I’m sure this has made the unhinged, Israel and Jew hating kids on college campuses upset, though, none will actually go to the Palestinian areas, especially the women and rainbow letters folks

IDF kills Wassem Hazem, head of Hamas in Jenin

Wassem Hazem, head of the Hamas terror organization in the West Bank area of Jenin, was killed on Friday in a joint IDF, ISA, and Israel Border Police counterterrorism operation in the northern Samaria area, Israel’s military announced shortly afterward.

Hazem was killed in his vehicle after an exchange of fire during the joint operation. His role in the terror group involved carrying out and directing shooting and bombing attacks.

Hazem continuously advanced terrorist activities in the Judea and Samaria area, the IDF added.

Following the elimination of Hazem, two additional terrorists, Maysara Masharqa and Arafat Amer, who were in the vehicle with him, attempted to flee the scene. However, shortly afterward, they were also killed by an IDF aircraft.

🔴 Wassem Hazem, the head of Hamas in Jenin, was eliminated during a counterterrorism operation in the northern Samaria area. He was identified alongside a terrorist cell in a vehicle in the area.

Hazem was involved in carrying out and directing shooting and bombing attacks,… pic.twitter.com/TioV7BkZhS

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 30, 2024

Meanwhile, the wackjobs are at it again

Berlin Holocaust memorial defaced: ‘Jews are committing genocide’

A Berlin Holocaust memorial honoring non-Jews who protested against the persecution of their Jewish family members was vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti on Wednesday, according to the Berlin Police and European Jewish Congress.

“Jews are committing genocide,” was scrawled across the Rosenstrasse protest memorial according to EJC.

A Palestinian flag and the slogan “free Palestine” was spraypainted on the ground in front of the sculptures.

These people are assholes.

The Israel haters always seem to slur Israel for raiding mosques, for attacking, them, for blowing them up, but, the Israel haters keep forgetting about there being an actual reason for when it happens

IDF kills five terrorists in West Bank operation, discovers explosives lab in mosque

Five terrorists who were hiding inside a mosque were killed during a joint IDF, ISA, and Israeli Border Police counterterrorism operation in Tulkarm on Thursday, the IDF announced. Other terrorists were arrested.

One of the terrorists killed was Muhhamad Jabber, “Abu Shujaa,” the head of a terrorist network in Nur Shams, who was involved in the shooting attack that led to the murder of an Israeli civilian, Amnon Muchtar, in June, the IDF added.

The IDF also arrested a wanted Islamic Jihad terrorist in a refugee camp in Tulkarm on Wednesday night, Army Radio posted on X.

Muhammad Qassas is reportedly a senior terrorist operative in the Al Quds Brigade of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and was arrested while hiding in a mosque.

Islamic terrorists often hide and seek shelter in mosques

According to Palestinian reports, the IDF soldiers entered the refugee camp dressed in civilian clothes and proceeded to enter the mosque. Army Radio and Arab media reported that a shootout took place between terrorists and IDF, during which multiple terrorists were killed.

The IDF also discovered a laboratory for the manufacture of explosive devices and a terrorist operations room while searching inside the Abu Bakr al Siddiq Mosque in the Jordan Valley, IDF Arabic Spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X early on Thursday morning.

Terrorists had used the mosque as a base to carry out terrorist attacks against IDF forces, Adraee said.

If you’re using what is supposed to be a holy place for making bombs, sheltering terrorists, and planning attacks, do not be surprised when it is attacked or blown up. Islamists see this as a holy war, as they have since the 8th Century. So, it’s no surprise they use mosques. Some of the bombs were “too dangerous to use or even move.” Too bad they didn’t go boom before the IDF went in. Would have save them some trouble.

It was just two days ago when my good friend and occasional blog pinch hitter, William Teach, noted with some amusement that the $320 million temporary pier to allow humanitarian aid to Gaza. I snarkily commented:

Perhaps God is siding with Israel, against the ‘Palestinians’ and Hamas.

Matthew 8:23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Perhaps the ‘Palestinians’ can call upon Allah to rebuke the wind and calm the seas, to get those humanitarian supplies to them.

There were a few reports which stated that only part of the pier had been damaged, and that it was still in operation, but now we have this, from the Associated Press: Continue reading →

Yahoo News reported:

Former President Trump was met with mixed reactions at the Libertarian National Convention on Saturday as the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee suggested that he should also receive the Libertarian presidential nomination. “Only do that if you want to win,” Trump told attendees. “If you want to lose, don’t do that. Keep getting your 3% every four years,” he added.

Mr Trump was widely booed at the Libertarian Party Convention, and of course they didn’t nominate him, or Robert F Kennedy, Jr, who also sought the Party’s nod. Instead they picked Chase Oliver, the openly homosexual Georgian perennial candidate. And, just as President Trump said, the Libertarians will get a small percentage of the vote. Continue reading →

Intelligent people have already been wondering just how much of the ‘student’ activism in support of the ‘Palestinians’ and Hamas has been led not by the students themselves, but professional activists. We have previously noted that the majority of those arrested, 13 out of 19, as the Philadelphia Police ‘broke up‘ an attempt to occupy a Penn building, and 26 out of 33 arrested as the pro-Hamas ‘encampment’ at the University of Pennsylvania was broken up were not students there. Continue reading →

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” — George Orwell, 1984

Once again, the Democrats are touting the great economy, telling us that wage increases are now running at a greater rate than inflation.

Consumer prices up 3.1 percent from January 2023 to January 2024

February 22, 2024

Over the year ended January 2024, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 3.1 percent. Food prices rose 2.6 percent, while energy prices decreased 4.6 percent. Prices for all items less food and energy increased 3.9 percent from January 2023 to January 2024, compared with increases of 5.6 percent in the year ended January 2023 and 6.0 percent for the year ended January 2022.

3.1% is still higher than the Federal Reserve’s target of 2.0%, but not terrible, right. But, let’s do a bit of math. The January 2021 to January 2022 inflation rate for all items was 7.5%, from January 2022 to January 2023 it was 6.4%, and over the last year, it has been 3.1%.

$100 x 1.075 = $107.50, x 1.064 = $114.38, x 1.031 = $117.93.

Inflation is cumulative, and using the federal government’s own numbers, consumer prices for all items are 17.926% higher than they were when Joe Biden became President.

How about groceries, listed as “Food at home” by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s up 20.97%. Energy? That’s up 31.70%, despite the 4.6% decrease from January 2023 to 2024.

Why do I separate out food and energy? The Bureau of Labor Statistics, along with other government agencies, do that, because they describe them as too volatile, and don’t give a clear enough picture. But, more importantly to me, food and energy are the things people buy most frequently, as we have to eat every day, and fuel our vehicles every week, if not more often. Those are the things where people actually see inflation most often.

What about wages? Over the same period of time, wages have increased 17.087%, slightly less than the overall inflation rate, but significantly less than the inflation rates for the two things people have to buy most frequently. Prices for appliances may have grown at a significantly lesser rate, but how often do people actually buy washing machines or refrigerators?

Shelter? With wages having increased 5.0% over the past year, rental and mortgage expenses have jumped 5.7%.

Heather Long first came to my attention when she was an economics reporter for CNN. She wrote, on September 16, 2016:

Problem: Most Americans don’t believe the unemployment rate is 5%

by Heather Long | September 6, 2016 | 3:18 PM EDT

Heather Long

Americans think the economy is in far worse shape than it is.The U.S. unemployment rate is only 4.9%, but 57% of Americans believe it’s a lot higher than that, according to a new survey by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.

The general public has “extremely little factual knowledge” about the job market and labor force, Rutgers found.

It’s another example of how experts on Wall Street and in Washington see the economy differently than the regular Joe. Many of the nation’s top economic experts say that America is “near full employment.” The unemployment rate has actually been at or below 5% for almost a year — millions of people have found jobs in what is the best period of hiring since the late 1990s.

But regular people appear to have their doubts about how healthy America’s employment picture is. Nearly a third of those survey by Rutgers believe unemployment is actually at 9%, or higher.

Republican candidate Donald Trump has tapped into this confusion. He has repeatedly called the official unemployment rate a “joke” and a even “hoax.”

There’s more at the original.

I noted, at the time — in a post that is locked up, with so many others, in a file that’s stuck in my server somewhere when I got this site ‘fixed’ from some real technical problems — that what Americans believed, that unemployment was “actually at 9%, or higher,” was correct, if you looked at U-6 rather than the ‘official’ U-3 unemployment rate.

• U-1: Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force
• U-2: Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force
• U-3: U-3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate)
• U-4: Total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers
• U-5: Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other persons marginally attached to the labor force, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force
• U-6: Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force.

NOTE: Persons marginally attached to the labor force are those who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the past 12 months. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not currently looking for work. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule.

The August, 2016 U-6 rate was 9.6%, which I said was right in line with American’s perception of it.

Now it’s March of 2024, and the Democrats keep telling us, just like they did in 2016, that the economy is just fine, thank you very much. But while the issue is different, inflation rather than unemployment, the effect is the same: what the government tells us is the case is not what people see as reality when they go to the grocery store, or fill up their gasoline tanks. I’m hoping that the outcome in November is the same, that the Democratic presidential nominee is returned to the status of private citizen.

We have previously reported on how some media organizations deliberately conceal facts about the sexual abuse of minors, but at least noted that now-convicted former teacher and coach April Bradford at least got some/i> time behind bars, though 3½ years seems awfully light for having sexually abused two female students, including during the students’ middle school years, aged under 14-years-old.

Well, 3½ years is more than no prison time at all!

NJ teacher who had illicit sexual relationship with student avoids prison time after ex-pupils sent court letters of support

By David Propper | Monday, January 29, 2024 | 8:19 AM EST

A New Jersey teacher who had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female student evaded prison time last week after her former students sent letters of support to the court ahead of her sentencing.

Unlike so many media organizations, the New York Post did not conceal that the sexual relationship was homosexual in nature. Grooming, anyone?

Ex-Fair Lawn High School graphics arts teacher Christine Knudsen was placed under lifetime parole supervision and forced to register as a sex offender, but won’t see a day behind bars if she doesn’t violate the terms of the sentencing, according to the Bergen Record.

She’s also reportedly prohibited from having any contact with her victim as part of a three-year suspended sentence tied to her illicit sexual relationship with the teenage student that lasted nearly a year in 2017.

The relationship was technically legal because the victim was the age of consent, but for the sentencing, the student was considered a child, the local newspaper reported.

Am I an [insert slang term for the anus here] for suggesting that any school district which hires a teacher with tattoos like that ought to be liable for that teacher’s crimes?

“Parents send their kids to school every day, trusting they will be safe in the care of their teachers,” Bergen County Judge Nina Remson said Wednesday, according to the outlet. “And there is a very strong need to deter not only Ms. Knudsen, but all citizens from violations of the law, especially in this nature involving a breach of trust between the teacher and the student.”

I would point out here that Miss Knudsen is listed in other sources — the Post did not include this — as being 46 years old, and when the abuse occurred in 2017, would have been 39 years-old. This isn’t some Romeo and Juliet type age difference, but Josh Kruger/Robert Davis level stuff.

Knudsen pleaded guilty in July to reckless endangerment after she was initially charged with sexual assault in 2021. She met the victim when the student joined the school’s drama club, which she advised, the Record reported.

The former educator’s lawyer in court last week blamed multiple troubles in her life, including substance abuse, for the inappropriate relationship.

“(S)ubstance abuse”? Is Miss Knudsen an alcoholic, or was she using stuff for which she could and should have been drug tested? Shouldn’t all teachers be subject to routine drug testing?

Knudsen, who taught for two decades, had a positive influence on her classes, according to letters of support from ex-students, Assistant Prosecutor Stephen Bollenbach said, though he pointed out the relationship with the victim violated the trust between educator and pupil.

He described the plea deal as “justice tempered with mercy.”

Yeah, uh huh, right. It certainly is not justice tempered with deterrence!

Of course, there probably is some deterrence there, because who would think that a 39-year-old male teacher who seduced a 17-year-old female student would just get probation?

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Trudy Rubin describes herself, in her Inky bio, as “writ(ing) the Worldview column that tries to make sense of the world’s chaos and conflicts as they affect Americans at home,” but she has made it abundantly clear that she does not understand the world’s chaos and conflicts. She has been an endless shill for continuing American aid to Ukraine, in good neocon fashion, and that’s seven columns on the subject, just since mid-August, and I could have linked more, but believe that I have made the point. She understands that Hamas are wholly evil, but just doesn’t get it about the ‘Palestinians.’ Continue reading →

Funny how none of these measures passed by hardcore Democrats ever restricts their own security, nor goes after actual criminals

Concealed carry gun rules passed by California Democrats. Gavin Newsom is ready to make it law

California Democrats passed new rules Tuesday restricting who can carry loaded weapons in public, successfully reviving a failed attempt to strengthen the state’s concealed carry gun laws.

Senate Bill 2, authored by Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Burbank, will update the concealed carry licensing process, add new age restrictions, impose strict storage mandates and limit where permit holders can carry in public. After a vote of 28-8 in the state Senate on Tuesday, the legislation is headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for his signature.

“I think the impact is going to be significant,” Portantino told The Sacramento Bee just after the Senate floor vote. “Having a gun is a responsibility and what we’re doing is defining who should have that responsibility and who shouldn’t.”

In a statement released Monday, Newsom commended the legislature for its support and said that there was a reason why people were “less likely to die from bullets in California.”

“We’re using every tool we can to make our streets and neighborhoods safer from gun violence,” he added in the statement.

Yet, it’s rarely those who lawfully own a firearm, and virtually never for anyone with concealed carry permit, to be involved in crime. It’s usually those who illegally possess, but, Democrats do not care, this is about making it harder for law abiding citizens.

Once signed by Newsom, SB 2 requires those who want to carry firearms in public to be 21 or older and have at least 16 hours of training. It will also prohibit permit holders from carrying their guns into a wide array of settings such as schools, courts, government buildings, prisons, hospitals, airports and bars.

This law is pretty damned big for a state law, and isn’t just about guns, but, bb guns, paint guns, short knives, personal gas protection, and more, and has so much information that it will make it tough for anyone to know what is and isn’t against the law. It also gives the California DOJ the power to determine the fees for licenses, rather than setting them in the bill. And it really ramps up the criminal violations. It’s all to make sure law abiding citizens are too scared/unsure to carry their legally purchased firearm.

Gun rights groups are prepared to file a lawsuit challenging the bill the same day that Newsom signs it into law, according to Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California.

“We know what we have to do and we’re ready to do it,” Paredes said in an interview. “Ultimately, this bill will never see the light of day as a statute in the state of California.”

The bill is supposedly attempting to comply with the Supreme Court ruling last year but it will simply make it harder.