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Read my latest over at The American Thinker. We are seeing an unprecedented erosion in our First Amendment rights, increasingly prohibiting the flow of ideas and free expression in the public square (social media). Run by left-wing self-possessed snowflakes, social media giants are indulging their worst autocratic impulses. And because they can, it is getting worse. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Having grown up in the 1970s, I can tell you it was a vastly different country then. It was free. But we aren’t any no longer, and it is time we took back what is ours — our unalienable freedoms.
January 30, 2018
The Urgent Case for Legislation against Facebook and Google
By Pamela Geller, American Thinker
Having been one of the early targets of social media censorship on Facebook, YouTube et al, I have advocated for anti-trust action against these bullying behemoths. It is good to see establishment outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and National Review coming to the same conclusion, or at least asking the same questions.
Just this week, Facebook launched its latest of many attacks on my news site, the Geller Report. It labeled my site as “spam” and removed every Geller Report post — thousands upon thousands of them, going back years – from Facebook. It also blocked any Facebook member from sharing links to the Geller Report. The ramping up of the shutting-down of sites like mine is neither random nor personal. The timing is telling. The left is gearing up for the 2018 midterm elections, and they mean to shut down whatever outlet or voice that helped elect President Trump, the greatest upset in left-wing history.
In fighting this shutdown, we had to go back to the drawing board in our lawsuit against these social media giants. The basis of our suit was challenging Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) under the First Amendment, which provides immunity from lawsuits to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, thereby permitting these social media giants to engage in government-sanctioned censorship and discriminatory business practices free from legal challenge.
Facebook and Google take in roughly half of all Internet ad revenue. According to the Wall Street Journal:
In the U.S., Alphabet Inc.’s Google drives 89% of internet search; 95% of young adults on the internet use a Facebook Inc. product; and Amazon.com Inc. now accounts for 75% of electronic book sales. Those firms that aren’t monopolists are duopolists: Google and Facebook absorbed 63% of online ad spending last year; Google and Apple Inc. provide 99% of mobile phone operating systems; while Apple and Microsoft Corp. supply 95% of desktop operating systems.
Both companies routinely censor and spy on their customers, “massaging everything from the daily news to what we should buy.” In the last century, the telephone was our “computer,” and Ma Bell was how we communicated. That said, would the American people (or the government) have tolerated AT&T spying on our phone calls and then pulling our communication privileges if we expressed dissenting opinions? That is exactly what we are suffering today.
Ma Bell was broken up by the government, albeit for different reasons. But it can and should be done.
It’s not a little ironic that, according to Breitbart:
AT&T has called for an “Internet Bill of Rights” and argued that Facebook and Google should also be subjected to rules that would prevent unfair censorship on their platforms.
AT&T, one of the largest telecommunications companies, called for Congress to enact an “Internet Bill of Rights” which would subject Facebook, Google, and other content providers to rules that would prevent unfair censorship on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as Comcast or AT&T as well as content providers such as Facebook and Google.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson wrote, “Congressional action is needed to establish an ‘Internet Bill of Rights’ that applies to all internet companies and guarantees neutrality, transparency, openness, non-discrimination and privacy protection for all internet users.”
Stephenson posted the ad in the New York Times, Washington Post, and other national news outlets on Wednesday.
We must get behind this — all of us — and fast. Because what is happening is being engineered at the government level. A chief officer from a major American communications company went to the terror state of Pakistan to assure the Pakistani government that Facebook would adhere to the sharia. The commitment was given by Vice President of Facebook Joel Kaplan, who called on Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. “Facebook has reiterated its commitment to keep the platform safe and promote values that are in congruence with its community standards.”
Why the block? Because under Islamic law, you cannot criticize Islam. Facebook adhering to the most extreme and brutal ideology on the face of the earth should trouble all of us, because Mark Zuckerberg has immense power. He controls the flow of information.
Early last year, I wrote: “The US government has used anti-trust laws to break up monopolies. They ought to break up Facebook. Section 2 of the Sherman Act highlights particular results deemed anticompetitive by nature and prohibits actions that ‘shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations.’ Couldn’t the same be applied to information? The United States government took down Standard Oil, Alcoa, Northern Securities, the American Tobacco Company and many others without nearly the power that Facebook has.”
NRO has come to that same conclusion:
Tech companies such as Google and Facebook are also utilities of sorts that provide essential services. They depend on the free use of public airwaves. Yet they are subject to little oversight; they simply make up their own rules as they go along. Antitrust laws prohibit one corporation from unfairly devouring its competition, capturing most of its market, and then price-gouging as it sees fit without fear of competition. Google has all but destroyed its search-engine competitors in the same manner that Facebook has driven out competing social media.
Clearly Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt, and Jeff Bezos are contemporary “robber barons.” So why are they not smeared, defamed, and reviled like the robber barons of yesteryear? Says NRO:
Why are huge tech companies seemingly exempt from the rules that older corporations must follow? First, their CEOs wisely cultivate the image of hipsters. The public sees them more as aging teenagers in T-shirts, turtlenecks, and flip-flops than as updated versions of J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, or other robber barons of the past. Second, the tech industry’s hierarchy is politically progressive.
In brilliant marketing fashion, the Internet, laptops, tablets, and smartphones have meshed with the hip youth culture of music, television, the movies, universities, and fashion. Think Woodstock rather than Wall Street. Corporate spokesmen at companies such as Twitter and YouTube brag about their social awareness, especially on issues such as radical environmentalism, identity politics, and feminism. Given that the regulatory deep state is mostly a liberal enterprise, the tech industry is seen as an ally of federal bureaucrats and regulators. Think more of Hollywood, the media, and universities than Exxon, General Motors, Koch Industries, and Philip Morris.
The groovy t-shirt-turtleneck vibe may keep the great unwashed under their spell, but it’s the shared political ideology with the left that keeps these corporate managers free from accountability. The WSJ writes that antitrust regulators have a narrow test: Does their size leave consumers worse off? Surmising that if that’s the test, “there isn’t a clear case for going after big tech.”
I disagree. The consumer is far worse off. If we are not free to speak and think in what is today’s Gutenberg press, than we could not be worse off.
Pamela Geller is the President of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), publisher of The Geller Report and author of the bestselling book, FATWA: Hunted in America, as well as The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America and Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance. Follow her on Twitter or Facebook.
Read my latest over at The American Thinker. We are seeing an unprecedented erosion in our First Amendment rights, increasingly prohibiting the flow of ideas and free expression in the public square (social media). Run by left-wing self-possessed snowflakes, social media giants are indulging their worst autocratic impulses. And because they can, it is getting worse. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Having grown up in the 1970s, I can tell you it was a vastly different country then. It was free. But we aren’t any no longer, and it is time we took back what is ours — our unalienable freedoms.
January 30, 2018
The Urgent Case for Legislation against Facebook and Google
By Pamela Geller, American Thinker
Having been one of the early targets of social media censorship on Facebook, YouTube et al, I have advocated for anti-trust action against these bullying behemoths. It is good to see establishment outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and National Review coming to the same conclusion, or at least asking the same questions.
Just this week, Facebook launched its latest of many attacks on my news site, the Geller Report. It labeled my site as “spam” and removed every Geller Report post — thousands upon thousands of them, going back years – from Facebook. It also blocked any Facebook member from sharing links to the Geller Report. The ramping up of the shutting-down of sites like mine is neither random nor personal. The timing is telling. The left is gearing up for the 2018 midterm elections, and they mean to shut down whatever outlet or voice that helped elect President Trump, the greatest upset in left-wing history.
In fighting this shutdown, we had to go back to the drawing board in our lawsuit against these social media giants. The basis of our suit was challenging Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) under the First Amendment, which provides immunity from lawsuits to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, thereby permitting these social media giants to engage in government-sanctioned censorship and discriminatory business practices free from legal challenge.
[the_ad id=”104820″]
Facebook and Google take in roughly half of all Internet ad revenue. According to the Wall Street Journal:
In the U.S., Alphabet Inc.’s Google drives 89% of internet search; 95% of young adults on the internet use a Facebook Inc. product; and Amazon.com Inc. now accounts for 75% of electronic book sales. Those firms that aren’t monopolists are duopolists: Google and Facebook absorbed 63% of online ad spending last year; Google and Apple Inc. provide 99% of mobile phone operating systems; while Apple and Microsoft Corp. supply 95% of desktop operating systems.
Both companies routinely censor and spy on their customers, “massaging everything from the daily news to what we should buy.” In the last century, the telephone was our “computer,” and Ma Bell was how we communicated. That said, would the American people (or the government) have tolerated AT&T spying on our phone calls and then pulling our communication privileges if we expressed dissenting opinions? That is exactly what we are suffering today.
Ma Bell was broken up by the government, albeit for different reasons. But it can and should be done.
It’s not a little ironic that, according to Breitbart:
AT&T has called for an “Internet Bill of Rights” and argued that Facebook and Google should also be subjected to rules that would prevent unfair censorship on their platforms.
AT&T, one of the largest telecommunications companies, called for Congress to enact an “Internet Bill of Rights” which would subject Facebook, Google, and other content providers to rules that would prevent unfair censorship on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as Comcast or AT&T as well as content providers such as Facebook and Google.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson wrote, “Congressional action is needed to establish an ‘Internet Bill of Rights’ that applies to all internet companies and guarantees neutrality, transparency, openness, non-discrimination and privacy protection for all internet users.”
Stephenson posted the ad in the New York Times, Washington Post, and other national news outlets on Wednesday.
We must get behind this — all of us — and fast. Because what is happening is being engineered at the government level. A chief officer from a major American communications company went to the terror state of Pakistan to assure the Pakistani government that Facebook would adhere to the sharia. The commitment was given by Vice President of Facebook Joel Kaplan, who called on Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. “Facebook has reiterated its commitment to keep the platform safe and promote values that are in congruence with its community standards.”
Why the block? Because under Islamic law, you cannot criticize Islam. Facebook adhering to the most extreme and brutal ideology on the face of the earth should trouble all of us, because Mark Zuckerberg has immense power. He controls the flow of information.
Early last year, I wrote: “The US government has used anti-trust laws to break up monopolies. They ought to break up Facebook. Section 2 of the Sherman Act highlights particular results deemed anticompetitive by nature and prohibits actions that ‘shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations.’ Couldn’t the same be applied to information? The United States government took down Standard Oil, Alcoa, Northern Securities, the American Tobacco Company and many others without nearly the power that Facebook has.”
NRO has come to that same conclusion:
Tech companies such as Google and Facebook are also utilities of sorts that provide essential services. They depend on the free use of public airwaves. Yet they are subject to little oversight; they simply make up their own rules as they go along. Antitrust laws prohibit one corporation from unfairly devouring its competition, capturing most of its market, and then price-gouging as it sees fit without fear of competition. Google has all but destroyed its search-engine competitors in the same manner that Facebook has driven out competing social media.
Clearly Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt, and Jeff Bezos are contemporary “robber barons.” So why are they not smeared, defamed, and reviled like the robber barons of yesteryear? Says NRO:
Why are huge tech companies seemingly exempt from the rules that older corporations must follow? First, their CEOs wisely cultivate the image of hipsters. The public sees them more as aging teenagers in T-shirts, turtlenecks, and flip-flops than as updated versions of J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, or other robber barons of the past. Second, the tech industry’s hierarchy is politically progressive.
In brilliant marketing fashion, the Internet, laptops, tablets, and smartphones have meshed with the hip youth culture of music, television, the movies, universities, and fashion. Think Woodstock rather than Wall Street. Corporate spokesmen at companies such as Twitter and YouTube brag about their social awareness, especially on issues such as radical environmentalism, identity politics, and feminism. Given that the regulatory deep state is mostly a liberal enterprise, the tech industry is seen as an ally of federal bureaucrats and regulators. Think more of Hollywood, the media, and universities than Exxon, General Motors, Koch Industries, and Philip Morris.
The groovy t-shirt-turtleneck vibe may keep the great unwashed under their spell, but it’s the shared political ideology with the left that keeps these corporate managers free from accountability. The WSJ writes that antitrust regulators have a narrow test: Does their size leave consumers worse off? Surmising that if that’s the test, “there isn’t a clear case for going after big tech.”
I disagree. The consumer is far worse off. If we are not free to speak and think in what is today’s Gutenberg press, than we could not be worse off.
Pamela Geller is the President of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), publisher of The Geller Report and author of the bestselling book, FATWA: Hunted in America, as well as The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America and Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance. Follow her on Twitter or Facebook.
Check out my latest article at the American Thinker:
I was banned from LinkedIn for telling the truth
By Pamela Geller Amerian Thinker, March 18, 2023:On Thursday, I got yet another notice from the LinkedIn’s “Trust & Safety Team”: “Your post goes against our policy on misinformation. It has been removed and only you can access it.” The post that LinkedIn found objectionable was from my website, the Geller Report, and was entitled“CORPORATE STATE: Domestic Terror Group Black Lives Matter Received Nearly $83 Billion from Corporations.”
My post consisted of an excerpt from a Breitbart article plus three lines of my own commentary. LinkedIn didn’t dispute the accuracy of anything in my post or its source; it just doesn’t want it said. This comes after LinkedIn had banned me from their platform for nearly three years for posting accurate and well-sourced information that goes against the leftist narrative.
Who is giving these orders?
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I understood from the Star Tribune headline over the AP story yesterday that the IDF had massacred some 100 Gazans seeking food and water. As of this morning, the AP is sticking with the story with a Rafah dateline. It leads with this observation: “Israeli troops fired on a crowd of Palestinians racing to pull food off an aid convoy in Gaza City on Thursday, witnesses said.”
I’m not sure about the massacre. Deep into the story we hear from the ever reliable “Gaza Health Ministry.” The AP reports: “At least 112 people were killed, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said. The ministry described it as a ‘massacre’ and said more than 700 others were injured.” The AP raises no warning about the record of the “Gaza Health Ministry” on such matters.
The IDF spokesmen have a better record than the AP on these IDF alleged massacres. I take it that the IDF denies that’s what happened, although it is investigating. [See update below.] The Times of Israel reports, per the IDF, that troops opened fire on several Gazans who moved toward soldiers and a tank at an IDF checkpoint, endangering soldiers, after they had rushed the last truck in the convoy further south. The Times of Israel story quotes IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari:
This morning, the IDF coordinated a convoy of 38 trucks to provide additional humanitarian assistance to the residents of northern Gaza. This humanitarian aid came from Egypt, went through a security screening at the Kerem Shalom humanitarian crossing in Israel, and then entered Gaza, for distribution by private contractors. As these vital humanitarian supplies made their way toward Gazans in need, thousands of Gazans [rushed] the trucks, some began violently pushing and trampling other Gazans to death, looting the humanitarian supplies.
Here are the facts: At 4:40 a.m., the first aid truck in the humanitarian convoy started making its way through the humanitarian corridor that we were securing. Our tanks were there to secure the humanitarian corridor for the aid convoy. Our UAVs were there in the air to give our forces a clear picture from above. At 4:45 a.m., a mob ambushed the aid trucks, bringing the convoy to a halt.
Hagari also showed a new video of the incident that is included in the Times of Israel story. Hagari’s statement continues:
In this video, the tanks that were there to secure the convoy saw the Gazans being trampled and cautiously tried to disperse the mob with a few warning shots. When the hundreds became thousands and things got out of hand, the tank commander decided to retreat to avoid harm to the thousands of Gazans that were there.
You can see how cautious they were when they were backing up. They were backing up securely, risking their own lives, not shooting at the mob.” he continued…No IDF strike was conducted toward the aid convoy. On the contrary, the IDF was there carrying out a humanitarian aid operation, to secure the humanitarian corridor, and allow the aid convoy to reach its distribution point, so that the humanitarian aid could reach Gazan civilians in the north who are in need.
The IDF posted Hagari’s statement below on X. Video is included with his statement.
“We recognize the suffering of the innocent people of Gaza. This is why we are seeking ways to expand our humanitarian efforts.”
Watch the full statement by IDF Spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari on the incident regarding the humanitarian aid convoy the IDF facilitated. pic.twitter.com/m6Pve3Odqw
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) February 29, 2024
“And yet the lie will be repeated as fact over and over and over by those who are ignorant, and those who are not ignorant but are evil, and those who are Susan Sarandon,” comments Cliff Asness. Add the detestable Senator Elizabeth Warren to the list. Query into which category the AP falls.
Netanyahu & his right-wing government have created a catastrophe in Gaza. Today Israeli troops opened fire on Palestinians desperate for aid.
The U.S. must push for a cease-fire, hostage releases, & condition military support on pursuing a two-state solution for a lasting peace. pic.twitter.com/igeEpeFRC8
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 29, 2024
I can’t wait for the United States Air Force to show us how it’s to be done. If this goes down as advertised, we can resupply Hamas directly.
The U.S. Air Force is reportedly preparing for an Operation beginning next week that will see the Mass Airdropping of Humanitarian Aid including Food, Water, and Medicine into the Gaza Strip, with Flights utilizing C-130 and C-17 Transport Aircraft being launched from Airbases in… pic.twitter.com/ZH7Es0vvoj
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 1, 2024
UPDATE: The Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff includes this account in today’s edition.
Kyiv will lose the war against Russia if the U.S. fails to approve military aid to battle Moscow's invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday.
The post Zelensky Warns U.S. Congress: Meet Ukraine Military Aid Demands or Russia Wins appeared first on Breitbart.
The head of the U.N.´s atomic watchdog condemned a drone strike on one of six nuclear reactors at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Plant.
The post United Nations Body Again Warns of Risk to Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant appeared first on Breitbart.
Officials at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant said that the site was attacked Sunday by Ukrainian military drones.
The post Ukraine Military Drone Strikes Hit Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant, Russian Officials Claim appeared first on Breitbart.
There are a lot of legitimate reasons to criticize the United Nations. It is ineffective, expensive, threatens U.S. sovereignty, and impedes U.S. foreign policy objectives. But mostly, it is completely ineffective.
Earlier this month, North Korea tested a hypersonic weapon. Kim Jong Un is obsessed with developing nuclear missiles capable of striking South Korea, Japan, and the US. The United Nations expressed grave concern over the North Korean nuclear program but has been unable to slow it, much less stop it.
During COVID, China influenced the UN’s health body, the World Health Organization (WHO), to advocate for masks, lockdowns, school closures, and vaccines. The global economy still has not recovered, while children all over the world lost roughly two years of schooling. Teachers in the US are reporting that not only are children behind academically, but truancy has doubled compared to pre-COVID times, and classes are unruly.
Last December, Utah Sen. Mike Lee (R) introduced a bill to Congress calling for the United States to withdraw from the United Nations. The bill, titled the Disengaging Entirely from the United Nations Debacle (DEFUND) Act, proposes withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO), ceasing participation in U.N. peacekeeping operations, including providing funding, personnel, and equipment. Additionally, it would revoke diplomatic immunity in the U.S.
Among Senator Lee’s objections were the loss of sovereignty and the ongoing funding for the UN, which comes at the expense of US taxpayers. The US is the single largest funder of the UN, accounting for about one-third of the organization’s budget. In 2022, the US contributed $18 billion.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) supported the bill, citing corruption within the UN and the UN’s protection of Hamas in the current conflict with Israel. A further complaint was that China, a country the US has sanctioned for committing numerous human rights violations, particularly genocide against the Uyghur ethnic minority in Xinjiang, sat on the Human Rights Council.
Republicans have been criticizing the UN for years. Regarding a US pullout from the Human Rights Council, Trump’s Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said, “When organizations undermine our national interests and our allies, we will not be complicit.” He was attacked by Democrats, liberals, and the mainstream media, who apparently value globalism over the national interests of the United States. When the Council was first formed in 2006, then-President George W. Bush refused to join.
At that time, Representative Tom Lantos of California, the top Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, said, “This is a major retrenchment in America’s long struggle to advance the cause of human rights around the world, and it is a profound signal of U.S. isolation at a time when we need to work cooperatively with our Security Council partners.” The point Rep. Lantos is missing is that the US can be committed to human rights without joining the UNHRC.
The Brookings Institute said, “This telling remark illustrates that this administration’s North Star is toward a nostalgic past in which states had greater independence from international laws and multilateral diplomacy.” Countries, particularly the United States, having autonomy to join or not to join, to act without joining, is not a matter of nostalgia. It is a matter of choice. Throughout the decades, American Republicans have chosen for the U.S. to be independent and autonomous. Furthermore, there is the very real issue that when Washington joins these multinational organizations, the U.S. winds up footing the bill.
In 2018, Brookings said that US participation in the UNHCR was crucial, “investigating and condemning human rights abuses by some of the worst violators of human rights—Syria, Iran, North Korea, Myanmar, Sudan, Cambodia, Belarus, Burundi, and Eritrea, to name a few.”
Looking at this list, 18 years later, it is obvious how ineffective the UNHCR is. Syria remains a basket case of instability, Iran is the single most disruptive force in the Middle East, the Myanmar junta has bombed more civilians in the last two years than Russia has in Ukraine, Sudan is still facing civil war. Hun Sen, who ran Cambodia as his own pocketbook for 30 years, retired, transferring power to his son, Hun Manet. Belarus is a pariah state, one of Russia’s closest allies, and Eritrea is on the brink of war with Ethiopia, again. Burundi only has limited rebel activity now, with only 20 people killed in December. They also have border disputes with Rwanda, but have not declared war. So, maybe the globalists count that as a success.
Supporters of globalism cite the importance of the UNHCR in protecting LGBTQ and women’s rights. Meanwhile, about 30% of UN member countries are Muslim-majority countries where LGBTQ may be illegal, and where women have very few rights.
Ironically, Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, and Venezuela have all sat on the UNHCR despite being some of the most oppressive countries that regularly repress human rights. The UNHCR has done nothing to change the world’s worst regimes, guilty of gross human rights abuses: Algeria, China, Cuba, Egypt, Gaza, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and Zimbabwe. Additionally, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt have sat on The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
The UN Security Council is similarly useless and farcical. China and Russia sit on the council and have veto power to stop UN actions against genocide or against China or Russia, two of the world’s biggest violators.
Trump tore up the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Iran nuclear deal. He even threatened to withdraw the US from the UN and NATO. While these may seem extreme actions, why is it so wrong for the US to act in the best interest of the US? Furthermore, why should the US continue to pay money and lives for institutions that fail to prevent wars or mitigate crises but which can infringe on US autonomy?
The post The Case for US Withdrawing from the UN appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
ppe_training_2
Nigerian physicians being trained by the World Health Organization (WHO) on how to put on and remove personal protective equipment (PPE) to treat Ebola patients. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-LA) handling of deep state surveillance reform has led many conservatives to blame the leader of the House for blocking reform of controversial surveillance laws.
The post Conservatives Enraged by Speaker Johnson Move to Scuttle Key Spy Powers Reform appeared first on Breitbart.
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Actor Terrence Howard says that Creative Artists Agency (CAA) owes him over $120 million for his work on Empire, asserting that he had been paid less than his "white counterparts" working in television.
The post Terrence Howard Says Salary on ‘Empire’ Lower than ‘White Counterparts,’ Demands CAA Pay Him $120 Million appeared first on Breitbart.
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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) challenged his Republican colleague, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), to a debate regarding his "Ukraine first policy."
The post Sen. Rand Paul Challenges Sen. McConnell to a Debate Regarding His ‘Ukraine First Policy’ appeared first on Breitbart.
A proportional response means it will happen again and again until Israel is destroyed.
The liberals want Israel to “show restraint.” The most unthinking are those calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. As long as Hamas continues to exist, this war can never end. A ceasefire would be followed by countless billions in developmental aid flowing from the globalist establishment into Gaza. It would be a huge win for Hamas. Terrorist attacks against Israel would continue. And if Israel reacted again in the future, they would immediately be attacked by the globalists. Both Hezbollah and Hamas will continue to attack Israel, provoking, wounding, occasionally killing, and the world will continue telling Israel to restrain itself.
The Covenant of Hamas clearly states Hamas’s goal of killing all of the Jews and eliminating Israel. “HAMAS” is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement. The movement issued the Covenant of HAMAS on August 18, 1988. Hamas, an extremist fundamentalist Islamic organization, has been designated a terrorist organization by the US and many Western powers. The group was elected as the official authority in Gaza in 2006.
Hamas operates with the expressed intent of destroying the State of Israel through Jihad (Islamic Holy War). The HAMAS Covenant states: ‘The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.’ (Article 6). This suggests that not only does Hamas seek to eradicate Israel in Gaza, but also in the territory currently known as Israel, as well as the West Bank, where Hamas holds no authority.
Article 7 of the Hamas Covenant is interpreted as a call for genocide against Jews: “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Muslim, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.'”
There is no way to negotiate with a group whose aim is genocide. Liberals calling for compromise are actually just calling for Israel’s capitulation. What compromise would be possible? Hamas wants to kill 100% of the Jews. Should the two parties haggle and agree for Hamas to kill 40% instead? Given Hamas’s genocidal intent, there is no way that the two sides can coexist.
The two-state solution is complete nonsense. Gaza and the West Bank are not contiguous; they cannot be a single country. It would be impossible for Israel to ensure its security because they would be pressured by globalists to not impede Palestinians passing through Israel from one state to the other.
The liberals keep stressing that Gazaa and the Palestinians are not Hamas. However, there appears to be no anti-Hamas movement in Gaza. There is no anti-Hamas resistance. The Gazans looked very happy when they were celebrating after the October 7th attack on Israel. So, it is unclear how the liberals see Hamas as distinct from Gaza. And if they are distinct, why have the liberals not condemned Hamas? There don’t seem to be protests in the US or Europe stating “We support Gaza, but condemn Hamas.”
Even the liberals, even the Queers for Palestine are refusing to condemn Hamas. If they do not differentiate between Hamas and Gaza, then why should everyone else?
Iran and Qatar must also be held accountable for their support of Hamas and other militias. Qatar has provided financial and political support to Hamas, and Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was based in Qatar for a period. Additionally, Qatar has hosted a Hamas office, which serves as a political bureau and facilitates communication and coordination with the international community. This office has been involved in diplomatic efforts and media relations on behalf of Hamas.
Right now, the Houthis, an Iran-backed militia, are disrupting global shipping. Hezbollah is also ratcheting up their harassment of Israel, firing missiles into Israeli territory and trying to instigate a war. Given Israel’s current posture of seeking a military solution to finally end these insurgencies, Hezbollah may get the war they are asking for.
The world must not just sit on the sidelines, but should take an active role in targeting Iran, destroying the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) preventing China from supporting Iran economically, and disabling Iran’s ability to fund and train regional militias. This would decrease China and Russia’s access to oil and drones, respectively, which would help the US achieve foreign policy objectives in Asia, as well as in Ukraine.
One way to alleviate the burden on American taxpayers funding Ukraine would be to end the war. If China’s support for Russia were cut, the end would come much sooner. If Russia did not have Iranian drones, that would also help level the field and bring the end nearer.
Attacks on Iran would also serve to destroy Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The only way that Israel can survive is to eliminate Hamas. The only way for the region to be stabilized is for Iran’s destabilizing force to be eliminated.
The post Finishing Hamas: The Only Way the War Can End appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Smoke and flames billow after Israeli forces struck a high-rise tower in Gaza City
Smoke and flames billow after Israeli forces struck a high-rise tower in Gaza City, October 7, 2023. Palestinian militants have begun a "war" against Israel which they infiltrated by air, sea and land from the blockaded Gaza Strip, Israeli officials said, a major escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Photo by Ali Hamad apaimages
Special operations forces require special men. Union major Henry Harrison Young was such a man—born for war.
The post Exclusive–O’Donnell: Lincoln’s Special Forces; Henry Harrison Young, A Man Born for War appeared first on Breitbart.
Switzerland's government it hopes that Russia might join in the peace process one day.
The post Switzerland to Host Ukraine Peace Conference… But Russia Isn’t Attending appeared first on Breitbart.
Volodymyr Zelensky said he extended an invitatitation to Donald Trump to visit Ukraine to convince him to back more American military aid.
The post Zelensky Says Kyiv Has Invited Donald Trump to Visit Ukraine in Push For More Military Aid appeared first on Breitbart.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Wednesday explained his apparent flip-flop on a controversial surveillance law, saying that he now favors limited reforms after receiving a classified briefing.
The post Speaker Mike Johnson Claims Classified Briefing Made Him Flip-Flop on Spy Powers Reform appeared first on Breitbart.
Russia appears to be stepping up its campaign to deprive Ukraine of electricity, totally destroying a large power plant.
The post Russia Destroys Major Ukrainian Power Plant In Missile Strike, Power Shortages Expected appeared first on Breitbart.
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This is a bad movie undermined by an unforgivably lazy script.
The post ‘Civil War’ Review: Ridiculously Dopey, Anti-Trump Snuff Film appeared first on Breitbart.
The U.S. and UK will begin restricting the trade of new Russian-origin metals on global metal exchanges and in derivatives trading.
The post UK and U.S. Impose Joint Sanctions on Russian-Origin Metals appeared first on Breitbart.
British authorities accused China of flooding the country with fake postage stamps, a form of industrial sabotage and "economic warfare".
The post China Accused of Flooding United Kingdom With Counterfeit Postage Stamps appeared first on Breitbart.
At least 10 people died after shelling struck a Russian-occupied town in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, a Kremlin-installed official said.
The post 10 Dead in Reported Ukraine Shelling of Russian-Occupied Zaporizhzhia appeared first on Breitbart.
Ukraine is to become a giant testing ground for a laser weapon which, if successful, promises to radically alter the economics of warfare.
The post UK to Rush Experimental ‘Dragonfire’ Laser Weapon Into Service to Deploy in Ukraine appeared first on Breitbart.
Ukrainian's top military commander admitted that the situation alongside the eastern front with Russia has "significantly worsened" amid renewed push from Moscow's forces.
The post Ukraine’s Top General Says Situation on Eastern Front ‘Significantly Worsened’ as Russia Ramps Up Attacks appeared first on Breitbart.
On April 12th, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized an Israeli ship near the Strait of Hormuz. While this represents one of the most overt and direct attacks by the IRGC against Israel, it underscores the broader support and training provided by the IRGC to groups like the
Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other militias and terrorist organizations. This support contributes to the destabilization of the Middle East and poses a threat to both Israeli and U.S. interests in the region.
Established during the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stands as a formidable military force in Iran, operating directly under the authority of the Supreme Leader, presently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Guided by an ideology vehemently opposed to Western influence, particularly directed towards the United States and Israel, the IRGC is renowned for its fervent slogans such as ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel,’ emblematic of its hostility towards these nations.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is known for its support of various militias and terrorist groups across the region. Notably, it provides assistance to Hamas in Gaza, furnishing weapons, financial aid, and training to bolster the group’s military capabilities.
Additionally, the IRGC backs Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in the Gaza Strip, Kata’ib Hezbollah, and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq in Iraq, as well as Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Houthis are now active in disrupting shipping in the Red Sea.
The IRGC has been designated as a terrorist organization by several countries, including the United States. This designation is significant because the IRGC is an official government entity in Iran, making it one of the few state-backed actors to be labeled as a terrorist organization.
This raises legal questions regarding whether the Iranian government’s support for the IRGC constitutes aid to terrorist organizations, which is prohibited under international convention.
Most Americans have never forgotten nor forgiven the 1979 Islamic Revolution’s seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the subsequent hostage debacle, which went on for more than one year. Over the past decade or so, Iran-backed militias have indeed been involved in conflicts in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, where U.S. soldiers have faced combat, encountered security threats, or lost their lives.
These militias have often been supported, trained, and equipped by the Iranian government or its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), contributing to instability and violence in these countries.
In response to Iran’s aggression, the US and its allies have launched repeated strikes against Iran-backed groups in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. Apart from supporting Israel, the US also backs numerous local partners, including the Yazidis, Kurds, Sunni Arab Tribes, Turkmen, Arab Tribal Militias, and Chaldean Christians. Consequently, it could be argued that both the US and Israel have been engaged in a proxy war with Iran for some time.
Retaliating against Iran’s proxies has done little to curb Iran’s aggressive actions. Since October 7th, there have been repeated clashes between American and allied troops against targets in Syria and Iraq, yet Iran’s aggression persists. Despite US and UK bombings in Yemen, Houthi attacks on ships persist.
At this moment, not only are Hezbollah and Hamas attacking Israel, and the Houthis attacking everyone else’s ships, but it also seems that Iran is threatening direct attacks on Israel. President Biden has warned Iran that the US is committed to defending Israel.
After years of limited engagement, Israel’s strategy now appears to aim for the complete elimination of Hamas, while also showing readiness to confront Hezbollah directly in Lebanon.
The proxy model has proven costly for the US, both in terms of lives and finances, yielding no tangible gains, not even peace. Furthermore, China and Russia leverage US failures in the Middle East to caution Taiwan, the Philippines, Ukraine, and Japan about the unreliability of the US as a partner.
Israel’s new strategy of directly and unequivocally destroying the bad guys is the one that no leader has dared try up until now. But it makes the most sense. And it would seem that the most logical step would be to cut the head off the snake, in a direct conflict with Iran.
Those who oppose a direct conflict with Iran often say that it would trigger a world war. But the reality is, there are only three major armies in the world capable of waging war overseas: the US, Russia, and China.
And it would not be in either Russia or China’s interests to go to war with the US over Iran. If they wanted a war with the US, there are a million other pretexts they could have come up with, but neither country has a mutual defense agreement with Iran.
If the US and Iran went to war, Russia and China would condemn the US actions. They would bring a resolution to the UN Security Council, and the US would veto it. A war would destabilize the Iranian government, nullifying its ability to support terrorist groups.
At the same time, Iran’s support for China with cheap oil, and Iran’s support for Russia with cheap drones, would also evaporate, bringing an end to the Ukraine War much closer.
The post Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC): Terrorists Supporting Terrorism appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
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Sure, here's a proper attribution for the image: "Photo by Mohammad Sadegh Heydari, sourced from [YPA.ir](http://www.ypa.ir/media/k2/galleries/517/02.jpg). Image depicts the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution exhibiting its main battle tanks during the Sacred Defence Week parade on September 21, 2012. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license."
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The Academy Awards is doubling down on its embrace of woke social justice activism and DEI. The latest change: the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award -- a staple of the Oscars since the 1950s -- will now focus, at least in part, on equity.
The post Oscars Double Down on DEI: Alters Long-Standing Humanitarian Award to Include ‘Rectifying Inequities’ appeared first on Breitbart.
Ukraine is facing a potential outright defeat by the Russians this year, the former commander of the UK's Joint Forces Command has warned.
The post Ukraine in ‘Serious Risk’ of Losing War to Russia This Year, Says Former UK Commander appeared first on Breitbart.
A Syracuse police officer and an Onondaga County sheriff’s deputy were shot in Salina, New York, Sunday shortly before 9 p.m.
The post At Least Two Officers Shot in Heavily Gun-Controlled New York appeared first on Breitbart.
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U.S. Central Command has concluded that the sniper team at Kabul did not have the terrorist in its sights before the attack.
The post U.S. CENTCOM Concludes 2021 Kabul Airport Bombing Was ‘Not Preventable’ appeared first on Breitbart.
Argentina signed a deal Tuesday worth about 2.1 billion kroner ($300 million) to buy 24 of Denmark´s aging F-16 fighter jets.
The post Denmark Selling 24 F-16s to Argentina, Will Give Others to Ukraine appeared first on Breitbart.
According to the corporate media, Climate Change has slowed the Earth’s rotation — no wait! — the Earth is spinning faster than ever before.
The post Nolte: Earth Rotation Faster or Slower? Corporate Media Can’t Get Fear Porn Straight appeared first on Breitbart.
Per Forbes, "the total net profits from Disney's five Star Wars movies [is] $1.2 billion which is $2.8 billion short of the purchase price of Lucasfilm."
The post Nolte: Disney Still Billions in Hole 12 Years After Lucasfilm Purchase appeared first on Breitbart.
The exact cost of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine remains opaque and hard to assess. Still, claims continue to vary wildly, from as little as 31,000 Ukrainian dead according to Kyiv, to as many as half a million Russian “casualties”. There
The post Report: 50,000 Russian Soldiers ‘Confirmed Dead’ in Ukraine, While Kyiv Claims Nearly Half a Million Casualties appeared first on Breitbart.
Tesla is set to ask its shareholders to once again vote on approving the controversial 2018 pay package for CEO Elon Musk, which was recently thrown out by a Delaware judge.
The post Tesla to Seek Shareholder Re-Approval for Elon Musk’s Massive Pay Package appeared first on Breitbart.
Proposals for a new law in Scotland against "misogyny", which will cover biologically male transgenders, was critisised by J.K. Rowling.
The post J.K. Rowling Says Scottish Leader Humza Yousaf Has ‘Contempt for Women’ appeared first on Breitbart.
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The House on Wednesday passed legislation to ban the government from purchasing Americans' private data from data brokers, which is considered a run around the Fourth Amendment.
The post House Passes Bill to End ‘Unconstitutional Sale’ of American Data to Intel Agencies appeared first on Breitbart.
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