We’re being “led” by a complete moron.
When low wattage House Representative AOC (D-Marxist) first suggested getting rid of flatulent cows to combat “climate change” back in 2019, she was dragged by conservatives and back-pedaled from the non-binding resolution that was the precursor of the Green New Deal.
Now a group from the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute in Australia has published a study that suggests breeding less gaseous bovines can “permanently reduce methane production.”
New research suggests that breeding dairy cows to fart less — and, therefore, release less methane — could cut down on greenhouse gases.
The team from Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute in Australia combed through 27 reports, drawing conclusions about various ways to curb methane emissions in the dairy and beef sectors in the country.
If I’m reading that right, this isn’t even original research. The Aussies studied other people’s studies to reach their conclusions.
Food production is one of the leading causes of climate change — livestock farming accounts for about 10% of greenhouse gas emissions — with one 2020 study finding that burps and farts from cattle, as well as manure management, are a significant contributor to global warming.
The latest study, published in the journal Climate this month and the first of its kind, suggests that transforming farmland into forest or wetland would be most effective at reducing methane, but breeding less gassy cows may also be an avenue worth exploring.
OK, first of all, cows have been been burping and farting for thousands of years and the climate has been just fine. Any change has come from the rise of technology and the internal combustible engine. It’s not the cows—but these eco-warriors just can’t help themselves from meddling with the ecosystem that God arranged.
Second, it’s not the farts that are the problem, it’s the burping.
He says he was dismayed to see Ocasio-Cortez blaming “cow farts” for greenhouse gas emissions. Technically, she’s right: As cattle digest food, they release nitrous oxide and ammonia in their manure, gases that have planet-warming potential. But the more abundant greenhouse gas, methane, comes out mostly through their burps, which makes them a more significant driver of climate change. None of this is funny to Mitloehner, by the way, whose research involves putting cows in air-tight tents to measure the content of their “eruptions.”
I mean, if you’re going to mess with the biological makeup of a cow, at least target the right end of the digestive tract.
Third, do you realize that the amount of CO2 (the other main “greenhouse gas” alongside methane and nitrous oxide) in our atmosphere is incredibly small? Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) asked a panel of “witnesses” during a House Transportation Committee meeting in March 2023, “What percent of our atmosphere is CO2, carbon dioxide?”
None of them knew. They just guessed, anywhere from 5 percent to 8 percent. LaMalfa then dropped the mic: “The answer is point-zero-four percent [0.04%]. Not 1 percent, not a half of a percent, point-zero-four percent. And it’s gone up from point-zero-three over the last couple of decades … It’s this tiny change in CO2. If we get below point-zero-two, plant life starts dying off.”
In other words, our CO2 levels are just barely above what our trees, shrubs and flowers need to survive. If anything, doesn’t it seem like we should increase our CO2 levels?
If we were to take LaMalfa’s point-zero-four percent and turn it into a number, this is what we’re talking about: 0.0004 or “four ten-thousandths.” Expressed as a fraction, 1/2500. Hardly something to be alarmed about.
Now, how much methane do you think is in the atmosphere? More than the amount of CO2? Here’s what NASA says:
Methane is an important trace gas in Earth’s atmosphere. Even though it only makes up 0.00017% (1.7 parts per million by volume) of the the atmosphere, methane traps a significant amount of heat, helping the planet remain warm and habitable. The amount of methane in the atmosphere is the result of a balance between production on the surface and destruction in the atmosphere. Methane forms when organic matter decomposes in oxygen-poor environments, such as marshes, rice paddies, or the digestive systems of cattle. It also comes from combustion (burning) of carbon-based fuels.
Oh. So “methane is an important trace gas in the Earth’s atmosphere” that keeps us warm. And it makes up even less of the atmosphere than CO2 (which, I note, is not produced by flatulent bovines). Maybe we don’t want to “permanently reduce methane production.”
Logically, shouldn’t the climate change heroes be focusing on CO2, especially since we only have (according to AOC) ten five years to save the planet?
Nope. Self-appointed busy-bodies who think they’re following “the science” are going to engineer a less farty cow to save the planet.
Frankly, I’d like them to figure out how to breed less farty people.
So you know that I strongly oppose any more aid to Ukraine and am deeply unhappy with the $95 billion slush fund that was just passed by the U.S. House on Saturday. If I had to find a silver lining it would be this:
After weeks of being bogged down, legislation that could lead to a ban on TikTok is being fast-tracked by Congress.
The US House on Saturday approved a bill that would require the popular social media platform’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell TikTok to a buyer deemed fit by US officials. The measure, which was attached to an aid package for Ukraine and Israel, now moves to the Senate.
While some oppose forcing a sale or an outright ban, there seems to be some evidence that the Chinese are using it for psychological warfare against the U.S., and particularly teens and young adults.
The bill is aimed at forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok to a buyer that American officials are OK with, as well as guaranteeing that ByteDance no longer has access to US user data or control over the TikTok algorithm that decides what videos American users see.
TikTok is the international version of Douyin, the short-form video platform introduced in 2016 and owned by Beijing-based ByteDance. More than 150 million Americans—almost half the U.S. population—use the app. But there’s evidence that TikTok (in particular, but part of the larger impact of social media) is having a corrosive effect on the mental state of younger generations.
Concerns about the hugely popular Chinese-owned video app have been bubbling for years. Besides its effects on young people’s mental health, lawmakers, security officials, and experts have sounded the alarm that the app’s data can be accessed by Beijing and that the communist regime could use the app to run influence campaigns and spread disinformation.
[…]
Geoffrey Cain, a journalist and technologist, said the mental health of Generation Z in the United States is suffering, and a great deal of that stems from an addiction to TikTok.
By comparing the content exposure of a fake 13-year-old with parental control settings across various social media platforms, his research discovered that such users had the easiest access to harmful content on TikTok.
However, his team’s tests showed that the same harmful content available to 13-year-old American TikTok users isn’t accessible by 13-year-olds who use Douyin, China’s version. Instead, Chinese users see a Ministry of Public Security warning of inappropriateness when they try to view the same videos.
“So, clearly, the Chinese government knows that this is extremely harmful content,” Mr. Cain told The Epoch Times. “Considering that they essentially control ByteDance, why do they allow TikTok to show this in America, whereas, in China, this same material is all banned?
“They know that it has a horrible effect on kids, yet they’re okay with it being shown here.”
No. I refuse to believe it! I shan’t! The same country that’s facilitating the U.S. fentanyl crisis is intentionally dumping psychologically damaging video content on Americans, too? Tell me it ain’t so!
At a Senate hearing earlier this year, FBI Director Christopher Wray affirmed that ByteDance owns TikTok’s algorithm and that the only way the algorithm could work is if ByteDance also has access to the data collected by TikTok.
TikTok has repeatedly maintained that it is independent from its Chinese parent company. According to TikTok, its U.S. customer data are stored in Virginia and backed up in Singapore, and it has never, and will never, share its U.S. data with the Chinese regime.
However, leaked audio of internal TikTok meetings held in September 2021 mentioned a Beijing-based engineer as a “Master Admin” with access to all data, according to a BuzzFeed report. A recent article in Fortune said that a senior data scientist at TikTok reported to a ByteDance executive in Beijing in 2022.
Oh. Never mind.
It seems that TikTok could actually be a nefarious influnce operation aimed at undermining our society.
In March 2023, the Chinese regime’s Ministry of Commerce spokesperson strongly objected to any sale, citing a technology export issue. Recently, Chinese authorities also signaled to ByteDance that Beijing would choose a ban in the United States over a forced sale, according to The Wall Street Journal. Reuters reported that the CCP took a similar stance in 2020.
All this suggests that the CCP treats the algorithm like a “state secret,” according to Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute, a think tank.
“To me, that’s indicative of what their true interests are here. It’s not to provide a platform for commercial activity; it is to create a platform as an influence operation,” he recently told The Epoch Times.
Lots more at the link including a section on “Cognitive Warfare.”
Know what your kids are absorbing on social media because it’s possible it’s wrecking their minds.
On Saturday the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives (cite) voted to pass a $95 billion aid package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Notably absent was any “aid” for securing our southern border from the foreign invasion taking place there.
WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday with broad bipartisan support passed a $95 billion legislative package providing security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, over bitter objections from Republican hardliners.
The legislation now proceeds to the Democratic-majority Senate, which passed a similar measure more than two months ago. U.S. leaders from Democratic President Joe Biden to top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell had been urging embattled Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring it up for a vote.
The Senate is set to begin considering the House-passed bill on Tuesday, with some preliminary votes that afternoon. Final passage was expected sometime next week, which would clear the way for Biden to sign it into law.
The bills provide $60.84 billion to address the conflict in Ukraine, including $23 billion to replenish U.S. weapons, stocks and facilities; $26 billion for Israel, including $9.1 billion for humanitarian needs, and $8.12 billion for the Indo-Pacific, including Taiwan.
On top of loading even more debt onto the backs of the American middle class, the Democrats showed how craven and insular they are by waving the Ukrainian national flag while cheering and chanting, “Ukraine! Ukraine! Ukraine!” on the U.S. House floor.
Disgusting.
The only thing I disagree with Clay Travis about is that “our taxpayer money” doesn’t exist; it will have to be printed, just like all the other multi-billion dollar grifts they’ve passed into law. Apparently inflation is here to stay.
The vote was 311-112 with “only” 101 Republicans in support. 101 traitors to the American experiment. Democrats don’t count because we already know they are anti-American.
Marjorie Taylor Green (MTG) sponsored an amendment to the bill that would immediately defund it. Needless to say, it was voted down. But she made her point.
This is your government “at work.” They sit around on their fat butts coming up with ludicrous spending ideas, stand up and make stupid and emotional arguments in favor of the spending—unsupported by facts—then vote to spend that money they don’t have because it doesn’t have any affect on them or their families, even though it will eventually have to be paid by you and your family, and that money they voted to give away eventually makes its way into their pockets or the pockets of their benefactors.
And to think that the Boston Tea Party in 1773 was sparked by a tax of 3 pennies on every pound of tea. We literally need a modern-day Samuel Adams to lead a new Sons of Liberty movement.
Who had the start of World War III on their 2024 bingo card?
Israel carried out limited strikes in Iran early Friday in retaliation for Tehran firing a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel late Saturday.
Fox News Digital has confirmed there have been explosions in Isfahan province where Natanz is located though it is not clear whether it has been hit. Natanz is the site of one of Iran’s nuclear facilities, though state television has described all sites in the area as “fully safe.”
A well-placed military source has told Fox that the strike was “limited.” Sources familiar said the U.S. was not involved and there was pre-notification to the U.S. from the Israelis.
Pentagon officials have not confirmed the strike. The White House and the National Security Council (NSC) have declined to comment on the unfolding situation.
The attack was “limited” by the United States, no doubt, who accepted a few missiles lobbed into the interior of Iran. But this administration has been trying to manage both sides of this conflict, apparently green-lighting Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel over the weekend, and now urging Israel not to retaliate but *wink, wink* approving of a “limited” strike.
Israel no doubt has the capacity and the will to destroy any of its neighbors should it choose to. Iran’s weak attack did almost no damage and looked pathetic in the face of Israel’s multi-layered defensive systems.
This newly opened direct front in the Middle East between Israel and Iran is pulling Israeli attention away from the unfinished job in Gaza, where they still have to deliver the final blow to the Hamas terrorists who attacked Israel back on October 7.
Be praying that this tit-for-tat doesn’t escalate into a full blown war.
Israel had said it would retaliate against Iran’s weekend attack, which involved hundreds of drones and missiles, in response to a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria. Most of the Iranian drones and missiles were downed before reaching Israeli territory.
Analysts and observers have raised concerns about the risks of the Israel-Gaza war spreading into the rest of the region.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had warned Israel before Friday’s strike that Tehran would deliver a “severe response” to any attack on its territory.
Iran told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that Israel “must be compelled to stop any further military adventurism against our interests” as the U.N. secretary-general warned that the Middle East was in a “moment of maximum peril.”
Have a good weekend.
I’m calling your attention to a rather long article because when Mike Johnson was selected as House Speaker after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster last year, I was impressed and thought he looked like a good (though surprising!) choice.
In retrospect, I got taken. We all did.
Johnson professes to be a conservative Christian whose worldview is based on the Bible (i.e. Judeo-Christian values), he used to work for the Alliance Defending Freedom (lots of work on freedom of religion cases), and one of the first things he did was ask the Republican caucus to pray with him.
All encouraging, but in the time he’s been Speaker he’s been indistinguishable from a Democrat when it comes to political will. He’s proven to be a major disappointment to conservatives and like-minded Republicans (and some Democrats) and, frankly, I’m embarrassed that I was so easily lured by his Christian credentials and my dutiful assumption they would translate into a wise and Christ-centered use of power.
I had to learn (again!) that it may look like a duck, talk like a duck and walk like a duck, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to govern like a duck.
Now Johnson is being told he should resign before he’s forced out, as reported in this exclusive Breitbart story.
Exclusive – MTG on Mike Johnson Speakership: ‘It’s Over – He’s Just the Only One Who Hasn’t Acknowledged It’
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told Breitbart News exclusively that she is prepared to force House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) out of his position with a vote to vacate the chair if the Speaker does not willingly resign the position.
“Yes, I am willing to force it,” Greene told Breitbart News in a lengthy exclusive interview on Tuesday afternoon where she explained her plan to remove Johnson and get a real Republican Speaker in his place. “The reality for Mike Johnson that he just is not accepting or refusing to accept, publicly at least, is whether it happens two weeks from now, two months from now, or in the next majority, he will not be Speaker. He just will not be. There may be only two of us public right now. But he does not have the support of the conference at all. There may be people who might not vote to vacate him right now, but they will never vote for him to be Speaker next Congress. There are two large factions in the conference against his speakership.”
Lots of people see MTG as a nuisance, a political gadfly. She’s a huge Trump supporter and supported Kevin McLuntz before he was removed as Speaker. But I’m with her on this one.
A major development on Tuesday was that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), an influential conservative who sits on the powerful House Rules Committee, publicly joined Greene’s effort, saying he is cosponsoring her motion to vacate the chair. During a closed-door Republican conference meeting, Massie told Johnson to his face — in front of the entire House GOP conference — that he must resign or face the same fate his predecessor, now former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, did last year with a motion to vacate vote. Massie told Johnson, and later told reporters, that if Johnson does not agree to resign willingly he will likely lose even more votes than McCarthy did if and when the motion to vacate is called. Johnson responded to Massie in conference, and then later at a press conference, saying he will not resign — echoing what his spokesman Raj Shah told Breitbart News late last week when pressure began severely ramping up after Johnson was the deciding vote to kill an amendment to the renewal of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that would have required the federal government obtain a warrant to engage in surveillance of American citizens. Johnson’s FISA ploy did provide such warrant protections only for members of Congress — protections that Johnson did not deem necessary for hundreds of millions of Americans not currently serving in the United States Congress.
I can’t reproduce the entire article for you, so I encourage you to go read the whole thing. Here’s what I’ll leave you with:
“From what I understand people were kind of down about it, or just ‘uh, not again’ because that three-and-a-half weeks was so painful for our conference and a lot of these Republicans don’t ever want to rock the boat or change the status quo,” Greene said. “That’s the whole problem. That’s why the Democrats keep winning and the Republicans keep losing, because Republicans never fight, because it’s uncomfortable, and Republicans never want to rock the boat. They just want to show up here in Washington and do their committee hearings and pass their legislation that they can hopefully get signed into law and hang it on their wall and then go back to their district and do whatever they do. But no one is ever taking the important and strategic steps to save our country. I’ll give you some examples. Out on social media today, there was an explosive report about an NGO that is passing out flyers to illegals encouraging them to vote for Joe Biden in the election. Everyone here, at the NRCC, our Republican conference, and many others, they’re busy practically measuring the drapes for the White House right now and totally convinced that Trump is going to win the election and ‘Marjorie, that’s when we’ll fix everything. We’ll do it then.’ But I’m going to tell you right now, I think that’s the worst possible mindset to be in. The Democrats are going to do everything possible to try to stop President Trump. They’re trying to put him in jail for the rest of his life right now. They’re going to do anything they can to make sure he does not win. So why in the world would our side just go along assuming that we’re going to win the White House and that’s when we’re going to stop all the millions of people invading our country and the terrorists coming across and the cartels bringing drugs and murdering our people and Americans being raped and murdered and killed, and the list goes on, and Americans being spied on through FISA? How do we sit there and look at ourselves in the mirror if we go ‘oh we’ll fix it when Trump comes back’? I don’t even think we deserve Republican voters voting for us if that’s our attitude. Here’s my biggest argument: If this is the state of mind of Republicans and Republican leaders, excluding President Trump, President Trump’s only on the ballot one more time — in November. Whether he wins or loses, what will the state of the Republican Party be after Trump? I’m going to argue strongly that Republicans in Congress and Republican leaders have not done anything to earn Republican votes for us to ever control the Republican majority ever again in the future. The only reason people will be voting for Republicans going forward is because they’re voting against Democrats. That is a very bad position to be in in the future.”
She’s right.
Time to dump Johnson.
I’ve got a number for you today: 16 million.
Speaker Johnson Says 16 Million Illegal Immigrants Entered America Under Biden’s Watch
‘This is a disastrous situation,’ Mr. Johnson said. ‘It’s a catastrophe that was caused by intentional policy choices.’
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Wednesday that official figures of around 9 million grossly underestimate the number of illegal immigrants who have entered the United States since President Joe Biden took office, and that he believes the true number is closer to 16 million.
Keep in mind that the official number of illegal aliens in America has been “11 million” for years. That doesn’t mean that the number is accurate — it most certainly isn’t — but Johnson’s number is roughly 150 percent more than what the government admits in its official reports.
So that puts us at 27 million illegal aliens based on “best guess” estimates. And the number is most certainly much, much higher than that.
Mr. Johnson made the remarks while speaking at a press conference on Capitol Hill on April 10, during which he announced plans for a vote later in the day on a resolution condemning the Biden administration’s “open border” policies.
“Since Joe Biden went into the Oval Office, it began on day one, they began to open that border wide,” the speaker said.
Oh noes! Not a “resolution” that does absolutely nothing to rein in this out-of-control communist government or that passes a law funding a border wall. Nope. Nosiree! But if you need 95 BILLION dollars to fund a war in Ukraine or to provide military funding for other countries, we’re all over it!
Otherwise, we’ll continue issuing strongly-worded letters and meaningless resolutions to show off our conservative cred as we troll you guys with how tough we are.
Remember, this is the Mike Johnson who just cast the tie-breaking vote kill the FISA warrant requirement and to “reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702 warrantless surveillance authority for two more years.” This is the Mike Johnson who brokered an appropriations deal with Democrats “that cleared Congress last month to fund the government for fiscal year 2024,” and the “Democrats got everything they want[ed] in the spending.”
All of which led Rand Paul to say, “I’m not so sure there’s a difference between him being in charge and Dems being in charge.”
Right.
While our do-nothing UniParty Congress votes on “resolutions” that nobody will read or pay attention to (except historians sifting through the ashes of our country in the future), the Catastrophe-in-Chief just expanded a “temporary amnesty” to 1.2 million more foreigners squatting in our country.
Nearly 1.2 million foreign nationals are safe from deportation thanks to President Biden’s expansion of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) eligibility.
This is a move Biden has taken since he came into office. He has added several countries to the TPS list. For example, almost half a million Venezuelans received expanded amnesty protection in 2021. Biden’s record has surpassed previous levels of expanding amnesty for foreign nationals, increasing the foreign-born population in the United States to a record high of an estimate of over 51 million. That surpasses previous levels that go back to 1970.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), the numbers are staggering. Since Biden took office, the number has increased by 6.4 million.
“The foreign-born share of the U.S. population has more than tripled since 1970, nearly doubled since 1990, and is up 40 percent just since 2000,” CIS researchers wrote.
“Since President Biden took office in January 2021, the foreign-born population has grown by 6.4 million — larger than the individual populations of 33 states.”
These people hate us. The people in Washington, I mean. I suppose the hordes of illegals hate us too, but for different reasons.
From another part of the forest comes this unsurprising news:
Hey, I thought illegals voting was a racist conspiracy theory!
It’s amazing how all these conspiracy theories that us tin-foil-hatted-bitter-clinger-MAGA-nationalist-white-supremacist-racist-cis-normative-deplorables believe KEEP PROVING TRUE.
Anyway, here’s some of that sweet cultural enrichment that these swarming illegals bring to our land.
So … did anything happen over the weekend?
Sirens blared across Israel on Saturday night as hundreds of drones and missiles launched from Iran reached Israel. Drones and missiles were also reportedly launched from Yemen and other countries around the region.
[…]
The IDF has updated that the full Iranian attack consisted of over 300 threats, of which 100 were ballistic missiles launched from Iran. Another 30 cruise missiles were launched from the Islamic Republic, along with drones. There were also two rounds of rockets, around 40 total, fired on Israel from Lebanon, with Israel responding with counterattacks in close to real-time.
None of the drones or cruise missiles entered Israeli airspace. IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari noted that only a small number of ballistic missiles penetrated the Jewish state’s airspace.
Almost all interceptions have been by aircraft, David’s Sling, or the Arrow missile systems. The Iron Dome, which defends well against Hamas and Hezbollah’s simple rockets, is less relevant for drones and fancier long-range missiles.
Fortunately Israel, along with her partners including the U.S., Great Britain, France, and other unnamed parties, were able to defend against “99%” of the hostile projectiles launched against the Middle East’s only democracy.
Israel managed to shoot down 99% of the 300 deadly suicide drones and missiles that Iran launched at the Jewish state on Saturday night using an advanced air defense system known as David’s Sling — in addition to an array of other anti-missile capabilities.
Israel also had help from the US, the UK and an unlikely Arab ally.
Not a single drone or cruise missile fired by Iran and its proxies made it through, according to Israeli media. And only a few of Iran’s more advanced ballistic missiles struck Israel.
Despite facing a direct attack from Iran for the first time in modern history, Israel appears to have suffered very little damage, and only one casualty is known so far — a 7-year-old Bedouin girl.
What we’re looking at is one of the most advanced defensive arrays in world history. Israel, because of its existential imperative to survive in the lion’s den of the Middle East, has developed one of the most impressive defensive military systems in the world; even better, perhaps, than what the U.S. can field.
The attack is a response to the killing of top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the death of whom Iran blames Israel.
More importantly, the attack is a direct result of the Biden junta’s jumbled messaging about Israel’s right to self defense and their idiotic pacification of Iran. Of course, they don’t see it that way. They blame—wait for it—Donald J. Trump.
Bream pressed Kirby about the Biden administration’s policies to permit waivers on sanctions and unfreezing assets vis-à-vis Iran. Last month, the Biden administration re-approved a sanctions waiver to permit Iraq to purchase energy from Iran, effectively allowing the state-sponsor of terrorism to access $10 billion. Kirby had said at the time the money would not go to its “mullahs.”
“Could this administration have been tougher on Iran? Did it sense an opening?” Bream asked.
“It’s hard to take a look at what President Biden has done and say that we have somehow gone soft on Iran,” Kirby responded. “It was the previous administration that decided to get us out of the Iran deal. And now Iran is so much dramatically closer to a potential nuclear weapon capability than they were before Mr. Trump was elected.”
That Donald Trump, guys. Out of office for almost four years, and the impact he’s had on this administration. I mean, he’s made it so hard for them to govern.
It’s not hard to believe that this gang of incompetent wokesters hastens to blame the prior administration which has been out of power since January 2020. Blame-shifting is their go-to tactic, especially since all Brandon can do is wag his finger and cough up “don’t” as though Iran has any respect for him at all. He’s all pose and no substance, one of the weakest “leaders” we’ve ever had at the helm of this nation.
Bream pressed Kirby again on whether the White House was soft on Iran, and he again blamed Trump’s foreign policy.
“Is it not fair to say, though, that there have been moves by this administration that have opened up cash and other opportunities for them, which we know are fungible in ways that are not helping the Iranian people but are benefiting the elites and people there who chant ‘Death to America?,'” Bream asked.
Kirby responded by saying, “The additional funds that have been made available to Iran due to the sanctions relief program that the Trump administration put in place, can only be used for humanitarian goods. It doesn’t go to the regime. And the idea that the regime was somehow felt like they were freed up to support these proxies because of that. It just doesn’t comport with the fact that they have been supporting these proxies for years.”
For now Israel has withheld a retaliatory response, influenced in part by a call that Biden had with Netanyahu. But there are calls for Israel to attack Iran directly. One publicationn called for Israel to go on the offensive.
The IDF spokesperson said rightly when referring to those who use ballistic missiles as not planning a “moderate attack,” but intending to hit hard. Ballistic missiles, after all, are like a declaration of war.
This could be the run up to World War III. It’s clear that power centers are shifting and the mullahs are growing bolder. They know what is true about any attack, even against an enemy as well prepared defensively as is Israel: the target has to be lucky all the time. Terrorists only have to be lucky once.
I was going to write about the flood of illegal aliens again today, but the death of O.J. Simpson was announced yesterday and I can’t let the moment pass without saying something about it.
Simpson, a former NFL running back and celebrated TV personality, died after a long battle with cancer. He was 76. Despite his celebrity, he is most well known for the infamous “Trial of the Century” in which he was tried and acquitted for the brutal murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. Some years later he was found guilty of an unrelated armed robbery and kidnapping and sentenced to 33 years in prison. He served nine before being released in 2017.
Simpson was my first sports hero. He already played for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills (1969–1977) when my parents moved our family to upstate New York. The Bills were my team and OJ—”The Juice!”—was my favorite player as my budding awareness of sports in general, and football in particular, took flight.
I remember being fascinated by his raw athleticism on the field and my friends and I would trade stories and talk smack about how great he was. He was the first running back to rush for 2,000 yards in one season (1973). I remember buying a pair of athletic shoes that looked like the shoes he wore on game day. The number 32 was an icon for me long before I moved to Chicago where its reverse (23) was even more iconic (Michael Jordan).
But his association with the murder of his ex-wife ruined the admiration I had for him. It was clear to me and to the country as a whole that Simpson was the murderer. The judge allowed the trial to be televised, and it became obvious that while the trial was about whether or not the accused was guilty of the crime, the black public was watching it as a soap opera about race.
Blacks were hoping he would be acquitted not because he didn’t commit the crime, but because he was black. I wanted him convicted because I was sure he had committed the murders.
I remember where I was—in an office, at a counter by myself, where a small radio was relaying the news—when the jury returned a verdict of “not guilty.” I couldn’t believe it. But what was truly astounding was the glee with which the verdict was greeted by (mostly) blacks.
They cheered. They celebrated. It was as if they had won something.
It’s one thing to believe he’s not guilty and breathe a sigh of relief when it’s over, but it’s quite another thing to cheer and celebrate as though Simpson had just completed his record 2,000-yard season. A woman and her friend had been murdered—and nobody seemed to care about that part, even when it was transparently clear that Simpson had done it.
Remarkably, years later we finally got a look at the truth behind the incomprehensible verdict when one of the jurors admitted that they knew Simpson killed Nicole and Ron, but were determined to acquit Simpson for revenge.
She says it was payback for the acquittal of four LAPD officers who beat Rodney King in March1991, which led to the Los Angeles riots of 1992.
The black jurors, instead of doing their duty as American citizens, decided that they’d use their power to let a murderer go free.
To get even with whitey.
She and the rest of the jurors should be ashamed of themselves. But they’re not.
Personally, I think we can draw a straight line from the OJ Simpson case to the racial conflict we are experiencing today.
Have a good weekend.
On Monday president-in-exile Donald J. Trump posted a video in which he affirmed IVF (in vitro fertilization) but declined to endorse a federal abortion ban. Instead, he said that the issue should be left to the states.
Many pro-life conservatives were severely disappointed by his announcement, especially since he had said he would sign a federal ban on abortion during his previous administration.
As a 2016 presidential candidate, Trump embraced a federal abortion ban as he sought to consolidate Republican support for his unexpected ascension to GOP nominee. He sent a letter to anti-abortion leaders committing to signing legislation that would have criminalized abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for instances in which the life of the mother is at risk or cases involving rape or incest.
President of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Marjorie Dannenfelser, issued a statement typical of the pro-life response.
“We are deeply disappointed in President Trump’s position. Unborn children and their mothers deserve national protections and national advocacy from the brutality of the abortion industry. The Dobbs decision clearly allows both states and Congress to act.
“Saying the issue is ‘back to the states’ cedes the national debate to the Democrats who are working relentlessly to enact legislation mandating abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. If successful, they will wipe out states’ rights.
A bit stronger was the statement from LiveAction, the pro-life advocacy organization founded and led by Lila Rose.
Killing babies is always wrong. President Trump is not a pro-life candidate. He’s far less pro-abortion than Biden, but he supports killing some preborn children and will even make that his position in an attempt to get pro-abortion votes.
President Trump also says that abortion should come down to the “will of the people.” It is not right for democratic societies to vote on the fundamental rights of unpopular minorities. There is no more unpopular minority today than preborn Americans. Abortion is not about the “will of the people,” it’s about respecting the human right that we are endowed with by our creator. Our rights come from God, not the government. Those rights do not change because of the circumstances of our conception. Children conceived in rape do not deserve to be killed. Children conceived in IVF do not deserve to be killed, frozen indefinitely or subjected to lethal science experiments.
President Trump’s position also stands in opposition to the GOP platform, which has for decades advanced the idea that the federal government has a vigorous role in protecting children from abortion.
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That position represents the views of the vast majority of Republican voters and supporters of former President Trump. It is tragic that President Trump is abandoning this long-held Republican position. President Trump’s new position is not leadership; it’s a stab in the back against his supporters. With a leader like this, the GOP has little hope of making meaningful progress to protect preborn children. President Trump’s mistake will also make it more challenging for the pro-life movement to win statewide referendums.
Human life begins at fertilization, and this is the true pro-life position. Human life deserves protection from the moment life begins.
Personally, I am in full agreement with the position on abortion in both statements. Human beings should not be executed in the womb because they’re inconvenient or for any other reason.
But I’m also sympathetic to the political realities facing Trump. In order to get a federal ban or even some federal restriction on abortion, we have to win the presidency, along with the House and Senate. To win office, Trump has to attract as many voters as he possibly can (without totally selling out). If the margin is too small, the Democrats will cheat again and win. (They’ll cheat no matter what.)
I particularly liked the tone set by Tony Perkins, president of the pro-life Family Research Council, in his response (read the whole thing).
Trump is not a perfect candidate. Ironically, he’s the closest “choice” we have to a pro-life president. Let’s not forget his nominations of Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett, who sent Roe to the ash heap of history. He deserves our thanks for that.
Would I like a hardline pro-life candidate to vote for? Yes. Do I have one on the ballot come November? It’s not looking like it.