Monday April 29th, 2024

"It Is Not A Question of Who Is Right Or Wrong But What Is Right Or Wrong That Counts."
--Geoff Metcalf
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World & Nation

Decision time for Supreme Court on big, hot-button questions; justices hear final oral arguments

                                                        Demonstrators wearing kangaroo masks gather outside the Supreme Court as justices prepare to hear arguments on former President Donald Trump's immunity claims, on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) **FILE**

Supreme Court rulings this term will advance federal law on the powers of the presidency and the administrative state and clarify decisions in recent years on abortion and the Second Amendment.

Last week, the justices heard final arguments of the 2023 term in cases that test whether cities can fine homeless encampments that create public health and safety concerns, whether emergency rooms must perform abortions in states that ban the procedure, and whether former President Donald Trump has absolute immunity from criminal charges.

Court watchers say the justices will work diligently to issue opinions on those cases and more by the end of June or early July before their summer recess.



As ISIS-K threat grows, Biden’s ‘over the horizon’ counterterrorism strategy under fire

                                                                         Taliban fighters celebrate one year since they seized the Afghan capital, Kabul, in front of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. More than a year after the Taliban takeover that saw thousands of Afghans rushing to Kabul's international airport amid the chaotic U.S. withdrawal, Afghans at risk who failed to get on evacuation flights say they are still struggling to find safe and legal ways out of the country. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) **FILE**

It was billed as a lethal counterterrorism insurance policy for America after its inglorious military exit from Afghanistan in August 2021.

Biden administration officials argued that the U.S. military did not need to be on the ground to fight the bad guys. Instead, it would rely on “over the horizon” missions, mainly in the form of drone strikes, to kill Islamic terrorists in and around Afghanistan before they became a threat to America and its allies.

The ability to find, target and eliminate extremists, President Biden promised, would not suffer.

In the three years since the withdrawal, the U.S. has carried out exactly one over-the-horizon strike in Afghanistan.



Israeli defense official: Humanitarian aid to Gaza will ‘significantly’ increase in coming days

                                                                     Mourners pray over the bodies of members of the Abu Taha family who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral at Al-Salam cemetery, east of Rafah, Gaza Strip. Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)

Humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip will “significantly increase” over the coming days as Israel opens the port of Ashdod, about 25 miles north of the Palestinian enclave, and a new crossing into northern Gaza.

Israeli officials over the weekend also said they would facilitate an increase in aid from Jordan through the Kerem Shalom crossing point.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, said they are expanding designated humanitarian zones in Gaza where aid will be distributed. The IDF said they will work with international aid organizations for increased efficiency.

IDF officials said getting aid to the people of Gaza is a top priority because “our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza.”



Trump Warning 'Many' Hostages Held by Hamas Have Died


The number of hostages still alive and being held by Hamas is "far fewer" than is believed because "many of them are gone," former President Donald Trump is warning.

"That's why it's hard for Hamas to make a deal" with Israel to end the raging war in Gaza that's nearing a half-year mark, Trump wrote Monday morning in a post on his Truth Social platform.

Trump charged "Hamas is incapable of holding Jewish people for a long period of time without killing them," predicting: "It will only get worse!"

The exact number of hostages still alive is a central issue in the negotiations toward a cease-fire deal, The Wall Street Journal reported.



ICC Moving to Indict Netanyahu, Israeli Leaders for War Crimes


The International Criminal Court (ICC) is preparing arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials for alleged war crimes, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — a revelation that has drawn silence, if not acceptance, from the Biden administration.

Sources told The New York Times the charges stem from Israel preventing delivery of humanitarian aid — which Israeli officials have said they fear just winds up in the hands of Hamas terrorists amid the war started by Hamas' Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.

Netanyahu reportedly is on the list of Israeli government officials to be issued ICC arrest warrants.

Israel has faced worldwide rebuke from anti-Zionists, if not antisemites, for its three stated goals of the war on Hamas instigated by the Oct. 7 attacks: 1. Return all hostages held by Hamas terrorists for use as human shields; 2. Dismantle the Hamas terrorist group; and 3. Demilitarize and de-radicalize Gaza.



Hope for new Israel-Hamas cease-fire piles pressure on Netanyahu as Gaza war nears 7-month mark


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was under rising pressure Monday from all sides over his country's ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Far-right members of Netanyahu's own cabinet have threatened to drop their support for his coalition government if he accepts a cease-fire deal with Hamas, but the U.S. and many Israelis are pushing him to strike an agreement to bring the remaining hostages home from Gaza and wind down the devastating war in the Palestinian territory.

Those calls for a cease-fire got renewed impetus by the release over the weekend of another Hamas propaganda video showing two hostages, including Israeli-American national Keith Seigel, still alive.

The new week has brought a flurry of diplomatic activity in the region, including a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a last-ditch attempt to secure a cease-fire agreement ahead of a possible Israeli ground operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where some 1.4 million Palestinians have sought shelter in desperate conditions.



Kristi Noem’s vice-presidential odds plunge after admitting she killed her dog

                                                             South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem attends an event on Jan. 10, 2024, at the state Capitol in Pierre, S.D. The Guardian has obtained a copy of Noem's soon-to-be-released book, where she writes about killing an unruly dog, and a smelly goat, too. She writes, according to the Guardian, that the tale was included to show her willingness to do anything "difficult, messy and ugly." (AP Photo/Jack Dura)

In a startling revelation from her upcoming memoir, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem disclosed that she had fatally shot her wirehaired pointer puppy and a family goat.

The confession has significantly affected her odds for becoming former President Donald Trump’s running mate, as reflected in the latest figures from the online betting market Polymarket.

Previously holding a 10% probability of securing the vice-presidential nomination alongside Mr. Trump, Mrs. Noem has seen her odds take a sharp downturn to just 4%, as reported by Newsweek. The disclosure has provoked widespread controversy and discussion among critics and supporters, prompting a response from Mrs. Noem‘s team.

As the scandal exploded, Mrs. Noem took to social media to offer an explanation.



6 Big Things from Trump's Trial You Need to Know


While New York's Democrat prosecutor is seeking to charge Donald Trump with election interference for calling a payment to a lawyer a legal expense, Trump and legal experts are decrying the actual election interference of a trial of "no crime."

The trial related to Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election began last week.

Newsmax recaps the top 6 things we have learned from last week's trial – a procedure Trump himself has dubbed the "Biden trials."

1. Stormy Daniels May Have Auditioned for Apprentice
2. Pecker Said 'Catch-and-Kill' Stories Happened All the Time
3. Judge Juan Merchan's Gag Order Lives On
4. We Still Don't Know the Crime
5. Trump Is Accused of a Non-Crime
6. They're Skirting the Constitution to Get Trump



Supreme Court rejects Elon Musk's challenge to SEC agreement to vet his social media posts

Lawyers for the billionaire businessman say that the “Twitter sitter” provision in an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission violated his free speech rights.

The Supreme Court on Monday turned away tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk's attempt to challenge the terms of an agreement he reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission that require a lawyer to review some of his social media posts.

The justices rejected Musk's appeal of a ruling by the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of the government agency.

Musk complained that the SEC unlawfully imposed conditions on his ability to comment online about Tesla-related issues what has been dubbed the "Twitter sitter" provision.



No end in sight to protests as Columbia lets deadline lapse, vows not to bring back police

                                                                           Pro-Palestinian demonstration encampment is seen at the Columbia University, Friday, April 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik may have appeased student activists by letting slide her deadline on removing the anti-Israel protest encampment, but she failed to appease Rep. Virginia Foxx.

The Education and the Workforce Committee chairwoman fired off a warning after Columbia officials allowed their Friday deadline to expire without taking action, then ruled out bringing back police to clear out the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” covering the West Lawn.

Ms. Foxx said Sunday the announcement shows that the president’s word “means nothing.”

“During our hearing with President Shafik, she assured us that Columbia would take decisive action to stop antisemitism on campus. We know now that her word means nothing,” Ms. Foxx told The Washington Times.



U.S. research helps China’s hypersonic missiles


Chinese organizations involved in developing hypersonic missiles and related technologies have benefited from American research, according to a report made public earlier this month by an Air Force think tank.

“The PRC organizations with which U.S. researchers collaborate on hypersonics include not only actual military organizations, such as the National University of Defense Technology, but also many organizations closely affiliated with the military, such as Beihang University,” the report by the China Aerospace Studies Institute says, using the abbreviation for People’s Republic of China. “These collaborations have the potential to support PRC military research, indicating the need for appropriate screening mechanisms and careful due diligence before embarking on such collaborations.”

The report said a “significant amount” of U.S.-China collaboration on hypersonics has taken place, based on data obtained from Chinese online sources. The collaboration appears focused mainly on propulsion technology along with design technology, materials processing and manufacturing, and flight navigation, guidance and control.



Some want to prevent a civil war, Democrats want to provoke it

All in the name of saving democracy

The left says there’s a civil war brewing, a conflict whose roots it finds in parents angry about LGBTQ indoctrination in the schools, pro-life protesters and the Jan. 6 fiasco, but not in the orgy of Black Lives Matter/antifa violence of 2020, chaos at the border, anarchy in the streets of our cities or the pro-Hamas mobs swarming over college campuses.

The fact that “Civil War” is the most popular movie in the country shows that audiences will swallow any absurdity as long as it’s sufficiently coated with graphic violence.

“Civil War” is about a future conflict that pits secessionist states, improbably led by Texas and California, against those loyal to the national government, mostly in the Northeast.



Choosing the president by national popular vote: A horrible idea


It’s time for the quadrennial discussion of the Electoral College. Every four years more than a few folks wonder aloud why the U.S. president isn’t simply chosen via a national popular vote.

Since American schools don’t teach civics in class anymore, many newly minted adults have no idea the actual answer to this question — though in all fairness, plenty of folks in middle age and beyond don’t understand it either.

The Founding Fathers, in their infinite wisdom, created a system for choosing the president intended to give each state a significant voice in the election process. It is commonly known as the Electoral College.


Medal of Honor
See the source image
THOMAS JEROME HUDNER JR.

RANK: LIEUTENANT, J.G.
CONFLICT/ERA: KOREAN WAR

MILITARY SERVICE BRANCH: U.S. NAVY
MEDAL OF HONOR ACTION DATE: DECEMBER 4, 1950

MEDAL OF HONOR ACTION PLACE: CHOSIN RESERVOIR, KOREA
CITATION

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a pilot in Fighter Squadron 32, while attempting to rescue a squadron mate whose plane, struck by antiaircraft fire and trailing smoke, was forced down behind enemy lines. Quickly maneuvering to circle the downed pilot and protect him from enemy troops infesting the area, Lt. (j.g.) Hudner risked his life to save the injured flier who was trapped alive in the burning wreckage. Fully aware of the extreme danger in landing on the rough mountainous terrain, and the scant hope of escape or survival in subzero temperature, he put his plane down skillfully in a deliberate wheels-up landing in the presence of enemy troops. With his bare hands, he packed the fuselage with snow to keep the flames away from the pilot and struggled to pull him free. Unsuccessful in this he returned to his crashed aircraft and radioed other airborne planes, requesting that a helicopter be dispatched with an ax and fire extinguisher. He then remained on the spot despite the continuing danger from enemy action and, with the assistance of the rescue pilot, renewed a desperate but unavailing battle against time, cold, and flames. Lt. (j.g.) Hudner's exceptionally valiant action and selfless devotion to a shipmate sustain and enhance the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.


From the Archive....

            TO KILL OR FEED A MOCKINGBIRD
                 By Geoff Metcalf
                 July 29, 2002

            Two mutually exclusive and under reported stories have been troubling me.

               *   The apparent penchant for political operatives to leak classified information that jeopardizes national security.
               *   The generational control of information dissemination by powerful controllers.

            So we have another ‘Catch-22’.

            The complicity of the mainstream media to spin, cover, and obfuscate government abuse of power under the color of authority was not unique to the Clinton administration.  It may have been more ubiquitous, and at times even clumsy, but it was not unique.

            It has been reported that in June 1991 David Rockefeller allegedly told a Bilderberg meeting in Baden Baden German, "We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years." He went on to explain: "It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supernational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national autodetermination practiced in past centuries."

            Some argue that quote is apocryphal urban legend.  However, although I have never been able to find three corroborating independent sources for it, it IS consistent in content and tone with other Bilderberg quotes I HAVE been able to confirm.

            “If we had been subjected to the light of publicity….” Indicates the one world, globalist, wannabe controllers were/are successful in managing the message.

            Operation ‘Mockingbird’ was a program supposedly conceived by a brilliant Machiavellian State Department official, Frank Wisner.  Wisner selected Philip Graham, then publisher of the Washington Post to manage the program.  According to Deborah Davis, author of ‘Katharine the Great’, "By the early 1950s, Wisner 'owned' respected members of the New York Times, Newsweek, CBS and other communications vehicles, plus stringers, four to six hundred in all, according to a former CIA analyst."

            Over twenty five major newspapers and wire services became willing house organs for the CIA media manipulation.

            Investigators digging into MOCKINGBIRD have been flabbergasted to discover FOIA documents in which agents boast (in CIA office memos) of  pride in having placed "important assets" inside every major news publication in the country.

            I know, this is the stuff of Ludlum novels conspiracy wackos, but not until 1982 did the ‘Company’ finally concede that reporters on the CIA payroll have been case officers to field agents.

            I have too often observed, “Some people don’t like to be confused with facts that contradict their preconceived opinions.”  I have also noted (and struggle to maintain) “It is not WHO is right or wrong…but WHAT is right or wrong.”

            Anyone with almost ‘any’ military experience has no doubt seen the once ubiquitous posters cautioning “Loose Lips Sink Ships”.  It is a left over phrase from WWII and among “lessons learned”.

            In the complex world of intelligence loose lips can and have cost lives.

            Once upon a time, not so long ago, Senator Patrick Leahy (currently the Senate Judiciary committee’s lead obstructionist) used to be the Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the mid 80s.  Leahy allegedly ‘inadvertently’ exposed a top-secret intercept of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak that led to the capture of the Achille Lauro terrorists.  That supposed slip of the tongue “cost the life of at least one Egyptian operative.” http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2001/1/31/85757

            Loose Lip Leahy was forced to resign in disgrace 14 years ago in the wake of having to acknowledge he leaked secret intelligence to the press.   However today he lords his power over the Senate Judiciary committee.  Congress’ institutional memory must be as short as some of Jennifer Flowers former paramours.

            In our contemporary environment in which whistleblowers have become in many cases heroes it is important to make the distinctions between the appropriateness of corporate and political whistleblowers and the idiot or miscreant who leaks information with genuine national security implications.

            Currently the FBI is investigating national security leaks from specifically the House and Senate Select Intelligence committees.  This is serious stuff.

            Defenders of the indefensible will argue it is a political witch-hunt by politicians in a heavy C.Y.A. mode.  That is not true but a convenient political spin job.

            Sure it is true the white house is p.o.-ed over media reports that the National Security Agency had received but not acted on two early warning messages to 9/11.  Dick Cheney reportedly went ballistic and ripped congressional leaders.  Both House and Senate Select Intelligence committees asked the Attorney General to conduct an investigation (and no doubt quietly prayed it would be botched).

            Justice said in a statement, “…the appropriate department officials will expeditiously review this matter and take any appropriate action.”  Not if congress has anything to say about it.  Don’t expect anything fast.  Remember Leahy resigned in disgrace 14 years ago and today has the chutzpah to pontificate ad nauseum to the Judiciary committee and stall any and all Bush judicial appointments.

            More on Operation Mockingbird http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/