotes/Military,War/Enemies,Allies

      • The enemy of my enemy is my enemy’s enemy, nothing more. The enemy of my enemy could also be my enemy.
      – – – [Putin] will end up helping us against the Islamic threat but will remain a threat that we can’t ignore.

      • China and Russia are rivals with whom we have some common interests and some conflicting interests. To employ one of Trump’s favorite expressions:
      – – – Rivals want to eat your lunch (to employ one of Trump’s favorite expressions) but enemies see you as lunch.
      …………
      I wouldn’t be so sure about CHY-na. They eat dogs, rats, and bats.
      – – – The Hounds of Hell are about to meet the Dogs of War, I know some of those Dogs, I will bet on their win.

      • I meet a lot of the Dogs every time I go to a medical appointment, if the Politicians and High Command stay out of their way they will always win.

  12. “GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!” – President Trump Pokes “Conflicted” Judge Merchan Attacks Democrat “THUGS” on Sophisticated Hit Job to Ruin Him and Steal His Rights
    by Jim Hoft May. 8, 2024 11:45 am0 Comments

    President Trump on Wednesday posted a new complaint on Truth Social against the Democrat Biden-linked attorneys who are holding him in court on bogus lawfare charges to prevent him from campaigning for president.

    This is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in US history.

    The Democrats are not only attempting to destroy Trump’s reputation and ruin him financially, they are wasting his time so he cannot speak to the people of America.

    And the fake news legacy media outlets are ALL supporting this historic abuse.

    Crooked Judge Juan Merchan has ordered President Trump NOT to speak out in his defense against the outlandish coordinated attacks against him. Merchan threatened to put the former president in prison for violating his gag order.

    Today Trump poked this crooked judge. Good for President Trump!

    Where is the outrage?

    President Trump: It is a really bad feeling to have your Constitutional Right to Free Speech, such a big part of life in our Country, so unfairly taken from you, especially when all of the sleazebags, lowlifes, and grifters that you oppose are allowed to say absolutely anything that they want. It is hard to sit back and listen to lies and false statements be made against you knowing that if you respond, even in the most modest fashion, you are told by a Corrupt and Highly Conflicted Judge that you will be PUT IN PRISON, maybe for a long period of time. This Fascist mindset is all coming from D.C. It is a sophisticated hit job on Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, ME!. Judges Engoron and Kaplan, also of New York, are equally Corrupt, only in different ways. What these THUGS are doing is AN ATTACK ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, AND OUR ONCE GREAT NATION ITSELF. OUR FIRST AMENDMENT MUST STAND, FREE AND STRONG. “GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!’

    Avatar

    Donald J. Trump

    @realDonaldTrump

    It is a really bad feeling to have your Constitutional Right to Free Speech, such a big part of life in our Country, so unfairly taken from you, especially when all of the sleazebags, lowlifes, and grifters that you oppose are allowed to say absolutely anything that they want. It is hard to sit back and listen to lies and false statements be made against you knowing that if you respond, even in the most modest fashion, you are told by a Corrupt and Highly Conflicted Judge that you will be PUT IN PRISON, maybe for a long period of time. This Fascist mindset is all coming from D.C. It is a sophisticated hit job on Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, ME!. Judges Engoron and Kaplan, also of New York, are equally Corrupt, only in different ways. What these THUGS are doing is AN ATTACK ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, AND OUR ONCE GREAT NATION ITSELF. OUR FIRST AMENDMENT MUST STAND, FREE AND STRONG. “GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!’

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/give-me-liberty-give-me-death-president-trump/

  13. Illegal From Guatemala Who Entered US on Biden’s Open Border Invitation in January Arrested For the Kidnapping and Sexual Assault of 11-Year-Old Girl
    by Cristina Laila May. 8, 2024 12:20 pm31 Comments

    Joe Biden’s America.

    An illegal alien from Guatemala who entered the US on Joe Biden’s open border invitation in January was arrested on Saturday for the kidnap of a minor to sexually assault them.

    Marvin Dionel Perez Lopez was arrested in Palm Beach County, Florida on Saturday. He illegally crossed the US border in January.

    Perez Lopez was released by Border Patrol and was given a court date for some time in 2027!

    “Through the investigation, detectives learned that Perez Lopez left Guatemala in early January, crossed through Mexico, turned himself in to Border Patrol, was given a court date for some time in 2027 and was released,” the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/illegal-alien-who-entered-us-bidens-open-border/

  14. Haaretz Exclusive | Israel Commits to Limit Rafah Operation, Grant Control of Crossing With Egypt to Private U.S. Firm
    Prior to the ground invasion of Rafah, Israel made it clear in talks that the operation’s objective is to exert pressure on Hamas in the hostage negotiations and to harm the crossing’s reputation as a symbol of Hamas power

    Israel has committed to the United States and Egypt to restrict its operation in Rafah, which started on Monday, aiming only to deny Hamas authority over the border crossing that connects Gaza with Egypt, and concentrating on the eastern side of the city.
    The parties agreed that a private American security company will assume management of the crossing after the IDF concludes its operation. Israel has also pledged not to damage the crossing’s facilities to ensure its continuous operation.
    State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday that he is not aware of Israel agreeing to transfer control of the crossing. The White House also said it was unaware of such an agreement.

    https://archive.is/WrFlw#selection-915.0-933.202

    • Report: Rafah op focused on transferring control of crossing from Hamas to private US firm

      Israel has promised the United States and Egypt that its limited operation in the Gazan city of Rafah is focused on getting the Rafah Crossing with Egypt out of Hamas’s control to prevent the smuggling of arms and other banned goods, Haaretz reports.

      The plan, according to the report, is to transfer control of the key crossing to a private American security firm after the IDF concludes the offensive. It says negotiations are ongoing with the unnamed company, which employs former elite US soldiers and is an expert on securing strategic sites in Africa and the Middle East. Israel and the US will help the firm if needed.

      Israel has reportedly promised to only operate in the city’s eastern part, and not to damage border infrastructure.

      on May 7, 2024. (Fayez Nureldine/Israeli Army/AFP)

      Israel has promised the United States and Egypt that its limited operation in the Gazan city of Rafah is focused on getting the Rafah Crossing with Egypt out of Hamas’s control to prevent the smuggling of arms and other banned goods, Haaretz reports.

      The plan, according to the report, is to transfer control of the key crossing to a private American security firm after the IDF concludes the offensive. It says negotiations are ongoing with the unnamed company, which employs former elite US soldiers and is an expert on securing strategic sites in Africa and the Middle East. Israel and the US will help the firm if needed.

      Israel has reportedly promised to only operate in the city’s eastern part, and not to damage border infrastructure.
      Bomb shelters make good neighbors
      Keep Watching

      Asked about the report in a press briefing, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says, “I’m not aware of that at all.”

      read the rest at

      https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/report-rafah-op-focused-on-transferring-control-of-crossing-from-hamas-to-private-us-firm/

  15. US officials deny knowledge of plan to transfer control of Rafah crossing to private American security firm
    John Bowden
    Tue, May 7, 2024 at 6:07 PM CDT·3 min read
    62

    US officials have played down their knowledge of Israel’s plans for military operations in Rafah, the last haven in Gaza for refugees fleeing the Israeli military siege which has devastated the northern part of the territory.

    For weeks, the Biden administration has publicly warned Israel’s government against a sustained military assault on Rafah, which it argues cannot be undertaken without posing an existential threat to the more than one million refugees and residents of Rafah now sheltering in the area to avoid the violence.

    Israeli officials had long indicated they planned to ignore those warnings and push ahead with an attack.

    That attack came this week, with Israeli tanks entering Rafah early Tuesday morning. US officials who spoke to reporters appeared to be holding on to hope that it was not the beginning of a sustained operation, though they offered no statements from Israeli commanders to support the view.

    “What we’ve been told by our Israeli counterparts is that this operation last night was limited and designed to cut off Hamas’ ability to smuggle weapons and funds into Gaza,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at a press conference. He had, just one day earlier, admonished a reporter for asking about the scope of the attack: “There hasn’t been an assault or an attack in terms of a ground operation at this time, so let’s not get ahead of where we are.”

    Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, poured cold water on those optimistic assurances from US officials on Tuesday as he toured parts of Rafah: “This operation will continue until we eliminate Hamas in the Rafah area and the entire Gaza Strip or until the first hostage returns.”

    “We are willing to make compromises in order to bring back hostages, but if that option is removed, we will go on,” he said.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-officials-deny-knowledge-plan-230727915.html

  16. With 2024 presidential contest looming, Georgia governor signs new election changes into law
    JEFF AMY and SUDHIN THANAWALA
    Tue, May 7, 2024 at 3:53 PM CDT·4 min read
    1.7k
    FILE – Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp delivers the State of the State speech, Jan. 11, 2024, in Atlanta. Kemp signed a bill into law Tuesday, May 7, that makes additional changes to Georgia’s election laws ahead of the 2024 presidential contest in the battleground state, including defining probable causes for removing voters from the rolls when their eligibility is challenged. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

    ATLANTA (AP) — Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation Tuesday that makes additional changes to Georgia’s election laws ahead of the 2024 presidential contest in the battleground state, including defining probable causes for removing voters from the rolls when their eligibility is challenged.

    Republican activists — fueled by debunked theories of a stolen election — have challenged more than 100,000 voters in the state in recent years. The activists say they are rooting out duplicate records and removing voters who have moved out of state.

    The bill Kemp signed into law — SB 189 — lists death, evidence of voting or registering in another jurisdiction, a tax exemption indicating a primary residence elsewhere, or a nonresidential address as probable causes for removing voters from the rolls. Most controversially, it says the National Change of Address list can be considered, though not exclusively.

    Supporters have said the probable cause definition would make the challenge process more difficult. Opponents have disputed that, saying the changes would enable more baseless attacks on voters that would overwhelm election administrators and disenfranchise legitimate voters. For example, people sometimes live at a place of business, which would be considered a nonresidential address. Officials with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office say there are more reliable types of information, such as driver’s license data, to confirm a voter’s eligibility.

    The Georgia bill also allows challenges to be accepted and voters removed from the rolls up until 45 days before an election. That provision in part has prompted the threat of lawsuits from liberal groups because federal law says states and counties can’t make systematic changes to voting rolls within 90 days of a federal election

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/2024-presidential-contest-looming-georgia-205322126.html

  17. Post
    See new posts
    Conversation
    Citizen Free Press
    @CitizenFreePres
    Fund manager Kevin Hassett.

    ‘If President Trump is in chains, would you want to buy a U.S. Treasury the next day. We become a banana republic the moment they take him to Rikers, and I just can’t imagine what happens to Treasury markets that day.’

    https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1788238802948944300

  18. Over the last 24 hours Ukraine suffered the highest number of casualties since the war began.

    => Why? What lessons can we – must we – learn?

    The UK’s premier military think-tank, RUSI, is like our RAND Corp. In March it published a piece by Alex Vershinin, a retired Russian Lt. Col. who seems to have changed sides.

    He outlines what went wrong for the Kiev regime and its allies in the West. Too late for Ukraine, but we had better pay attention.

    The Attritional Art of War: Lessons from the Russian War on Ukraine

    https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/attritional-art-war-lessons-russian-war-ukraine
    …………….

    Russia Launched A Massive Missile Strike | Fires Throughout Ukraine.

    • ~ty~
      Citizen Free Press is really a treasure. I saved their very early pieces on the MB. I just forgot about it till now.

      • They are good, I try and read or at least skim all of their posts that I can.

  23. Report: Pro-Hamas Campus Agitators Trained with Communists in Cuba

    5:04

    Some of the activists in protests backing the goals of the jihadist group Hamas on American college campuses received support and training in Cuba, ADN America reported Tuesday.

    ADN America named Manolo De Los Santos, a far-left activist believed to have incited the storming of Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall in late April, as having deep ties to the Castro regime and its figurehead president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, with a long track record of political activities in Cuba spanning multiple years.

    read the rest at

    https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2024/05/08/report-pro-hamas-campus-agitators-trained-with-communists-in-cuba/

  24. Jerusalem Post article by UAE analyst won’t warm the hearts of the I-Stand-With-Ukraine stalwarts.

    Zelensky is in a predicament in the war against Russia – opinion

    Zelensky has failed to achieve any of his goals and is leading his country into an abyss after losing many parts of Ukraine.

    https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-799802

  25. (Richard: When I was on active we might not like the people at High Command level but we knew that the vast majority were honest and that even more were Patriots. Now no one trusts them to organize a pillow fight.)

    Decline of Senior Officer Integrity and Civilian Control of the Military
    by Guest Contributor May. 8, 2024 6:00 pm31 Comments

    By Keith T. Holcomb
    Real Clear Wire

    Public confidence in the military has slipped. One major reason is the politicization of senior military officers, who show an increasing propensity to compromise their integrity to gain influence and achieve both budgetary and policy goals. Their willingness to spin carefully parsed and knowingly misleading testimony and advice compromises civilian control of the military. Simply stated, these generals and admirals are not providing full and complete representations of plans, concepts, and assessments to senior civilians in the executive and legislative branches, thereby depriving them of the unbiased information they require to make decisions required by the Constitution.

    In an era of increasing complexity, cleverly constructed narratives that present simplified, politicized positions to the general population have taken on out-sized importance. Senior officers increasingly are attempting to manipulate policy making by intentionally reducing complex reality to simple narratives designed to appeal to partisan audiences.

    Integrity has two meanings pertinent to this issue: the common understanding of integrity as honesty and the less common and more formal understanding of integrity as the quality of being whole and complete.

    Preparation for and experience in combat develops strong wills. Senior officers motivated by the desire to get the biggest possible piece of the pie for their services are tempted to dissemble to win the internecine budget and policy fights that are the lifeblood of official Washington. When these wills are not properly constrained by higher commitments to integrity and respect for the decision-making province of civilian authorities, generals and admirals can succumb to the temptation to deceive.

    These deceptions can take many forms. A senior officer can choose to highlight some information. Conversely, they can obfuscate, discredit, or ignore other information. They can allude to expert knowledge or classified information to undercut or deflect questions that challenge their assertions. They can use the age-old technique of making strawmen of opposing views. Worse, they can engage in or encourage subordinates or cultivated commentators to engage in ad hominem attacks on the messengers of alternate views.

    While the hyper-political environment sees daily evidence of such behaviors, some senior officers have exercised considerable self-discipline and have not let advocacy for a position override respect for the prerogatives of senior civilians. In short, just because they have the leadership persona, verbal skills, and communication staffs to construct one-sided positions and perhaps even succeed in the manipulation of some people, they have worked to develop full and balanced representations of the issues at hand. Theirs has been a triumph of professional ethics over the abuse of information to achieve their ends.

    Regrettably, that admirable conduct is in decline and that decline is a contributing factor for decreasing public trust in the military. The American public may not know the specific capabilities of various weapons or the operational implications of various policies. But constant exposure to spun narratives has trained them to recognize manipulation when they see and hear it. Many resent being manipulated, and their sense that such techniques are being used by the Nation’s most senior officers undermines their trust and confidence in the military. The military was once recognized as a profession culturally apart from the rest of society, but no longer. America’s military, and its senior officers especially, are increasingly viewed as no less cynically self-interested than the rest of the elite class.

    The decline of senior officer integrity increasingly impacts civilian decision makers. Not long ago, overbooked national leaders could confidently “repose special trust and confidence” in the senior officers providing assessments and recommendations to them. The disciplined and honorable behaviors of past generations of generals and admirals certainly validated this special trust and confidence. But, with a rise in manipulative narratives, civilian leaders and their staffs are more likely to feel compelled to dig into the details of complex military matters to gain the full and complete picture they need to discharge their responsibilities.

    In short, it is past time for senior officers to forego their increasing addiction to the power opiate of clever narratives and work to present full and balanced representations of the issues at hand.

    Absent immediate internal reform by the Department of Defense, civilian leaders will increasingly have to turn, just as they have with other federal agencies, to independent investigations to gain a more complete understanding of national security issues.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/decline-senior-officer-integrity-civilian-control-military/

  26. ‘Hundreds of Millions of Americans’ Have Strong Message for Woke Disney
    by Guest Contributor May. 8, 2024 4:00 pm254 Comments

    High levels of dissatisfaction with company’s LGBT ‘engineering’ of children

    Disney, which has plunged neck-deep in the pro-LGBT ideation in recent years, turning away both once-faithful fans as well as economic stability, should return to the days when parents could safely consider its products a go-to option for their children, a poll shows.

    Rasmussen Reports revealed that 71% of American adults say the entertainment company that openly has tried to indoctrinate children with the leftist beliefs, “should return to wholesome programming and allow parents to decide when their children are taught about sexuality.”

    A report in the Washington Stand revealed that Rasmussen exposed Disney’s agenda with quotes from Karey Burke, who heads the company’s General Entertainment Content.

    That individual, during a conference call in 2022, boasted of being “a mother of two queer children … one transgender child and one pansexual child …”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/hundreds-illions-americans-have-strong-message-woke-disney/

  27. Biden Sexual Assault Victim Tara Reade Tells Tucker Carlson She is in Danger of Being Indicted by DOJ for Speaking Out Against Joe Biden (VIDEO)
    by Cristina Laila May. 8, 2024 7:40 pm51 Comments

    Biden’s sexual assault victim Tara Reade sat down for a one-on-one interview with Tucker Carlson while he was in Russia earlier this year.

    Tara fled to Russia in May 2023, and is suing the Department of Justice over alleged misconduct.

    Tara Reade told Tucker that she is seeking political asylum in Russia because Biden’s Justice Department is after her.

    Reade said in 1993, then-Senator Joe Biden pushed her up against the wall and penetrated her with his fingers.

    Biden’s sexual assault victim Tara Reade sat down for a one-on-one interview with Tucker Carlson while he was in Russia earlier this year.

    Tara fled to Russia in May 2023, and is suing the Department of Justice over alleged misconduct.

    Tara Reade told Tucker that she is seeking political asylum in Russia because Biden’s Justice Department is after her.

    Reade said in 1993, then-Senator Joe Biden pushed her up against the wall and penetrated her with his fingers.

    read the rest at

    https://twitter.com/ReadeAlexandra/status/1598339586492895232