The war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza strip is the most morally clear conflict in modern history. It pits an actual terrorist group that just engaged in the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust against a democratic country that protects citizens—Jewish, Muslim, and Christian. It pits a monstrously evil tentacle of Iran—handed control of the Gaza strip by Israel in 2005 when Israel pulled out of that area and forced 8,000 Jews out of their homes—against a democratic ally of the United States. It pits an army of atrocity-seeking villains—who are attempting to maximize Palestinian casualties by locating themselves among civilians, stealing humanitarian aid, and literally murdering anyone who gets in their way—against an actual professional army risking the lives of its own soldiers in order to protect Palestinian civilians. And yet Joe Biden can’t quite make up his mind. On the one hand, Biden mouths platitudinous support for Israel in its battle against Hamas. On the other, he continues to grant the central premise Hamas promotes, which is that Israel is a human rights violator and indiscriminate killer of Palestinians—even as Hamas holds Americans hostage in Gaza. Biden has spent the last several weeks pressuring Israel not to go into Rafah, the sole major repository of the Hamas terror apparatus, where some four brigades of terrorists are digging in. Instead, he has deployed his head of the CIA, his secretary of state, and a wide variety of other officials to promote “negotiations” between Israel and Hamas. In fact, he’s done more than that for Hamas. While fully articulating his understanding that Hamas seeks a permanent end to the conflict in Gaza, which would leave them in control and hand them a victory they could never earn on the battlefield, Biden has pushed just that: a permanent end to the conflict leaving Hamas in place. Biden has not explained just how this would benefit the United States, Israel, the Palestinians themselves, or the region more broadly. He has simply calculated that an end to conflict is an end in and of itself. To that end, Biden has been slow-walking aid to the Israelis—including ammunition that allows for better targeting, which would minimize civilian casualties. He has deployed his negotiators to play both sides of the table, even going so far as to allow his CIA head, William Burns, to negotiate with Egypt and Qatar a series of terms without submitting them to the Israelis—and then allowing Hamas itself to declare its acceptance of such nonsensical and irrelevant terms, presumably in an effort to humiliate the Israelis into accepting their own quasi-surrender. Biden has trotted out spokespeople to claim that America continues to back Israel, while simultaneously claiming—falsely—that Israel is engaging in human rights abuses. The result is the worst of all possible worlds for Biden: a dissatisfied radical base convinced that Biden is behind the war in Gaza; an angry pro-Israel citizenry bewildered by Biden’s inability to call evil by its name; and a stalemate in Gaza, which means that radical protesters will undoubtedly descend on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in order to harass Biden as he receives his renomination. It’s all stupid. But it does raise an obvious question: Why? Why is this so seemingly tough for Joe Biden? Is it all just a misread of the political moment—adherence to a stunningly imbecilic belief that if Biden appeases extremists within his party, he’ll be able to win the 2024 election? Or is it something deeper—a moral malaise that has taken root in the upper echelons of our politics, in which Western powers, including Israel, are seen as inherently problematic while the West’s enemies, including Hamas, are seen as inherently victimized? If the tens of thousands of protesters on America’s streets are any indicator, the latter seems more likely than the former. Which spells doom for a West that cannot see the difference between decency and barbarity. The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation.  COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM The post If You Can’t Tell the Bad Guy in Israel Versus Hamas, You’re the Problem appeared first on The Daily Signal.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden took the very unusual step of submitting to an interviewer who was an actual journalist (not like Howard Stern or Drew Barrymore). It wouldn’t be long before he started mangling his record—and Donald Trump’s. CNN reporter Erin Burnett began with how Trump’s promises of new jobs in Wisconsin didn’t come true: “Why should people here believe that you will succeed at creating jobs where Trump failed?” Biden bragged: “He’s never succeeded in creating jobs, and I have never failed. I have created over 15 million jobs since I have been president.” He did it all by himself! He claimed that other than Herbert Hoover, Trump’s “the only other president who lost more jobs than created in his four-year term.” There’s a massive asterisk; namely, the global COVID-19 pandemic. Trump’s employment record in the first three years of his presidency was strong. The raw number of employed Americans reached records. In October 2018, it had reached more than 156.6 million. The unemployment rate hit record lows across demographics—for women, blacks, Latinos, Asians and youth. Obviously, the severe lockdowns during the pandemic—most aggressively pushed by the Democrats and their media allies—drove massive job losses. Nonfarm payroll employment in the United States declined by 9.4 million in 2020. So, Democrats blame that on Trump, and when the pandemic was over, they took credit for the economy climbing out of that hole. But that wasn’t Biden’s worst mangle. He claimed to CNN that “no president’s had the run we have had, in terms of creating jobs and bringing down inflation. It was 9% when I came to office, 9%.” That’s ridiculous! It’s a baldfaced lie. Inflation was 1.4%, again, due to the pandemic. Burnett didn’t check his facts, during or after the interview. She pushed him to acknowledge inflation was bad, but she didn’t suggest he was lying. Fox News contributor Joe Concha tweeted: “And of course, CNN makes sure its pious fact-checker is nowhere to be found afterward.” And of course, CNN makes sure its pious fact-checker is nowhere to be found afterward… https://t.co/1lgapFWYgp— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) May 9, 2024 That would be Daniel Dale, who’s almost entirely deployed on TV to “fact-check” Trump. Since Trump’s Manhattan trial began in mid-April, Dale has appeared nine times to “check” him. He has not appeared to check anyone else. On April 18, Jake Tapper said, “He’s handy to have around at times like this.” Some of these fact checks are “brag checks.” Trump will say he’s ahead in all the polls, when he’s ahead in most polls. But Dale sounds most exasperated when Trump blames Biden for his legal troubles. On April 18, Dale decried “his false conspiracy theory that essentially that Joe Biden is behind this case, which was brought by a locally elected district attorney.” Dale can’t even disclose that DA Alvin Bragg is a Democrat. He acknowledged Trump’s lead prosecutor, Matthew Colangelo, was a Biden Justice Department official, and then joined Bragg’s team. A “conspiracy theory” between Democrat lawyers looks obvious here, and declaring it “false” is a lame spin. On Tuesday, Dale threw a penalty flag at Trump for saying Bragg is a “Soros-backed” prosecutor—and Trump didn’t say that in the remarks they’d just aired. Dale turned on the spin machine by saying leftist billionaire George Soros is “a frequent target of antisemitic conspiracy theories” and then claimed “at best” the money was indirect: Soros donated to the Color of Change PAC, and then the PAC backed Bragg. If a conservative DA received big money from a pro-Trump PAC, CNN would call him or her “Trump-backed” without hesitation. CNN deploys Dale not as a “fact-checker” as much as a spin spoiler. COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation. The post CNN Deploys ‘Fact-Checker’ for Trump, but Not Biden appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The EU’s new digital ID rules, the Digital Identity Regulation (eIDAS 2.0), are about to come into force on May 20, mandating compliance from Big Tech and member countries in supporting the EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet. However, work is not complete on the EUDI Wallet, as several pilots are planned for 2025 to consolidate the process of the implementation of the rules. Related: Australia’s Digital ID Push Is Undermined by Data Leak Disaster According to the framework, the European Council passed recently, which has now been officially published, the deadline for the digital ID wallet to be recognized and made available is 2026. For now, it will be used in several scenarios, including accessing government services and age verification, reports note. As things stand now, that deadline means that while the wallet scheme must become fully functional by that time, it will not be obligatory for citizens of the EU’s 27 members, and protection against discrimination is promised to those choosing not to opt in. Getting a digital wallet issued, using it, or having it revoked will be free of charge, while the code powering the system will be “open source” – but with the caveat that countries will be able to “withhold certain information with reasonable justification.” The regulation also aims to preserve website authentication certificate standards now in place and established in the industry, while “clarifying their scope.” Some institutions across Europe appear more enthusiastic than others, and so the government of Spain’s Catalonia province has hailed the revised regulation as “a clear paradigm shift” that promotes standardization in the bloc, and one that allegedly gives users “greater autonomy over their personal data.” When it comes to age verification, the new rules are overall seen as a positive development by the proponents, but they are not fully satisfied that EUDI Wallet will provide the ultimate solution. Thus the euCONSENT NGO, set up to promote pan-European age verification utilizing eIDAS infrastructure, noted that implementing the wallet for this purpose will not be “convenient” due to the complexity of disclosing “an age attribute to each website separately.” euCONSENT specifically remarked that even with EUDI Wallet, “alternatives” will have to be put in place for those children too young to have a wallet linked to their identity. Digital IDs can also be used to control access to essential services, potentially manipulating social or political compliance. The extensive data collection involved can lead to profiling and discrimination. Furthermore, these IDs are susceptible to hacking and identity theft, placing individuals at risk of financial and reputation damage. Often, citizens are coerced into participating without genuine consent, and the lack of transparency and oversight in these systems increases the risk of misuse. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post EU’s Controversial Digital ID Regulations Set for 2024, Mandating Big Tech Compliance by 2026 appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Hypocrite: Biden Touts Women's Sports After Title IX Debacle

The Federal Communications Commission has just voted to restore net neutrality regulations, aiming to rein in internet providers. The decision was split along party lines with a 3-2 vote and mandates that internet service providers must treat all traffic equally. Under Trump in 2017, the previous 2015 FCC regulations were axed — as his administration did not believe the federal government should micromanage the internet.The initial regulations were put in place under Obama and aimed at preventing service providers like Verizon or Comcast from blocking or degrading the delivery of services from competitors like Netflix and YouTube. “That’s where you’d get the buffering,” Jeffy explains to Pat Gray. “They would allot only so much for the Netflix feed bandwidth and whatever, and that was when they were fighting over what each company was going to pay for access and everything.” “But that’s between private companies,” he adds. “If they’re messing with your internet service, change providers,” Gray agrees. “The free market takes care of this.” The chairman of the FCC, who is a Democrat, said that these rules reflected the importance of high-speed internet as the main mode of communications for many Americans and that “every consumer deserves access that is fast, open, and fair.”Gray isn’t so sure he agrees. “Do we all deserve it, really? And do we deserve it to be provided by the government?” he asks.

Dungeon crawlers and PC gaming go hand in hand like strategy games and PC gaming. From the very earliest days of IBM Compatibles and the like, many games revolved around heading under ground to slay enemies, cast spells, and delve mysterious depths. That's still the case today and a brand new Humble Bundle has emerged from the gloom to let you try some of the best modern dungeon crawlers like Lunacid or Going Under, for less. Continue reading Delve into seven dungeon crawlers and save over $100 with this bundle

When is Homeworld 3 coming out? The latest installment of the beloved sci fi strategy series, Homeworld 3, is just on the horizon, providing the first full sequel since Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak launched in 2016 and the first numbered entry since Homeworld 2 from 2003. The long wait for its arrival is about to pay off, as what looks to be one of the most involved and feature rich takes on the RTS series to date is out in a very short time. Continue reading When is Homeworld 3 coming out? PC release times MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Homeworld 3 release date, Best strategy games, Homeworld 3 system requirements

Just Cause 4 may not be as well regarded as Just Cause 2 and Just Cause 3, but it's still a fantastic option for anyone looking to spend a while flinging themselves across a sandbox world and blowing up nearly everything they see. Though it has a story and curated mission design not unlike Grand Theft Auto 5 or Saints Row 4, Just Cause 4 is also, like the similarly anarchic Red Faction: Guerilla, at its best when players let those aspects of the game take a back seat and revel in the chaotic potential of its more free form design instead. Anyone looking to do just that is in luck as the game is currently on a massive discount on Steam. Continue reading Grab the most recent entry to a beloved open world series for under $5 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Just Cause 4 release date, Just Cause 4 system requirements, Just Cause 4 review

The U.N. General Assembly voted on Friday to pass a resolution supporting Palestinian membership in the organization.

James Woods' 1-Word Reaction to Birx Admitting She Knew All Along COVID Vaccine Wouldn't Work is PERFECT