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Yesterday β€” March 28th 2024Your RSS feeds

UN top court orders Israel to open more land crossings for aid into Gaza

Israel was ordered on Thursday by the top United Nations court to improve Gaza's humanitarian situation; this includes the opening of land crossings to allow for supplies to be brought in.

The way to Cuba’s heart is through the internet

Cubans are protesting so much, the dictatorship that rules them cut off the internet. Biden should restore their connection to the world and use it to undermine the regime's power.

Before yesterdayYour RSS feeds

Smartest Thing a Liberal Said Last Week

(Steven Hayward)

The Biden Administration’s diplomacy with Israel over its war against Hamas has reached the Animal House β€œdouble-secret probation” stage, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken warning Israel that it may find itself diplomatically β€œisolated” in the world if it attacks Rafah. Is it possible for Israel to be any more β€œisolated” than it already is in the joke that is called β€œthe diplomatic community”? Dean Wormer could hardly have done it better, though, to be fair to Faber College, Dean Wormer would make a better secretary of state than Blinken.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Hoodie) is having none of it:

I’m starting to think that instead of banning hoodies on the Senate floor, maybe we should require them. At least for Democrats.

Chaserβ€”I’m finding it harder to dislike this guy for his otherwise liberal views:

dibs on your parking space https://t.co/o9QUhIbKyF

β€” Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) March 21, 2024

Chaserβ€”Fetterman does have some competition this week, from the Ragin’ Cajun himself, James Carville: β€œA suspicion of mine is that there are too many preachy females [dominating the culture of the Democratic Party].”

What’s wrong with this picture?

(Scott Johnson)

The Times of Israel provides updates on Palestinian casualties according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, but suggests that skepticism is warranted. Indeed, the Ministry of Health is best understood as the functional equivalent of the Ministry of Truth (β€œMinitrue”) conceived by George Orwell in 1984, i.e., the ministry of propaganda.

In its update on Palestinian casualties in Gaza today, the Times of Israel states the numbers of dead and wounded according to β€œthe Hamas-run health ministry,” but adds: β€œThe terror group’s figures are unverified, don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, and list all the fatalities as caused by Israel β€” even those believed to have been caused by hundreds of misfired rockets or otherwise by Palestinian fire.”

These are obvious points, yet the numbers are taken (or repeated) at face value by President Biden and others. Here is Biden performing his Big Brother shtick earlier this month: β€œYou can’t have another 30,000 Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after [Hamas]. There are other ways to deal with Hamas.”

In his invaluable March 6 Tablet column, Professor Abraham Wyner explains β€œHow the Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers” and even Biden must β€œknow” this. It’s yet another sign of Biden’s turn against Israel and/or support for Hamas.

Let me add today’s sign, per Vice President Kamala Harris: β€œWe have been clear in multiple conversations and in every way that any major military operation in Rafah would be a huge mistake. Let me tell you, I have studied the maps β€” there is nowhere for those folks to go. So we’ve been very clear that it would be a mistake to move into Rafah with any kind of military operation.”

VP Kamala Harris takes a tougher line against Israel (re: going after remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah) on ABC’s β€œThis Week”:

β€œWe have been clear in multiple conversations and in every way that any major military operation in Rafah would be a huge mistake. Let me tell you, I…

β€” Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) March 24, 2024

Is Biden’s Re-Election Campaign Driving US Foreign Policy?

(John Hinderaker)

It is widely believed that Joe Biden’s anti-Israel, pro-Hamas policy is driven by his desperate need to carry Michigan if he is to have any hope of re-election. That seems like a reasonable assumption, although, to be fair, it is also possible that he shares his old boss’s anti-Israel animus. But here is another one:

Scoop: The US has urged Ukraine to halt attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, warning senior SBU and GUR officials that drone strikes risk driving up global oil prices and provoking retaliation.
w/ @hallbenjamin @felschwartz @mylesmccormick_ https://t.co/DRussu4cAs via @FT

β€” Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) March 22, 2024


Biden’s team knows that Americans have had about all the Bidenflation they can stand, and a spike in energy prices between now and November could well doom Joe’s chances. Would Biden be willing to throw the Ukrainians under the bus, along with the Israelis, to improve his odds? I think we all know the answer to that one.

Return to Shifa

(Scott Johnson)

President Biden has turned on Israel. He and his brain trust support the survival of Hamas. It’s a big-time sell-out. The cover of the current issue of England’s Economist depicts Israel Alone (cover story here behind the Economist paywall). It reminded me of the time when England stood alone against a genocidal maniac β€” alone against β€œthe insane tyrant,” as Leo Strauss referred to Hitler in his tribute to Churchill β€” though the thought appears not to have crossed the mind of the Economist.

The IDF has yet to complete its mission in Gaza. Yesterday IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari conducted a briefing on the IDF’s return to Shifa Hospital to root out a large band of terrorists that had come to think of the place as home. Hagari conducted the briefing in Hebrew, but the video below superimposes the English translation, which the IDF has also posted here. This is the text per the IDF:

Good evening.

The operation at the Shifa Hospital continues. This is the operation with the largest aggregation of terrorists we have apprehended since the beginning of the war. So far, we have apprehended over 500 suspects, 358 of which are Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.
They are surrendering, we are interrogating them, and they are providing us with very valuable and important intelligence.

We apprehended the chain of command of the Islamic Jihad, including:
1. Muhammad Jundia – Commander of the Shejaiya Battalion of the Islamic Jihad and the Deputy Commander of the terrorist organization’s Northern Brigade
2. Samir Ziad Abd Abu Odeh – Commander of the Al-Shati sector in the rocket unit of the Islamic Jihad.
3. Ahmad Samara – responsible for tunnels and underground terror infrastructure of the Islamic Jihad in the Northern Gaza Strip.

We apprehended senior Hamas figures, including:
1. Hamdallah Ali and Omar Azida– Azida, a senior official in the West Bank Headquarters, responsible for directing Hamas terrorist activity in the area of Nablus. Ali, who advanced Hamas activity in the Qalqilya area. The two are senior officials in the West Bank Headquarters of Hamas, they acted within their roles to advance terrorist attacks from Judea and Samaria, directed the transfer of weapons and funds to terrorists. This group operated under Saleh al-Arouri.
2. Mahmoud Kwasma – an operative in the Hamas West Bank Headquarters, planned and financed the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in 2014, Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrach, may their memory be a blessing.

In addition, we apprehended additional senior officials in Hamas’ Internal Security forces. Many terrorists in Shifa, especially from the Islamic Jihad, surrendered to our forces. This is a very hard blow to the Islamic Jihad – many of its operatives in the north, who are the majority of its significant operatives, either surrendered or were eliminated in the operation so far. With a number of them, we exchanged fire until they surrender or are eliminated.

During the last 24 hours, we entered the Qatari Building [in the Shifa compound]. This is a building that we also operated in during the previous operation in Shifa. This time, terrorists were hiding there. Shayetet 13 searched the building. During the scans on the basement floor, they encountered a terrorist cell. Our soldiers eliminated the terrorists without our forces being harmed. In another battle, another terrorist surrendered; after these battles, several terrorists surrendered. Among them are very senior officials – I still cannot publish their identities because they hold significant intelligence – after we finish interrogating them and find the intelligence with them, we will publish the identities of these terrorists. Senior Hamas officials understand well the significance of the operation and as the picture of the apprehended and of the eliminated terrorists becomes clearer – the pressure on them will increase.

At the beginning of the war, we destroyed the underground infrastructure dug under the hospital, and we confiscated military equipment and weapons hidden in it. The terrorists’ command center at the Shifa Hospital was dealt with then. The terrorists fled in the previous operation when we called to evacuate the compound.

This time we operated differently. This time we operated by surprise. We raided the compound by surprise. The operation, led by the 162nd Division and carried out by special forces units led by Shayetet 13, in full cooperation on the ground, shoulder to shoulder with the ISA and Unit 504 for intelligence extraction in the field. We used deception tactics in this operation, and it was this that led to the success and apprehension of all 358 terrorists and there are more still inside this compound who haven’t managed to escape. This led to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad being severely damaged as a result of the operation. Those who did not surrender to our forces fought against our forces and were eliminated. Among them also the head of the Special Operations Directorate of Hamas’ General Security – who chose to fight against our forces openly and our forces eliminated him.

The fighting continues inside the hospital buildings – inside the buildings at the hospital. There are Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who decided to barricade themselves – they are currently barricading themselves in the area of the emergency room. At this stage, we are evacuating the patients – there are about 220 patients there – to another building. We are creating infrastructure for them, with appropriate medical equipment so that all the patients and doctors can be safe. For the past 24 hours, we continue to call upon the terrorists in the building to surrender, those who surrender will stay alive, those who do not we will fight against until we eliminate them.

Even at these hours, our soldiers are scanning the buildings, evacuating the wounded, and continuing to operate in the compound. There will be more ongoing combat here – there will be several more days to this operation.

Last night, when we visited the soldiers in the field during the operation, from all the special units – as I said, the Commander of Shayetet 13 briefed us, but there was also the ISA, also Unit 504 and also the senior command that came with us to the field. They told us something very very important – they emphasized to us, the soldiers and the commanders, that they will do everything necessary in this operation or another in order to bring about the release of the hostages. They emphasized – this is the most important thing to us.

We do not forget that in Gaza there are 134 hostages. It is our duty to continue and make every operational and intelligence effort, and also in negotiations, in order to bring them back home. This is what we are doing, and this is what we will continue to do. This is our responsibility.

I want to also send encouragement this evening to the families of the hostages. You and your loved ones are with us all the time.

Hagari’s remarks convey a seriousness and dignity in the face of a barbarous enemy. It is a seriousness and dignity that is conspicuous by its absence in the Biden administration.

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari delivered a speech in which he confirmed 600 arrested and over 140 terrorists killed in the Al-Shifa operation pic.twitter.com/g2RDbl8qcH

β€” i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) March 21, 2024

High Schoolers Walk Out as Adults Push Transgenderism

High school girls and boys are protesting the official push for shared restrooms at John Jay High School inΒ Wappingers Central School District in New York State.

Election Interference

(John Hinderaker)

For years, the Democrats have been yammering about β€œelection interference” by Russia that turned out to be either de minimis or entirely fabricated. Now, in a stunning display of hypocrisy, they are aggressively interfering in Israel’s internal politics.

Scott wrote here about the fact that the Biden Administration β€œobviously seeks to depose the government of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.” The administration has gone so far as to make public an alleged intelligence community assessment to the effect that Netanyahu is unpopular and his government is likely to fall.

Today, Chuck Schumer got into the act:

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday called for new elections in Israel to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This is absolutely stunning. Since when is it the role of the Senate Majority Leader to tell another country–an ally–that they need to replace their government?

Netanyahu has β€œlost his way,” Schumer continued, β€œby allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel” and by indicating he isn’t interested in the formation of an independent Palestinian state, which has been a U.S. goal for decades.

But it is not a goal of Israel, not if it can’t be done without threatening Israeli security, which is certainly the case today. One might think that the Israeli people are the best judges of their security needs, not an American senator.

Schumer said that Netanyahu has aligned himself with β€œfar-right extremists” like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who he said are β€œpushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.”

There is some truth in that last comment, as anti-Semitism, in the transparent guise of anti-Zionism, has erupted across the Western world. One might therefore think that this is a good time for American leaders to express support for Israel, not try to bring about the overthrow of its government.

But we are not living in normal times.

The Israeli response has been restrained, no doubt in the interest of trying to hold the alliance together:

Israel is a sovereign democracy. It is unhelpful, all the more so as Israel is at war against the genocidal terror organization Hamas, to comment on the domestic political scene of a democratic ally. It is counterproductive to our common goals.

β€” Ambassador Michael Herzog (@AmbHerzog) March 14, 2024


Let’s hope we have a more sensible administration in place as of January 2025.

Yemen's Houthis have a hypersonic missile, report claims

Yemen's Houthi's plan to escalate their tirade throughout the Red Sea. According to reports, the group allegedly has acquired a hypersonic missile.

Exploding the Myths of β€œGreen” Energy

(John Hinderaker)

American Experiment’s Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling tell you what you need to know to respond to ill-informed advocates for β€œgreen” energy. There is much more at the link, but here is an overview:

1. Renewables can’t survive on their own

The renewable energy industry is a subsidy-based industry, as wind and solar are largely dependent on lucrative state and federal subsidies. However, renewable advocates justify these perpetual subsidies by claiming thermal generators receive more subsidies than wind and solar. This assertion is not based on reality….
***
In 2022, wind and solar generators received three and eighteen times more subsidies per MWh, respectively, than natural gas, coal, and nuclear generators combined. Solar is the clear leader, receiving anywhere from $50 to $80 per MWh over the last five years, whereas wind is a distant second at $8 to $10 per MWh.

Poor solar energy! No matter how many billions the government pours down the solar rathole, no one has figured out a way to generate solar power after the sun goes down.

2. Renewables increase the cost of electricity

Renewable advocates often claim that the adoption of more wind and solar will lead to lower electricity costs, but the opposite is true. In a previous Substack, we wrote in detail about how utility companies with the largest rate increase requests in the country admit the energy transition is a major reason behind increasing electricity prices for families and businesses.

β€œGreen” advocates fake the numbers for wind and solar by the simple expedient of only counting a fraction of their costs. This chart shows the actual cost of the various energy systems if all costs are included:

3. More wind and solar means more blackouts

Advocates of renewable energy also don’t want to account for one of the most damning facts about policies that favor wind and solar energy at the expense of dispatchable generators: that they have led to electricity blackouts in more than one region.

Greenies are full of bogus reasons why increased use of wind and solar are not to blame for blackouts, but they can’t answer the simple question: why is that we didn’t have blackouts before spending hundreds of billions on wind and solar, but now we do have blackouts?

Isaac and Mitch conclude:

Despite claiming to be ardent followers of β€œtHe ScIEncE,” wind and solar advocates live in their own universe of alternative facts that deny the basic physics and economics of the electric grid. Hopefully, this piece is useful for you the next time a wind or solar stan is arguing with you in the comments section.

One more β€œgreen” myth remains to be exploded: the claim that wind and solar are better for the environment than natural gas, nuclear and coal-fired electricity. That myth will be addressed in an upcoming report.

Netanyahu’s negation

(Scott Johnson)

The Biden administration obviously seeks to depose the government of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. The administration has released our intelligence community’s assessment that Netanyahu’s β€œviability as a leader” is β€œin jeopardy,” according to the annual report on the national security threats facing the United States that was presented to Congress on Monday. I assess that the wish is father to the thought.

The assessment provides: β€œDistrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections,” according to the report. β€œA different, more moderate government is a possibility.” I assess that the wish is father to the thought and that the assessment bears the trademark of β€œOur Democracyβ„’.”

Netanyahyu’s voice can be heard in the response attributed to a β€œvery senior” Israeli official in a statement issued to the media: β€œThose who elect the prime minister of Israel are the citizens of Israel and no one else. Israel is not a protectorate of the US but an independent and democratic country whose citizens are the ones who elect the government. We expect our friends to act to overthrow the terror regime of Hamas and not the elected government in Israel.”

The intelligence community could not be reached for comment.

He won’t back down

(Scott Johnson)

President Biden is reportedly β€œthinking” about imposing conditions on military aid to Israel if the IDF assault on Hamas’s redoubt in Rafah proceeds as planned. Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke by video to AIPAC’s annual policy conference in Washington. Netanyahu’s office has posted the video clip below on X and a six-minute video here on YouTube (with an echo for the first minute).

The Prime Minister’s Office has posted Netanyahu’s text here along with these further remarks in a Churchillian vein:

Some people would make you believe that the people of Israel are disunited. In fact, some people would have you believe there is the prime minister and then there is the people of Israel.

The truth of the matter is that the people of Israel overwhelmingly support the policies set forth by myself and my government. They overwhelmingly support the need for total victory. Overwhelmingly. They overwhelmingly oppose the idea of having a Palestinian state rammed down our throat.

We just had a vote in the Knesset, to illustrate the point I just made, 99 to 9 supporting this position. And you know what? It’s not irrational. It’s because they think that giving now a Palestinian state after the October 7th massacre will be the greatest reward for terrorism in modern times.

They overwhelmingly reject the idea that we should implant, after we’ve destroyed Hamas in Gaza, the PA that still inculcates its children towards terrorism and the annihilation of Israel. They want a future of peace, a future of security that is purchased by a resounding victory.

And as I say, the possibilities for this victory, the possibilities that are opened up are immense but they require that one word: victory. And I will repeat it again, victory, victory, victory. No substitute for that and we will achieve it together.

Netanyahu knows he represents the consensus of Israeli popular opinion on this point and he gives no sign of backing down.

We will finish the job. Watch my speech at the AIPAC policy conference >> pic.twitter.com/QvPEyzfQvc

β€” Benjamin Netanyahu – Χ‘Χ Χ™ΧžΧ™ΧŸ Χ ΧͺΧ Χ™Χ”Χ• (@netanyahu) March 12, 2024

Hamas’s β€œOperation Ramadan”–and ours

(Scott Johnson)

President Biden apparently thinks the IDF should observe Ramadan as it seeks to eliminate the genocidaires of Hamas. By contrast, the genocidaires of Hamas find Jewish holidays the right time to do their thing. It’s enough to make a sane man vomit.

Wall Street Journal letters editor Elliot Kaufman is not too choked up about Biden’s Ramadan recess. His column on the subject is datelined Tel Aviv and runs with the headline β€œHamas’s β€˜Operation Ramadan’—and Ours.”

The headline works a witty variation on the title of Norman Podhoretz’s classic Commentary essay β€œMy Negro Problem–and Ours.” By the same token, it could have been headlined β€œMy Biden Problem–and Ours.” However, it would require more than 800 words to lay it out. It would take a book.

Elliot’s column is behind the Journal’s paywall. Here is the heart of it:

There is an idea that it is wrong to fight an Islamic country during the holy month of Ramadan, which this year starts Sunday night. It’s nonsense: Look at Egypt and Syria’s 1973 Ramadan War against Israel or Iran’s 1982 Operation Ramadan against Iraq. Conversations with senior Israeli political, military and legal officials, however, suggest that the taboo is a weaponβ€”and every player in the Gaza war has an Operation Ramadan of its own.

For more than a month, the Biden administration has set the start of Ramadan as the deadline for a deal to release Israeli hostages and stop the war. β€œThere’s got to be a cease-fire because Ramadan,” the president said Tuesday. β€œIf we get into circumstances where this continues to Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem could be very, very dangerous.” The danger, in his formulation, is all on the Israeli side, so Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had better cut a deal.

Israel’s leaders lamented privately that every day in February and early March seemed to bring a new U.S. shot across Israel’s bowβ€”an unprecedented sanctions regime; new strings attached to weapons transfers; Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s call for a β€œtimebound, irreversible path to a Palestinian state”; a turn against the war effort, which Mr. Biden called β€œover the top”; loud opposition to an offensive in Rafah, now termed a β€œred line”; a new policy deeming all settlements illegal; blame pinned on Israel for humanitarian aid problems; calls for an β€œimmediate cease-fire”; and leaks that the U.S. could demand its weapons not be used in Rafah.

Meanwhile, the president no longer speaks about defeating Hamas, let alone destroying it. Victory is off his list of prioritiesβ€”and Israelis worry that Mr. Biden is the most pro-Israel member of his administration. Where American words gave Israelis succor after Oct. 7, they now confound and demoralize the country. According to a senior Israeli official, Mr. Blinken β€œsays it right in your face: β€˜You can’t win.’ ”

This was America’s Operation Ramadan: Spook and threaten Israel into accepting a hostage deal that would end the war much sooner than Mr. Netanyahu wants, because victory is unattainable anyway.

The administration misread Israel. Its pressure tactics have allowed Mr. Netanyahu to rally even his rivals around his positions on Rafah and against unilateral U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state, an idea Israelis find criminally insane right now. The prime minister’s chief opponent, Benny Gantz, has publicly agreed with him on both, and reportedly told U.S. officials that β€œfinishing the war without demilitarizing Rafah is like sending in firefighters to put out 80% of a fire.” As retired Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, head of the Israel Defense and Security Forum, tells me, β€œAll the Hamas leaders are there. All the hostages are there. The fighters, the munitionsβ€”they’re in Rafah.”

It may not exactly fit the IDF’s timetable, but taking Rafah for Ramadan would be the right way to observe the holiday this year.

Biden’s animus [With Comment by John]

(Scott Johnson)

President Biden’s animus against Israel was patent in his State of the Union Address this past Thursday evening. The White House has posted the text of his remarks as given here.

JNS editor Jonathan Tobin sets forth a rounded view of β€œthe moral failure” of Biden’s remarks on Israel. Tobin separately addresses and elaborates on Biden’s demands on Israel, the floating harbor for Hamas, the two-state final solution, the lack of any statement on the explosion of anti-Semitism in the United States, and the appeasement of Israel haters. We have noted these deficiencies in our own way, but nothing said here does justice to the points that Tobin makes.

NRO’s Philip Klein characterized the SOTU as β€œthe most anti-Israel presidential speech in history.” Klein posted his comments in a hot take on the evening of Biden’s speech. Among other things, he notes that β€œ[a]fter a perfunctory mention of October 7 and the hostages, Biden then launched an extended attack on Israel’s response to the war and the conditions in Gaza that accepted, whole cloth, Hamas casualty figures that his own administration had previously questioned as unreliable.”

We have noted this point as well. Biden and others in the administration have adopted the numbers retailed by the Gaza Ministry of Health β€” i.e., Hamas. It represents their adoption of the Hamas point of view.

What’s wrong with this picture? Hamas is not known for the accuracy of its statements of fact. Hamas, for example, does not distinguish between the deaths of civilians and Hamas genocidaires. The Gaza Ministry of Health promotes a line that supports Hamas’s war aims.

Biden hectors Israel. He repeatedly implies that Israel violates the laws of war. This is another lie that promotes Hamas’s war aims. As Israel sacrifices the safety of its soldiers to protect civilians intentionally placed in harm’s way by Hamas, it is perversely false.

In the State of the Union Biden asserted: β€œMore than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed β€” [AUDIENCE MEMBER: Says who?] β€” most of whom are not Hamas. Thousands and thousands of innocents β€” women and children. Girls and boys also orphaned.”

Abraham Wyner homes in on the casualty numbers in the Tablet column β€œHow the Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers.” Subhead: β€œThe evidence is in their own poorly fabricated figures.”

Wyner, by the way, is Professor of Statistics and Data Science at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Faculty Co-Director of the Wharton Sports Analytics and Business Initiative. He knows what he is talking about. His column is worth your time, but Biden et al. don’t need his analysis. As Klein implies, they know it’s true. They lie without a conscience.

Wyner introduces his analysis this way (emphasis in original):

The number of civilian casualties in Gaza has been at the center of international attention since the start of the war. The main source for the data has been the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, which now claims more than 30,000 dead, the majority of which it says are children and women. Recently, the Biden administration lent legitimacy to Hamas’ figure. When asked at a House Armed Services Committee hearing last week how many Palestinian women and children have been killed since Oct. 7, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the number was β€œover 25,000.” The Pentagon quickly clarified that the secretary β€œwas citing an estimate from the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry.” President Biden himself had earlier cited this figure, asserting that β€œtoo many, too many of the over 27,000 Palestinians killed in this conflict have been innocent civilians and children, including thousands of children.” The White House also explained that the president β€œwas referring to publicly available data about the total number of casualties.”

Here’s the problem with this data: The numbers are not real. That much is obvious to anyone who understands how naturally occurring numbers work. The casualties are not overwhelmingly women and children, and the majority may be Hamas fighters.

If Hamas’ numbers are faked or fraudulent in some way, there may be evidence in the numbers themselves that can demonstrate it. While there is not much data available, there is a little, and it is enough: From Oct. 26 until Nov. 10, 2023, the Gaza Health Ministry released daily casualty figures that include both a total number and a specific number of women and children.

The first place to look is the reported β€œtotal” number of deaths. The graph of total deaths by date is increasing with almost metronomical linearity, as the graph in Figure 1 reveals….

Wyner persuasively establishes that β€œthe Hamas ministry settled on a daily total arbitrarily.” See Figure 1 and other graphs along with the rest of the column here (data posted here).

JOHN adds: Abraham Wyner testified as an expert witness on behalf of the defendants in the Michael Mann v. Mark Steyn case. We saw his testimony when we were in D.C. for the trial. Wyner presented a statistical analysis that showed that Mann’s famous hockey stick graph was, in fact, fraudulent. His analysis was persuasive and Wyner was a great witness, but unfortunately neither his testimony nor the other evidence presented by defendants was enough to overcome the decades of propaganda that underlie climate hysteria. At least, not with a D.C. jury.

Biden’s red line

(Scott Johnson)

It turns out that President Biden has a red line. It applies to Israel. In an unlocked story, the Wall Street Journal reports that β€œBiden Warns Netanyahu an Assault on Rafah Would Cross β€˜Red Line.’”

Biden apparently seeks to depose the Netanyahu government. He thinks that Netanyahu is the problem. He also seeks to preserve Hamas. He finds them easier to deal with than Netanyahu. Biden’s daycare minders in the White House may indeed be malevolent or stupid enough to believe these propositions. They certainly explain a lot. They explain what Biden meant about having a β€œcome to Jesus” meeting with Netanyahu. The animus behind that statement is patent. Now we see what Biden had in β€œmind,” so to speak. Israel does not fit comfortably inside what the Democrats are pleased to refer to as β€œour democracyβ„’.”

Biden and his minders purport to understand Israel’s national security interests better than the Israelis. The Daily Mail reports β€œBiden Administration consulted Israel expert on how to β€˜force the Netanyahu coalition to collapse’ as president accuses the prime minster of β€˜hurting Israel more than helping’ and insists Rafah invasion is β€˜red line’ that must not be crossed.” The headline says it all.

Politico reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu sees things slightly differently. When asked whether Israeli forces would move into Rafah in an interview on Sunday, Netanyahu replied: β€œWe’ll go there. We’re not going to leave. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is, that October 7 doesn’t happen again. Never happens again.”

It may be time to revisit Robert Gates’s assessment of Biden’s foreign policy chops: β€œI think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” Gates made that assessment in 2014. It therefore predates Biden’s Afghanistan, Ukraine, Iran and other debacles. We can now revise Gates’s assessment to the past five decades.

The Biden administration now distinguishes between Israel’s democracy and the people who elected it. While I cannot defend all of our government’s policies, I will absolutely defend the democracy that elected it. Our democratic ally must respect that. https://t.co/8z5MJQgqIz

β€” Michael Oren (@DrMichaelOren) March 10, 2024

Biden explains

(Scott Johnson)

In the video clip from his interview with Jonathan Capehart below, President Biden explains why Hamas wants a ceasefire. He forgets that he’s not supposed to explain how it promotes their goals. He seeks to backtrack but can’t figure out how, except by falsely implying that Israel is violating the laws of war. What a disgrace.

Watch Biden say the quiet part out loud. This is actually kind of amazing. Perhaps Prime Minister Netanyahu will find it of use in the β€œcome to Jesus” meeting with which Biden is threatening him.

Biden makes the blunder of answering whether and why Hamas would want a ceasefire.

He then notices his terrible blunder in saying the truth, and goes off on a tangent. pic.twitter.com/ypqX7H8D6o

β€” David Shor (@DYShor) March 10, 2024

Transition? What Transition?

(John Hinderaker)

Robert Bryce is one of America’s foremost energy experts. At his Substack site, he describes his recent appearance before the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. The commissioners were glad to hear from Robert:

After I finished, about two dozen people (most of them were state regulators) came forward to say they appreciated my talk and that they’d never heard many of the points I’d made. One utility commissioner told me that the regulators who attend NARUC’s meetings are β€œnot used to having anybody tell the whole story.” I also received several dozen emails from people who said NARUC had never had anyone like me give a speech.

Which is a truly scary reality. From whom are the commissioners accustomed to hearing? Financially self-interested left-wingers:

[A] few conference attendees took to Twitter to complain that I’d been allowed to speak at NARUC. One person in particular, a lawyer who works for Earthjustice, the San Francisco-based NGO that is funded by dark money, had a sphincter-puckered snit on Twitter, saying that I presented β€œnonsense.” Earthjustice had $151 million in revenue in 2023 and employs more than 200 lawyers in 15 U.S. cities. Another attendee, who works for San Francisco-based Energy Innovation LLC, which doesn’t reveal its donors, got his NARUC knickers in a twist. On Twitter, he claimed I provided so many β€œfalsehoods” that he β€œcouldn’t keep up.” It’s funny, though, that he didn’t name a single falsehood or refute even one of my points.

Typical. Leftists don’t argue, they censor.

What did Robert say that so frightened greenies? Follow the link above for the whole story, but I would highlight two points. First, increasing government-mandated reliance on expensive and ineffective wind and solar power is threatening the reliability of the electric grid:

On February 22, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) issued a report that put the danger facing America’s electric grid in stark terms. In an introduction, MISO’s CEO, John Bear, said, β€œThere are immediate and serious challenges to the reliability of our region’s electric grid.” His remarks must be quoted at length:

The transition that is underway to get to a decarbonized end state is posing material, adverse challenges to electric reliability. A key risk is that many existing β€œdispatchable” resources that can be turned on and off and adjusted as needed are being replaced with weather-dependent resources such as wind and solar that have materially different characteristics and capabilities. While wind and solar produce needed clean energy, they lack certain key reliability attributes that are needed to keep the grid reliable every hour of the year. Although several emerging technologies may someday change that calculus, they are not yet proven at grid scale. Meanwhile, efforts to build new dispatchable resources face headwinds from government regulations and policies, as well as prevailing investment criteria for financing new energy projects. Until new technologies become viable, we will continue to need dispatchable resources for reliability purposes.

Second, perhaps the most extraordinary fact about energy is that the much-ballyhooed β€œtransition” from fossil fuels to wind and solar simply isn’t happening, despite government mandates and massive subsidies. In fact, it is rapid growth in use of fossil fuels that powers the world’s economy:

There is much more at the link. The bottom line is that a transition from reliable and affordable fossil fuels to unreliable and prohibitively expensive weather-dependent sources of energy would be a human disaster, and therefore, it isn’t going to happen. Ever. Leftists may whine and gnash their teeth, and for now they may reap enormous amounts of ill-gotten money from β€œgreen” interests. But what they want, or more likely pretend to want, isn’t possible, and it won’t happen.

Hamas terror attack exposes Al Jazeera for what it really is

The October 7 Hamas attack exposed the Qatari media outlet Al Jazeera for its support of terrorism. That comes from a new report by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Biden to open Gaza port

(Scott Johnson)

Politico reports that President Biden has a big announcement to make tonight. During his State of the Union address, he will order the military to establish a temporary port in Gaza so more humanitarian aid can get to Palestinians in need. Enough with the airdrops, or to supplement the airdrops. We’re going in big time to keep Hamas in business.

It’s not clear to me if this slam comes from the administration sources briefing Politico, but it sounds like it: β€œThe U.S. is resorting to this military mission because Israel isn’t letting in enough aid to alleviate the humanitarian crisis caused by the Israel-Hamas war plaguing 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza.”

And then we have this: β€œPlanning for the maritime corridor [to supply the port] still faces many execution challenges, namely how to offload, secure and distribute the aid.” Hamas will lend a hand. Of that we can be sure.

They are still working out the details, but you can’t be too cynical: β€œArguably the hardest part is dispersing the aid throughout the whole of Gaza. The multinational coalition will rely on the United Nations, non-governmental organizations and other groups to ensure the assistance gets to the right places.” It’s good to know they will have the friends of Hamas within the UN on board with the plan. It only makes sense.

How do you say gag me with a spoon in Arabic?

The day after: A plan for Gaza

AΒ group ofΒ former officialsΒ who workedΒ forΒ presidents of both parties believeΒ theΒ most realistic option is to createΒ aΒ private International TrustΒ forΒ GazaΒ ReliefΒ and Reconstruction.

State of Delusion: Biden’s Address Will Expose Wide Divide Between President and Reality

President Joe Biden on Thursday night will address a joint session of Congress and the American people to persuade voters that his many failures are actually successes.

Don’t buy it.

He will continue a campaign of gaslighting around his administration’s increasingly dangerous border catastrophe, his unaffordable and anemic economy, and his disastrous foreign policy that puts us all at risk. Biden will attempt to persuade us of the strength of his unionβ€”but he’s living in a state of delusion, and his primetime speech will make that painfully clear.

The reality of life in Biden’s America has become so far detached from the messaging coming out of his White House, it’s hard to imagine any address will change the minds of voters who have lost faith in the president. But we know he will try.

Here’s what you can expect to hear from Bidenβ€”and the hard truths he will continue to ignore:

First, he’s sure to deflect on his role in creating the border crisis. And this issue may best highlight the growing divide between the president’s dishonest view of his administration and the reality Americans face every day.

Biden will claim theΒ historic numberΒ of illegal immigrants allowed in the country on his watch has nothing to do with him. He will tell you the humanitarian disaster caused by his blatant encouragement of illegal immigration is not his fault. He will blame Congress for a crisis of his makingβ€”a truly Orwellian touch.Β 

The reality? Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas beganΒ intentionally and systematically dismantlingΒ all semblance of border security within hours of taking the oath of office. Before he was even sworn in, during Democratic debates, he promised toΒ give free health careΒ to illegal immigrants and oppose deportation. As soon as he got to the Oval Office, Biden ended almost all of former President Donald Trump’s policies that deterred mass illegal immigration, such as β€œRemain in Mexico”; halted construction of the border wall; and turned on a flashing β€œopen” sign that remains on to this day.Β 

The result has been an unmitigated disaster.Β More than 9 millionΒ people have illegally entered the country on Biden’s watchβ€”that’s more than the population of most states, and doesn’t include theΒ 1.7 million peopleΒ we know have evaded authorities altogether. His incoherent position on the border isΒ overcrowding and overwhelming our schoolsΒ andΒ health care system, fueling aΒ fentanyl crisisΒ that’s destroying families in every state, and givingΒ criminalsΒ free rein across the countryβ€”withΒ deadly results.

Unfortunately for Biden, the American people already blame him for the crisis.Β Almost 70%Β of Americans disapprove of his handling of the border, and immigration is now theΒ top concernΒ of a plurality of voters. For the first time ever, a majority of Americans support aΒ border wall. That is Biden’s legacy on the border.

We also know Biden will try to persuade Americans that β€œBidenomics” is working, that the crime and decay in our cities are nothing to be concerned about, that the military is strong, and that Republicans are a threat to democracy.Β 

Here’sΒ the truth: The president’s economic agenda has led to nothing but strife for average families. Real wages are down, prices are up, and credit card debt is at a record high. A staggering 60% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Even DemocratsΒ admit the β€œBidenomics” campaignΒ is failing.

Meanwhile, aΒ bipartisan majorityΒ of Americans think we have a crime crisis; Biden’s Pentagon is overseeing aΒ historic recruitment shortfall and plunging public confidence; and our enemies have watched as Biden’s administration repeatedlyΒ fumbles on the world stage.Β 

Lastly, in perhaps his most cynical gambit, Biden will try to persuade you that Republicans are an existential threat to our democracy. He will make this claim just days after the Supreme CourtΒ unanimously overruledΒ activist judges and officials from his own party who were trying to kick his chief rival off the ballot. The irony is stunning, and would be comical if it wasn’t so insulting.Β 

The State of the Union is an opportunity for every president to highlight his successes. But when an administration has so little success to promote, the only thing left to do is deceive and deflect. Instead of taking responsibility for his own dismal record, Biden will desperately attempt to rewrite history while using the federal government against his rivals.

Don’t be fooled. Biden is living in a state of delusion while the rest of us live in realityβ€”far worse off than we were when he took office. No matter what he says in front of Congress on Thursday night, the real state of his union is weak, woke, and weaponized against those who dare to speak out.

Luckily, the American people will have the opportunity to respond in November.Β 

Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please emailΒ letters@DailySignal.com, and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular β€œWe Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.

The post State of Delusion: Biden’s Address Will Expose Wide Divide Between President and Reality appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Sticking points

(Scott Johnson)

Reading about the ceasefire negotiations that the ceasefire negotiations with which the Biden administation hopes to engineer a Hamas victory requires a certain kind of immunity to savagery. Hamas seeks to trade kidnapped Israelis for terrorists who can help Hamas finish the task it undertook on October 7. The Hamas terrorists are murderers and genocidaires. The Israelis are, well, you know, Jewish. Hamas seeks ten terrorists in exchange for every kidnapped Israeli and Israel seems okay with the proposition and the ratio.

However, the Israelis declined to show up in Cairo for further negotiations so long as Hamas refuses to provide a list of living kidnap victims. The Israelis assess that 31 of the kidnap victims taken by Hamas on October 7 are now dead. This is either elided in mainstream news accounts or referred to euphemistically as one of the β€œsticking points.” The Times of Israel summed up the status of negotiations yesterday:

Israel has said that 31 of the 130 hostages held since October 7 are dead. The first phase of the mooted deal is reported to provide for the release of 40 of the living hostages, including women, children, the elderly and the sick, in the course of a six-week truce, and in exchange for some 400 Palestinian security prisoners. The outline reportedly provides for negotiations on the further phased release of the remaining hostages, living and dead, in return for longer pauses in the fighting and many more Palestinian prisoner releases.

On Sunday afternoon, a Hamas official told CNN that the group will not agree to a deal without Israel consenting to an end to the war in Gaza, a non-starter for Israel.

Citing β€œa highly placed source” in the terror group, CNN reported that the two other areas of disagreement holding up a deal are the withdrawal of IDF troops from Gaza, and Gazan civilians being allowed to return to the northern Gaza Strip.

Vice President Harris found this a good time to hammer Israel yesterday in Selma, Alabama (White House transcript here). Israel is apparently responsible for β€œthe humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” Why, β€œjust a few days ago, we saw hungry, desperate people approach aid trucks, simply trying to secure food for their families after weeks of nearly no aid reaching Northern Gaza. And they were met with gunfire and chaos.” The savages of Hamas have their allies among the idiots, useful or otherwise, of the Biden administration.

β€œGet Me a Deal!”

(John Hinderaker)

That is what Joe Biden demanded of the Israelis, Hamas and representatives of Qatar and Egypt who are trying to broker a cease-fire agreement. As though he were the party in interest. The Telegraph interprets Biden’s motives:

Mr Biden is under major pressure from voters over the US alliance with Israel, and the president was punished at the ballot box by protesting young Democrats in the primaries last week.

So what would a proposed deal look like?

A potential deal could include a six-week pause in fighting, the release of approximately 400 Palestinian prisoners in return for the freeing of 40 Israeli hostages, as well as preparation for a gradual return of Palestinian citizens to the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Why 40 hostages? Why not all of them? Why should Israel even discuss a proposal that does not include a total release of kidnap victims? And how about a Hamas surrender? Normally, when a country starts a war and then loses it, if it wants the fighting to stop it has to surrender. It is bizarre that some people take seriously the idea that Hamas should survive the war it foolishly started.

Happily, Israel has decided not to attend the cease-fire negotiations in Cairo:

Israel will not be sending a negotiating team to Cairo, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Sunday, after receiving an unsatisfactory response from Hamas on the latest framework for a hostage deal hammered out in Paris last weekend.

The Gaza-based terror organization refused to address Jerusalem’s demand to provide a list of living hostages and to lock down how many Palestinian prisoners Israel must release for every hostage freed, added the official.

My guess is that Gaza doesn’t want to provide a list of living kidnap victims because a shocking number have been murdered. In any event, Israel shouldn’t allow Hamas’s transparent diplomatic maneuvering, or hysterical reactions from the Biden administration, to distract It from the total victory it needs to achieve over Gaza.

Burn Those Trees!

(John Hinderaker)

We have written a couple of times about biomass, which is a fancy term for burning wood. If you thought using wood fires for energy was out of date–it has been, actually, for a century and a half–you are behind the times. Wood burning is considered β€œgreen,” a wholly political concept, and therefore is heavily subsidized in Europe. Millions of trees in the U.S. and Canada suffer the consequences.

The latest from the United Kingdom:

Wood, the fuel that British industry thought it had left behind more than a century ago, is staging a comeback.

Powering the resurgence is Drax Group, owner of the controversial Drax power station that recently posted a 10-fold increase in its latest yearly profits.

Its plant in Yorkshire, Britain’s largest and most controversial power station, generated around 6pc of the country’s electricity in 2023 by burning 6.4 million tonnes of wood. In context, it is the equivalent of 27 million trees.

27 million trees! The same Telegraph article points out that the New Forest only has 46 million trees, less than two years’ worth. So where does the wood come from?

Last year alone Drax imported 4.6 million tonnes of wood from the US and another 760,000 tonnes from Canada, with further deliveries coming from Brazil, Latvia and Russia.

You might think that cutting down trees in the southern U.S., thus preventing them from absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere–do they still teach junior high kids about photosynthesis?–shipping them to Europe on diesel-powered ships, and then burning them, releasing carbon into the atmosphere in the form of CO2, must be the dumbest possible way of generating electricity. And, while it is appallingly stupid, and not β€œgreen” in any coherent sense, it is arguably not as dumb as wind and solar:

[Drax chief executive Will Gardiner says], β€œWe have created a business which plays an essential role in supporting energy security, providing dispatchable, renewable power for millions of homes and businesses, particularly during periods of peak demand when there is low wind and solar power.”

Yes: burning wood on an industrial scale is idiotic, but at least it works in the dark and when the wind isn’t blowing.

Finally, why does such a foolish way of generating electricity exist? Mandates and subsidies, of course:

Sir Peter’s reference to cost relates to the taxpayer subsidies that Drax receives for producing green energy, which amounted to Β£617m in 2022 and Β£587m in 2023.

Meanwhile, China is humming along with more than 1,000 coal-fired power plants, and more coming on line constantly.

Drop this

(Scott Johnson)

Yesterday President Biden announced the imminent airdrop of humanitarian assistance into Gaza (Biden to the contrary notwithstanding, not Ukraine). The Times of Israel covers the announcement here.

White House National Security Advisor John Kirby was asked a good question about it at a press briefing that followed the announcement. He was asked how the administration will prevent Hamas from seizing the supplies that it intends to airdrop into Gaza.

Kirby expressed joy to be asked the question, yet for some reason he did not answer it directly. See if you can deduce the answer from his response (video below). These airdrops are complicated. They’re difficult. We’re going to keep at it and we’re going to get better. Hamas, by the way, is a designated foreign terrorist organization and therefore one to which it is illegal for American citizens to render assistance.

John Kirby effectively admits that the White House knows Hamas will steal aid air-dropped into Gaza pic.twitter.com/gzxHnBUpCp

β€” Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) March 2, 2024

The airdrop has begun. The Times of Israel reports that US military officials say the initial airdrop was carried out using three C-130 planes. One of the officials says more than 35,000 meals were airdropped. The video below shows the current airdrop to Hamas’s last stronghold in Rafah. According to Barak Ravid, the Rafah airdrop β€œincluded thousands of U.S. military β€˜meals ready to eat’ (Halal).” The genocidaires of Hamas must be grateful in their own special way.

Update: #IsraelHamasWar #US #Rafah

According to U.S. and Israeli officials, 3 C-130s airdropped aid over the city of Rafah.

In the video that reportedly shows the airdrop, 2 C-130s can be seen with the payload of the third visible in the video. pic.twitter.com/OhyUMWd9z4

β€” John M. Larrier (@DefenseBulletin) March 2, 2024

Biden to resupply Hamas

(Scott Johnson)

President Biden announced today that the United States will airdrop humanitarian aid into Gaza in the coming days. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to those of us who have been following the line traced by the Biden administration, but this may strike some as a bridge too far. The mission will purportedly increase the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, but all sentient observers understand that the it will necessarily make the β€œassistance” available to Hamas.

Politico reports Biden’s remarks here. The White House has not yet posted a transcript. To add insult to injury, even though he was reading off note cards, Biden confused β€œUkraine” with β€œGaza.” The guy’s brain is fried in more ways than one.

Biden announces the U.S. is β€œproviding air drops of additional food and supplies” into Ukraine pic.twitter.com/ZZt7LV1EMg

β€” RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 1, 2024

STEVE adds: Curious thing, though. A spokesman for Oxfam America has issued a Twitter statement opposing the relief air drop, because the narrative needs to be preserved. At least that’s how I read this:

From Policy to Pain: How the Fed Impacts Your Wallet

By Gryffindor (Wikimedia Commons)

Artificial interest rate controls cause inflationary booms, depressing busts, and result in taxpayers bailing out wealthy bankers every five to ten years.

While businesses struggle to obtain loans and consumers suffer under extremely high interest rates, the Federal Reserve cautioned this week β€œagainst cutting US interest rates too soon or too much.”

The implication is that the Federal Reserve knows what the correct interest rate should be and when and by how much it should be cut. But for every other product, apart from loans, the market determines the price. And the market is never wrong.

The Fed deciding that it knows the right interest rates and quantity of dollars that the economy should have is extremely presumptuous. Even more worrying, the acceptance by the general public that the Fed is correct is an example of central planning.

Entrusting the Fed with superior knowledge over the market, comprising 330 million consumers and sellers, represents a frightening leap toward central authority dictating everything from health and education to how you raise your child or what media you are allowed to read.

Also, if the Fed knows the right interest rate and quantity of money, why aren’t they able to prevent economic crises and bank failures?

When it comes to most other products in the economyβ€”shoes, cars, clothingβ€”the price is determined by the market, and the market never gets it wrong. If the market price goes too high, people stop buying; if it goes too low, companies lose money.

So, we wind up with a market price that consumers are willing to bear and that companies can live with.

Most importantly, in our capitalist/democratic system, the only people who pay for those shoes, cars, and clothing are the people who buy them. If you think the price is too high, you don’t have to buy, and the government doesn’t force you to pay for your neighbor’s shoes.

Or at least, that is how it is supposed to work. Some administrations are more socialist than others, and you do find yourself paying for your neighbor’s shoes through taxes, but that is the subject of another article.

Today, we are discussing how the Fed distorts the economy by artificially controlling interest rates, which leads to inflationary booms, depressing busts, and ultimately results in taxpayers bailing out wealthy bankers.

Until the self-imposed destruction of the COVID lockdowns, the most recent economic crisis was in 2008, which resulted in over 8 million Americans losing their jobs.

Additionally, the U.S. Treasury Department used nearly $1 trillion of taxpayer money to buy up banks’ toxic assets and to make emergency loans to banks teetering on the brink of collapse.

These were private, for-profit companies that received payouts from public funds. From a free-market standpoint, the reason why toxic assets plummeted in value was that the risk was too high and the public didn’t want to buy them.

So, the banks effectively made a terrible product that consumers didn’t want, but which the government purchased with taxpayer money.

Even worse, in order to stimulate a failing economy, the Fed artificially suppressed interest rates until two years ago. As of December 2021, the federal funds rate target range was 0.00% to 0.25%.

And that low rate, along with dramatic increases in government spending and borrowing and the creation of money, resulted in the 9% inflation during the Biden administration. To rein in the inflation, the Fed began raising the federal funds rate, which currently stands at 5.25% to 5.50%.

This figure is the federal funds rate, the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans. The rate you pay for mortgages, car loans, and credit cards will be much higher.

The Fed artificially keeps the interest rate low when politicians want to give the illusion of economic growth. In 2023, after the Fed began raising interest rates, the low Fed rates of the preceding 15 years resulted in banks like Silicon Valley Bank sitting on investments that paid 1.79%, while new treasuries were paying 3.79%.

This meant that the banks had to pay more to borrow money than they were earning on their portfolio of loans and investments. SVB and several other banks went bankrupt, resulting in a $25 billion bailout.

Meanwhile, the entire banking system is estimated to be sitting on $620 billion in similar, unrealized losses because of artificial interest rate manipulation by the Fed.

The COVID lockdown economic crisis caused 120,000 businesses to close and 30 million Americans to lose their jobs. To compensate, the Biden White House, working with Congress on fiscal policy, and the Federal Reserve, implementing monetary policy, the deficit skyrocketed, the debt hit record levels, and interest rates were kept low.

As a result, Biden claimed the largest growth and job creation in history, as well as the highest inflation in 40 years.

Now, in addition to enduring years of lost wages, depleted savings, and mounting personal debt, Americans are grappling with the combination of inflation and high interest rates. All of which was enabled by the Fed’s policies,

The post From Policy to Pain: How the Fed Impacts Your Wallet appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

33_Liberty_Street_IMG_9058_stitched

By Gryffindor - File:33 Liberty Street IMG 9058.JPGThis is a retouched picture, which means that it has been digitally altered from its original version. Modifications: This panorama has been automatically stitched using commandline tools, and the end result hasn't been validated by any humans for any accuracy or beautifullness. The original can be viewed here: 33 Liberty Street IMG 9058.JPG:Β . Modifications made by AzaToth., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17173323

Blackouts, Here We Come

(John Hinderaker)

People around the world are increasingly realizing that β€œgreen” energy is actually black–as in blackouts. Thus, in today’s Telegraph: β€œThe UK is much closer to blackouts than anyone dares to admit.”

We are heading for a big electricity crunch as it is. Whoever wins the general election, the next government will be committed to decarbonising the National Grid – by 2035 in the case of the Conservatives and by 2030 in the case of Labour. That means either closing all the gas power stations or fitting them with carbon capture and storage technology – which does not yet exist on scale in Britain and whose costs are likely to be massive. At the same time every single one of our existing nuclear power stations is currently due to reach the end of its life by 2035. If Hinkley C is delayed much beyond its latest estimated completion, we could end up with no nuclear at all.

That could leave us trying to power the country pretty much with intermittent wind and solar energy alone – and this at a time when politicians want millions more of us to be driving electric cars and heating our homes with heat pumps, thus substantially increasing demand. How will we keep the lights on? One struggles to find satisfactory explanation from the National Grid ESO, which is trusted with this task.

Britain is not alone in that regard. It is extraordinary that no one in any country has actually tried, seriously, to figure out how to power a modern economy with intermittent and absurdly expensive wind and solar power. We are simply cruising toward disaster with inept and even senile politicians at the helm.

It has produced a vision for a winter’s day in 2035 which foresees massive amounts of energy being stored in the form of green hydrogen produced via the electrolysis of water – a technology which may not be ready by then.

Or may not be ready, ever. I’ve been hearing about miraculous hydrogen energy for decades.

It also sees Britain importing around a quarter of its electricity. What happens if the countries we import it from are also short of renewable energy, it doesn’t say.

That is what happened a year or so ago when Duke Energy’s customers suffered a blackout. Duke’s plan included importing electricity from other states when the wind didn’t blow and it was dark out. But–surprise!–the wind wasn’t blowing in nearby states, either.

But now we get to the real plan, to the extent there is one:

But another large part of the picture seems to be β€œdemand flexibility” – a polite term for rationing energy through smart meters, jacking up the price whenever supply is short. No wonder the Government seems keener than ever to force smart meters on us.

A β€œsmart meter” is one that will adjust the temperature in your house, or otherwise reduce your use of electricity, when the utility can’t produce enough electricity to meet demand. In other words, the plan is for us to get poorer through electricity rationing.

This is Great Britain, but you could say the exact same thing about the U.S. or most other Western countries.

When Ronnie Met Jeane

(Lloyd Billingsley)

Lifelong Democrat Jeane J. Kirkpatrick came to the attention of former Democrat Ronald Reagan though her 1979 Commentary essay β€œDictatorships and Double Standards.” As America’s future UN ambassador contended:

The failure of the Carter administration’s foreign policy is now clear to everyone except its architects.

The pattern is familiar enough: an established autocracy with a record of friendship with the U.S. is attacked by insurgents, some of whose leaders have long ties to the Communist movement, and most of whose arms are of Soviet, Chinese, or Czechoslovak origin. The β€œMarxist” presence is ignored and/or minimized by American officials and by the elite media on the ground that U.S. sup- port for the dictator gives the rebels little choice but to seek aid β€œelsewhere.”

Our β€œcommitment to the promotion of constructive change worldwide” (Brzezinski’s words) has been vouchsafed in every conceivable context. But there is a problem. The conceivable contexts turn out to be mainly those in which non-Communist autocracies are under pressure from revolutionary guerrillas. Since Moscow is the aggressive, expansionist power today, it is more often than not insurgents, encouraged and armed by the Soviet Union, who challenge the status quo. The American commitment to β€œchange” in the abstract ends up by aligning us tacitly with Soviet clients and irresponsible extremists like the Ayatollah Khomeini or, in the end, Yasir Arafat.

So far, assisting β€œchange” has not led the Carter administration to undertake the destabilization of aΒ CommunistΒ country. The principles of self-determination and nonintervention are thus both selectively applied.

Β Carter’s doctrine of national interest and modernization encourages support for all change that takes place in the name of β€œthe people,” regardless of its β€œsuperficial” Marxist or anti-American content.

Surely it is now beyond reasonable doubt that the present governments of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos are much more repressive than those of the despised previous rulers; that the government of the People’s Republic of China is more repressive than that of Taiwan, that North Korea is more repressive than South Korea, and so forth.

Groups which define themselves as enemies should be treated as enemies. The United States is not in fact a racist, colonial power, it does not practice genocide, it does not threaten world peace with expansionist activities. . . . We have also moved further, faster, in eliminating domestic racism than any multiracial society in the world or in history.

No more is it necessary or appropriate to support vocal enemies of the United States because they invoke the rhetoric of popular liberation. It is not even necessary or appropriate for our leaders to forswear unilaterally the use of military force to counter military force. Liberal idealism need not be identical with masochism, and need not be incompatible with the defense of freedom and the national interest.

That probably got by Sen. Joe Biden. As Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down) noted in 2010, the Delaware Democrat β€œmakes fewΒ references to books and learned influences.” In 2024, to paraphrase ambassador Kirkpatrick, the failure of the Biden administration is now clear even to its architects.

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All the world's a stage, especially two heated months before Election Day. So you'll have to forgive me for not joining the theatrical media frenzy over Martha's Vineyard being overrun by illegal aliens. It's just another naked open-borders exhibition by both political parties that makes a miserable mockery of our country's immigration policies. Yes, I...

Exposing the Woke School Counselor Cabal, by Michelle Malkin

Back in the day, guidance counselors were those helpful (but not unduly intrusive) high school officials who dispensed vocational and career advice, reminded you of college application deadlines, and made sure your transcripts and letters of recommendations got where they needed to go. But like so much else in the 1960s and 1970s, traditional roles...

Whiny Media McWhiner of the Month, by Michelle Malkin

September has barely begun, but I'm confident no one will top my Whiny Media McWhiner of the Month nominee. This diaper-wetting award winner really takes the cake. With unhinged cowards like the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board editor Matthew Fleischer occupying lofty perches of influence, it's no wonder public confidence in American newspaper and television...

Stop Mental Health Data Mining of Our Kids, by Michelle Malkin

Attention readers: The following column was originally published in 2019 and is being republished in light of back-to-school season. No, no, no. Hell, no! That's my response to the latest trial balloon floated by the White House to join with Silicon Valley on a creepy program monitoring Americans' "neurobehavioral signs" to (purportedly) prevent gun violence....

Lie Down with McChao and You'll Get Bit, by Michelle Malkin

Here's the thing about Mitch McConnell and Elaine Chao. The granddaddy of Republican Beltway barnacles has inhabited the nation's capital in one form or another since 1968, when he worked as a Senate legislative aide. His wife, the daughter of a Beijing-kowtowing shipping mogul, snagged her first job in 1983 as a White House fellow...

Beware of Big Bathroom Brother, by Michelle Malkin

Nine years ago, I warned readers about "eyelock biometric readers" adopted by Florida schools to track them on buses. Under the guise of fighting guns and vaping, countless schools this year are now installing surveillance sensors in bathrooms that can spy and record students' alleged "aggression" and red-flag "spoken key words." Eight years ago, I...

FBI: Feds Behaving Incorrigibly, by Michelle Malkin

The FBI's raid on former president Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate β€” ever so conveniently timed as the White House occupant's approval numbers sink, the Swamp prepares to shovel a whopping $5.5 billion in foreign and military aid down the bottomless Ukrainian black hole and the American economy keels over like Biden on a bike β€”...

Nick Kristof's Shamhill Clown Show, by Michelle Malkin

Maybe there's a small glimmer of hope for the Left Coast after all. First, San Francisco voters recalled George Soros-funded district attorney and crime-enabler Chesa Boudin. Now, even liberal Oregonians have kicked an East Coast media elitist to the curb and slapped "return to sender" on the carefully crafted package of Nicholas Kristof's self-serving phony...

The Commie Colonization of America, by Michelle Malkin

From California to the New York island, from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf stream waters, the land that used to belong to Americans has been milked and bilked by investors and paid government agents of the People's Republic of China. The National Association of Realtors reported last week that wealthy Chinese spent $6.1 billion...

A Transplant Miracle That Defied COVID Tyranny (Plus Full Video Interview), by Michelle Malkin

Β  DALLAS β€” Leilani Lutali and Jaimee Fougner are alive, giggling and ready to fight for truth, justice and faith. I visited them this weekend at Baylor University Medical Center's aptly named post-kidney transplant surgery center called the Twice Blessed House. If not for their stubborn resistance and persistence, Leilani most likely would not have...

Why Some of Us Can't Dine in Peace, by Michelle Malkin

Fifteen years ago, when I still lived in the D.C. swamp, I took my elementary school-daughter and toddler son out for one of our regular weekend breakfasts at IHOP. But we couldn't be left alone to enjoy our meal. As my kids dug into their funny-face pancakes, a fuming-faced liberal marched to our booth and...

America, the Globalist Grift, by Michelle Malkin

I hate to snuff out any post-Independence Day fervor that you still might be enjoying. Oh, well. "Wet Blanket" is my middle name. All the annual Old Glory-waving rituals and public displays of patriotic affection can't change this bitter fact: Our once-sovereign nation has become nothing more than a morbidly obese cash cow for what...
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