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Recent Appearances...

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Day 3: IDF continues deadly work cleaning up Hezbollah after Nasrallah confirmed dead yesterday

2024-09-29

Yesterday Nasrallah was confirmed killed in the IAF attack on Hezbollah’s Beirut HQ in Dahiyeh. See here, here, here, and discussions in the thread here.

From the Times of Israel liveblog for September 29th:

IDF says launchers among dozens of Hezbollah sites hit overnight
Overnight, Israeli fighter jets struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the IDF says. The targets included rocket launchers aimed at Israel and buildings used by Hezbollah, including where it stored weapons, according to the military. It releases footage of some of the strikes.

Trump whisperer Kushner says Israel must be allowed to finish off Hezbollah
Former president Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, an ex-White House senior adviser, says Israel must be allowed to finish off Hezbollah after assassinating its leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, rejecting calls for a ceasefire which have been voiced by the Biden administration.

“Anyone who has been calling for a ceasefire in the north is wrong. There is no going back for Israel. They cannot afford now to not finish the job and completely dismantle the arsenal that has been aimed at them. They will never get another chance,” Kushner tweets in rare public comments.

The post is quickly retweeted by former ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who is likely to seek a spot in the administration, as well as Wyoming Senator John Barrosso, senior Fox News analyst Brit Hume and and other influential Trump-world voices. Kushner has said he doesn’t plan to return to the White House if his father-in-law is re-elected, but his voice still has weight among Trump backers, if not the Republican candidate for president.

In the lengthy X post, Kushner brands September 27 — the date Israel killed Nasrallah — as “the most important day in the Middle East since the Abraham Accords breakthrough.”

“Iran is now fully exposed. The reason why their nuclear facilities have not been destroyed, despite weak air defense systems, is because Hezbollah has been a loaded gun pointed at Israel. Iran spent the last forty years building this capability as its deterrent,” he argues.

“Israel now finds itself with the threat from Gaza mostly neutralized and the opportunity to neutralize Hezbollah in the north. It’s unfortunate how we got here but maybe there can be a silver lining in the end,” Kushner continues.

He argues that with Hezbollah and Iran reeling, “failing to take full advantage of this opportunity to neutralize the threat is irresponsible.”

“The right move now for America would be to tell Israel to finish the job. It’s long overdue. And it’s not only Israel’s fight,” Kushner adds, noting that Hezbollah has the blood of hundreds Americans on its hands.

Jordan says rocket fired from Lebanon lands outside Amman
The Jordanian army says a grad rocket from southern Lebanon fell this evening in an uninhabited desert area near Muwaqqar, a town southeast of Amman. No people were hurt in the attack and there was no damage, it says in a statement. Muwaqqar is about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the Lebanese border.

Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces said a missile fired from Lebanon landed in the West Bank near Jerusalem, marking what appeared to be the deepest rocket fire carried out by Hezbollah since intense fighting began earlier this month.

From the Times of Israel liveblog for September 28th:

IDF: Missile from Lebanon lands in West Bank, sparking fire, causing power outages; none hurt
The IDF says that the missile launched from Lebanon this evening impacted in the West Bank, close to Jerusalem. Local authorities say that the missile struck an open area, sparking a fire and causing power outages in several nearby settlements. The Fire and Rescue Service says it is working to extinguish a fire near the Mitzpe Hagit outpost, sparked by the missile impact. There are no injuries in the attack.

Lebanese media reports additional Israeli strike in Beirut’s Dahiyeh
Lebanese media report a new Israeli strike in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut. Numerous IDF strikes have been carried out in the Hezbollah stronghold in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital today, since the killing of Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah yesterday.

Meanwhile, a Lebanese security source says an Israeli strike targeted a warehouse near Beirut airport, Lebanon’s only international passenger facility. AFP live footage showed smoke billowing from the area near the runway after the strike.

UNHCR: 200,000 internally displaced inside Lebanon, 50,000 fled into Syria
Over 50,000 people have crossed into Syria from Lebanon since Israel intensified its airstrikes in various regions of the country, and 200,000 are internally displaced, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. The figure presumably includes the 110,000 who are believed to have evacuated southern Lebanon in the months before the ongoing escalation.

Those who have crossed the border into Syria are both Lebanese citizens and Syrians who have been living in Lebanon as refugees.

Grandi says that relief operations are underway to assist those in need in collaboration with the governments of both countries.

Link

-Short Attention Span Theater-

Fox News anchor Bret Baier... [stands up].

2024-07-31

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier thinks the White House owes his network an apology.

But he won't be holding his breath.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, the anchor and executive editor of Special Report with Bret Baier fired back at Democratic critics, who have sought to undermine his reporting on President Joe The Big Guy Biden
Joe <q>The Big Guy</q> Biden

...46th president of the U.S. Joe's wife and daughter weren't killed by a drunk driver. He didn't graduate with three or even two degrees, wasn't in the top half of his law class, and his daddy didn't come home from a hard day's work in the mines and play football with the guys. The NAACP hasn't endorsed him every time he's run....
's record of disturbing public incidents.

And, while Baier is not yet ready to declare a 'White House cover-up' of the president's true condition, he's not ruling it out and he's certainly not done investigating who knew what and when.

'There was clearly an effort to prevent some of what they knew [about Biden's health] from getting out,' Baier told the Mail. 'We're going to find out that there's a lot more to this... What got [Biden] from adamant that he will be the nominee to writing a letter that he was going to step down? What was that? What epiphany happened?'

For his part, Baier revealed he has heard potentially explosive 'rumors' that former Speaker of the House Nancy San Fran Nan Pelosi
Congresswoman-for-Life from the San Francisco Bay Area, born into a family of professional politicians. On-again-off-again Speaker of the House. It's not her fault when they lose, but it's her accomplishment when they win. Noted for her heavily botoxed grimace and occasional senior... uhhh... moments...
was threatening to release polling that undermined Biden's case for staying in the race.

And he said that President Obama was reportedly exerting his influence behind the scenes to push Biden off the political stage.

In our interview, Baier also questioned who is truly in charge in the White House, as Biden seemingly hands over more influence and power to his Vice President.

'Now that you're going to have Kámala Harris
Former Oakland mayor Willie Brown's former mistress, then a senatrix from California former 2020 Dem presidential hopeful, and Joe Biden's wing nut, Joe's intended successor'...
meeting separately with foreign leaders, like we saw with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu [last week] and having her own pressers,' Baier said, 'we have a situation where President Biden may fade from the spotlight and there could be, in essence, a co-presidency.'

In the 16 years that he's anchored Special Report, taking over from his friend and mentor FNC legend Brit Hume, Baier said that he has never been through such a 'crazy' and 'consequential' period in US politics.

And, he made clear, the story is far from over.

In the days and weeks before Biden shocked the country by appearing frail and confused on a debate stage with Donald Trump
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
, Baier and his FOX News Channel (FNC) colleagues were accused of spreading manipulated videos or 'cheap fakes' of the president.

It's an allegation, Baier argues, that should now be dismissed as patently absurd.

'This wasn't a video that we were editing,' he said. 'This was a video that showed President Biden being led off the stage by former President Obama [at a June 15 fundraiser in Los Angeles]. It was there for viewers to see.'

Link

Home Front: Politix

The Nation Columnist Defends Joe Biden From Tara Reade: ‘I Would Vote For Joe Biden If He Boiled Babies And Ate Them’

2020-05-23

[DAILYCALLERNEWSFOUNDATION.ORG] A columnist for The Nation defended 2020 presidential candidate Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden
Joe <q>Foreign Policy Whiz Kid</q> Biden

Joe <q>Foreign Policy Whiz Kid</q> Biden

...We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created ... by the — you know — you know, the thing...
from allegations of sexual assault by his former senate staffer Tara Reade, saying, "I would vote for Joe Biden if he boiled babies and ate them."

Columnist Katha Pollitt would vote for Joe Biden even if she believed Reade’s allegations of sexual assault, she wrote in her Wednesday column. "Fortunately, I don’t have to sacrifice morality to political necessity," she wrote.

Reade has accused Biden of kissing her, touching her, and penetrating her without her consent in 1993 when she worked for him as a senate staffer in Washington, D.C. Biden has repeatedly denied these allegations.

The Nation writer listed several examples of horrible things that the former vice president could do that would not prevent her from voting for him and voting for President Donald Trump
...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party...
— including eating boiled babies.

"I would vote for Joe Biden if he boiled babies and ate them," Pollitt wrote. "He wasn’t my candidate, but taking back the White House is that important. Four more years of Trump will replace what remains of our democracy with unchecked rule by kleptocrats, fascist
...anybody you disagree with, damn them...
s, religious fanatics, gun nuts, and know-nothings."

The Nation columnist, who has written for the publication since 1980, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that "some people didn’t like my dark humor and comic exaggeration," regarding the boiled babies comment.

Biden has previously said that voters should choose between voting for him and believing Reade’s allegations. "Well, I think they should vote their heart and if they believe Tara Reade, they probably shouldn’t vote for me," Biden said on MSNBC last week. "I wouldn’t vote for me if I believed Tara Reade."

Link

Home Front: Politix

FISA court judge demands info about FBI lawyer linked to Carter Page warrant

2019-12-22

[FOXNEWS] The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court’s presiding judge has sent another directive to the Justice Department, ordering officials to identify previous surveillance requests from an FBI lawyer linked to the 2016 warrant from former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

In an order unsealed Friday, Judge Rosemary Collyer asked the Justice Department to identify steps to ensure the accuracy of those filings and whether the unnamed DOJ lawyer was ever disciplined.

DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz recently identified in a scathing public report numerous mistakes and omissions in the warrant used against Page that launched the FBI investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Trump Tidbit: There May Be More Coming On Vindman

2019-11-04

Red State
Democrats and media have been trying to make a lot of the alleged testimony of Alexander Vindman, an Army lieutenant colonel and National Security official.

But his testimony, at least that which we know, appears to be little more than expressing his opinion. But we already have the transcript of what was said and the Ukraine President said he wasn’t pressured which is Democrats whole theory of the case. So as my colleague, Bonchie, has noted, Vindman’s testimony is largely irrelevant opinion.

But if we look at that opinion, it also reveals part of the problem that we also have seen from others.

...But the other problem with Vindman’s opinion, as journalist Brit Hume points out, is Vindman’s claim that he thought it might be an attempt by the president to "subvert foreign policy." The president is the one who sets foreign policy, of course, so by definition he cannot subvert it. But it isn’t the place of an Army colonel/NSC person to set policy, it is the job of the president. And you don’t try to take out the president because you’re unhappy with his approach to policy.

...But now Trump has suggested that there may also be something more interesting coming about Vindman.

According to Newsmax, Trump was asked if he regretted calling Vindman a "Never Trumper."

His response was, "Well, you’ll be seeing very soon what comes out and then you can ask the question in a different way."

Sounds like there’s more on the way.
General advice, if you're, basically, a military bureaucrat - don't pretend to be a war hero to add weight to your illegal actions

Link

Home Front: Culture Wars

Twitter User Techno Fog Blows Up CNN's Acosta For Propaganda

2019-01-13

[Twitter] HT Powerline/Brit Hume - Facts don't lie. Acosta does. Link
"I try not to get autobiographical, but I lived 5 minutes from that RV park (Chimney Park). I'm an expert on the area. Let me tell you why there's no fence."

Link

Home Front: Politix

Hume's Fumes at Faux News: 'Trump's unpopularity LOST the Virginia race' (Video)

2017-11-08

[Right Scoop] Brit Hume told Tucker Carlson something he definitely did not want to hear ‐ that it was Trump’s unpopularity that lost the Virginia race.
"Unpopularity" of a populist president? Total, poll hawking rubbish! Please have a look at the swamp map.

Northern Virginia is chock full of federal bureaucrats, who as a group hate and fear President Trump and his people -- with good reason, as their jobs are under threat. Thus Virginia is a special case.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Brit Hume on Trump Jr. Russia story: What's all the fuss about?

2017-07-11

[Right Scoop] Brit Hume wants to know why the story about Trump Jr. getting duped by a Russian woman who claimed she had dirt on Hillary is getting scandalous coverage when he says it’s "much ado about not much":

How was he duped? He met with a woman who claimed she had useful information, but concluded she did not. Surely that is the opposite of being duped.

Hume says there is no evidence of collusion with Russia anywhere in this story, yet the story is getting widespread coverage all over the MSM.

Hume also hits back at the argument that this woman has ’ties’ to the Kremlin:

Hume said this meeting appears to simply have been an attempt by someone to make some headway with the Trump campaign on the issue of adoption, which he believes hardly suggests improper behavior on her part or the Trump campaign’s part.
The Russia story is going flat. We'd better stop for air.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Hillary walks with Kaine

2016-07-23

Yes, that's the Drudge headline...

Hillary Clinton named Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia to be her running mate Friday, selecting a battleground state politician with working-class roots and a fluency in Spanish, traits that she believes can bolster her chances to defeat Donald J. Trump in November.

Mrs. Clinton’s choice, which she announced via text message to supporters, came after her advisers spent months poring over potential vice-presidential candidates who could lift the Democratic ticket in an unpredictable race against Mr. Trump. In the end, Mrs. Clinton decided Mr. Kaine, 58, a former governor of Virginia who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and speaks fluent Spanish, had the qualifications and background and the personal chemistry with her to make the ticket a success.
"Kaine and UnAbel"
~ Brit Hume

Link

Home Front: Culture Wars

Still Rolling: Fox News Has Its Best January Ever

2010-02-03

Fox News had its best January in the history of the network, and was the only cable news network to grow year-to-year.

FNC also had the top 13 programs on cable news in total viewers for the fifth month in a row, and the top 13 programs in the A25-54 demographic for the first time in more than five years.

FNC grew in double digits in both total viewers and the A25-54 demographic from January 2009. In prime time, it was up 22% in total viewers and 51% in the demo. CNN was down 34% and 37% and MSNBC down 26% and 38%. In total day, FNC was up 16% and 28%. CNN was down 34% and 41% and MSNBC down 28% and 39%. Last January all networks performed while with the Inauguration coverage. This month, the big political event was Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts, which FNC dominated in the ratings.

Special Report with Bret Baier/Brit Hume was #1 for the 100th consecutive month.

Fox Report #1 for 100th consecutive month.

Sean Hannity had his best month ever (since it launched as Hannity).

Link

Home Front: Culture Wars

Throwing Brit Hume to the lions

2010-01-07

If there were doubt that much of the media is hostile to traditional faith, especially traditional Christianity, that doubt has been drowned in the wake of a vicious verbal assault on Fox News analyst Brit Hume. Histrionic fulminations against Mr. Hume's inoffensive expression of faith expose an ugly strain of anti-religious bigotry that is spreading inside this country's liberal establishment.

Mr. Hume's sin against secular culture came Sunday when he offered, in humble and helpful tones, advice to golfer Tiger Woods to "turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world." The advice might have sounded a little awkward in the setting of a news-talk roundtable. But even in the context of suggesting that Mr. Woods' apparent Buddhism doesn't offer the same "kind of forgiveness and redemption" as Christianity, the newsman's remarks were, at worst, harmless. Yet the reaction of critics gives the impression that Mr. Hume did something really awful like use the "N" word, or - as Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus did - push a government promotion for a girlfriend.

Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales took a pause from writing love letters to President Obama to aim nasty public hate mail at Mr. Hume, who is renowned as one of the rare true gentlemen in the nation's capital. "Brit Hume was certainly full of something," Mr. Shales ranted, adding that the Fox broadcast legend is "sinking into his own mouth-made mire," and that "darts of derision should be aimed at Hume" for "one of the most ridiculous [remarks] of the year." He instructed Mr. Hume to "first off, apologize," with a snide admonishment that "Hume ought to know that what people are saying right now is a whole lot worse than that he's fading."

On MSNBC, the preternaturally truculent Keith Olbermann said Mr. Hume should "keep religious advocacy out of public life since, you know, the worst examples of that are jihadists, not to mention, you know, guys who don't know their own religions or somebody else's religion like Brit Hume." His guest, homosexual activist Dan Savage, chimed in that, "American Christianity has been hijacked by the lunatics, by the Pat Robertsons ... and by people like Brit Hume, and it's an insult to Christianity, it's an insult to Christians." Also on MSNBC, news host David Shuster suggested that Mr. Hume somehow had "denigate* Christianity" by mentioning his faith on the air.

This is par for the course for a media in which Washington Post book reviewers suggest that the faith messages at the heart of the popular "Narnia" books amount to a "narrow Christian box," where HBO's Bill Maher calls the Catholic Church "the Bear Stearns of organized pedophilia," where the Nation's Katha Pollitt accuses the religious right of showing "tolerance of wife-battering," and where a major news magazine marvels at the supposedly "surprising unsecularity" of the American public.

Maybe these media mavens should take Mr. Hume's advice. Their own hatefulness puts them in obvious need of the "forgiveness and redemption" Mr. Hume kindly recommended. A little charity wouldn't hurt, either.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Bush: Refused to Bail Out Republicans With Iraq Withdrawal

2009-01-11

President Bush says he refused to "bail out my political party" by withdrawing troops "during the darkest days of Iraq," a decision now lauded by his father in an unprecedented joint interview of both presidents by Brit Hume on "FOX News Sunday."

"During the darkest days of Iraq, people came to me and said, 'You're creating incredible political difficulties for us,'" the current president said as his term draws to a close. "And I said, 'Oh, really? What do you suggest I do?' And some suggested retreat, pull out of Iraq.

"But I had faith that freedom exists in people's souls and therefore, if given a chance, democracy and Iraqi-style democracy could survive and work," the president said. "I didn't compromise that principle for the sake of trying to, you know, bail out my political party."

The president's father, former President George H.W. Bush, became emotional when assessing his son's tenure. "You can make a tough decision and stay with it," he told his son before turning to Hume in the White House Diplomatic Room. "And he's been tested unlike any other president with 9/11. So he passed the test."

He said political invective has "gotten worse" since his days in the White House, adding: "It's offensive, very offensive."

The younger Bush agreed. "The biggest disappointment in the political process, that's been this kind of bitterness by a few people to the point where they don't want to have a logical discussion or a civil discussion about policy," he said. "They just want to tear you down."

But with the war in Iraq nearly won after years of setbacks, the younger Bush exudes serenity as he wraps up his two terms in the White House. "I'm better than fine -- I am proud of the accomplishments of this administration," he said. "I know I gave it my all for eight years, and I did not sell my soul for the sake of popularity. And so when I get back home and look in the mirror, I will be proud of what I see."

Bush said he was also proud of the CIA, although he acknowledged the agency has leaked intelligence secrets. "There have been disappointing moments when information came out of the agency," he said. "You can't stop leaks. And you don't know how many people were leaking, but I can assure you, the vast majority of people in the CIA were very cooperative."

Bush said he is planning to write a book about his presidency. "I'm toying with the idea of maybe describing the toughest decisions I had to make as president, and the context in which I made them," he said. "It is very hard for people to remember what life was like a mere four or five years ago. And it's going to be very important for me to recreate the environment in which I had to make certain decisions, particularly the environment of right after September the 11th, 2001."

Bush conceded that his prosecution of an increasingly unpopular war contributed to the fact that the Republican Party "got whipped in 2008." And he warned that a comeback will be difficult "if the party is viewed as anti-immigrant."

But he said the GOP should remain anti-tax and pro-military. "We shouldn't change our philosophy," he said. "We may want to change our messaging. We definitely want to change messengers. We need a new group of leaders."

He added: "I had one in mind. But he evidently didn't agree with his older brother."

It was a reference to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who announced last week he would not run for a Senate seat.

Unlike his son, the elder President Bush served only one term, leaving him to wonder about "things I'd like to have done" on his "unfulfilled agenda." But he has remained active since leaving the White House, even skydiving well into his golden years. He plans another jump in June, when he will be 85.

"I think he's a nut to jump out of airplane at age 70, 75, 80 and 85," remarked his son, who added: "Actually, I think it's cool."

His dad, who now walks with a cane, agreed. "You don't want to sit around just because you're an old guy, drooling in the corner," the elder Bush said. "Old guys can still do stuff." To which his son quipped: "You can drool and jump at the same time."

Link

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