President Donald Trump announced Friday he is ordering two nuclear submarines to be positioned near Russia after “provocative statements” from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
“Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that,”Trump wrote on his Truth Social page. “Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
After Trump on Monday said he was reducing a deadline for Russia to agree to a Ukraine peace settlement from 50 days to 10 or 12 days, Medvedev wrote on X that Trump was playing “the ultimatum game” and that such an approach could lead to war.
Alert: Trump Reacts as BRICS Moves Closer to Eliminating the U.S. Dollar… See Here
Medvedev said in a post on the Telegram platform Thursday cautioned Trump to keep in mind “his favorite films about the ‘walking dead,'” and referred to the Soviet Union’s system for launching a last-ditch, automatic nuclear strike. It was not clear whether his comment referred to the apocalyptic American TV show “The Walking Dead.”
The Pentagon typically doesn’t announce the deployment of nuclear submarines because they are often on secret missions surveilling Russian and Chinese submarines, Politico reported.
Trump did not say whether he is positioning submarines that are capable of launching nuclear strikes.
ICE officers, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations and Border Patrol, perform enforcement operations in Delray Beach, Florida, on Jan. 23. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Flickr)
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 11 Iranian nationals over two days, the Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday. Among those in custody is Ribvar Karimi, who “reportedly served as an Iranian army sniper from 2018 to 2021,” according to the DHS. An Islamic Republic of Iran Army identification card was in Karimi’s possession when he was arrested in Locust, Alabama, on Sunday.
Karimi entered the U.S. in October 2024 on a visa for foreigners who are engaged to be married to a U.S. citizen. But the DHS says he “never adjusted his status—a legal requirement—and is removable from the United States.”
Karimi remains in ICE custody and is facing removal from the U.S.
Ribvar Karimi
Under DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the department “has been full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and violent extremists that illegally entered this country, came in through [former President Joe Biden’s] fraudulent parole programs or otherwise,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
“We have been saying we are getting the worst of the worst out—and we are,” McLaughlin added. “We don’t wait until a military operation to execute. We proactively deliver on President [Donald] Trump’s mandate to secure the homeland.”
In addition to Karimi, ICE arrested eight other Iranian nationals on Sunday and two more on Monday.
The arrests of the Iranian nationals come amid concerns of the possibility of the activation of Iranian terrorist sleeper cells in the U.S. in the wake of the U.S. attack on three Iranian nuclear sites Saturday.
In Houston, ICE arrested Behzad Sepehrian Bahary Nejad, who entered the U.S. on a visa in 2016. He was arrested in 2017 for assaulting a family member, according to DHS, and in 2019, an immigration judge ordered his removal. A Department of Justice immigration judge denied his request for his case to be reopened. Nejad was said to be carrying a loaded pistol when ICE arrested him.
Behzad Sepehrian Bahary Nejad
Hamid Reza Bayat was arrested in Houston despite having been ordered removed from the U.S. in 2005. According to DHS, he has twice been “convicted of drug crimes and once convicted of driving on a suspended license.”
Hamid Reza Bayat
Mehrzad Asadi Eidivand entered the U.S. in 2012, and in 2013 a judge granted him voluntary removal from the U.S., but he never left. He is “convicted of threatening a law enforcement officer and being an alien in possession of a firearm,” according to DHS.
Mehrzad Asadi Eidivand
Yousef Mehridehno was arrested in Gluckstadt, Mississippi. Mehridehno entered the U.S. legally in 2017, but the government terminated his residency after it was determined that he “lied on his original visa application and committed potential marriage fraud,” according to DHS. “In February, Mehridehno was listed as a known or suspected terrorist, and he’s now in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.”
Yousef Mehridehno
Mahmoud Shafiei and Mehrdad Mehdipour were living together in Colorado Springs, Colo., at the time of their arrests. A judge ordered Shafiei removed from the U.S. in 1987 after he entered the U.S. in 1981. Shafiei’s “criminal history includes state and federal convictions for drug crimes and arrests for assault and child abuse,” according to the DHS. Mehdipour was processed for expedited removal in 2023.
Mahmoud Shafiei
ICE arrested Mehran Makari Saheli in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a “former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with admitted connections to Hezbollah,” according to DHS. He was ordered removed from the U.S. in 2022.
Mehran Makari Saheli
Bahman Alizadeh Asfestani was arrested in San Francisco and has a criminal history, according to DHS, that includes “a 1994 conviction for petty theft and a 1995 conviction of possession of a controlled substance for sale.”
Bahman Alizadeh Asfestani
On Monday, ICE Buffalo arrested Mohammad Rafikian who has been “convicted of grand larceny, schemes to defraud, criminal impersonation, and practicing as an attorney,” the DHS said.
Also on Monday, ICE San Diego apprehended Arkavan Babk Moirokorli. He was convicted of forging an official seal.
Victor Davis Hanson shared insights on Newsmax about President Donald Trump’s bold strategy that he claims has significantly weakened Tehran’s influence. Trump’s strategic strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites and his stern warning to Iran about targeting U.S. forces have reportedly cornered the regime. These developments signal a notable shift in the Middle East’s balance of power that once seemed unshakeable.
During his appearance on “Rob Schmitt Tonight,” Hanson remarked on Iran’s muted response, contrasting it with its former reputation as a formidable “terrorist colossus.” He likened Trump’s approach to placing Iran in a pot, turning up the heat, and sealing it with a lid, forcing the regime to confront its failures. Hanson emphasized that Iran now faces the daunting task of justifying its squandering of resources on groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.
Trump’s peace efforts have boxed Iran into a corner, Hanson argued, leaving the regime to stew in its own missteps. He highlighted how Iran’s diminished military and strategic options are a direct result of Trump’s policies. The regime’s previous investments in defense and nuclear projects now seem futile, according to Hanson.
Hanson believes the peace deal has severely restricted Iran’s maneuverability. He described the regime as being left with no choice but to accept its current predicament. The only leverage Iran has left, he stated, is its existence, which is precariously balanced against pressures from the U.S. and Israel.
Israel’s recent strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities have further complicated the situation for Tehran. In response, Iran launched a retaliatory attack, targeting the Al Udeid U.S. Air Base in Qatar. However, this move prompted a swift and decisive reaction from the United States.
President Trump made it clear that any aggression from Iran would be met with additional military action. His administration’s firm stance has served as a deterrent to further escalation. Meanwhile, the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran offers a temporary pause in hostilities.
The ceasefire, announced shortly after the U.S. strikes, is scheduled to take effect imminently. This development underscores the delicate balance of power in the region. Trump’s administration remains vigilant, ready to act if Iran breaches the agreement.
Hanson’s commentary reflects a broader conservative perspective on the situation, celebrating the perceived successes of Trump’s foreign policy. His views align with those of other conservative commentators who attribute the weakening of Iran’s influence to Trump’s leadership. This narrative is echoed by right-leaning media outlets, which highlight the strategic gains made under Trump’s presidency.
For many conservatives, Trump’s approach is seen as a necessary counterbalance to previous administrations’ perceived leniency towards Iran. The focus is on maintaining a strong U.S. presence in the Middle East to deter threats. This stance is supported by the belief that peace through strength is the most effective strategy.
The current state of affairs presents a complex picture of geopolitical dynamics. With Trump’s policies in place, the hope among conservatives is that stability can be achieved. The ongoing situation will require careful monitoring and strategic foresight.
As the ceasefire takes hold, the world watches to see how Iran will navigate its new reality. The regime’s future actions will be closely scrutinized by both allies and adversaries. For now, the focus remains on maintaining the fragile peace that has been brokered.
The broader implications of these events on global politics are yet to be fully realized. However, the immediate outcome is a testament to the power of decisive leadership. The Trump administration’s handling of the situation continues to be a topic of discussion and analysis.
Observers will continue to assess the impact of these developments on regional stability. The coming weeks and months will be critical in determining the long-term success of the current strategies. The international community remains attentive to the evolving dynamics.
The situation remains fluid, with potential for further changes on the horizon. Experts and policymakers alike are tasked with navigating the complexities of Middle Eastern geopolitics. As always, the goal is to ensure a peaceful and secure future for all involved.
Darnell Thompkins is a Canadian-born American and conservative opinion writer who brings a unique perspective to political and cultural discussions. Passionate about traditional values and individual freedoms, Darnell’s commentary reflects his commitment to fostering meaningful dialogue. When he’s not writing, he enjoys watching hockey and celebrating the sport that connects his Canadian roots with his American journey.
President Donald Trump is expected to make a final decision within the next two weeks on whether the United States will enter the Israel-Iran conflict, following a devastating Iranian missile strike Thursday on Soroka Hospital in southern Israel. The attack, which injured more than 70 civilians, marks a turning point in the escalating conflict and raises urgent questions about Iran’s nuclear capabilities and intentions.
Early Thursday morning, a barrage of Iranian missiles struck Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, one of Israel’s largest trauma hospitals. According to Israeli officials, over 70 people were injured. Photos from the scene show thick plumes of smoke rising from the hospital complex.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack, calling it a direct strike on civilians and a war crime. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar echoed the sentiment, stating, “Iran has intentionally targeted a civilian medical facility—this is a violation of international law and an act of terror.”
The Iranian regime has not formally acknowledged targeting the hospital, but the strike comes amid intensifying missile exchanges between Tehran and Jerusalem following Israel’s recent strikes on Iranian military sites, including facilities allegedly tied to Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump to Decide Within Two Weeks on U.S. Involvement
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed reporters Thursday afternoon, delivering a direct quote from President Trump:
“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.”
Leavitt reiterated that President Trump remains open to diplomacy but emphasized his commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. “Iran went for 60 days without responding to our outreach,” she said. “On day 61, Israel took action. The president will now determine if the U.S. should follow suit.”
Leavitt also confirmed there have been six rounds of direct and indirect negotiations with Iran since the conflict reignited, but she declined to disclose details of the discussions.
U.S. Intelligence: Iran Weeks Away From Nuclear Weapon
Leavitt warned that Iran is closer than ever to acquiring a nuclear weapon. “Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon. All they need is a decision from the Supreme Leader. It would take just weeks to complete production.”
This estimate is consistent with recent reports from U.S. and Israeli intelligence, which suggest Iran has enriched uranium to near-weapons-grade levels and has the necessary delivery systems in place.
Trump has consistently stated he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, and his current deliberations include potential military action against Iranian enrichment and missile facilities. Reports indicate that bunker-buster bomb options are being reviewed among possible strike packages.
U.S. Evacuates Personnel, Israel Launches Counterstrikes
In response to the hospital attack and other Iranian strikes, the U.S. Embassy in Israel began evacuating nonessential personnel from high-risk zones, according to sources familiar with the operation.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Forces launched new airstrikes overnight, targeting Iranian surface-to-surface missile platforms and anti-aircraft units within Iranian territory. Israeli officials say these strikes are defensive and focused on degrading Iran’s offensive capabilities.
Internet Blackout Inside Iran
Amid growing unrest, Iran’s government has shut down internet access nationwide, cutting off millions of citizens from the outside world. While Elon Musk’s Starlink has been previously activated in Iran, satellite internet access still requires specialized dish hardware. Without this, most Iranians remain effectively cut off.
This blackout limits internal dissent and makes it harder for the international community to verify claims or assess civilian casualties following Israeli counterstrikes.
Trump Administration Reviews Military Options
According to senior defense officials, President Trump has approved U.S. military attack plans as part of contingency discussions but has not yet given a final order to proceed. These plans reportedly include limited precision strikes on nuclear and missile sites, designed to halt Iran’s nuclear progress without triggering a full-scale regional war.
Trump’s national security team has briefed both the House and Senate intelligence committees, and a classified Senate briefing is scheduled later this week to discuss the evolving situation.
The Bigger Picture
While the world waits, Trump’s decision could reshape the balance of power in the Middle East. The contrast between Israel’s military precision and Iran’s civilian-targeted attacks is already drawing renewed international scrutiny. And with Iran now only weeks from building a nuclear bomb, the margin for error is dangerously thin.
The next two weeks may determine whether this conflict remains regional—or becomes global.
WE’D LOVE TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS! PLEASE COMMENT BELOW. JIMMY
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has sent a message loud and clear to the Pentagon’s top brass, letting them know it’s time to start phasing out service members who identify as transgender. In a video shared on X with the caption “TRANS is out at the DOD,” Hegseth emphasized, “This is what the American people voted for.”
Hegseth’s memo gives active-duty transgender-identifying service members until June 6 to voluntarily separate from the military. Reservists have until July 7 to do the same. Those choosing to leave can receive voluntary separation pay.
After this window closes, any service members diagnosed with or having a history of gender dysphoria will be discharged. The Pentagon had reported back in February that there were 4,240 troops diagnosed with gender dysphoria, though the actual number might be higher. Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, mentioned that approximately 1,000 service members have identified themselves as having gender dysphoria. These individuals will begin the separation process voluntarily.
Hegseth’s memo referenced President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14183, which prioritizes military excellence and readiness. The memo stated that expressing a gender identity different from one’s biological sex fails to meet the necessary standards for military service.
Trump’s policy emphasizes that the military must maintain high standards for readiness, cohesion, and integrity. The accommodations and health issues faced by gender-dysphoric individuals are seen as incompatible with these standards.
Hegseth’s memo followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to temporarily stay a lower court’s injunction against Trump’s transgender military ban. This stay is pending the government’s appeal before the Ninth Circuit Court.
The three liberal justices on the Supreme Court expressed that they would have denied the Trump administration’s request for a stay in U.S. v. Shilling. Activist groups like Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation have criticized the stay, calling it a setback for transgender service members.
These groups argue that the policy has more to do with prejudice than military readiness. The criticism hasn’t swayed the administration, which views the policy as a step towards strengthening military standards.
In response to the Supreme Court’s decision, Hegseth gave a speech declaring, “We are leaving wokeness and weakness behind.” He emphasized a shift away from focusing on pronouns and other progressive issues.
The Pentagon’s official account on X echoed Hegseth’s sentiments, stating, “No more pronouns. No more drag shows. No more dudes in dresses. NO MORE TRANS AT THE DOD.”
Beyond just readiness, these policy changes might also lead to financial savings. The military has reportedly spent $52 million on medical expenses related to transgender service members since 2015.
These expenses include treatments such as hormone therapy and surgeries. The New York Times highlighted these costs as part of the ongoing debate over the policy.
The administration’s stance remains clear: the focus is on military effectiveness and preparedness. The policy aims to streamline and strengthen the military by adhering to traditional standards. While the debate continues, the administration is unwavering in its direction. The military is expected to align with these newly reinforced standards of excellence and integrity.
As the separation process begins, the military is set to stay committed to its core values. This move is seen as a return to focusing on the essentials for a strong defense force.
The policy has sparked discussions across various platforms, with strong opinions on both sides. However, the administration maintains its course towards reinforcing military readiness.
The changes are poised to impact many service members, prompting a reevaluation of military policies. As the situation develops, the focus remains on maintaining a robust and prepared military force.
This decision marks a significant moment in the administration’s efforts to prioritize military capability. The focus is shifting back to traditional values and standards within the armed forces.
Brittany Mays is a dedicated mother and passionate conservative news and opinion writer. With a sharp eye for current events and a commitment to traditional values, Brittany delivers thoughtful commentary on the issues shaping today’s world. Balancing her role as a parent with her love for writing, she strives to inspire others with her insights on faith, family, and freedom.
During his Tuesday Senate confirmation hearing, Pete Hegseth provided his best case yet on why he’s the perfect man to be President-elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary.
Speaking before the Armed Services Committee, the Army veteran noted how the “the primary charge” given to him by Trump was to “bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense.” He subsequently detailed how he intends to make the Pentagon into an agency “laser focused on warfighting, lethality, meritocracy, standards, and readiness.”
“The Defense Department under Donald Trump will achieve Peace Through Strength. And in pursuing these America First national security goals, we will remain patriotically a-political and stridently Constitutional,” Hegseth said. “Unlike the current administration, politics should play no part in military matters. We are not Republicans or Democrats — we are American warriors. Our standards will be high, and they will be equal (not equitable, that is a very different word).”
Since coming to power nearly four years ago, the Biden-Harris Pentagon has made implementing neo-Marxist ideologies such as “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) a top priority. These policies have undermined military readiness and contributed to the service’s ongoing recruiting crisis.
Hegseth stressed that the Defense Department must “make sure every warrior is fully qualified on their assigned weapon system, every pilot is fully qualified and current on the aircraft they are flying, and every general or flag officer is selected for leadership based purely on performance, readiness, and merit.” He further noted how, “Leaders — at all levels — will be held accountable,” and that “warfighting and lethality — and the readiness of the troops and their families — will be our only focus.”
“That has been my focus ever since I first put on the uniform as a young Army ROTC cadet at Princeton University in 2001,” Hegseth said. “I joined the military because I love my country and felt an obligation to defend it. I served with incredible Americans in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, Afghanistan and in the streets of Washington, DC — many of which are here today. This includes enlisted soldiers I helped become American citizens, and Muslim allies I helped immigrate from Iraq and Afghanistan. And when I took off the uniform, my mission never stopped.”
The former Fox News host described the three-prong approach he and Trump will take to restore lethality and efficiency to the military. Specifically, he noted that the incoming administration will focus on bringing back the military’s “warrior ethos,” rebuilding the service’s broken infrastructure, and reestablishing “deterrence” to create peace on the world stage.
Hegseth also responded to Democrat allegations that he’s not “qualified” to serve as defense secretary. The Army veteran acknowledged that he doesn’t “have a similar biography to defense secretaries of the last 30 years,” but noted, “we’ve repeatedly placed people atop the Pentagon with supposedly ‘the right credentials’ — whether they are retired generals, academics, or defense contractor executives — and where has it gotten us?”
President-elect Trump “believes, and I humbly agree, that it’s time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm. A change agent. Someone with no vested interest in certain companies or specific programs or approved narratives,” Hegseth said.
The Army veteran reaffirmed that his “only special interest is [America’s] warfighter[s], [d]eterring wars, and if called upon, winning wars — by ensuring our warriors never enter a fair fight.” He further emphasized the importance of the military letting its troops “win” and then “bring[ing] them home.”
“Like many of my generation, I’ve been there. I’ve led troops in combat, been on patrol for days, pulled a trigger downrange, heard bullets whiz by, flex-cuffed insurgents, called in close air support, led medevacs, dodged IEDs, pulled out dead bodies, and knelt before a battlefield cross,” Hegseth said. “[T]his is not academic for me; this is my life. I led then, and I will lead now.”
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
An Emmy-winning investigative journalist, Catherine Herridge, has released a bombshell interview with a CIA whistleblower, revealing that the Biden administration has covered up officers’ injuries from direct energy weapons used by foreign adversaries. The whistleblower bravely came forward to shed light on the truth, despite facing threats and intimidation from the CIA.
During the interview, Herridge asks the former intelligence officer if they were attacked, to which they answer with a resounding “yes.” The follow-up question, whether it was an energy weapon, is also met with confirmation. These shocking revelations are further proof of the Biden administration’s continued efforts to cover up the truth and prevent accountability.
The whistleblower shared that the intelligence community has actively thwarted Congress’ attempts to uncover the truth, displaying a clear government cover-up. They elaborated, “It’s a cover-up, and it’s terrifying. It should be terrifying for all Americans.” The gravity of this situation cannot be understated, and it is crucial that the American people demand transparency and accountability from their government.
When asked about the potential for change under a Trump/Vance administration, the whistleblower expressed hope but with hesitation. They stated, “I really hope so,” followed by a call for those involved in the earlier report to be held accountable and not be allowed to intervene in this matter.
However, the CIA whistleblower’s bravery and determination to expose the truth are commendable, considering the risks they face in doing so. Their primary goal is to prevent more people from falling victim to these heinous attacks and urge Trump to take action if elected.
As the interview comes to a close, Herridge asks if the whistleblower has a final message for the American people. They respond, “I implore the American people to demand transparency and accountability from their government. We cannot let these attacks go unnoticed any longer.” Their powerful message serves as a call to action for all citizens to demand the truth and hold their government accountable.
BREAKING: A CIA whistleblower has come forward and revealed to Catherine Herridge that the agency covered up the source of an energy attack to gaslight its own agents
She is calling on President Trump to expose everything, "You know, the phrase cleaning up the swamp is thrown… pic.twitter.com/5QV494rTNN
This shocking interview has garnered widespread attention, shedding light on the government’s attempts to cover up the use of direct energy weapons by foreign adversaries on American officers. The implications of these revelations are enormous, and the American people need answers and accountability. Will a Trump/Vance administration bring about the change needed? Only time will tell.
This is all still very new so we may have to update you as new information comes out. Be sure to check back for those updates.
This is obviously very on-par for the Biden regime. Thank goodness the American people voted those bad apples out. I can only imagine what will unfold after the transfer of power takes place. You can almost bet, there will be more people to come forward.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about the situation in Syria in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 8, 2024, following a crisis meeting to discuss the sudden overthrow by Islamist-led rebels of President Bashar al-Assad. | CHRIS KLEPONIS/AFP via Getty Images
President Joe Biden said the United States is monitoring rebel groups in Syria following the downfall of the Assad regime and is concerned for the safety of Americans living in the country.
In remarks given on Sunday afternoon, Biden addressed reports that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had fled Syria as rebel forces took over the capital of Damascus.
“At long last, the Assad regime has fallen,” Biden said. “This regime brutalized, tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians. The fall of the regime is a fundamental act of justice. It’s a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria.”
Biden acknowledged that there was much “uncertainty” facing Syria, noting that there is a chance that extremist Islamic groups might “take advantage” of the power vacuum to take over. Biden promised to continue military efforts against Islamic State elements in the country, to work with regional leaders to maintain stability, and “engage with all Syrian groups” to create “an independent sovereign Syria.”
“We will remain vigilant,” he continued. “Make no mistake: some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human rights abuses,” he added, likely referring to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and U.K., among other groups. In 2018, The U.S. imposed a $10 million bounty on the head of HTS’ leader, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, who has been designated as a terrorist since 2013.
“We’ve taken note of statements by the leaders of these rebel groups in recent days. They’re saying the right things now, but as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just their words, but their actions.”
Biden added that his administration was “mindful” that there were Americans present in Syria, including individuals who have been taken hostage, such as Austin Tice, a Marine-turned-journalist, who was abducted by jihadist militants over 12 years ago.
“It is now incumbent upon all the opposition groups to seek a role in governing Syria,” Biden added. “To demonstrate their commitment to the rights of all Syrians, the rule of law, and the protection of religious and ethnic minorities.”
Late Saturday night, after more than a decade of civil war, rebel forces successfully forced Assad to flee the country, ending around 50 years of his family ruling Syria as a dictatorship. Following Assad’s departure, crowds flooded the streets of Damascus, chanting “Allah is great” and shouting anti-Assad slogans, reported The Associated Press.
“My feelings are indescribable,” said Omar Daher, a 29-year-old lawyer, in comments given to the AP. “After the fear that [Assad] and his father made us live in for many years, and the panic and state of terror that I was living in, I can’t believe it.”
Despite the celebrations, some have expressed concern over the potential fallout from the regime collapse, especially for the nation’s vulnerable Christian community and other minority groups. Since the violence began in 2011, Syria’s native Christian population has declined considerably from around 10% of the country, or 1.5 million, to approximately 300,000 at present, reported Crux Now.
Pete Hegseth has the combat leadership experience, academic pedigree, and profound love of country necessary to make our military great again. I served with him in the 34th Infantry Division and succeeded him in leading Concerned Veterans for America, and I wholeheartedly endorse his nomination to be our next secretary of defense.
President Trump knows that the Pentagon is in desperate need of reform, and the best way to accomplish that is to send a true outsider to run the show. The Make America Great Again movement has no better outsider to fix our broken military than Pete Hegseth, and he will also be a true loyalist to President Trump’s agenda.
Hegseth’s leadership will ensure our military returns to the basics of defeating our adversaries, rather than pushing a social justice agenda. Our military is in the midst of a readiness and recruitment crisis, and reform is needed fast. Hegseth and I served as infantry rifle platoon leaders in combat. Warfighters don’t have the luxury of being distracted by frivolous matters during combat operations. We focused on what I called the Big Four: shoot, move, communicate, and stop bleeding. Transgender surgeries and understanding white rage didn’t quite make the list.
I served as the executive director of Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), succeeding Hegseth, who brought this group to national prominence. Contrary to media reports based on anonymous sources, I can confirm that Hegseth was not fired. It was common knowledge within CVA that he was going to Fox News. This is nothing more than another tired media attack from an apparatus hell-bent on destroying his nomination.
The media have falsely portrayed CVA as a dysfunctional organization under Hegseth’s leadership, but the executive team and strategy I inherited from him were world-class. The proof is in the policy victories we helped President Trump deliver for veterans by reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2017 and 2018.
The president agreed with our strategy. I quickly deployed the CVA grassroots army, which Hegseth built, to pressure Congress to pass these critically needed reforms. Our volunteers made thousands of citizen contacts by knocking on doors, hosting phone banks, and calling their members of Congress.
In less than six months, President Trump signed the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act. This would allow the government to fire bad and underperforming VA employees, especially the ones who allowed vets to die on secret waitlists. The next summer, President Trump signed the VA Mission Act, which provided vets with a choice in their health care.
Thanks to the policy vision of Pete Hegseth and the leadership of President Trump, these reforms brought the VA into the 21st century and likely saved thousands of lives.
That is the Pete Hegseth I know — a warfighter and visionary who loves his country. He will make a tremendous secretary of defense.
Mark Lucas is the executive vice president of the Article III Project. Lucas served as an infantry officer in the Iowa Army National Guard and was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge and Bronze Star Medal in Afghanistan during the deadliest year of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Midshipmen fans root for the Naval Academy at a football game in Annapolis, Maryland. The academy’s administrators seem to have adopted that same “Damn the torpedos, full steam ahead” attitude with regard to plans to bring a partisan political speaker to campus Oct. 10 despite Pentagon rules prohibiting that. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)
By inviting a speaker, history professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat of New York University—who has already said that she plans to attack presidential candidate Donald Trump in the annual Bancroft Lecture at the U.S. Naval Academy on Oct. 10—the academy is violating Defense Department directives prohibiting the military from engaging in partisan political activity.
In addition to constituting a clear violation of a long-standing, mandatory policy, families whose sons and daughters are attending this august military institution should be outraged by the academy’s partisan indoctrination of future officers of the U.S. Navy.
The Bancroft Lecture is held in October of each year and “was established by the Naval Academy’s History Department to honor the academy’s founder, George Bancroft.” Bancroft was the secretary of the Navy during President James Polk’s administration in the 1840s and became a good friend of Republican President Abraham Lincoln.
According to the academy, which was founded in 1845, the lecture is supposed to bring in historians to speak about “their research and the relevance of the historian’s craft to today’s world.” But that’s a far cry from delivering a partisan screed attacking a major political candidate in the midst of a hotly contested presidential campaign, which is precisely what Ben-Ghiat has indicated she’s going to do next week.
She claims that what motivates former President Trump is his “authoritarian character, desire to destroy democratic values and ideals, and loyalty to autocrats” such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping. Going further, she claims that Trump has an “attachment to America’s enemies.”
One can debate the hallucinations that apparently inhabit the mind of this so-called historian from New York University, but the more important point is that her venomous, partisan attack on a political candidate involves the Naval Academy, which is sponsoring her lecture in direct violation of Defense Department rules.
Department of Defense Directive No. 1344.10 (Feb. 19, 2008) bans active members of the military, which includes the naval officers who are administrators and teachers at the academy, from engaging in “partisan political activities.”
By putting the academy’s official imprimatur on this rancorous harangue, the academy is doing exactly what the directive says it shouldn’t do: “appear to imply official sponsorship, approval, or endorsement” of what is patently a partisan, political speech.
In an op-ed about what she intends to say to the plebes at the Bancroft Lecture, Ben-Ghiat claims Trump has a “consistent habit” of “insulting and mocking the military.” According to her, Trump’s “personal predilections and attitudes … mirror those of authoritarians more generally,” and that authoritarianism will be part of her lecture on “Fascist Italy, Pinochet’s Chile, and the Russian military.”
She claims that Trump’s supposed repeated “attacks” on the military show “what side he favors in the struggle between democracy and autocracy.”
Even if you agree with Ben-Ghiat’s wild, unsupported claims, that isn’t the point. The point is that the Naval Academy should not be inviting, sponsoring, or in any way endorsing lecturers who are at the academy to give what is clearly a political speech, whether it’s attacking or supporting Donald Trump, or attacking or supporting Kamala Harris.
The mission of the Naval Academy, it says, is to “imbue” its midshipmen “with the highest ideals of duty, honor, and loyalty” so they will be able “assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship, and government.”
Whoever invited Ben-Ghiat to speak on campus used extremely poor judgment. Our military service academies are publicly funded, government-run institutions, designed to train future warfighters to serve this country with honor and distinction, regardless of who is the commander in chief. Graduates serve under presidents of both parties and focus on the defense of our country.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says that the Iranian missile attack on Israel was “defeated and ineffective”, and that the U.S. military coordinated with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to repel the strikes. Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles towards targets in Israel on Tuesday, Sullivan said at a Tuesday White House briefing, noting the move was a “significant escalation.”
The strikes were in response to the deaths of Hezbollah and Hamas leaders, Iran says. The move comes after weeks of Israeli strikes against Tehran’s proxies in the region.
Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel, on Oct. 1, 2024. (REUTERS/Amir Cohen)
Sullivan said no deaths were reported on the Israeli side, although the White House is monitoring the reported death of a Palestinian civilian in Jericho in the West Bank.
“U.S. naval destroyers joined Israeli Air Defense units in firing interceptors to shoot down inbound missiles. President Biden and Vice President Harris monitored the attack and the response from the White House Situation Room, joined in person and remotely by their national security team,” Sullivan said.
“We do not know of any damage to aircraft or strategic military assets in Israel. In short, based on what we know at this point, this attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective. The word fog of war was invented for a situation like this. This is a fluid situation.”
Many missiles were intercepted by Israel’s missile defense systems, while others did hit the ground. The Pentagon says the U.S. fired approximately 12 interceptors against Iranian missiles.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says that the Iranian missile attack on Israel was “defeated and ineffective” and that the U.S. military coordinated with the IDF to repel the strikes. (Fox News)
“This is a significant escalation by Iran, a significant event, and it is equally significant that we were able to step up with Israel and create a situation in which no one was killed in this attack in Israel… We are now going to look at what the appropriate next steps are to secure, first and foremost, American interests and then to promote stability to the maximum extent possible as we go forward,” Sullivan said.
He said the U.S. will consult with the Israelis on next steps in terms of response and how to deal with the Iranian attack.
The White House is particularly focused on protecting U.S. service members in the region and implored American citizens in Lebanon to follow the State Department’s guidance of finding civilian commercial means to leave the country, Sullivan said.
Rockets fly in the sky, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 1, 2024. (REUTERS/Ammar Awad)
Sullivan also expressed his condolences to the victims who were killed in a shooting in the Israeli city of Jaffa, located near Tel Aviv on Tuesday. At least eight people were killed and at least seven injured, local officials have told Fox News. The incident, which is believed to be a terror attack, took place Tuesday outside a newly built light rail station on Jerusalem Street. Authorities say at least two individuals who opened fire on a crowd of people have been neutralized.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had warned citizens to shelter in place and follow instructions from the Home Front Command as the Jewish State’s Iron Dome anti-missile defense system worked to intercept the incoming rockets on Tuesday.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said this latest barrage of missiles is in retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon, in an Israeli airstrike late last week and the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, according to Fox News Chief Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst.
A gunshot victim is transported away from the scene of the shooting Tuesday. Emergency responders have reported multiple deaths as well as more victims in critical condition. (Gideon Markowicz/TPS-IL)
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned in a statement released by Iranian state media that if Israel responds to the missile barrage, “it will face crushing attacks.” A senior White House official told Fox News earlier Tuesday morning that Iran was preparing to “imminently” launch a ballistic missile attack against Israel.
While White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not directly answer when asked if the United States had a heads-up from Iran about the strike ahead of time, Fox News was told by the Pentagon that they were “not aware of any pre-warning by Iran.”
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace, Liz Friden, Timothy H.J. Nerozzi, Trey Yingst and Yonat Friling contributed to this report.
Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.
Israel intercepts an Iranian ballistic missiles near the northern city of Baqa al-Gharbiya, Oct. 1. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images)
Sirens sounded all over Israel Tuesday night as ballistic missiles flared overhead. Millions of Israelis were directed to hide in bomb shelters while at least 180 Iranian projectiles entered Israeli airspace.
Israel’s Iron Dome intercepted most of the missiles, but some managed to get through and hit locations in central and southern Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Two U.S. Navy destroyers aided Israel in the attack and fired about 12 interceptors against the missiles, according to the Pentagon.
Iran carried out a similar missile attack against Israel in April. Most of the missiles were shot down, but an air base in southern Israel did sustain minor damage. After the spring attack, President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “take the win.”
Biden said Tuesday that he and Vice President Kamala Harris “convened our national security team to discuss Iranian plans to launch an imminent missile attack against Israel. We discussed how the United States is prepared to help Israel defend against these attacks and protect American personnel in the region.”
This morning, @VP and I convened our national security team to discuss Iranian plans to launch an imminent missile attack against Israel.
We discussed how the United States is prepared to help Israel defend against these attacks, and protect American personnel in the region.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the U.S. is “committed to Israel’s defense,” but did not give specifics. Iran’s attack came in response to Israel killing multiple terrorist leaders in recent days and weeks, including Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.
Iran called its missile attack on Israel a “legal, rational, and legitimate response to the terrorist acts of the Zionist regime—which involved targeting Iranian nationals and interests and infringing upon the national sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Iran’s legal, rational, and legitimate response to the terrorist acts of the Zionist regime—which involved targeting Iranian nationals and interests and infringing upon the national sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran—has been duly carried out. Should the Zionist regime…
Iran warned Israel and its allies: “Should the Zionist regime dare to respond or commit further acts of malevolence, a subsequent and crushing response will ensue. Regional states and the Zionists’ supporters are advised to part ways with the regime.”
There were no immediate reports of deaths in Israel following the attack, but at least six people were killed in a shooting in Tel Aviv during the rocket attack. Police neutralized the attackers and say it was an act of terrorism.
The Pentagon is discussing next steps with Israel.
Christina Lewis is a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation.
Senate Democrats are attempting to require women to register for the draft. But a group of Republican lawmakers are aiming to stop them.
Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Mary Miller, R-Ill., led a group of 22 Republican lawmakers in opposition to efforts that would force women to register for Selective Service. The group wrote a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Thursday. They wrote, “Forcing young women to register for the Selective Service is an affront to our nation’s values and does not enhance military readiness – the only metric by which Congress should measure an [National Defense Authorization Act]. This is yet another blatant attempt to advance a divisive agenda that seeks to eliminate all distinctions between males and females.”
The lawmakers addressed the effect this change to Selective Service would have on American families.
“Under no circumstances should the House of Representatives greenlight a future that cripples the American family by sending mothers and daughters to the frontlines – drafted to be combat replacements for casualties on the battlefield – while fathers and sons stay home,” the Republican lawmakers said. “A country that pursues radical social ideology over basic principles will not remain a strong, resilient nation.”
The group called on Johnson to oppose the provision.
“This radical proposal has been defeated in the past and must be defeated once again,” the Republican lawmakers said.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Jack Reed, D-R.I., defended the Selective Service proposal.
“Women are doing a remarkable job in our forces today, and if we were in a situation requiring a draft, I think we would need all able-bodied citizens 18 and above,” Reed told The Hill.
The National Defense Authorization Act approves funding and delegates resources for the U.S. military and other critical defense priorities every year. On June 13, The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 22-3 to advance the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2025 to the Senate floor. Although this Act is critical in equipping U.S. servicemembers, the group of Republican lawmakers said they do not agree with the provision that would require women to register for Selective Service.
When Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was introduced as Kamala Harris’ running mate, the campaign presented him as a bonified patriot, a career National Guardsman who retired as a command sergeant major after 24 years of faithful service to his country, including a deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Walz enlisted two days after his 17th birthday in April 1981. As Walz tells it, when the planes hit the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, the attack compelled him to reenlist in lieu of his 20-year retirement, to carry out his patriotic duty to serve his country in a time of war. He then retired in 2005, years after his service obligation for retirement was satisfied. But in fact, just like claims that he served in war, or retired as a command sergeant major, the story as Walz tells it is not true.
Serving in Combat and Rank
Walz is a serial fabulist. On Aug. 6, the same day Harris announced Walz as her choice for running mate, the Harris campaign posted a video on X in which Walz stated, “We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war.”Turns out Walz “misspoke.” To put it in more natural terms, he lied. On day one, the first video of Kamala Harris’ vice-presidential candidate released by the campaign contained within it a blatant lie about his military service that stepped right up to the line of what most military veterans would consider to be stolen valor.
Other stories about Walz’s service began to fall apart under the enhanced scrutiny. He did not retire as a command sergeant major — he retired as a master sergeant, because he left before fulfilling his contractual obligation to complete the Sergeants Major Academy, a requirement to hold the rank to which he was conditionally frocked in September 2004.
My 20 years was actually, ironically enough, up that week of September 11, 2001, because of the time I had off and made up, so I reenlisted like, I think, the vast majority people did with a real uncertainty but wanting to with a real sense of wanting to do something.
That was a lie.
But there’s more. Three years earlier, in response to a letter to the editor of the Winona Daily News written by Tom Hagen, an Iraqi war combat veteran and former colleague of Walz in the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery of the Minnesota Army National Guard, in which Hagen questioned Walz’s decision to retire within two months of receiving a warning order for his battalion to deploy to Iraq, Walz wrote the following:
After completing 20 years of service in 2001, I re-enlisted to serve our country for an additional four years following Sept. 11 and retired the year before my battalion was deployed to Iraq in order to run for Congress.
That, too, was a lie. Both of those quotes have been exclusively linked in news media stories as citations to support reporting that Walz “reenlisted after 9/11 when he could have retired, having reached 20 years of service in 2001.” If you Google “Tim Walz reenlisted after 9/11,” you’ll find pages upon pages of publications parroting the story Walz has told since his retirement in 2005. It’s not true.
CNN’s Dana Bash, during an interview with GOP vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance, repeated the Walz lie as follows: “Governor Walz served 24 years — he even stayed after he could’ve retired because of 9/11 — more than the country asked of him. Do you honor his service?”
Walz did not complete 20 years of service in September 2001. He didn’t “stay after he could’ve retired” because he wasn’t eligible to retire.
According to Walz’s Report of Separation and Record of Service, he was put on “ING” — Inactive National Guard — from Dec.1, 1989, to July 12, 1990, a total of 7 months and 12 days of inactive service. Walz was reportedly teaching school in China during that period.
The Report of Separation also denotes a discrepancy between his “Total Service for Pay” and “Total Service for Retirement Pay.” That difference is 7 months and 12 days.
Had Walz wanted to retire after 20 years of service, he would not be eligible to do so until at least 7 months and 12 days after his enlistment anniversary date of April 8, 1981, barring further breaks in service or failure to acquire training and participation points to meet his annual obligations.
This would have put his eligible retirement date at Nov. 20, 2001, at the earliest — more than a month after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. At a minimum, Walz was blatantly lying in his Library of Congress Veterans Project interview about being eligible to retire, “ironically,” the week of Sept. 11, 2001.
But there’s more.
In response to media inquiries regarding the confusion around Walz’s service record, Army Col. Ryan Cochran, Minnesota National Guard’s Director of Manpower and Personnel, released the following information to the media on Aug. 13, 2024:
Media Members-
“Governor Tim Walz received his notification of eligibility for retirement on August 3, 2002. He was promoted to sergeant major (E-9) on September 17, 2004. and immediately began serving as the command sergeant major for the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery while his packet was submitted to the National Guard Bureau to appoint him to command sergeant major (E-9). Once approved by NGB. he was laterally appointed to command sergeant major (E-9) on April 1, 2005. He retired from the Minnesota National Guard on May 16, 2005. Our records do not indicate when he made his request to retire. Leadership reviews and approves all requests to retire. He was administratively reduced to master sergeant (E-8) on May 15, 2005, because he did not complete all required U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy coursework.”
Take note of the first line — “Governor Tim Walz received his notification of eligibility for retirement on August 3, 2002.” This date apparently reflects additional service requirements in addition to making up his inactive time in China.
Walz would have been aware that he wasn’t eligible to retire “the same week as Sept. 11, 2001,” nor even the same year.
He simply wasn’t eligible to retire in 2001. The story we’ve been told by Walz, the Harris campaign, and the media is riddled with lies and misrepresentations of his service. He has, in two short weeks, proven to be an inveterate liar.
Release His Military Records
As is always the case when one leads with a lie, the question that needs to be answered is obvious — what else is he lying about? Will Bash and the hundreds of publications that perpetuated this lie correct the record and inform the public that the National Guard has refuted Walz’s characterization of the circumstances of his reenlistment?
Reporters with any sense of journalistic responsibility will want to ask Walz to either release all of his military records or at least reveal the date of his reenlistment in 2001 and the date he submitted his retirement papers in 2005.
Did he reenlist before (in his anniversary month of April) or after 9/11? Did he extend his service in April 1991 to cover the time he needed to retire at 20 years? How many years did he reenlist for? Did he receive a bonus for reenlisting and, if so, did he pay back the portion of the bonus for the time he cut off when he retired early?
What’s clear is that the Walz we were introduced to weeks ago — the soldier who reenlisted after 9/11 out of a patriotic duty to serve his country at war, who carried weapons in war, who deployed “in support of Operation Enduring Freedom” and retired as a command sergeant major — bears little resemblance to the Walz we have come to know later.
The retired command sergeant major is now a retired master sergeant. The patriotic reenlistment after 9/11 when he could have retired is now a mandatory reenlistment in 2001 after failing to meet his service requirement to retire after 20 years. The war veteran who carried weapons in war in support of Operation Enduring Freedom is now a soldier who deployed to Vicenza, Italy, to pull guard duty on front gates and crosswalks.
Walz said that he’s proud — “damn proud” — of his military service. But it’s clear that Walz’s pride is reserved for the noble service of the imaginary retired sergeant major, combat veteran he created for sale to the public — we’ve heard a lot about that guy. He doesn’t seem to have a sliver of pride for the real Walz — the retired master sergeant who left his unit two months before his only opportunity to serve his country and lead his troops in war. He hid that Walz from the public for two decades.
There will be more — it’s inevitable when dealing with a compulsive liar. What remains to be seen is whether or not the media has any interest in seeking answers to the obvious questions surrounding the legend of retired Master Sergeant Tim Walz.
Jason Beale (a pseudonym) is a retired U.S. Army interrogator and strategic debriefer with 30 years’ experience in military and intelligence interrogation and human intelligence collection operations. He’s on X @jabeale.
There Is Something Really Demented About Tim Walz’s Lying
Have you noticed that “gaffe-“prone vice presidential candidate Tim Walz misspeaks quite a bit, tends to use “sloppy” rhetoric, and is regularly compelled to “clarify” his statements? Really, Walz lies a lot. Yet, a political press that not very long ago featured “lie counters” on chyrons for Donald Trump is awash in euphemisms to cover for Walz’s deceptions.
It’s one thing to exaggerate your political accomplishments or lie about your political opponents. Walz isn’t the first politician to spin some fiction about a drunk driving arrest. All in the game.
Lying about serving in war, on the other hand, is a shameful appropriation of bravery and honor. Years ago, it was unlikely a candidate could recover from the indignity of misleading the public about his military service. Today, apparently, it’s no big deal. Walz, picked by Kamala Harris two weeks ago as a running mate, won’t even answer any genuine questions about his history of misleading voters.
And make no mistake, Walz isn’t being “accused” of lying by the GOP, as so many in the press contend. He’s been caught on tape. Indeed, Walz, who also often misrepresented his rank, spent years — at best — allowing voters to believe he’d courageously gone off to Iraq or Afghanistan when in fact he was in Italy, and then avoided deployment to enter politics.
Lying about fighting in a war is unethical and dishonorable. It’s nothing new. Lying about how your children were conceived to score some cheap political points is sort of demented.
“Thank God for IVF. My wife and I have two beautiful children,” Walz told MSNBC not long ago. In April, Walz sent out a fund-raising letter that claimed: “My wife and I used I.V.F. to start a family.’’
Walz’s claim that his family used in vitro fertilization to conceive was not some throwaway line. The IVF scaremongering is a central issue for Democrats. Numerousspeakers at the DNC have warned that Donald Trump wants to ban IVF, an accusation that has no basis in reality.
Numerous pieces have focused on the IVF tribulations of the Walz family. “Already, Walz has captivated crowds in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan with the story of his daughter’s birth, made possible through in vitro fertilization treatments,” the Associated Press reported on Aug. 8 in a piece headlined “In 60-year-old Tim Walz, Kamala Harris found a partner to advocate for reproductive rights.”
In one video, you can watch Walz even getting emotional talking about IVF.” “I remember it like it was yesterday,” the veep candidate claims. “I’m not crying, you’re crying.”
This is sociopathic behavior, because, in truth, the Walzes never used IVF; they used IUI, which is not fraught with the moral questions surrounding the destruction of embryos. It’s a fertility procedure in which sperm is placed in the uterus during ovulation to increase the chances of pregnancy. A big difference.
Or, in other words, Walz relied on IVF in the same way he carried an AR-15 in “war” (which was a lie twice over, incidentally, since semiauto AR-15s aren’t used in combat by Americans who deploy to war zones.)
Wherever you stand on the issue of IVF, it’s clear that Walz used his children as cudgels against Catholics and other orthodox Christians who oppose the practice of IVF on moral grounds and tend to vote for Republicans.
Now, there is always the small chance that Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota and vice presidential candidate of the United States, was unaware of which procedure was being used to help conceive his children. If that’s the case, he’s too dumb to be in office.
So how does the media frame this revelation?
The New York Times contends that the Walz camp has“clarified” his statements. An Axios piece on the matter is headlined, “Gwen Walz sheds light on fertility journey, clarifies they did not use IVF.” CNN says, “Gwen Walz reveals she underwent a different treatment, not IVF, in new details about fertility struggles.”
She revealed new details? What are they talking about? Tim Walz was caught lying about IVF and now his camp is compelled to admit it. They aren’t “shedding light” on their “fertility journey” or “clarifying” a story. This wasn’t hyperbole or “sloppy” rhetoric, just a lie.
Making women eligible for a military draft, as the Senate contemplates, would ignore deeper military recruitment issues and undermine readiness. (Photo illustration: Sean Murphy/Getty Images)
Wilson Beaver is a policy adviser for defense budgeting in the Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation.
As the Senate embarked Aug. 2 on its monthlong August recess, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left a significant piece of legislation unaddressed: the annual National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA. Included in this year’s Senate NDAA bill is a controversial provision to amend the Military Selective Service Act and mandate that women between the ages of 18 and 26 register for a military draft. This measure, sometimes known as “Draft Our Daughters,” not only is misguided but ignores the underlying issues facing military recruitment and readiness.
“The Senate defense bill’s provision for mandatory registration of all young women for conscription puts ‘fairness’ over military necessity,”notes Victoria Coates, The Heritage Foundation’s vice president for national security. “It would waste time and resources during a war in order to evaluate and train thousands of draft-age women to find the subset qualified for the requirements of military service. Including women in the selective service is pointless virtue-signaling from those who believe the military should be a social experiment and not a lethal fighting force.”
“Draft Our Daughters” is just the beginning. The provision alters the language of the Selective Service Act by replacing the word “man” with “person,” equating gender equality with sameness while ignoring the diverse and different ways in which men and women may contribute to national security.
Intentionally ambiguous language like this expands woke ideology, which undermines military readiness and distracts the military from its core mission: Defend America and its interests by deterring or killing its enemies.
The U.S. hasn’t had a military draft since 1973, when the armed forces became entirely made up of volunteers. Congress and the president, however, may authorize a draft in the event of a national emergency or war.
The U.S. military has faced substantial recruitment challenges in recent years, with the Army, Navy, and Air Force missing goals by a staggering 41,000 recruits in 2023 alone. In this context and amid a more dangerous security landscape globally, some argue that expanding the draft to include women is a necessary step to address these shortfalls. However, including women in the draft wouldn’t resolve the fundamental problems leading to today’s low recruitment numbers, nor would it improve the existing system of voluntary recruitment. This provision overlooks deeper, systemic issues that deter young Americans from enlisting in the first place. Some of these issues include fewer young men who qualify, more opportunities in civilian careers, and fewer instances of families with a history of military service.
Rather than addressing the root causes of recruitment struggles, this provision opts for a superficial solution that raises both ethical and practical concerns.
The argument for “Drafting Our Daughters” typically is framed around the principle of equity. Proponents claim that if men and women are truly equal, then women should be subject to the same draft requirements as men. This logic is fundamentally flawed. Women and men are innately different.
Divisive, politicized initiatives, such as including women in the draft, do nothing to enhance the military’s core mission of creating a capable and lethal force or to rebuild trust with the American people the military defends.
Registering all women for the draft is a misguided idea. Congress should instead focus on enacting measures that support military recruitment, such as quality-of-life improvements for service members, and not resort to drafting our daughters.
A healthy little Dutch girl without a proper name died 52 years ago. Scientists keep her kidney’s cells multiplying in a process similar to cancer. They perform increasing numbers of experiments on derivatives of this baby girl’s kidney cells to develop technologies that include taste-testing experiments for PepsiCo. Her vivisection forms “the backbone of the global gene therapy market.”
Scientists call the baby girl HEK 293. HEK stands for “human embryonic kidney,” and 293 means she was the 293rd experiment in a set.
She likely died from an elective abortion, not a miscarriage, concludes a 2006 journal article and many other scientific publications. An older gestational age and harvesting her kidney while still alive would have made her more useful for experimentation, as Planned Parenthood officials affirmed of their baby harvesting operations in 2015.
Like many medications, Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics were tested on cells made from HEK 293’s kidney. Some of the vaccines have HEK 293 cells inside them. That’s one of several reasons Capt. Rob Nelson, an Air Force chaplain, couldn’t in good conscience accept those treatments despite massive pressure from the military, he told The Federalist in a phone interview.
“I have five [children], and it breaks my heart to think of this. This girl continues to be violated as her cells are replicated over and over again,” he said.
Nelson is one of 38 military chaplains whose petition is now before U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in the case Alvarado v. Austin. The chaplains say the Department of Defense continues to defy the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act rescinding its Covid vaccine mandate, which the petition says has allowed statistically zero exceptions.
Eliminating People with Strong Ethical Boundaries from the Military
The DOD continues to violate the law by failing to rescind its punishments of conscientious objectors such as denied training and deployments required for promotions, the petition says. In addition, of course, denying soldiers’ religious exercise violates the First Amendment’s guarantee that all Americans can freely exercise their faith in their everyday lives.
That is precisely why the military has chaplains, several told The Federalist. All soldiers, their families, and civilians working for the U.S. military “have a right to believe what they believe and no one can say otherwise. It’s the same reason we can’t have a religious test for federal positions. As a chaplain, my job is to make sure the free exercise of religion is allowed, that nobody infringes upon that inalienable right,” said Army Col. Brad Lewis, a chaplain also party to the suit.
Chaplains usually help determine whether soldiers receive religious accommodations for all sorts of things, from Norse pagans wearing beards to Sikhs wearing turbans and Jews eating kosher. While the military routinely approves such waivers, it told Congress it had denied essentially all religious vaccine waiver requests from soldiers who weren’t almost retired, say the plaintiffs.
“I got in with an age waiver,” Nelson noted of his military service. “They can supposedly give wavers for all kinds of things but not a religious accommodation.”
In its Supreme Court response filed March 27, the DOD claims it has removed all punishments from soldiers imposed “solely” for conscientious objections to vaccines. It claims removing career penalties that arise from banning conscientious objectors from career-promoting training and duties has no “lawful basis.” The DOD also says that because the vaccination requirement has ended, the case is moot.
“By denying religious exemptions, what the military has done is set about the removal of people who are willing to stand on conviction,” Lewis said. He and Nelson noted this dynamic is especially dangerous if cultivated among soldiers, whose job is to kill.
Four Years Deployed to Defend Freedoms the Military Denies Him
Lewis has dedicated more than 30 years of his life to the U.S. military, including 47 months of deployment. He’s taken seven deployments to Afghanistan, six to Iraq, and an entire year away from his wife and four children in South Korea. He’s a fourth-generation Assemblies of God pastor whose father also served in the U.S. military during the Cold War.
Lewis was the senior chaplain on Hawaii’s island of Oahu when the Army recommended him as one of two chaplains in 2020 to receive instruction at the U.S. Army War College.
Image of Col. Brad Lewis by U.S. Army / public domain
War College training is the height of an Army career. It’s preparation for high-level officer assignments. While he studied there, Lewis was ordered to take a Covid vaccine. But his conscience wouldn’t let him.
The immense global pressure for an untested medical treatment alarmed Lewis’ long-developed spiritual spidey senses: “The fact that commerce and travel and careers were hinging on receipt of this vaccine, that bothered me.” It seemed to violate biblical injunctions against total obedience to any state.
Lewis and his wife spent months talking about what to do. They knew objecting could kill his career right as he hit its peak, after decades of personal and family sacrifices.
In the end, he couldn’t violate his duty to obey the still, small voice inside, Lewis says. So he filed for a religious exemption. Like almost every other solely religious exemption of the 37,000 DOD told Congress soldiers filed, it was delayed. Then it was denied. So were Lewis’ appeals. He says his superiors told him he could get vaccinated or get drummed out of the military, but while Lewis was willing to sacrifice his body for his country, he would not sacrifice his soul.
So the Army punished him, first by leaving him with no orders upon graduation from War College. That left Lewis and his wife to sit for 11 months in student housing with no assignment for Lewis while another class of students came and went.
“My career was ended by those 11 months of unrated time,” Lewis said. The inaction the Army forced him into destroyed his ratings in the military’s evaluating system. When Congress ended the vaccine mandate, the military assigned Lewis to a rural post in Maryland, where he mostly oversees civilian contractors across the world who have local pastors to tend their spiritual needs.
He says he’s asked superiors whether he will have any opportunities to use his high-level, taxpayer-provided War College training. Lewis says they repeatedly ignored the question. So he’s filed to retire and will leave the Army for good in early 2025.
“I took real strength in the idea that my faith is more important than some bureaucrat’s opinion of my faith. It sustained me, it got me through,” Lewis said.
After asking The Federalist to provide Lewis’ birth date and Social Security Number and to delay this article’s publication, U.S. Army spokeswoman Heather Hagan, who according to her email signature works in the Pentagon, finally provided this in response to a request for comment: “As a matter of policy, the Army does not comment on ongoing litigation.”
Not Just about Harvesting Killed Babies
Each conscientious objector’s reasoning is in some way unlike all the others’. There are commonalities, but they blend in individual ways, like fingerprints. That’s why religious objections to vaccines are not erased by a European Covid shot called Novavax, which its owner claims was developed and produced with no human embryo brutalization.
Army Chief of Chaplains Thomas Solhjem, who is now retired, highlighted Novavax when it came out in 2022. He ignored many soldiers’ religious objections not based on the vaccines’ use of murdered babies. They include concerns about damaging human health and reproductive capacity, ignoring natural immunity, the ethics of allegedly emergency decrees, the lack of informed consent, and heavy-handed manipulation tactics that include refusing to acknowledge any potentially legitimate conscience objections to the shots whatsoever.
It’s also unlikely any medical intervention today lacks a connection with the discarded little girl. Research done on cells descended from HEK 293’s tiny body is so “ubiquitous” now, wrote Dr. Melissa Moschella in 2020, that “Anyone who wants to completely avoid benefiting from the use of HEK 293 would effectively have to eschew the use of any medical treatments or biological knowledge developed or updated within the past forty years.” Even Tylenol was developed using cells her body generated.
Lewis said Solhjem’s video “blew my mind” because the job of a chaplain is not to negotiate people’s religious beliefs, it’s to support their exercise: “He didn’t say, ‘I stand with you. No matter what your reasons are, you have a right to believe them, and I will stand and die here defending your right.’ … It’s antithetical to what chaplains are supposed to do.”
‘The Department of Defense Is Hostile to Religion’
Several chaplains provided The Federalist “scripts” that military branches sent chaplains to pressure conscientious objectors into compliance rather than ascertain whether their objections were sincere. They include quotes from figures such as imams and preacher Russell Moore supporting vaccination.
But, for example, the Bible doesn’t say Russell Moore is its chief prophet and interpreter. While theologians and church tradition are helpful guides that Christians should take seriously, the final authority over Christianity is the Bible itself, and it says every individual is responsible before God for how he understands and applies it.
“The Department of Defense is hostile to religion,” said the chaplains’ lawyer, Art Schulcz, who is also a veteran. He said the way the DOD handled the vaccine mandate has contributed to the military’s recruiting crisis by repelling recruits and current soldiers with serious faith convictions. In response to ongoing shortfalls, U.S. military branches are lowering enlistment standards and issuing waivers of risk factors such as marijuana use.
The U.S. military’s chaplains “recruiting deficit is extreme,” wrote Rear Adm. Gregory Todd, the Navy’s chief of chaplains, last year.
Joy Pullmann is executive editor of The Federalist, a happy wife, and the mother of six children. Her ebooks include “Classic Books For Young Children,” and “101 Strategies For Living Well Amid Inflation.” An 18-year education and politics reporter, Joy has testified before nearly two dozen legislatures on education policy and appeared on major media from Fox News to Ben Shapiro to Dennis Prager. Joy is a grateful graduate of the Hillsdale College honors and journalism programs who identifies as native American and gender natural. Her traditionally published books include “The Education Invasion: How Common Core Fights Parents for Control of American Kids,” from Encounter Books.
What a shock. According to the newly released budget, the Pentagon wants to slow down America’s aircraft carriers. You may be thinking: no carrier, no “Top Gun,” no “Maverick.” How we’d miss those thriller movies.
But the facts are even worse. Delaying aircraft carriers courts disaster at a time when their deterrence value is higher than ever. The Navy has a budget plan for new aircraft carriers that can launch drones, carry lasers and face down China, but President Biden’s budget took out so much money that the whole aircraft carrier plan may fall apart.
I can’t remember when I’ve seen such a policy and reality mismatch.
Moving two aircraft carriers into place was vital to bottling up Iran and protecting deployed U.S. forces after the Hamas attack on Israel. The first thing Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin did was send the USS Gerald R. Ford from the Aegean Sea to a combat position near Lebanon. Next the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower surged from her homeport in Norfolk, Virginia, to add more firepower near the Red Sea.
The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford was the first of the new class of carriers. But sister ships could be delayed by budget cuts. (Andrej Tarfila/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The deterrence value of Navy aircraft carriers has never been higher. Don’t take my word for it. Back in December, Austin made a special trip to the USS Dwight Eisenhower, praising the action of her sailors and airmen. “Sometimes our greatest achievements are the bad things we stop from happening,” Austin told the crew. “In a moment of huge tension in the region, you all have been the linchpin of preventing a wider regional conflict.”
Right now, the Ike is still there and the F/A-18EF Superhornet fighter planes she carries are mounting continuous air patrols, knocking down Houthi drones and missiles. At the same time, the U.S. has two carriers on operations in the Pacific making sure China’s navy and Coast Guard don’t block off vital sea lanes or encircle Taiwan.
Deterrence in two major combat theaters is resting on these 100,000-ton ships. So, it’s astonishing that the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget just sent to Congress is going to slow down new Navy aircraft carriers by taking away shipbuilding funds for two years.
You know what else makes me mad? China is racing to build aircraft carriers. It makes me mad to see Chinese President Xi Jinping’s admirals investing while the Pentagon backs off.
China’s newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian is bigger and a technological leap ahead for China’s navy. The Fujian started dead-load catapult testing last November. China is serious about launching aircraft carriers to compete with the Ford-class designs.
Their aircraft carriers are still not nuclear-powered, and overall are not as capable as the Ford-class, but they can cause plenty of trouble, especially for allies. If China keeps producing the Fujian class, Chinese carriers could lock out the U.S. and allies from the Strait of Malacca to the Sea of Japan.
So, the carrier slip is also damaging because it impacts the new carriers. Believe me, these are carriers you want the Navy to buy. The Ford class took lessons from decades of carrier operations and created a ship class with innovations and room to grow.
Take the new launch catapults and arresting gear – the wire apparatus that catches the plane’s tailhook. Old steam catapults delivered a huge jolt to launch aircraft. Remember the grimace when Tom Cruise as Maverick and fellow naval aviators launched from the carrier in the “Top Gun” movies? That was old school.
The USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) and USS Nimitz (CVN 68) Carrier Strike Groups steam in formation, in the South China Sea, Monday, July 6, 2020. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jason Tarleton/U.S. Navy via AP)
The Ford’s electromagnetic catapults finesse the launch with gradually increasing power, and vary the speed for launching lighter airframes such as drones. Pilots do say it’s strange not to see the iconic steam wafting up. However, the USS Ford generated 10,396 sorties in 239 days underway with the new catapults.
All that opens up new options. Retired Rear Adm. Michael “Nasty” Manazir (a real Top Gun pilot and aircraft carrier commander) once described the Advanced Arresting Gear for USNI News as still “a controlled crash, but relatively more softly.” Navy planes had to be heavy to withstand the “cats and traps” getting on and off the ship. With the Ford-class carrier, “you can now start to do things with aircraft design that you couldn’t do before,” Manazir said.
Future carriers in 2040 in a heavy electromagnetic spectrum threat environment have many more options for the types of aircraft flying off their decks. But only if the Navy buys the carriers now.
Don’t forget the Ford-class also has more electric power generation and can one day mount laser self-defense weapons.
China’s newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian is bigger and a technological leap ahead for China’s navy. The Fujian started dead-load catapult testing last November. China is serious about launching aircraft carriers to compete with the Ford-class designs.
Law mandates at least 11 operational aircraft carriers and the Navy always says they’d prefer 12. (Carriers can’t all be deployed at once, due to maintenance, nuclear reactor overhaul, and training schedules.) Yet the Navy’s plan delays CVN-82 and basically, every ship afterward. Older Nimitz class carriers have to retire when their nuclear reactors age out.
That may sound like Washington math, but it’s the beginning of a death spiral. You can imagine how complicated aircraft carrier construction is. Right now, parts of three new aircraft carriers are in the assembly drydocks at Newport News, Virginia. If the Navy hits pause on CVN-82, the shipyards and suppliers can’t catch up.
Buying an aircraft carrier every six or seven years is not economical. Obviously. Worse, it’s probably not feasible. The precious workforce of American men and women who build carriers cannot stand around and they may drift away to other programs which have money. The Navy’s own charts show the result is a fall to 10, then nine aircraft carriers in the next decades.
No carriers, no agile deterrence. Heck, we Americans invented the aircraft carrier and its Pacific tactics in World War II. China’s navy is already bigger than ours. The advanced aircraft carriers are key to America’s military edge that protects our way of life. This is not the moment to let China sneak ahead.
U.S. forces intercepted an Iranian vessel packed with missiles and drones bound for Houthi rebels, the Pentagon said Thursday, according to The Washington Times. The seizure, on Jan. 28 in the Red Sea, marked another instance of Iran’s support for the Houthis in their maritime attacks. The operation, reminiscent of a previous January mission where two Navy SEALs perished during the boarding of an Iranian ship, resulted in the discovery of over 200 packages containing various weapons and equipment, including ballistic missile components, explosives, and anti-tank guided missile launcher assemblies, along with other weapons and equipment.
“This is yet another example of Iran’s malign activity in the region,” said Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, commander of U.S. Central Command, emphasizing Iran’s violation of international law and its continuing threat to maritime security.
The Houthis, backed by Iran, have launched numerous attacks using drones and missiles on ships since October, it says in retaliation for events related to the Israel-Hamas conflict. While the U.S. has been targeting Houthi operations in Yemen, including intercepting drones and missiles, the use of unmanned surface vessels (USVs) poses a new challenge. Rear Adm. Marc Miguez described USVs as an “unknown threat” with potentially lethal capabilities, highlighting the difficulty in gathering intelligence on Houthi weaponry. The Houthis’ aggression toward commercial and military vessels has escalated, prompting continuous patrols and interception efforts by the U.S. Navy in the region, Stars and Stripes reported.
The Houthis “have ways of obviously controlling them just like they do the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles), and we have very little fidelity as to all the stockpiles of what they have USV-wise,” Miguez said.
The carrier strike group, led by the USS Eisenhower and accompanying ships, has conducted more than 95 intercepts and more than 240 self-defense strikes on more than 50 Houthi targets. The strike group’s recent success includes intercepting and destroying seven anti-ship cruise missiles and an explosive USV poised for launch in the Red Sea, according to a U.S. Central Command report released Thursday.
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
Most American voters who are tracking the issue anticipate rising domestic prices for vital goods because of disruptions to commercial shipping in the Red Sea. a survey finds. Pictured: Yemenis lift rifles, Palestinian-Yemeni flags, and Houthi emblems Friday while shouting slogans to protest U.S.- and U.K.-led airstrikes against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels for disrupting maritime traffic. (Photo: Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
An opinion survey taken before the recent U.S.-led military action against Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen found strong concern that disruptions in the Red Sea would elevate food and energy prices here at home.
The new polling from TIPP Insights surveyed 1,401 adults about the Houthi rebels’ attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
The survey first established the extent to which respondents were tracking the issue, finding Americans closely divided: 48% said they’re following the issue very or somewhat closely, while 46% said they’re not following it very closely, or not at all. Only 6% say they were unaware of the Houthi attacks on commercial shipping.
Broken down by party line, 52% of Democrats, 49% of Republicans, and 43% of independents said they are aware of the attacks, suggesting this generally isn’t a partisan issue.
Once this baseline was established, TIPP Insights posed three additional questions to those respondents who said they were following the Houthi attacks.
The first question, which got the most dramatic results, asked whether respondents were very, somewhat, not very, or not at all concerned that the attacks might disrupt vital supply chains of commodities such as food and energy.
Fully 89% answered that they were very or somewhat concerned, while only 9% said they were not. The smallest group of respondents in the survey, just 2%, said they had no opinion.
These results remained consistent across all demographics. Although younger voters were marginally less concerned than their older counterparts, the survey found that those concerned still had a significant majority that held across genders and ethnic groups.
In other words, for the roughly half of the U.S. electorate tracking the Red Sea issue, the majority anticipates a rise in domestic prices for vital goods because of the disruptions, which should get the attention of both parties at the outset of 2024.
Given that the price of Brent crude already is creeping up over $80 per barrel because of extended voyages around the Cape of Good Hope to deliver cargoes, this concern is likely to intensify in coming months.
The survey’s second question asked whether respondents placed the primary blame for the attacks on Iran’s Islamist regime, the Israel-Hamas war, or both.
The largest group of respondents, 42%, said they blamed both, and the second largest, 32%, said they blamed Tehran, a result that suggests 74% of American voters consider the Iranian regime at least partially culpable for the turmoil.
Only 15% said they blamed the Israel-Hamas war and, when the response of “both” was accounted for, 57% blamed the war.
It’s worth noting that of the 671 voters surveyed who said they were following the issue and so moved on to the additional questions, the single largest age demographic was 25 to 44, with a total of 230 respondents.
This group was considerably more likely to blame the Houthis’ attacks on the Israel-Hamas war (24%) than were those 18 to 24 (14%), 45 to 64 (12%), or 65 and older (7%), so the real percentage of Americans who blame Israel and the war may be lower.
The third question revealed the starkest partisan divide in the survey. “How confident are you,” it asked, “that President Biden’s Operation Prosperity Guardian will secure commercial shipping in the Red Sea?”
Overall, 52% of respondents said they either were very confident or somewhat confident that Biden would be successful, compared with 41% who said they weren’t confident and 8% who said they’re not sure. That should be welcome news for the president.
Democrats were significantly more confident, with 81% responding positively and only 11% disagreeing. But the numbers for the other political groups tell a different story: Only 26% of Republicans and 41% of independents said they have a degree of confidence in Operation Prosperity Guardian, compared to 68% and 49%, respectively, who said they don’t.
So although Biden’s action has the strong support of those in his base who are following events in the Red Sea, he is underwater on the issue not only with conservatives but also with independents. These survey results could signal broader unease with Biden’s performance as commander in chief.
TIPP Insights conducted its polling as Houthi attacks on commercial shipping were escalating, but before the Biden administration took retaliatory action Jan. 11 and 12.
While the Houthis rebels’ immediate response was muted, they escalated retaliation and struck two commercial vessels in recent days. There are no indications that the U.S.- and U.K.-led airstrikes restored freedom of navigation in the region—in fact, all reports are that shipping is still being diverted in the wake of the airstrikes.
Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, for example, announced a two-week hiatus in production at German factories due to lack of components.
If the Houthi threat isn’t neutralized and this type of stoppage spreads in coming weeks, supply chain disruptions will start to compound in a fashion that may grip the American electorate more broadly as primary voters head to the polls.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An armed unmanned surface vessel launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen got within a “couple of miles” of U.S. Navy and commercial vessels before detonating on Thursday, just hours after the White House and a host of partner nations issued a “final warning” to the Iran-backed militia group to cease the attacks or face potential military action.
Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Navy operations in the Middle East, said it was the first time the Houthis had used an unmanned surface vessel, or USV, since their harassment of commercial ships in the Red Sea began after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. They have, however, used them in years past.
Fabian Hinz, a missile expert and research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the USV’s are a key part of the Houthi maritime arsenal and were used during previous battles against the Saudi coalition forces that intervened in Yemen’s war. They have regularly been used as suicide drone boats that explode upon impact.
Most of the Houthis’ USVs are likely assembled in Yemen but often fitted with components made in Iran, such as computerized guidance systems, Hinz said.
The location of this latest attack was not immediately clear, but Cooper said it took place in international shipping lanes.
Since late October, the Houthis have launched scores of one-way attack drones and missiles at commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea. U.S. Navy warships have also intercepted ballistic missiles the Pentagon says were headed toward Israel. Cooper said a total of 61 missiles and drones have been shot down by U.S. warships.
In response to the Houthi attacks, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in December announced Operation Prosperity Guardian, with the United States and other countries sending additional ships to the southern Red Sea to provide protection for commercial vessels passing through the critical Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Cooper said 1,500 commercial ships have been able to transit safely since the operation was launched on Dec. 18.
However, the Houthis have continued to launch missiles and attack drones, prompting the White House and 12 allies to issue what amounted to a final warning Wednesday to cease their attacks on vessels in the Red Sea or face potential targeted military action.
Cooper said Operation Prosperity Guardian was solely defensive in nature and separate from any military action the U.S. might take if the Houthi attacks continue.
The U.S., United Kingdom and France are providing most of the warships now, and Greece and Denmark will also be providing vessels, he said.
___
Associated Press writer Jack Jeffery contributed to this report.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The United Nations Security Council called for a days-long pause in fighting in Gaza on Thursday as Israeli forces continued to strike against Hamas leaders in Gaza City. Israeli forces took control of the Al-Shifa Hospital and are working to “destroy” Hamas in the region.
The Israeli military continues to target Hamas leadership in northern Gaza and has captured several the terrorist groups’ key bases in the region
There remain up to 238 Hamas hostages in Gaza, and 10 of them are believed to be Americans. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims more than 11,200 Gazans have been killed in the fighting, though they do not distinguish between Palestinian civilians and Hamas terrorists.
After weeks of gridlock, the United Nations Security Council voted to call for a days-long humanitarian pause in fighting
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IDF soldiers recover body of Hamas hostage found near Al-Shifa Hospital
IDF soldiers recover body of Hamas hostage found near Al-Shifa Hospital
Israeli Defense Forces say they found the body of a hostage taken in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Thursday.
Israeli forces say they found Yehudit Weiss’ body in a building adjacent to the Al-Shifa Hospital, which Israel says Hamas had been using as a headquarters until early this week. The IDF did not offer any details about Weiss beyond her name, but noted that her family has been contacted.
Soldiers searching the building say they also found military equipment including Kalashnikov rifles and RPG’s inside.
Weiss was one of roughly 240 people taken hostage by Hamas duirng its Oct. 7 massacre in Israel. She is now among a small number of hostages confirmed to have been killed since Israel’s war on Hamas began.
Israeli troops discovered a hidden booby-trapped vehicle inside the complex of a Hamas-run hospital in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said Thursday.
In a video posted to X, the IDF said the vehicle contained AK-47 rifles, grenades, RPGs, sniper rifles and other explosives.
“This is what Hamas is trying to hide from you,” an IDF spokesperson said in the footage.
Near the vehicle were weapons, ammunition and other items, including handcuffs and knives displayed on the ground, the IDF said.
“And where they’re hiding all this equipment is in the hospital,” the spokesperson said. “A place that’s supposed to be for humanitarian aid. They have all this evil hidden here.”
“This is where they choose to hide everything because they know the IDF won’t attack, the air force won’t attack here,” he added. “They use the hospital as human shields.”
Israel has long claimed tat Hamas has used hospitals and other sensitive locations as cover to conceal its military operations.
On Tuesday, John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, said that intelligence supports Israel’s claims about Hamas activities in hospitals.
“I can confirm for you that we have information that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad use some hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including al-Shifa, and tunnels underneath them, to conceal and to support their military operations and to hold hostages,” Kirby told reporters on Air Force One.
IDF chief of staff says Israel close to ‘destroying’ Hamas’ military system in Gaza’s north
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi talks with troops Thursday in the Gaza Strip. (Israel Defense Forces)
The chief of staff for the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday credited his troops with moving closer to destroying Hamas’ “military system” amid its weeks-long campaign against the terror group.
Herzi Halevi visited soldiers on the ground inside the Gaza Strip, where he spoke of Israel’s response to Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israeli border communities.
“As the campaign move forwards, with what you have done here with these battalions, Division 36 and 252, we are quite close to destroying the (Hamas) military system that existed in the north of the Gaza Strip,” he said, according to a press release. “We will complete it, we still have some things to do, but we are getting closer.”
He said the IDF will continue its military operations and that “as much as it depends on us, area after area, we’re going to kill the commanders and kill the operatives and destroy the infrastructure.”
“You have done it excellently so far, take what you’ve learned so far – for almost three weeks, and do it even better,” Halevi added.
Israel has battered Gaza with continuous airstrikes in the weeks since the attack, resulting in thousands dead and an escalating humanitarian crisis.
It’s highly unlikely that Israeli military operations will eliminate the ideology of Hamas, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby suggested Thursday.
Israel has pummeled the Gaza Strip for six weeks with airstrikes as Israeli leaders have vowed to eliminate the terror group.
“What we have learned through our own experiences … through military and other means, you can absolutely have a significant impact on [a] terrorist group’s ability to resource itself, to train fighters, to recruit fighters, to plan and to execute attacks,” Kirby said Thursday during a briefing.
He noted that Hamas leaders have repeatedly said they plan to attack Israel for the foreseeable future.
Military operations against a particular group, no matter how precise and targeted, cannot eliminate an idea, he said, citing the defeat of other terror groups in recent years.
“I mean, look at the shadow of itself that ISIS is right now, look at the shadow of itself that al Qaeda is right now. That doesn’t mean that the ideology also withers away and dies,” he said. “But you can absolutely have a practical, meaningful effect on a terrorist organization’s ability to conduct and execute its attacks.”
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.
Israel released video footage that purportedly shows part of a tunnel on the grounds of a hospital complex in Gaza.
The tunnel was near the Al-Shifa hospital, which Israel has said is used by Hamas to plan attacks and military operations.
On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces released footage showing weapons and military equipment inside the hospital, which has shelter thousands of civilians amid Israeli shelling.
Israeli officials claim that the facility is being used as cover by Hamas terrorists and that the group has set up its main command center underneath the building.
“A few of the most interesting things that we found totally confirms, without any doubt, that Hamas systematically uses hospitals in their military operations, in violation of international law,” IDF Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said as he walked through an MRI building at the hospital.
Shelling ramps up at Israel-Lebanon border with Hezbollah, IDF trading missile strikes: report
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike, left, and artillery shelling, right, on the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab, a Lebanese border village with Israel in south Lebanon on Monday. Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants and their allies have been clashing along the border since the Israel-Hamas war started five weeks ago with a bloody incursion into southern Israel by Hezbollah ally Hamas. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
The Israel Defense Forces and Lebanon-based Hezbollah have ramped up shelling against each other as both sides continue to trade airstrikes.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, said it has struck eight targets so far in Israel on Thursday, including Israeli soldiers and a military barracks, “in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” according to Reuters.
In response, the IDF said it hit a site in Lebanon that has tried launching anti-tank missiles toward its territory and that artillery strikes have been directed at other locations, the news agency adds.
Israel’s counterattack has impacted several villages along Lebanon’s southern border, a source told Reuters. There were no reported injuries. Both sides have repeatedly traded airstrikes since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israeli border communities.
Since Hamas launched its war on Israel, more than 70 Hezbollah fighters and 10 civilians have been killed in shelling in Lebanon, Reuters reports.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.
Pro-Palestinian protesters block bridges in Boston, San Francisco during rush hour
Pro-Palestinian protesters block bridges in Boston, San Francisco during rush hour
Pro-Palestinian protesters blocked traffic on bridges in Boston and San Francisco during rush hour Thursday morning to call for a cease-fire in Gaza as Israel continues to target Hamas leadership more than a month after the militant group’s deadly incursion into Israel.
On the Boston University bridge, the group IfNotNow, which says it represents members of Boston’s Jewish community, chanted “Cease-fire now!” and demanded that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., support an immediate cease-fire and use her influence to stop the Israeli government’s military action in Gaza.
The protest slowed traffic to a trickle on the bridge, which connects Boston and Cambridge, as the group held signs that said, “Let Gaza Live,” and unfurled a banner across the roadway that read, “Jews say: Ceasefire now.”
“We care about Palestinian lives, we only want to hurt Hamas,” one protester on the bridge told NBC Boston, while another said, “There can’t be peace for Jews unless there is peace for Palestinians.”
Meanwhile, Pro-Palestinian protesters also shut down the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, where President Biden was courting world leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this report
Republicans blast pro-Palestinian protests at DNC: ‘Nation’s capital is under siege’
I am on Capitol Hill right now and it’s on lockdown. No getting in or out of our offices. We have officers that were pepper sprayed by pro-Hamas protestors with a lot of people attempting to break into the Democratic HQ. Anyone else notice how violent the so-called “ceasefire”… pic.twitter.com/UbtMmLe7Ei
The Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., saw fireworks on Wednesday night when pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with police in front of the DNC.
Republicans weighed in on the protests online, with Florida Rep. Kat Cammack posting a video of the protest while she was on Capitol Hill.
“I am on Capitol Hill right now and it’s on lockdown,” Cammack wrote. “No getting in or out of our offices.”
“We have officers that were pepper sprayed by pro-Hamas protestors with a lot of people attempting to break into the Democratic HQ,” she continued. “Anyone else notice how violent the so-called ‘ceasefire’ crowd is?”
Fox News’ Houston Keene contributed to this report
The Guardian removes Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’ after TikTok unearths pro-terror screed
The Guardian removes Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’ after TikTok unearths pro-terror screed
The Guardian removed Osama bin Laden’s infamous “Letter to America” this week as the words of the terrorist mastermind behind the attacks of September 11, 2001, went viral after being unearthed by social media users.
The left-wing outlet had the anti-American and antisemitic letter published on its website since 2002 and was the first Google search result when searching for the document. But the publication deleted bin Laden’s letter amid a sudden spike in traffic.
A spokesperson for The Guardian told Fox News Digital, “The transcript published on our website 20 years ago has been widely shared on social media without the full context. Therefore we have decided to take it down and direct readers to the news article that originally contextualized it instead.”
The Guardian declined additional comment.
The 9/11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, with many thousands more injured and suffering from long-term illnesses, after Islamic terrorists crashed four hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania; the latter was forced down by heroic passengers. In the letter to the American people translated in English, bin Laden justified al-Qaeda’s attacks against the U.S. because “you attacked us” and “you attacked us in Palestine.”
“Palestine, which has sunk under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British handed over Palestine, with your help and your support, to the Jews, who have occupied it for more than 50 years; years overflowing with oppression, tyranny, crimes, killing, expulsion, destruction and devastation,” bin Laden alleged.
Suspect arrested in death of pro-Israel demonstrator Paul Kessler
Suspect arrested in death of pro-Israel demonstrator Paul Kessler
California police have arrested Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji, 50, in relation to the death of Jewish man Paul Kessler at an Israel protest last week.
Alnaji has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and has a bail set at $1,000,000. The arrest comes roughly a week after Kessler, 69, died in the hospital after striking his head on the concrete during an altercation with Alnaji.
Footage showed Kessler bleeding on the ground following the incident. Alnaji, a pro-Palestinian protester had allegedly manhandled Kessler and caused him to fall.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department stated last week that they had identified a 50-year-old suspect in the case, but they had not yet identified him nor made an arrest.
AOC leads two dozen Democrats calling for Israel cease-fire over ‘violations against children’
AOC leads two dozen Democrats calling for Israel cease-fire over ‘violations against children’
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is leading renewed calls for President Biden to support a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas over the “grave violations” being committed against children in the war.
“We write to you to express deep concern about the intensifying war in Gaza, particularly grave violations against children, and our fear that without an immediate cessation of hostilities and the establishment of a robust bilateral ceasefire, this war will lead to a further loss of civilian life and risk dragging the United States into dangerous and unwise conflict with armed groups across the Middle East,” the progressive lawmaker wrote.
She and 23 other progressives wrote to Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, asking for details on the U.S. plan to de-escalate tension in the region.
They cited figures from both Israel and the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza about how many children have been killed or abducted since Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing hundreds of civilians.
Israel has responded by bombarding Gaza with rocket fire and a ground invasion.
“We reaffirm our unequivocal condemnation of the Hamas attacks on Israel that took place on October 7th, in which Hamas killed over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, and captured over 200 hostages, who were subsequently taken to Gaza,” the Democrats wrote.
Massachusetts town flying Palestinian flag sparks backlash from residents, Jewish congregation
Massachusetts town flying Palestinian flag sparks backlash from residents, Jewish congregation
A local Jewish leader spoke out on “FOX & Friends” Thursday after his Massachusetts town approved a permit to allow a Palestinian flag to fly in town.
Marc Freedman, president of Congregation Ahavat Olam in North Andover, said the flag was now a “symbol of antisemitism” following the Oct. 7 attacks.
“It is a symbol to just eliminate the entire Jewish population,” he said.
Town officials approved a permit Monday allowing the Palestinian flag to be flown on the North Andover Town Common.
“I think they’re just a bunch of cowards. They took a legal initiative, a legal statement from council that said you need to follow specific guidelines and must raise this flag, when in their hearts, in their hearts, I know every single one of them did not want to raise their flag,” he said.
He said the council put personal concerns ahead of the town and added, “that’s not what leadership does.”
Fox News’ Hanna Panreck contributed to this report
IDF footage shows Hamas rockets stashed under child’s bed inside Gaza terrorist’s home
IDF footage shows Hamas rockets stashed under child’s bed inside Gaza terrorist’s home
Israeli Defense Forces released footage of troops searching the home of a Hamas terrorist in Gaza and uncovering a stash of rockets hidden under a young child’s bed on Thursday.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari says the rockets and other weapons found inside the home were destroyed soon afterward. Footage shows an Israeli soldier walking past a pink “baby girl” sign before revealing several rockets inside a compartment in the bed.
“Rockets were found inside a bed in the children’s bedroom inside the house of a Hamas terrorist during operational activity carried out by the troops of the 551st Brigade. The terrorist was a part of a Hamas terrorist cell in Beit Hanoun,” Hagari said in a statement.
“During the operational activity, the troops uncovered a significant amount of weapons including rockets, explosive devices, and dozens of kilos of explosives. The weapons were subsequently destroyed by the forces,” he added.
Rockets were found inside a bed in the children's bedroom inside the house of a Hamas terrorist during operational activity carried out by the troops of the 551st Brigade. The terrorist was a part of a Hamas terrorist cell in Beit Hanoun >> pic.twitter.com/25SneQfOkF
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) November 16, 2023
Information, photos about Hamas hostages found on laptop inside hospital: IDF
Information, photos about Hamas hostages found on laptop inside hospital: IDF
Israeli Defense Forces uncovered information about hostages taken by Hamas on a laptop found inside the Al-Shifa Hospital on Thursday.
Israel says the laptop had photos and videos taken of hostages after the Oct. 7th massacre in Israel. Israeli forces say evidence indicates Hamas was using Al-Shifa Hospital as a base of operations “within the last few days.”
“At the end of the day, this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told the BBC. “Hamas aren’t here because they saw we were coming. This is probably what they were forced to leave behind. Our assessment is that there’s much more.”
Fox News’ foreign correspondent Trey Yings and cameraman Yaniv Turgeman visited the hospital with Israeli special forces early Thursday.
Israel says Hamas took some 239 hostages on Oct. 7, though the U.S. has said there is no way to know how many of those are still alive.
Online personality and pro-Palestinian activist Lynette Adkins urged her over 175,000 TikTok followers on Tuesday to read the words of the terrorist mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks.
“I need everyone to stop what they’re doing right now and go read- It’s literally two pages. Go read ‘A Letter to America,” Adkins said the video. “And please come back here and just let me know what you think because I feel like I’m going through, like, an existential crisis right now and a lot of people are, so I just need someone else to be feeling this.”
Her video received roughly 800,000 views and over 80,000 likes on TikTok.
Fox News Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst and cameraman Yaniv Turgeman went inside the Al-Shifa hospital with Israeli special forces on Thursday, sharing images of weapons found inside the complex.
Israeli forces say the weapons are evidence that Hamas had used the facility–and tunnel systems under it–as a base of operations.
Footage from Yingst and Turgeman’s visit showed rifles stashed behind an MRI machine as well as other supplies.
President Biden says he thinks Israel’s military operation in Gaza will stop when Hamas “no longer maintains the capacity to murder, abuse, and do horrific things to the Israelis.”
Speaking at a press conference after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Biden called on the Israeli military to exercise caution as they pursue Hamas military targets near civilian infrastructure. He said the Israel Defense Forces has “an obligation to use as much caution as they can in going after their targets.”
However, he added, “Hamas said they plan to attack Israelis again and this is terrible dilemma.”
Biden and his administration have remained steadfast in support for Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas. U.S. officials have strongly condemned the Oct. 7 terror attacks on Israel, in which Hamas terrorists infiltrated the Jewish state and massacred as many as 1,200 people, taking some 240 back to Gaza as hostages. Other world leaders have condemned Israel’s military actions in Gaza, specifically attacks on hospitals and other civilian infrastructure, pointing to the staggering death toll figures released by the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry. Israel has said, and the White House confirmed, that Hamas uses Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest in Gaza City, as a military base to store weapons and plan terrorist attacks.
The U.S. government has rejected calls for a cease-fire in the conflict, insisting that Israel has a right to defend itself. At the same time, the Biden administration has pressured Israel to allow short-term pauses in the fighting so humanitarian aid, including food and medical supplies, can be delivered to the Palestinians living in Gaza.
Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report
Israeli military gains ‘operational control’ over Gaza harbor used by Hamas
Israeli Defense Forces have gained “operational control” over the Harbor in Gaza city, previously a Hamas stronghold.
Israeli Defense Forces have gained “operational control” over the Harbor in Gaza city, previously a Hamas stronghold.
The IDF announced its successful oepration in the harbor on Thursday, saying Hamas had used the area to train maritime forces.
“The IDF has gained operational control over the Hamas-operated Gaza Harbor,” The IF wrote in a statement. “Disguised as a civilian area, the harbor was used by Hamas as a training facility for their naval commando forces to plan and execute terrorist attacks.”
“During the operation, conducted by soldiers of the 188th Armored Corps’ Brigade and Flotilla 13, numerous terrorist tunnel entrances and terrorist infrastructures were destroyed,” the statement continued.
Israel has conducted a relentless campaign against Hamas terrorists cells in Gaza City. The terrorist group has maintained a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the population center.
The IDF has gained operational control over the Hamas-operated Gaza Harbor.
Disguised as a civilian area, the harbor was used by Hamas as a training facility for their naval commando forces to plan and execute terrorist attacks.
Hamas has agreed to release dozens of hostages from Gaza under terms of a tentative deal that the Israeli government is now considering, the Washington Post reported Thursday.
While the exact terms of the deal remain unclear, it is believed to involve the release of some Palestinian prisoners held in Israel in addition to a multi-day pause in fighting in Gaza. The deal may already have been rejected, however.
Hamas terrorists took up to 240 hostages during their Oct. 7 massacre inside Israel. That number includes 10 Americans and many other foreign nationals who were in Israel.
UN rights chief calls for international investigation into alleged Israel-Hamas war crimes
UN rights chief calls for international investigation into alleged Israel-Hamas war crimes
UN human rights chief Volker Turk appeared to call for an international investigation into alleged war crimes commited by Israel in its war against Hamas on Thursday.
Turk made the comments after returning from a visit to the Middle East, though he was not allowed to access Israel or Gaza. The official condemned Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and argued that some in Israel have no qualms about killing civilians.
“Extremely serious allegations of multiple and profound breaches of international humanitarian law, whoever commits them, demand rigorous investigation and full accountability,” he said during a U.N. briefing in Geneva, going on to decry the “intensification of violence and severe discrimination agaisnt Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”
“It is apparent that on both sides, some view the killing of civilians as either acceptable or collateral, or a deliberate and useful weapon of war,” he continued.
Driver rams barrier at Israeli embassy in Tokyo, injures police officer
Driver rams barrier at Israeli embassy in Tokyo, injures police officer
Police in Tokyo arrested a lone driver who rammed his vehicle into a barrier outside the Israeli embassy on Thursday.
Israeli ambassador to Japan Gilad Cohen confirmed the incident in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Japanese police say they arrested the suspect, a 53-year-old man who was suspected to be a member of a “right-wing organization.”
A police officer outside the embassy received minor injuries in the incident.
“Shocked by the suspected vehicular ramming attack on a police officer on guard near the Israeli embassy in Tokyo. This matter is under investigation by the local police. I would like to express gratitude to the Japanese government and Tokyo Police for their commitment to ensuring our security. Wishing a speedy recovery to the injured police officer,” Cohen wrote on social media.
Top media outlet marred by string of retractions and apologies related to Israel-Hamas war
Top media outlet marred by recent string of retractions and apologies related to Israel-Hamas wa
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been blemished with a string of apologies and retractions related to stories detailing developments in the Israel-Hamas war.
England’s premiere outlet, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, is the oldest and largest local and global broadcaster and has been heralded as an integral source of worldwide news.
But the broadcaster’s reputation has been questioned in recent weeks after a series of inaccurate news reports led critics and social media users to wonder why the BBC’s mistakes erred on behalf of Hamas and Palestinians.
On Tuesday, BBC News Channel aired a report that claimed Israeli forces had descended on Al Shifa hospital in Gaza and targeted “medical teams and Arab speakers” inside.
While reports did indicate the IDF had entered the hospital, no reports corroborated the claim that soldiers had targeted those inside.
The error led the BBC to issue an on-air apology, retraction and a written statement.
“As BBC News covered initial reports that Israeli forces had entered Gaza’s main hospital, we said that ‘medical teams and Arab speakers’ were being targeted. This was incorrect and misquoted a Reuters report,” the BBC said. “We should have said IDF forces included medical teams and Arabic speakers for this operation. We apologize for this error, which fell below our usual editorial standards.”
Fox News’ Nicholas Lanum contributed to this report
Chicago college professor justifies Hamas attack ‘after 75 years of Israeli white supremacy’
Chicago college professor justifies Hamas attack ‘after 75 years of Israeli white supremacy’
A Chicagoland sociology professor sent a mass email to her students and department colleagues attempting to rally support for Palestinians who she claims have faced “75 years of Israeli White supremacy.”
Brooke Johnson, an associate professor and sociology department coordinator at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), argued “As critical sociologists we are trained to analyze power and inequality in society” and that “this importantly comes with the responsibility to speak up when we witness harm, injustice, and violence,” stressing “What is currently happening in Palestine is one of those moments.”
“After 75 years of Israeli White supremacy, including displacement, human rights violations, and systemic violence, Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th which resulted in 1400 deaths and 240 hostages,” Johnson wrote in a Nov. 8 email obtained by Fox News Digital. “Israel is now collectively punishing Palestinians. The Palestinian death toll from Israeli airstrikes exceeds 10,000, and almost half of these are children. This number increases daily as airstrikes continue; water, food and medical aid are cut off; and demands for a humanitarian cease-fire increase.”
One student who received the email was left “really upset” by what Johnson wrote, calling the accusations she made against Israel including being guilty of “White supremacy” as “just not true.”
“I called my mom and I started crying,” the student, who did not wish to be identified, told Fox News Digital.
The student accused Johnson of “justifying” the Oct. 7 attack.
Fox News Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report
Police in the nation’s capital responded to the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters Wednesday evening as pro-Palestinian demonstrators grew violent while calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
About 150 people were “illegally and violently protesting” near the DNC headquarters building in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., according to U.S. Capitol Police.
Six Capitol police officers were injured during the clash on Wednesday evening, according to the agency. Their injuries stemmed from minor cuts, pepper spray burns and punches thrown by protesters who turned violent alongside peaceful protesters.
Videos on social media showed protesters shoving police officers and trying to hold on to metal barricades at the DNC headquarters while officers attempted to remove them.
Capitol police and the Metropolitan Police Department, who also responded to the protest, did not immediately confirm to Fox News Digital how many arrests were made at the event.
Protesters included members of “If Not Now” and “Jewish Voice for Peace.” Both organizations have organized other demonstrations in Washington D.C. since Hamas’ unprecedented Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Adam Sabes, Kelley Kramer and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
Israeli Air Force strikes home of Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ Political Bureau: IDF
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday its air force conducted a strike on the home of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Haniyeh, who is the head of Hamas’ Political Bureau, is accused of using his residence in Gaza as terrorist infrastructure and a meeting point for Hamas’ senior leaders to direct attacks on Israel.
It’s not clear if anyone was killed in the strike as Haniyeh lives in Qatar, according to the Times of Israel.
Overnight, IDF fighter jets struck the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, the Head of Hamas’ Political Bureau.
The residence was used as terrorist infrastructure and a meeting point for Hamas’ senior leaders to direct terrorist attacks against Israel. pic.twitter.com/kljYYN6O0U
The Israeli military reported additional casualties inside the Gaza Strip as the Israel-Hamas war enters its 26th day. Israeli forces entered the second stage of their war with Hamas in what is expected to be a lengthy military operation. Until this week, Israel had largely relied on airstrikes and artillery to retaliate against Hamas’ massacre in Israel on Oct. 7. More than 9,900 people have been killed in the war on both sides since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.
Israel has entered its fourth week of war against Hamas after the terrorist group infiltrated the country on October 7, firing thousands of rockets at residential areas and butchering civilians
As many as 9,900 people have been killed in the war on both sides, including at least 1,400 Israeli civilians and soldiers and 35 Americans. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims 8,525 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and 111 in the West Bank. At least 10 Americans are feared to be among the 240 people held captive by Hamas
Israel has greatly expanded its ground operations in Gaza over the weekend, marking a new stage in the conflict
The first foreign passport holders were permitted to leave Gaza and enter Egypt through the Rafah crossing, although American citizens are still struggling to leave the warzone
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Hamas terrorist gives graphic details about shooting children to Israeli authorities
A Hamas terrorist told an Israel Securities Authority (ISA) official he and another man shot and killed crying children who were inside a safe room, until the sounds could no longer be heard, while acknowledging he entered the house simply to kill.
In a video posted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, the Hamas terrorist is seen wearing prison garb while sitting in a chair with an Israeli flag behind him.
The unnamed man tells the ISA official, who cannot be seen in the video, that he and other members of Hamas entered a house through the window. While checking the house, he told the official, they heard sounds of young children in the safe room and shot at the safe room.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Doron Spielman appeared on “America Reports” to discuss recent Israeli strikes against Hamas, as the war between the two militaries continues.
Host Sandra Smith asked Spielman about a recent attack that killed a Hamas commander in the Jabalia refugee camp, but also several civilians in the process.
“This was a pinpointed strike against the Hamas commander that has been controlling and commanding the anti-tank warfare unit in the Gaza Strip, which they’ve been employing both in the Gaza Strip, towards our tanks, towards people, towards our soldiers,” Spielman explained. “In fact, one of those did result in some of the deaths that we experienced. He was a senior commander and he is confirmed dead, along with a number of other terrorists that were with him.”
The official also explained that Hamas terrorists have been fleeing into civilian areas amid the fighting.
“They are fleeing, I can tell you, into underground bunkers,” Spielman said. “We see them inside of medical clinics, inside of schools. They go in, you open the doors, you can’t find anybody. You walk a few feet in, you pull up a hatch and they’re underneath the ground.”
“They are so embedded within the civilian structures,” he added.
Israel-Hamas war: 5 American aid workers leave Gaza for Egypt
Foreign passport holders board a bus after arriving in the Egyptian part of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on November 1, 2023. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
Fox News has learned that 5 Americans are part of the civilian group that left Gaza for Egypt on Tuesday.
The evacuation was conducted with the help of the Special Operations Association of America, which worked with the U.S. State Department.
The Americans were all aid workers, part of a group of around 30. The other 25 workers had different nationalities.
The civilians departed through the Rafah crossing after a deal was struck between Egyptian and Palestinian authorities, amid Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant says Hamas has two options: ‘Die or surrender’
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speak during a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel on October 25, 2023. (Photo by Elad Malka (IMoD)/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant released a statement on civilian losses in Gaza amid the Israeli military’s war against Hamas terrorists.
The statement was released as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continues airstriking the Jabalia refugee camp for the second day in a row, killing an unknown number of Palestinians.
“The IDF is advancing on the way to defeating Hamas,” the official said. “War has a heavy price, I share in the sorrow of the families who lost their loved ones in the hard battles in Gaza City.”
In the press release, Gallant also referenced Israel’s determination to secure victory over Hamas.
“We are determined to win. The enemy has only two options: die or surrender unconditionally – there is no third option,” the statement read. “The arena of the war is wider, we are on the attack in the Gaza Strip area, but we are defending in the north and are prepared in additional fronts.”
“We are at the forefront of the free world against a world of darkness and all evil,” Gallant concluded. “We must win.”
Fox News Digital’s Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this report.
Hamas official vows to attack Israelis ‘again and again’ until Israel is destroyed
Hamas Spokesman Ghazi Hamad speaks on May 23, 2021 in Gaza City, Gaza. (Photo by Laurent Van der Stockt/Getty Images)
Hamas official Ghazi Hamad said in an interview that Hamas will repeat terrorist attacks against Israel “again and again” until the Jewish nation is destroyed.
“Israel is a country that has no place on our land,” Hamad argued. “We must remove that country, because it constitutes a security, military, and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation, and must be finished. We are not ashamed to say this, with full force.”
The official argued that Hamas was willing to repeat the attacks until they achieved victory, calling Palestine “a nation of martyrs.”
“We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again,” he explained. “The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth, because we have the determination, the resolve, and the capabilities to fight. Will we have to pay a price? Yes, and we are ready to pay it. We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs.”
“We are the victims of the occupation. Period,” Hamad added. “Therefore, nobody should blame us for the things we do. On October 7, October 10, October 1,000,000 – everything we do is justified.”
Hamas took power in the Gaza Strip after winning elections in 2006, a year after Israeli occupation of Gaza ended.
Palestinian official says Gaza’s only cancer hospital is inoperable, faces fuel shortage
This picture taken on April 22, 2021 shows a general view of nurses and patients at the COVID-19 coronavirus intensive care unit , at the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in Gaza City. (Photo by Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)
The only hospital in the Gaza Strip that treats cancer patients has reportedly gone out of service Wednesday after running out of fuel.
The development surrounding the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital now means 16 out of the 35 hospitals in Gaza are not operating, Reuters is reporting, citing Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila.
“The lives of 70 cancer patients inside the hospital are seriously threatened,” she was quoted by the news agency as saying. “The number of cancer patients in the Gaza Strip is about 2,000 living in catastrophic health conditions as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Strip and the displacement of a large number.”
The Israeli government has maintained a blockade over Gaza in response to terrorist attacks from Hamas fighters, who have launched around 8,000 rockets since the war began.
Jordan recalls ambassador from Israel in protest of war in Gaza
Seen on a large screen the King of Jordan Abdullah II attends the International Peace Summit hosted by the Egyptian president in the New Administrative Capital (NAC), about 45 kilometres east of Cairo, on October 21, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Jordan recalled its ambassador from Israel in protest of the “humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Jordan’s deputy prime minister, Ayman al-Safadi, who is also the foreign minister, said the return of the ambassadors is linked to Israel “stopping its war on Gaza … and the humanitarian catastrophe it is causing.”
Jordan signed a peace deal with Israel in 1994, the second Arab country after Egypt to do so.
King Abdullah II of Jordan has called for peace between Gaza and Israel but said Israeli-Palestinian relations could never be stable without a “two-state solution.”
Such a proposal includes Palestinian people getting their own land and country, which Israel opposes.
“There will be no security, no peace, no stability without just and total peace that comes through a two-state solution,” King Abdullah II told the Jordanian parliament earlier this month, calling for a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The King of Jordan has also mobilized medical and humanitarian aid teams to the blockaded Gaza Strip through Egypt.
Fox News Digital’s Lawrence Richard and the Associated Press contributed to this update.
Democrats could be split for a ‘generation’ as left tears ‘itself apart over Israel’
The Democratic Party is divided over pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian factions in a major split that may tear the party apart for a “generation,” according to a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed. (Getty Images // Fox News Digital)
The Democratic Party is divided over pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian factions in a major split that may tear the party apart for a “generation,” according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.
Some of the biggest names in progressive and leftist politics are expressing concerns that the Democratic Party is no longer unified as politicians and commentators continue to battle it out in the public square over Israel. The article, headlined “The Left Is Tearing Itself Apart Over Israel,” was published on Tuesday.
“It has been an incredibly clarifying and terrifying moment at the same time for many progressive Jews,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told the WSJ’s Molly Ball. “They’re calling me, tweeting, messaging, expressing shock and sadness that the people they marched with, the causes they marched for, have abandoned them in their hour of need.”
Others were disappointed that the Democratic Party was not doing enough for pro-Palestinian factions.
“If you are Arab-American, Muslim-American or Palestinian, you feel like you don’t matter, you feel invisible,” said Waleed Shahid, former spokesman for the Justice Democrats. “If you are advocating at all that Palestinian and Israeli lives should be treated equally, there’s a feeling that the party doesn’t care about you at all.”
Shahid also pointed to flagging poll numbers for President Biden among “young and minority voters,” according to the story. A recent Gallup poll found that Biden’s “job approval rating among Democrats has tumbled 11 percentage points in the past month to 75%, the worst reading of his presidency from his own party. This drop has pushed his overall approval rating down four points to 37%, matching his personal low.”
“It shouldn’t be that hard to condemn the murder of innocent women and children and seniors, yet many have either said nothing or equivocated,” said Maryland state delegate and congressional candidate Joe Vogel. “We have a serious problem in our party right now.”
Fox News Digital’s Jeffrey Clark contributed to this update.
Biden says American citizens will leave Gaza through Rafah border crossing
RAFAH, GAZA – NOVEMBER 01: Ambulances carrying Palestinians, injured in ongoing Israeli attacks, arrive Rafah border crossing on November 01, 2023 in Gaza. Injured Palestinians are to receive medical treatment in Egyptian hospitals. (Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)
President Biden on Wednesday said the United States secured safe passage for wounded Palestinians and for foreign nationals to exit Gaza.
“We expect American citizens to exit today, and we expect to see more depart over the coming days,” Biden wrote in a post on X.
He added, “We won’t let up working to get Americans out of Gaza.”
Egypt, Israel and Hamas earlier came to an agreement allowing limited evacuations out of Gaza and into Egypt through the Rafah crossing after Qatar mediated talks.
The deal allows for foreign passport holders and some critically injured Gaza residents to evacuate, though no timeline has been set for how long the crossing will remain open, a source briefed on the deal told Reuters.
Dozens of foreign passport holders reportedly could be seen entering the crossing Wednesday morning in evidence of the deal.
The negotiations came as the Israeli military has been carrying out the second stage of its war against Hamas. The Israel Defense Forces have greatly expanded ground operations in Gaza, clearing Hamas terrorists out of their fortified positions and tunnels.
Military officials have warned that the campaign will be a long and difficult affair. So far, at least 16 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the fighting.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this update.
Cornell University junior Patrick Dai was arrested on a federal complaint Tuesday for allegedly calling for the deaths of Jewish people online and threatening to shoot up an on-campus dining hall.
The 21-year-old engineering student hails from Pittsford, New York, about 80 miles northwest of the Ithaca campus.
His mother told the New York Post that Dai suffers from “severe depression” and was on the brink of suicide before his arrest.
In a string of disturbing posts on a Greek life message board that was not affiliated with the school, Dai allegedly threatened to “shoot up 104 West,” a campus dining hall that serves kosher food, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York.
The cafeteria is next door to the Cornell Jewish Center, which provides housing for Jewish students.
“In another post, Dai allegedly threatened to ‘stab’ and ‘slit the throat’ of any Jewish males he sees on campus, to rape and throw off a cliff any Jewish females, and to behead any Jewish babies,” the press release says. “In that same post, Dai threatened to ‘bring an assault rifle to campus and shoot all you pig jews.’”
The deranged threats come in the midst of heightened hostilities and a spike in antisemitism on college campuses across the U.S. spurred by the Israel-Hamas War.
Fox News Digital’s Rebecca Rosenberg contributed to this update.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., accused a pro-Israel political action committee (PAC) of being an “extremist organization” that “destabilizes” American democracy.
The leader of the progressive “Squad” attacked the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Tuesday night amid Israel’s war with the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas.
Ocasio-Cortez — who accused Israel of committing “war crimes” last month — accused the pro-Israel PAC of being “racist” and “bigoted” toward lawmakers of color.
Ocasio-Cortez also accused AIPAC of being an “extremist organization that destabilizes US democracy.”
“AIPAC endorsed scores of Jan 6th insurrectionists,” the Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) congresswoman said. “They are no friend to American democracy.”
“They are one of the more racist and bigoted PACs in Congress as well, who disproportionately target members of color,” she continued.
“They are an extremist organization that destabilizes US democracy,” she wrote.
AIPAC responded to Ocasio-Cortez’s post, blasting the democratic socialist congresswoman over her peddling “of the same tired lies [and] spin.”
“[Ocasio-Cortez] and the Squad summed up: People who disagree with us are racist,” AIPAC posted on Wednesday. “AIPAC stands with pro-Israel Democrats and Republicans of all races, genders, and backgrounds who support the US-Israel alliance.”
“And we oppose those who don’t, like you,” the group added.
Fox News Digital’s Houston Keene contributed to this report.
A Florida doctor is offering a helping hand in Israel after his family’s vacation to the Holy Land took a turn for the worst during Hamas’ surprise attacks on Oct. 7.
“It’s been a very chaotic period of time,” Dr. Cory Harow, medical director of the emergency department of West Boca Medical Center, told “FOX & Friends First” on Wednesday.
“This is not something that you plan for. We had a phenomenal family vacation. We were touring, visiting with friends, extended family, and it was all fantastic being together until air raid sirens woke us up October 7th. We padded out into the hallway of our hotel, and the images that we saw on the televisions were just chilling.”
Harow, a dual American and Israeli citizen, joined the IDF while attending Tel Aviv University.
He currently serves in a unit that specializes in battlefield triage, assessing, treating and stabilizing battlefield injuries.
“We’ve been training every year. We meet for one week a year to maintain a high state of readiness. And then we were mobilized on October 7th when the hostilities began in an attempt to save as many battlefield lives as possible,” he explained.
After Hamas terrorists launched their surprise attacks last month, his phone rang, and he confirmed he was in the country and ready for emergency mobilization.
While his family flew back home to the U.S. the next day, he stayed behind to work with first responders to help treat wounded IDF soldiers.
Fox News Digital’s Taylor Penley contributed to this update.
Yale Daily News (YDN) , the independent student newspaper and oldest college daily in the country, retracted editor’s notes that targeted a pair of recent pro-Israel columns after a huge backlash. The editor’s notes took issue with statements in both pieces that “Hamas raped women,” calling them “unsubstantiated claims.”
An Oct. 12 column by Yale student Sahar Tarak titled, “Is Yalies4Palestine a hate group?” was hit with an editor’s note without Tarak’s initial knowledge, reading, “This column has been edited to remove unsubstantiated claims that Hamas raped women and beheaded men.”
Another column published on Oct. 13, titled “Stop justifying terrorism,” similarly accused the terror group of raping women during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and also had an editor’s note added.
“The News was wrong to publish the corrections,” the newspaper later wrote on Tuesday. “By the time of the first correction on Oct. 25, there had been widely reported coverage from outlets such as Reuters publicly verifying that Hamas raped and beheaded Israelis.”
There have been multiple reports that Hamas terrorists committed rape during their rampage. Israel released footage of one captured attacker who said they were given permission to rape the corpse of a girl, according to The Times of Israel. NBC News reported on “signs of rape” in videos of the attack presented to journalists last week. Military forensic teams in Israel also said they found signs of torture and rape among the victims, according to Reuters.
Additionally, Shani Louk, a German-Israeli citizen who was kidnapped by Hamas and paraded unconscious on the back of a truck, as seen in footage of the Oct. 7 massacre, was discovered dead and beheaded, according to Israeli government officials.
The Yale newspaper wrote that it “failed to ensure that the columnists’ statements were properly cited and attributed” during its editing process because “[a]t the time of the columns’ initial publication, those specific forms of violence during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack were not independently confirmed by the cited source.”
Fox News Digital’s Jeffrey Clark contributed to this update.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed three more casualties in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, bringing the total number of soldiers killed in the second phase of the war to 15.
Israel earlier reported that 10 soldiers were killed when hit by an anti-tank guided missile while operating in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces entered the second stage of their war with Hamas in what is expected to be a lengthy military operation. Until this week, Israel had largely relied on airstrikes and artillery to retaliate against Hamas’ massacre in Israel on Oct. 7.
Military officials have warned that the war will be long and difficult, potentially spanning months or longer.
The IDF began expanded ground operations this week and ground troops are now tasked with clearing out a complex network of Hamas tunnels and other fortified strongholds. IDF says it has attacked 11,000 targets in Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.
More than 320 soldiers have been killed since the start of the war, many in the initial Oct. 7 attack.
Fox News’ Thomas Ferraro contributed to this update.
A sophomore Yale student whose pro-Israel column published in the Yale Daily News was edited without her knowledge spoke out on Tuesday.
An Oct. 12 column by Sahar Tarak titled, “Is Yalies4Palestine a hate group?” was hit with an editor’s note on Oct. 25, reading, “This column has been edited to remove unsubstantiated claims that Hamas raped women and beheaded men.”
Tartak wrote in an op-ed in the Washington Free Beacon this week about how the Yale Daily News, the university’s independent student newspaper, edited a section referring to Hamas’ atrocities in their terrorist attack against Israel.
Tartak said she found out about the edits over the weekend. “The Yale Daily News editor in chief told me that at the time my piece was published—five days after Hamas carried out a pogrom reminiscent of the bloodiest 19th-century atrocities—’there was swirling unsubstantiation [sic] of the rape and beheading claims,'” she wrote, while pointing to several sources substantiating the allegations.
She also reported that another column by a friend, titled “Stop justifying terrorism,” was updated by the Yale Daily News without the author’s knowledge to include a similar editor’s note that read, “This column has been edited to remove unsubstantiated claims of rape.”
But Tartak said, “Yale Daily News editors are not such sticklers when it comes to lobbing accusations at the Jewish state,” in reference to other anti-Israel op-eds they published.
She warned about “history repeating itself” and how the attitudes of Yale students on campus reverberate into the greater media ecosystem when they graduate.
“I wish I could write off my classmates’ foibles as youthful stupidity, but I see professional journalists making the same mistakes. It’s not an accident: The Yale Daily News is their breeding ground, and in a few years, the editors who wrote and approved that correction will go on to careers in the mainstream press, which is chock-full of Yale Daily News editors and reporters. Take the New York Times, where the author of the flagship daily newsletter, the paper’s diplomatic and Supreme Court correspondents, and the host of the paper’s hit podcast The Daily are all Yale Daily News alumni,” she wrote.
“This pipeline is full of sewage, and it shows. The Yale Daily News is now a home for modern-day Holocaust denial, where brutalizing Jews does not need to be justified. It’s just denied outright,” Tartak concluded.
Fox News Digital’s Hanna Panreck and Alexa Moutevelis contributed to this update.
Heads of Israeli universities sent a letter to colleagues around the world expressing concern about rampant antisemitism on some college campuses after the bloody Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks.
The Association of University Heads in Israel also criticized the failure of academic leaders to clamp down on antisemitism on their campuses amid the Israel-Hamas war.
“It’s unsettling to note that many college campuses have become breeding grounds for anti-Israel and antisemitic sentiments, largely fueled by a naïve and biased understanding of the conflict,” the letter said, according to the Associated Press.
“Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of academic freedom, but it should not be manipulated to legitimize hate speech or to justify violence.”
At campuses across the U.S., anti-Israel protesters have organized massive demonstrations since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7. The surge in incidents has been paired with antisemitic rhetoric and violence against Jews, leaving many students feeling unsafe and fearful of attending class.
Fox News Digital’s Madeline Coggins and the Associated Press contributed to this update.
Cornell Jewish students described still feeling “terrified” after threats from a self-identified “Hamas fighter” led to the arrest of a suspect from the student body in interviews with Fox News Digital.
On Tuesday, the Department of Justice announced it had a suspect – 21-year-old Patrick Dai –, who is a junior at Cornell, in custody for allegedly posting about threatening to “stab” and “slit the throat” of Jewish males, to “rape” Jewish women and throw them off a cliff and to behead any Jewish babies, according to its press release. Court documents show numerous posts allegedly made by Dai, where he allegedly used usernames like “Hamas fighter,” “jew evil” and “glorious Hamas”
“It’s both scary and sad that a member of our own campus community could be so hateful… To see that a student believes and was willing to make comments such as these shows that Jew-hatred can be anywhere and everywhere, even among our fellow students,” said Cornell student Netanel Shapira. He added it was “scary to think that people around you, especially… at an Ivy League school people take pride in… being well-educated and knowing the facts of what’s going on, and [are] believing in that… Just no words.”
Another student, Amanda Silberstein, criticized the university’s professors for peddling what she believed was propaganda against Israel in response to the arrest. She said it was “terrifying to be on campus right now.”
“Upon discovering that the suspect was, in fact, a fellow student at Cornell, rather than an anonymous individual unaffiliated with the university, the situation took on a heightened sense of reality,” said Amanda Silberstein.
“It’s a stark acknowledgment that harmful ideologies and antisemitic rhetoric persist and spread. This includes the propagation of untruths, the denial of atrocities, the tolerance of hate speech under the guise of free speech, the repetition of propaganda by some professors, and the falsehood that anti-Zionism is anything other than a form of hatred against the Jewish community,” she continued.
Cornell did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Silberstein’s opinion of the “propaganda.”
Fox News Digital’s Hannah Grossman contributed to this update.
On October 7, Hamas launched a multi-pronged terror attack on multiple Israeli army bases, civilian communities and a music festival. The Hamas paragliders who murdered teens and young adults at the music festival have been touted by some as a symbol of the attack, such as the Chicago Black Lives Matter chapter, which posted a graphic of a paraglider with the Palestinian flag that read “I Stand With Palestine.”
After asking about the prospect of revoking visas from foreign students calling for the destruction of Israel and Jewish people, Hawley read one such social media post and asked for Mayorkas’ opinion on the rhetoric.
“What about people who say things like, on October the seventh, ‘F Israel’ — I’m cleaning up the language here — ‘F Israel, the government and its military, are you ready for your downfall?’ People who say things like, ‘F Israel and any Jew who supports Israel. May your conscience haunt your dreams until your last breath. Palestine will be free one day. F apartheid Israel,’ This is pretty extreme rhetoric, don’t you think?”
After Mayorkas argued there is a distinction between “espousing or endorsing terrorist ideology and speech that is odious,” Hawley followed with some key details.
“This person works for you,” he said, noting the DHS worker in question is “an employee of the Department of Homeland Security who posted these comments on October the seventh.”
He went on, “That’s not all she posted,” noting the department employee also posted a “fake graphic” depicting a “Hamas paraglider” armed with a machine gun and flying into Israel.
Hawley noted that this employee posted it with the celebratory caption, “Free PALESTINE.”
Hawley addressed Mayorkas and asked if this “asylum and immigration officer who is posting these, frankly, pro-genocidal slogans and images on the day that Israelis are being slaughtered in their beds” is “typical of people who work for the DHS.”
Mayorkas initially denounced the premise of the question, “Your question to suggest that that is emblematic of the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security is despicable.”
“I’m sorry, this person works for the Department of Homeland Security, have you fired her?” Hawley replied.
Fox News Digital’s Alexander Hall contributed to this update.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said most U.S. companies likely do not want to hire someone who proverbially links arms with a terrorist organization, telling FOX News that those who demonstrate with signs and chants in favor of Hamas should be publicly identified.
Haley said that as a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, she knows that most member nations believe Hamas is a terrorist organization, and that she believes the intergovernmental organization is a farce – and that the ideologically corrupt viewpoints expressed are similar to the reason why she wanted America to split from the World Health Organization during COVID.
“I expected this from the UN, you expect all kinds of ridiculous things at the UN. I fought this battle every day for two years. What I don’t expect is to see what’s happening in our cities and what’s happening on our college campuses, because these protests that we’re seeing,” she told “Hannity.”
“Are you telling me that these professors, these college students, they are supporting a terrorist organization?”
She noted Hamas has murdered at least 33 Americans and taken at least 20 hostage while members of the Palestinian-governing party have chanted “Death to America, and the like.
Haley asked whether the Americans who are demonstrating in favor of Hamas or in agreement with Hamas’ massacre of Israeli civilians therefore also want America to be destroyed.
“If they do, every one of them is dangerous to our country… because that’s what Hamas preaches, is ‘death to America’. So when they get up there, and they hold those signs, or they get upset on why people won’t hire them: it’s because companies don’t want to hire someone who wants to destroy our country,” Haley said.
“That’s why I think every name needs to be … published. Every face needs to be published. And we need to call this out for the hate that it is.”
Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this update.
Israeli mom recounts last call from terrified daughter as group vows to find Hamas hostages
“Mommy, I think I’m going to die,” Romi Gonen, 23, said while shot and bleeding in the back seat of a car during the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks on Israel. Her fate is unknown. Gonen is possibly among the 243 people believed held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. (Courtesy of Bring Them Home Now)
Meirav Gonen listened in real-time terror as her daughter, bleeding in the back seat of a car and fearing death, described by phone the surprise attack by Hamas on a music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
“Mommy, I’m shot. Mommy, I think I’m going to die,” said daughter Romi to her mother during the militant incursion into Israel, as the elder Gonen relayed to Fox News Digital on Tuesday from Tel Aviv.
“I heard her crying very quietly. I heard the shooting all around them,” said the anguished mother.
Gonen does not know the fate of the middle of her five children. But Romi’s best friend, Gaya Halifa, was killed — apparently in the same vehicle.
If Romi Gonen survived, she’s likely one of about 243 people — citizens from up to 20 different countries, including the United States — believed to be kidnapped and held hostage by terrorists in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
Bring Them Home Now, a grassroots humanitarian movement with international volunteers, is determined to find every one of them.
“We demand the safe return of all citizens who have been taken hostage by the terrorist group Hamas,” the group says on its website, story.bringthemhomenow.net.
“We will not rest until every hostage is released and returns home safely,” the group says.
Fox News Digital’s Kerry J. Byrne contributed to this update.
Iran’s leader says countries should ‘block the flow of oil and food’ to Israel
TEHRAN, IRAN – OCTOBER 25: Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran, Iran on October 25, 2023. (Photo by Iranian Leader Press Office / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is calling on countries Wednesday to block the flow of food and oil to Israel over its military action against Hamas inside the Gaza Strip.
Khamenei’s remarks to students in Tehran come after he praised the Palestinian terrorist group for launching its Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.
“What the Islamic governments should insist is an immediate halt to the crimes [the Israelis] are committing in Gaza. The bombardments should immediately stop,” Khamenei was quoted by state media as saying, according to The Associated Press. “They should block the flow of oil and food to the Zionist regime. Islamic governments shouldn’t have economic cooperation with the Zionist regime.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian called on Iran’s Arab-majority neighbors in mid-October to impose an oil embargo on Israel and for nations within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to expel all Israeli ambassadors.
However, OPEC, the organization of largely Arab nations that overseas oil production in the Middle East, has no plans to impose such an embargo, Reuters reported at the time.
“We are not a political organization,” one OPEC source told Reuters.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman and the Associated Press contributed to this update.
Massachusetts family stranded in Gaza speaks out about situation on the ground
The Massachusetts family stranded in Gaza amid the ongoing war between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists said they continue to struggle to access drinking water, fuel and other resources and are hoping for safety as they await updates from the U.S. government about a possible exit plan.
Abood Okal, Wafa Abuzayda and their 1-year-old son, Yousef, were visiting family in Gaza when Hamas launched its largest attack against Israel on Oct. 7. The family has been in the region since late September, and had intended to return home to Medway, Massachusetts, on Oct. 13 before the violence delayed their plans.
In an audio recording obtained by Fox News Digital, Okal explained that the family ran out of drinking water on Sunday and that a nearby desalination station had run out of fuel needed to power generators. He said they have been roaming the main roads and streets in Rafah City, where they are staying in a single-family home with 40 other people including his sister Haneen and her three kids, in search of trucks or carriages carrying tanks of 1,000 or 2,000 liters of drinking water. Haneen and her children are also Americans.
“We stood in line, I think it was for maybe about two hours, to fill one gallon. They tried to limit the portions, so ours was a gallon. And we’re hoping that would last us for the rest of the day today and for most of tomorrow until we could find another place to get drinking water from,” Okal said in the recording created on Monday.
Israel’s military announced Wednesday that more than 11,000 terrorist targets have now been hit inside the Gaza Strip, while the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) shot down a surface-to-air missile fired from Lebanon at one of its drones.
The Israeli air force said in a series of posts that “During the fighting yesterday, IDF fighters identified many terrorists of the terrorist organization Hamas who had barricaded themselves in a multi-story building in the Jabalia area in the northern Gaza Strip.”
“The building is located near a school, a medical center and government offices. The fighters directed air forces that attacked the terrorists,” it added.
The Israeli air force said as military activity in the Gaza Strip continues “since the beginning of the fighting, the IDF has attacked more than 11,000 targets of the terrorist organizations.”
“In addition, IDF forces identified a vehicle carrying anti-tank missiles as it drove towards the forces operating in the Gaza Strip. Following this, the ground forces directed an aircraft that fired at the vehicle. A hit has been detected,” it also said.
Farther north, the IDF shot down a “surface-to-air missile” fired from Lebanon at an IDF remotely-piloted aircraft, according to the Israeli air force.
“In response, Air Force aircraft attacked the source of the fire from which the missile was launched as well as the squad that carried out the launch,” it said.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this update.
Bolivia cuts diplomatic ties with Israel while Chile and Colombia recall their ambassadors
Israeli security forces inspect the damage at a residential building after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashdod, southern Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Ilan Assayag)
Left-wing governments in several South American countries have taken actions against Israel this week, criticizing the reported number of Palestinian deaths in the ongoing war with Hamas.
Bolivia cut diplomatic relations with Israel on Tuesday, accusing the Jewish state of “crimes against humanity.” Meanwhile, Chile and Columbia recalled their ambassadors to Israel and criticized the country’s military offensive against Hamas terrorists.
Bolivian officials cited the number of Palestinian casualties in Gaza that have resulted from the latest Israel-Hamas war, but made no mention of the Hamas attack on Israel at the start of the conflict.
“Bolivia decided to break diplomatic relations with the state of Israel in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive taking place in the Gaza Strip,” Freddy Mamani, Bolivia’s deputy foreign minister, said at a news conference.
Chile recalled its ambassador “in the face of the unacceptable violations of international humanitarian law committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip,” the South American country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Neither country mentioned the Oct. 7 attack perpetrated against Israel by Hamas, in which 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, were butchered by terrorists.
Columbian President Gustavo Petro also said he was recalling his country’s ambassador to Israel.
The Hamas-led Gaza health ministry claims more than 8,500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes and ground operations since the start of the war. Gaza authorities do not distinguish between civilians and terrorists in their reports, which cannot be independently verified.
Massie clashes with pro-Israel group over opposition to $14B aid package
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 20: U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) leaves a closed-door House Republican meeting at the U.S. Capitol on October 20, 2023 in Washington, DC. The House Republican caucus is searching for a new Speaker of the House candidate after Rep. Jim Jordan failed on three separate attempts to achieve a majority of votes in the House of Representatives. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican, responded to criticism from a pro-Israel group after he announced he would vote against a $14.3 billion aid package for Israel.
The aid package for Israel, which is backed by most House Republicans, includes allocating $1.2 billion for the development of the Iron Beam defense system and $4 billion for the country’s Iron Dome and David’s Sling defense systems.
“If Congress sends $14.5 billion to Israel, on average we’ll be taking about $100 from every working person in the United States,” Massie wrote Monday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “This will be extracted through inflation and taxes. I’m against it.”
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee pointed out that the congressman voted last week with nine progressive Democrats, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, against a resolution defending Israel’s right to defend itself and condemning Hamas.
Massie responded to the post on Tuesday by saying the AIPAC was “intentionally misrepresenting” his intent in voting against the resolution. The congressman has condemned Hamas’ terror attack against Israel, but said last week he opposed the resolution because it calls for sanctions and “asserts the necessity of foreign aid commitments which I have voted against.”
“AIPAC always gets mad when I put America first. I won’t be voting for their $14+ billion shakedown of American taxpayers either,” he wrote on Tuesday. “Let them know what you think by replying to their post. They are intentionally misrepresenting my intent and the resolution I voted against.”
The group replied, “The U.S. is stronger when Israel is secure. No misrepresentation, your vote says it all: NO to standing with Israel, NO to condemning Hamas, NO to helping Israel win this war.”
A drone attack on a U.S. base in Syria was thwarted on Wednesday, according to a report.
Two drones targeting Syria’s al-Tanf region were disabled or destroyed by the base defense system, an Iraqi government source told Reuters.
The thwarted attack comes as U.S. and Coalition Forces at Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) installations in Iraq and Syria have been attacked at least 27 times between Oct. 17-31.
Of these attacks, 16 happened in Iraq and 11 took place in Syria. They included a mix of one-way attack drones and rockets.
Most of these attacks were successfully disrupted by military forces and most failed to reach their targets, thanks to robust defenses. One U.S. contractor died as a result of cardiac arrest, when warned of an attack. Several other injuries were reported.
Defense officials have said Iranian-forces are believed to have backed the attacks.
Senior U.S. officials, including President Biden, Vice President Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have discouraged Iran from getting involved. They have also vowed retaliation if U.S. forces are intentionally targeted but have not specified which actions they would take.
The U.S. has deployed carrier group and other forces in the Mediterranean Sea and sent an additional 300 more troops on Wednesday.
Fox News Digital’s Lawrence Richard and Liz Friden contributed to this update.
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis took issue with President Biden’s tact of sending detachments of U.S. troops to the Middle East amid the Hamas invasion of Israel, saying the numbers of troops are too small to be effective but large enough to be a target of America’s enemies.
While Vice President Kamala Harris recently said the administration has “absolutely no intention” to deploy troops to fight in Israel or Gaza, several hundred have been deployed elsewhere and about 2,000 were reportedly told to prepare for potential deployment earlier this month.
The Pentagon has said there have been 27 attacks against American troops in the Mideast in October.
DeSantis, who is running for president, told FOX News on Tuesday that the U.S. taken ineffective actions against Iran – the suspected sponsor of Hamas terror – in that the response to attacks on U.S. servicemembers has been “abysmal.”
“I look at all these attacks that are going against US positions in the Middle East, and it seems like Biden has people there that are effectively sitting ducks,” he said on “Your World.”
“They’re there in probably too small a number to really do a whole lot. But they’re in sufficient numbers where they’re an inviting target.”
Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this update.
An Israeli woman who was taken hostage by Hamas recently told Israeli outlet Ynet that her fellow captives are still alive.
Kibbutz Nir Oz resident Nurit Cooper, 79, was released last week after being kidnapped on October 7. According to an English translation of the Ynet piece, she is “slowly recovering” from the traumatic experience. Cooper’s husband is still in custody of Hamas.
“The abductees are alive,” Cooper is quoted as saying. “Everything must be done to bring them back. I want all the families to be as happy as my family is.”
Cooper’s son told the outlet that her recovery is “not easy at all.”
“She remembers details, but doesn’t always share,” he explained. “She prefers to focus on the future. Father is still kidnapped and she worries about him very much. They were kidnapped together and held together in the same underground room, along with five other kibbutz members.”
“Father must have realized that mother and Yochaved were released,” he added. “The event is very traumatic for her, because the kidnapping was very violent.”
Foreign passport holders were seen entering the Rafah Crossing from Gaza to Egypt Wednesday morning.
These individuals are the first travelers to enter the crossing since the war between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists began on Oct. 7.
This, after Qatar mediated an agreement between Egypt, Hamas and Israel in coordination with the U.S. to open the Rafah Crossing on Wednesday. The agreement allows foreign passport holders and some critically injured civilians out of Gaza.
It is unclear how long the crossing will remain open.
More than 9,700 people have been killed in Gaza and Israel since Hamas launched its largest attack against Israel in decades on Oct. 7, leading to retaliatory action from Israeli forces. Thousands more have been wounded, and many others have been taken hostage by Hamas and raped, tortured and murdered.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
The Ivy League student who allegedly made threats of a mass shooting and antisemitic violence at Cornell University has been criminally charged.
Court documents show that 21-year-old Patrick Dai, a junior at Cornell has been federally charged in connection with the threats following an investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
“It is concerning, of course, that the threats came from within the campus. It must be particularly frightening for students to think that someone they sat in class with or socialized with could make such threats,” said William A. Jacobson, a Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Securities Law Clinic at Cornell Law School. “I hope that there will be a full and transparent investigation of his connections, if any, to any groups or others who may have known of the threats.”
Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price contributed to this update.
Nearly three dozen U.S. citizens were killed when Hamas terrorists executed a sneak attack on Israel on Oct. 7, according to the U.S. State Department.
“At this time, we can confirm the deaths of 35 U.S. citizens who were killed in the October 7 attacks,” the spokesperson said, adding that an additional U.S. citizen died as a result of continued violence after the attacks.
As far as the number of Americans who have died in Gaza, the State Department spokesperson said they are not aware of any, but information about U.S. fatalities in Gaza is “extremely limited” because of the situation.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the victims and to the families of all those affected,” the spokesperson said on behalf of the department.
Of the 35 U.S. citizens the State Department said have died, 26 have been confirmed.
Fox News’ Lawrence Richard and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
The Israeli military reported additional casualties inside the Gaza Strip, the day after it said its first two soldiers were killed during its ground invasion against Hamas Tuesday morning, the first such casualties in Gaza since Israel began its ground operations there.
According to Fox News’ Trey Yingst, who is in Israel, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) were hit by an anti-tank guided missile while operating in the northern part of the strip, leaving at least 10 dead.
Israeli forces entered the second stage of their war with Hamas in what is expected to be a lengthy military operation. Until this week, Israel had largely relied on airstrikes and artillery to retaliate against Hamas’ massacre in Israel on Oct. 7.
Military officials have warned that the war will be long and difficult, potentially spanning months or longer.
The IDF began expanded ground operations this week and ground troops are now tasked with clearing out a complex network of Hamas tunnels and other fortified strongholds. IDF says it has attacked 11,000 targets in Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.
“Combined forces of the IDF attacked many terrorist targets throughout the Gaza Strip during the night, including operational headquarters and squads of Hamas terrorists,” a translated statement from the IDF Wednesday read.
Fox News’ Lawrence Richard and Trey Yingst contributed to this report.
Iran-backed forces across the Middle East have attacked American positions and allies at least 23 times in the last two weeks, the Pentagon said Monday, adding that a U.S. military response will occur “at a time and place of our choosing, and we’re going to continue to do so.”
Since October 17, in the wake of Hamas’s war on Israel, Iranian terror forces have launched 14 attacks on American assets in Iraq and nine in Syria “through a mix of one-way attack drones and rockets,” a senior Defense Department official told reporters during a press briefing. The U.S. military responded last Thursday to these strikes by bombing Iranian positions in Syria, and American forces will continue to target Tehran’s proxy groups at will, the official said. Iran, the Pentagon assesses, is targeting American forces, threatening to drag the United States into a larger regional war.
“It’s about Iran and the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps], who use infrastructure, militants, and proxies on the ground across the Middle East to include both Iraq and Syria,” the Defense Department official said, speaking only on background. “We reserve the right to respond at a time and place of our choosing, and we’re going to continue to do so.”
“Let me be clear,” the official added: “We’re going to continue to respond when the president decides that’s necessary for U.S. force protection.”
In the weeks since the Iran-backed terrorist group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing more than 1,400, Tehran’s allies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen have stepped up their terrorism activities. These activities include rocket fire and shelling on Israel from areas in both Syria and Lebanon, where Hezbollah forces are stationed.
Iran’s assets in Iraq have also increased their strikes on American forces in the country, resulting in last week’s military response by the United States. The Pentagon also said that Hamas militants are using hospitals and other civilian structures to conduct their terrorism operations against Israel.
The Israeli military’s foray into civilian areas of the Gaza Strip has fueled accusations that the country is intentionally targeting innocents, claims that have been amplified by anti-Israel U.S. lawmakers such as Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.). The Pentagon, however, says it has seen evidence that Hamas is using civilian structures as command centers.
“What I would say about Hamas is [its] use of civilian structures for command-and-control facilities and to hide weapons,” the official said. “There is an abundance of public reporting about the ways in which Hamas uses civilians as human shields and civilian structures to hide and obfuscate tunnels, as well as weapons.”
This includes “Hamas’s use of hospitals to emplace command-and-control infrastructure or other weapons that can be used against Israeli civilians.”
As of Monday afternoon, the Pentagon said it has no plans to facilitate “military-assisted departures” for American citizens stuck in the region.
The United States is sending an additional 300 troops to the Middle East with a focus on providing support in areas like explosive ordnance disposal and communications, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said the troops would be going from the United States but would not be in Israel.
“They are intended to support regional deterrence efforts and further bolster us force protection capabilities,” Ryder said.
He added that this month there have been 27 attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.
At least 33 Americans killed in Israel-Hamas war, secretary of state tells UN
Israeli forces have escalated their bombardment of the Gaza Strip as the war with Hamas enters its 18th day. The war is now the deadliest war in Gaza for both sides. The Hamas-run Health Ministry claims at least 5,087 Palestinians have been killed and 15,270 wounded. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed since the Oct. 7 surprise attack by Hamas, in which 222 people including foreigners were taken captive into Gaza. Four people have been released so far.
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American troops attacked repeatedly in Middle East as war between Israel and Hamas continues
The Pentagon is seen from a flight taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on November 29, 2022 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
U.S. officials announced on Tuesday that American troops in the Middle East have been attacked 14 times in the last week.
The attacks were carried out with rockets and one-way drones. U.S. Department of Defense spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder explained that, between October 17 and 24, American troops in Iraq were attacked 10 times.
During the same time frame, U.S. troops in Syria were attacked three times.
At a Monday briefing, a senior defense official said that they expected to see a “significant escalation” of attacks against American troops due to the war.
“I think it’s fair to say when you see this uptick in activity in attacks by many of these groups, there’s Iranian fingerprints all over it,” the defense official explained.
Two U.S. defense officials confirmed later on Tuesday that Iran proxy forces fired a rocket at Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base, which houses American troops.
No injuries or damages or reported from the rocket, which was intercepted.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and Liz Friden contributed to this report.
Israel-Hamas war: IDF stops Hamas terrorists’ attempt to invade by sea
Israel continues to deploy soldiers, tanks and armored vehicles near the Gaza border in Sderot, Israel on October 24, 2023.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported early Wednesday morning that Hamas terrorists attempted to invade Israel by sea on Tuesday.
“Hamas terrorists attempting to infiltrate Israeli territory by sea were identified by naval forces in southern Israel earlier today,” the IDF explained in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The terrorists were thwarted and the tunnel was struck, in addition to a weapons warehouse used by the terrorists in Gaza,” the post added.
The IDF previously released footage of a naval squad stopping Hamas fighters from reaching Israel’s coastline on October 7, when the terrorist attacks began.
The soldiers took down Hamas speedboats, which ignited, and shot the terrorists who were swimming away.
Hundreds of pro-Israel demonstrators gathered in Boston Common on Monday evening amid the war between Hamas and Israel.
Many of the protestors objected to the New York Times’ coverage of an airstrike at a Gaza hospital on October 17. The report claimed that hundreds were killed by an Israeli airstrike, based off of information from Hamas officials.
Israeli and American intelligence later found that Israel was not responsible for the incident. A rocket fired by Iran-backed terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad misfired and crashed.
A protestor named Lia, who hails from Israel, told Fox News that the article made Jews less safe.
“It’s anywhere from adults to kids in schools who later take this false information and use it to attack innocent Israelis just because they read some fake article,” she said. “People are being harassed and abused because of it.”
Another Israeli named Tamir said that the reports endangers Jews across the world.
“I can feel people being hostile towards us,” he said.
Fox News Digital’s Kassy Dillon contributed to this report.
Israel-Hamas war: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis cracking down on pro-Hamas sentiment on campuses
Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during the 2023 First in the Nation Leadership Summit on October 13, 2023 in Nashua, New Hampshire. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is working with the chancellor of the Sunshine State’s university system to crack down on pro-Hamas sentiment at universities.
Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of the State University System of Florida, recently wrote a letter to Florida state universities condemning the terrorist attacks against Israel, which began on October 7.
“During a holy Jewish holiday, the recognized terrorist organization, Hamas, launched an unprovoked attack on Israel – among those killed were babies, women, and elderly,” Rodrigues wrote. “To date, approximately 1,400 Israelis have been killed, including 31 American citizens. Governor DeSantis, our State University System and the Florida College System have condemned these attacks.”
The letter added that it would be a “felony under Florida law to knowingly provide material support … to a designated foreign terrorist organization.” Rodrigues referenced that at least two universities in the Florida system had students tied to National Students for Justice in Palestine, which called the Hamas attacks “the resistance.”
“Based on the National SJP’s support of terrorism, in consultation with Governor DeSantis, the student chapters must be deactivated,” the letter said. “These two student chapters may form another organization that complies with Florida state statutes and university policies.”
“The two institutions should grant these two chapters a waiver for the fall deadlines, should reapplication take place,” Rodrigues added.
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
Israel-Hamas war: Biden speaks with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia about conflict
U.S. President Joe Biden arrives at a ceremony for recipients of the National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation in the East Room of the White House on October 24, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
President Biden discussed the Israel-Hamas war over the phone with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday, as the leaders agreed to try to prevent the escalation of the conflict.
“The two leaders agreed on pursuing broader diplomatic efforts to maintain stability across the region and prevent the conflict from expanding,” a statement from the White House read. “They welcomed the delivery of humanitarian assistance from Egypt into Gaza and recognized that much more is needed for civilians to have sustained access to food, water, and medical assistance.”
The statement also acknowledged the $100 million donation to support humanitarian efforts on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which is headquartered in Saudi Arabia.
Biden and the Crown Prince also advocated for the immediate release of hostages that were taken by Hamas into Gaza.
“They also affirmed the importance of working towards a sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians as soon as the crisis subsides, building on the work that was already underway between Saudi Arabia and the United States over recent months,” the statement added. “They agreed to remain in close coordination directly and through their teams over the coming period.”
Several Hamas terrorists attempted to infiltrate Israel from the Gaza Strip by sea and were killed by Israeli Navy forces, the IDF said.
At least six Hamas terrorists were killed when Israeli fighter jets responded to a diver squad attempted to enter Israel by Zekim beach, sources tell Fox News.
Israeli forces have struck more than 400 terrorist targets in the past 24 hours, the military said Tuesday.
As part of its “wide-scale operation” to dismantle Hamas’ capabilities, the IDF said the targets struck include: Hamas gunmen setting up to fire rockets in Israel’s direction, an operational tunnel shaft allowing Israel to be infiltrated through the sea, and Hamas command centers and staging armaments in Mosques.
The focus continues to be on eliminating Hamas operatives and “weapons storage sites, underground terrorist tunnels, command centers, observation posts and more,” the IDF said in its daily recap.
The force also said it will continue operating with the safety of innocent civilians in mind.
Fox News’ Elizabeth Pritchett and Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this update.
The barbaric attack on Israeli civilians over the weekend by Hamas terrorists has left people wondering, as we often do after mass tragedies: How did no one see this coming? As a surprisingly sophisticated, coordinated surprise attack left nearly 1,000 people dead and countless more innocents wounded or kidnapped, anyone can recognize the massive intelligence failure without calling into question who is morally culpable for the invasion. Iran-backed militants attacked civilians from multiple points of entry, hang-gliding into a music festival and dragging the bodies of murdered women through the streets, all effectively livestreamed on the internet.
It wasn’t just an intel failure on Israel’s part — as a close ally with an intelligence presence all over the world, the United States also failed to foresee the attack. A senior U.S. military official admitted to NBC News that “We were not tracking this.” CIA counterterrorism veteran Marc Polymeropoulos told the outlet he was “stunned” that American intel agencies were caught off guard.
Intelligence operatives are fallible, yes. But instead of identifying the threat from Hamas terrorists, the Biden administration was busy sending money to their state sponsors in Iran and employing Iranian conspirators at the Pentagon.
There’s another task that’s been keeping America’s so-called “counterterrorism” apparatus busy lately, though. Instead of focusing their efforts on actual terrorists — those abroad and those doubtless infiltrating our porous southern border — the Biden administration has continued, and escalated, the trend of turning our post-9/11 surveillance state against Americans, smearing them as “terrorists” for their political beliefs.
Just last week, Newsweek reported that the FBI is targeting Trump supporters as “domestic terrorists” ahead of the 2024 election. The universal line from the Biden administration is that “domestic terrorism” and its aliases — all of which are used as code for political right-wingers — are the No. 1 threat to national security. The effort to make an example out of Trump supporters who demonstrated at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is only one of numerous instances in which Democrats within and beyond intelligence agencies are working to equate “domestic terrorism” with their political opponents.
Two years ago, Biden’s Education Department infamously planted a letter from the National School Boards Association to Attorney General Merrick Garland, urging him to target concerned parents who showed up at school board meetings to protest Democrats’ Covid policies and their racialist and sexually graphic curricula in public schools. The letter smeared those parents as domestic terror threats and urged the Department of Justice to wield counterterrorism laws against them, and Garland happily acted on the suggestion.
A few months later, the politicized Department of Justice announced a new “domestic terrorism unit” to deal with “an elevated threat from domestic violence extremists,” including “those who ascribe to extremist anti-government and anti-authority ideologies.” (Who knew the Founding Fathers were domestic terrorists?)
Taking things, a step further, disgraced former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe claimed that targeting the “fringes of the right-wing movement” was insufficient to “catch this threat,” and instead called for federal suspicion of “mainstream” conservatives.
In June 2021, the Biden administration released a “National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism.” It proposed to “counter domestic terrorism by addressing underlying racism and bigotry” — and they weren’t talking about the racism that led Hamas militants to slaughter Israeli civilians this past weekend and has driven violence against Israel in the region for decades. A National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin issued the same year lumped “conspiracy theories on perceived election fraud” and “responses to anticipated restrictions relating to the increasing COVID cases” in the same sentence as “domestic violent extremist ideologies.”
Our intelligence apparatus expends resources on things like telling Big Tech companies which free-thinking Americans’ social media posts to censor, as we discovered via the “Twitter Files” and Missouri v. Biden. It’s actively researching how to most efficiently surveil what you say online. The FBI has been putting its resources to work targeting — and likely “infiltrating” — traditional Catholic congregations, and terrorizing peaceful pro-lifers like Mark Houck, a pastor who was dragged away in a surprise raid at his home in front of his family.
It’s not just domestic intel agencies being wielded against Americans; the CIA did its part to help Twitter censor speech, and even solicited signatures to help falsely smear damaging reporting about the Biden family as disinformation ahead of the 2020 election. (For some reason, none of those involved are being arrested for “conspiracy against voting rights.”)
Across the board, we’ve seen the people we elected, and countless bureaucrats we did not, weaponizing supposedly counterterror laws like the Patriot Act against Americans’ First and Fourth Amendment freedoms (at least).
Imagine if those resources were redirected away from targeting ordinary, law-abiding Americans for their political views and aimed at stopping actual terrorists who seek to harm us and our allies. Contrary to the pretense that surveilling Americans as walking national security threats is for our own protection, our world would be a lot safer.
Elle Purnell is an assistant editor at The Federalist, and received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. Follow her work on Twitter @_etreynolds.
Now that Congress has funded the federal government for the next month and a half, the White House and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are hard at work looking for ways to pour more U.S. taxpayer money into Ukraine’s forever war with Russia.
During a White House press briefing on Monday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre fretted that the administration is running out of the money needed to bankroll its continuing proxy war with Moscow. Government officials estimate there is approximately $6 billion remaining in military funds for Ukraine.
“It is enough to — for us to meet the — meet Ukraine’s urgent battlefield needs for a bit — for a bit longer,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.
Even though a majority of Americans oppose continued U.S. funding for Ukraine, congressional Democrats spent a significant portion of this past weekend’s spending fight arguing that more aid be shipped to the Eastern European nation. It was thanks to House Republicans and a handful of GOP senators that Congress ultimately approved a 45-day continuing resolution devoid of such funding.
Of course, this hasn’t stopped President Joe Biden or congressional leadership from professing their support for shipping more U.S. tax dollars to Ukraine. While discussing the spending fight, Biden suggested he’d reached an agreement with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to continue funding the conflict. Despite pushing back on the president’s insinuation that a deal had been made, McCarthy did proclaim to reporters on Monday that he’s “always supported arming Ukraine” and “believe[s] Ukraine is very important.”
Congress and the Biden administration committed more than $113 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars to Ukraine in 2022, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
But while Washington overzealously focuses on Ukraine’s military, concerns affecting America’s own armed forces have gone by the wayside. On Thursday, the U.S. Marine Corps announced it is lowering its uniform standards to compensate for a shortage of camouflage attire typically worn by service members. According to Commandant Gen. Eric Smith, local battalions are “authorized” to wear alternate attire contrary to Marine regulations to “mitigate” an ongoing manufacturing shortfall that’s left service members struggling to acquire woodland-patterned “cammies.”
“What we cannot have is a situation where a Marine is wearing unserviceable cammies, because that looks bad for the Corps, and we can’t have a situation where that Marine is being given a hard time about those unserviceable cammies. We’re going to get this fixed, Marines, but it’s going to take a little patience,” Smith said, adding that the problem won’t be fixed until the fall of 2024.
According to the Marine Corps Times, service members normally receive “three sets of woodland cammies and two sets of desert cammies.” Due to the ongoing shortage, however, the service has been providing Marines “two woodland sets and one desert set.” Meanwhile, new enlistees have reportedly been forced to undergo “entry-level training in flame-resistant organizational gear,” which are “typically reserved for deployments,” to compensate for the shortages.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
“US military asks the public for help finding its missing F-35 fighter jet after its pilot had to eject while training over South Carolina.”
While the above Insider headline may sound like a comedic piece straight from the pages of The Babylon Bee, it’s not. The U.S. military actually publicly claimed it had lost a multi-million-dollar fighter jet.
The loss occurred Sunday following an alleged “mishap” that required the aircraft’s pilot to eject. The F-35 purportedly kept on flying. It wasn’t until Monday evening — a day after Joint Base Charleston requested the public’s assistance in finding the missing jet — that military officials announced they had discovered a debris field “about two hours northeast” of the base.
The debacle has since prompted the Marine Corps’ acting commandant, Eric Smith, to issue a “two-day stand-down” order for all military aviation units “both inside and outside of the United States.”
A Sign of Decline
This episode raises so many questions. For one, how does the U.S. military — the supposed best and most advanced fighting force on the planet — lose a highly-valued asset, especially over U.S. soil?
Why are military bases such as Joint Base Charleston acting as landing pads for commercial planes transporting members of the People’s Republic of China — the very government trying to topple the United States as the world’s hegemon?
While it’s improbable any of these questions will actually be answered to the public’s satisfaction, the likely answers probably wouldn’t reverse Americans’ waning confidence in the ability of U.S. military leadership to defend the American homeland. Nor should they.
This week’s fighter jet fiasco is just one example of many showcasing a U.S. military in severe institutional decline. Instead of focusing on how to win wars — which should be the sole purpose of any military — top Pentagon brass have since at least the Clinton administration treated the service as one giant, left-wing social experiment.
This is a drag queen that the Biden admin hired to try to recruit servicemembers. Is this supposed to convince people to join the military? pic.twitter.com/5UHMJvNSXJ
Through its adoption and outright promotion of neo-Marxist ideologies including DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), the military has sacrificed efficiency, ruthlessness, and strength for LGBTcelebrations, racial politics, and climate alarmism. A look into the backgrounds of President Biden’s manymilitarynomineesshows the primary focus of the Pentagon’s leading figures isn’t defeating communist China or protecting Americans from other international threats, it’s crafting a “diverse” and “inclusive” social club where leftist lunacy is treated as gospel and conservative “wrongthink” as extreme.
Look no further than the Pentagon’s abortion policy, which violates U.S. law in using taxpayer money to pay for female military members’ travel expenses to kill their unborn child. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Democrats have baselessly claimed for months that Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s slow-walking of Biden’s military nominees in protest of the policy harms “military readiness.”
If that’s true, then why hasn’t the Pentagon dropped its policy?
If “readiness” is such a major concern, why did the military fire thousands of service members who chose not to get an experimental shot?
And why isn’t Democrat Chuck Schumer using his power as Senate majority leader to approve Biden’s supposedly important nominees?
The reason, as tacitly admitted by the heads of the Army, Air Force, and Navy, is that taxpayer-funded abortions are a sacrament of the leftist religion so must be preserved at all costs. Coupled with decades of failed military adventurism and nation-building like that conducted in Afghanistan, it’s no wonder the U.S. military is facing the worst recruiting crisissince shifting to an all-volunteer force in 1973.
A High Price to Pay
The Marxist hijacking of America’s military isn’t an accident; it’s an intentional act contributing to the left’s greater plan to re-invent society. For the left, the military is just another piece on the American chessboard to coopt. It’s why the military so vigorously promotes Marxism and penalizes conservative beliefs: to dissuade the God and America-loving patriots who have largely staffed it for generations from joining or remaining in service.
As witnessed many times before, however, the leftist takeover of institutions has its costs. Only America’s “rainbow” military could cost our country its security and well-being.
For decades, the U.S. military has prevented widespread global conflict, deterring aggression from hostile actors and maintaining peace through strength. If the world’s leading aggressors no longer view America as the dominant military power, where does that leave us? If the U.S. gets dragged into a war with a rival power, can we be confident our “rainbow” fighting force can get the job done? The withdrawal from Afghanistan and growing quagmire in Ukraine atop the failed war in Iraq and our military’s distraction into identity politics don’t bode well.
Much like the missing F-35, our nation’s military is lost with no sense of direction or purpose, and those faithfully committed to the American cause are forced to bail out. Let us hope and pray for new military leadership before it’s too late.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
An Air Force colonel nominated by President Joe Biden once claimed that “white colonels” are the “biggest barriers” to addressing so-called “racial injustice” in the U.S. military, according to a new report.
On Thursday, The Daily Signal’s Rob Bluey reported that Col. Benjamin Jonsson, who is “currently awaiting promotion to brigadier general,” penned an article in the Air Force Times weeks after George Floyd’s death lamenting his fellow white airmen don’t go along with leftist talking points about so-called “racial injustice” in the U.S. armed forces.
“As white colonels, you and I are the biggest barriers to change if we do not personally address racial injustice in our Air Force. Defensiveness is a predictable response by white people to any discussion of racial injustice. White colonels are no exception,” Jonsson wrote. “We are largely blind to institutional racism, and we take offense to any suggestion that our system advantaged us at the expense of others.”
Jonsson went on claim he “drew attention” to the notion that “racial tension remains an important issue to address” while speaking with two white colonels. According to Jonsson, his “introduction of race into the conversation created social discomfort,” allegedly causing both service members to “ameliorate” the situation “with humor.” He furthermore admonished a fellow white colonel who purportedly expressed the meritocratic sentiment that “when anyone joins the Air Force, they need to adopt the culture of the Air Force [and] that [the branch] should not make cultural accommodations.”
“By obscuring any cultural differences in the Air Force, he excused himself from the need to dig into the underlying issue of racial disparity,” Jonsson regurgitated the leftist talking points.
But Jonsson wasn’t quite finished demanding his fellow service members view the world through a racial lens. At the end of his article, the Air Force colonel recommended airmen develop a “game plan” to break so-called “invisible barriers” in the military by reading Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, a book that promotes divisive ideologies such as critical race theory (CRT).
“Dear white colonel, it is time to give a damn. Aim High,” he added.
The Air Force Times article is hardly the only incident in which Jonsson has pushed the military to adopt ideas saturated in so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI), a poisonous left-wing framework that dismisses merit and instead discriminates based on characteristics such as skin color and sex.
In a December 2020 video commemorating the service of a Tuskegee Airman, Jonsson said the celebration gives the Air Force a chance to “acknowledge that there’s still progress that we need to make as a service.”
“There’s still barriers, more invisible barriers, that some of our airmen from underrepresented groups … still feel in their service,” Jonsson claimed. “We’re aggressively knocking down those barriers.”
According to a September 2022 Fox News report, the Air Force Academy — where Jonsson had apparently begun serving as vice superintendent in August 2022 — has regularly forced cadets to undergo DEI instruction. In one slideshow titled, “Diversity & Inclusion: What it is, why we care, & what we can do,” cadets are told to utilize words that “include all genders” and avoid using terms such as “mom,” “dad,” and “colorblind.”
An Air Force cadet writing under a pseudonym detailed in the Washington Examiner earlier this summer his experiences with the academy’s embrace of “leftist ideologies.” The cadet specifically noted how “critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings [are] being forced upon us by academy leadership” and that in doing so, the school has “divided the cadet wing from within, in a profession where unity is essential.”
Jonsson’s apparent infatuation with CRT and DEI ideologies further highlights the importance of Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s ongoing bid to force individual votes on Biden’s military appointees. Using his role on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Tuberville has been slowing down military personnel moves that require Senate confirmation to protest the Pentagon’s use of taxpayer money to cover service members’ travel expenses to get abortions.
To be clear, Tuberville is not blocking votes, but is forcing the Armed Services Committee to vote on each nomination individually rather than voting “en masse on large numbers of nominations.” The Alabama senator has since faced numerous attacks from Democrats and establishment Republicans, many of whom have baselessly claimed his protest is harming “military readiness.”
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
An Army installation in Texas has been struggling to put food on the table for its soldiers for months as the base faces a shortage of cooks to staff its dining facilities.
Fort Cavazos, previously known as Fort Hood, has struggled to provide its junior enlisted troops with meals for months, with the base only opening two of its 10 major dining facilities for much of the summer and with limited times, according to a report Tuesday from Military.com.
According to the report, the base has faced a shortage of cooks to man the dining facilities around base, with many Army cooks either on deployment or away on field training. Soldiers who depend on the dining facilities to eat have also faced confusing and conflicting opening schedules for the facilities as base officials attempt to move personnel around to staff the food service buildings.
Bernie Beck Gate at Fort Hood, Texas, now known as Fort Cavazos. (Drew Anthony Smith/Getty Images)
Some of the dining facilities have only been opened during limited times, forcing some soldiers to drive a long distance across one of the military’s largest installations in attempts to get food.
“For months, one [dining facility] was open and was a more than 30-minute drive for my soldiers,” a noncommissioned officer who anonymously spoke to Military.com said. “All the soldiers were going to that one. It’s unmanageable during the workday.”
Many Army cooks have been pulled off the base for a rotation at the National Training Center and for support of a cadet exercise at Fort Knox, Kentucky, further straining the Fort Cavazos facilities, according to the report.
Soldiers eat at the Patriot Inn Dining Facility at Fort Hood, Texas, on Jan. 9. 2015. (U.S. Army)
Making matters more difficult, many junior enlisted soldiers do not have vehicles, and there has been limited shuttle service options available to get those members to the facilities. Two of the installation’s dining facilities have been reopened in the past week, according to the report, potentially providing some relief to soldiers facing packed facilities and logistical hurdles.
The report comes as the military has continued to battle its worst recruiting crisis in over 50 years, with the Army being the branch hardest hit by the shortfall, falling 15,000 recruits short of hitting its goal in fiscal year 2022. While Army leaders, including Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, have expressed optimism that the branch has turned the tide this fiscal year, it is still expected to come well short of meeting its goals again ahead of Sept. 30, the last day of fiscal year 2023.
While it is unclear if the cook shortage at Fort Cavazos is related to recruiting issues, Army leaders have made improving dining facilities a key focus raising the quality of life for troops, an issue that could help to alleviate some of the recruiting shortfall.
Staff Sgt. Sean Prater, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 115th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, works on creating a stuffed beef loin on Nov. 18, 2015, for the Thanksgiving Day celebration. (U.S. Army)
For the time being, Army officials are considering a plan to allow soldiers to use meal cards typically used at official dining facilities at on-post military restaurants such as Panera and Qdoba. That idea is currently being piloted at Fort Drum, New York, according to the report.
Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, an Army spokesperson said the issues experienced at Fort Cavazos stemmed from “Combat Training Center rotations, operational deployments around the world, facility renovations, and support to Cadet Summer Training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, Fort Cavazos was limited to running two Warrior Restaurants during the month of July.”
However, the spokesperson stressed that “dining facilities available through July did not reach capacity and were well stocked throughout the month. Since August 1st Fort Cavazos has reopened multiple Warrior Restaurants on base. There are currently five opened facilities.”
“We take the health and welfare of our Soldiers seriously and making sure our Soldiers have the sustenance necessary to them is a top priority,” the spokesperson said. “Flyers and posters were placed throughout unit areas, barracks, and at all dining facilities to inform Soldiers of the changes for the summer.
“As our operational demands shift, the availability of dining facilities will also be adjusted to meet the needs of our Soldiers. Earlier this summer, the Commanding General established an Installation-level food service board to ensure the best use of food service resources in support of our Soldiers. As of 1 August, two of the largest dining facilities have re-opened.”
Michael Lee is a writer at Fox News. Follow him on Twitter @UAMichaelLee
Americans’ confidence in the U.S. military is at the lowest point in two decades, new data from Gallup has found. When asked how much confidence they had in the military, 60% said they had a great deal or quite a lot. The last time confidence in the military was this low was in 1997, and it hasn’t been lower since 1988, when 58% were confident, according to Gallup.
Republicans have been the most likely to express confidence in the military, though the rate has declined by over 20 percentage points in three years, from 91% to 68%, Gallup reported.
Independents’ confidence has dropped nearly as much — by 13 points, from 68% to 55%. Democrats’ confidence rating rose after President Joe Biden assumed office, but the gains to 68% have disappeared in the past year, and now stand at 62%, the pollster found.
“Public perceptions of the U.S. military have fluctuated dramatically over the past five decades,” Gallup’s Mohamed Younis wrote in an analysis of the findings.
“The aftermaths of the Gulf War and 9/11 were followed by resounding upticks in confidence in the military,” he added. “The latter of these surges ushered in an era of elevated confidence lasting nearly two decades.
“Now that the U.S. has completely withdrawn from both Iraq and Afghanistan … confidence in the military has continued to decline among the public.”
According to Gallup, from the late 1970s to the early 1980s — during the Cold War and amid threats to U.S. power, including the Iran hostage crisis — between 50% and 58% of Americans were confident in the military. Confidence generally improved during Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s. It then surged after the Gulf War victory to a record-high 85% in 1991, and again after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
Confidence generally held above 70% for the next two decades, until dipping to 69% in 2021 and declining since then after the United States’ disastrous exit from Afghanistan. The military had retained public trust — despite its decline — even as other institutions like the police, public schools, and organized religion saw steep drops, according to Gallup.
A Department of Defense memo has recently been brought to light that reveals the special treatment that transvestites are to receive from and in the U.S. military — an organization historically entrusted with maintaining a robust fighting force to win America’s wars and protect U.S. national interests.
Transvestite privileges in the military have come a long way since President Joe Biden signed an executive order in January 2021 overturning the Trump administration’s ban on the service of “transgender” individuals in the armed forces. Now, service members who deny the reality of their biological sex will not only receive a host of sex-change and cosmetic surgeries at taxpayers’ expense — if so desired — but can also receive exemptions from uniform and fitness standards as well sit out deployments.
These and other perks are detailed in a Feb. 1 document obtained by independent journalist Jordan Schachtel of the Dossier, entitled “Care of Service Members Who Identify as Transgender.” The “proponent” of this document appears to have been U.S. Army Colonel David R. Zinnante, commander of the Womack Army Medical Center.
The stated objectives of the document are to ensure uniform guidelines accommodate transvestites; ensure that transvestites seeking hormone injections or sex-change mutilations are tended to by clinicians “who are qualified to deliver safe healthcare that is culturally sensitive”; and to “emphasize appropriate communication with unit commanders.” America’s gender-dysphoric warfighters must be provided “a safe and effective pathway to achieve lasting personal comfort with their gendered selves,” according to the memo.
To ensure and maximize this personal comfort, the Pentagon will pay for transvestites’ so-called care, including but not limited to, “speech/voice therapy, cross-sex hormone therapy, laser hair removal, voice feminization surgery, facial contouring, body contouring, breast/chest surgery (colloquially referred to as ‘upper’ surgery), and genital reassignment/confirmation surgery (‘lower’ surgery).”
In order to receive this “care,” service members need to undergo psychological assessment. Whereas mentally ill recruits, those found to be on medications, women with abnormal uterine bleeding, men with mangled genitals, those with chronic anxiety, those who have committed self-harm, and those who have met in the past with psychiatrists are routinely barred from joining the armed forces, it appears such prohibitions do not apply to those who claim to be “transgender,” although transvestites still apparently have to “demonstrate evidence of resilience and adaptability in both military training and non-training environments” and undergo various evaluations.
The Biden White House has stated that “America is stronger, at home and around the world, when it is inclusive. … The military is no exception.”
One of the memo’s appendices appears to suggest otherwise, noting that cross-sex hormone treatments have a number of deleterious effects, such as:
The guidelines apply to active-duty service members currently assigned to and serving with the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Space Force, or Coast Guard “who receive their care at Womack Army Medical Center and affiliated health clinics.”
A Feb. 22, 2018, Pentagon memo indicated that based on “the Department’s best military judgment, the Department of Defense concludes that there are substantial risks associated with allowing the accession and retention of individuals with a history or diagnosis of gender dyphoria and require or have already undertake, a course of treatment to change their gender.”
The memo, penned by then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis, added, “The Department also finds that exempting such persons from well-established mental health, physical health, and sex-based standards, which apply to all Service members, including transgender Service members without gender dysphoria, could undermine readiness, disrupt unit cohesion, and impose an unreasonable burden on the military that is not conducive to military effectiveness and lethality.”
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A plainclothes American soldier has been detained in North Korea Tuesday after crossing the Military Demarcation Line separating the country from South Korea, U.S. officials tell Fox News.
A senior defense official tells Fox News that Private 2nd Class Travis King had just finished about two months in a South Korean detention facility following a physical altercation with locals. After King was arrested and throughout the time he was held at the facility he made comments that he did not want to come back to America, according to the official. A U.S. Forces Korea spokesperson said King was on a joint security area orientation tour on Tuesday when he “willfully andwithout authorization crossed the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).”
“We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA (Korean People’s Army) counterparts to resolve this incident,” the spokesperson added.
In this photo taken on May 9, 2023, South Korean soldiers walk at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Joint Security Area (JSA) of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea, with a view of North Korea’s Panmon Hall in the background. (Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images)
King, who is serving under U.S. Forces Korea and the U.S. Army, was due to face disciplinary action from military officials, a senior U.S. defense official has told Fox News. Prior to his detainment by Kim Jong Un’s regime, King was released from the South Korea detention facility and spent about one week under observation at a U.S. base in South Korea. King was supposed to board a flight to go back to the U.S. and was escorted to an airport. But the military escort could not follow him past airport security, so King entered the terminal by himself with no escort. King later was alone Tuesday when he left the airport terminal for the tour of the DMZ.
King was to be separated from the military for cause, and was supposed to go back to the U.S., according to an official that spoke to Fox News, but he missed his flight.
The location of where a U.S. soldier reportedly crossed the Military Demarcation Line and was detained by North Korea, on Tuesday, July 18, 2023. (Fox News)
A U.S. defense official also told Fox News the soldier was on a tour in a personal capacity and was wearing civilian clothes at the time of the incident.
North Korea’s state media has not commented on the matter.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions and I can tell you our U.S. military right now is mounting a full investigation,” Dan Hoffman, a former CIA station chief, told “Fox & Friends”. “I’m sure they are talking to anyone at that demilitarized zone who might have witnessed the soldier crossing over into North Korean territory. That is one of the most heavily surveilled geographic areas on the planet.”
“Now North Korea has another piece of leverage that they can use against us and we know from the past that they have used U.S. persons as pawns to gain traction and negotiations with the United States,” Hoffman added.
South Korean soldiers stand guard during a media tour of the Joint Security Area (JSA) in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in the border village of Panmunjom in Paju on March 3, 2023. (Jeon-Heon-Kyun/AFP via Getty Images)
A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital it is “aware of reports from the Department of Defense that a U.S. service member willfully and without authorization crossed the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” but “Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment at this time.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also said “We’re closely monitoring and investigating the situation and working to notify the soldier’s next of kin and engaging to address this incident.
“In terms of my concerns, I’m absolutely foremost concerned about the welfare of our troop,” Austin added. “And so we will remain focused on this.”
The State Department advises Americans not to travel to North Korea “due to the continuing serious risk of arrest and long-term detention of U.S. nationals.”
“The U.S. government is unable to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in North Korea as it does not have diplomatic or consular relations with North Korea,” it adds in a travel advisory.
Cases of Americans or South Koreans defecting to North Korea are rare, though more than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea to avoid political oppression and economic difficulties since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to The Associated Press.
The Korean border village of Panmunjom, located inside the 154-mile-long Demilitarized Zone, was created at the close of the Korean War. The area is jointly overseen by the U.N. Command and North Korea.
Since February, Alabama Republican Tommy Tuberville has been using a “senatorial hold” to block personnel moves by the U.S. military that require Senate confirmation. The media and Democrats are very upset that Tuberville is “waging an unprecedented campaign” and embroiling our vital national defense policy in the culture war.
Joe Biden claims that Republicans are “injecting into fundamental foreign policy decisions what in fact is a domestic social debate on social issues is bizarre,” which is “totally irresponsible.” While I don’t know much about Tommy Tuberville, the president has it backward. It was Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, not any Republican, who broke with 45 years of policy last year by instituting effective reimbursements for elective abortions by military and dependents. It is just as true to say, probably truer, that the president is the one holding up military promotions by unilaterally trashing policy that has been in place since 1980.
One of the implications of most stories covering the military hold debate illustrates the radically rightward shift and unprecedented fanaticism of Republican politics. This, too, is backward. Biden, who supported the Hyde Amendment, a law banning federal funds to pay for abortion, from 1976-2019, is an exemplar of the hard-left cultural lurch of the modern left. Biden had not merely gone along with the Hyde Amendment as a means of compromising with Republicans back in the ’80s and ’90s. Until the past couple of decades, the abortion debate wasn’t neatly divided by party, and Biden, purportedly a devout Catholic, had to keep conservative working-class Delawarean voters happy. In 1994, the future president wrote a letter to a constituent bragging that he had voted against abortion funding on 50 occasions.
Like most things Biden says, this was probably untrue. But he did vote to save the Hyde Amendment repeatedly over the decades. Biden also voted against allowing Medicaid to fund abortions, even for victims of rape and incest. He supported a Jesse Helms amendment that would have prohibited using federal funds for abortions and abortion research or training. Biden voted numerous times to prohibit the Federal Employees Health Benefits program from funding abortions for government workers.
Indeed, Biden was constantly “injecting into fundamental foreign policy decisions what in fact is a domestic social debate on social issues.” He didn’t merely support banning public funding for abortion in the United States; he wrote an amendment to Foreign Assistance Act — for years, referred to as the “Biden amendment” — that barred U.S. foreign aid from being used in any research related to abortions. In 1984, Biden supported the “Mexico City policy,” banning federal funding for private organizations that provide abortion, advocate to decriminalize abortion, or expand abortion services.
Even on June 5, 2019, not long after his 2020 presidential campaign kickoff, Biden publicly reaffirmed his support for the Hyde Amendment. The very next day, after some criticism from primary opponents, the spineless candidate changed his position and “denounce[d]” the Hyde Amendment. For what it’s worth, virtually every poll on the question of public funding for abortion, even ones that offer a misleading framing of the issue, find most Americans support banning taxpayer funding for abortions. Poll support doesn’t mean much in my book, but it does put to rest the idea that Tuberville is taking on some kind of fanatical position outside the mainstream.
Then again, today, Biden, the man who twice voted for partial-birth abortion bans and once supported overturning Roe v. Wade, backs state-funded abortions on demand from conception to crowning for any reason, including eugenics and sex-selective abortion. And, for the first time in history, he wants to implement that policy in the military. Bizarre, indeed.
Senate Republicans grilled Gen. Charles Q. Brown over racial politics and transgenderism throughout the U.S. military during a committee confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Brown, who serves as Air Force chief of staff, was nominated by President Joe Biden to replace Gen. Mark Milley as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in May.
Among the more contentious issues raised during Tuesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was an August 2022 Air Force memo Brown signed, directing the Air Force Academy and Air Education and Training Command to “develop a diversity and inclusion outreach plan” aimed at “achieving a force more representative of our Nation.” When pressed on the memo by Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., Brown claimed the recruiting targets stratified by race and sex in the memo are based “on application goals, not the make-up of the force,” and that “those numbers are based on the demographics of the nation.”
As The Federalist previously reported, Brown has a documented history of supporting the same so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) ideology wreaking havoc on the U.S. military. DEI initiatives employ a divisive and poisonous ideology dismissive of merit to discriminate based on characteristics such as skin color and sexual attraction.
While participating in a virtual discussion hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in November 2020, for instance, Brown indicated that “[a]t the higher level of the Air Force, diversity ha[d] moved to the forefront of personnel decisions such as promotions and hiring.” During the same event, the Air Force general also admitted to using his post to increase opportunities for so-called “diverse candidates” in the Air Force, saying he “hire[d] for diversity” when building his staff.
Brown has also previously pushed back against congressional Republicans who have expressed concerns about the Biden administration’s attempt to spread DEI instruction throughout the military.
“This administration has infused abortion politics into our military, Covid politics into our military, DEI politics into our military, and it is a cancer on the best military in the history of the world. Those men and women deserve better than this,” Schmitt said. “I believe we … ought to be recruiting in various areas to make sure we have the best and the brightest from every community. … But that’s not what DEI is.”
Schmitt further admonished DEI as “an ideology based in cultural Marxism” and expressed concerns about how the military can continue to have leadership that advocates for “this divisive policy.”
The Center for Military Readiness, a public policy group that analyzes military matters, sent a letter to committee members on Monday, encouraging them to press Brown on issues such as “[r]acial discrimination known to exist in military service academy admissions” and “[m]andates to increase percentages of minority persons, while consciously reducing non-minority (white males) in aviation and other demanding occupations,” among other things.
Schmitt also raised the issue of the more than 8,000 U.S. service members kicked out of the military for not getting the experimental Covid jab due to medical or religious reasons. When pressed on how he would personally recruit these individuals back into service, Brown said he would “provide them the opportunity to re-apply.”
“I just don’t think that’s good enough,” Schmitt replied. “We did a great disservice to this country by firing people because they made that decision. I think they ought to be reinstated with rank and backpay. I have not heard that from anybody that’s come before this committee.”
Another problem raised during the hearing was transgenderism in the military. Shortly after his inauguration, Biden issued an executive order allowing transgender-identifying individuals to serve in the U.S. armed forces, marking a policy reversal from that of the Trump administration.
During his line of questioning, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., referenced an alleged “young woman in the South Dakota National Guard [who] experienced a situation at basic training where she was sleeping in open bays and showering” with female-identifying males who had not undergone surgery, “but were documented as females because they had begun the drug therapy process.”
According to Rounds, this 18-year-old woman “was uncomfortable with her situation but had limited options on how to deal with it” because “she feared she’d be targeted for retaliation.” When asked how he would handle such issues as Joint Chiefs chair, Brown didn’t offer a specific answer, instead saying that “as you’re being inclusive, you also don’t want to make other individuals uncomfortable” and that if confirmed, he would “take a look to see if [the military] can improve on how [it] approach[es] situations like this.”
Meanwhile, several Democrats spent their time attacking fellow committee member Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who has been holding up Biden’s DOD civilian and general flag officer nominees in response to the Pentagon’s radical abortion policies. As The Federalist’s Jordan Boyd previously reported, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “announced in February that the taxpayer-funded Pentagon would grant up to three weeks of paid time off and travel for U.S. military members and their family members to obtain abortions.”
According to Tuberville, the policy — which “would subsidize thousands of ‘non-covered abortions‘” without congressional authorization or taxpayer approval — is “immoral and arguably illegal.”
“One of my colleagues is exercising a prerogative to place a hold on 250 generals and flag officers. I’m unaware of anything that they have done … that would warrant them being disrespected or punished or delayed in their careers,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said in reference to Tuberville. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., also criticized Tuberville, with Rosen indirectly accusing the Alabama senator of partaking in an “extreme, anti-choice agenda.”
A committee vote on Brown’s confirmation will be held at a later date.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
There is an epidemic in the United State military. It’s not the kind of epidemic that Anthony Fauci profits from, but an epidemic that is truly threatening our national security.
Since the days of Barack Obama’s presidency, the Pentagon has started focusing more on social experiments than on excellence. Woke liberals have made it their mission to indoctrinate cadets at our military academies with Marxist ideas, force transgender ideology on our troops, and claim that “extremism” is pervasive in our military. Their mission is simple: Transform our military into a weak, feelings-first social program that promotes leftist ideas.
We cannot let that happen. The true mission of the U.S. military remains: Win wars and act as a deterrent against potential wars.
The American military is the greatest fighting force the world has ever known – and the greatest force for freedom. While other countries try to conquer, America defends and liberates. And the men and women who compose our military represent the greatest forms of sacrifice and courage.
But the left views our military differently. Leftists put pronouns before petty officers, diversity initiatives before Devil Dogs, wokeness before warriors. In other words, they care more about programming and indoctrinating our men and women in uniform than they care about the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines themselves. It’s shameful, and America deserves better.
Potential recruits clearly agree, and it is no surprise that the Army missed its 2022 recruiting goals by 25%. The Navy and Air Force missed their recruiting targets as well.
The United States needs real leaders to stand up to this nonsense and fight back. And I don’t just mean posting a statement on Twitter. I mean real action.
First, we need leaders in Congress to defund DEI initiatives that have wormed their way into every corner of our military. The Pentagon is spending tens of millions of dollars hiring individuals whose sole job is DEI. That’s absurd. That money should be immediately repurposed to pay for next-generation equipment that will defeat America’s enemies. We need military members focused on actual warfighting – not making someone feel special.
Second, it’s time for military commanders to be courageous and push back. Wokeness is rotting our military from the inside out, distracting from the actual mission of the Unites States military. We don’t need political military leaders who are only worried about advancing their careers. We need officers to fulfill their responsibility to put the mission first and take care of the troops under their command. Commanders should find ways to minimize the nonsense on their bases, promote unifying leadership initiatives that lead to improving warfighting, and deliver blunt and direct feedback to their superiors about how the obsession with DEI is damaging our military.
Third, we need voters to make their voices heard. When the American people speak loudly, politicians are forced to listen. It’s not enough for members of Congress to just say the right thing; we must hold them accountable at the ballot box based on their actions. Ask your congressman and senator: What specific actions have you taken to stop the work nonsense in our military?
Excellence is the standard in the United State military. We should accept nothing less. But when we allow leftists to make “feelings” the standard, we are jeopardizing our national security. China, Russia, and Iran love it when America’s military is distracted with drag shows on military bases. Enough is enough. It’s time that the Pentagon refocuses on defending our country.
John Warren is a successful businessman, entrepreneur, and combat veteran who served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps. Warren is the co-author of “Lead Like a Marine” and the honorary chairman of South Carolina’s Conservative Future.
Editor’s note: The article has been updated with the reported development that the Wagner Group has halted its advance on Moscow.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has vowed to enact harsh punishment against a Russian mercenary group that recently launched a rebellion. Yevgeny Prigozhin is leading the Wagner Group, composed of private Russian mercenaries, on a “march of justice” toward the country’s capital of Moscow.
Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin and what is the Wagner Group?
Yevgeny Prigozhin was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Early in his life, he was a convict and owned a hot dog stand, but later branched out to operate fancy restaurants.
In 2010, Putin helped open Prigozhin’s factory that was built on generous loans by a state bank. In Moscow alone, his company Concord won millions of dollars in contracts to provide meals at public schools. He also organized catering for Kremlin events for several years — earning him the nickname “Putin’s chef” — and has provided catering and utility services to the Russian military.”
In 2014, Prigozhin became the leader of the Wagner Group, a private military company that participated in Russia’s annexation of Crimea. PMC Wagner had been fighting alongside Russian military forces in the invasion of Ukraine. Last year, the Kremlin-backed Wagner group attempted to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to The Times.
According to the Associated Press, “The Wagner forces have played a crucial role in Russia’s war in Ukraine, succeeding in taking the city where the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place, Bakhmut. But Prigozhin has increasingly criticized Russia’s military brass, accusing it of incompetence and of starving his troops of weapons and ammunition.”
Prigozhin, 61, said he transitioned from a Putin ally to staging a serious rebellion because of an alleged Russian attack on Wagner forces in Ukraine.
Prigozhin claimed that Russia’s chief of the General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, ordered airstrikes on Wagner’s convoys, which were driving alongside ordinary vehicles. He asserted that the attack killed “a huge number of our comrades.” Prigozhin alleged that Gerasimov made the order after a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The Russian Defense Ministry denied attacking Wagner troops.
Prigozhin, who claimed to have 25,000 troops under his command, said the Wagner Group would punish Shoigu in an armed rebellion and possible civil war.
“All of us are ready to die. All 25,000, and then another 25,000,” Prigozhin declared.
Wagner Group chief accuses Russian army of attacking Wagner forces www.youtube.com
Where is the Wagner Group now?
Prigozhin marched his Wagner PMC soldiers from Ukraine back to Russia this week. Wagner troops entered Rostov-on-Don – Russia’s ninth-most populated city with more than 1 million residents. Rostov-on-Don is home to the Russian military headquarters for the southern region and also oversees the war in Ukraine. He asserted that he easily breached checkpoints in the city. Prigozhin claimed the Wagner Group had seized control of a Russian military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don “without a single gunshot.” He added that his private military group fighters had taken control of the airfield and other military facilities in the city.
“We didn’t kill a single person on our way,” Prigozhin said on Friday. “But we will destroy anyone who stands in our way. We are moving forward and will go until the end.”
He said of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, “The war was needed for a bunch of scumbags to triumph and show how strong of an army they are.”
“We do not want the country to live on in corruption, deceit, and bureaucracy,” he said.
Prigozhin has openly chastised Russia’s military leadership and has disputed how successful the invasion of Ukraine has been.
“The evil embodied by the country’s military leadership must be stopped,” the PMC Wagner leader declared.
PMC Wagner military equipment was “moving across” the Lipetsk region, Governor Igor Artamonov said via Telegram on Saturday. The region is 250 miles south of Moscow, signaling that the Russian private paramilitary organization could be headed to the Russian capital. There were several reports that the Wagner Group halted its advance on Moscow.
Reuters reported, “Mutinous Russian mercenary fighters who surged most of the way to Moscow have agreed to turn back to avoid bloodshed, their leader said on Saturday, in a de-escalation of what had become a major challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power.”
Prigozhin reportedly said on Saturday, “Now the moment has come when blood could be spilled. Understanding responsibility [for the chance] that Russian blood will be spilled on one side, we are turning our columns around and going back to field camps as planned.”
How is Vladimir Putin dealing with the mercenary uprising?
Vladimir Putin pledged to punish the mutineers and crush the rebellion – which is arguably the most serious threat to his hold on power since he took power in Russia 23 years ago.
“All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment,” Putin proclaimed in a speech to the nation. “The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders.”
Putin called the rebellion a “stab in the back.” He said the uprising arrives at a time when Russia is “fighting the toughest battle for its future,” adding, “The entire military, economic, and information machine of the West is waged against us.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “All the necessary measures were being taken.”
Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, has demanded that Prigozhin be arrested by his contract soldiers. The FSB also instructed the Wagner Group troops to refuse to follow his “criminal and treacherous orders” and halt the potential coup. Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee has charged Prigozhin with calling for an armed rebellion – which carries a punishment of up to 20 years in prison.
A counterterrorism state of emergency has been declared in Moscow.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee announced on Saturday morning, “In order to prevent possible terrorist attacks in the city and Moscow region, a regime of counterterrorism operations has been established.”
How has the U.S. responded to the Russian rebellion?
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held an emergency call on Saturday morning with G7 and European Union officials regarding the developments in Russia.
“The United States will stay in close coordination with Allies and partners as the situation continues to develop,” Blinken wrote on Twitter.
U.S. National Security Council Adam Hodge said, “We are monitoring the situation and will be consulting with allies and partners on these developments.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said of the rebellion, “Anyone who chooses the path of evil destroys himself.”
“For a long time, Russia used propaganda to mask its weakness and the stupidity of its government. And now there is so much chaos that no lie can hide it,” Zelensky said. “Russia’s weakness is obvious. Full-scale weakness. And the longer Russia keeps its troops and mercenaries on our land, the more chaos, pain and problems it will have for itself later.”
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Tensions mount in Russia as notorious Wagner group seizes military headquarters www.youtube.com
Circa 1996, U.S. lawmakers wanted to make sure scrappy startups, like AOL and Amazon, had a fighting chance against incumbents. Our government had a straightforward approach: rubberstamp mergers and free tech from any regulatory oversight. These policy approaches were intended to level the playing field for the nascent tech industry and export our values abroad. And it worked! But only in part. Our tech policies of yore have turned those startups into the world’s first set of trillion-dollar companies. But Big Tech failed to export our values — and has even been counterproductive on that end.
Big Tech has set aside American values to profit off China. Apple’s manufacturing arrangements in China, for example, have contributed to the ongoing enslavement of Uyghurs — a religious minority — In the country.
Big Tech has been kowtowing to Chinese interests not American values. (JOSEP LAGO/AFP via Getty Images)
And Big Tech has helped the Chinese government firm up its own anti-American sentiments. Apple has a multi-billion-dollar deal that gives the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) a back channel to all Apple devices located on the mainland. Apple’s deal with China requires it to take down apps that promote anti-CCP narratives, including those celebrating the Tiananmen Square demonstration and calling for independence for Tibet and Taiwan.
Big Tech has even exported CCP values into the United States. Google demonetizes YouTube videos in the U.S. that offend the CCP. Amazon partnered with China’s propaganda arm “to create a selling portal on the company’s U.S. site, Amazon.com – a project that came to be known as China Books.” Apple still lists TikTok as an “essential app” for its users even with the Treasury Department investigating the app on national security grounds, the Department of Justice investigating the company for spying on American journalists, and the director of the FBI and President Joe Biden’s Director of National Intelligence raising issues with the app’s relationship with the CCP.
Back in America, our laissez-faire approach has encouraged Big Tech companies to take centralized control over our information, personal data and our markets. These companies are so dominant that they can buy out any competitor that drives away revenue from them, with the federal government green lighting nearly every acquisition Big Tech wants. Since 2000, Google, Amazon, Meta, and Apple collectively acquired over 800 companies.
What may be worse, Big Tech uses centralized control to kill new startups, force acquisitions, or just flat-out steal their competitors’ functions through their app stores. And to “connect and promote a vast network of accounts openly devoted to the commission and purchase of underage-sex content.”
The firms also totally control digital ad markets to arbitrarily inflate the cost of digital ads. In short, they get richer while you pay more for products online.
Last Congress, a bipartisan chorus of Senators and Representatives proposed bills to curb the effects of Big Tech’s centralized control by reforming our antitrust laws, protecting our children and creating a national privacy regime.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before a congressional panel on Thursday regarding security concerns surrounding the Chinese-owned app. (Fox News)
Not one significant reform passed. Why not? One theory is that Big Tech simply outspends their opposition’s lobbying effort. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. The reason is far more entrenched — our tech policies have evolved from nurturing startups to institutionalizing Big Tech incumbents as our national champions.
Sadly, our government still thinks these companies will help us fight against China, even though they kowtow to the CCP at almost every chance and consistently invoke policies that suppress our core values domestically, like freedom of speech, religion or association. And Big Tech has helped the Chinese government firm up its own anti-American sentiments. Apple has a multi-billion-dollar deal that gives the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) a back channel to all Apple devices located on the mainland.
Frankly, these facts should call into question whether Big Tech even shares American values at all.
It is even more imperative to get this right as our nation decides how to deal with artificial intelligence. It’s no secret that the Chinese government wants to militarize its own AI capabilities; we are shaping up to be on the losing end of that digital arms race if we don’t get serious. As it stands now, the AI market is concentrated among a few companies, dominated by Big Tech. Worse, almost all have significant ties to China and its government. Our national security and individual liberty demand that Congress tackle AI with a clear sight of who these companies are and the values they hold — based not only on their words but their actions.
The reality is that Big Tech firms are not our champions, and our policies should stop treating them as such. Instead, we should treat them like the multinational corporations that they are. Let’s start by passing meaningful, bipartisan reforms to protect our consumers, our children, and — let’s face it — our national security.
Joel Thayer is president of the Digital Progress Institute and an attorney who focuses his law practice on telecommunications, regulatory and transactional matters, as well as privacy and cybersecurity issues.
Samuel Corum/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Former President Donald Trump founded and funded the U.S. Space Force as the sixth arm of the military in 2019, noting that “American superiority in space is absolutely vital.” The current administration evidently agrees with Trump on at least this: To deter aggression in this present age, America will need to “control the ultimate high ground.”
Earlier this month, the Biden administration submitted to Congress a 2024 budget request of $842 billion for the Department of Defense, representing a $26 billion increase over the fiscal year 2023 budget and $100 billion more than in FY 2022. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin noted in a March 13 statement that the “FY 2024 budget is the most strategy-driven request we’ve ever produced from the Department of Defense.”
“As our National Defense Strategy makes clear, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is our pacing challenge,” said Austin.
“This budget seeks to meet this critical challenge today, tomorrow, and into the future by providing the resources today to continue to implement our National Defense Strategy and keep our nation safe while delivering a combat credible Joint Force that is the most lethal, resilient, agile, and responsive in the world,” added Austin.
With the nearly $842 billion, the DOD hopes to defend the homeland and keep up with the “multi-domain threat” posed by communist China; deter strategic attacks against the U.S., its allies, and its partners; deter aggression, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region; and build a resilient joint force and defense ecosystem.
Extra to modernizing military equipment, locking down a full complement of hypersonic missiles, and ensuring traditional forces are ready for a showdown with a possible Sino-Russo military alliance, the DOD wants over $30 billion for Space Force — roughly $3.9 billion over what it received in FY 2023. According to Austin, this is will cover “vital space capabilities, resilient architectures, and enhanced space command and control.”
The Pentagon wants an additional $3.3 billion (an 11% increase of FY 2023) to ensure Space Force core readiness. To this end, the spending request includes plans to train the Space Force’s Guardians, ensuring they are ready for battle, reported the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal noted “training will be critical. The physics and the mechanics of steering objects through space at more than 17,000 miles an hour give attackers the advantage they lack on the ground.”
$350 million has been requested for simulators and other facilities so that Guardians can hone their skills waging cosmic battles remotely. Readiness will ultimately mean the capacity to handle both threats from space and threats to space assets.
Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 15, “Both China and Russia continue to develop, field, and deploy a range of weapons aimed at U.S. space capabilities.”
“The spectrum of threats to U.S. space capabilities includes cyber warfare activities, electronic attack platforms, directed energy lasers designed to blind or damage satellite sensors, ground-to-orbit missiles to destroy satellites, and space-to-space orbital engagement systems that can attack U.S. satellites in space,” Saltzman added.
China has launched dozens of spacecraft to target U.S. forces in recent years, reported the New York Post.
The DOD’s budget overview notes that the U.S. also faces a threat from the anti-satellite weapon capabilities that “have made a resurgence in the past decade, with a number of different Russian military ‘Cosmos’ satellites believed to be designed to kinetically kill satellites in low Earth orbit.” To provide American forces and equipment protection on Earth and beyond, Saltzman said, “we are accelerating the pivot towards resilient satellite constellations, ground stations, networks and data links.”
While the U.S. presently has the advantage in space, its superiority is not guaranteed. According to a 2022 Defense Intelligence Agency report entitled, “Challenges to Security in Space,” the combined operational space fleets of China and Russia grew by roughly 70% between 2019 and 2021.
“China and Russia … are developing various means to exploit the perceived U.S. reliance on space-based systems and challenge the U.S. position in the space domain,” said the report. “Beijing and Moscow seek to position themselves as leading space powers., intent on creating new global space norms. Through the use of space and counterspace capabilities, they aspire to undercut U.S. global leadership.”
China’s 2020 “Science of Military Strategy” document from the country’s National Defense University stated, “Space has already become a new domain of modern military struggle; it is a critical factor for deciding military transformation; and it has an extremely important influence on the evolution of future form-states, modes, and rules of war. Therefore, following with interest the military struggle circumstance of space and strengthening the study of the space military struggle problem is a very important topic we are currently facing.”
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Apologies in advance for making you consider something uttered by David French and Jennifer Rubin, but the two work for prominent news publications that unfortunately shape our national dialogue, so bear with me.
“DeSantis actually called Russia’s grotesque, aggressive invasion of a sovereign country a ‘territorial dispute.’ … Astonishing. Dangerous.”—French, New York Times columnist
“[DeSantis] has decided that if you can’t beat the pro-Putin wing of the Republican Party, then join them. He declared that Russia’s brutal and unjustified war of aggression against a sovereign Ukraine is actually ‘a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia…’”—Rubin, Washington Post columnist
The “territorial dispute” quote is from Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recently released statement about the ongoing war in Ukraine (a place our elected leaders in Washington sometimes refer to as “Our Last Great Hope.”) What he said more fully is that “becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia” is not a “vital interest” to the United States.
That’s a view shared by anyone who thinks yet another foreign war without clear and substantial strategic benefit to America is not something we should busy ourselves with. (It’s not like we have any pressing problems here!) But French, Rubin and the rest of the national media really hate that view. It’s “pro-Putin”! It’s “astonishing” and “dangerous”!
DeSantis should say it one more time for the people in the back. The war is literally a dispute over territory. Russian leadership claims Ukraine as its own and the Kremlin’s settlement offers are based almost solely on territory concessions (with some details related to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
“I believe that Russians and Ukrainians are one people … one nation, in fact,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in 2019. In some parts of Ukraine, even Ukrainians claim that. “Many In Eastern Ukraine Want To Join Russia,” read a NPR headline in 2017.
The Washington Post last year found at least 15 percent of residents of Ukraine’s Donbas region said they wanted to join Russia. Maybe, just maybe, this has something to do with Russia and Ukraine being literally part of the same nation for more than half a century.
I know that’s not very sexy for the nerds in the media who prefer to think of the war like a Marvel movie where a corny villain can be overpowered by a united and freedom-loving Justice League, but that’s not the case.
Democracy is at stake!
*Cue Max Boot solemnly removing his little hat in reverence.*
It turns out that discussing the conflict doesn’t first require the speakers to confess their love for Ukraine and hatred for Putin while shedding a tear. It’s not the romantic affair that Rubin, French, et al. want it to be.
The nation is worried about serious national security threats, including Chinese spy aircraft, but the U.S. Department of Defense seems pre-occupied with misplaced priorities. “Woke” policies are taking leftist ideologies to extremes with enforced compliance, even if it hurts the institution.
As in the Obama years, the Biden/Austin policy fully embraces the idea that individuals can change their “sex assigned at birth to a different gender role.” Department of Defense Instruction 1300.28, updated on Dec. 20, 2022, has changed the official vocabulary of this pseudo-science, using the phrase “self-identified gender” instead of “preferred gender” throughout.
WHY? Why is this SO important to the wacky Left? “Gender Dysphoria” is a condition of someone who is CONFUSED about their gender. Do we really need more CONFUSED people in our military? As a Vietnam Vet, I can testify that such people cannot be trusted in the trenches of war. Your confused about your gender? You have NO business in any aspect of military service.
The DOD Instruction stipulates that if a person “self-identifies” as a person of the opposite sex, and if the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) changes a person’s bureaucratic “gender marker,” a man claiming to be a woman must be treated as a woman, and vice versa.
Military commanders, doctors and nurses, chaplains, and military men and women at all levels must endorse and act on this ideological belief or suffer career penalties if they don’t. Alleged “biases against transgender individuals,” which are prohibited, could include anything from “misgendering” people with the wrong pronouns to expressions of concern about medically questionable hormone treatments or surgeries for adults or military-dependent children.
Individuals who are confused about gender identity deserve compassionate counseling, competent medical care, and complete information about the serious risks and irreversible consequences of “gender-affirming” treatments that do not change biological sex. Instead, a self-diagnosis of gender dysphoria permits only one course of treatment, pushing the service member toward life-changing, often-irreversible transgender “transition,” without an independent “second opinion.”
Commanders are directed to consult with designated “experts,” called Service Central Coordination Cells. The SCCCs have no responsibility for military operations or any obligation to put the needs of the patient first.
Biden’s regulations do not protect or even mention rights of religious liberty for chaplains and people of faith. Nor do they provide options for doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel who object to transgender ideology on moral or ethical grounds.
Once a military doctor approves, transgender transition can be deemed “complete” with or without surgical alteration of healthy body parts. At that point, as the DOD Instruction states several times: “[S]ervice members will use those berthing, bathroom, and shower facilities associated with their gender marker in DEERS.”
This policy denies human biological realities and violates minimal expectations of personal privacy and modesty between men and women. Human dilemmas are discussed in PowerPoint training slide “vignettes,” such as a “female to male” soldier announcing a pregnancy.
Vignette 8 portrays a soldier who transitioned from male to female, without “sex-reassignment surgery,” who wants to use female-designated showers. Another scenario describes a female soldier who is experiencing tension with a “transgender female” roommate.
This is a trick question, since both the discomforted female soldier and a commander who tries to find a solution likely would be accused of “biases against transgender individuals.” Why should a tank commander at Fort Hood have to deal with pronoun etiquette and sticky scenarios instead of training his troops to fight an enemy force?
The latest DOD Instruction admits that some service members who have “completed a gender transition” may not have “resolved the gender dysphoria.” Without any estimate of costs or consequences, additional medical procedures are authorized “If a return to their previous gender is medically required.”
Biden/Austin directives specifically involve the military service academies and Reserve Officer Training Corps (contract) programs, inviting controversies like those affecting civilian female athletes who have lost competitions against biological men.
Revised rules also permit cross-dressing and other “transitioning” behaviors while in “on-duty status.” Previously, time off for “real life experience” (RLE) living as a person of the opposite sex could only occur off-base and off-duty, often for weeks or months. Whether intended or not, the revised policy’s approval of on-base cross-dressing likely will increase “LGBT Pride” celebrations featuring drag queen performances and “family-friendly” story hours for children at military bases worldwide.
When problems ensue, how will we know? In 2018, then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis testified that problems with transgender policies were not being reported up the chain of command because they were considered “personal and private.” Doubling down in December 2022, the DOD released a new instruction, DODI 6400.11, which restricts (without high-level permission) the release of information about “sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” “transgender-related information,” and “incidents of harmful behaviors.”
Every year, the Pentagon releases non-personal statistics on sexual assaults, in excruciating detail. Why are officials restricting access to data on “incidents of harmful behaviors” and “transgender-related information”? Congress needs to find out.
A recent independent, high-tech survey on the politicization of the military done by the Heritage Foundation found that among active-duty respondents, 80 percent said the “changing of policy to allow unrestricted service by transgender individuals” has decreased their trust in the military. Sixty-eight percent of active-duty responses reported seeing a “growing politicization,” which is affecting their decision to encourage their children to join the military.
In view of current recruiting problems, the 118th Congress should renewprevious demands for information on woke policies. Congress also should consider mandating that all Defense Department agencies and educational institutions return to recognizing scientific realities of biological sex, not “self-identified gender.” That idea and more are incorporated in legislation just proposed by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. James Banks, R-Ind., called the Ensuring Military Readiness Act of 2023.
Servicemen and women deserve reality-based health care programs, with protection for the rights of doctors and nurses whose medical ethics or religious convictions differ from transgender ideology. Women also deserve separate-sex athletic teams and reasonable privacy in female-only living facilities.
White House and Pentagon leaders who try to deny, dissemble, or withhold information on the existence or results of woke policies in the military are undermining their own credibility. Americans are awake and aware, and they will hold lawmakers accountable for woke-ism that weakens our military in an increasingly dangerous world.
This article was originally published by RealClearDefense.
Elaine Donnelly is President of the Center for Military Readiness, an independent public policy organization that reports on and analyzes military and social issues.
The U.S. military shot down an “object” that was flying in territorial waters over Alaska, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Friday afternoon during a White House press briefing.
“I can confirm that the Department of Defense was tracking a high altitude object over Alaska airspace in the last 24 hours. The object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight. Out of an abundance of caution and the recommendation of the Pentagon, President Biden ordered the military to down the object. And they did. And it came in inside our territorial waters,” Kirby said.
Kirby added that the “object” landed on frozen waters, and that “Fighter aircraft assigned to U.S. Northern Command took down the object within the last hour.”
He also added that the “object” was “much, much smaller than the spy balloon that we took down last Saturday.”
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby speaks during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The way it was described to me was roughly the size of a small car as opposed to a payload that was like two or three buses sized,” Kirby said.
Kirby said that he doesn’t know of any “outreach” to the Chinese government about the object, and said that the government doesn’t know who owns the unmanned object.
“We do not know who owns it, whether it’s state owned or corporate owned or privately owned,” he said.
President Biden speaks to reporters as he and first lady Jill Biden leave the White House and walk to Marine One on the South Lawn in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 27, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker)
Kirby said that the object was shot down because it was flying at around 40,000 feet and could have posed a threat to civilian aircraft versus the Chinese spy craft discovered last week, which Kirby said was at 65,000 feet and posed no threat to civilian aircraft.
Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, said Friday afternoon that the military has located a significant amount of debris from the object, stating that it was shot down by an F-22 using an A9X missile out of Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. He said the object entered U.S. airspace on Thursday.
“Debris that’s been recovered so far is being loaded on to vessels taken ashore, cataloged, and then moved onwards to labs for subsequent analysis. And while I won’t go into specifics due to classification reasons, I can say that we have located a significant amount of debris so far that will prove helpful to our further understanding of this balloon and its surveillance capabilities,” Ryder said.
Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
“We have no further details about the object at this time, including any description of its capabilities, purpose or origin,” Ryder added.
Just over a week ago, defense officials said that a Chinese spy craft was spotted over Billings, Montana. After it traveled at high altitudes around 60,000 feet, it was shot down on Saturday by an F-22 using a single A9X missile.
President Biden ordered on Feb. 3 that the spy craft should be shot down whenever the military determined that it’s safe to do so without potentially harming civilians on the ground.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement after the balloon was shot down that “President Biden gave his authorization to take down the surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to American lives under the balloon’s path.”
U.S. forces recover debris from a shot-down Chinese surveillance balloon. (US Fleet Forces)
“After careful analysis, U.S. military commanders had determined downing the balloon while over land posed an undue risk to people across a wide area due to the size and altitude of the balloon and its surveillance payload. In accordance with the President’s direction, the Department of Defense developed options to take down the balloon safely over our territorial waters, while closely monitoring its path and intelligence collection activities,” Austin said.
Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.
Adam Sabes is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Adam.Sabes@fox.com and on Twitter @asabes10.
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Republican congressmen introduced a resolution earlier this month to authorize American military action against the terroristic drug cartels that have overwhelmed Mexican government forces and trafficked the number one killer of adults 18-45 into the United States. That resolution is fast gaining support in the House.
Reps. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) and Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) introduced a resolution on Jan. 12 to “authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for trafficking fentanyl or a fentanyl-related substance into the United States or carrying out other related activities that cause regional destabilization in the Western Hemisphere.”
Unmitigated crisis
TheBlaze previously reported that fentanyl is the leading killer of adults ages 18-45. 10% of the significant drop in life expectancy recently noted in the U.S. has been attributed to the corresponding spike in opioid overdoses, which exceeded 80,000 in 2021. Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) said in September that “It’s equivalent to one 737 (jet) every day going down, no survivors. It’s a mind-boggling number of deaths.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from 2019 to 2020, opioid-involved death rates increased by 38% and synthetic opioid-involved death rates went up by 56%. The Congressional Joint Economic Committee concluded last year that the financial damage of the opioid crisis, after adjusting for inflation, carried a cost to the U.S. economy in 2020 of approximately $1.47 trillion, representing a $487 billion increase over 2019 and a 37% increase from 2017.
“Not only are these paramilitary transnational criminal organizations responsible for killing an unprecedented number of Americans, but they are actively undermining our sovereignty by destabilizing our border and waging war against U.S. law enforcement and the Mexican military,” added the Florida Republican.
Crenshaw claimed that the cartels are at war with the U.S., “poisoning more than 80,000 Americans with fentanyl every year, creating a crisis at our border, and turning Mexico into a failed narco-state.”
“It’s time we directly target them,” said Crenshaw. “We cannot allow heavily armed and deadly cartels to destabilize Mexico and import people and drugs into the United States. We must start treating them like ISIS – because that is who they are.”
The “Authorization for Use of Military Force Cartel Influence Resolution” would enable the president to lay waste to the cartels. According to the legislation, the criminal groups fit for annihilation include the: Sinaloa cartel; Jalisco New Generation cartel; Gulf cartel; Los Zetas cartel; Northeast cartel; Juarez cartel; Tijuana cartel; Beltran-Levya cartel; and La Familia Michoacana or Knight Templar cartel.
Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines told Fox News earlier this week that some of these Mexican cartels effectively control vast stretches of the U.S. southern border.
“Unless this situation changes and we take back control from the cartels, for the trafficking coming across our border, it will only get worse,” said Lines.
The cartels whose drugs have killed hundreds of thousands of Americans are getting increasingly brazen, especially as the efforts by Mexican military and police force repeatedly prove wanting, despite receiving billions of dollars in assistance from the U.S. since 2006.
The Council on Foreign Relations noted in a report last year that Mexico has seen over 360,000 murders since 2006, when the government declared war on the cartels.
At least 10 Mexican military personnel and one Culiacan policeman were slain earlier this month after authorities arrested the son of Sinaloa drug cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Parts of the country were transformed into warzones.
Sinaloa Cartel firing a .50 Cal Barrett anti-materiel rifle at a plane of the Mexican Air Force near the Culiacán Airport following the arrest of El Chapo’s son Ovidio pic.twitter.com/tF7PX6aeDE
Waltz told Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures” earlier this month, “They are defeating the Mexican army. These are paramilitary entities with billions and billions at their disposal.”
Extra to dealing in death and violence, the cartels have also exacerbated the crisis at the border. Arizona Republic reported in December that cartels “have increased their involvement in migrant smuggling over the past decade, transforming the operation into a multibillion-dollar enterprise.”
They have played a significant role in violating American sovereignty by helping to smuggle illegal aliens into the U.S. U.S. Customs and Border Protection indicated that so far, this fiscal year, over 717,660 illegal aliens have stolen across the border. 2.37 million were encountered crossing the border last year, and another 1.7 million were reported crossing the year before.
Recognizing the need to put these cartels in the ground, Reps. Jake Ellzey (R-Texas) and Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) signed on to cosponsor the legislation on Jan. 17. Just the News reported that Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) will similarly cosponsor the resolution. To go into effect, the resolution must be passed by both the House and the Senate and then signed by the president.
It is unclear what impact this war measure will have on China, America’s preeminent adversary, which is reportedly involved with the cartels’ manufacture of fentanyl. According to Craig Singleton, senior fellow at the nonpartisan Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “since approximately 2013, China has been the principal source of the fentanyl flooding America’s illicit drug market.” The Republican Study Committee in the previous Congress indicated that “a significant portion of China’s fentanyl manufacturing … moved to Mexico where cartels set up their own operations to produce fentanyl using precursor chemicals from China.”
The Pentagon’s investigation into the U.S. military in 2021 found about 100 individuals engaged in extremist activities out of a force of 2 million. It appears investigators were looking in the wrong place. The search for extremists might have yielded better results had they examined the Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA), the government agency that administers K-12 education to the children of military personnel.
The Claremont Institute’s recently released report“Grooming Future Revolutionaries” describes shocking indoctrination taking place at overseas schools. It is a must-read, especially for military parents of the nearly 70,000 children in these schools.
I am a military spouse and the mother of a former DODEA student. The particular teacher training that was the focus of Claremont’s report is the reason, in part, why I lost all trust in the system.
In May 2021, I saw that DODEA would be holding an “Equity and Access Summit” for teachers and administrators. Knowing that “equity” means different things to different people, I wanted to get a sense of what it meant at DODEA. When I managed to gain access to the recordings, I was absolutely floored by what I saw and heard.
As the Claremont report shows, the summit featured hours of teacher training steeped in critical race and gender identity theories.
Claremont released a video of summit clips in which a principal talks about a student who felt like he’d done something wrong because he’s a “young, white male.” The teacher said she didn’t know what to tell him — but she seemed pleased with the breakthrough. Perhaps she was just following the lead of DODEA’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) chief Kelisa Wing, who is currently under investigation by DOD for a history of disparaging comments toward white people.
Video Evidence of Teachers Pushing CRT
The report also highlights literature teacher Gregory DeJardin’s presentation called “Combating 1- Sided Narratives (Decolonize the Curriculum).” DeJardin insists teachers become social activists and interviewed several students in his class at Vicenza High School in Italy about their difficulties with “majority culture.” It was painfully apparent in their answers that they were parroting his dogma, as one student said: “[School] is getting better about being more diverse and not taking a very normative perspective but there are definitely issues and I feel like it is still incredibly skewed to the white, male, heterosexual and Protestant gaze.”
Betty Roberts, an educator at Robinson Barracks Elementary School in Germany, talked about critical literacy. She wants her students to look deeply into textbook versions of events to find hidden biases. She asks her students questions like: “Is the American Revolution still being fought today?” She presses further and asks if the American Revolution was just a “transition from one group of rich white men to another group of rich white men.” Roberts goes on to express her gratefulness to the teachers’ union for its training on white fragility because she recognized her need for cultural humility.
Normalizing Transgenderism
Aside from the relentless instruction on anti-racism and white privilege, a clear effort was underway to normalize transgender identities and the notion of a gender spectrum. Genevieve Chavez and Lindsey Bagnaschi, presenters of “Ally 101 — Creating an Inclusive Classroom for LGBTQ+ Students,” talked about gender transitions they have facilitated for students at their schools in Spain and Germany, respectively — sometimes without parental knowledge or consent.
And many LGBT educators apparently belong to a system-wide resource-sharing group on Schoology curated by a DODEA educator. Chavez recommends resources from the group such as “Teaching with Mx. T” and “Teaching Outside the Binary.” But there is another similar group that’s passcode protected — and it’s for students. Teachers can add students to their own LGBT chat rooms in Schoology, and parents are not invited.
If teachers run out of content from people like “Mx. T,” they can use Discovery Education, which many recommended during the summit. One of the programs is “Speak Truth to Power.” This program offers lesson plans that are “flexible, standards-aligned digital resources, designed to educate, engage and inspire the next generation of human rights defenders.” Sounds good, doesn’t it — until you see that transgender activist Jazz Jennings is one of those human rights defenders. But Discovery Education is password-protected, with one portal for students and another for teachers, so we really have no idea what’s being promoted to our children via third-party content creators who can update information in real-time.
Congress Needs to Do More
Our children deserve to learn in an environment free from divisive ideologies, and thankfully, DODEA’s activism has not gone unnoticed by Congress. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., wrote a letter to DOD asking why teachers are being trained to secretly “transition” children at overseas schools. After a year, she still had not received an answer. She also introduced H.R. 4764, the No CRT for our Military Kids Act.
In the Senate, Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., offered an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2023 to prevent DODEA schools from hiding important medical information from parents — but it was voted down.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., introduced a Servicemember Parents Bill of Rights amendment to the NDAA to provide for more transparency and accountability in DODEA schools. It was adopted in committee with bipartisan support by a vote of 39-19 and is in the House-passed NDAA.
But Congress needs to do much more to ensure the safety of our military children and also that of any DODEA educator who is being intimidated into conformity. It will likely take years to sort out the mess at DODEA, so in the meantime, Congress could consider extending the military’s Non-DOD Schools Program to all students instead of only to those who are not in close proximity to a DODEA school.
Whatever the case, it looks like an extremist stand down is in order for DODEA, and it just might net more than the .005 percent found among our uniformed force.
Amy Haywood is a former senior legislative assistant for a U.S. House representative and an educator with years of experience working in a research-based program to help third culture kids adjust to life overseas. She holds a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College.
Despite passing an executive order mandating that military members be treated according to their gender identity and not their biological sex, the Biden administration still requires biological men who identify as women to register for the military draft, while those who are “born female and have changed their gender to male” are off the hook.
The Selective Service tweeted a reminder recently telling parents that even “if your son is an only son and the last male in your family to carry the family name, he is still required to register with SSS.”
Parents, if your son is an only son and the last male in your family to carry the family name, he is still required to register with SSS. Learn more about who needs to register at https://t.co/GYbRK99c09. pic.twitter.com/tzW6uKkyl5
However, according to a chart provided by the Selective Service System, almost “all male U.S. citizens and male immigrants residing in the United States who are 18 through 25 years of age” are required to register, and individuals “who are born male and have changed their gender to female” are expressly included.
When they need you to go to war, the US government acknowledges that a person can NOT change sex. pic.twitter.com/rWzwT9SnWV
They actually say if you were born a male but identify as female, you still have to register. But if you were born a female and identify or transitioned into male, you don’t have to register.
Since the media likes to tout that illegal immigrants pay taxes and have drivers licenses, I'm assuming they also qualify for the draft also? Or are they exempt?
On “The News & Why It Matters,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales and guests Alex Stein and Chad Prather wondered when the Biden administration remembered that there’s actually a biological difference between men and women.
Watch the video clip below to catch the conversation or find full episodes of “The News & Why It Matters” here. Can’t watch? Download the podcast here.
The United States Air Force Academy on Thursday held a seminar promoting “transgender visibility and awareness in our Air Force.” The “discussion” session focused “on awareness for transgender communities in the military,” according to a copy of an invitation for the event obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Events of this nature are part of a wholesale push by the U.S. military to foster a more culturally inclusive environment. Critics say this type of training is part of a woke cultural agenda that is being mainstreamed by the Democratic Party’s far-left flank. The Army, for instance, mandates gender identity training and instructs its officers on the best time to offer subordinates gender-transition surgery. The seminar was held on the same day the Free Beacon reported on an Air Force Academy course teaching cadets to “use inclusive language” that avoids gender pronouns.
The “transgender visibility” workshop featured two Air Force Academy faculty members, Dr. Joseph Currin and Dr. Karin De Angelis. The speakers were slated to “speak on their personal expertise and answer questions from the audience.”
The first 40 cadets to attend the seminar received a free lunch.
A cadet listed as a point of contact for the event, did not answer a Free Beacon request for comment.
Over the course of his long career with the Department of Defense, Trent Telenko spent 10 years as an Army vehicle auditor.
Based in Sealy, Texas, he received and inspected the steady stream of military vehicles damaged in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. This experience has given Telenko an eye for details that others could easily miss as well as a unique perspective on Russia’s progress in Ukraine.
In early March, Telenko saw on social media a photograph of a Russian Pantsir-S1 missile system located near the Ukrainian city of Kherson. His eyes went immediately to the system’s tires. Rather than using high-quality, more expensive tires that could support the tremendous weight of the Pantsir-S1, the Russian army had opted for cheaper, low-quality, Chinese-made tires. He also noticed they were in terrible shape because they had not been properly maintained.
In a widely read Twitter thread, Telenko identified the problems caused by the Russian army’s failure to properly maintain not only this specific Pantsir, but neglect of the entire fleet.
This is a thread that will explain the implied poor Russian Army truck maintenance practices based on this photo of a Pantsir-S1 wheeled gun-missile system's right rear pair of tires below & the operational implications during the Ukrainian mud season.🧵
Telenko’s analysis captured the attention of media outlets from The Economist to ABC News.
In the clip below, Telenko explained to ABC anchors how the Russian military’s inattention to critical safety measures is bogging its forces down and undermining its progress in the war. He noted that he “could tell at a glance” what was wrong with the tires on Russian trucks: Neglected maintenance that would destroy the usefulness of the army’s vehicles.
Check out the whole interview. It’s worth watching.
Telenko published a new thread on Saturday in which he discussed “Operational Attrition,” a concept he defines as the “loss of vehicles without a shot being fired.”
“That is, just by operating vehicles, you lose some of them because they break,” he wrote. “This gets a lot worse in combat. Each mile traveled by a military truck in war is between 10 and 20 miles wear. This is simple. Truck drivers abuse trucks because they don’t want to die.”
My good friend at Sealy, Gilbert Duran, wrote an article about the 1st phase of the effort called:
Resetting the FMTV: the Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command Reset Program refurbishes FMTV trucks returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Telenko participated in three U.S. Army “Reset” programs from 2003 to 2008. The goal was to repair damaged FMTV trucks (family of medium tactical vehicles). And he was tasked with performing “induction inspections of IED blast damaged trucks.”
Describing their condition, he wrote, “None of those vehicles ran, but mainly because they had been picked over for parts. There were not that many miles on them, but goodness was there oil leaks, sludge, leaky radiators, carbon build ups & the suspensions were beat to h–l. Cab glass was noticeable by its absence.”
“This was in an Army that has professional NCO’s that lived, breathed and ate preventive maintenance as a religious catechism. And the US Army enforced rest periods for its truck drivers because it cared enough about having men & equipment future operations,” he explained.
The Russian Army doesn’t do any of these things, he wrote. And for the past 10 years, they were barely maintained. Now, these same trucks are being overloaded with artillery and ammunition and sent into the war zone.
None of that is true for the Russian Army.
Most of the time between 2012 and 2022 the Russian Army did not maintain their trucks.
The Russians don't have a professional NCO Corps so they ARE NOT DOING IT NOW.
Here’s what can and has gone wrong for the Russians.
Every truck is being sent out in whatever condition, overloaded with ammunition.
The engines are running white hot and no one has checked the oil or other fluid levels, let alone does an oil change, in these last three weeks.https://t.co/nLbvJWAJMn
…out of artillery range. The choppers were trash at that point.
However, after that, those guys slowed the <bleep> down & took their time dragging those choppers to their drop off point so they had as much "safe time" as they could before the next artillery ammo run. 15/
Telenko concludes that the lack of professional maintenance and wear, unprofessional use by undertrained troops and soldier exhaustion has already and will continue to cause high levels of “operational attrition” in their truck fleets. The “details” that are being ignored will lead to massive issues.
He predicts in six to eight weeks, the entire Russian Army military truck fleet will be “deadlined.”
“Between the end of April and Mid-May 2022, the Ukrainian Army will be able to counter-attack EVERYWHERE. Because there will be NOWHERE more than 20 miles/30 km inside Ukraine where Russian troops won’t be out of food and low on ammunition.”
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Let’s hope Telenko is right and pray that the Ukrainians can continue to hang on.
In February, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told lawmakers a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine could take Kyiv in 72 hours. Nearly four weeks after the Russian invasion began Feb. 24, the Russian military has managed to reduce some cities to rubble and resorted to indiscriminate bombing and brutal tactics, yet the Ukrainian people are still standing.
The formidable Russian Army which greatly outnumbers the Ukrainian military in men, artillery and equipment isn’t quite as mighty as the world had thought.
Although the government of Russian President Vladimir Vladimir Putin had unlimited time to prepare for this invasion, Putin apparently grossly underestimated his opponent. His military commanders might have failed to plan the logistics of a protracted war, without which, even the strongest army will falter.
Elizabeth is a contract writer at The Western Journal. Her articles have appeared on many conservative websites including RedState, Newsmax, The Federalist, Bongino.com, HotAir, MSN and RealClearPolitics. Please follow Elizabeth on Twitter.
NASCAR legend Richard Childress has offered to donate at least 1 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine amid its fight for freedom against Russian forces, Fox News reported Wednesday. The former race car driver and team owner told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade on “Fox & Friends” that he will donate 1 million rounds of ammunition to Ukrainian forces after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded for help from around the globe.
“I was listening the other day and heard President Zelenskyy say he didn’t want out, he wanted ammunition,” Childress recalled. “I called my good friend Fred Wagenhals, who is the Chairman of AMMO, Inc., which is a publicly traded company, POWW, and I said, ‘Fred, we gotta help these people. They need ammunition.’ And he stepped right up, he said, ‘We’ll do it,’ and now we’re turning our production to this as our number one priority.”
Childress, who serves on AMMO’s board of directors, is reportedly worth $250 million.
“This is a wake-up call for America, and why we have to have our Second Amendment,” he added. “We have … 82 million gun owners in America, and to see the people in Ukraine fighting — it’s terrible to see the lives that are being lost over there. We have to do all we can, and I felt with Ammo Inc. and myself, we were doing the right thing.”
Childress said that he and Wagenhals are working with the public and private sector in order to figure out the logistics of transporting the ammunition to the needy country.
“We’re working with some government agencies, but to get it there quickly, we’re going to work through a private company that will be working to get it in there,” Childress explained. “The number one ammo they’re needing right now over there is the 7.62s, and that’s what we’re going to be producing.”
For all the talk about Putin’s authoritarian grip over former Soviet states, we have our own authoritarian Putins now governing Western democracies and crushing all political dissent. Holding someone without bail for organizing a peaceful protest against the government sounds like something Putin would do, yet it is now happening in Canada and has already been happening here against those who did not engage in violence on Jan. 6. Meanwhile, these same Western leaders support de-incarceration for the most violent criminals, demonstrating that it’s not even about authoritarianism, but a two-tiered society built upon the ideals of fascism.
Last Thursday, Tamara Lich, one of the organizers of the trucker convoy who set up the original GoFundMe account, was arrested in Ottawa for simply opposing the Trudeau regime and organizing a peaceful protest. Not a single person from the hundreds of thousands of truckers acted violently, a few blocked roads, and Lich herself did nothing. She is being charged with “counselling to commit mischief,” which reeks of Iranian-style prosecution.
On Tuesday morning, Ontario judge Justice Julie Bourgeois denied Lich the opportunity to post any bail, even though she promised not to engage in more lawful protests and instead return to her home in Alberta. “I cannot be reassured that if I release you into the community that you will not reoffend,” Bourgeois said. “Your detention is necessary for the protection and safety of the public.”
Those who follow my running column on robbers and gun felons who get released without bail, and even some murderers who get released on low bail despite massive criminal records, can appreciate the rich irony. Lich might reoffend by committing an action that is not only legal but serves as the cornerstone value of dissent in a free and democratic society. If this standard were applied to BLM, there would literally be millions in jail today, and they often engaged in violence, not to mention more widespread blocking of roads.
Justice Bourgeois is a former liberal candidate for parliament and was endorsed by Trudeau in 2009. Thus, we are now at a point in Western (former) democracies when political prisoners cannot get a fair trial because the courts are completely co-opted by regime-supporting judges. Worse, Bourgeois once excused rising violent crime as “desperate people going through desperate times and using desperate measures.”
Hence, the very same judges and politicians who believe that political dissent is a dangerous crime also believe that career violent criminals need to be let out of jail. The same people who want to deny peaceful citizens the right to carry a gun seek to release every gun felon who has committed violence with a gun.
To that end, what is happening in Western countries is even worse than China or a return to pre-enlightenment Western governing values. In China, they wouldn’t tolerate murderers and carjackers. They will at least apply their harshness with equality – to an extent. What we are seeing in Canada and the U.S. is a form of postmodern Western-style fascism that elevates criminal behavior to the highest ideals of society while punishing the expression or utilization of basic human rights if they violate those ideals.
This is the plain definition of fascism. It doesn’t have to always be rooted in race. Merriam-Webster defines fascism as “a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.” This is what we are seeing in Western countries today. It’s not a matter of targeting any one race but creating a standard of national interests and announcing that anyone who doesn’t subscribe to those interests – even if they affect one’s body in the most intimate way – is a threat to the nation and needs to be segregated, discriminated against, persecuted, and suppressed.
It’s not about equal-opportunity authoritarianism, because it is directed solely at those who don’t fit the national standards. Thus, we are witnessing the worst influx of illegal immigration and domestic crime precisely during the time of the most heavy-handed authoritarianism against “some” citizens. At the same time that we have the most autocratic stay-at-home order of all time, we experienced the greatest ubiquitous mass gatherings in history through BLM protests and riots.
It’s easy to rest on our laurels and thank God we are living south of the 50th parallel, but we have already seen political dissidents held without bail for a year with no criminal record for very nebulous charges that are clearly directed at chilling political dissent, not deterring violent or even disruptive behavior. For example, Couy Griffin, a county commissioner in New Mexico and founder of Cowboys for Trump who certainly had no prior criminal record, was initially held without bail for several weeks, despite never having stepped foot in the Capitol or committed assault or vandalism. The unappointed magistrate judge kept him solely because of his political views and used that as pretext to show he is a flight risk.
“I don’t think that the defendant will follow my conditions if he believes I am part of this machine of the democratic process,”proclaimed magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui at a hearing on Feb. 1, 2021. She went on to note that his political views, because she disagrees with them, makes him eligible to be held without bail – something not done for many murderers with massive rap sheets. She said that believing the election was stolen was “no different than people not believing facts or science.” No wonder they now want to criminalize dissent from their illogical and unscientific “public health” ScIeNcE.
It is therefore clear that we already have Canada’s problem of the judicial system criminalizing political opposition and thought crimes. Yet this is occurring at a time when our judicial system has largely done away with pretrial holding even for violent repeat offenders. Here are just a few recent stories to consider when trying to process the breathtaking speed at which we have devolved into an authoritarian state … except for what actually needs deterrent from strong authority!
James Tubbs, 26, who plead guilty to molesting a child at a Los Angeles Denny’s restaurant restroom, will serve no time in prison and will not have to register as a sex offender, thanks to the new rules put in place by prosecutor George Gascon. Tubbs, who now believes he is really a woman, is instead being held in a female juvenile facility, even though he is an adult male, because he was just shy of his 18th birthday when he committed the crime. Fox News recently released a tape of Tubbs bragging about beating the system. “I’m gonna plead out to it, plead guilty,” Tubbs says in one recording. “They’re gonna stick me on probation, and it’s gonna be dropped, it’s gonna be done, I won’t have to register, won’t have to do nothing.”
There is a carjacking epidemic in almost every major city. Recently, Chicago police superintendent David Brown revealed that 60% of all incidents were perpetrated by juveniles and that the system offers no real consequences for them.
Speaking of political crimes, how about attempting to assassinate a mayoral candidate? Well, in our fascist social “equity” system, it depends on the race and motive of the perpetrator. Earlier this month, BLM activist Quintez Brown was charged with attempted murder for stepping into the campaign headquarters of Louisville mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg and opening fire. Luckily, the bullets only grazed the candidate’s clothing and the shooter was stopped and apprehended. He came with extended magazines and clearly was coming as an assassin, but a judge let him out on $100,000 bail, which was posted by national BLM umbrella groups. “There is simply no defense for a would-be assassin to be released on bail, 60 hours after firing on his intended target,” Adam Edelen, the former chief of staff for former Democrat Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, tweeted. Can you imagine if someone from the trucker movement had done this to a prominent pro-mandate politician?
Bronx Supreme Court Justice Naita Semaj-Williams just allowed two teenagers charged with murder, manslaughter, robbery, gang assault, and other crimes to be released without posting bail. In a previous case earlier this month, Semaj-Williams walked back a $60,000 bond for a criminal charged with attempted murder and released him on his own recognizance.
These situations are occurring even in Texas. In 2019, Treveon Tatum, 20, was charged with murder but released by a Houston judge on just $50,000 bond. Despite being arrested again the following April for felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, Tatum still did not have his bail revoked. Despite violating the terms of his bail multiple times, he was never re-incarcerated. Then, on Feb. 8, he was charged again with a new murder.
While COVID is being used an excuse to jail business owners and political dissidents, the same virus is being used as pretext to release true public safety threats. Earlier this month, Garrett W. Caspino was cited twice by police for criminal trespassing while acting erratically in a residential neighborhood of Corvallis, Oregon. However, he wasn’t arrested “because of COVID-19 protocols.” But just an hour later, he allegedly broke into a home in broad daylight, pulled down his pants, and choked the female homeowner against the wall while showering. He was later chased out of the house by the victim’s boyfriend. Despite the seriousness of the charges and the clear likelihood he will “reoffend,” Caspino will still have an opportunity to post bail, albeit a high amount.
The raison d’etre of the existence of Western governments is plainly spelled out in the preamble of our Constitution – to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” Yet we now have a government that ensures tyranny and promotes the curse of violent anarchy while perverting justice based on politics and identity. One could not possibly abrogate the underpinnings of our social contract in a more grotesque manner than what today’s global elites governing Western countries are doing. This is unsustainable and must change. It is our right – our duty – to demand a new government “to provide new Guards for their future security.” The same failed political strategies of the past do not speak to the magnitude of corruption in our government.
American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
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American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
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American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
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American Family Association
American Family Association (AFA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1977 by Donald E. Wildmon, who was the pastor of First United Methodist Church in Southaven, Mississippi, at the time. Since 1977, AFA has been on the frontlines of Ame
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