Like the lamest of lame ducks, President Biden is still quacking about the unlikely cease-fire he’s been trying to engineer in the Hamas-Israel war in the Gaza Strip. In his latest warning, Biden said that “no-one in the region should take actions to undermine this process.” But no one — not Hamas, not Israel or Hamas’s sponsor, Iran — is listening to Biden. If Iran again launches great numbers of missiles and drones … Israel may well target the ayatollahs themselves. Biden sent Secretary of State Tony Blinken to the Middle East again to try for the long-delayed cease fire. No one is going to listen to Blinken either. Neither side — Israel on one hand and Iran and Hamas on the other — is interested in a cease fire at this point. The August 7 anointment of Yayah Sinwar as the sole leader of Hamas meant that Iranian control of Hamas will be complete as long as Sinwar is alive. (READ MORE from Jed Babbin: Harris and Walz Are the Radicals) Which may not be much longer. Almost daily, since the Israelis managed to kill both Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas and Fuad Shakur, one of the leaders of Hizballah, the Israelis have managed to kill another top terrorist. On Saturday, the Israelis did away with Hussein Kassab, another top Hizballah commander. Israel said it was the 412th such killing of an Hizballah operative since the Hamas attack on Israel of October 7. According to my friends at the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), on August 12 Hizballah Executive Council Deputy Chairman Sheikh Ali Damoush gave a speech at a memorial to dead Hizballah fighters. In it, he said, “By simply threatening to respond, Hizballah has put the Zionists in a state of exhaustion, paralysis, fear, panic and terror, and everyone is now living on their nerves inside the entity, and some of them are living on tranquilizers.” He said it was “’A serious psychological blow to Israel,’ in the words of some Israeli politicians.” This is what psychiatrists call “projection.” In rough terms it means accusing the other side of what you’re doing yourself. On July 20, Israeli air forces struck the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, essentially leaving the port facilities burning. It will take about a year to rebuild them. Israel struck back after a Yemeni drone killed one Israeli in Tel Aviv. The Hodeidah strike proved that Israeli air forces have the capability to strike at long distances, equal to the distance from their bases in Israel to Tehran. Add that to the fact that Russia is delivering highly advanced S-400 anti-aircraft/anti-missile systems to Iran. And, as a MEMRI source told me, Israel is penetrating Syrian air defenses — which have the same systems — regularly, presumably with stealthy American-built F-35s. Israel can, as it proved by the assassination of Haniyeh, operate successfully in Tehran. The fact that Israeli air forces can reach Tehran and operate successfully against targets at that range, means that the ayatollahs are themselves in danger. (Israeli air forces can probably also reach Qom, the other city in Iran in which the ayatollahs sometimes reside.) Iran’s April strike against Israel failed when almost all of its three hundred drones and missiles were shot down by Israeli, US, Jordanian, and UK forces. If Iran again launches great numbers of missiles and drones — in addition to those launched by Hizballah in a coordinated strike — Israel may well target the ayatollahs themselves and others in the Iranian leadership. The ayatollahs are quite brave in risking others’ lives. For themselves, not so much. The fact that Iran hasn’t yet struck directly with its own weapons or those of its northern proxy, Hizballah, means that Iran is not ready for a total war with Israel. That fact proves that Israel is deterring Iran for the moment, not permanently. Iran and Nuclear Weapons Iran is on the precipice of developing nuclear weapons. A July report by the Director of National Intelligence said that Iran has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.” That report didn’t include its standard language that, Iran “isn’t currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons development activities necessary to produce a testable nuclear device.” In truth, no one really knows how close Iran is to developing and deploying nuclear weapons. It may already have them, either developed at home or purchased from North Korea. Some reports say that Iran may announce its first deployable nuclear weapons this fall. Biden said, along with previous U.S. presidents, that Iran will not be allowed to have nuclear weapons but he has done precisely nothing to ensure that they cannot. Iran is much more respectful of Israeli Prime Mister Netanyahu than it is of Biden. The ayatollahs know that Netanyahu will strike first against any nuclear weapons capability that it could announce. If Iran struck Israel with any nuclear weapon it would trigger an all-out war that neither the ayatollahs’ regime nor, perhaps, the Netanyahu government or Israel itself would survive. (READ MORE: Iran’s Khamenei Threatens Israel … and the West) Russia is the only power that has urged Iran to restrain itself in attacking Israel after the assassination of Haniyeh. Former Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu — still a Putin confidante even after his demotion — delivered that message on August 5. The fact that Biden hasn’t urged restraint is irrelevant to how the war between Iran and Israel is conducted. The quietude of the Iran-Israel war is no source of comfort. Iran or Hizballah or both will strike Israel again when they believe the time is ripe. How large the resulting war will be is entirely up to Iran. The post Is Israel Deterring Iran? appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

The Democratic National Convention kicks off Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. Here is the party’s platform. Democratic National Convention Land Acknowledgement We acknowledge we operate on stolen land originally belonging to Native Americans. We therefore thank the Chicago Blackhawks for the use of the United Center. Preamble The United States of America is an idea — a terrible one that needs rethinking to ensure freedom. The Democrat Party’s 2024 theme of “Freedom (within reason)” seeks to limit our fellow Americans’ thoughts and actions to those meeting our approval. Only then can we be free. Fracking The Democrat Party supports fracking during even-numbered years, and 2024 is no exception. Even though we expect our candidates to promote its national ban and the criminal prosecutions of its practitioners during odd years, we must stand behind this abominable industry leading up to a presidential election to convince gullible voters we have their best interests in mind. Private Health Insurance See “Fracking” and substitute “Private Health Insurance” for “Fracking.” Education Every kindergartner must begin his/her/their public education by going to the school library and checking out any book depicting sadomasochistic bondage. Gender studies should overtake unnecessary subjects like English, mathematics, science, and history (unless the United States is depicted as an evil colonialist patriarchy). Tim Walz will spearhead a nationwide initiative to install tampon dispensers in every public school’s boy’s bathroom. Your impressionable and confused children are our children, and our teachers have every right to keep them from you if you don’t affirm whatever it is they believe they are on a given day. Firearms Gun violence is destroying America’s youth. Poke your head outside of the United Center toward the South Side and you’ll hear nonstop gunfire because of Republicans. Therefore, we must ban assault weapons even though nobody in our party can define what they are — only that they’re scary-looking, and that Walz carried one when he single-handedly captured Saddam Hussein in Iraq. And when this ban fails, and somebody commits mass murder with a handgun, we will ban them, too. We Democrats refuse to have the blood of innocent children on our hands. Abortion We support abortion for any reason whatsoever before and after birth. If the umbilical cord is attached, that baby is fair game for Planned Parenthood, whose business model took a pummeling in 2022, and they’ve got to make up for lost income. Not only will we reverse the incoherent, untethered-to-the-Constitution Dobbs decision, but we will also work with our friends in China to explore a forced abortion policy. You never know when it might come in handy. Immigration A secure national border ensures a safe, effective, and cohesive society. That’s why we’re leaving the southern border wide open. We don’t care who crosses. ISIS? Human traffickers? Young men of military age from the Middle East and China? Come on in! The more the merrier. And, yes, some Americans will be killed by illegal border crossers — the people who our party cares about most. Just ask Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. But we can minimize these deaths by boiling them down to statistics and moving on to the next news cycle with the help of our friends in the media. After all, we care. Democrats and Israel (The following statement will be delivered during the convention by the widow of recently assassinated Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh.) We support Palestine’s right to defend itself against Israel’s constant overreactions to Hamas massacres of innocent Jews, while also stating without Kamala Harris cackling that we believe Israel is one of our most trusted allies. A two-state solution between Israel and an entity that seeks to obliterate it is the only path to peace. This is seriously what we Democrats believe. Only we ask young, keffiyeh-wearing Democrats not to make their beliefs known on college campuses before November 5 because it makes it look like we’re supported by lunatics. Elections To ensure free and fair elections, we cannot ask citizens to prove they are eligible to vote by displaying any form of identification. This would disproportionally impact people of color, and we Democrats view them as helpless children who are incapable of procuring the necessary documentation for anything. The last thing our voters need is to be treated like dignified, functional adults. They are victims and rightfully so. It’s not difficult to obtain a state-issued identification card, but our platform mandates we equate it to finding an original draft of the Bill of Rights. Truth and the Democrat Party Democrats never lie. Not over Joe Biden’s infirmity, which wasn’t on display during the entirety of his presidency. Not over border crossings, the video footage of which you should ignore. Not over grocery prices, which George Clooney can afford. Not over justice, which is dispensed impartially despite one’s political affiliation. (Ignore Kamala’s cackling please.) We affirm Harris and Walz will be the most truthful administration in history — so long as no questions are asked. So far, so good. READ MORE from Matt Manochio: Don’t Mock the Los Angeles Times’ Loss It’s Good That Some Truth Is Suppressed   The post A Draft of the Democrat Party Platform appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

Our Biggest Fight: Reclaiming Liberty, Humanity, and Dignity in the Digital Age By Frank H. McCourt, Jr. & Michael J. Casey (Crown, 224 pages, $18) For many Americans, it is almost impossible to imagine a world without the internet. It’s even harder to grasp the notion that the digital world we inherited is dangerous, yet changeable. Currently, the five largest internet companies have a market valuation larger than the GDP of any country except the U.S. and China. The digital barons of Big Tech have more information and control over our lives than any other group ever has before in human history. The question is no longer whether we can reclaim our digital sovereignty, but whether we have the courage to demand it. In their groundbreaking book, Our Biggest Fight: Reclaiming Liberty, Humanity, and Dignity in the Digital Age, Frank H. McCourt, Jr., and Michael J. Casey present their bold plan to recreate the internet so it reflects and upholds America’s most sacred values: dignity, property, privacy, free speech, and self-governance. McCourt is a billionaire businessman and philanthropist who founded and contributed more than $500 million to the Project Liberty Institute, the organization seeking to implement the plan outlined in the book. His co-author, Casey, is currently a chief content officer at CoinDesk and brings 18 years of experience in journalism at Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal. The authors are inspired by historic calls to action such as Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. Readers will find that Project Liberty presents a bold and ambitious set of ideas to fundamentally reimagine our lives in the digital age. In short, Casey and McCourt aim to overhaul the internet in order to offer an alternative rooted in the principles enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. (READ MORE from Colin Agostisi: Biden Proposes Reforms to Overhaul the Supreme Court) Our personal data has become Big Tech’s most valuable asset. The authors believe Big Tech uses its monopoly over this data to dominate the market and force other businesses to fall in line, making the internet anti-competitive and ultimately anti-capitalist. In this era of “digital feudalism,” Big Tech is violating our privacy, unjustly stealing our personal data, and selling it to the highest bidder. When exposing the injustice of the current internet, the authors articulate a compelling moral and legal argument: digital data is an extension of our personhood. They explain how the “transformative new technology has given rise to a new class of rights” that are “hidden in plain sight,” yet violated by Big Tech. Our Digital World and DSNP At the beginning of Project Liberty, McCourt assembled a group of software engineers, asking them to rebuild the internet from scratch to protect our digital rights. They responded by creating the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP) in July 2021. DSNP is an alternative form of internet that establishes a new set of rules for how social networks can work. Drawing a parallel to the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which gave users ownership of their phone numbers, the authors explain that DSNP would similarly grant users exclusive ownership of their personal data. Just as we can take our phone number with us when switching between different phone companies, DSNP would allow our data to be compatible and portable across all platforms and apps that operate on this new internet. Private companies will govern their platforms, but users get to choose which data, if any, they share with any company on this new internet. As a result, individuals or groups of users could leverage their data as a commodity, receiving compensation from organizations for its use. The authors believe DSNP will incentivize universally beneficial policies by ensuring companies who mismanage their platforms risk losing access to our data, their most valuable commodity. The DSNP will bring us into “a new era of self-governance for a human-centric internet,” they assert. DSNP is already in use for certain apps and websites, but it is still in early stages of development. There are ongoing efforts to refine the technology and prepare it for mainstream use. The authors express deep skepticism about the government’s ability to dismantle Big Tech, citing corruption, division, and intellectual shortcomings. They therefore believe that private innovation will be the best avenue for transforming the internet. McCourt and Casey maintain that government involvement will also be necessary, such as for offering a legal enforcement mechanism to protect our digital property. Reimagining Our Digital World This book dares to radically reimagine the digital world, but its practicality and the shrinking window for change are major concerns. The last chapter underscores the urgency of Project Liberty, warning that the development of generative AI could strengthen Big Tech’s grip on big data, making it near impossible to transition to another model of the internet. The authors also admit “the value of any social network comes from the size of its user base,” yet they gloss over the challenge of convincing billions to switch to a new platform. (READ MORE: Flirting With a Foreigner) Despite its potential shortcomings, this book is essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of our digital society. If Project Liberty can prepare DSNP for widespread use and convince companies and users to embrace this new internet, it will permanently reshape our world for the better. The question is no longer whether we can reclaim our digital sovereignty, but whether we have the courage to demand it. Project Liberty is not merely a plan; it is a manifesto for a digital revolution — one that challenges us to reconsider what the internet can and should be. Are we ready to seize it? The post Rescue Us From Our Digital Overlords appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

This is what Israel does to JOURNALISTS who are trying to report the truth about the bombing of civilian residential buildings. Shot in the back by a sniper. https://t.co/ridflTh5P4 — HealthRanger (@HealthRanger) August 19, 2024

from BANNED.VIDEO:  TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/

Emergency! Tim Walz Is A Confirmed Communist Chinese Agent – Democrats Planning Violent Communist Takeover pic.twitter.com/W0yv484AQI — Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) August 19, 2024

by Cristina Laila, The Gateway Pundit: The FBI earlier this week raided the home of Dimitri Simes, a Russian-born policy analyst who advised Trump in 2016. Dimitri Simes, who has been living and working in Russia since October 2022, said his Virginia home was raided because he spoke out against the Deep State and criticized […]

It’s not quite Sunday yet, but here’s your sermon one day in advance… If you need a dose of encouragement, I’ve got you covered. Plus, this is a really cool story! Is it only legend? Is it true? We’ll break it all down. First let’s start with the story. It’s only about 3 minutes long but it’s SO powerful. Listen to this Pastor tell it, I promise you’re going to be standing up cheering by the time he’s done! And a shoutout to my friend vDarkness for finding and posting this clip. Watch here: “CheckMate” “The devil’s laughing cuz the man has lost” Not so fast.. Listen to this messege & reminisce everything YOU’VE ALL endured these past few years For some of you, the past 20+ Years.Ridiculed, laughed at, treated like you’re stupid by the very people who are close… pic.twitter.com/lr4mkwegqm — DailyNoah.com (@DailyNoahNews) July 29, 2023 Charles Morris over at Haven Today gives us the obvious spiritual implications: Now think about the spiritual implications of this painting with me about what the grand master discovered. Repeatedly in Scripture, God assures his people that there is always a way of escaping situations that seem hopeless at the time. When the people of Judah were deported to Babylon because of their sinfulness, God revealed that a future day of release would come. Just as God provided water for the Israelites in the desert, he would also provide for them on their long trek homeward. A little boy in John 6 only had two fish and a few loaves of bread to feed thousands of people. It looked like checkmate, but our King had another move left! They collected 12 baskets of leftover food after the meal was served. In the Old Testament, Daniel was thrown into a den of hungry lions. It looked like checkmate, but our King had another move left and Daniel remained safe. In John 8, it looked like checkmate for a woman about to be killed by angry men with stones. But Jesus told the woman to go and not sin anymore. On Good Friday, the criminal next to Jesus on the cross thought it was the end, yet he still repented. So often in life, we consider the world to be a mess. With war, violence, a deadly pandemic, unemployment, struggling marriages, depression, isolation, and more … we can easily become disillusioned. People begin to feel lost. We look for direction but often end up on the wrong path. It looks like checkmate, but we need not fear—the game is not over. Now let’s dig into the obvious question….is the story real? Or perhaps said differently: is the chess board real and what was the position? I was curious myself so I dug in. And the short answer is it’s not entirely clear. But here’s one of the best breakdowns I could find, this is from Reddit: There is a strange book position which is associated with this painting, but it hasn’t a lot in common with the painting. Speaking truthfully, almost nothing. Also I found some other positions from people who actually were looking at this painting and they came with something closer, but always it was a completely losing position.   Book position Guess If you look at the painting it’s quite easy to say where the pieces are and which of them are pawns. But what are the other pieces is just a mystery, they look strange (the painting was made in the middle of 19th century). And I couldn’t find the chess pieces from this time that look similar. The whole story about Morphy sounds really interesting but not really like a story that you can believe in, but the more I was thinking on the position the more I was sure that there will be the answer. My first problem was to check almost every variation of pieces that could be there, and I also couldn’t find anything. It was whether a losing position or a completely losing position (mate in 2, mate in 4). but looking at what the other people came with, I tried to swap white king and the piece on D1 (my first guess was that king stands on D2). I think that this piece is rook, but I am not sure about this. So i swapped them, tried every possible variation again. Still nothing. I started losing hope but I decided to look at the thing I was sure about. The squares where the pieces are. For some reason from the very beginning I thought that the pieces are on D1 and D2. But take a closer look. At the piece on D2. Because of the quality of the picture you cant be sure, but I realised that I was possibly wrong all the time. Maybe the piece on D2 is actually on E2. I thought a little. And I think I came with the real position on the picture.   Actual position He lost any hope. His opponent has way more pieces. His position looks losing to him. Is it actually? There is just one move on the board that could save his position. Thinking that he lost everything he just cant see that he can still fight. He doesn’t see the obvious Qxd4, the only move that saves him. After Qxd4 and Kc8, the position is 0.00, but its hard to play and I think someone like Morphy would won this back in his time. I havent found a really high quality picture but that really seems like the answer. Share your thoughts about it, maybe provide some your ideas on the position and what the pieces are. Thanks for reading!

They just won't stop, will they?