The Israeli and American hostages of Hamas are in the Palestinians' own homes and apartments in Gaza

 This one was a so-called journalist for Al-Jazeera and the US-based Palestinian Chronicle.

IDF doing the job Joe Biden won't do

 

Biden hates the US hostages, lies about what he's done, and hangs Israel out to dry

American citizens have been held hostage by Hamas for seven months, and with Israel on the cusp of ending their ordeal, Biden pulls the rug out.

Israel wasn't even in Rafah when Biden decided to halt the shipments. He stopped them early last week. He's lying.

Biden's treachery to our allies in-country has been on display from the beginning of his career, abandoning them from Vietnam all the way on to Afghanistan, and now on to Israel.

He's told us who he is all his life, worse than Jimmy Carter. 

Biden says U.S. won’t supply weapons for Israel to attack Rafah, in warning to ally

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden told CNN. “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, that deal with that problem.”

 

First president in history to stay silent over American hostages

 

Starting in November 1979, Iran took 53 Americans hostage inspiring this song in 1980, but today Americans hardly know or care Hamas has been holding Americans hostage for six months in Gaza

 

Smart move

  Israelis Questioning Their Nation's Dependence on USA...

The [UN] resolution called for a cease-fire as well as the release of hostages, instead of embracing the Israeli position that a cease-fire be predicated on the hostages’ release. ...

The U.S. has rarely used its leverage in the Security Council before to express dissatisfaction with Israel. The last time was in 2016, under the Obama administration, when the U.S. abstained from voting on a resolution that called for a halt to all Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.

Israel Defense Forces trick Hamas and its supporters around the world, return to Shifa Hospital killing and capturing hundreds lol

 The Jerusalem Post reports:

The IDF announced on Thursday that in its four-day operation in Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, it has now killed around 140 terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as arrested around 650 additional terrorists.

... the IDF may have intentionally waited longer for more terrorist senior officials to arrive before attacking. ...

Some IDF sources explained that the terror groups likely returned to Shifa, despite the IDF already having cleaned it out in November 2023, because they did not expect the military to return to the hospital in the middle of Ramadan, with a rise in global criticism of Israel, and with hostage negotiations at a critical point.

Biden wants to build a port for Gaza for relief shipments even though Hamas is still holding American citizens hostage to this day

 Assuming they are still alive.

The conflict between the facts and this new proposal is jarring to say the least:

Here in the chamber tonight are American families whose loved ones are still being held by Hamas. 

I pledge to all the families that we will not rest until we bring their loved ones home. ...

Hamas could end this conflict today by releasing the hostages, laying down arms, and surrendering those responsible for October 7th. ...

Tonight, I’m directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters.

I remember when Americans held hostage by Muslims in Iran was a crisis which toppled a president. Now hardly anyone gives a fig because they're Jews.

The international justice committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops can't bring itself to mention Hamas, let alone condemn it

 What a worthless lot they are.

"Launched from Gaza". By whom?

"On all sides" = moral equivalence for the animals of Hamas.

What's important is "the status quo of the holy places", not that defenceless Jews were literally butchered by the hundreds.

They want no war in response to war. All the Jews would die, then. Is that what Catholics really want?

“On October 7, the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary, the world watched the operation launched from Gaza and the rapid call to arms from Israel that ensued. Almost 50 years to the day of the launch of the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, once again war is spilling out in the Holy Land. With it brings the mounting casualties and hostilities unfolding on all sides, and increased threats to the Status Quo of the Holy Places among Jews, Muslims, and Christians further dimming any hope for peace.

“The world is once again shocked and horrified by the outbreak of ferocious violence in the Holy Land. Reports have surfaced indicating large numbers of wounded and dead, including many civilians. 

“I join with Pope Francis in his call for peace and his condemnation of this widespread outbreak of violence. As he stated in his Sunday audience, ‘May the attacks and weaponry cease. Please! And let it be understood that terrorism and war do not lead to any resolutions, but only to the death and suffering of so many innocent people.’

“May all who love the Holy Land seek to bring about among all the parties engaged in the fighting a cessation of violence, respect for civilian populations and the release of hostages.

“As we pray urgently for peace, we recall especially all the families and individuals suffering from these events.  We call on the faithful, and all people of good will to not grow weary and to continue to pray for peace in the land Our Lord, the Prince of Peace, called home.”     

Here.

Americans have been killed by Hamas in Israel, Israel's ambassador says Americans have been taken hostage, but Joe Biden has nothing to say today

 Antony Blinken: U.S. is working to verify reports Americans are among the dead in Israel and being held hostage by Hamas

"We have reports that several Americans may be among the dead. We are very actively working to verify those reports," the U.S. secretary of state said on "Meet the Press." ...

Meanwhile, in an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation," the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Michael Herzog, indicated that Americans are among Hamas’ hostages.

Tucker Carlson is another one who thinks America will be to blame for a Russian invasion of Ukraine, omitting certain uncomfortable truths

 https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2021/12/08/tucker_carlson_ukrainian_lobbyists_have_all_of_washington_heading_for_war.html

Tucker omits that Russia lost the Sevastopol naval base to Ukraine from 1991-2014 after the fall of the USSR, after which Putin took it back by force in the annexation of Crimea, an act of aggression unanswered by Obama. But Russia had paid rent to Ukraine for use of the base during that intervening period. It's not like they were or are entitled to it, Tucker.

George W. Bush set the precedent for all that in the first place by not answering Russia's aggression in South Ossetia in 2008.

Tucker also omits that Germany is hostage to Russian natural gas by choice, having embraced the madness of green ideology and abandoning their own sources of energy.

This spirit and habit of appeasement shouldn't be continued or encouraged, especially one in the service of a banal, libertarian, materialistic understanding of "American interests".

The Afghanistan debacle is of Trump's design, but occurred only because Biden decided to implement it and withdrew the air cover necessary to the Afghan army's mission

William Maley, August 15, 2021:

 

How Joe Biden failed the people of Afghanistan — and tarnished US credibility around the world:

 

The 2020 US-Taliban deal created deep and widespread apprehension about what the future might hold. Then, it only took a few localised failures to sap the confidence of all sorts of actors, both military and civilian, in the survival of the government. Side-switching became a rational strategy, then spun out of control.

The US troop withdrawal also seems to have reflected a failure on the part of Biden – although not the US military — to appreciate how destructive the February 2020 agreement had been to the effectiveness of the Afghan military.

In requiring the withdrawal not just of US troops but US maintenance contractors, it compromised the ongoing capabilities of key assets in the inventory of the Afghan National Army, as well as depriving the army of critical air cover.

 

As an insightful analysis put it,

 

in the wake of President Biden’s withdrawal decision, the US pulled its air support, intelligence and contractors servicing Afghanistan’s planes and helicopters. That meant the Afghan military simply couldn’t operate anymore.

 

William Maley, March 3, 2020

 

A Chance for Peace or a Rush to the Exit?:

 

The text provides for a reduction of US troop numbers within 135 days to 8,600, to be followed by “withdrawal of all remaining forces from Afghanistan within the remaining nine and a half (9.5) months.” It also purports to bind not just the US but also its allies, including Australia, even though they were not parties to the agreement; and it includes “all non-diplomatic civilian personnel, private security contractors, trainers, advisors, and supporting services personnel.” ... the agreement is better seen as a “withdrawal agreement” than a “peace agreement.” It is no wonder that the Taliban are painting it as a victory.

 

 

We were all consumed with COVID-19 in February 2020, and completely ignored this.

 

People who say now that the rapid fall of Afghanistan would not have happened under a second Trump term don't know what they are talking about.

 

Trump designed this outcome, and Biden was only too happy to implement it.

 

Biden gets to say he ended the war, pleases the progressives on his left, and blames Trump for it, all at the same time.

 

And the GOP alone gets to be The Stupid Party yet once more, unless of course the thousands of Americans trapped in Kabul this morning because Biden failed to get them out ahead of time are not permitted to leave, or are taken hostage.

 

Their fate, and Biden's reputation, are in the Taliban's hands, and that, when all is said and done, is the Democrats' disgrace.

Rush Limbaugh gets more out of touch with every passing day: "People like their health care from their employer"

Talk about delusional.

In my household we haven't had employer provided health insurance since 2008, but recently a new employer offered us some. My jaw hit the floor when I saw the price: $2,033 per month for family coverage.

Currently I pay $532 a month for family coverage, because I have a plan grandfathered in from pre-2010, which I get to keep as long as I don't make any changes to it. The new employer's plan is almost FOUR TIMES more expensive than what I'm paying now.

Compared to what I'm being offered by an employer right now my current plan looks mahvelous, right?

Well guess what it cost just eight years ago?

$227 a month.

That's right. Despite the fact I'm not hostage to Obamacare or employer provided insurance, my premiums have still risen 134% in eight years. And it would be even worse had I not raised the deductible. Needless to say, my coverage is nearly useless for office visits and routine tests; that's all 100% out of pocket, too.

But look at the scale of what's happened. The coverage I had in 2011 now costs me about two and half times as much as it did then, but this new employer plan costs NINE TIMES as much as privately purchased coverage cost me eight years ago.

That is insane.

OBAMACARE IS A CURSE AND A BLIGHT ON THE NATION, WHETHER YOU HAVE IT OR NOT, and Rush Limbaugh is as out of his mind as the Democrat hucksters trying to sell us Medicare for All or some other bottle of government elixir when he says people like their health care from their employer. They do not. The LA Times in May:

Health insurance deductibles soar, leaving Americans with unaffordable bills:

The 2010 healthcare law — often called Obamacare — provided landmark protections to Americans once shut out of health coverage. But as Democrats and Republicans fought over the law, Altman said, neither focused on the rapid run-up in costs for people covered through work. ... Over the same time, insurance premiums also increased, rising at more than double the rate of inflation and outpacing wage gains.

Trump has no veto weapon in the criminal justice reform bill to get the border wall

The criminal justice reform bill passed the Senate 87-12 on Tuesday and the House 358-36 on Thursday and awaits the president's signature.

He could hold it hostage to get what he wants on the wall today even though he supports the bill, but Congress has the votes to override his veto, 66 in the Senate and 287 in the House.

Worse still, a government shutdown tonight would shut down Homeland Security and the State Department only, both of which are kind of critical to controlling immigration in any event, wall or no wall.

The president has yet to come anywhere near mastering the art of getting what he wants in DC.

One lameduck Flake holds entire confirmation process hostage to one more week of redundant investigation by incompetent FBI

And a fine way to be remembered in opprobrium forever it is, too.

China accused of imposing exit bans on American citizens

From the story here:

It’s difficult to know exactly how many U.S. citizens have been affected. The State Department declined to confirm the number of cases, citing privacy concerns, but [John] Kamm said he knows of about two dozen cases over the past year and half alone.

“One of the problems with exit bans is that you don’t know that there is an exit ban on you until you actually get to the airport,” said Kamm. “There may be people in the country who have exit bans on them and they don’t know it.”

State Dept. spokesman finally admits US paid ransom for hostages in Iran, making Obama a liar yet again

Quoted here:

The State Department admitted Thursday that the US would not hand over $400 million in cash to Iran until it released four American hostages — two weeks after President Obama insisted the payment was not a “ransom.”

State Department spokesman John Kirby was asked at Thursday’s press briefing: “In basic English, you’re saying you wouldn’t give them $400 million in cash until the prisoners were released, correct?”

“That’s correct,” Kirby replied.

Orlando gay bar has No Pulse after alleged Muslim terrorist guns down 40

Story here.

Larry Kudlow eyes Donald Trump's coattails

From the story here:

'Economist and political pundit Larry Kudlow says he is strongly considering challenging Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) for his Senate seat in 2016. ... Kudlow says he disagrees with Blumenthal on a variety of issues, ranging from the Iran nuclear agreement to the corporate tax rate. “Mr. Blumenthal was wrong on signing the Iran deal. He was wrong on pushing for the U.N. to bring Syrian hostages into the United States,” he said. “And . . . he’s a tax-and-spender. He was in Connecticut, and he’s a tax-and-spender in Washington at a time, frankly, with the economy at two percent [growth] or less, we ought to have a 15 percent corporate tax, not a 40 percent.”'

Kudlow has previously allied himself with Trump without saying so in so many words by coming out against the Iran deal and against letting in the refugee surge, but explicitly has come out in support of Trump's plan to slash the corporate income tax rate to 15 percent. Trump has repeatedly emphasized all three issues mentioned by Kudlow this weekend.

Kudlow clearly sees these as coattail issues on which he could succeed in a Connecticut US Senate run, emphasizing US and Israeli security after a period of increased terrorism as well as a pro-growth supply-side tax policy reminiscent of the era of Ronald Reagan as an answer to the moribund economy's ills.

It works both ways, Larry. Trump as president will need support within the Congress if he hopes to get passed anything he stands for as a candidate.

Cruz to Hannity in April 2013: Citizenship is designed to be a poison pill to scuttle the whole Gang of Eight bill

The Hill reported on it here at the time:

"The part that I’ve got deep concerns about is any path to citizenship for those who are here illegally," Cruz said during an interview with Sean Hannity. "I think that is profoundly unfair to the millions of legal immigrants who have followed the rules, who have waited in line.

"I think the reason that President Obama is insisting on a path to citizenship is that it is designed to be a poison pill to scuttle the whole bill, so he can have a political issue in 2014 and 2016. I think that's really unfortunate," continued Cruz. ...

"If he actually really wanted to get something passed, he wouldn't be rolling this out as a partisan attack issue," Cruz said. "You look at the State of the Union, that was a divisive speech, that was in your face. And he knows full well that a path to citizenship won't pass the House."

"He knows that it's a partisan, divisive issue and he holds everything else hostage to that wedge issue," Cruz added. ...

"I think that it is likely that there could be some bipartisan solution to those who are here illegally if a path to citizenship were taken off the table," Cruz continued. "But as long as the president and [Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)] insist on a path to citizenship they know full well it will never pass the House of Representatives and then it's just a political football rather than actually trying to fix the problem." ...

"Look, they have the votes to force something through the Senate. I think whatever mess comes out of the so-called Gang of Eight, all or virtually all of the Democrats will vote for it and it's likely they'll get a fair number of Republicans to vote for it to so they can probably get it through the Senate," Cruz added. "If it includes a path to citizenship, I don't think it'll pass the House, and I think that's exactly what the Obama White House wants."

Cruz is crazy now to characterize his amendment to the bill at the time as "the poison pill" when he was calling the citizenship provisions of the Gang of Eight bill the poison pill.

If anyone has become unhinged in this race Jeb, it's Ted Cruz. Even Mona Charen thinks Ted Cruz meant to come off as sincere in 2013. We aren't left wondering only what Marco Rubio believes about the issue, but also what Ted Cruz really believes.

Safe to say few wonder what Donald Trump really believes about illegal immigration.