London police have arrested two men accused of stealing Banksy’s latest work‚ less than an hour after confirming the art on Friday.Banksy’s piece consisted of three military drones being placed on…

A Merry and Blessed Christmas to All Our Readers!

Here Are Some of Our Favorite Responses to Breaking Santa Claus News

The Pro-Hamass U.N. Scolds That There Are Rules in War and Blowback Is Beautiful

As the news slows to a crawl over the holidays‚ so too shall I. May your day be merry and bright in anticipation of the return of regular programming.

The Illinois state government has deployed additional resources to support migrants by providing approximately 30 hotel rooms for those needing housing‚ according to a release from Democrat Gov. J.B.…

A Bella Vista‚ Arkansas‚ man was arrested and held on $1 million bond after he was allegedly found to be in possession of six live bombs and planned to flee the country to avoid trial in Texas‚ according…

Colorado is generally regarded as a blue state‚ but it is home  to many Republicans. In the last presidential election‚ nearly 1.4 million voters cast ballots for then-President Trump. Yet the state Supreme Court has handed down a ruling that strips them of their right to do so again. Four of the court’s seven Democrat-appointed justices found that Trump’s role in the fabled Jan. 6 “insurrection” disqualifies him from appearing on Colorado’s ballot. This ruling earned them the wrath of the former President’s supporters and the derision of all but a few hyper-partisan constitutional scholars. Nor will it survive the inevitable appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. [I]t’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Biden campaign fears it can’t win a fair election. Meanwhile‚ the decision has added credibility to Trump’s claim that he is the target of a corrupt campaign by far left Democrats to destroy him politically and personally. It does indeed follow a pattern of persecution that began with the Russia collusion hoax‚ two meritless impeachments‚ and continues with several legally dubious prosecutions. Moreover‚ because the ruling disfranchises about 42 percent of Colorado’s voters‚ it also confirms another refrain to which Trump often returns when addressing his supporters: “They’re coming after you. I’m just in the way.” It seems that even the corporate media grasp that the ruling was ill-conceived. The editors of the Washington Post‚ for example‚ have misgivings: Not only has Mr. Trump not been convicted of insurrection either by a jury of his peers or from the bench by a judge; he hasn’t even been charged with it. Tellingly‚ Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith has brought an aggressive case against the former president for conspiracy to defraud the United States‚ obstruction of an official proceeding and more — but not for violating the federal law against insurrection … Disqualifying a candidate based on an accusation‚ albeit one blessed by a state court judge as in the Colorado case — but not an actual conviction — is dangerous. And the editors of the Post are by no means alone in this assessment. Mark Barabak writes in the Los Angeles Times‚ “Assuming Trump is the GOP nominee‚ Democrats will have to beat him at the ballot box‚ as they should. A courtroom is no place to decide a presidential election.” Jonathan Chait echoes this point in New York Magazine: “To deny the voters the chance to elect the candidate of their choice is a Rubicon-crossing event for the judiciary. It would be seen forever by tens of millions of Americans as a negation of democracy.” Even the editors of the Guardian‚ not exactly a MAGA stronghold‚ understand that Trump’s fate must be decided by voters rather than state courts: “He must be beaten at the ballot box again.” (READ MORE from David Catron: Can Trump Really Win in 2024?) Nonetheless‚ the Colorado court insisted on stuffing a new issue into Trump’s Christmas stocking. As former Obama advisor David Axelrod put it on X (née Twitter)‚ “All the legal challenges that have been thrown at Trump have so far helped strengthen him … CO will be the same.” Moreover‚ the ruling destroys a key Biden talking point. He can hardly claim that Trump must be defeated to save democracy when his own party is actively disfranchising voters. A database maintained by Lawfare shows 16 more states in which Democrat surrogates are trying to remove Trump from the ballot. Thus‚ Yale law professor Samuel Moyn argues in the New York Times that the Supreme Court should reverse the Colorado ruling: When Donald Trump appeals the Colorado decision disqualifying him from the ballot in that state’s Republican primary‚ the Supreme Court should overturn the ruling unanimously … There may well be some instances in which the very survival of a democratic regime is at stake if noxious candidates or parties are not banned‚ as in West Germany after World War II. But in this case‚ what Section 3 requires is far from straightforward. Keeping Mr. Trump off the ballot could put democracy at more risk rather than less … The Supreme Court must act‚ but only to place the burden on Trump’s political opponents to make their case in the political arena. This is‚ of course‚ what Biden and the Democrats are desperately trying to avoid with legal gimmicks like disqualifying Trump from appearing on state ballots. They know that‚ if they are forced to campaign on real issues rather than the ridiculous “Trump is Hitler” narrative‚ Biden will lose. According to RealClearPolitics‚ Biden’s average approval ratings are under water by double digits on every major issue‚ including the economy‚ foreign policy‚ immigration‚ inflation‚ crime‚ ad infinitum. On the general direction of the country more than two-thirds of the voters believe we are on the wrong path. Finally‚ when asked how Biden’s policies have affected them personally‚ a majority of voters say they have been hurt by them. (READ MORE: Dictatorship Is as Dictatorship Does) This is the political backdrop against which Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s name will not appear on the state’s ballot. Considering that similar attempts to disfranchise voters are underway in numerous additional states‚ it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Biden campaign fears it can’t win a fair election. It’s even harder to see how the U.S. Supreme Court can allow the Colorado ruling to stand or permit other states to follow its dangerous example. In the end‚ this ruling will be seen as a Christmas gift to Trump. It is already generating a lot of earned media coverage and a spike in campaign contributions. In addition‚  he will soon be able to claim a major victory in the U.S. Supreme Court. The post Colorado’s Christmas Gift to Trump appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

When Adolf Hitler started to turn Europe into his German empire‚ he faced military vulnerability. The newly minted country of Czechoslovakia thrust into the southeast of Germany. Its border with Germany was mountainous and‚ heavily fortified‚ posed a formidable obstacle to a German invasion. The Czech army was significant in size and in training‚ and its Skoda arms factory was the second largest in the world. Military historians estimate it could have held out for months against Germany in the years before the war.One cannot fight and win in urban warfare under such rules as the progressives insist upon. But it wasn’t going to be standing alone. France pledged by treaty to intervene if the Czechs were attacked. Czechoslovakia acted faithfully with its treaty partner‚ always supporting French interests in international affairs and trusting France’s good faith as it of all countries had good reason to see any future German aggression checked. (READ MORE from Shmuel Klatzkin: Bidenpolitik: A Foreign Policy Without Coherence) In 1938‚ Hitler felt ready to threaten war to get the Czechs to cede its border fortresses and its arms works to Germany. The Czechs thought they were secure with France treaty-bound to come to their aid. If Germany were to attack them‚ France would attack Germany from the west‚ making an unwinnable two-front war for Germany.  But France had lost the will to make a stand. Rather than commit to fight‚ it chose instead to seek any way it could to escape its treaty obligations. Britain‚ morally bound to stand against Germany’s aggression and with its ally in the previous war‚ was also ready to make any deal to avoid war. The resulting Munich Pact afforded Hitler an unearned victory‚ immensely increasing his prestige and his own sense of invincibility. Less than half a year later‚ he would gobble up the rest of Czechoslovakia‚ setting the stage for his next conquest‚ Poland‚ and the outbreak of the shooting war that would last until May 1945 in Europe. Writing after the war’s end‚ Winston Churchill reflected on those days and on the capitulation in Munich‚ which he had called back then in the House of Commons “a total and unmitigated defeat.” In addition to the severe criticism of the British and French leaders of those days‚ he also had some words for the choices of the Czechs‚ which surely bear on any other country similarly confronted by aggression and saddled with a half-hearted ally. He wrote: [Czech president Benes] should have defended his fortress line. Once fighting had begun‚ in my opinion at that time‚ France would have moved to his aid in a surge of national passion‚ and Britain would have rallied to France almost immediately. Churchill‚ in fairness‚ gave his readers the French argument in their own defense: If Czechoslovakia had refused to submit and war had resulted‚ France would have fulfilled her obligations; but if the Czechs chose to give in under whatever pressures were administered‚ French honour was saved.  Of this defense‚ Churchill wrote: We must leave this to the judgment of history. Eighty-five years later‚ Israel is being pressured by its defense partner. Biden’s administration gives out a double message: On the one hand‚ Americans support the destruction of the Hamas empire of terror. It’s a fairly simple call‚ much as it was in Europe in the 1930s‚ contested only by simpletons‚ of which there were plenty both then and now. Hamas shows itself the enemy of civilization by its endorsement of war by atrocity for the purpose of extermination. (READ MORE: The Totalitarianism of Cultural Fog) On the other hand‚ the Administration has made itself dependent on the far-left woke ideologues‚ whom they have indiscriminately welcomed into their blue coalition. These folks‚ now nested throughout the deep-state bureaucracy‚ share Hamas aims and‚ in their fundamentalist fury‚ care as little as Hamas does about even the most rudimentary obligations of civilized life. They worship power and power only and are thus apt bedfellows‚ though they ought to be careful: Hamas gets its kicks just as much out of throwing certain folks off of rooftops as the more conventionally unconventional pleasurable preferences of the wokesters. Between the one hand and the other‚ there is no coherence at all‚ only contradiction. And so the Biden folks attempt to square the circle‚ and demand that that impossible be realized immediately by Israel. They demand that somehow Israel avoid any civilian casualties fighting an ununiformed enemy who uses women and children as human shields and who hides in schools‚ mosques‚ churches‚ and private homes. And then they say that Israel can defend itself and who are we to interfere‚ And then they repeat the cycle. One cannot fight and win in urban warfare under such rules as the progressives insist upon — rules that Hamas never commits to observe themselves and doesn’t even pretend to. And the cost of Israel not winning is deadly. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal‚ former Israel Defense Force General Giora Eiland‚ former chairman of Israel’s National Security Council‚ said‚ “If we end the war right now‚ it will be a terrible Israeli defeat.” Consider it in terms of the most appropriate parallel. Imagine that in 1945 we turned away from the ground war in Germany and allowed the Nazis to remain in control‚ as Hamas remains in control of southern Gaza. At the very least‚ we would not have the friendly Germany we have today: a constitutional society with advanced political freedom. Instead‚ we would be just waiting for those motivated by hate to find their next opportunity to break out and tumble the world into unimaginable chaos once again. The connection between Israel and the West was understood well by Churchill. Speaking to an Israeli representative‚ Eliyahu Eilath‚ who was visiting him in London in 1950‚ he said (as Eilath reported to Martin Gilbert) that for her own sake and that of the democracies‚ Israel must lose no time in developing her potential; she must hasten to become a strong political and military factor.  Churchill’s insights on the grave issues at hand stand the test of time. When hate-driven tyrannies try to outbluff their democratic enemies‚ his doctrines remain sound. They are certainly better than anything Obama‚ Rhodes‚ Sullivan‚ Blinken‚ or Austin have to offer. (READ MORE: Hamas Plot to Attack Jews in Europe Foiled. World’s Response?)  May Israel’s coalition government listen politely to the Bidenauts‚ but do what they must. If they quietly stay the course‚ it may just be enough to shame the sorry Biden crew into allowing them to fight on to victory and the possibility of real peace. In his latest article in Tablet‚ Lee Smith lays out clearly the profound cultural battle that is playing out in world affairs. (Yes‚ the culture war affects the entirety of our civilization.) Ruled by the woke culture of nihilism‚ whose cardinal idea is that human powers are so unchecked that they can completely redefine reality‚ the Biden folks believe that they really can square the circle. Any negative consequence‚ they can simply define away. So instead of allowing Hamas to suffer for unleashing a war of torture and extermination‚ Biden’s minions are intervening to save Hamas’ skin‚ because they can magically make them what their actions show they are not — a partner in peaceful civilization. Trapped by their Faustian egos‚ they seek to revive and rehabilitate Hamas’ culture of death — which is just a new‚ more comprehensive version of the Nazi vision — Gotterdammerung without the SS death’s head and with that extra frisson so essential in the West — new modes of protected sexual expression — mass rape and necrophilia. A match made in hell.  Pray that Israel stands strong and that America’s spirit resolves to rid itself at last of this woke insanity gone full-bore Nazi. Our culture is equal to the task. The post A Real Democracy Cannot Protect Hamas appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.